The Sun. — London, England, 1850-04-09 00:00:00

appeared in our Third Edition of t :—] F - 13 E. ei !Pet of lie 1a public ~reseeded yesterday, -pest 12 o'clock, to open the Sessian of the I-General of Agriculture, Commerce, and ieteeeil.ctaree, which is holding its sittings in the Palace of the Luxembourg. The President went in an open carriage, having on his right the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in front the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, and of the Interior The other Ministers followed in separate carriages, and the last was occupied by the orderly officers and aides-de-camp. The Prefect of Police also accom - panted the President. The usual escort of dra goons completed the cortege. Oe the President entering the Court of the Luxembourg, the band of the 61st Regiment of the Line struck up the well-known air composed by Queen Hortense, " Partant pour la Syrie." The crowd was composed of more respectable looking persons than usually forms such assemblages, and received the President with much respect. The majority cried "Vivo Napoleon!" a few shouts of "Viva la MSPllYsigne !" were also heard. Oe the whole his reception was flattering. The President opened the proceedings by a speech, of which the substance is as follows:—Ile showed the necessity of all intelligent men combining together in the present circumstances. Their task was never more difficult than now. The best way to render powerless what was false was to adopt what was useful, after the convulsions of the last two yearn. The Government had already afforded the first succour by relieving property from the burden of 27,000,000 E, as announced by the Minister of Finance, and by the Bill on the re form of the mortgage system. Further measures intended by the Government, its renunciation of a part of the duty on registration, and a new project relative to credit, will affurd real advantages to property without exposing the country to the dangers of piper money. Some thing should also be done to diminish the price of sugar, without prejudice, however, to colonial or domes tic produce. The want of credit was a grievous injury to the agricultural interests of the country ; uncertainty as regards the future paralyzed all operations, kept down prices, and occasioned an immense loss to agriculture —a loss out of all proportion to the remedies already suggested. Instead of in dulging in vain theories, men of sense should unite their efforts in imparting strength to the Govern ment for the maintenance of order, and respect for the law ;—this was the surest way of benefit ing, the credit of the country. Attention to the general interests of the country did not prevent the Government from paying particular attention to the state of the working classes. Savings banks, previsions for old age, mutual relief, salubrity of the lodgings of the working classes, were the objects to which, until the decision of the Assembly was known, the Government would direct attention. " An assem blage like yours," concluded the President, " com posed of men so enlightened and so competent, will, I trust, be fertile in happy results. Free from party spirit, which always paralyzes the best intentions, you have only one object in view—the good of the country. Examine, then, with all the care you are capable of, the most practical questions—those that are of immediate application. For my part, I shall, with the aid of the Assembly, leave nothing undone. But I cannot too often repeat—' Let us hasten ; time presses ; let not, I beseech you, the progress of evil paseions outstrip our progress.' " This speech was ap plauded throughout, and particularly the concluding sentence. The Napoleon alludes, as follows, to the "manifes tation" of Monday last, of which the President of the lietpublic was the object A great noise has been made in the papers of the pretended insults offered to the President of the Republic while passing through the Faubourg St. Antoine, on his return from the review at Vincennes. The details given on this subject are inexact. The passage of the Pre sident in the midst of that populous quarter was, as saluted by cries of Vire la It6publique !' Vive Napoleon In certain groups. however, easily reconi!ed, the cries of Vive la Il.6publique !' were uttered in a menacing manner. The crowd was imtnense, in consequence of the annual fair, which that 4dyhaci . attracted vast numbers of people ; but nothieg hostile or insulting was remarked in those shouts. As to what has been said about outrages and. personal violence, of which it was stated the at tendants of the President were the victims, they merely consisted in the fact of a tilbury driven by two servants not in livery having been stopped by groups ; and one individual who wished to seize the homes' reins having received a blow of a whip, the interference of the sergens de yille became necessary to diseegage the persons e who were driving the til befeerv.'? - The Napoleon touches on the very grave subject of the , revision of the constitution. It invites all ",pound minds, the intelligent men of all parties, to ex4min , 3 in. good faith, and to indicate with precision, the articles of the constitution that are susceptible of amelioration. It is not for tit," is says, "to present the programme of those artielt; , e LA them be examined without reserve, :reerimination, without unjust suspicions, aka: vv!.sball take a part in the controversy with zeal." `ll6o_ Napoleon intimates that, in case the approaching election for Paris be of the same kind as on the 10th i'reeel a revision of the electoral law will become ne cesvieey.. 'Tae paragraph is worth giving :—" An elec toral law which would tontine to produce such results is sdeen ly judged. Society must demand its reform. The Ooir•til7ution has only proposed the pri nc ipl e o f e l ec ti on =-the low fixes its conditions. It is from a new law will have to demand precautions and fenetrenteess against a similar surprise. A representa tive eof the Morbihan (M. Larochejacqueliu) pro posed, a few days since, to put the itepublic or the Monerchy to the vote. It was too late. What will by to the vote on the 28th in Paris is Socialism and tee Law of Election. The vote of the 28th will condemn the one or the other. We may look forward to fierce attacks on this in the Socialist journals of to. morrow." SPAIN. Tt.is Sail that the changes proposed to be made in the Spanish note by Lord Palmerston, and acceded to hy'Gneral Narvae7, are us follow :—The original "There never existed on the part of the Spanish Government the remotest intention of offering any offence whatever to England, to the Queen ofEng land or to the English Government." Lord Palmer ifon made only the change of a single word in the Vl::r...ti? • viz " Any offence whatever to Great 431'11 Admitted. Tnat the resolution adop!ed (respecting Sir Henry 'Bulwer) was so adopted with much regret, and furcad 'by the grave circumstances of the moment. Lord TaNerston suggested the word "alarming" instead " grave." Admitted. The E nglish Government will add, and the Spanish Government admits, beforehand, this (regret) with respect to ,Sir Henry Bulwer. The Government of her Britannic Majesty would desire the return to Madrid of Sir Henry Bulwer, whose services have not for a single instant ceased to be agreeable and useful ; but, charged as he is with an Important mission elsewhere, the Government of her Britannic Majesty renounces re•accrediting him, &c. General Naryaez declares that notwithstanding the untoward occurrence of 1848, his personal friendship for gir Henry Bulwer continues unabated, and that his 'only regret is not being able, at such a happy moment of reconciliation, to grasp his former friend by the hand. The whole of the Spanish Ministry and (;Dirt do juitice to the spirit of f ran k ness an d goo d w i ll i ltith Which Lord Palmerston met the advances of the sii:ln6h Government. • ITALY. rt i 3 said that th. Pope left Naples on the Ist, for Caqerts, on his return to Rome. NEW ZEALAND. PIA mounr, Ar ft tr. 6.—The merchant ship William Ilyd e , 650 tons burden, John Lytheote Applewhaite, Iron. CLiinpany's Service, commander, 'arrived in the .1 Svitinil this forenoon ; Jell Auckland, New Zealand, ~. Dec, 28. tier 'Majesty's sloop Fly, 14, Commander IL A. Oliver,- with Mr.- Sheriff Berrey passenger, left Aneldat,d, December 20, for Wellington. Her , . t— ' l "- l jl'tY . 4 . frigat e Havanna!), n Captain John E. Riiilt:ne, was to sail from Sydney early in December, for Port Ni c h olson, where she was to meet the Fly. A large Government steamer was expected daily at Auckland. -! Busi ness! at New. Zealand required no special notice. ,The weather fur the week, ~ 15, v. as most uns easona b le, ending Saturday, December having been unusually dull, cloudy, and windy, benefitin g the potato an d grain crops, and damaging.-- the hay,' the bar vesting of .whi, 'h had commenced. Pensioners sent out by Government were not found to be of much service in agricultural pursuit,. Servant girls .were extremely scarce, and very much wanted in the, colony. Lire numbers of. settlers were eini . ' • gre tin ! ! to the " Biggins ;" and the barque Avon, of saes tom:, the brig Fanny, and another vessel, were laid on for goods and passengers for California. -This in:ls of labourers was greatly complained of by tbose determined to remain at New Zealand. The natives were pc. , aerable and well disposed. 'The IVilliam Hyde brings six passengers—viz., -• Dr. Frankis, who went out superintendent of the emigrant ship Spartan, to Adelaide ; Dr. Car and lady, who went out in the Burrampoor to South Auqralia ; Mrs. Bolland and child, widow of a clergy ." man of-the Established Church, who died at New Zea!grid ; and Mr. Cunningham, a steerage passenger. S'te is chiefly laden with New Zealand Kauri con tr. spars, for Government; but has, in addition, 150 torts of copper ore and lead ore, from Port Adelaide ; t ,- )i-T4 of tallow, from Melbourne, Port Philip; and 20 tons of sperm oil, 40 Wei, of wool, and 3 bundles of leath'zr, from Aur2kland. She has also 1 package of gull dust from California. Januar . ; 8, off Cape Horn, spoke the barque De:- went, built at Hobart Town, for London ; March 6. the American ship Powhattan, for California; and March 9, the American ship Columbia, for Boston. THE SUN, raise soap. If our readers in London observe their habits in washing, they will perceive that the princi pal geantity of the water is used by them not as a cleanser, but merely for the purposes of rinsing off the very sparing amount employed for detergent pur poses. In London we do not wash ourselves in but out of the basin. A small quantity of water is taken on the hands and saturated with soap so as to form a lather ; the ablution is now made with this quantity, and the water in the basin is only used to rinse it off. The process of washing with soft water is entirely different, the whole quantity being applied as a detergent. To illustrate this difference an experiment may be made by washing the hands alternately in rain and then in hard water, such as that supplied to London ; and the value of the soft water for the purposes of wash ing ssill be at once recognised. Even with out soap, the soft water moistens the hand, while hard water flows off, just as if the skin had been smeared with oil. Now, although the soap may be economized in personal ablution by the uncomforta ble method here described, it is impossible to obtain this economy in the washing of linen. In this case, the whole of the water must be saturated with soap before it is available. Soda is, to a certain extent, substituted with a view to economy, as much as 30,0001. worth of soda being annually used in the metropolis to compensate for the hard quality of the water ; and, perhaps, as an ap proximative calculation, 200,0001. worth of soap is annually wasted without being useful as a detergent. This enormous tax on the community results from the hardness both of the well and river water ; the for mer being generally much harder than the latter. But this expense, large as it may seem, is not the only consequence of a bad water supply. The labour required to wash with hard water is very much greater than that necessary when it is soft, this labour being represented in the excessive charges for washing. In fact, extraordinary as it may appear, it has recently been shown in evidence before the General Board of Health that the washerwoman's interest in the com munity is actually greater than that of the cotton spinner, with all his enormous capital. An instance of this will suffice to show our meaning : a gentleman buys one dozen shirts at a cost of 4/., three of these are washed every week, the charge being four pence each, making an annual account of 21. 12s. The set of shirts, with careful management, lasts for three years, and has cost in washing 71. 16s. The cotton-spinner's interest in the shirts and that of the shirt-maker's combined, did not exceed 41., while the washerwoman's interest is nearly double. A consider able portion of this amount is unavoidable; but a very large part is due to the excessive charges for washing rendered necessary by the waste of soap and increased labour required for cleansing. A family in London, with au annual income of 600/., spends about one-twelfth of the amount, or 50/, in the expenses of the laundry. On an average, every person in London, rich and poor, spends one shilling per week, or fifty-two shillings a year for washing. Hence at least five million two hundred thousand pounds is the annual amount expended in the metropolis alone for this purpose. Yet, large as this amount is—and it matters not whether it be represented in the labours of house hold washing or that of the professed laundress— it is obvious that the greatest part of it is expended in actual labour, for the washerwoman is rarely a rich or even a thriving person. Hence it follows that this labour, barely remunerative as it is, must be made excessive from some extrane ous cause ; for it is found by experience that one half the charge is ample compensation in a country district supplied with soft water. The tear and wear of clothes by the system necessary for washing in hard water, is very important in the economical consideration of the question. The difference in this respect, between hard and soft water, is very striking. It has been calculated that the extra cost to ladies in London in the one article of collars, by the unne cessary tear and wear, as compared with country districts, is not less than, but probably much exceeds, 20,000/. We now proceed to draw attention to the inconve nience of hard water in cooking. It is well known that greens, peas, French beans, and other green vegetables, lose much of their delicate colour by being boiled in hard water. They not only become yellow, but assume a shrivelled and disa greeable appearance, losing much of their delicacy to the taste. For making tea the evil is still more ob vious. It is extremely difficult to obtain a good in fusion of tea with hard water, however much may be wasted in the attempt. We endeavour to overcome the difficulty by the addition of soda, but the tea thus made is always inferior. One reason of this is, that it is difficult to adjust the quantity of the soda. Tea contains nearly 16 per cent, of cheese or casein, and this dissolves in water rendered alkaline by soda ; and although the nutritous qualities are increased by this solution, the delicacy of the flavour is impaired. The water commonly used in London requires, at the very least, one-fifth more tea to produce an infusion of the same strength as that obtained by soft water. This, calculated un the whole amount of tea consumed in London, resolves itself into a pecuniary consideration of great magnitude. The effect of hard water upon the health of the lower animals is also very obvious.—The Ladies' Com panion. THE EXPECTED GREAT COMET. TO THE EDITOR OF TLIE TIMES. Sir,—ln my letter addressed to you on the 7th of March, which appeared in the Times on the follJwing day, I mentioned the possibility of a con siderable delay in the return of the comet of 1264 and 1556, owing to the attraction of the larger planets, particularly Jupiter and Saturn. I have just received from M. Bomme, of Middelburg, a very complete memoir on this subject, which has been re cently published by the Royal Institute of Sciences in the Netherlands. It is the result of a long and laborious series of calculations, performed on the most approved methods of modern mathematicians. The conclusions being of general interest, I may very briefly state them here, as the paper itself is not likely to fall under the notice of many English readers. In order to predict the time of reappearance of a comet moving in an elliptic orbit, with allowance for the attractions of the planets, it is necssary that we should know the precise time of revolution corresponding to some past epoch (as, for instance, the previous perihelion passage), or the period which the comet would require to perform its circuit round the sun, if all planetary disturbances were to cease from that moment. The comet in question was observed in 1264 and 1556, and the interval between the perihelion passages in those years amounted to 106,567 days, or 2911 years; but this tells us nothing with respect to the length of period corresponding to the ellipse described at the instant of perihelion, either in 1264 and 1556, since it includes the united effects of planetary perturbations between those years. Therefore, before we can ascertain the epoch of the next return, we must calculate the amount of acceleration or retardation due to the disturbances between 1264 or 1556, which being applied to the above period gives us the exact time of revolution of the comet at the moment of perihelion passage in the former year, and hence we ascertain the period in 1556. Having found this, we can calculate how much it would be increased or diminished by planetary attraction up to the present time, and thus determine the date of the next arrival at perihelion. This is essentially the method adopted by 111, Bomme,-and he bas performed a great part of the computations in duplicate—first, with the elements of Halley, in 1556, found in all our catalogues of cometary orbits, and, again, with my final element, published in the " Astronomische Nachrichteit" of Professor Schumacher, the "Comptes Rendus" of the French Institute, the "Notices" of the Royal Astronomical Society, and elsewhere; this last set only came to M. Bomme's knowledge when he had nearly completed the first series of cal culations, but, as he considered them more exact, he went through the greater part of the work again. With these elements, taking into account the attraction of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune between 1264 and the present time, and of Venus and the Earth in 1556, it is found that the length of the comet's revolution at the time of perihelion passage in 1264 was 110,644 days, or 302,922 years, and in 1556, 112,561 days, or 308,169 years ; that the effects of perturbation will diminish this period 2,166 days, and therefore the present revolu tion will occupy 110,395 days, or 3021 years, so that the comet will return again to its perihelion on the 2d of August, 1858, and will then be moving in an period. of the m 'With comet Halley's etin el elements, iPse o thetrue ll2 timeßs 1566 was 112,943 days, and the perturbations should diminish the ensuing period about 1,797 days, whence we find the next perihelion passage will occur on August 22, 1860. Thus M. Bomme concludes that if the true ele ments of the orbit i n 1556 were w ithin the limits as signed by Halley's calculation and my own, the comet will appear again between 1858 and 1860. The main cause of this uncertainty is the difference between the two determinations of the positions of the . major axis, or li ne o f A ps id es, i n 1 556. H a lley fixes the perihelion in longitude 278 deg. 50 min., while I place it i n l ong i tu d e 274 deg. 15 min., de viating 4 deg. 35 min. Having expended a good deal of time and trouble some years ago on the calcula tions for my orbit, I believe I may safely state that the utmost allowance that can be made for error in the position of the major axis does not exceed four degrees, so that it is probable the time fixed for the return of the comet by my elements (August 2, 1858) must be within two years of the truth, and therefore we have but little chance of seeing it within six years from this time. At any rate, the supposed delay in its re-appearance is fully accounted for through the zeal and industry of M. Bornme, whose calculations, as regards extent and intricacy, may vie with those of Clairault and Rosenberger for Halley's comet. THE ARM V. WOOLWICH, APRIL 6. The Atholl troop-ship, Master Commander Pearn, has nearly unloaded all the baggage of the troops she brought home from the Mauritius, and the Cape of Good Hope. In addition to the two companies of Artillery, she brought home the 10th company of Royal Sappers and Miners from the Cape of Good Hope. Captain Lempriere corn•. manded the Artillery, and was the only officer who returned with them, the others having all been pre viously moved, owing to the number of changes which have recently taken place in the corps. PIA-mourn, Apar'. 6.—The Rev. J. W. Langmead, M.A , the garrison chaplaie, has had presented to him, within the last few days, by Culonel Messiter and the officers of the 28th Regiment, as a mark of their deep regard and esteem, a silver communion service, the gallant Colonel expressing to the reve rend gentleman, in the name of himself and officers, their most grateful acknowledgments for his unre mitting zeal and attention, during the period of nearly two years that they have been under his ministry. MORTALITY IN THE ARMY.—From a return just made to an order of the House of Commons, it ap pears that among. the European troops serving in the East and West Indies, the mortality during the nine years from 1840 to 1848, both inclusive, was in the ratio of 61.52 per cent. in the East Indies, and in the West Indies of 48.18. The deaths which occurred in hospitals, in consequence of wounds, during the above nine years, were 370 in Bengal, 39 in Bombay, 2 in Madras, and 4 in the West Indies. TAXATION. Our Legislators, of all parties, are just now playing at " fast and loose," " bide and seek," with the country on the question of reducing taxation, and cutting down the expenses. First of all, there is the Tory motion for a repeal of the malt-tax. We believe this most emphatically to be a " Afaltese cross" of the highest class with a vengeance. It is a mere factious battering-ram for knocking down a Ministry. It means no remission of taxes to the extent of a half farthing. It promises no diminution of expenditure to chime in with the lessened revenue of the empire. Its signification is much more simple. It only stands for, Exeunt the Whiga and enter the Country Party, who would immediately find some excuse for keeping things as they are, or, if they really did remit the malt-tax, would raise the income-tax to ten per cent., or intercept all trade by the increased duties which they would forthwith lay upon all our imports from foreign countries. We should thus gain an awful loss in the shape of a removed tax. The remedy would be worse than the disease. The patient would escape from his malady by escaping from his life at the same time. We sometimes read quack advertisements speaking of " awful cures." We now comprehend the mean ing of the phrase. To be cured of the malt-tax by an import duty of five per cent. on all goods from foreign countries, would be, indeed, the most "awful cure" on record. And yet this is what the Joseph Ady of Conservatism announces as "the something for our advantage" which he is anxious to impart to us. And then, again, in the matter of cutting down the national expenses, both sides in Parliament are pointing to the unhappy judges as the very pigeons to be plucked, trussed, and roasted to appease the public appetite for economy. We are marvellously tickled with this impudent plagiarism from an old fable. Once upon a time, when a plague broke out amongst the beasts, they called a meeting to consi der whose sins could have called down such a visita• tion upon the community. The lion confessed to having devoured a few flocks and herds, and occa sionally swallowing a herdsman or shepherd with them by way of a relish. But this was nothing, it was even praiseworthy, in a lion. The tiger had the same confession to make, and received the same absolution. The wolf escaped in a similar manner. Nothing was even thought of the forays of the fox upon the geese and turkeys, ducks and chickens, of the neighbouring farmers. But at last the poor ox stood forth and stated, that once, when very hungry, he bad, in passing the churchyard, nibbled one mouthful of the parson's grass. The whole meeting was immediately overwhelmed with pious indigna tion. The cause of heaven's anger was at once re vealed. " Sacrilege, sacrilege !" was simultaneously shrieked forth from every quarter, and, before the unhappy culprit could urge another word, he was torn to pieces and devoured by his holy hearers, who then diTersed in the odour of sanctity and a good work, to devour flocks and herds, herdsmen and shepherds, ducks, geese, chickens, and turkeys, just as they had done before. Now let us give the moral of all this. We clamour for the abolition of the pensions to the offipring of Charles the Second's menagerie of tramps and trollops. But it is in vain. They have int wined themselves among the lions and tigers of society. They have been mar ried and been given in marriage among the big ones of the land, and we are told that they have established a vested right in the plunder of our flocks and herds. We ask to have no more generals an admirals than we want. But they also are connected with the lion and the tiger, or, at all events, with the wolf and the fox. We tarn to our colonial blunderheads and our diplomatic " ne'er do-wells." But we only get the same answer. Still, however, the cry for economy goes on, when at last a bright thought seems to flash upon the leaders of both parties, and they cry out, " There are the judges, pitch into the judges, devour the judges without mercy or distinction." And is it not very proper that it should be so ? The judges, like the poor ox, havo no friends to help them. They are neither brothers, nor sons, nor cousins to the lions and tigers, wolves and foxes. They can trace no descent to Nell Gwynne, or the Duchess of Ports mouth, or Lucy Waters. They cannot plead booby ism or blockheadism in their behalf like the aristo cratic locusts who swarm in the army and navy, the colonies and diplomacy. They have not the peerage at their back and beck. They have presumed to rise by their own diligence and perseverance, by dint of study, by virtue of their own talents, by the force of their own merits. They are alone too, unsupported by a family connexion in both Houses of Parliament. Oat upon them. They are the very ox for the sacri fice. Bind them upon the altars. Offer them up to the spirit of retrenchment. Tear them to pieces. De vour them, and then let the country see what stern economists we are. Now, in the face of all this, we have not a single word to say in behalf of the judges, if they really are overpaid. But we do not want to see them victimized as a cloak for other people. Let their salaries, if they are too high, be cut down, pani passe with those of the official servants in every branch of the Government. Let the supernumeraries in the army and navy be reduced. And, above all, let the pensions of those people who call themselves the de scendants of Charles the Second be brought to an end. In the case of some of them it is even more than doubtful whether they are sprung from him at all. His ladies, it is well known, were very general, promiscuous, and miscellaneous in their favours. It is not at all improbable that we have been paying for all those bad bargains so dearly and so long on " the pig-in -the-poke " principle. If we are to believe the scandalous chronicles of the days when Charles the Second was the master and centre of so Many houses of ill-fame, Churchill, afterwards the famous. Duke of Marlborough, was the father of more of our pensioners than his Majesty. At all events it is time "to stop the tap." We have paid the wages and premium of iniquity too long under any circumstances. —Liverpool Albion. HARD WATER UNFIT FOR DO ' Few subjecti‘siEhaSvTelaCttrPactjteßdenTreEaSt.tention among sanitary supply of water reformers to h necessity dwellers e s sity of in cities. Experience h as s h own that the obtainingsupply a copious large should be at least twenty gallons daily for each inhabitant, although forty gallons are neces sary to carry out to the full extent all the sanitary improvement's deemed desirable for the well-being of a population. But in looking to quantity of supply, quality has been thought of less importance ; there could not be a. more gross error, or one more fatal to civic economy and domestic comfort. The water ?!'ound in springs, brooks, and rivers, has its primary oi•igin in the rain of the district, unless there should I iappen to be some accidental infilteration from the sea, or other great natural reservoirs. This rair, falling on the upper soil, either runs off in streams, or, percolating through it and the porous beds beneath, gushes out in the form of springs, wher ever it meets with an impervious bed which refuses it a passage ; *its sunk down to the latter detect it there, and tl iese form . the ordinary wells. In its passage throua h the pertzir m us rocks, it and character takes up soluble impurities, var ying in with the mann of the geological formations, these impuritiebrio, ; either mineral, vegetable, or animal matter. The t lineral ingredients may be chalk, gyp sum, common salt, and different other compounds, but it is the earl by sorts generally which impress pe culiar qualities o n the water. Hard water is of no use as a cleanser, until all the n li f m .t e hn h a a n s ap. been re: moved by uniting with the oiliy acid destroy in thi s NI , ay thirty ounces of soap before Ty hundred gallons of ThameS water . be coming a deterge: at. But as this is an enormous waste, the dwellers in towns supplied with hard water, resort to other In ethods of washing, so as to econo- J LONDON, TUESDAY EVININ'G, Mr. Barber's result., which were communicated in my last letter, are not comparable with theme of M. BDrntne, and, for this remon, any apparent difference between them is not to be attributed to error of cal culation. M:. Barber, for want of leisure to cern puto the perturbation for the period anterior to 1556 was obliged to assume at starting, that the comet was moving in that year in an elliptic orbit, having its major-axis corresponding to the interval between 1264 and 1556, or 291.75 years ; but it ap-. pears from M. Bamme's investigation, that the true period of the comet in the latter year was no less than 308.17 years, giving an increase on the length of the axis used by Mr. Barber equal to 3+ times the earth's mean distance from the sun, a quantity suffi cient to produce a very considerable alteration in the computed distances of the cornet from the disturb ing planets, and consequently in the determina tion of their attractive powers at different times. I think there are not many individuals who would have had courage to attack the doubtful and labourious problem which M. Bomme has so com pletely solved, and it is only right that he should receive his due share of praise, if the comet return at the time he has predicted.—l remain, Sir, your most obedient servant, April 2. J. R. lIIND. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF COMMONS, April 8. The SPEAKEtt took the Chair at Four o'clock. NEW MEMBER. Lord SEYMOUR, the new Member for Totnes, took the oaths and his sent. The Noble Lord was introduced by Lord Marcus Hill and Mr. Fox Mauler. CONSIDERATION OF REPORT. The report upon the Kew and Petersham Vicarage Bill was considered and agreed to. SECOND READING. The Leicester and Hitchen Railway Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed. PETITIONS. Mr. MUNTZ presented a petition from the Mayor and Corporation of Birmingham against a Bill introduced respecting Sanitary improvements in that borough. .Mr. DUNCAN presented petitions from Scotland against the Marriage Bill, the church-rates, and Sunday labour in the Post•oiiice. Mr. WILLCOX presented a petition from surgeons at Southampton, praying that an inquiry might be insti tuted into the condition of assistant-surgeons in the navy. Mr. LUSIIINGTON presented a petition from Derby against compulsory aid to the Established Church in the colonies. Sir W. VERNER presented several petitions against the excise duty on paper and the newspaper duty. Mr. FULLER presented a petition in favour of ex• tending the County Courts Bill. Captain BERKELEY presented a petition from tailors in Gloucester praying for an inquiry into the "sweating system." Mr. W. J. FOX presented a petition from the editors, reporters, compositors, and others employed on The Sun newspaper, in favour of his Bill for secular education. The Hon. Gentleman also presented several other peti tions from different parts of the country to the same effect. Mr. HENRY presented a petition from Manchester also to the same effect. Mr. MUNTZ presented petitions from places in Lan cashire against church-rates and in favour of a Ten Hours' Bill. Mr. MACKINNON presente d a pet i t i on, numtrius ly signed, from the metropolis against intramural inter ment. Mr. BAILLIE presontel a petition against the attor neys' certificate duty. Sir W. SOMERVILLE presented a retition from a place in Ireland against the Irish Fisheries Bill. Mr. C. LEWIS presented a petition in favour of an extension of the County Courts Act. Lord CASTLEREAGH presented a petition from the county of Down against the Tenant-Farmers Bill. A , lr. HUME presented a petition from attorneys reiid ing in LiGeoln against the attorneys' certificate duty; also a petition from Glastonbury, in Somersetshire, against taxes on the diffusion of knowledge, Mr. MOODY presented a petition trom a place in Somersetshire against the Secular Education Mr. BRIG Iff presented a petition from Glasgow against capital punishment; also a petition from Mar gate praying that the penny pubtage might be extended to letters crossing the ocean; and a petition from Barnsley and another place against the application of public money for the Established Church. Mr. COBDI?,N presented a petition from Liverpool against this country purchasing Danish forts on the coast of Africa. Mr. LABOUCHERE presented a petition from An trim against the Marriage Bill. Mr. M. GIBSON presented a petition from a place in Lancashire to the same effect. RE-APPEARANCE OF MR. DISRAELI. Shortly before half-past four o'clock Mr. Disraeli entered the House, and took his seat in his usual place .on .Ali Opposition -benaboi. The Honourable Member looked exceedingly well, con sidering his late severe indisposition, and several Members in his immediate vicinity gave him a cordial shake by the hand. The Hon. Under-Secretary for the Colonies (Mr Hawes) crossed the House to congratulate the Hon. Member for Buckinghamshire on his recovery. NOTICES OF MOTION. Mr. DISRAELI, in reference to the motion of the Noble Lord the First Minister of the Crown, which the Noble Lord had fixed for the 12th inst., fur a Committee on Public Salaries, begged to give notice that it was his intention to move, by way of amendment, a resolution t.) the effect that the House was in possession of all infer matio a regarding public salarics,and that a Parliamentary Committee of inquiry would under these circumstances only lead to delay. It was therefore the opinion of the House that Government ought upon their own respon sibility forthwith to introduce any meas ure necessar y f or effecting any reductions in our national establishments consi,tent with the efficient dischar ge o f p u bli c serv i ces . Mr. HUME gave notice that to- morrow f ortn i g h t h e should move n resolution to the effect that it was the opinion of the House that all articles now subjected to customs' duties should be admitted duty free, so that the importation of manufacturing produce might be placed on qua) footing with that of agriculture. Mr. HORS MAN gave notice that, in the event of the Committee on Public Salaries being appointed, he should move that it be an instruction to the Committee to extend its inquiries to the income of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. AUSTRALIAN COLONIES. Sir W. MOLES WORTH called the attention of the lion. Member, the Under-Secretary for the Colonies, to certain resolutions which had been officially published in Australia, and which were to the effect that any new constitution to be established for the Australian colonies ought to be based upon the principle of a double chamber, and the Government of the colonies assimilated as much as possible to that of the mother country. He wished to ask the Honourable Gentleman whether the Colonial-office had received any information with regard to that resolution, and if so, whether he had any objection to lay it before the House before the debate on the Australian Colonies Bill came on again. Mr. HAWES said copies of the resolutions had been transmitted to th• Noble Lord at the head of the Colonial Department, but they were proposed by a private member of the local legislature to be moved at a future meeting of the Legislative Assembly, and the Govern ment had nothing whatever to do with them. How they came to be published in an official form he really could not tell, but he ghould have no ob jection whatever to produce the dispatch. Mr. DIVETT thought it right to add to this answer, that he gathered from communications which he had received from the colony that the vast majority of the colonists were opposed to these resolutions. ECCLESIAS nem, COMMISSION BILL. In reply to a question from Sir E. BUXTON, Lord JOHN RUSSELL said .there were two Bills which the House was alretvly in Committee upon, namely, the Australian Colqnies Bill and the Irish Par liamentary Electors Bill, and it was desirable to push forward tho Stamp Acts Amendment Bill, on which -he proposed the House should go into Committee on Fri day ; that being so, he would scarcely be able to proceed with the Ecclesiastical Commission Bill till Monday. Mr. HORSMAN asked whether the Noble Lord could fia•any day fur proceeding with the Ecclesiastical Com mission Bill? Lord J. RUSSELL thought Monday, the 22 d; at all events it would b e the fi rst that would be taken up attn. the House had * disposed of the Australi in Colonies Bill, the Irish Parliamentary EleJtors Bill, and the Stamp Act. NAVY ESTIMA TES.—NAVAL ASSISTANT SURGEONS. On the motion fur going into Committee on the navy estimates, Captain BOLDER() presented several petitions from the surgeons, lecturers, and students in the different hos pitals in London, praying that the assistant-surgeons in /he navy might be placed on an equal footing with surgeons and the army. and insu The GAL LANT MEMBER then moved a resolution to the effect th at the accommo d at i o n provided f ur th e as sistant-surgeons on board her M a j es ty' s s hip s o f war i s inadequateof their p ro f ess i onal service. H e wished to have a fair, full, and lib era l considerat i on o f this question ; a n d h e wouldendeavour to ocielnat f o r securing the full benefit lay before the House such facts connected with it a s would lead them to a proper conclusion. The medical: profession were loud in their complaints that naval assistant-surgeons were not placed on an equal footing with surgeons in the army. This arose from a systematic and unwise neglect practised towards them, which had the effect of degrading the medical profession, and of bringing an insult upon the assistant -surgeons, and an in jury and injustice to the navel service at large. It would not be necessary for him to enter into argument upon the question. These was proof sufficient in the documents which were a l rea dy before the House. From the year 1803 surgeons i n t h e n avy had been h e ld t o b e on an equal footing with those in the army, and in 1838 a commission had been appointed by the reigning Mo narch to inquire into the subject, which recommended the same course. This recommendation had been ordered to Le carried out by an order in Council of her present Majesty; and he would ask gentlemen on the opposite side counectei with the naval administra tion, why these orders in Council had not been carried out ? He found that in a Committee of the House appointed to inquire into naval ex penditure, a report had been,, presented in which ,it was stated that tie surgeons in the navy were each placed one rank below the army surgeons. This report also showed the great injury which such a state of things effected upon the characters of men employed in the service. The AdmireLy had found out this. and hail actually offered the University of Edinbiirgh she appointment f nevel eurgeons, but the Uni veraity to avail themselves of its ,t offer whilo t.: , •: - ,:,!:0113 in the 'lnv y ore platssel in their present treerier position. ',V fist would the Goeerieseee do in caie of a war ? They could not send press-gangs into the universities to get ser a eons, and it was pretty evident that men of character would not present them selves. He would contrast the position of two young men educated together, and perfectly equal in their qualifications as surgeons—one of whom was fortunate enough to get en appointment in the army, and the other so unfortunate as to he appointed to the navy. The first on joining his regiment was received kindly by his commanding officer, introduced to his brother officers, and became immediately a member of the mess. But ne would take the case of a naval assistant-surgeon. nett functionary was received with the same degree if lsinduess and courtesy, but he was turned into the cockpit. The com panions whom he met there were not much above thirteen years of age, for that was the age a which cadets were received. He slept in a hammock, and was obliged to perform his ablutions in the presence of these boys. He had no separate cabin to retire to, nor servant to wait upon him, and thus he was preluded from following his studies in the way in which a profes :dotes! peraen in his position ought to do. The more zsalous and anxious he was to progress in knowledge the stronger he felt his degredatiun, and it was to be borne in mind that his profession was one in which a thorough acquaintance with arts and sciences was necessary. But what was the cockpit? It was an apircaient in the hold of a ship where the sun never penetrated, nor where even day light entered, and its occupants lived in an altogether impure and artificial atmosphere. The interruptions and annoyances to which an assistant-surgeon was there subjected was an antidote to study, to deep thought, or to serious application, and the cons( quence was, they broke his spirit, destroy el his self-respect, and not only his self-respect, but also his self-confidence, which was the first requisite to success in all great undertakings. If they destroyed the stimulant of emu lation, who among them would tread the beaten path of life to attain an eminent position in any particular pro fession? These surgeons, therefore, became care less and indifferent, and left the ship on the first convenient opportunity. With the pay of assistant-surgeons he bad no fault to find, and his notion did not involve any additional expense to the Govern ment in the shape of additional pay. But the rank or position which was awarded to them on board a ship was a perfect mockery. He might be told that they held the rank of a lieutenant in the army or in the marines, but the facts showed that this was not the case. A first or second lieutenant in the marines went into the ward or gun-room, but an assistant-surgeon had to put up with the cockpit, although by education the latter was equal to the former.—(Hear hear.) He might be told that there was no room for these assistant-surgeons, but ho disputed that. Separate cabins had been given to the carpenters, and the Ad miralty had been compelled to find room for other officers. Formerly the schoolmaster and school. master's assistant messed in the cockpit, but it was found that the youngsters did not treat their master with that respect that was due to him, and the Admiraliy changes the schoolmaster for a naval instructor, giving him a higher rank and a berth in the ward-room. By that means the service had received a superior class of men, who were in every way competent and qualified to attend to the moral and religious instruction of the young men. It had been the same with the engineers engaged in the steam navy. At first the Admiralty placed that class of officers in an inferior position, but eventually they were forced to change their rank and increase their accommodation. Now, if it were necessary for a man dealing with the machinery of a ateam-vessel to have superior comforts and a superior rank, how much more necessary was it for them to deal liberally with men who had the care of so delicate a ma :hine as the human frame. Under the existing system who could wonder if there was an in ferior class of men in the service, or that they were not treated with that respect which their station entitled them to ? A friend of his recently told him an antcdtA which would servo to show what re spect was entertained for the opinion of a naval surgeon. A captain commanding a British man of-war received a wound in his leg after a sharp con test, and his ship surgeon advised him to have his leg amputated, declaring that he could not live a day without it was removed. The captain, however, refused to take the advice, and having the wound bandaged up, he inade fit the nearest port, where his leg was dressed, and so far from ampu tation being necessary, he soon re covered, and was now walking upon his two legs.—(A laugh.) There were other points which ho could bring before the House in support of his 'notion; but, without detaining the House further, ho thought he had stated sufficient to show the necessity of a change in the system. He did not make this motion in behalf of the assistant surgeons, for he was not acquainted with a single one, nor had he had any communication with any of the body. It was from a pure, honest, and conscientious belief that there was an injury done to the naval service generally, that he made this motion, and he hoped the House would have no difficulty in agreeing to it. Admiral DUNDAS admitted that there was room to increase the accommodation of assistant-surgeons, but be could not agree with the Honourable and Gallant Gentleman that there was a paucity of applicants fur the situation of assistant-surgeons, since there were uo less than 2G3 applicants on the list at the present moment, while since the increase iu their pay the efficiency of assistant-surgeons was equal to that of assistant-surgeons in the army. Every ship in the service had a cabin twice as large as any other in which the assistant-surgeons might road and study. For himself, he believed the best surgeons now in the navy were those who had been brought up in the cockpit. Mr. HUME was obliged to the Hon. Gentleman who had brought this subject forward. The question was whether the navy, as a public service, was not entitled to have as able men as the army could obtain ? No roan would go to the navy as a surgeon who could find employment in the army.—(Hear.) The system of accommodation for navy surgeons seemed to him a gross injustice to the service generally, it eunuch as it tended to degrade the surgeons. The Gallant Member (Admiral Duntlas)shad said there were few or no complaints made against the present system by the assistant-surgeons in the navy themselves; but it was not likely those men would dare to make many complaints whoa they found even admirals snubbed —(A laugh)—by men at head- quarters. He (Mr. Hume) would support say motion which had for its object the amelioration of the position of assistant-surgeons in the navy. The House then divided, when there appeared— For Captain Boldero's motion 48 A g ainst it ••• ••• ••• ... 40 Majority in favour of the motion ... —8 On re-entering the gallery we found Captain BEdKE LEY on his legs speaking to the same point. lie maintained that by the present system assistant-sur geons were relieved from many incumbrances. In the Royal Marines, in which many young men entered, they had to borrow money from their friends for their outfit, and after their introduction into the service, had expenses forced upon them by which they were involved to an inextricable extent, and were obliged to leave the service. This would probably often be the case with naval surgeons if they were placed in a similar situation. He would maintain most honestly that this attempt to put assistant-surgeons over the head of their superiors in rank would be attended with very great evils, and would inflict one of the greatest injuries on her Majesty's naval service. Ho wished to know why the Honourable and Gallant Member did not, when in office, endeavour to induce the Admiralty of that day to make the new arrangement which he now proposed ? He imagined, however, that they were as much opposed to it as the present Board of Admiralty. If the opinion of naval officers were taken, he was convinced that it would be decidedly against the motion of the Honourable and Gallant Gentleman. Allusion had been made to the fact ef the engineers of our naval steamers having separate cabins, but the necessity of such an arrangement was obvious, because, when the weather was boietereus and the lives of the crew were in danger, the engineer had to be up at all hours of the night, • and therefore re quired accommodation which other officers did not. He denied that naval officers bad any desire to give less accommodation to assistant-surgeons than their position and education required, and said he should give his de cided opposition to the motion. Captain BOLDER() replied. Sir FRANCIS BARING said there were serious wad practical difficulties to the carrying out ore the motion of the Honourable Member. If there were the means of giving this aeoommodation of course there were would be no objection to it ; but that such means did not exist was proved by the report of the Commission which had sat upon this very subject, - • and ,which had reported that there was no room for additional cabins. The report, however, suggested certain other improve - ments in the accommodation of assistant-surgeons which had been fully carried out, and which it was thought would render additional cabins unnecessary. However he should not put the House to the trouble of dividing again, but, though the House should agree to the reso lution, ho was very Much afraid that it would be im possible to carry out its object. Mr. HUME said it was perfectly true that the report of the Commission stated that there was not sufficient room for additional cabins, while the other improvements which the report recommended had greatly benefited the medical officers of the navy; but it should be remembered that since that report had been made room had been found fur no less than three cabins. The motion was then agreed to. ILLEGALITY OF REPRISALS. Mr. ANS'i?EY then proceeded to call the attention of the House to the illegality of reprisals when made by officers of her Majesty's navy, without the authority of au order in Council. Adverting to the Grecian affair. he said he did not dispute the legality of the claims, Out he complained rather of the informal manner in which thoy had been enforced. He deprecated the course that hal been pursued by the Government in this case, because they had advised her Majesty to place her royal prerogative at the disposal of Admiral Parker, lilting under the direction of Mr. Wyse. Ile alluded to the prerogative of declaring war or peace, which he asserted could only be exercised by her Majesty with the advice of heir Privy Council. The Hon, Gentleman then proceeded to observe, that reprisals amounted, in fact, to a declaration of war, L,r the only difference between reprisals and a declaration of war was, that the former was imperfect war, while the latte r was wur in its perfect sense. Ea also wished to know if the neceessary notice had been given by this country to foreign states in respect to the reprisals which had been adopted regarding Greece. lie must, in the outset, ab- APR IL 9, WO. solve the Nob;e Lord et the head of the Fot - e.eit De partment from the charge of being the first Fereien edini-eer Aeho had vibstituteci for an order ef the Privy ceuneil the marteete of the. Seerctzt y of Stele tot the Foreign Department. He was sorry to s'y thee. tote Earl el Aber (leen adopted the same csurso in resecct to the river Parana. The law on thie stilject rial not de peed on hastily adopted opinions by writers on inter national law, or on obsolete statutes on the subject. Such men as the late Lord Stowell and Chief Justice Tyndal held the view which he had taken the liberty to lay before the House. elle wished to ee e as Mr. Justice Blackstone had it, that their sol Hers and their sailors were not guilty of acts which would render them liable to be treated as banditti. Uunfortunately it was not the Government of the country who directed these reprisals, but the individual who carried the order out, that became the sufferer on account of them. He had no hesitation in saying that in the event of Sir William Parker returning to this country, and if any Greek merchant suffered in consequence of these re prisals—the order for them not emanating from the Privy Council—an action might be brought against the gallant admiral, and heavy damages recovered. This being the constitutional rule, and this the departure from it, he should be glad that the Noble Lord would explain what was the excuse for the course pursued by the Foreign-office. Old diplomacy was dying out. It was, therefore, the more necessary to mark these viola tions of the laws of nations. What one Secretary of State did, another was not slow to follow. These violations of constitutional precedent should not be suffered to pass without observation. He would not fatigue the House by going through the precedents, although he had them with him. There was something more than the want of a mere matter of form iu the prosecution of these claims. Considering the long apparent quiescence of our Government in respect to these claims, the Greek Government had a right to something more than the notice given them. Oae of the claims was 20 years old, and in some others no application had been made since 1846-7. Nothing had been done since then, and what right had wo to suppose that our peremptory tone in 1850 would produce a greater effect than in those years? The course adopted wan costly, dangerous, and trouble some. He did not think that, however just the claims were, this course was justifiable. He did not blame the Noble Lord (Lord Palmerston) more than his predeces sors, but be wished to return to the old legal and consti tutional principle. Viscount PALMERSTON observed that he had no objection to offer to the manner in which the Hon. and Learned Gentleman bad submitted his views of a legal question to that House. The question had been entirely separated from any that might appear to have a political character. The Hon. and Learned Gentleman had stated his opinions upon legal and constitutional grounds, and to such a course of proceeding he of course could not object. All he could say, without pretending to follow the Hon. and Learned Gentleman through the historical details into which he had entered, was, that he (Lord Palmerston) was advised, and he was bound to act in accordance with the advice of those whose legal opinions he considered to be good, and those opinions he had no doubt were well grounded—hut acting, as he said, upon their opinion, he was advised that no order in Council was necessary for the purpose of effecting re prisals in this instance—that was to seize upon and de tain vessels for the purpose of obtaining redress from foreign powers on whom demands bad been made and redress had been refused:—(Hear, hear.) Hr conceded this—that if it weee necessary to go one step further—if it.weie necessary to confiscate and sell those vessels so seized, then he agreed with the Hon. and Learned Gen tleman that an order of Council would be necessary to es tablish a commission court for the purpose of confiscating and condemning those vessels.—(Hear.) For himself, he had acted in accordance with the advice that had been given to him, and h e was conv i nced i n his own mind that advice was sound. He believed that for the pur pose of seizing and detaining vessels, that which was re quired sins the order of a responsible officer of the Government—the Secretary (f State—that his giving an order to the admiral in command would justify that officer in carrying such an order into execution. Ile could assure the Hon. and Learned Gentleman that sup posing the measure he had adopted should, and he trusted it would, lead to a satisfactory result, and that without the necessity of a confiscation and sale of these vessels; but even if so. yet the parties to whom those vessels belonged would not, as the Hon. end Learned Gentleman maintainers, have good grounds for proceed ing in the courts of law in this country against the offi cers employed in the execution of their orders. As he was advised no officer could suffer any inconvenience— the officer would be borne harmless who could show that he had acted as a naval man, in pursuance of orders given to him. In the case c f the " Queen against Denman," this principle was found to be laid down, that an officer was bound to obey the orders he re ceived from his superiors. All he had to do was, to show that the act was doro in pursuance of orders, and therefore the Crown was bound to sustain him, or that department of the Government under which the officer had acted. Notwithstanding the opinions expressed by the Hon. and Learned Gentleman, he retained the opi nion that he was right in the way he had acted, and in the course he had pursued. He did not presume to say that others were to be bound by any legal opinion of his own, but what he stated was the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, and on whose opinion it was his duty, as a Minister of the Crown, to act. All legal opinions to which he had recourse convinced him that what he had done was strictly in accordance with the law and constitution of the country.—(Hear.) Mr. HUME wished to know in what state were the negotiations on this subject, and what prospect was there of a peaceable termination. It was lamentable to think that towards a country they had support td—that they had assisted by their pecuniary means, they should now have adopted a means by which they checked its trade and interfered with its prosperity. It was very desirable that such proceedings should be put an end t t, and he wished to know what prosp ct there was of it? Viscount PALMERS'TON replied that there was nobody in that House who took a deeper interest than he did in the real prosperity of the Greek nation.— (Hear, hear.) It had fallen to his lot to take part in the proceedings that led to the emancipation of Gres c-n and to the establishment of its Government, and in ren dering it an independent state. It was then exceedingly painful to him that he should be connected with mea sures that he had been compelled to adopt and pursue. It was not the fault of the Greek nation, it was the fault of the Greek Government that obliged him to have re course to these proceedings.—(Hear.) Tho last accounts he had received from Greece were to the effect that Baron Gros, who had been employed by the French Government to give his good offices in this matter, had arrived at Athens—that he was employed in investigat ing the matters in which it would be his duty to act, and that it was scarcely possible, front the time he had been at Athens, as yet to have fully investigated them. Under these circumstances it was impossible for him to give a distinct answer to the question put to him. The House then resolved itself into a Committee of Supply. ORDNANCE ESTIMATES. Colonel ANSUN stated that it now became his duty to bring under the consideration of the Committee the ordance estimates for the present year. He felt the importance of a duty that devolved upon him; and knowing the great anxiety felt as to those estimates, he did not consider that he would be justified in entering into the subject unless sustained by the kind assistance of the House, the patience of which he prayed for, whilst he compressed in as few observations as possible the statement he had to make.—(Hear, hear.) Formerly , complaints used to be made as to the difficulty of com prehending the various and complicated details in which these estimates and the various items they comprised were involved. These complaints he thought could not be made for the future, for these estimates had been con sidered in Committee, and the members of that Commit tee now possessed as much information on the subject as he did himself, and if any Hon. Member would take the trouble, or had the courage to go through the evidence in the blue books, and then put a distinct question to him, he could promise to give every such question a plain and explicit answer ; for if the answer were not plain and explicit, then, be said, the responsibility and the fault must rest with himself.—(Hear.) When the Committee on the Estimates bad been appointed in the year 1848, the expenditure of the country had increased, so much, and its finances so much diminished, it became apparent that one of two things was indispensable—they must either diminish the expenditure, dr 'they must de vise the means by which the revenue of the country should be increased. The large increase in the army, navy, and ordnance had attracted the attention of the House. It had also attracted the attention of the Go vernment, the members of which must be as anxious as any of themselves to diminish the expenditure, for they were the persons most likely to suffer from a careless expenditure of money, and the most deeply interested in preventing improper demands being made on that House. The Government then acted with a wise discretion when they consented to the appointment of a Committee.— (Hear, hear.) Twenty years had elapsed since any in quiry had been made on the same subject. Sir Henry Hardinge had then the chief management of this depart ment, and lie believed he could say of him that there never yet existed a more able public servant than Sir Henry Hardinge.—(Hear, hear.) Ho had made him self fully master of this department, and he had suc ceeded in carrying out many improvements which were a great advantage to the department and the pub lic at large.—(Bear, hear.) The Government then, ho said, had exercised a wise discretion in al'owing a Committee to be appointed, even though last year the Height Hon. Gentleman the Member fio. Stamford (Mr. Herries) had cast in the teeth of the Government their consenting to that Committee as the reason why they were obstructed in passing these estimates. The Go vernment did not deserve the taunt then cast upon them —the Government had not been disappointed in the ex pectations it had formed with respect to that Committee. The result of the labours of that Committee was now before the Ilouse in the shape of an able report. framed by his Noble Friend, and in it would be found altera tions suggeserl to the Government. These alterations had been considered by the Government, and the House would now say whether or not it would be desirable to carry them out to their full extent.—(Hear.) It would be his duty to al.ude to those recommendations of the Committee, and he believed that the most desirable way of considering and discussing them would be to bring forward each of them separately. Before he did so he would, however, first of all state that the whole amount of the estimates of the ordnance department for the pre sent year was 2,434,4171 ; in 1849, it was 2,632,601/., being a dimi nut i on on th e present year of 198,1941. In 1848, the estimate was 2,992,143/., and that compared with the present year of 2,434,417/., was a decrease of 557,1264 In 1845 the NS hole of the estimates was 2,287,7161 , being an increase on the year 1844 of 287,758/. The iuilov.frg was the increase on the several years he had to mentors —for 1846,"there was an increase of 430,416/ ; in 1847, 144,5451.; in 1848, 127,694/. The inerea::o in the' lour years was 990,187/. Now, for this large increase the Government alone was not to blame—if blame were de served it should be shared with that House, and with • th t.,i! not in the House. From 1835 to 1848, there had bear! corn iaerable charges brought against the Govern. • in ~ e t, test it hal not attended sufficiently to the security e uetry. The charge was not only made by those connected with the army or the navy, and who might be supposed to be biassed by their professional views, but it, .tis made by independent Members of the House. If any bsme were to be borne, it must be shared by a por tion of the House itself. He was certain that neither the late Government, with whom this increased expendi ture originated, nor the present Government who had continued it, would shrink from the responsibility im posed upon them in recommending to that House to aug ment the force of the navy and army, with providing then with proper and necessary equipments, and in adopting such measures as were particularly demanded for the ecurity of their seaports and dockyards—(Hear, hear.) It was to carry out such purposes as these that there had been the large increase of 990,0002 in the course cf four years. He was happy now to say that many (.f the objects for which the increased expenditure had been proposed had been carried into effect—(Hear.) One of their main objects had been to place the ordnance military corps in an efficient state ; that corps consisted of artillery, engineers, sappers, and miners. He be lieved that the House would not refuse any well-con sidered demand that might be made for putting in defence the assailable and unprotected parts of their coasts. Ile knew that objections were made to the in crease of this army. The Hon. Member for Montrose ' had year after year objected to that increase, and this year he had sought that reduction, bat the unequivocal expression of the opinion of the House justified the Go vernment in the proposal they had made. The objection that had been made to the army he did not anticipate would he made to the artillery force. It was admitted on all hands to be most valuable fur all purposes in peace and in war. It was one, then, necessary to main tain in a state of efficiency. In 1845 they had the dis tinct declaration of Sir Hew Ross to its being inade quate. During the last two years they had proof, by the war in India, cf the value of the artillery. He was not one of those who thought that all future contests would be decided by the artillery; but this he said, that that it was a moat powerful adjunct, and without such assistance any commander would feel himself 'to be powerless. It would be a sufficient answer to those who made any objection to show that this was a force that it was most desirable to maintain, and the efficiency of which had been experienced in every portion of the globe where their services were required. He had now to refer to the recommendations of the Com mittee. The first recommendation was with respect to the division of the services as set forth in the first page of the abstract. The details there would show whether the forces were employed at home or abroad. The first vote that he had to propose on the ordnance estimates was, as to the ordnance milit ar y cor p s , an d there it would be found the recommendation of the Com mittee was acted upon, by stating in the vote for the first time the number of men required for the service of the year. The numbers this year were 14,519 officers, non commissioned officers, and men, and the amount of the vote 712,755. The number of' men last year was 14,123, being an apparent increase of 446 men. In this were included 415 sappers and miners, that were employed and paid for by a distinct vote, but were now, for the first time, included in this vote; and to there were to be added 22 lieutenants. There was an addition in the charge for the movement of troops, a diminution under the head of recruiting, and an addition under the head of allowances. There were various other minor details into which he did not find it necessary to enter. Then there was a recommendation made by the Committee with reference to the distinct medical depart ment of the Ordnance. The subject was under the con sideration of the Secretary of War; and whatever the decision might be, it would have the cordial co-opera tion of his Noble Friend at the head of the Ordnance Department, so that the advantage of th e p u bli c an d t h e comforts and well-being of the troops might be at the same time secured. As to sappers and miners being employed in surveying the colonies, if the force were so employed it would become a question whether this country or the colonies should bear that expense. The next vote on the estimates was as to the commissariat supplies. The estimate for the present year was 273,8134 and for last year 301,6501., the diminution being 27,832/. That diminution arose chiefly on the article of forage. The Committee had proposed a change as to the com missariat in Ireland. There was, he observed, s till a cerumissariat department in Ireland; and he conceived there would be no economy in provisionieg the troops there, and supplying the cavalry with forage. The next vote was for salaries and contingencies s f the Ordnance offices at the Tower and Pall-mull, and it would be ob served that the sutra which was asked for last year amounted to 85,881/., whilst this year it was 86,9611., showing an increase fur the present year of 1,0801. He re gretted that there should be any increase upon this vote, because it w"s one upon which more remarks had been a ade, perhaps, than upon any other. Fault ha 1 always been Lanni with the expense of this establishment, and he should therefore, have been glad had he been able to effect a decrease. Ile believed he could satisfy the House, however, that the increase had not been made without proper regard to economy. At the same time he must ask them to compare the vote with that of the year 1848, when it amounted to 95,5641.; so that the sum he now asked was a diminution as compared with that year of 8.603/. The increase, as, compared with 1840- 50, arose chiefly in the Surveyor-General's office. Look ing at the state of the department at former periods, he found that the number of persons employed in it in 1828 was 333; in 1835-36, 221; awl in 1850.51, 218; thus exhibiting a diminution of 85 in the number of persons employed on the establishment since 1828, whilst the expense, which in 1828 amounted 109,0001., was for the current year only 86,961/. This result, he thought, should s f itself be sufficient to induce the House of Commons to do justice to the care and anxiety of the Ordnance department to reduce as far as possible the ex pense of the salaries of those who were (maples ed in their establishments. Ile should also mention that there was an addition to the item for postage this year of 5001., making the total postage 8,000/., and this, too, must be taken into cot sideration when accounting for the difference between the present vote and that for last year. In allusion to the observations of the Committee in their report with regard to t h e constitution of the department itself, Cols Anson said that, although he was not prepared to BO that no improvements could be made, he did believe that the business of tne department was conducted as. efll ciently as that of most other departments—certainly, as any department with which he had ever been connected. One of the recommendations of the Committee was, that the store-account examiner's office and the storekeepeee office should be abolished, and it had boon carried out to as full an extent as possible within the store account examiner's offic.:, and he was confident that the alters. lions made would prove advantageous to the department, facilitate the business in every way, and in process of time lead to reductions in the establishment. The next recommendation of the Committee had reference to tha office of surveyor-general and clerk of the works. That recommendation, too, had beea carried out al to the amalgamation of those two offices. He was sanguine as to the advantages that would be derived from the mariner in which the business would in future be conducted; and he believed that ever' those who belonged to the department themselves would be ready to acknowledge that the alters :ions would effect great improvements, and give greater facilities for performing the duties of their office. Another important recommendation of the Coo' mittee related to the manner of keeping the store ac' counts. Immediately on the termination of the labours of the Committee, the Government appointed a Court mittee for the purpose of inquiry into the mode of keeping these accounts, and that Committee had been sitting up to the present time. They had not, however, been able to devote all their attention to it, because of other very important business which was before Ureic. and the circumstance that it was only at certain periods that they could apply themselves to this particular mat' ter. Though they had not yet presented any report, be believed they were quite willing to acknowledge that they had undertaken an extremely difficult task, and that, notwithstanding the five years' experience of the system of double entry, it was almost impossible, front the enormous quantity of articles which were obliged to be accounted for by the different storekeepers, to have recourse to that system. He trusted that the report of the Committee would be ready to be laid upon the table of the house in a short time. The next recommenda tion contained in the report of the Select Committee re' ferred to the division of the Ordnance-office between the Tower and Pall-mall. This, he was happy to say, MP' been attended to, and application bad been made to Government to situation the alteration of the premises in Pall-mall, with a view to providing increased amo' modation and carrying on the whole of the business there. He thought this arrangement would be advar tageous in every respect, for he was certain that hitherto the separation of the offices between the Tower a nd Pall mall bad proved most inconvenient in carrying 00 the business of the department. The next vote was one net might appear to be rather alarming to anybody who was riot accustomed to consider the estimates--he alluded to vote No. 4—" Establishments in the United Kingdom and the colonies, salaries, allowances, and can tingencies "—extending from page 17 to page 46. The amount voted under this head for the year 1849-50 veal 315,373/, and he now asked for 303,8261., being a dinfi' nutter) fur this year of 11,5474 It was only fair that the House should be made acquainted with the fact that the reductions for the.. present year were not the only reductions, but that reductions had been made the previous year to a considerable extent, and • that, as compared with 1848-49, there was a reduc; tion in 1849.50 of 19,000/. The Committee had considered this and the following vote, No. 5, "Wages of artificers, labourers, and others employed at the se veral establishments in the United Kingdom and tie colonies." Their attention was first particularly draw° to the establishments at Woolwich engaged in the my nufacture of articles required for the Ordnance service. These establishments were shown at page 21 of the estimates; and the reason lbr their increase in the last few years was very fully stated in the report. In ale, laboratory and carria ge d e p artments i t h ad been found necessary to add very largely within the last two years to the number of artificers and labourers employed, ill order to meet the demands of the service; but hardly any addition had been made to the charge of superitr, tendence; and f rom hi s own k now l e d ge, t h e result 0 the attention which he had been obliged to pay to thho particular service, he could say that it was impossilto, to s; ec.k too highly of the indefatigable ex er ti on s 0 those who had the superintendence of the works. The Committee, in the summary of their report, re" commended that some of the establishments in the smsl:sr colonies, in the West Indies and in Canada+ should be dispensed with ; and their suggestions had b. en closely considered, and various reductions made in accordance with their wishes. One Ordnance esttibilinient, at home had been reduced, and three ste' tions iri Canada. _ ',there had else been some reductioall effected in the storekeepers' and deputy-storekeepere c ; departments—about seven of the latt er had b ee n r e duce d is the course of the year. The number of Ordnsug°