The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-31 00:00:00

FRIDAY.

The speaker took the chair at noon.
THE TURKISH LOAN.—The house resolved itself into a
committee upon the Turkish Loan Bill, when Mr. GLADSTONE,
after characterising the convention as a novelty in inter-
national law, the principle as incurably bad, and the provisions
sanctioned by the bill as inconsistent—the first article sti-
pulating that the guarantee of England and France should
be conjoint, and the third and fourth that the interest should
be remitted and the proceeds of the loan paid to the Bank of
England—addressed certain questions to the government. He
wanted to know, he said, whether the bill would confer a legal
right upon the subscribers to the loan to receive the interest
at the Bank of England. If so, who was bound to satisfy
that right on the failure of a remission of the money from
Turkey. Whether the British Government would be bound
to pay the interest out of the consolidated fund; and, if so,
whether there was any similar liability on the part of
France ; and whether the subscribers were liable to go upon
the French government at all. If not, there was no joint
and several liability. Then, assuming that there was a con-
joint guarantee, and supposing after peace Turkey failed to
pay, and one of the two guaranteeing governments believed
she could pay, and the other thought not, would the former
be entitled to go against Turkey separately to enforce its own
guarantee. Then, if one obtained an equivalent in territory,
would the other have a similar right. He raised these points
of difficulty, he added, with the view of guarding against
embarrassments hereafter.—Lord PALMERSTON proposed that,
as the discussion came upon him unexpectedly, it should be
deferred, so that the other business fixed for the morning
sitting might be preceeded with. He moved that the chair-
man report progress, and this was agreed to.
LAW or PARTNERSHIP.—The house went into committee
on the Limited Liability Bill, when, on clause 1, Mr. WIL-
KINSON proposed to leave out the words, " other than an in-
surance company."—Mr. BOUVERIE opposed the amendment.
Insurance companies were at present able to protect them-
selves and to limit their liability.—Mr. HENLEY said, if this
was a free trade measure there should be no restriction at all;
for example, there was no reason why banks should not be
allowed to trade on the principle of limited liability.—Lord
PALMERSTON said there was a great distinction between banks
and the joint stock companies contemplated under this bill.
The functions of a bank were those of trust, and they were en-

trusted with the safe keeping of other people's money, whereas
the functions of these companies were the active employment
of their own capital. In other countries where limited liability
was adopted, banks were excepted.—Mr. CARDWELL said,
that although there were specialities attending the
business of the banking and assurance companies,
he saw no reason why they should be excepted from
the operation of the bill.—Mr BRAMLEY-MOORE was
of opinion that the legislature ought to afford
protection to persons having claims on assurance companies,
many of which did not know whether they were solvent or
not during the first eight or ten years of their formation.
Although he was opposed to the principle of thebill, he would
not, under the circumstances, give it any opposition further
that was necessary to make it a measure that would operate
with safety•to the interests of the community. He then re-
ferred to a statement of the operation of the principle of
limited liability .in the United States, and said that in the
course of one year (1841) there had been no less than 33,739
bankruptcies, involving property to the extent of $441000,000;
that only $4?,697,00i) were yealtieti, and that the ,average

amount of dividend did not exceed one cent per 100 dollars.
After some further discussion, the amendment was withdrawn.
—Lord GODERICH moved to leave out the words "having a
capital stock of the nominal amount of not less than £2O 000
divided into shares of not less than £25 each."—Mr. BOUVERIE
objected to the amendment because there was a series of un-
dertakings which it was not desirable to invest with the
dignity or character of institutions. It was the intention of
the government to meet the cases contemplated by the amend-
ment in the Partnership Amendment Bill. He admitted, how-
ever, that £20,000 was too high, and was prepared to fix the
amount at £lO,OOO. With respect to the shares he would fix
them at £2O. After considerable discussion and a division, the
words fixing the amount of capital were expunged. None were
inserted in their place, and the house was proceeding to discuss
the question, whether the value of the shares should be fixed
at £5 or £lO, when the time of adjournment arrived, and the
sitting was suspended till six o'clock.
DECIMAL COINAGE.—In reply to a question by Mr. J. B.
SMITH, the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said his belief
was that the commissioners recently appointed to inquire into
the subject of the decimal coinage would enter upon the in-
quiry with unprejudiced minds. Entertaining the utmost
respect for the abstract resolution of the House, he still con-
sidered it quite open to the government to take any course
they might think proper hereafter, and their wish was that
the commission should treat the question as one wholly un-
decided.

OMAR PASIIA.—In answer to a question respecting a ru-
mour that Omar Pasha had resigned the command of the
Turkish army, Lord PALMERSTON said Omar Pasha had re-
turned to Constantinople to hold personal communication
with his government, but he had no intention to resign his
command.

The Office of Speaker Bill was read a third time and passed.
—The order of the day for resuming the adjourned debate on
the third reading of the Absconding Debtors (Ireland) Bill
was discharged.

TirE Tuixisn LOAN.—The House went into committee
on the Turkish Loan Bill, and, after some remarks from
Mr. WALPOLE on the omission of the word " severally" in the
translated copy of the convention as a translation of the
French word solidairement, the CIIANCELOR of the EXCHE-
QUER proceeded to reply to the objections and queries sug-
gested by Mr. Gladstone at the morning sitting. He de-
fended the principle of the convention, and stated the
arrangement between the two governments in respect to their
several liabilities. The bondholders, he said, would look for
their interest to the Bank of England ; in the event of the
guarantee being called into activity, it would be the duty of
England to make good any deficiency ; but the govern-
ment ha 4 entered into a separate agreement with that
of Franco for the immediate repayment to England of
half the money so paid. Payment of the interest into the
Bank of England did not diminish the liability of France, or
increase that of England. With regard to the remedy against
Turkey, in the event of the default of payment, he observed
that, in an international compact like this, we could only rely
upon general good faith, the sole remedy in such cases
being the ultima ratio.—Mr. GLADSTONE complained that
the Chancellor of the Exchequer had not answered his ques-
tions, which he reiterated with great copiousness.—The LORD
ADVOCATE said, in his opinion, the interpretation of the con-
vention presented not the slightest difficulty: A joint and
several guarantee gave the creditor a security equally against
both the parties guaranteeing. The place where the inter-
est was to be remitted made no difference. If the creditor
was not paid at the Bank of England, he might go either
against the government of England or that of France.—Mr.
WALPOLE again urged the expediency of introducing into
the bill the words "severally" or "separately."—The Som-
CITOR•GENBRAL said that the word " solidairement "
was a French law term, and that the corresponding ex-
pression in our law was "severally." His attention had been
called to the matter for the first time that day, and
he proposed to amend the first clause of the bill, which autho-
rized Her Majesty to guarantee "in conjunction with His
Majesty the Emperor of the French, by substituting
"jointly with His Majesty the Emperor of the French,
and severally." In reply to Mr. Gladstone, he gave an
exposition of the legal effect of the bill, which, he said,
created no special obligation to the creditor binding on
England separately; even if there had been a special engage-
ment to the creditor on the part of England, it would only
give him a right to resort to England in the first instance, but
would not alter the nature of the obligation of her co-surety.—
The discussion then assumed more the character of a debate
in committee upon detalls and collateral points, Mr. Labou-
chere and Mr. Cardwell justifying their votes on Friday week,
and Mr. Disraeli indulging in a lively attack upon the absent
Colonial Secretary. Lord Palmerston offered a general defence
of the whole measure, and the clauses of the bill were agreed
to, with the amendment proposed by the Solicitor-General.
The Customs Laws Consolidation Bill passed throtgh com-
mittee.—The debate on the motion for going into committee
upon the Grand Juries (Ireland) (No. 2) Bill was adjourned.—
The house went into committee on the remaining clauses of
the Passengers Act Amendment Bill, which were agreed to.—
The order for going into committee on the Dwellings for
Labouring Classes (Ireland) Bill was discharged.
SALE OP BEER.---Mr. H. Berkeley obtained leave to bring
in a bill to alter and amend the act of the 17th and 18th of
Victoria for further regulating the sale of beer and other
liquors on the Lords'-day. The bill was read a first time.
Mr. Peel obtained leave to bring in a bill to suspend the
making of lists and the ballots and enrolments for the militia
of the United Kingdom.
The house adjourned at half-past 1 o'clock.

AUSTRALIA.