The Sun. — London, England, 1853-07-15 00:00:00

I x 11, x d Sc bOll tall x WV/ xd&;x l2 ;Ugh who'll Le ineresslt up to this )f both re , 6 ,!: ,es were P . ; it low ant' Lary prices' ►U F p s ., the nuctio aclalowec* &st week• oreign WIL neverthe- )ff steadilf T adV3ne° Flour. 2,560 1,4205 - i 740 , as season • nquiry, 51 ' off freelf , was in 0 t tho 10 ° iquiry, at ies of ve:'" tingly ill' each, iiv d. 8. ti• 6 4 I A O 6 4 '" 2 4 7 0 3 ' 3 C 4 0 0 25 0 24 0 ▪ . 32 0 .. 2,00 0 • 492 (I. s. d• 0 3 6 8 4 8 2 4 6 8 4 8 8 4 0 for all This to frool id East 1280 to mar• FRAN CE. nger mid ad ;ent. ) of up. On' Ale 30d ►Ck for LATEST FOREIGN NEWS. We find nothing worth extracting in the original columns of the Paris journals either on the East era. question or on any other subject. Some of the Journals have no leading article. The Constitution nel has a notice by its chief editor of the circular of Count Nesselrode, but M. Granier de Cassagnac had left nothing to do for another commentator. Assemblee Nationale continues to assert that the note has a pacific tendency, and has full confi dence that the efforts which are making to prevent War will be successful. The Council of State sat yesterday for the dis- Patch o f general business. Amongst the subjects 'which came before it for consideration was the draft of a decree according to the Lyons to St. Etienne Railway Company, and the coal company of Cha ,4)tte and Sorbier, the concession of a branch line to Connect the coal-pits with the St. Etienne Rail- Way; also, a decree authorising certain modifica "us in the statutes of the religious associations of the ladies of Ste. Marie de la Providence, esta blished at Saintes ; also another, to authorise the association of the Faithful Sisters of the Society of i Jesus, established at Paris, to found branch socie ‘ws at Nantes and Amiens ; and, lastly, the draft of a decree sanctioning certain modifications in the St. Germain Railway Company. Count Eueno de Germagnano, Lieutenant- General in the service of the King of Sardinia, has received the cross of officer of the Legion of Ronour from the hands of the Emperor. The Moniteur announces various changes in the magistrature, and also the presentation of the Military medal and nomination to the Legion of Ronour of numerous officers and private soldiers. A telegraphic dispatch has been received, an nouncing the arrival of the Minister of Marine at Lorient, where he debarked amidst cries of " Vive rEmpereur." Re afterwards reviewed the troops stationed there. • The members of the Spanish Embassy in Paris, With M. de Quin ones , Marquis de San Carlos, Charge d'Affaires, at their head, proceeded on Wednesday to Malmaison to pay an official visit to the Queen-Mother, Maria Christina. Marshal Narvaez had, previous to the reception of the Spanish diplomatic staff, a very long and lrivate c on f erence w ith the Queen-Mother. On eaving the Royal presence it was remarked that the Marshal appeared very well satisfied with the result of his interview, so far as we may judge by physigonomy, and this with Narvaez is not difficult, as his features easily betray his thoughts, Whether those thoughts be pleasing or otherwise. It is, therefore, taken for granted that the recon ciliation is now complete between those personages, for which the Duke of Rianzares had very adroitly Prepared the way. ' A considerable advance was made yesterday at the Bourse towards recovering from the late de pression, and at the close of business an improve tient of about 1 per cent. had taken place. Final quotations :—For Money, 3 per Cents., 77f. 20c. ; 4 ditto,. 102 f. For the end of the month-3 per C ents.,; 77f. 35c. ; 44 1 . ditto, 102 f. Bank Stock, ` ,6 60f. Shares of the Mortgage Bank are still quoted at 660 f..; those of the Societe Mobilere im- Proved 20f., being last quoted at 760 f. A general lvance occurred the prices of Railway Shares, business also being more active than has been the 'se lately. Closing prices :—Nerthern, 855.25 f. ; 4 Fari s and Orleans, 1,085 f. ; Paris and Strasbourg, 11 .75 f. ; Paris and Lyons, 907 f. • Paris and IR Ouen,l,osof. ; Lyons to the Mediterranean, '44.50f. TURKEY AND RUSSIA. Accounts from Constantinople of the 4th July F rench that the situation remains unaltered. The Colonel, Magnan, who is now in the Sul tan's service, has left the capital for Shumla. The Hungaria n , Kossta, has provisionally been handed over to the Austrian consul at Smyrna. The combined fleets are still at Besika Bay, 'here they had received a visit from the principal Inhabitants of Constantinople. The necessary Steam power for towing the 38 vessels being at Be sika, it was calculated that the whole could arrive at Constantinople in 29 hours. The armaments are still being actively continued. An army of 80,000 men has been concentrated at Erzeroum. A strong garrison has been placed at Batun. A letter from Constantinople of the 30th ult., in the Lidependance of Brussels, says : " Rather serious disturbances have broken out at Adrianople and in some parts of the province of Ismidt, near Constantinople. At Kaboussel, Adabazar, and Arash the Christians have been molested, and the Go vernor has been compelled to adopt strong measures to prevent popular effervescence. The events at Smyrna have caused great sensation. Ali Pacha, the Governor, has been dismissed. The Porte at first ra " el Y displaced him, and appointed him Gover nor'4 Rhodes - but M. Bruck insisted on his di smissal, and the Porte gave way. It appears that the conduct of Ali Pacha was not free from blame. T he Austrians say that for two months their Consul had demanded the extradition of M. Kossta, whose name is °n the list of refugees, who according to the convention With Count Leiningen are not to reside in the Ottoman E mpire. Ali Pacha, is replaced at Smyrna by Ismail daeha. M. de Bruck has presented to the Porte a note alanding the expulsion of all refugees in Turkey, who 41 'e subjects of Austria. The " Debats corrects in these terms a mistake it circular,:l44.le with respect to the date of the last Russian , in stating that it was the 20th of June " e w style : •" We hasten to make an important correction. The circ ular bears the date of the 20th June, according to the Russian calendar that is to say, the 2d July for C e stern Europe. What led us Into error was that we Ca binet that this dispatch was known to the English before the sitting of the House of Commons of the Bth J u ly, o n which day the motion of Mr. Layard was to have been discussed, but of which Lord Palmer 'to obtained the postponement. At bottom, that was ~e important point in the discussion of dates ; and, "uilst admitting that we were mistaken as to the date, Z e think w e ca n maintain that the English Cabinet ow the substance and the principal argument of the di spatch before the sitting of the Bth July. , ' The appearance of the combined French and English squadrons at Besika, Bay is, says the Con -Btautionnel, most imposing. This bay, situated on the coast Of Asia, at the entrance of the Darda 11.melles, is large and deep, and it is not improbable iil l a e t it c on t a ined the thousand vessels which bore Greeks before the walls of Troy. Our modern ve ssels, l ess num erous, but more formidable, form long line opposite the plain along which the petu ant Achilles dragged the body of Hector at the of his chariot. The French vessels are at the Ba yard of the line, the headmost ship being the ,", of 90 guns . Between the ships of the line aQ the shore are ranged the smaller sailing vessels and the steamers. At first the French squadron, lure superior to the English in ships of the I,ll e and guns, was inferior in steamers, but the force in that particular has been since equalised by the arrival of the Gomer and four other large steamers. . The N ew P russ i an Gazette, underdate o f Vi enna, Bth July, says All the difficulty which the Turco-Russian difference presents, consists in trailing the solution Wich can serve as the middle term between the note' of Count de Nesselrode of 'the 19th May, and th Reschid. Pacha. It Will 103 e reply made to it by this point, however, as th e their more easy to solve sues the same object, and a s Z s e ei l a n cabinet pur ciliation has.been listened to between r n England and. tor at St. Petersburgh, will recommextrgclia peror of Russia to conclude such an arm " ngement Em ' Austria has not armed, notwithstanding t h e ' threatening appearance of things, because she wished to prove how much confidence she h ad in her ally of the North, but she has reserved to her self to act according to her ideas in case her good offices should be rejected." • The Wanderer of Vienna contains a letter from Constantinople of the 27th ult., which says :—" A corps of observation has been dispatched to Bat turn, whence it can in ten hours be in Circassia for military operations. A part of the English fleet is to proceed to Battum to support its operations." A letter from Vienna, of the 10th, in the Ger man Journal of Frankfort, says :—" A great num ber of R uss i ans , who were residing here, have set off for St. Petersburgh, in consequence of the impe rial ukase, which enjoins all Russian subjects to return to their country every two years, and pass three months there, under pain of having their pro perty confiscated. The presence of Count do Reich berg in this city has for object, it, is said, the or ganisation of Lombardy, and to have a decision come to concerning the property which has been sequestrated. The investigation instituted relative to the insurrection of Milan, is terminated. It has been proved that the insurgents were almost • all of a low rank in life, and had received from the agents of . Mazzini and Kossuth proclamations, money, and poniards. In addition, they were given to understand 'that in case of their succeeding, de posits of arms were ready for them. The muskets taken were almost all of American manufacture." A letter from Odessa, of the 2d, in the New Gazette of Prussia, says :—" I hasten to announce to you that a proposition for a mediation, of Austria, supported by France, appears likely to be ' approved of by the Emperor Nicholas. Reschid Pacha will sign the ultimatum as the Emperor desires, and the just demands of Russia will thereby be satisfied. On the other hand, the Emperor, on the proposition of France, which is really en deavouring to maintain peace, will transmit to the Porte, in reply, a note, declaring that Russia has no intention to make the document signed by Reschid. Pacha serve for any intervention whatever in the temporal authority of the Sultan, or in an encroachment on his sovereignty. One single cir- I cumstance, however, renders this solution doubtful —namely, that the English and French fleets are still in the Bay of Besika. The Emperor will with difficulty consent to the above-mentioned measure so long as the fleets shall remain there." A letter from Smyrna, of the 29th inst., in the New Prussian Gazette, says :—" Much agitation has been caused by the American corvette having placed herself close to the Austrian brig of war, and armed her boats, in order to prevent M. Kossta being taken away and conveyed to Trieste. M. Kossta has protested against the treatment adopted towards him, as he had placed himself under the protection of the United States. His American passport has been found. It is stated that the Austrian Government have discovered the assassin of the Baron de Hackelberg, but the intervention of the American Consul . has prevented his arrest, as the Consul pretends that he is placed under the protection of his Government. He is a Hungarian, named Pasitz, who hasbeen a Hussar. He deserted, but never went to America ; it has been proved that before this assassination he never enjoyed American protection. It was remarked that at the moment of the funeral of Baron de Hackelberg all the Consuls, with the exception of those of the United States and England, hoisted their colours half-mast high. The Prussian Consul was present in person at the ceremony, the others sent some one to represent them.* SPAIN. - - - The Madrid journals of the 9th have arrived. The junta, or commission nominated by royal decree for inquiring into the question respecting the holy places at Jerusalem, in which, it is said, Spain has an interest, has been duly installed. The Clamor Publico mentions a report that Gene ral Narvaez, as a proof of his submission to the Queen, will, before returning to Spain, apply for a passport for Vienna. The Diario announces that M. Salamanca has commenced a prosecu tion against it for libel. The Duke and Duchess of Montpensier have presented an additional sum of 4,000 reals (1000 francs) to the fund raising for the relief of the sufferers from the famine in Galicia.-=A Cabinet Council had been held at La Granja, under the presidency of the Queen ; but no decision was come to on any of the great political questions which have been so long in suspense. The Queen, however, is said to be particularly anxious that those relative to the return of General Narvaez and the Northern Rail way shall be settled as quickly as possible. A new Ministerial crisis is accordingly not considered un likely. The Minister of the Interior has drawn up a new plan for the organisation of his department. It is believed that the Council of Ministers cannot deliberate on the reports of the Royal Council re lative to railways before the 20th of this month. The Three per Cents. were done at 42k. SWITZERLAND. BERNE, JULY 11.—The committee has submitted the following proposition to the National Council : " Resolved,—That the Federal Council shall be re quested to abstain for the future from ordering the judi cial and police authorities to expel persons who have not been proved to have violated the right of asylum, and whose conduct does not threaten to endanger the internal or external security of the Confederation." After a long discussion, the proposition was adopted by a majority of 58 against 20. THE ADVERTISEMENT DUTY. (From the Morning Herald.) • We write in ignorance of what Mr. Gladstone may, in another hour or two, announce to be his intention with reference to the newspaper controversy. First in order comes the dispute about the sixpence. Three times has the House of Commons decided that advertisements shall in future be free from duty. Once did Mr. Gladstone obtain a majority in favour of a sixpenny duty. Still, as he must be the mover in a case of this sort, the whole state of the question is something like a drawn battle ; and it has been said that Mr. G. will refuse to move in the matter, except he can have his own way, and be allowed to levy the sixpence. But really this is miserable work. One day exulting in a rapidly-increasing revenue, and showing an augmen tation on the last quarter of no less than 1,146,0001. The next pleading poverty, and declaring the Exchequer unable to sacrifice a petty tax of 80,0001. a-year. Is this either dignified or consistent ? We doubt, too, the correctness of Mr. Gladstone's arithmetic. We do not believe that the loss to the re venue would be even this poor 80,0001. per annum. For Mr. G. ought to remember that a large increase of advertisements, in all parts of the country, would as suredly produce both additional stamp duties, and a con sumption of much more paper, and hence an increased excise duty on that commodity. Let us observe the working of these two circumstances. Turning from the London papers, that we may not ap pear to be merely advocating our own cause, let us take the case of a leading nrovincial journal—such as the Manchester Guardian, or the Leeds Mercury. Each of these papers now publishes a supplement, and Mr. Gladstone proposes to let this supplement pass without a stamp. But if there be a double supplement, then there is to be an additional half-penny stamp duty. Now it is a matter of absolute certainty, that if the advertisement duty be wholly taken off, so that the provincial journals can take advertisements at 3s. or 25., or possibly even lower, the increase of ad vertising will be so great as to make it inevitable that each of these papers must publish a double supplement every week. The circulation of each is about 10,000 copies. The use of a double sup plement would therefore bring into the Exchequer, each week, these payments— 20 reams of paper, gross weight 8001 b., duty £5 0 0 10,000 stamps, at id 2O 16 8 £25 16 8 On the other side there is to be reckoned the loss of the sixpence which Mr. Gladstone is so anxious to levy. What would this amount to ? We counted just now a page of advertisements in the Manchester Guardian, and found it to contain 98 advertisements ; or, not quite 400 for the whole four pages. Now, we would concede the probability that small advertisements would increase' in number proportionately, if the duty were wholly repealed, and we will therefore suppose that the second supplement might contain 600. Well, the levy of sixpence on these 600 advertisements would produce 151. Clearly, therefore, if, by remitting the wlide duty, instead of only two-thirds of it, Mr. Gladstone can so far encourage advertising as to force the Man chester Guardian and the Leeds Mercury to publish double supplements weekly, he would lose 151. by the surrendered advertisement duty, and gain 251. 16s. Bd. by the supplement stamps and by the duty on paper. It seems, therefore, quite clear that by this remission the Exchequer would gain considerably. The only ex ception to be taken to this argument is that the remis sion might not produce the result we have supposed, i.e., a large increase of the number of advertisements. On this point, however, we believe that any man of ex perience could satisfy the Chancellor of the Exchequer. No one who is at all acquainted with the wants of the commercial world canintertain the least doubt that per fectly " free trade" in advertising would produce this result—would lead to such an increase of business .as would oblige all the leading papers to publish double supplements frequently. If this view be correct—and we have no doubt that it will bear a close scrutiny—when the Chancellor of the Exchequer is showing great pertinacity in defendiing the Treasury from Mr. Milner Gibson's attacks, when, in truth, he would probably gain more than he would lose by entirely conceding all that is asked of him. house. BRITISH ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—The preamble of this company's bill has been declared proved in the Lords. NEW MEXICAN TARIFF.—The synopsis published of the New Mexican tariff, which is to go into operation, as regards European vessels, on the Ist of October next, seems to confirm the doubts already existing as to any broad views on the subject being entertained by Santa Anna. The details, however, being loosely given, and unaccompanied by any comment, it is impossible at pre sent to form any precise view with regard to them. THE ESCAPE OF PATRICK OTIONOHOE.—The Free man's thedetailing theescapePatrick e e I rish convicts. ber, he escap e d f rom hi s dist • ay, t, crossed Bass's Straits in a storm, and arrived on the Australian continent on the 22d. Previous to Startingit by he wrote out a vindi ca by a su re h an d to one of the most distinguished members o f the Legislative Coun cil. After his arrival in. Austr a * tra versed 300 miles of the beach an m a y ind on the 22d, he on! of Hob son's Bay, seeking a ship bound for s:3 l le be was received on board a vessel boun rn d eri fo c r a' a Sp aOncne nish settlemen t, and had p ai d the captain 1901. pas sage money, bu t the ca p tain went off his barga in. sleep For many days and ni g hts he was without or rest, and one day he travelled ninety-one miles through the bush, subsisting on brackish water, without a particle of food. O n New Year's Day ie went, dis guised, alongside the Great Britain, in Hobson's Bay, to ascertain if he could get off by her. He could not ac complish this, and he entered the city at night, clothed in a sou'wester and blue shirt, tar -like, e and storm-beaten. He walked into a house which was kept by an Irishman, where he received the tenderest welcome. Four armed Irishman mounted guard at hit door, and on the follow ing day he held a levee, at which it is stated the'principal men of the town attended, armed for his defence. Five hundred policemen and the Government sympathisers are said to have known of the meeting. On the follow ing day he placed himself in communication with a few trustworthy friends, and these few gentlemen had O'Donohoe immediately removed to the country for safety. They then entered into a subscription amongst themselves for the purpose of chartering a small vessel to take him to California. Three of the five gentlemen. who constituted the Committee of Safety subscribed 751. each, and the remaining two (poor men, comparatively speaking), subscribed 501. each, making the handsome. snm of 3251. All things having been arranged, O'Dcr nohoe was placed on board a small cutter that was ostew sibly cleared out at the Sydney Customs for the South Sea Islands, but, in reality, for San Francisco. A " DASHING" WEDDING. BY ELIZA COOK. (From. Eliza Cook's Journal. ) " Well, if ever we should get married, we shall cer tainly adopt the sensible advice of Punch, and make the affair runaway match with the consent of our friends.' " This was our fervent mental declaration some fourteen months since, when, much against our inclination, we were staying at the house of a young neighbour during the preparations for her marriage with a good-looking clerk in the Bank. This young neighbour was Emily Mason, the eldest daughter of a retired commercial traveller, who managed to keep up a very respectable appearance, with a wife and five children, on three hundred a year. We had always given the Masons credit for being people of good common sense, and used to quote them as an example of prudence ; but, alas ! the folly they exhibited at the union of Emily with George Burleigh quite sapped our veneration for their mental superiority, and caused us to imagine that weddings, like cards, were invented to amuse mad people. We knew that George Burleigh had scarcely two hundred a-year, and that "comfortable apartments" near Islington, with a "small domestic," would form the extent of his establishment ; we knew that Mr. Mason had nothing to spare for extraneous luxuries ; and of course were con siderably startled when we heard of six bridesmaids, a grand breakfast for forty people, four dashing carriages, with grey horses and white favours ; that Emily was to wear a splendid lace veil instead of a bonnet, and that the whole paraphernalia was to be in imitation of the style in which the daughter of a duke is married. Every member of the family seemed bewildered by the approaching event, and the simple legal contract of mar riage was evidently about to be performed in much such a temporary galaxy of spangles, foil, white tulle, and blue fire, as one expects to witness in the last scene of a Lyceum Christmas-piece. The confusion and profusion of dressmakers, tailors, white gloves, orange-blossoms, milliners' boxes, confectioners' trays, wine-baskets and silver-decked cards, completely destroyed the natural state of household propriety, and every room and every person seemed bitten by a matrimonial tarantula. The staid and stout mamma grew so "puce" in the face amid the perplexing anxieties and duties crowding on her, that she rushed about like an animated pickling-cabbage. No sooner had she tried on a very tight-fitting dove-satin dress, under the scrutiny of Miss Flouncem, which added a deeper suffusion to her cheeks, than the cook, hired for the occasion, begged her most earnestly to look out the jelly-glasses : no sooner were the jelly-glasses produced, than her presence was demanded in the passage touching the arrival of " the cake" from Purssell's ; then, where was the blonde lace she had promised Julia ? in her private drawer upstairs ; then, where was the parcel of almonds for blanching ? in the store-closet down-stairs : Emily begged her to go directly to Regent-street to match some pink silk, and Maria requested her to be sure to call in Covent-garden to insure the bouquets. Poor Mrs. Mason (she might with justice have been taken for the long-sought realisation of "perpetual motion") ! but she wanted to "do the thing hand somely," and to show her friends that she knew " what is proper on such occasions," so she endured bravely, like a maternal heroine as she was, and felt as im- portant amid her embarrassing duties as a parish beadle at the head of a charity-school. It so happened that we wished to indite some business correspondence, and few would believe how vainly we tried to get a quiet hour and a foot or two of covenient space to ourselves. We sought the front parlour—there was a white silk skirt with seven flounces, three gauze scarfs, and "a love of a cap" on the large table, and a pink jacket, with numerous pairs of ethereal sleeves, on the "Pembroke." We retreated immediately, and tried the back parlour—there we encountered Mrs. Lovelace, in close conjunction with Julia and Maria, amid heaps of delicate materials, sprinkled with ribbons, flowers, and marabouts, to such a dazzling extent, that one might have fancied Oberon and Titania, with their elfin crew, had left their clothes behind while they went to take a bath. Not an inch of mahogany, not a glimpse of a chair-seat was visible, and we felt that our epistolary intentions in that quarter were completely "bonneted. , We sought our own bedroom—there was Emily packing up for her " tour" to Brighton, and everything was everywhere; we peeped into the brother's dormitory—surely a chance existed there—but, lo and behold ! the toilet-table was covered with glass and tumblers, and the very floor oc cupied by plates and dishes. We cast a sort of longing look on the landing-place, and when we found that in vaded by four bandboxes, Mr. Mason's new blue coat, and three pairs of dress boots, we gave up our purpose in despair, and resigned ourselves to helping Mrs. Mason to cut out some paper ornaments for the breakfast. Where George Burleigh was during his visits on the two last evenings of preparation we could not quite make out. We fancied we caught a fading shadow of him at the street-door once or twice as Emily gave rather an abrupt slam to the said door, but certain it is that he was not admitted into either of the receiving-rooms, and it is our belief that he was positively ordered out of the The night before the eventful morning the excitement and confusion increased to an alarming extent ; some of the most important essentials were found defective at the last moment. Mr. Mason had discovered that the sherry was not drinkable, and then doubted if there were cham- pagne enough. A journey from Bayswater to Fenchurch street after 8 p.m. was indispensable, and off he went, poor man, looking very like an escaped lunatic. Frank, the youngest son, declared his vest was too short for the fashion, and flung himself into a severe hysteric of bad words about the tailor's masculine want of attention. Tom, the eldest, had not been able to get grey horses to all the carriages, without extra charge. Maria was in an agony to find that one of the bridesmaids intended to wear a far more splendid dress than her own. Julia was loquaciously bitter against a pair of tight shoes just come from the makers's ; and Emily, the bride, was on the very precipice of fainting, from the effect of general flurry. Mrs. Mason, long after midnight, was busied among the " things for breakfast," and was so lost to reason that when Mr. Mason asked where his new black trowsers were, she replied, " They will be brought up with the custards, my dear." Dresses had to be altered, trades men had to be sent to, servants had to be schooled, and everything had to be looked for that should have been found a week before. We suspect that not a member of the family got one hour's sleep, and for our part we own to having entertained desperate notions that the mere " broomstick" system of marrying was preferable to such a dreadful disturbance in a quiet family. We can never describe the wedding morning. We seemed in a sort of mist, and can only distinctly recol lect that Emily was dosed with neat brandy, and that George Burleigh had to go back for the ring ; that the guests made long speeches while the bride was gasping ; that the bridegroom looked as happy as a duckling in a larze-bush ; and that Mr. Mason. between French champagne, Italian cream, and English sentiment, was compelled to retire from the public breakfast-table to the private bed-room. W e were never more glad th an w h en , a ft er an un limited amount of tears, and hugs, and distresses, Emily and her husband left for the London Bridge station ; and so sickened were we by the foolish wedding display of the Masons, that we resolutely made up our minds to abjure any chance of a like infliction in future. About a month since we paid a visit to Mrs. George Burleigh under very different, and what most ladies con sider very interesting, circumstances ; that is, she was sitting up in a close bedroom in a dingy-white dressing robe, with two dirty basins and ditto wine-glasses on the mantlepiece, a mysterious looking small panikin on the hob, a vast amount of untidy all-sorts scattered about, and something in her lap which might have been mistaken for a large wax doll, had it not exhibited a degree of crimson in the face which no wax doll of the slightest lady-like pretensions ever displayed. A rather subdued but very expressive vocal sound issuing from this small pipe in the grand Haarlem organ of life brought us to a full conviction of its being a real identity ; and after congratulating its mamma on her new possession, we instantly discovered an intense general likeness to its papa; within a few minutes we saw a strong trace of both grandpapas in the nose, with a dash of a maternal uncle about the chin ; while in the hands we detected the thumb of the whole Mason family. We nursed the cabbage-rosebud for some five minutes with such ner vous care and practical dexterity that its dear little head came in contact with the powder-box, and its robe of innumerable tucks got intimately acquainted with the cinders. We resigned it to an elderly woman, who smelt so strongly of "something," that our vivid imagination immediately saw written under her mouth the Inscrip tion often observed on the doors of various taverns, "Bottle and jug department." At last "the lovely in fant fell into an Elysian slumber of beatific serenity," ' as we read in a new novel the other day, and the lady of the immortal " Gamp" fraternity left us, no doubt, to fall into the Elysium of "Barclay's best." " Well, Emily," said we, "isn't George delighted with his daughter I" "Oh dear, yes," she replied; "but do you knbw it has been a dreadfully expensive time, and do you know, he says, that as soon as ever we can get rid of the nurse, we must go into smaller apartments. I wish we had now what was spent on our wedding. Do you know," continued she with a confidential, long faced whisper, " that what with the carriages and break fast, and all those fine dresses which you said I didn't want, the presents to the bridesmaids, the three weeks at those uncomfortable lodgings at Brighton, and one thing and another, that upwards of one hundred and twenty pounds went ; and where was the good of it ? but Ma and Pa would have a " dashing" wedding, and I was very foolish myself in the matter. I only wish we had the money now. George often gets cross about it when he thinks of it. This outpouring of Emily's did not at all astonish us, for we knew that she possessed some common sense, although the matrimonial earthquake had shaken it for a time. She then paid us the compliment of wishing that she had taken our advice, and got married more quietly. " Do you know," continued she, " that I think people in our station of life are very foolish to waste so much money on their weddings ; and when Julia and Maria get married, I shall do all in my power to prevent such a stupid set out. Not a soul cares for you a bit the more, after all the bother and expense, and I'm sure it's no pleasure to the parties. What do you think ? Mrs. Harley told Mrs. Mitfield the other day, that she thought Mr. Mason had much better have put by the money for e to t he hear, b r e has akf his gi r l s t h an h ave cu t suc h a d as h f or a f ew h ours • and both Mr cam Mr. Harris, breakfast" some rude remarks ;bout • the ch ampagne not b e i ng paid for yet,—and yet t h ey We smiled at Emily's honesty, and a long expatiation ensued on the conventional a,bsurdity of "grand weddings" in the middling ranks of society. We summed up, that the general results are embarrassment, discomfort, and undue expense. That most brides in such a position are pain fully distressed ; that most bridegrooms are either ridicu lously " spooney," or unbecomingly excited ; that the i m mediate connections are awkwardly anxious ; that the guests are seldom perfectly comfortable, and often censo rious and ungrateful ; and that the whole affair, instead of being a rational, solemn, and quiet ceremony, becomes TIIE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 15, 1853. a sort of Bedlamite holiday, in which flurry and fainting carriage and confusion, fine dresses and foolish speeches, a gold ring and silver card, are the prominent features ; and that they are by far the wisest who practise the ad vice quoted at the commencement of these pages. At this moment the She Dragon appointed by pre cedent to guard the golden nonpareil in the connubial gardens of Hesperides re-entered, and we left our young friend with the highest appreciation of her sensi ble repentance, and fancying, as we closed the door, that we still heard her saying something to this effect, and which, we believe has been echoed by many a thought less young couple—" I wish we had the money now that was thrown away at our wedding." LITERATURE. The Zoist : a Journal of Cerebral Physiology and Mesmerism. This periodical increases in interest every quarter. The present number gives us much characteristic information, and several articles on subjects of general entertainment. Among others, a letter to Dr. Elliotson on " Table Moving," and " Sensi tives." The introductory notice by W. Gregory, M.D., speaks for itself as to the nature of the sub ject far better than any criticism. We here sub join it at length ; it is well worthy of attentive consideration, from the importance of the theme and the able manner in which it is expounded : " The medical profession has, within the last two or three years, found it necessary to admit a very larga part of the long and obstinately rejected phenomena of mes merism ; viz., all those phenomena which depend on suggestion. These, so long as they were described by mesmerists as occurring in the mesmeric sleep, were scornfully rejected, and it is only since they have bees publicly exhibited as occurring in the waking state, and absurdly called electro-biological, that they have been admitted. Yet they were just as true, and as fully de monstrated by the mesmerists before, had the evidence but met with a fair reception. " But those who now admit the suggestive phenomena forget the past and, still neglecting or despising investi gation, ascribe, without hesitation, all mesmeric pheno mena whatever, so far as they admit these, to the in fluence of suggestion ; and either deny or disregard all the evidence which tends to prove the existence of a transferable influence, capable of acting at a distance, and of passing through various media—opaque or other wise. The writers now alluded to still reject, precisely as they once did the phenomena of suggestion, all the al leged facts of action at a distance, of sympathy without suggestion, of vision at a distance, or lucid vision gene rally ; and rather than admit such facts, which imply such a transferable influence as I have above alluded to, ascribe all the alleged facts to imposture and collusion, exactly as they did a few years ago in reference to the phenomena of suggestion. They pronounce the very idea of such a force or influence to be unphysiological, unphilosophical and absurd, and begin their researches (!) with assuming, a priori, the principle that no such in fluence or force exists or can exist. " Now against this mode of reasoning, a priori in op position to alleged facts, observed by competent persons of good character, I protest, in the name of logic and science, as altogether inadmissible. I maintain that we know little or nothing of the laws of nature in such matters, and certainly nothing to justify such an assump tion. Nor can we ever learn anything of the laws of nature save by observation and deduction from observed facts ; in no case by a priori assertions. " I maintain further that there exists a mass of evi dence in favour of the existence of a force or influence, in all probability imponderable but quite distinct from all the known imponderables—such as heat, light, electricity, magnetism, &c. ; and that the facts observed by mesmerists, in which suggestion has no share, can only be accounted for by the supposition of some such force. But I hold, that even if we could not account for them at all in this or any other way, these facts exist as truly as do those of suggestion, and to deny them does not annihilate them. They remain, and will ulti mately compel recognition. "I will go further, and say that we have no more nor better evidence of the existence of the forces or influences which we assume to be the cause of heat, light, &c. (but of the true nature of which we no nothing, except that they appear to be imponderable), than we do of the supposed mesmeric force or influence. When we are able to answer the question, "What is light, or heat, or electricity ?" but not till then, we shall be able to say what is the true nature of the mesmeric in fluence. At present, of all these forces and many more we know only the effects, but not the essence. We have ascertained by observation some of the laws which regulate them, but still not their essence. And there is no reason whatever to, suppose that the admitted list of imponderable natural forces is incapable of additions being made to it, from the same source, namely, ob servation. "Be this as it may, it is on this point at present that the mesmeric controversy hinges. Those who assume that we know all the forces and laws of nature refuse to admit a new influence or imponderable ; as if electricity itself did not date, at the very earliest, from the 17th century only ; and as if magnetism as a science, and above all, electro-magnetism, were not of still more re cent origin. Those, again, who appeal to observation, maintain that the facts observed demonstrate the exist ence of a new imponderable, or force, or influence as plainly as do other facts the existence of the causes of heat, light, electricity, magnetism (ordinary), chemical attraction, gravitation, cohesion, and any other forces which may belong to this category. And if it be un philosophical to talk of the mesmeric fluid, be it remem bered that this is done only in the same sense in which we speak of the electric fluid or the magnetic fluid, a mode of expression which arose from the resemblance of some of the phenomena to the motion of currents of fluid matter. " Up to a recent period, all the evidence in favour of the existence of a mesmeric force or influence was derived from experiments made on persons in the state of mes meric sleep or somnambulism. But in 1842, Reichen bach adduced a vast body of facts, altogether indepen dent of the mesmeric state or processes. He studied the phenomena precisely as those of all the other depart ments of physical science are studied ; and, precisely as is done in all other cases, he gave a name to the new force, because he found it to differ from all known forces. " The letters which follow contain a brief and popular account of his researches, and are, in my opinion, ad mirably calculated to show the utter futility of the a priori argument against the existence of this force. It is for this reason that I think they will be useful at the present time, when so much misapprehension prevails as to the extent and bearing of his researches. None of the writers who have opposed his views have given proof of having even carefully read his work. Their argu ments are addressed to superficial and erroneous notions of it ; and I have no hesitation in stating my conviction, after a very careful study of his writings, and many ex periments on the subject of them, that no scientific work whatever, known to me, deserves to rank higher in all the qualities which belong to an investigation conducted on the true Baconian principles. I have met with no argument which even touches his conclusions. But in conclusion I would remind the reader that while Baron Reichenbach speaks of a force or influence as the cause of the phenomena he has observed, he is not to be under stood as using these terms in any other sense than that in which we daily use them in reference to the known and admitted imponderables. As we speak of a mag netic or electric influence or force, so, and not otherwise, does he speak of the od force or the odic force—meaning by this the unknown cause of certain observed pheno mena, which is precisely what we mean when we speak of the electric force. " Evidently, then, the important point is the pheno mena, and not the name given to the supposed cause of them. And the reader will find in these letters abundant proof of the existence of peculiar phenomena, 'and also, if he considers the subject fairly, equally abundant proof that suggestion has nothing whatever to do with them. The precautions taken to exclude suggestion, however, can only be fully understood by studying Baron Reichen bach's great work, of which the first volume has been translated both by Dr. Ashburner and by myself. "Even the present letters, however, contain suffi cient proof to satisfy such as can judge of scientific evi dence, that suggestion cannot explain the facts ; and this is the conclusion to which all have come, who have in vestigated these phenomena, and which agrees perfectly with the conclusion arrived at by the independent re searches of mesmerits on persons in the mesmeric state, it being borne in mind that all the observations of Reichenbach were made on persons in the ordinary or waking condition. " WILLIAM GREGORY." THE PENINSULAR MAILS. SOUTHAMPTON, JULY 14. By the Peninsular and Oriental Company's ship Iberia, Captain John Bowen, we have dates from Gibraltar to the 6th ; Cadiz, the 7th ; Lisbon, 9th; Oporto, 10th ; and Vigo, the 11th inst. The Iberia brought on freight 5 packages specie, value 2,8151. sterling; 64 boxes eggs, 58 boxes 241 half and 35 quarter boxes raisins, 24 packages onions, 6 bags potatoes, and 20 packages general merchandise. Among the passengers by this steamer are—the Duke of Forli, the Marquis of Caraccioli, Sir M. C. Smith, Baron Gulich, the Baron and Baroness Estharege, Mr. Campbell, her Majesty's Consul at Port St. Mary's, &c. On the 7th the Iberia passed the screw steamer Alba tross steering to the southward ; on the Bth, the barque Bullfinch ; on the 10th, the steamer Madrid ; and on the 12th, the steam-ship Great Western. The news from Portugal brought by this packet has been anticipated by the arrival of the Tay. From Gibraltar our accounts are to the 7th inst. The screw-steamer Teneriffe, ten days from Alexandria, five and a-half from Malta, touched at Gibraltar on the Ist inst., 'on her way to Liverpool. The screw-steamer Arno, three days from Marseilles, arrived on the 3d, and cleared for Liverpool. The Peninsular and Oriental Company's screw-steamer Cadiz, seven and a-half days from Southampton, arrived on the Bth, and proceeded for Constantinople. This steamer, after leaving South ampton, had to anchor in Yarmouth-roads for 30 hours, in consequence of a tremendous gale of wind from the south-west. The screw-steamer Livorno, three and a half days from Marseilles, arrived on the sth, and left on the 6th for Liverpool. At Gibraltar, exchanges on London are 90 days' date, as quoted, 511 to 51-1 ; Spa nish Pillared Dollars, 31 to 4 per cent. premium. PREPARING FOR NEXT CENSUS.—In the Wick Free Church, on Sabbath last, no fewer than eleven children were baptised by the Rev. Charles Thomson. The ma jority of them were boys, and, judging from the strength of their tiny lungs, some of them were evidently very fine children. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY.) SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY (CANTERBURY AND WHITSTABLE, &c.). BILL. The Earl of VERULAM moved the third reading of this bill. Lord MONTEAGLE said the petitions against the bill presented an enormous amount of national inte- rests—one being from persons interested in 100,000 tons of shipping, and working with 4,000,0001. of capital, and the others being from large steam navigation companies, and they were, therefore, entitled to their lordships' at tention. The first ground of opposition taken by the petitioners was, that if they gave this railway company possession of the port at which the terminus was for steam-boat purposes, they gave them in effect the com mand of the steam navigation of the place ; next, that Parliament proposed to give this particular company limited liability, which they had for many years invari ably refused to other steam-boat companies. There was at this moment pending a commission of inquiry into the law of partnership, expressly including the principle of limited liability which they were thus going to anticipate —in a case, too, which was full of danger. They had often objected to the grasping monopoly of railway com panies, but they were now going not only to confer on one of them the control of the steam-boats at the termi- nus, but the possession of the harbour of Folkestone. In the case of the Brighton Company the house refused the powers which they now were asked to give, and the Duke of Wellington, whose interest in the Channel communi cation they all knew, in 1848 drew a distinction between a railway bill to enable a company to make a railway and a bill to enable them to build steamers, with the construction of which he conceived a railway company had nothing to do. But if it ever could be desirable to grant such powers at any time, it must be to a company which came before them with clean hands. Now, in the present case the company admitted they had been guilty for years past of a violation of the law, and of mis applying the funds of the railway shareholders to the establishment of steam-boats. Let their lordships not be led away by the argument that by giving those powers they enabled the company to give them good boats across the Channel. The case of the petitioners was, that they had provided those good steamboats already. He did not propose to reject the bill, but he certainly would propose amendments of the clauses conferring those powers. Lord BROUGHAM said, this case went before a select committee as an opposed bill. Different opposing com panies were heard against it by counsel, agents, and wit nesses, and the committee after all came to a resolution in favour of the bill ' • and it now appeared before their lordships for a third reading. He strongly recommended their lordships to pause long before they departed from the principle of giving their confidence to the reports of their committees acting impartially, and he would say judicially, on the questions referred to them. After a few words from the Earl of BANDON and Lord COLCHHEOPER, The Earl of HARROWBY said, that the principle was not to give persons the advantages of limited liabi lity except in cases of such magnitude as should make the risk too great to be undertaken on individual respon sibility. In the present case no such amount of re sponsibility had been shown ; he therefore hoped their lordships would not pass the bill. The present was merely an attempt on the part of a steamboat company to obtain an advantage over a competitor by acquiring cer tain privileges under the cover of being connected with ' and forming part of a railway company. He saw no reason why their lordships should depart from the prin ciple which they had usually followed in reference to such cases, which was, not to give an advantage over their competitors, which advantage was not at all requisite to the carrying out of their undertaking. 'Lord STANLEY (of Alderley) did not think it was quite fair to apply the same principles which regulated the steam navigation of this country with foreign nations to such a description of steam navigation as that which was contemplated by this bill. There was a great difference between the steam navigation which carried on the trade between all parts of the world and that which conducted trade between local ports. So far from its being the fact that there was no instance of Parlia ment having given its consent to a similar undertaking, he believed there was hardly any case in which a similar application was refused. The principle laid down in the report of the committee of 1848 was, that it was not , politic to grant a charter of limited liability to any persons undertaking a private enterprise, and that such charter should only be granted when the undertaking was of sufficient magnitude to make it of national im portance. But the report drew a distinction which appeared to be applicable to this case. They thought that under circumstances similar to those which here existed a limited power might be granted. If a mini mum of fares were established, and if certain regulations were adopted, it was their opinion that the powers now asked for might be granted. He did think that, such having been the recommendation of the committee under the peculiar circumstances of the case, their lordships ought to grant the powers now asked for. The course pursued by their lordships' house, and by the other house of Parliament, was, when such matters were referred to a committee, and that committee reported that it was desirable that the power asked for should be granted, to concur with the recommendation of the committee, and he thought that much stronger reasons should be adduced than had been advanced by the noble lord (Monteagle) before their lordships should depart from that principle by refusing to pass the third reading of this bill. The Earl of WICKLOW thought their lordships ought to have better evidence before them previously to their coming to a decision upon the bill. He would, therefore, recommend that the third reading should be postponed until the report of the committee was printed and laid before their lordships. The Earl of GALLOWAY opposed the bill. The object of it could not be carried out without a great outlay, which outlay could not be met without granting preferential shares ; and he knew that many of those who were now interested in the company were opposed to granting any preferential shares. After a few words from Lord KINNAIRD, The Earl of POWIS expressed a fear, if this power were given to the South-Eastern Company, that Parlia ment would be called upon by other railway companies for similar privileges, and he instanced the case of a railway company at Great Grimsby, which was partly projected for the purpose of engrossing the trade with the north of Europe. Lord MONTEAGLE explained that all he wished was, that their lordships, when discussing the bill, should have the evidence taken before the select com mittee on the table, and he was quite ready to withdraw his amendment. The Earl of WICKLOW then moved, as an amend ment, that the third reading should be postponed for the production of the evidence. The house divided— For the third reading 34 For the amendment lO Majority —24 The bill was then read a third time and passed. The Taxing Officer, Common Law Business (Ireland), Bill passed through committee, and was ordered to be reported to-morrow (this day). The Battersea-park and Westminster-bridge Bills were read a second time. JUVENILE MENDICANCY (No. 2)_ BILL. On the order of the day for considering the report of amendments on this bill being read, The Earl of SHAFTESBURY was understood to say that he proposed to limit the operation of the bill to children under the age of 10 years. He regretted to find that some remarks he had made on a former occa sion with reference to the President of the Poor Law Board had been misunderstood. He was most anxious that no misconception should exist as to his intentions, for he would be sorry to say a word that could be con sidered disparaging of a gentleman of such amiable dis position, and who had so satisfactorily discharged the duties of a most important office. Lord CAMPBELL observed, that there were in this metropolis a number of children, both boys and girls, most of them under the age of 10 years, who were em ployed ostensibly in sweeping the street-crossings, and who then asked remuneration for what they had done, but who were, in fact, beggars. Some of the female children employed in this manner were certainly not more than seven or eight years of age, and there could be no doubt that if they continued such a course of life they would become prostitutes, and that the boys who followed a similar calling would become thieves. He would suggest to the noble earl whether a clause might not be introduced into this bill to meet the case of children placed in such a position. The Earl of SHAFTESBURY was understood to say that he would endeavour to carry out the views of his noble and learned friend. The report was then agreed to. The Convicted Prisoners Removal and Confinement Bill and the Chancery Suitors Further Relief Bill were read a third time and passed. MANNING THE NAVY. Lord COLCHESTER begged to ask, in consequence of measures which had been brought forward in the other house by the First Lord of the Admiralty with reference to the manning of the navy and the formation of a body of naval volunteers, whether her Majesty's Government would object to lay upon the table of the house such portions of the evidence taken by the com mittee of naval officers appointed by the Board i of Ad miralty on the 6th of July, 1852, to inquire into the present system of manning the navy, or o f their report as related to a system for the establishment of a coast militia, and to the training and subsequent employment of the boys educated in the schools of Greenwich Hos pital ? He thought it was very desirable that these por tions of the evidence should bo laid before the house, but if it would be inconvenient to the Government to pro duce them, he would not press the matter. Le Earl of ABERD EEN believed that the report of the committee to which the noble lord referred was con sidered to be of a c onfidential natu re, but h e would com municate on the subject with the First Lo r d o f Admiralty, and, if there sho uld be no objection, the do cumen t s asked for by the noble lord should. be laid on the He must say , h owever, that he baclined to the opinion that the papers ought not to be p ro d uced. The house adjourned at a quarter to 8 o'clock. ROUSE OF COMMONS--(YESTERDAY.) INVALID SOLDIERS. Col. KNOX wished to know from the right hon. gentle man the Secretary at War whether it was true that 40 sol diers, 30 of whom were invalids, had been embarked on board the Oberon at Malta without sufficient provision being made for their health and accommodation. It ap peared that the space allotted to these soldiers was much too small, that they were exposed on deck for 24 hours, that the wet penetrated the vessel, which was obliged to call at Gibraltar in order to have the decl caulked ; that only ten hammocks had been provided, of which six only lcould bo hung in the space all o tt e d f or th es e 40 so ldi ers . If these facts were correct, he felt quite cos &dent that the right hon. gentleman would not allow them to occur again. Mr. S. HERBERT.said that the usual practice was to send.lorne invalids in transports. But as the Oberon was returnine , home for the p ur p ose o f b e i ng re p a i re d, th e Admiral thought that it offered an opportunity for sending home invalids, and he offered a portion of the space in the vessel for that purpose to the officer in command at Malta, which he thought would afford additional comforts to the invalids, and especially to women and children. He be lieved it was correct that in consequence of the state of the vessel the wet had penetrated. With regard to the hammocks he had received no information, and he could assure the hon. and gallant gentleman that everything would be done to prevent the recurrence of such inconve nience in future. (Hear.) SALT MONOPOLY IN INDIA. In, reply to a question by Sir 3. PAKINGTON, Sir C. 'WOOD said that he would have no objection to lay on the table of the house a letter from the junior secre tary in the province of Bengal, and some other papers re lative to the salt monopoly. _ CHOBHAM CAMP. Lord J. RUSSELL said ho had stated in answer to the hon. member for Montrose, that all the expenses had been voted on the motion of the Secretary-at-War. He had since found that there were some expenses connected with the Ordnance Department which were not included in the expenses mentioned, but if the hon. gentleman wished there would be no objection to the production of the addi tional expenses. Mr. HUME said that it would be better for the Govern ment to bring forward an estimate in the ordinary way. PUBLIC BUSINESS. In reply to Lord H. VANE, Lord J. RUSSELL said that he proposed to proceed with the Charitable Trusts Bill on Thursday. Mr. WILLIAMS said they were now in the eighth month of the session, and he saw by the paper that six new bills were to be introduced that night, he presumed at two or three o'clock in the morning. He should like to know from the noble lord how many more bills would be likely to be introduced in this surreptitious manner ? (Laughter.) Lord J. RUSSELL said that if the hon. gentleman bad given him notice of the question he would be able to give him a more precise answer. But most of the bills on the paper were bills for the continuance of Acts of Parliament which would expire. (Hear, hear.) Mr. GIBSON said that some of the bills were not con- tinuance bills, but altogether new measures. (ffea;;llesZ.) At a certain period of the session a process was usually re sorted to with regard to bills which was commonly known as the " massacre of the innocents." (Hear, hear.) It would be greatly for the convenien c e o f members if the Government would have recourse to this process as soon as possible, and inform the house what bills they intended to proceed with, and what bills they meant to withdraw. Lord J. RUSSELL said it was quite true that about this period of the year a number of bills were usually on the paper which it was found impossible to carry through before the end of the session. But he trusted there were very few bills of that nature in the list at the present time. (Hear, hear.) If the right hon. gentleman would ask him with regard to any particular measure, he would state what course the Government intended to pursue with re gard to it. At a future day he would state what measures the Government intended to give up, but ho hoped there were very few of that description. (Hear, hear.) EDUCATION BILL. Lord J. MANNERS said that the noble lord, although he signified his intention of not proceeding with the Edu cation Bill this session, declared that h would still ask the house to assent to the principle of the bill by moving the second reading. (Hear.) He believed that almost every member of the house would agree with him that it would be most inconvenient to ask the house to enter upon what might be a troublesome and annoying discussion of the principle of a bill which it was not intended to pass into a law in the present session. (Hear.) Lord J. RUSSELL said that his object in proposing the second reading of the bill was to ascertain the nature of the objections that might be urged against it so that he might be able to introduce the bill next session after a full consideration of those objections. (Hear.) He should still reserve to himself the right of considering whether he should proceed with the second reading, but if he brought it forward it would be only for the purpose he had men tioned. REGISTRATION OF ASSURANCES. Mr. HUME wished to know whether the Government intended to proceed with this bill, with regard to which members were every clay receiving a great many letters? Lord J. RUSSELL said that the bill h a d b een referred to a select committee, and without some connunicaliOn. with that committee it was not for him to say what would be done with respect to the bill. Sir G. GREY said it would greatly facilitate the public business if hon. members, who had bills for Wednesday, would give up the sitting on that day to the Government. (Hear.) The Factory Bill had been fixed for a late day in July--(laughter)—and he wished to know from the noble lord opposite whether it was intended to proceed with that bill. Lord J. MANNERS said that the right hon. gentleman had better put the question to the hon. member for Old hail?. (Mr. pobbett), who was more intimately concerned with the bill than he was. RUSSIA AND TURKEY. Mr. DlSRAELl—Referring to the question I addressed to the noble lord (Lord J. Russell) on Monday, with re- spect to the circular dispatch signed "Nesselrodo," which reached the metropolis that day, I then mentioned it ap peared in the dispatch that the occupation of the Turkish ports by the combined English and French fleets was consi- dered. by Russia as a naval occupation analogous in cha racter to the military occupation of the Turkish principa• lities by the Russian army. I also mentioned the dispatch stated, when that complete satisfaction was given by Turkey to Russia which was its due, and when the pressure which the attitude of the two maritime powers in the ports alluded to had ceased, then the Emperor of Russia would withdraw his forces within their own limits. The noble lord on that occasion, while he justly felt, it to be his duty to question the propriety of the first allegation I alluded to—namely, that the presence of the combined fleets was a naval occupation of the dominions of the Sultan, said, with reference to the second statement, his impression was, that I was not authorised in the interpretation I put on the circular dispatch. It has since been mentioned in another place that the observation of the noble lord was inadvert ently made—a pardonable inadventuro, certainly, as the document had only just arrived, and the noble lord's atten tion had only been just called to it. But, sir, it is not for that purpose I rise to address a question to the noble lord. The Secretary of State, in another place, took the oppor tunity of declaring the determination of her Majesty's Ministers that they would not listen to the conditions pressed in that dispatch in so peremptory a manner, and that they would not for a moment—in the management of this important affair—admit as a primary condition that the combined fleets should leave the Turkish ports alluded to. Assuming, as I do, that now negotiations are only formally, not virtually pursued—and that they are arrived at what is called a dead-lock—and believing that advantage to the public service will arise from a discussion of the question in both Houses of Parliament—l wish to know if the noble lord has any objection to fix a day on which the hon. member for Aylesbury can bring on the discussion in this house? Lord J. RUSSELL—In answer to the right hon. gentle man, I must refer to the circumstances of the answer given by me on a former day. The right hon. gentleman asked me a question with regard to the circular dispatch which only reached this country that day—and as I only had an opportunity of reading it in the newspaper iu a cursory manner, and had not made myself completely master of its contents, I therefore answered the right hon. gentleman with respect to my impression of the interpreta tion to be put upon that part of the document which said tho Russian troops would be removed from the principali- ties if the pressure from the combined fleets in the Turkish ports were taken off. I alleged I could not believe it was intended by the Russian government to make that a condi tion of the evacuation of the principalities. I did so, not only because it did not appear to me that that position was quite distinctly laid down, but also because I could not can- ceive that no account of two things so totally unlike the Rus sian government would think itself justified in demanding that the English and French fleets should leave the Turk ish waters before the Russian troops evacuated the princi palities. Because, in the one case, the English and French fleets were only in the waters of an allied power, and only there for the purpose, not of putting a pressure on that power, or urging that power in any way, but to be ready in case that power should call for the assistance of its allies, in the event of actual invasion of its territories. The other case was that of an actual occupation of the prin cipalities belonging to Turkey by Russian troops. I could see no similarity or comparison between the cases, and I could not think that a person of the experience and saga city of Count Nesselrode could have affixed his signature to a document which declared to all the world that such was the opinion and determination of the Russian Goverment. At the same time, admitting that the words boar on the face of them the interpretation the right hon. gentleman g ave, with respect to the question asked by the right hon. gentleman I have to state he is mistaken in supposing the negotiations have come to a dead-lock ;on the contrary, both the English and French Governments have considered whether there are not propositions which might be acceded to both by the Russian and Turkish Governments, which would afford the means of obtaining a pacific termination of these unfortunate disputes. Whether or no these hopes will be justified we cannot know immediately. It must take some time before we learn what is the view taken by the Court of St. Petersbargh of the mode in which Eng land, France, or Austria may have entered upon these subjects. And while such is the state of the negotiation, I think it is not desirable to have it a matter of discussion in this house. SUCCESSION DUTY BILL. On the motion for considering the amendments on this bill, Mr. BARROW moved in clause 1 the insertion of the words, " except money secured on heritable property in Scotland," after Ireland. He saw no reason why money secured by heritable bonds in Scotland should not be placed in the same condition as money secured on land in Eng land and Ireland. (Hear.) Mr. BASS said that there could be no reason for exempt ing the money secured on land in Scotland which was not equally valid in respect to England and Ireland. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that the only reason for the exception made in favour of Scot land was, that by the law of Scotland heritable bonds were regarded as real property, and were liable to be charged for the purpose of rating to the poor. But he must admit that this liability to rating only affected heritable bonds, in common with other descriptions of property. (Cheers.) He admitted that there was a great deal to be said in fa vour of the view of the hon. gentleman, and he would therefore accept the amendment he proposed. The amendment was then agreed to. Mr. FRESHFIELD proposed the following addition at the end of clause 2 :—" And for the purpose of governing and defining the several provisions in this act contained, it is hereby declared and provided that the object and inten tion of the legislature is to assess the tax hereby imposed upon property to which any person shall succeed without pecuniary consideration under any settlement or other dim , position, or by operation of law, in such and the like man -1 ner as if the sane property or interest had been acquired by will or by way of distribution in case of intestacy. His object in proposing the amendment was to render the interpretation of - the act more - clnar. • ' • The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER opposed the amendment; first, on the general ground that it would be an unsafe course to enunciate large definitions of which it was impossible to foresee the effect in the construing of the statute ; and, secondly, because in particular cases the amendment would cut across decisions which the house had already frequently come to during the progress of the bill in committee. The amendment was negatived. • On clause 7, Mr. MULLINGS proposed to insert the words "in such property" after the word benefit. He hoped the right hon. gentleman would agree to the amendment, because the words were so obviously required, and so much in accord ance with the principle which the right hon. gentleman had laid down himself, that he could not but think they were omitted through mistake or inadvertence. He wanted to know if it was the meaning of the clause, that without there being in favour of a grantor any interest in the pro perly, but merely soma mere matter of personal security — he was to be taxed on the succession, because if so it would be contrary to what he understood to be the spirit of the act. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL objected that if the words woposed by the hon. gentleman were inserted in the clause, it would open a door for the extensive evasion of the tax. If a man sold his estate for an annuity, or any other bene fit, being a bona fide exchange, it would not fall within the operation of the clause ; but if there were a reservation of a co-equal interest, the duty would be chargeable on the suc cession to that interest. The clause was worded for the purpose of taking in those cases in which an interest was reserved to the grantor, and to prevent evasion. The amendment was then put and negatived. Several verbal amendments on the paper, in the name of the Chan cellor of the Exchequer, were put and carried. Mr. HEADLAM moved an amendment in clause 20 to omit the words " or of any lease falling within the opera tion of the 24th section of this act." The object of the clause was to exempt leases originally held on a rack rent on their falling in, but it was necessary to take care that the exemption should not apply to other leases, which it would if the words were retained. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was dis posed to acquiesce in the amendment on the ground that the words which hail been introduced on the suggestion of the hon. and learned gentleman opposite would exempt from the tax any increase of value on the falling in of leases generally. The amendment was put and agreed to, and Mr. MULLINGS moved an amendment in clause 21, with the view of making the scale of duties established under the Legacy Act (the 36th of George III.) applicable to life and other terminable interests under this act. Ho admitted that the effect of this amendment, if carried, would be considerably to reduce the scale of duties ; but he had the less apprehension on that account, because when the Chancellor of the Exchequer brought forward this measure he estimated the produce of the tax at about two millions only, whereas, from the best information he had been able to collect, he believed it would amount to at least 2,300,0001. or 2,400,0001. Under these circumstances he thought there was uo occasion to put on a greater pressure than the adoption of the tables of the Legacy Act would impose ; the more so that one effect of the bill would be to do what was never contemplated, viz., to in crease the legacy duty as well as to impose an additional charge upon real property. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, with re gard to the amount which the tax would produce, observed that there were very many elements of uncertainty. He admitted a nett benefit of two millions 2 • but in doing so, he proceeded on the assumption that when the state of the revenue would permit the house would reform the probate duties, which could not be done without a sacrifice of re venue. (Hear.) It might be that in taking 30 years as the average of s uccess i ons , h e h a d t a k en t oo long a term ; but in the successions in the peerage, where they had some thing like a test, he found the rate of successions was much nearer his calculation than that of the hon. and learned gentleman. But the question was not as to the demonstra tiveness of the one estimate or the other, nor would he say that the tax might not yield something more than he calcu lated upon, but ho could say truly that he had laid before tlie - mthe best estimate he could, and the house would not act wisely in putting it down at a larger amount. The hon. and learned gentleman told them they would get something by the Legacy Act, but the present Legacy Act fell upon capital, and with reference to capital they had nothing to do with the tables. It was simply upon the life or terminable interests that the table would come into operation ;• so that the results upon the legacy duty would be insignificant, and would be fully balanced by the change of the law as to leaseholds, which they were about to put upon the footing of real property, in consonance with the principles of fairness and justice. (Hear, hear.) The hon. and learned gentleman had asked how they intended to proceed with regard to leaseholds. The answer to that question was extremely simple. If the lease were for a term of years it told at once how many yesrs it had to run, and the interest would be charged accordingly. By the table (No. 3) in the schedule the value would be estimated according to the number of years and the duty charged upon that amount, and if the lease was for lives it was re ducible to value in the same way. The value of the lease would be compared with the value of the life that succeeded to it; and if the value of the lease was the lesser interest, it would pay on the entire value; but if the value of the lease was of a greater number of years' purchase than the succeeding life, the charge would be on th e va l ue o f th e life. (Hear, hear.) The hon. gentleman complained that the effect of the plan proposed would be to increase the value of the life interest. It would do so, and for this reason—that the value of lives had increased. (Hear.) The tables of the reign of George 111. did not fairly repre sent the value of life iu this country now, whatever they might have done when they were framed. When the hon. and learned gentleman referred to the number of years' purchase of lives at 3,4, 5, and 6 per cent. ,he spoke beside the mark, and mixed up two things that were distinct. The value of human life consisted of two elements—first the probability of the life, and next the pecuniary value. The probability was estimated according to the scale of longevity, but the pecuniary value must depend upon the value of money. The hon. and learned gentleman said that he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) took 3 per cent. as the basis of his calculations instead of 5 ; but he did nothing of the kind. He took 4 per cent. as his basis ; and that, too, was the basis of the act of 36 Geo. 111. If the hon. and learned gentleman thought the tax proposed by the bill to be levied upon successions let him move that a lower rate be substituted; but let him not attempt to ar rive at that result indirectly by an amendment like that he had submitted. The amendment was put, and strangers were ordered to withdraw, but the amendment was ultimately negatived without a division. _ _ Mr. W. WILLIAMS moved an amendment in clause 21, line 30, to leave out the words " by eight equal half-yearly instalments, the first of such instalments to be paid ;" and in line 34, to leave out the words " and the seven follow ing instalments at half-yearly intervals of six months, each to be computed from the day on which the first instalment shall become due ; provided that if the successor shall die before all such instalments shall have become due, then any instalment not due at his decease shall cease to be payable, except in the case of a successor who shall have been competent to dispose of a continuing interest in such property, in which case the instalments unpaid at his death shall be a continuing charge on such interest, in exonera tion of his property, and shall be payable by the owner for the time being of such interest." His object was to re quire the payment of the duty in 12 months, instead of extending it over a period of 4i years. The system of, in stalments would render a most complicated system of -ac counts necessary, and would in a short time bring one half the estates of the kingdom within the operation of the act. Then consider how that complication would be increased by the application of the act to small properties acquired by means of freehold land and building societies, which were spreading throughout the country, and in some of which as many as 20,000 shares had already been issued. The amount of the tax, as compared with the value of the succession, was comparatively trifling, and was much less onerous than the legacy and probate duties, which were required to be paid within a month. There was no rea son, therefore, why it should be extended over a period of 41 years. _ _ The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER opposed the amendment. While fully recognising the hon. gentleman's general principle of placing real property upon the same footing as personal property in reference to the tax charge able on succession, he desired to avoid interfering with landed property in such a way as would interfere with the possession of property in this country. In case of life in terests, where the successor would take nothing but his interest from year to year, he presumed his hoe. friend would not call up at once upon the whole value ; and t i 4; small pay proprietors, the amend wituhpon regard him amend ment would operate with great severity, and would give a bene fit as against them to the larger proprietors. When they came to the practical consideration of the tax, he ad mitted that it might be proper to consider the mode of levying it in reference to very small properties. To divide it into eight separate payments would make it difficult of collection, and the expense of such a mode might probably swallow up the greater part of the tax. (Hear.) That, however, was a point to which he had not yet given con sideration, and it was one of but small importance, as compared with the great object and principle of the tax. He thought the discretion which was evinced by the area sury in all similar cases might be depended upon in this for making such arrangements iu regard to the collection as would be fair and satisfactory to all parties. Ad mitting that the present exemption from taxation on the succession to property should not be maintained, it became a question on what principle the tax should be laid on. It was most undesirable, he thought, to charge the estate with debt, immediately on the succes sion. (Hear.) It was obviously opposed to true policy, to force the successor by law to do so—(hear, hear) —and it was contrary to ordinary feeling and to policy also to force men to cut up their estates and sell portions of them to pay the duty charged on their succeding to them. (Hear hear.) It followed then that they must modify the payments to the tax so as to enable the parties to pay it without resorting to either of these alternatives, and to provide that it should be paid out of the income and not out of the capital. (Hear, hear.) In cases of direct taxa tion, the tax would not certainly amount to a very heavy burden ; but where the succession was indirect, its irePoel; tion would require some forethought to enable it to be Pal, ,a out of the annual income, without sacrificing the capital. In looking upon the payment by instalments in the light of a deduction from the amount of the tax, the Proper way to meet the question would be to charge interest upon the amount remaining over, but that he thought his hon. friend (Mr. Williams) was not prepared to ProPo.se. As the bill stood, the tax might be paid out of the income, and being so, it would not occasion any violent change in the ownership of property, or interfere with those old at tachments and traditional feelings which are mi xe d up with the possession of land in this country. (Hear, hear.) Mr. MULLINGS said he had heard with satisfaction the powerful speech of the right hon. gentleman against the whole bill. He wished to disabuse the hon. member for Lambeth of the notion per cent., d 1 per ce n t. f or l egacy duty. that a legacy of 20/ . pa i d a probate had nothing to do with l • to As duty b Probate per t y legacies. A l ne y duty being payable in 21 days, that was neve r the case, for an executor had six months to prove the will ; and, in fact, a year was the ordinary period for paying l ega cy duty. Mr. PHILLIPS expressed his surprise at the assertion of the hon. member for Lambeth, as to legacies paying pro bate duty, and ho hoped if the hon. gentleman had acted as an executor and had charged that duty, that ho would ease his conscience by refunding it. (Laughter.) Mr. 'WILLIAMS withdrew his amendment, and in doing so again urged that the probate duty was payable on lega cies, and that ho said so on the authority of the most mai. nont proctors. Mr. MULLINGS moved to add to clause 23 the follow. ing proviso :—" Provided also, that in estimating the duty either for charge of duty or for assessment on commutation, no timber or wood shall be included which may have been disposed of by the successor in ozchaogo for timber used 14