The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-19 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 19, 1856

that he thought it would be wrong to-refuse to read the bill a
14•00 ad tune as Lord Blandford had consented that the details,
loelie of which required much consideration, should be dis-
tissed in a select committee.
After a brief discussion, Mr. Hadfield withdrew his amend-
ileut, and the bill was read a second time and ordered to be
t
derred to a select committee.
111 e motion for the second reading of the Police (Counties
611 Q Boroughs) Bill having met with some opposition, Sir G.
Pei' ultimately consented to defer it for a fortnight.
The Joint-Stock Banks (Scotland) Bill passed through
eoultnittee.
The house adjourned at three o'clock.

THURSDAY.
„Petitions against the opening of the British Museum and
crystal Palace on Sundays were presented by Mr. Tollemache,
kra.,lll Congleton, Parkgate, Winsford, Weston, Church Mins-
'lll, Witton, Wybunbury, and Northwich ; and by Mr.
Ilorsfall, from the congregations of St. Bartholomew's and
°t.„. Simon's, Liverpool ; and from Claughton, Cheshire.
retitions were also presented against the total abolition of
takurch-rates, by Mr. Tollemache, from Woodchurch and Wy-
Danbury.
Tun ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.—Mr. LAYARD gave notice
that he should defer his motion on the state of the army in the
eritnea until Thursday, the 28th inst., and that he should ap-
tend the following addition to his motion :—" That this house
bag observed with regret that those officers whose conduct in
ttneir respective departments has been shown by the report of
ke Commission of Inquiry into the Supplies of the British
"lny in the Crimea to have occasioned great and unnecessary
kfferings and losses in that.army have received honours and
tekrards, or have been sppointed to, and are still holding, re-
sponsible offices in the public service."
STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA--Mr.BAXTER
asked if her Majesty's government were taking steps to re-
"tablish steam communication between this country and the
'lllstralian colonies ; and, if not, what were the obstacles which
prevented them doing so. —Mr. LA.BOITCHERE : I am in hopes
that the government have taken steps' which will be effectual
hn Placing the postal communication between this country and
'1)1: Australian colonies upon a satisfactory and permanent
in. The details of that arrangement are fully explained in
4 Treasury minute which has been distributed this morning,
and the house will, therefore, not expect me to give more than
die outlines of the plan. Tenders were issued for a monthly
Nbmunication between this country and Australia, half the
telPense of which will be borne by the mother country. and
half by the colony, Steamers are to touch at King George's
onund, Melbourne, and Sydney, and there will be branch
services for Port Adelaide, Tasmania, and New Zealand.
CONTRABAND CARGOES FOR RUSSIAN PORTS.—Mr. J. C.
"'wanx : I wish to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether
" will be lawful to despatch British ships with cargoes to 8u5,8,1311
,8,1311 ports during the armistice which is about to be concluded,
ZIA, in that case, would articles contraband of war—such as
Ilnistone, lead, and saltpetre—be exempt from such permis-
s'ons of shipping. If the sailing of British ships be unlawful,
Wight foreign ships be chartered for the purpose, or whither
the blockade of .Russian ports will be soon re-established.—
Lord PALMERSTON : I should strongly recommend any persons
rho may wish to engage in such undertakings as are described
111 my hon. friend's question to wait until they see whether an
armistice is concluded, and, if so, what are the nature and con-
ditions of that armistice. (Cheers and laughter.)
Dtrry ON FIRE INSURANCE.—Mr. SCHOLEFIELD had been
lllformed that a fire insurance-office, having its central office in
France had held out an inducement to persons in this country
..
‘t) effect insurances'against fire with them, by promising them
411 exemption from the policy stamp and insurance duty. He
wished to know whether the attention of the Chancellor of the
!-;zchequer had been called to this subject, as it affected the
Insurance companies of this country and the revenue.—The
eltalresixon. of the ExcilEgunst : My attention has been
tailed to the subject with reference to an insurance office called
14 France, established in France. My belief is that up to the
Present time no evasion of the insurance duty, deserving of
any consideration, has taken place, but my attention has been
!greeted to the subject, and if I find that it may be necessary,
for the purpose of protecting the revenue, that I should submit
a measure on the subject in this house, I shall not fail to do so
Whenever I see that the necessity has arisen.
CONSOLIDATION OF STATUTES.—Sir F. KELLY, in moving
for leave to bring in a bill to consolidate the statute law
"elating to offences against the person, stated that this was
'one of a series of bills for the consolidation of the entire
statute law of England, which he hoped, if he was encouraged
lod supported by the house, would accomplish an object that
gad hitherto baffled many eminent law reformers. What he
Proposed to do was, not to codify, but simply to consolidate
'the statute law as it now existed in the statute-book. This
trYr. was now comprised in 35 or 40 large folio volumes, con-
taining about 20,000 acts, and he proposed to subdivide and
tlassifY the whole of the subjects, and to re-enact the existing
1 relating to each in one act, so that the statute-book, in...-
stead of 20,000 acts, would contain 200 or 300 only, each act
embodying the whole statute law upon one particular subject.
TO show the necessity of a work of this kind, he observed that
the condition of the statute law was such that judges and
attorneys, as well as parties, in order to ascertain the written
law upon any given subject, were obliged either to rely upon
a text-book, or to go through the whole 40 volumes, of 1,000
Pages each, in order to find out what statute, or statutes, or
Portions of statutes, bore upon the subject. This was but one
of many evils. When a bill was introduced into parliament,
Unless the framer had a perfect knowledge of the whole sta-
tute law with reference to the subject matter, he might in-
crease the existing perplexity and confusion. Distinguishing
between codification and consolidation of the entire written
law (which he deemed not only practicable, but easy,) the
Plan he proposed to adopt, he said, was to take one, two, or
three of the most important, and at the same time most
familiar subjects, and to embody in one law all the statutes,
'or parts of statutes, relating to each ; then to take up other
subjects, and thus by degrees to eiminate all the existing
statutes, substituting one law for each particular subject. He
bow proposed to deal, first, with the statute law relating to
Offences against the person ; seoondly, with the statute law
relating to bills of exchange and promissory notes, the sub-
-lects of the two bills he wished now to introduce. Premising
that his intention was to confine this process to England, be
explained the manner in which he proposed to deal with sta-
tutes not of a public and general nature, and with revenue
acts and other classes of legislation, he proceeded to consider
.what should be done with respect to future and current
legislation. He assumed that there must be some officer
r board authorised by both Houses of Parliament to
Watch over and superintend all bills for amending
and improving the law, so -as to make it consist and
harmonise with the consolidated law, and he thought it would
be, easy to devise a ,nodus operandi by which the end might
oe effected. He pledged himself, if he was encouraged to
introduce the other hills, most carefully to superintend and
revise their preparation, and to employ in the operation none
but the most competent men. He concluded with some reflec-
tions upon thb difficulties which beset all attempts at a codifi-
cation of the common law.—The motion was seconded by Lord
Stanley, who remarked that in law reform what had been
Wanting was a sufficient degree of popular interest out of
doors. The difficulty had arisen not so much from actual
obstacles as from a deficiency of impelling force. The calcu-
lation of Sir F. Kelly, that his process of consolidation would
reduce the statute-book to one-eighth of its present bulk, was
not, in his opinion, exaggerated. Admitting the validity of
the objection drawn from the difficulties created by current
legislation, it was no argument against the consolidation of
Past legislation and the clearing the statute-book of its present
-encumbrances.—After some discussion, in which several
members took part, leave was given to bring in this bill, as
Well as a bill to consolidate the statute law relating to bills of
exchange and promissory notes.
THE Wen JUDGES.—A motion, by Sir J. Shelley, for a
return respecting the judges of the superior courts of law in
Ireland, in which be drew the attention of the house to the
condition of !certain of those judges, who, he said, were inca-
Pacitated by age and infirmity, led to an animated discussion,
in which Lord Palmerston, Sir G. Grey, and the Attorney-
General supported the motion. An amendment to leave out
'the words "in Ireland" was negatived by 134 to 120. The
Wiain question was then put, and upon a second division it
`Was carried by 132 to 121.
Mr. L. King obtained leave to bring in a bill to consolidate
and amend the laws relating to the summary jurisdiction of
• justices of the peace.
On the motion of Mr. J. Phillimore, the committee on the
appointment of public prosecutors was re-appointed.
Sir C. Napier postponed his motion for the appointment of
select committee to inquire into the operations of the British
fleet in the Baltic, in 1854 and 1855, until a future day.
The House adjourned at half-past twelve o'clock.

FRIDAY.
Petitions were presented against opening the British
Museum and the Crystal Palace, on Sunday, by Mr. Horsfall,
.from the congregations of St. Mary's Church, Kirkdale, Tri-
nity Church, Liverpool, St. George's Church, Everton ; from
the Wesleyan Meeting-houses in Great Horner-street and
Moss-street, Liverpool ; from the Wesleyan inhabitants of
Bootle, Lancashire ; and from a public meeting of the inhabi-
tants of Toxteth-park, Liverpool.
Cannata's IN Ti RICRY.—In answer to a question whether
the Sultan's recent edicts, granting civil and religious equality
to all his subjects, abolished the penalty of death upon a Mus-
Raman becoming a Christian ; and, if not, whether govern-
tnent would exert its diplomatic influence to repeal that law,
Lord PALMERSTON said,—The government have received a
telegraphic communication, stating that certain edicts have
been signed by the Sultan, but the edicts themselves have not
yet reached this country. I will not say what may be the
effect of those edicts, but I will assure the house that the
government have for many years earnestly urged the abolition
of the penalty to which he adverts ; and that if it does not
form part of that edict, no exertions shall be wanting to in-
duce the Sultan to abolish that penalty. At the same time,
the house must see that matters relating to religious opinions
and prejudices of this kind are very difficult to handle. The
Turks have persecuted, until lately, Mussulmans who have
become Christians ; but it must be remembered that in some
of the Italian states Christians have been persecuted who
have changed from one sect of that religion to another.
DUTY ON FIRS INSURANCE.—In answer to a question
whether it was his intention to repeal the duties on fire as-
surance, which it bad been stated enabled foreign companies
to insure at a less premium in consequence of their freedom
front a similar tax, the CIIANCELLOR of the EICIIBQUXIL
said,—lt is not my intention to make any proposal for the
repeal of the duty. In the event of the companies paying that
duty being exposed to unfair competition with untaxed poli-
ties of assurance, it will be my duty to bring in a measure of
different character for the protection of the revenue and
the interest of those companies which may be subject to that
tompetition.
DIFFERENCES WITH THE UNITED STATES.

-
In the House of Commons, on the order for going into a
committee of supply, Mr. ROEBUCK called attention to our
relations with the United States, premising that his only in-
tention was to convey to the house and the nation'a correct
statement of facts. Either Mr. Crampton, our minister at
Washington, had exceeded his instructions—and if so the
United States' Government were justified in demanding his
recal—or his instructions went beyond what the law of the
United States permitted, and in that case the apology ;vans dis-
ingenuous, and ought not to be accepted by the American Go-
vernment, which had a right to insist upon the recal of our
Minister. It appeared, he said, from published facts, that Mr..
Crampton knew the law ; that he took means to evade it ; and
that he had been supported by the Governor of Nova Scotia
and the Governor-General of Canada. He wanted, he said,
distinctly to know what were Mr. Crampton's instructions ;
he wanted an explanation of the facts, and an expression of
sympathy on the part of the house towards our brethren across
the Atlantic. He moved an address for a copy of the instruc-
tions to Mr. Crampton.
Lord P.l.Lumusrozr said the American Government had
uot thought fit to Lay before Congress the correspondence rela-
tive to this question, and the reasons which had induced them
to withhold it had led her Majesty's government to pursuethe
same couzze,. He had before stated that just previous to the