The Sun. — London, England, 1853-07-12 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF COMMONS—(THIS DAY.) The SPEAKER took the chair at 12 o'clock. PRIVATE BUSINESS. - - The Lords' amendments to the Electric Telegraph Company of Ireland ; South-Eastern Railway (Reading Extension, &c.) ' • and Warrington and Altrincham R ail- Way (Stockport) Bills were considered and agreed to. The Crowe's Disabilities Removal Bill was read a third time and passed. The Banbridge, Dublin, Newry, and Belfast Junction Railway, and the Westport Port and Harbour Bills were read a third time. The Archbishop of Canterbury's Estate, and the Pemberton Leigh's Estate Bills were read a second time. Mr. SECRETARY at WAR moved the appointment of a select committee to prepare estimates of the charge of the disembodied militia of Great Britain and Ireland for the year ending the 31st day of March, 1854 : Mr. Secretary at War, Viscount Palmerston, the Judge Advocate, Mr. Walpole, Mr. Ellice, Mr. Vernon Smith, Major Beresford, Mr. Wilson, Colonel Maule, Colonel Lindsay, Mr. Wilson Patten, and all colonels of militia. --Agreed' to. Mr. KERSHAW presented six petitions against the Education Bill. MERCHANT, SHIPPING BILL. The house then went into committee on this bill, on clause 29 ; the discussion on Capt. Scobell's proposition to omit the clause which permits vessels to be manned entirely by foreign seamen was resumed. Admiral WALCOT supported the omission of the clause, as he considered it would tend, if carried, to break up the Mercantile Marine of this country. Mr. INGHAM thought' that after the repeal of the Navigation Laws, when the British shipowner was exposed to open competition, it was only fair and just that he should be allowed to man his vessel in the most efficient manner possible. He intended, however, to move a proviso that this clause did not extend to the coasting trade. Sir G. PECHELL supported the clause, as be did not believe it would lead to the slightest inconvenience in manning the British navy. He believed it was quite impossible to man a ship efficiently with none but foreigners. Mr. DIGBY SEYMOUR believed that this clause was the most redeeming feature of the bill ; and he should cordially support it. Mr. DUNLOP supported the amendment. Sir G. TYLER opposed the clause. Sir J. GRAHAM said he had given to the question the grave consideration which it merited. Previous to the repeal of the navigation laws, it was confidently predicted by a num b er of gallant Officers examined be fore a committee of the House of Commons that it would lead to the utter ruin of her Majesty's navy. What was the real state of the case, he need only refer them to the last returns to see. It was only after hav ing agreed with his colleagues with regard to the aboli tion of the clause that he had brought forward the pro positions lately laid on the table of the house to give additional benefit to the seamen of her Majesty's service. The one could not be carried out without the other. The race of competition was now a very close one, and the British shipowner must not carry any more weight in the race than was absolutely necessary. He Was convinced that they could not do anything for the advantage of commerce, which would not also redound to the bnefit both of the Mercantile Marine and the Queen's service. Mr- WILLIAMS was as ardent a foreigner as any run in that house, but he thought this clause was carry ing the point rather further than was necessary. Admiral BERKELEY said that the state of affairs bad very much changed, since the time that hon. and gallant officers who opposed the clause, had had experi ence in the manning of the navy. In their times, the best men in the Royal Navy were drawn from the mer chant service, but that was not the case now. The nur series for able and thorough'seamen were quite changed. If he had not been perfectly convinced of this he should not have given way to this clause. Mr. G. HUDSON thought that full and fair oppor tunity ought to be given to the British shipowner to Compete at every advantage with shipowners of other countries, and he should vote for this clause. Mr. HENLEY regretted that the Government should have fixed the discussion of a question of such gravity and importance for a morning sitting. He had great sympathy for persons engaged in the shipping trade, and if he were only influenced by a consideration for their interest, ho should have had no difficulty in coming to a decision as to how he should give his vote on this occasion. But the interests of the seamen must also be looked to in deciding this question. It resolved itself, be believed, into what was the rate of wages to be paid to the seamen ; and the course which the Government proposed to take seemed to him to be this, that, instead of giving the seamen the fair amount of wages which tempt him to enter the Queen's service, they exposed him to competition with foreign seamen in the mercantile service in order to beat down wages and force him into the Royal Navy. What was wanted was not so much to increase the number of British sea men, but the numbers of the seamen of the best quality, such as were most fitted to make able men-of war's men. (LEFT SPEAKING.) THE AZTECS. We have within the last few years had opportunities of seeing specimens of at least two races of diminu tive people, not above one-half the height or dimen -14118 of the ordinary average of the human race. . 111.8 t, the Bushmen, who appeared to have no ar ticulate language ; and next, the Earthmen, who are n ow partially ,civilised. Both these races were stated by their introducers to be the degenerated remnants ' cf ancient nations ; but it seemed just as likely that th ey were from the first as they are now—pigmy races, varying, for some inscrutable reason, from the natural standard of man. But if the Bushmen and arthmen were curious, the children now being exhibi te d ; ;; k, the H anover - squ are Rooms are most marvellous. e first gla nce at them utterly astounds the spectator. They are so small—their heads are so strangely formed —their little limbs are so meagre—their cries are so shrill—their pranks so strange, that one in the first Ilush of astonishment thinks rather of sprites and hobgoblins than of human beings. A closer inspection, however, soon removes the impression, and we begin to try to trace the race of these wonderful creatures, whose home was undoubtedly in the recesses of the Cordilleras. But first let us describe them. They are boy and girl, and from their dental condition, so it is stated, are believed by medical men to be of respectively seventeen and eleven years of age. We conf3ss that we could form no satisfactory judgment on the p Dint. The appearance of the little creatures is so utterly anomalous that we gave up the attempt. Their height, however, is another matter. The boy, the elder, is certainly under three feet in stature; the girl measures only two feet six inches. As we have said, the limbs of the Aztecs are very thin ; but they are evidently full of life and spirit, and gambol and run, and look through a lorgnette, and ride a rocking-horse, and scrape a fiddle with great glee and apparent enjoy ment. The head is, of course, the most interesting por tion of -their development. It corresponds in size to the diminutive proportions of the body which bears it, while the hair is of a glossy black—thick, soft and silky, with a tendency to curl, stronger in the male, than the female. The forehead is low, and recedes almost at an animal angle, but just under the hair there is a sort of ridge which encircles the brow. The eyes are piercingly bright, and black, and the nose of exaggerated Hebrew propor tions, forming, indeed, the main feature of the face, as the under jaw recedes from the upper, and the chin again recedes rapidly from it. Thi s construction of the lower part of the face giv es th e whole countenance a peculiar expression, the revers e of that th of persons endowed with mental faculties • but,on other hand, it is only fair to say that the children exhibit marked proofs of intelli gence, that they are as inquisitive as they are lively, and th a t they are beginning to understand the words which Professor An derson— our old wizard f h riend, who has brought the l ittle creat ures from sout America—ad dressesa to them. As a whole, then, the expression of the s face is strongly J ewish. The remark v fgeneral in the ro om , and universally a g reed in. The tio se , the black lus trous eye, and the hair with a tendency to curl, all cor roborated the opinion. But a resembl ance more remark able still is to be traced in the features of the Aztec to the drawings of the basso-relievos in Mr. Stephen's volumes describing the wondrous ruins of the ancient M exican • cities. These remains are to the full as remarkable an d interesting as those of Nineveh, to which indeed they bear no slight resemblance, both in architecture and ornament, and a figure exhibited upon the wall, copied from Mr. Stephens' drawings, is a perfect fac-simile of the profiles of the little Aztecs, particularly of the boy. ROBBERY ON WATERLOO-BRIDGE IN OPEN DAY.— Yesterday afternoon about half - past four o 'clock, a valuable gold watch was stolen from the person of Mr. C. Greene, a gentleman connected with the Morning Advertiser newspaper, whilst standing on 'Waterloo bridge, under the following circumstances :—Mr. Greene had passed on to the bridge, and on reaching the second arch on the Middlesex side he stopped to look through the balustrades at a rowing match, the competitors in which were just shooting the arch. He had not stood more than a minute when he heard a clicking noise, as if something had fallen on the pavement. On looking down he saw near his feet a ring. On stooping to pick it up he observed his watch-guard dangling, and on placing his hand to his waistcoat pocket, discovered his watch, a gold one ,was gone. The ring he had picked up turned out to be the ring of the watch by which it was attached to the guard, and it had been nipped close to the pin which fastened it to the handle of the watch. There were a number of people in the immediate vicinity looking at the match, but the only person Mr. Greene observed near him on his right side was a youth about 18 or 20, with a cap with a leather peak, who, when the robbery 'was discovered, was gone. The toll-keeper, on being applied to, said be had a few minutes before seen three young fellows in caps run through the road gate in the direction of the Strand. Information of the robbery and a description of the watch was immediately given at Bow-street, but no clue either of that or the thief had, up to last night, been obtained. The watch, which is valued at about 20 guineas, was a testimonial presented to Mr. Greene by a !lumber of ratepayers of Islington, and bears an inscription to that effect on the inside of the back case, with the date of presentation, "January, SHARE MARKETS.-(THIS DAY.) BRITISH RAILWAYS. Closing Prices Yesterday. Business done this day. RAILWAYS. 26 -- 26i1 51- BA 9i - 101 9 - 71 20 -- 22 3A -- 2i d 100 -- 101 67i -- 681 21t -- 22 20A -- 224 ii ----- Shp 8 - 9 51 - 36 4 128 - 121 11i -11 i 8 - 8A 71A -72 A 47 - 52 70 -- 72 2i' -- iiii X 35- 86 53 -- 55 134 - 136 107 -- 109 88t —89 i 7i -- 97 -- 102 16i -- 174 76t -- 77 4t 4Ad 3d -- 14A -15 A 8 - 9 1$ - lip 1934 - 1644 114* - 1151 - 2 1 6 1 - lip 89 - 90 5 4Ad 4 3id n - 13 18 20 214 —29 i - 714 40 - 42 52 55 P . d ii 3 8 - 9 50 - 52 i d 33 —34 • 4adi 8 8t 48A - 4 ,1 4 92 - 94 - 58 - 62 58 - 62 68 -- 72 11 -- 18i -1) -- 91 13A -- 144 -- 3A 3id 19 -- 21 70 -- 35 70A 1-- 364 13 -- 14 23 - 25 21 21 1 141 - 1541 81 9t zo 32 gi - 1041 ...d— -6.4 - 7; - 28 - 20: 58i - 593 100 8 Aberdeen ........ ..... Ambg. N ottng. Best & Eastn. June....... Birmug. Wolverh. & Stour Va11ey......... Birkenhd. Lanesh. it Cheshire Janet._ Do. Chesh. & Birk., £5O & £25 Cerra.... Do., £2O. Bristol & Exeter...... Caledonian. ..... Chester & Holyhead Cork and Bandon Cork, Black. & Pass Dublin&BclfastJnnc Dundee Perth &Aber deen Junction East Anglian (£25 L. & E. & L. & D.)..... Do., (418 E. & H.).. Eastern Counties..... Eastern Union, Clss A. late E. U. 5h.... Do., do.. ... ....... .... Do., B. di C........... East Lancashire ...... East & West Ind. Dk. & Birming. June.... Edinburgh& Glasgow Edinb. and Peebles... Edinb.Prth.&Dundee Glasgow & SArestern Great Northern Stk.. Do., A. Stock ...... Do., B. Stock ...... Gt. Sth. &West. (Ire.) Great Western........ Irish South-Easter - A. Lancaster & Carlisle.. Do., Third 5............ Lancash. &Yorkshire Do., Fifths . ....... Do., Wst. Riding Un. Leeds Northern Liv. Crsby. & So uthpt. London & Blackwall Lend. Tilb. & Sthend. Lond. Might. & S. Cat. London &N. Western Do. Fifths Do. ,16/. Sh ,M&8... C London & S. Western Do., £50........ Do., X4O Lndndrry.&Coleraine Lndndrry. & Ennisk. Manch. Slid. &Lincln. Do., Man. &Lin. tin Midland Do. Birming. & Derby Midland G. West. (Ir.) Do. i Shares Newcastle & Carlisle Newmark et Do. Bury Extensions Newpt.Aberg.&lltfd Newry & Enniskillen Newry Warrenpoint & Rostrevor Norfolk Do., New ..... Northn. Counties Un North British North Devon, No.l Do., No. 2.. ....... Dc., A Deferred Do., :3 B Guaranteed North Staffordshire North Western.. N. & S. Westrn. June. Oxford Worcester & Wolverhampton Scottish Central Scottish Midland Shrewsbury & Birmg Do., L. & N. Westn Guaranteed Stock Shrewsby. & Herefd Shrewsby. & Chester (Nor. W. Min.) Do. Halves, do. Do. Oswestry Shropshire Union South Devon South Eastern South Wales S. Yorkqh. River Dun Do. Stockton & Hartlepl. Thames Haven Dock and Railway. .. Vale of Neath......... Waterfd. & Kilkenny Waterford&Limerick Wesi. Cornwall. Wmbl °den &Croydon Woodford York Newctl. & Berw. Do. Extensions Do. G.N.E. Purchase York & N. Midland PREFERENCE SHARES. 100 Aberdeen 11 Do., No. 2, 7 p. O Bris. & Ex. 4p. e. St. 5 Do. 4p. c. Shares ... 0 Caledonian £lO ...... 11 Chester & Holyhead Guar. 5i per cent... 34 Cork &Bandon 5A p.c. 11 Dundee Perth&liber deen Junction. 11 EastA nglian 10s) 6 per cent. 11 Do. (25) 7 per cent.. 2 Do. (£7l7s) 7p. ct.. 11 Eastern Counties Ex tension, 5 p. c. No.l 11 Do., No. 2 O Do., New 6p.c. St II Eastern Union, Scrip Guar. 6 per cent O EastLancash. 6 p.cts 11 Edinb.Prth.&Dundee 51 per cent O Glasgow &S. Western guar. 5 per cent. 0 Great Northr 5 p.c O Do. sp. c., Redeem , at 10 p. c. pram 11 Gt. Southn. &Westn (Ireland) Eighths 6 Gt. Westn. (Berks & Hants Ex. 5 p. c.) 0 G. West. fixed4i p c 6 km. & York. F. 220, )0 Do., 6 p. e., Stock )0 London and'Brightou Guaranteed 5 p. c )0 Do. Pref., 5 p. c. St. al Do. Convertible, sp. C., 1852 0 Do. New Guar 6p. c. 5 London & S.Wostern, Con. Thirds LO Londonderry& Coler I Shares . Xll Loudy. & Ennis. Sh Manch. ,Shef. , & Lin., G 4 64 al 3i al 5 I al 6i al 10 al 20 a] St. 11 5 1 a. ID St. 11 St. 11 St. 1( 16 St. 11 St. li St. I I 50 St. Ili 50 ] 2 II 1211 a] 25 I al I al Shares, NO. Do. Now, £lO Do., ........ Mar3rpt.&Carl. 4p. c. Do. 4a per cunt 12A 1 12i 1 124 St. li St. 11 Mid.Consol. 6 p.c. St. 00 8 1 D D o o. . C . o - isol Bristol & Bina. 6 per cent.... 161 5 Do. Pref. 4 per cent. 20 all Norfolk Extension... 5 all Do. Guar. 5A per ct.. 2 all Do. Way. Val. 5p c St. 100 North British 20 all North Staffordshire St. 100 Oxford. Worcester & Wolverh. £15,6p. c. 15 1 8 al 10 al .6 Do all Shrews& Birm. N. (1 dl Shrewsby. & Chester (Nor.W.Min),B p. c. LO Do. 5 per cent di South Devon Do. New dl S. Eastern (Reading Ann.,) of £1 05.6 d., dl S. Yorksh .4p. c. Guar. 3 Waterfd. &Kilk. 6p. c. York Newcastle and Berwick, 4 p. c. Pref. 10 11 25 al 10 1.0.6 al 20 I a; St. ill " 25 li 5 ro .0 York& N. Midland II & S. Porch.... 92 - - 96 88 - 107 -- 1091 jo,l 19A —20 A id par 6i -- 4 - 44 5 . - _SA 24 pp' 1 - 154 201 -20 i 3.1 -3, 128 =. 130 IILI - 113 8 8 105 107 d 152 154 1154 - 157 3 -- 4 10 -- 11 12i -- 13 8 -- 9 101 -10 i - P L5O 1521 Par i pl 116 118 118 122 115 - 117 253 - 263 101 —10 i 174- 1 p 14A . 15 par p 25 —26. E 19i —20 A id par 102 104 ►i —•— p. FORE: :IGN. Antwerp&Rotterdam Belgian Eastn. June. Beziers to Graissessac Charleroi & Erquelin. Dijon and Besancon Dutch Rhenish East Indian Do. Extension Gt. Indian Peninsula Gd. Junct. of France Gt.Westeruor Canada Shares Lucca d; F;isto:jai _ pref..............P.e' Lixembouri:: ' . Do. (Railway).., Do. (Canal) Do. 6 p. et. pref Lyons & Idediterran Aadras Namur & Liege (with interest) Do. (ex interest) Northern of Prance Do. 201. 3 p. c Bds• (fmy.D. & Ams. Shs.) NorwegianTrunkPrei Paris and Lyons Paris and Orleans Paris and Rouen Paris and Strasbourg ParisCaen & Cherbrg Quebec & R;ehmond Rouen and Havre Royal Swedish Sambre and Meuse Sth- Eastrn of France Southern of France Upper India Scrip West Flanders Do. 5i per c. Prof._ Western cf France West. of Switzerland Zealand it 1 l d i 1 - ? Ai. 1.4 -15 par— 1 p 2 —lid 5 6 P 1 lip 1 1 p id id 6 -- 7 4 -- 4A 4d 2Ap 71 - 7i 35f —35 i 14 15 8 9 16 —l6i 41 —43 40} 41} 36 --3 6 i 4 -- 5 id par 18A 19 84 4 -5 p - 4 - 4i ii. _____ 91 ifi t, 4 - 4d 3 -- 2 d all 100 all 100 4} 100 all 3 100 gi all 5 17i all 100 100 100 100 all 100 all 15 21s. 1 100 20 11i 100 IDo.. THE SUN, LONDON, TATESDAY EVENING, JULY 12, 1853. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. of our numerous colonies, which realised much more truly than before the observation that we were at the head of an empire on which the sun never sat. The question was, whether for our own social advantage, we were to persevere in getting rid of the criminal popula tion of the United Kingdom at the expense of those co lonies where we had been hitherto in the habit of sending Leasing Compans. Closing Prices Yest3rday. Business this day. HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY.) The LORD CHANCELLOR took hie seat on the woolsack London & N. West., at 5 o'clock. Lord CAMPBELL presented a petition from the car penters, =niers, and ironworkers of Manchester, Hal ford, and other places, in favour of the Combination of Workmen Bill. Gt.Westn, Do them. The opinion of those colonies having been in an unmistakable manner manifested against receiving any more convicts, we must, sooner or later, discontinue send ing them there. At present the colony which had been our grand depot for convicts, Van Diemen's Land, had signi fied great reluctance to receive anymore ; and the Govern ment, for the reasons statedin the late debate, had acceded to their request. The question arose, what number could be sent to the only colony, Western Australia, which was still willing to receive them. That point ascertained, their only course was to determine which of those offenders whom they had been in the habit of tran sporting should continue to be sent out. Treating tran- Do Do L.kN.W Caledon The Earl of EGLINTON presented a similar petition rom the working men of Manchester. The Earl of EGLINTON presented a petition from the Synod of Glasgow in favour of the Public Houses 150 1 I (Scotland) Bill. 106 - 166 54 - 56 Gt.Nrthn. Gt. Wean Yk. New. & Berw. Y. &NDid Do Do 150 - 152 33 -34 AUSTRIA AND TURKEY. The Earl of MALMESBURY asked the noble earl at she head of the Government Vadher he had received 112 - 114 56 - 57 271 - 284 14i - 141 26 - 27 any information respecting the advance of the Austrian army into Bosnia, and on what pba. The Earl of ABERDEEN said the Government had received no official information on the subject. The Earl of DERBY asked the noble earl whether sportatron as the next to capital punishment, all the could do was to take off from the bottom, as it were, S. Eastern Do of the criminal class as large a number as the colony was willing or able to receive. It was impossible to ascer- !Norfolk.. 98 - 100 her Majesty's Government had received any communica tion either now or any other tine from the Austrian Minister, with respect to the pcssib:hty or probability of the Austrian Government occupying Bosnia. The Earl of ABERDEEN said he had received no intimation of such intention on the part of the Austrian Government. NAVAL PROMOTION AND RETIREMENT. The Earl of HARDWICKE rose to call attention to the order in Council of the 25th of June, 1851, bearing upon the promotion and retirement of officers in the navy. Re did not wish to make any attack upon the present government, because they had nothing to do with the order in Council in question. When it was issued he stated his objections to it, and he now ventured again to trouble their lordships on the subject. He wished to induce the government to look into the matter with the view either of revising, rescinding, or amend ing the order in Council, in order that justice might be done to the officers of her Majesty's navy. It did not seem right, while the late government held office, until the opinion of the country was taken upon an important question of public policy to alter the order in Council. But if the late government had continued in office, he should have done in the Cabinet what he now proposed to do in their lordships' house—namely, to represent the injustice and inefficacy of the order in Council, first, in regard to the instruction of midshipmen ; secondly, as to lieutenants and commanders : and thirdly, as to post-captains. The regulations regarding the half-pay of officers also required revision. A post-captain, in order to receive the rank of admiral on the active list, must serve for six years in peace, four years in war r or five years in war and peace in a rated ship. That was the sole and entire test of the ability of an officer. The object was to endeavour to place upon the list of admi rals for active service young, active, and intelligent men practised in their profession. If the order in Council produced that effect, he should have no objection to it ; but it was unjust as well as ineffica cious. The injustice was, that however desirous and able an officer might be to serve in a rated ship, the Admiralty did not provide a rated ship for him. An officer might expend the best part of his life in the ser vice, and might serve an apprenticeship under the best officers, but, having attained a certain rank, he might not succeed in getting a ship for six years, and when he arrived at the top of the list the door was shut in his face, and he was liable to be dismissed from active ser vice. On the other hand, another officer, through the accident of getting a rated ship, arrived at the rank of admiral on active service. Then, a rated ship was a term that implied a wide margin, from the smallest fri gate to the highest line-of-battle ship. If an officer had never commanded a line-of-battle ship, and had had no experience in the evolutions of a squadron, he might still, if he had served in a frigate, become an admiral. But another officer, who might have served three years in a frigate, And only two years or one year in a line-of battle ship, where he might become conversant with the practice of evolutions of a squadron or fleet was removed to the reserved list. There was also another point to which he wished to call attention, and which bore upon the civil portion of the service. By these orders in Council any officer having been in command of a dock yard, victualling-yard, or in any civil service under the Crown relating to the navy, was entitled to take his place on the active list, and was competent to command a fleet. The order enacted that the time passed in ser vice might be reckoned as so much sea time passed afloat. He believed, however, that this order in Coun cil, which applied immediately to the dockyards and to the victualling-yards, did not apply to hospitals, and yet, notwithstanding this, three distinguished naval officers, who had served their time as superintend ents of hospitals, were made exceptions to the rule. That apppeared a flagrant act of injustice, because, as he had said before, although there was some doubt on the subject, he did not believe it was intended that the officers at the head of medical establish ments should be allowed to reckon their time, yet the officers to whom he alluded had been so treated, and were continued on the active list. What had been the thin that number with absolute accuracy, but it might be assumed at from 800 to 1,000 annually. Then came the question—from which set of convicts the punish ment of transportation should be removed ? Undoubt edly from those who were in the eye of the law the least culpable. The returns for 1851 showed that there were sentenced to transportation in England and Wales 2,892 convicts, including 56 who were capitally con victed, but whose punishment was commuted to tran sportation. Of these 1,562 were sentenced to seven years only, leaving 1,330 sentenced for longer terms, practically for ten years and upwards. Scotland and Ireland produced nearly, but not quite, the same num ber—in all, about 2,400 or 2,500. Not above one-third of those could be received in Western Australia; and it would be a very unwholesome state of the criminal law, if; of the large number sentenced to transportation, everybody should know that there were two chances out of three that the sentence would not be carried into L.&N.W. I & Mid Stektou & Darlingt. Midland.. 3 - 31 Dios --108 E. Count Do Do 65 - 67 L. &N.W &Ln&Yk Do GttNorthn D 0... Lancash& Yorksh. M.MClean Stockt. & Darlingt Do 150 - 152 150 - 152 _ . . i i t d 32 - 33 105 - 100 execution. (Hear.) To avoid this, they must go a step further, and remove transportation from a still larger number. There were none for periods between 10 and 14 years ; he only remembered one case of a man sen tenced for twelve years, and there were probably not half-a-dozen such cases in a year. Nearly all above ten were sentenced to fourteen years or upwards. Deduct. ing from 1,330 the number sentenced for ten years only, there remained 435 sentenced for fourteen years and upwards in England and Wales. Taking the same proportion for Ireland and Scotland, the total was about 800. This left a little margin within the number the colony would be able to receive ; but as, hitherto, the discretion of the judges had led many who were liable to 14 years or longer being only sentenced to 10, and as this would not be the case under the altered state of the law, the number sentenced for the. longtr period would probably be rather increased. He therefore thought that they should only leave as subjects for transportation, those who were now liable for 14 years and upwards, including cases of receiving stolen goods, outrages, assaults on the person, attempts to do grievous bodily harm, house breaking, burglary, cattle stealing, and matters of that sort. The only remaining question was, what should be substituted as a punishment for the remainder. It had been the practice for some time, for a great number of those sentenced to transportation, not to be transported. Instead of this they were imprisoned for a certain time on the separate system, were then em ployed on public works, and then, after a certain time, were either transported or not. At present, a prisoner sentenced to 15 years' transportation might be employed all that time on the public works ; but in point of prac tice it had never been done. The only effectual course would be to pass upon those who would otherwise have been transported, a sentence as little varied as possible from that which had been usual. The course had been always this : where a party was sentenced seven years, ordinarily speaking, he was imprisoned for a year ; then he was sent to the public works for one or two years, either to the hulks, Dartmoor, Portland Island, Pem broke, or other places ; and then he was sent abroad with a ticket. of leave. This, unfortunately, could be done no longer. He had endeavoured to come as near as possible to it. Those who would have been trans ported for seven years, were now to be kept in penal servitude for a term of four years; those transported for 10 years would undergo a penal servitude of six years ; those for 15, one of eight ; and those above 15, one of 10 years. The bill then went on to explain that the persons so sentenced would be liable to be dealt with—after their service on the public works they were to be sent to any place either in or out of the kingdom, including Bermuda, Malta, or Gibraltar. The question lay in a very narrow compass. Two propositions were to be established—what number of convicts they could continue to send to the colonies, and how they could best deal with those who were not so sent. He had had one or two communications urging him to do no thing in this matter, on the ground that there were .statutes in existence enabling the Crown not to trans port those who had been sentenced to transportation. This would certainly enable the Crown to make a selec tion of those to be sent to the colonies ; but weighing the advantages and the disadvantages together, it seemed to him a very scandalous thing that sentence of transportation should be passed upon 5,000 people at the various sessions and assizes, when it was well known :lGtWestn MINES. result of the practice followed since 1851 ? Had the present system, as was intended, produced upon the ac tive list a body of young and active officers who might be supposed, from their youth, to be more energetic and able to command our fleets, and had the result been that on the retired list the names of old officers were found whose years justified and rendered necessary their retirement ? Quite the reverse. The ages of 16 officers on each side produced—on the reserved list 1,027 years, and upon the active list 1,038 years, so that there was ' a small balance against the activity of the active list (a laugh), and it followed that there had been placed upon the active list a larger number of aged officers than upon the retired list. The service of six years in a rated ship could not be any sufficient test of the abilityof an officer, because officers might have served within a week or month of that time ; while, on the other hand, you might have an officer pushed on in the service by inte rest, who might have served the required period afloat, and still might not be so efficient a man as the other, who had not served quite so long a period. If their lordships took into consideration the mode in which the nav y was governed, it was the very last profession in this country which ought to be regulated by orders in Coun cil of this description. The whole mode of p'romotions and appointments was objectionable at present, because those promotions and appointments were not made by the board as a board, but were exercised by one individual, the First Lord. By orders in Council of this description you placed the First Lord in the very difficult and painful position, because although, doubtless, as an English gen tleman he wished to do justice to every one, great sus picion was thrown upon him, let him do whatever he might and be as just as he could. In the army no such system existed, and if there was retirement it was retire ment by selection of the Crown, and upon intelligible grounds. The recent order in ouncil was only a repe tition of the order passed iu 1827, which, far from being considered just by the service or by the governing power of the day, was thought so unjust to the service that it was repealed, and another substituted in its place. What he would ask the Government to do was, to exa mine the bearings of that order in Council, and to re store to the service the arrangements then effected in stead of those existing at present, which produced no financial advantage to the nation. The order substituted for that of 1827 would effectually meet the case which he had described, and would prevent any govern ing power being placed under circumstances of great difficulty, and from from havinc , its motives repre sented in a spirit totally foreign to its feelings and in tentions. that not 1,000 would be transported. (Hear.) That was an inconvenience which outweighed almost every other that could be suggested. Earl GREY did not intend to oppose the second read ing, for, although he concurred in thinking that trans portation was the most useful secondary punishment they possessed, he was bound to admit it had already been decided that its use, at least to a great extent, should be discontinued. He agreed that they ought to bring the practice as nearly as possible to the rigid en forcement of the sentences actually passed ; and there fore something of the kind proposed by his noble and learned friend must be adopted, because there was nothing else that they could adopt except what was called in the bill " penal servitude." At the same time, he had been greatly disappointed that the noble and learned lord had not given a fuller explanation of the manner in which her Majesty's Government intended to deal with this most difficult of difficult subjects • and he felt, moreover, that some of the provisions of the bill were open to objection. He should have liked, in the first place, to have been told what was the course that the Government intended to adopt with respect to ex tending the existing prisons at Portland and Dartmoor, or what new prisons were intended to be formed. He should have liked to have had some calculation given the house of the expense to be incurred, and also to have been informed whether the Government had already begun to take the necessary measures to provide for the disposal of the convicts who were no longer to be trans ported. Above all, he had anticipated that the noble and learned lord would have satisfied the house upon a point upon which many questions had been asked by himself (Earl Grey) and other noble lords, when the sub ject was last before them, namely, what was to be done with the convicts who, under the existing law and prac tice, had been taught to expect, that, at a given period, they would be released from the severities of Dartmoor and Bermuda ? In the course of one of the first conver sations which had taken place upon the subject this ses sion, he (Earl Grey) had stated his opinion that there would be between 3,000 and 4,000 of such persons to be disposed of during the present year. The noble duke (the Duke of Newcastle) contradicted him on that occa sion, and said that the real number would not be much more than half that. Of course he (Earl Grey) bowed to the noble duke's superior information • but he had after wards moved for returns upon the subject; and really, with those returns in his hand, he could not now see how his calculation could have been wrong. The total number of convicts removed to the Australian colonies with tickets of leave last year had been 3,735, and the year before 3,182 ; and he was aware of no cause in operation to reduce that number. On the contrary, the natural pre sumption was that it had not yet reached the maximum, and there had in fact been a progressive increase during the previous years. (Hear, hear.) There were, even at the date of the returns, at Portland, Bermuda, and the naval arsenals, no fewer than 1,234 persons who were entitled by the regulations then in force to expect to be released from the extreme severity to which they were subjected. Those who knew how severe was the penal discipline in use, how continuous the labour, how monotonous and tedious the life they led, would not be surprised to hear that the convicts should look forward to the period of their release with extreme anxiety, or that the stimulus to good conduct which that anticipa tion of release supplied, was the main source of all the improvements which had been brought about in our prison discipline. On a question of so much importance then, he trusted that some information would be given before the close of the present debate. (Hear, hear.) He would now proceed to make a few remarks upon the bill itself. Under the present law a convict under sen tence of transportation might be kept in prison at the pleasure of the Crown during the whole time of his sen tence ; but in practice that had never been done. It had always been the practice that the convicts should be released at a much earlier period. Thus persons sen tenced to seven years' transportation were discharged at the end of four years if they behaved well. Now, it was of great importance that the Crown should possess this power, because the whole of the improvement which had taken place had arisen from the plan of thus making the duration of the punishment depend upon the good behaviour of the culprit. If, therefore, they short ened the time of imprisonment they would greatly bili a man,dimi nish the efficiency of this motive. Under however idle and disorderly he might be, so long as he kept clear of a second conviction in a court of justice he would be discharged as a matter of course ; whereas now he knew that if he were guilty of misconduct he might be kept for the whole period at Portsmouth and Dartmoor. Besides the more natural course w ou ld b e to increase the sever it y of the imprisonme n t if they re mitted the banishment. Such, however, had not been the case except in one remarkable instance, namely. where a person had been sentenced to penal servitude for life. He (Lord Grey) had great doubts whether they could ever carry out such a sentence as that. Trans portation for life was a very different matter, because in and et banishment.sen ene c that case the party, if he behaved well, w ou ld, a f ter a t i me , receive a ticket of leave,then a his w ould become merely ono of perpetual But it was very doubtful whether the people of this country would ever be willing to see men condemned to a servitude that should last for life unchecred by the hope of ultimate release. (Hear, hear.) There was also a great deficiency in the bill. At present it was not the practice to permit convicts to pass at once from a state of strict discipline to one of unrestricted liberty. The holders of tickets of leave were compelled to reside in the particular part of the oolonyallotted to them, and they could be remanded into custody if they were guilty of breaking the condition upon which the tickets had been granted. Experience showed that that was a plan which had led to very good results, and that the holders of tickets of leave were much less liable to relapse than The Earl of ABERDEEN said, the noble earl had rightly stated that her Majesty's present Government had not originated the order in Council to which he had alluded, and had also given a reason for not bringing the subject under the attention of the Government of which he himself was a member. He thought he recol lected that at the time this order in Council was issued the noble earl, with some of his friends, had made some observations on the subject. He believed the matter had been considered by the Government at the time, and had also been fully considered by Parliament. Now, he (the Earl of Aberdeen) knew the subject was one upon which much difference of opinion prevailed in the naval profession, and he confessed that he himself was not very competent to offer an opinion upon any practical view which the noble earl had taken upon the working of the order in Council. As, therefore, the noble earl had done nothing more than call the attention of her Ma jesty's Government to the subject, he would, without offering any opinion or coming to any conclusion himself, simply engage that his right hon. friend at the head of the Admiralty should give the subject his full conside ration, and he had no doubt that ultimately a decision would be arrived at which would give some satisfaction to the noble earl. The Earl of HADDINGTON had long been of opi nion that the matter was one which needed consideration, but it was a subject of very considerable difficulty in deed, and it was more easy to point out defects in the existing system than to devise a remedy for those defects. He doubted whether under any general orders or regu lations whatev er, cases of hardshi p mi g ht not occur.H knew an instance in which an officer who had served five years and a certain number of months in a rated ship was then put upon the retired list. He had pre viously at the desire of the Government of the day, con tinued for a considerable time to serve in a sloop, and, if he had been allowed to count that service in the sloop, he would not have been put upon the retired list. That he thought was a case of great hardship. (Hear.) Lord COLCHESTER hoped the whole subject would receive the careful consideration of the right hon. baro net at the head of the Admiralty. Earl TALBOT was very glad the subject was about to receive the attention of the Government. It was a very important question, deeply affecting the efficiency of the navy, and he believed the order in Council alluded to had given rise to great dissatisfaction in the service generally. The subject then dropped. TRANSPORTATION OF OFFENDERS BILL. The LORD CHANCELLOR, in moving the second reading of this bill, regretted that there was a necessity, at the present day, to introduce a bill of that description. He did not treat lightly the advantage of transportation as a secondary punishment. His experience in criminal courts had convinced him that transportation answered the end of punishment better than anything elso that could have been devised. (Sear, hear.) It had all the main ingredients of secondary punishments ; it had a maximum in apprehension and a minimum in endur ance ; it excited great terror, without, perhaps, eventu ally inflicting great pain, and he knew not what they could look to better. If the United Kingdom alone were concerned, he should have deprecated the removal of transportation from the statute-book, to any great degree, as a punishment for crime. Its terrors operated to prevent the commission of crime, and those who had committed it were afforded the best chances of reforma tion. But we were bound also to consider the interests RAILWAU. IPaia.l 50 25 12i 13/ 20 20 all 100 all 100 all all all all all 100 1.1. i 100 100 18i 9i all Bedford and Bletcbley.... Birm. & Oxfd. guarantee.... Do. withoutgr Birm. Wolv. & Dudley guar. Do.vrtht guar. Buckghamsh. Clydesdale Jc. E. Lincoln gr. 6 per cent. Glstr.& Dn. Fr Hrtlpl. Dk. & Railway Hull & Selby Do. Shares. Do. Shaves. Lon.&Greenw Do. Preference Lowestoft gr. 4 per cent. Do. 6 per et. Manch. Bxtn. and Matlock Middleebro' & 1074 1124 Redcar Midld.Bra,dfd Northern and Easternsp.c. Do. 6 per ct. Do. Fixedsp s Prest. & Wyre Do. i Shares. Roystn.k Hit. D o . Shepth . St Shef.Roth.and Goole g. 5 p.c. S. Staffordsh. Wear Valleygr 6 per cent Do Wilts&Somrst 1 all Agua Fria 1 all Anglo Austrin. Gold 4d par 10s. all Anglo Californian 10 2 Australasian id pal 20 5 Australian 1 all Australian Cordillera id par 1 all Australian Freehold $d 1 all Ave Maria 4 Id • 1 all Baden (Gd. Duchy of) id par 1 all British Austrin. Gold 20 13.5 British Iro . 9 35 244 Brazilianlmp.(issue . d at X 5 pm 4 43 41 30 all Do. Comes dz Cuiada 3i 44 20 15 Do. St. John Del Rey 34 —35 1 all Carson's Creek 40 all Cobro Copper — 5 1 Colonial ... 14 Copikio St. all Copper Min. of Eng 6O 70 25 all Do. Pref. 74 p. cent 7 8 P 5 all English and Austrin Copper Smeltg. Co 2 -- I3d 20 all General 2 all Great Nugget Vein — 1 p 2 all Do. Registered 3 all Great Polgooth 1 all Lake Bathurst $ .$d 1 all Liberty 3 all Linares 1 all Lond.diCaliforn.Gold Quartz Crush. Co i 1 all Mariquita 10 9 Mexican&S.Americn 7 8 1 all New Granada par— i p 1 all Nouveau Monde 1 p 10 5 Nova Scotia Mining and Copper Smeltg. 5 1 Port Philip id par 1 all Quartz Rock id 1 50 all Rhymney Iron 15 Do. New 7 9 30 10i Santiago de Cuba 1 all South Australian 10 7 Tin Croft ••• 284 all United Mexican 31 41 1 all Waller 'ha 1 all West Granada 1 all West Mariposa 1 all Yuba JOINT-STOCK. BANXS. 40 all Australasia BO 81 al2 b. x bonus 50 all British N. American a d 20 2 Chrtd. Bnk. of India, Australia, & China 1 p 100 25 Colonial — 100 20 Commercial of Lond — 20 10 English Scottish and Anstm'an — 4 p 20 124 Lond. Chart. Bk. of Australia l4 11 p 50 20 London and County — 50 10 London Joint Stock —23 i 100 20 Lond. & Westminster ... „. 20 2 London Bank of Aus tralia and India 50 224 National of Ireland —• a a 25 all Oriental Bank of Corporation 49 50 25 5 Do. New — 100 25 Provincial of Ireland xd & bon 10 all Do. New — 5 1 Royal Australn.Bkg & Gold Imp Co 4 d par 25 all South Australia 46 48 473 25 all Union of Australia 7B 79 24 Do. New Bl 81 50 10 Union of London 40 all Union of Madrid........ MISCELLANEOUS 100 35 Australian Agricult. 69 71 20 8 Australsn.Pcific.ilail 10 7 Australn. Royal Mail 50 384 Brit. American Land 66 69 100 324 Canada 6B 70 5 5 Crystal Palace._ ... . 2 1 1. 3 p 8 4 2 Crystal Pal. of Frarce 4 1 20 1 Eastern Steam — 1 1 Electric Teleg. of Ir — 15 14 Gen. Steam Navigat 20 14 General Screw Steam 20 5 Irish Beetroot Sugar „. 1 all Nat. Pat. Steam Fuel 10 2 Netherlands Land 4d par 20 74 Nrth. ofEuropeSteam 50 all Peninsular & Oriental 50 25 Do. 100 60 Royal Mail Steam . . 25 25 South Austral• Lana 40 42 401 1 all Submar. Telegraph 5 2 Univeral Emigration and Colonization 100 284 Van D'emen's Land 16 18 RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS. LONDON AND SOUTH-EASTERN RAlLWAY.—Traffic re turn for the week ending July 9, 1853 £19,027 17 4 Corresponding week last year 16,219 3 1 . £2,808 14 3 LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST RAILWAY. — Traffic return for the week ending July 9, 1853 £13,958 6 10 Corresponding week last year Total of the half-year to this date, 1853 25,621 3 7 Total of the half-year to this date, 1852 24,311 12 10 GLASGOW AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAlLWAY.—Traffic re 'uurn for the week ending July 9, 1853 £4,624 3 5 Corresponding week last year Increase in 1853.. Increase in 1853 , LLOYD'S SHIPPING.--(THIS DAY.) LONDON, July 12.—Wind this day at Noon, W. ; fine. COWES, July 11.—Wind, S.W. Arrived—lrene, Ewart, Torrevieja. PORTSMOUTH, July 11.—Wind, W. Sailed—H.M.'s st. Nerbudda, Rio Janeiro. FALMOUTH, July 10.—Wind, Arrived—Wa verley, and Vittoria, Sierra Leone ; .Condor, Rio Janeiro ; Henriette, Taganrog ; John Oldham, Odessa ; Ann Key, Ibrail ; Antje, Galatz ; Rainbow, Ss lonics ; Patriot, Port Lagos ; Polly, Odessa ; Ageoline, G 'Wats ; Nelson, Con stantinople. LIVERPOOL, July 11.—Wind, 'W.N.W. Arrived — Warbler, Tatmagonohe, and Perast, Alexandria ; Johanna, Iceland ; Emperor, B ahia Northern Chief, and William Stetson, New Orleans ; British Lion, Quebec. Off Port — Susan, Bahia. Sailed—Pem, Africa ; Solomornio, Corfu ; Amalthea ' Calcutta ; Flora de Pang te, Rio Janeiro; Eliza Jenkins, Monte Video ; Buen Jesi Is, and Josefina, Ha vannah.—The Persia, arrived off thins place, is report ed to have been ashore off lolyhead. GLOUCESTER, July 11.—Arrived— Intrinsic, and Cocker ills, Constantinople; Panelope, Beaambars, Scale Nova; Earl of Glasgow, Kirkby ; Oran Hei:nrun, Odessa ; Dream, and Sea Serpent, Galatz. NEWPORT, July 10.—Wind, W.I.Sr.W. Sailed—Strive, New York ; Paulina, St. Thome'. CARDIFF, July 11.—Wind, W.N. 'W. Arrived—Pilgrim, St. John's, N.B. Sailed—Caractetras, Panama ; Bouina, Rio Janeiro ; Connor, New Orleans ; Jane Cummins, San tander ; Penelope, Cape of Good Ho ix). LowESTOFFE, July 11.—The Fri Ands, of and for Lon don, from Seaham, has put in here, making water, having been assisted off the Holme Sand. HASTINGS, July 10.—The Lamb run drifted in the rocks yesterday, but has been got off wit btout apparent damage. SWANAGE, July 9.—The Adelaidle (smack), from Kim meridge, missed stays off St. Alban' i i Head, through carry away her mainboom, and has h) come a total wreck. DETROIT, June 24.—The Challa age (steam propeller), from Chicago, burst her boiler, 22d. June, killing 5 of the crew, and subsequently sunk. The remainder of the crew and passengers were picked up by the North Star, and brought to this port. QUEBEC, June 27.—The St. Joseph (steam-tug), whilst lying at Oliver's-wharf, with the ii - essie, of Sligo, inside her, took fire, on the 25th inst., am l eet fire to the Jessie ; was subsequently cast loose, drifted •up the river, fell across the brig Erin, of New Ross, settin g fire to her bowsprit and figure-head ; was towed clear, ; and ultimately burned to the water's edge and sunk. Th e Jessie was scuttled and sunk, after receiving considerab to damago.—The Nor den, which was driven fro* her anchorage during the violent squall ou 30th May, and sunk, off Tibbet's Cove, in 9 fathoms water, has been raised, and towed to Oliver's wharf. ST. PETERSBURGH.— The St. P%etersburgh letters are to the 4th of July, but they do n.cit describe any altera tion of the slightest importance i rt the state of the mar kets. Fro►n Odessa the dates are to the 29th of June. A large business in wheat had 'taken place, at rather higher prices, the purchases being for the Mediterranean —chiefly Genoa and Marseilles. The markets for Rus sian produce to day were steady a .t former quotations. ROUEN.—Letters from Rouen xnention that the mar ket for manufactures remained heavy, although the attendance of buyers had slightly increased. those who were set at liberty without restrictir Now he (Lord Grey) did not think it would 1- possible to establish some such plan at hoi - hear.) Means might be devised, for instam,e, by which persons discharged from prison might be com pelled to reside in a particular district, and to give an account to the police how they earns ' their living. If means were also taken to furnish such persons with employment (which in the present state of the labour market might easily be done) the danger of abolishing to any great extent the transportation system would be very materially diminished. (Cheers.) When he (the noble earl) was Secretary of State, he wrote to the different colonies telling them that they would not be permitted to send convicts any longer to the penal settlements, and he advised them, therefore, to endeavour to improve their system of secondary punishments. Amongst the measures he recommended to them for that purpose was a plan of the kind he had described; and that was adopted by the Legislature of Barbadoes. The system had been found to answer extremely well there, and he did not see any reason why it would not work as well in the mother country. He would not trouble their lordships with any further remarks upon the bill, except to say that although he had asked many noble lords if they understood the 12th clause, he had not succeded i n find ing one that could do so. That clause proposed to enact that transportation should include " banishment beyond the seas." What did that mean ? The LORD CHANCELLOR explained that the clause had been inserted, because he had found that by the Scotch law there were some few offences that were punishable by " banishment beyond the seas." Lord BROUGHAM greatly regretted that transpor tation was about to be in any large degree abolished, because it possessed many advantages which belonged to no other secondary punishment whatever. In the first place, it was as easily apportionable to the offence as any secondary punishment could be. In the next, it had a reformatory tendency, which no other punishment possessed to an equal extent. Thirdly, it had ter rors which no other system could inspire ; and, lastly, it relieved the community from a number of offenders, the turning loose of whom upon society he could not contemplate without some apprehension. It appeared from the valuable work of the noble earl who had last spoken, entitled, "The Colonial Policy of Lord J. Russell's Administration," that there were no fewer than 48,000 persons in the different colonies who origi nally were sent out under sentence of transportation. Forty-eight thousand convicts withdrawn from society, and in some degree reformed, or, at all events, prevented from contaminating the community—that, at all events, was a fact which greatly increased, in no small degree, his regret and alarm at the discontinuance of _transpor tation. (Hear, hear.) However, it was a good old maxim that when they could not have what they liked, they must try to like what they had, and that ought to induce them to cherish, with a view to improving as much as possible, the system of sapgagiarjkppuishments which they already- possessed. HugRE tliere was a great deal of sound sense in the recommendation of the noble earl (Lord Grey), and that some such modification as the noble earl had described ought to be introduced into the plan proposed by the Government. No doubt it was quite true that at present a great anomaly did exist, and that it was necessary to terminate it as soon as possible. At the same time, it was equally desirable to retain the good that did result from the present prac tice. Whatever system of secondary punishments might be substituted in the place of transportation, his anticipations regarding its effect in deterring others from the commission of crime were, he confessed, ex tremely small. According to his view, prevention was that to which a law giver would direct his attention, and if he were to state that education was one of the best preventives, he should only be stating that which now-a-days was an unfruitful truism. He considered, however, infant training as the mostim portant of all preventives. The criminal population consisted 'of a certain proportion of the entire popu lation, and if they had a sufficient number of infant training schools for the children of the criminal popula tion, they would be adopting one of the most effectual means they could to prevent crime. Another requisite was a good police. One great objection to the extension and improvement of the police was the expense. He believed the expense would be cheerfully borne. An other was the distrust which might be thereby occa sioned, but which he believed would be confined to the dishonest part of the community, Another means of prevention was reformatory institutions. That had been tried in this country, in a town in Warwickshire, and it had been found there to be very successful. He trusted that Government would consider these various means of prevention, and adopt them as far as prac ticable. The Duke of NEWCASTLE regretted, in common with other noble lords who had spoken, the necessity of reducing the punishment of transportation to its mini mum. He concurred with them in the advantage of the present system. There seemed, however, to be an agreement on all hands that out of regard to our colo nies it was necessary to reduce this punishment. He hoped that out of this evil good might yet come, for he could not help thinking that, with the cessation of transportation to the extent to which it was now carried, the Government and the whole inhabitants of the coun try would turn their attention to the improvement of our penal system. He did not anticipate that this bill now on the table would be by any means the last that would be brought in on the subject. The noble earl ob jected to limiting the term of transportation. The reason was twofold. In the first place, those who had watched the progress of penal servitude, as it was called by this bill, were of opinion that the time now allotted would be too great for the endurance of criminals, and would be a much heavier amount of punishment than that for which it was substituted. In the second place, as their lord ships were aware, sentences of seven years' transporta tion had not been ordinarily carried into effect, but the convicts had been liberated after three years' punish ment. Two years was the minimum, but three years was the average. It was proposed by this bill to award four years, which was in effect a year longer than a no minal seven years' transportation. At the same time it was worthy of consideration whether they should not in the first instance award a heavier punishment, with a power to the executive to shorten the period as a reward for good conduct. Another suggestion by the noble earl was whether the ticket of leave system, which had worked so well in the colonies, might not work well in this country. The attention of Government had been turned to that point, and his noble friend on the wool sack would make a proposition respecting it on going into committee. One difficulty was whether the con victs should have tickets of leave given them to live under surveillance in any part of the country, or whether they should be permitted themselves to select their re sidence in any part of the country, or in any particular county or district. That was under consideration. Public works which were now going on, defensive works and harbours of refuge, facilitated a measure of that kind. His noble friend (Earl Grey) asked what was proposed to be done with regard to those criminals who had already been sentenced to transportation, and to whom promises had been made by announcements hung up in the prisons, that they should be sent to the colo nies with tickets of leave. He thought his noble friend at the head of the Government had already answered the question, but he would repeat that if this bill passed in the form in which it now stood, they would suffer no longer punishment in the prison than was provided to future prisoners. That would apply only to culprits in the prison to whom promises had been made. They had accumulated, but were no longer increasing, as the pro mises were withdrawn as soon as it was ascertained that the punishment of transportation was to cease. With regard to the capability of the prisons to hold an in creased number of prisoners, he apprehended there would be no difficulty, and that it would not be ne cessary to incur any expense before Parliament met next year. Lord CAMPBELL cordially supported the second reading of the bill. The principle of the bill he took to be to make law and practice correspond. There had been for years past a lamentable discrepancy between them, which had rendered the administration of justice painful on many occasions. He himself, when called called upon to pass sentence, had felt inwardly that it was a mockery. This bill substituted reality for fiction. When he said he approved of the bill, it must be under the well understood protest, that this was not the re quiem of transportation. Transportation on it s present scale could not continue. He had never sa i d that we could continue to force convicts on Van Diemen's Land, but he had said and should ever say that transportation, in the language of his noble friend, who opened this discussion, was the best secondary punishment that ever was invented. And when he agreed to this bill, it must be understood to be without prejudice to the Govern ment using efforts still to continue transportation. At the present time they would only have Western Aus tralia, but he thought new places might be found. He was told by those conversant with the subject, that there were other spots on the great continent of Australia to which they might advantageously send convicts, and it might be done to the Falkland Islands. He hoped that Government would use their best efforts to continue transportation in that way. The Marquis of CLANRICARDE hoped that there would be some clearer statement as to what was to be done with the convicts to whom promises had been made, because he understood that from 800 to 1,200 would be let loose upon society in this country. The bill was then read a second time. CHANCERY SUITORS RELIEF BILL. This bill passed through committee. SAVINGS BANKS ANNUITY BILL. The house went into committee on this bill. The clauses were agreed to after a brief conversation, in which Earl Powis, Earl Granville, and the Lord Chancellor took part, and the house having resumed, the bill was reported forthwith. The Bishop of OXFORD presented a petition from Banff, praying their lordships to reconsider the laws re specting Scotch ordinations. Their lordships then adjourned at a quarter past eight o'clock. HOUSE OF COMMONS—(Y ESTERDAY.) The SPEAKER took the chair at 2 o'clock. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The Lords amendments to the South• Eastern Railway (North Kent Railway to the Thames, &e.), and the Wildmore Fen and East and West Fens Highways Bills were considered and agreed to. The following bills were read a third time and passed : —Chard Railway, and Pouhiasheitry Inclosure. The reports upon the following bills were considered and agreed to, and the bills were ordered to be read a third time :—Eastern Union Railway, Warrington and Aitrincham Junction Railway (Warrington, &c.), West minster Improvements (Dwellings of the Working Classes). The Hall Dare's Estate ; Sneed Park Estate Erns, were read a second time. Mr HonsraLn and Mr. LIDDELL, the two new mem 1001 67i 22 85i 134 88/ 9 Pm 77 * 111 8 i 104 1141 15} 13f 89 i 29 81 S pm £559 13 8 tiers for Liverpool, p irtihe'room ,Mr. F. Itridkenzie and Mr. Turner, - unsOated on Vtion, took the oaths and their seats. The two hon. members were rect4olt with cheers from. the,Oppositiozatinehes. Mr. S. PARKER presented a.pptition from PrOitow, against the Registration of Assgrapeek Mr. DUNCAN presented a rtitioi from Per, in favour of the inspection of nunzr. Mr. ALEX. HASTIE pre se ' several petitipurto the same effect, from different places iu Scot/and. Mr. COWAN presented a similar pAtioAfrOrif Edin burgh. Sir J. WALMSLEY presented a petition from Leices ter, against the Education Bill. LANDLORD. AND TENANT (IRELAND) DILL. The house went into committee upon this bill, and the consideration of clause 70 was resumed. A division took place on the amendment of Mr. M 'Mahon to leave out in line 37 the words " growing cprn, grass,- hop; and roots, fruits, and other produce," and the numbers were-- For the amendment • 54. Against it - Majority against S Mr. KENNEDY then moved the omission. of the clause. Mr. LUCAS expressed his intention to oppose the bill in toto, believing that the greater part of it was dia metrically opposed to the interest of the tenant, that it would give increased power to the landlord, and make the tenant more than ever his serf. Mr. V. SCULLY looked upon the bill as one impos ing pains and penalties on the tenant. Sir J. GRAHAM said if he understood the clause aright it gave power to the landlord to distraM upon growing crops. In 1846 he introduced a bill to alter the law in that respect in accordance with the recom mendation of Lord Devon's commission, and which re ceived the assent of Parliament, and lie saw no reason now to justify a return to the law as it formerly existed. Whatever might be the state of the law in Encvland, he could state for his experience as a l an dl or d that he never knew an instance in which a distraint upon growing crops had been resorted to. He should, with great pleasure, vote against the clause. (Hear, hear.) Mr. NAPIER trusted the committee would support him in maintaining the clause. Mr. CONNOLLY supported the clause. Mr. GEACH hoped the hon. member would press his amendment to a division. He thought the powers of the landlord ought to be diminished rather than in creased. The committee divided, when there appeared-- For the clause Against it 74 Majority --29 The clause was then agreed to. ..Clausesll and 72 were also passed. 4 0tr clause 73, Mr. LUCAS' moves the omission of wold§; for the purpose of rendering a distress-on Sunday, Christmas day, or Good Friday, illegal under any circumstances. The committee divided, and the amendment was ne gatived by a majority of 46—the numbers being 106 and 60. The clause was then agreed to. At four o'clock the house rose. The house resumed at six o'clock. Lord John Russell was amongst the earliest in attend ance, and appeared perfectly recovered from his late ill ness. THE SIX-MILE BRIDGE RIOT. Mr. MILES gave notice that on Friday next, on the motion for adjourning the house to Monday, he would ask whether Government intended to institute proceedings against the Rev. J. Burke and the Rev. Michael Clune, the one for inciting to, and the other for taking part in, the Six-Mile-bridge riot. THE RECENT FEVER AT CROYDON. Mr. H. DRITMMOND begged to inquire of the First Commissioner of Works, since the commission appointed to inquire into the causes which produced the fever at Croydon have reported, that " the operations for the plan for the sewerage had been influential in producing the disease, and that the absence of proper provisions in that plan has been productive of misfortune to the inhabitants," whethe say and what steps had been taken to prevent the General Board of Health, in London, from inflicting similar misfortunes upon other places. Sir W. MOLESWORTH admitted that some errors had been committed in the construction of the drainage works at Croydon, some of the sewage pipes being too small or not properly ventilated, the consequence of which was that poisonous gases had escaped into some of the houses and occasioned fever and disease. He should state, how ever that the General Board of Health did not consider themselves responsible for the drainage works at Croydon. The step which had been taken by the Secretary for the Home Department of instituting an inquiry by Dr. Arnott and Mr. Payne, with the excellent report which those gen tlemen had prepared, would, there was reason to hope, pre vent the recurrence of similar evils ; therefore it was not intended to take any further steps in the matter. He might add that the Board of Health as at present constituted, would terminate next session, and the general construc tion of that body would then come under the consideration of Parliament. THE IRISH SOAP DUTY. Mr. DAVISON, pursuant to notice, asked the Secretary of the Tree mry, whether the Government meant to per severe in their contemplated measure of prohibiting for one year, from the sth of July instant, the Irish manu facturer of soap from exporting soap to England, whilst the English manufacturer was to be permitted to export soap to Ireland during that period, to the manifest injus tice of the Irish trade ? Mr. WILSON replied that the notice prohibiting the export of Irish soap for a year after the reduction of the duty, had been given in consequence of its having come to the knowledge of the Government that extensive prepara tions for the manufacture of the article were going Tor ward, as it was supposed for the purpose of obtaining the drawback on exportation. The warning which his notice conveyed to the Irish soap makers had however been suffi cient ; and a very small increase in the quantity made for exportation had taken place • and it was not th ere f ore intended to delay the operation of the bill in regard to Ireland beyond the period originally intended. IMPROVEMENTS IN ARMY CLOTHING AND ACCOUTREMENTS. Lord W. GRAHAM asked the Secretary-at-War whe ther any measures were in progress, or under consideration, for altering the dress, or diminishing the weight of the accoutrements of the infantry soldier ? Mr. S. HERBERT stated that several suggestions had been made with the view of improving the dress and re ducing the weight of the accoutrements of the army, and the attention of Lord Seaton having . been called to the subject, he had instituted some experiments as to whether any alteration could be made with advantage in reference to the nature of the accoutrements and the weight to be carried, and there was reason to hope that those experi ments would result in a reduction of the weight of the arms and kit, and in other improvements. (Hear.) THE FRIENDLY SOCIETIES' ACT (IRELAND). Mr. DAVISON, referring . to the refusal of the Attorney- General for Ireland to register an Odd Fellows Society under the Friendly Societies' Act, on the ground that it was a secret society, asked whether any measure was in contemplation to place Odd Fellows lodges in Ireland in the same position as other benefit societies? Sir J. YOUNG replied that his attention not having been drawn to the point, he had had no communication with the law officers of the Crown in Ireland in reference to it. PETERBOROUGH ELECTION. Mr. G. W. FITZWILLIAM inquired of the hon. mem ber for Manchester whether he intended, in accordance with his notice, to bring under the attention of the house a petition he had presented some time back, from certain electors of Peterborough, complaining of the exercise of undue influence at the election for that borough in No vember last ; and if so, when ? Mr. BRIGHT said that the reason he had not brought the question before the house was that an accident, the particulars of which he need not detail, had prevented his receiving the necessary information on which to found a motion for an inquiry as he proposed. In a day or two he hoped to be able to renew the notice. RUSSIAN OCCUPATION OF MOLDAVIA AND 'W ALL ACHIA . Mr. DISRAELI—I wish, sir, to ask two questions of the to the present state o f a ff a i rs in noblethe o East, rd op ard si l te w rel ill a p tig u n tthem separately, in order that I may bo more explicit. The first relates to a document which has reached this metropolis to-day, and which bears the title of a " Circular dispatch addressed to the diploma tic agents of the Court of St. Petersburgh," and is signed by Count Nesselrode. It is stated in that " circular dispatch" that the occupation of the principalities by the Russian force has been occasioned as much by the naval occupation of the Turkish waters by the combined fleets of England and France as by the refusal of the Sultan to give that satisfaction which the Emperor of Russia demands ; and it says that he will not retire from those principalities until complete satisfaction is accorded to him by the Sul tan, and until also the combined fleets of England and France shall have left the ports of the Sultan which they at present occupy. Now, sir, what I wish to know from the noble lord is whether a copy of that " circular dispatch" has been presented to her Majesty's Government; and, if not, then I wish to know whether it is the opinion of her Majesty's Government that that " circular dispatch" is an authentic document? (Hear.) Lord J. RUSSELL—With regard to the document to which the right honourable gentleman. alludes, I have to say that, in the last dispatch I saw from the British Mini ster at St. Petersburgh, Sir Henry Seymour says that ho had not then seen the dispatch that is allowed' to hav e been written by Count Nesselrode. No doubt, substan tially, the " circular dispatch" which the right honourable gentleman has seen, as published in the public journals, is an authentic document. I will not enter into the par ticulars to which the right honourable gentlemen has re• ferred; I will merely say that I do not think, in the first place, that the Russian Government can in any way sub stantiate the fact that the entry of the Russian troops into the principalities was occasioned by the sailing of the English fleet into the waters of the Porte. (Cheers.) Nor did I understand from my reading of the document that it contained any declaration that the matters pending be tween Russia and Turkey could not be arranged until the English and French fleets should have left tho Turkish waters. (Hear.) REPORTED AUSTRIAN OCCUPATION OF BOSNIA. Mr. DISRAELI—The other question I have to ask the noble lord is—has her Majesty's Government received any official intimation as to the reported occupation of Bosnia by the army of Austria? Lord J. RUSSELL—No, we have not received any official intimation of that nature, and indeed the Austrian Minister has communicated to Lord Clarendon his total disbelief of any such fact having occurred. (Hear.) Ho says ho believes that the report has been owing to the oc cupation, by Austrian troops, of Peterwaxadin, which is a fortified town within the Austrian territory. (Hear.) THE ISLE OF MAN CUSTOMS DUTIES. In reply to a question from Sir J. WALMI3LEY, Mr. WILSON stated that ho did not intand to proceed at present with the resolutions in the paper in reference to I:Nr*.; 50 25 100 St. 50 40 25 25 10 20 20 20 1121 I