The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-02-25 00:00:00

In the Howe of Lords. Feb. 21, the Princess Lonlee's
Annul.), BM, and the Eaclesiastical BM were read a etcond
time.

'Lae West African Fisltlaments BUJ raised through cum.
mitre°, the chair being taken by Lord Eversley, in the
absence, through prolonged illness, of Lord Itolesdale.

_
The Lord Chancellor, In moving the secood readlog of the
Juries' Act (127 J Amendmeot 13111, laid that It simply re.
waled the 22dd section, which, providing for the payment
of Jurors, was found to throw a serious burden upon the

Lord Grey said It was Ilttle to the credit of PatllAment that
no many hills were brought in to amend ovolights and
detects in Acts pitied on by the reesion biter°. S ,me plan tor
subj.ctlng bills to a mute careful scrutiny ought to be
adopted.
The bill was then rev' a second time.

Lord Malmerbriry asked for information relative Ca the ab.
seams of thsP nand, Consul from Psris (luring the siege. Pro
Intuit' that he could not concur In Mr. Disraeli's attack upon
L .ro Lyons for having quitted Parie—holellog, on thee ntrgry,
that he could not do otherwise than accompany the Dglegate
Gavetunieht to Yours, and that it would have been ineligible
for him to ell his functions if he had remained in Paris—he
word that there were between I 50) and 2 0.0 liritish subjects
left to starve In Paris who required, if ever persons
did, the assistance of their Government, 'sot the
Gown], whore peculiar duty It seas in the absence
of his Amilimador to remain, had permission to leave
Paris during the greater part of the Weer, if, Indeed, he had
not been ordered to do no. Ihescrieing the loathsome food
to which some of the poorer class of English were seduced,
he expressed an opinion that the b mhardnoent of Paris
wes a blot on the escutcheon of the Prussians, because
alehough they had acted withM their strict right,
no me nisity existed for the bombardment. Not only
did the Consul go, but also the military and naval
attach 4 whose ream dd,re was that they might be
there at precisely such a moment, and who it might be
sappy: ed, weuld have looked upon a bombardment going on
for their Instruction a, a godsend. ['eying a high compli-
ment to tie liberality and energy of Messrs. Wellace, tier.
bert, and Blount, who had saved hundreds of E giieh sub.
jects from sta:vatfon, e asked whether it was the intention
of the Government to ask Mr. Elount, who had been made
Acting Consul, permanently to till the duties of British
Consul at Parts.

Lord Cimnyille said It would he necessary for him to ex-
plain at some langth what had happea.ed in Paris during the
siege. The French U ',remanent having ewer set an urgent
desire that nen-combatant, should le see Farts, L ird Lyons
repeatedly warned all British subjects that they would
a 'pose themselves to danger by remands g. As to ihe
Itemisations made against lord Lyons in the other House,
they were entirely without foundation. it was his
duty to act in concert with his dipl,matio coliemines,
but he re nmir ed in Ports as long as possible, and only left It
when he f•iund he could he more anent elsewhere. The
British Consul at Paris, Mr. Alter, also diachareed the duties
of registrar and librarian, and he and an attach', being mar-
ried men, were permitted hy Lord Lyor s to leave Paris.
Cdonel Claremont, the military atfacht, determined to re-
main. !Lord allilluesbury i—" Until the bomhartiment.rl
The Consular Clerk was left, but on his reprerenthtious thas
no consulfarappllcatious were made to him, and that he had no
power under the circumstances of the siege, he was permitted
ta leave Paris. Colonel Claremont also lathe second week In
Pecamber nheyed his Instructions and came away, which
wee the less to be regretted, as any military Information he
was likely to obtain would have In.en of the saintliest possible
value. Mr. Wodehoure brought out wl.h him all the
British subj 'cis be coedt communicate with, but the hard.
ships they endured were so groat that it was doubtful whether
they would rot have done better by remaining in Paris.
tier tiaj.sly'a Government during the whole of the siege had
been enabled to disburse money for the relief of distressed
British en` pate Mr. Wallace was said to have disbursed
betwren and LlO.OOO, and Mr. Herbert and Mr.
Blount hail also rendered great services to I he English
manlty. As the siege wore on the Government vans!),
endorr -cured label Mr. Atiee through the Prussian lines into
Paris, bathe had Low reentered upon his Consular duties.
Their lordships then adjYurted.
In the Homo of Commons, Lord Eicher gave notice that on
the second reading of the Regulation of the Farces Act,
brotteht In Icy the Government, he would move that the Act,
by tending to place fresh and permanent burdens on the na-
tion, fails to establish our military s) stem, on a sound,
economical, and rehiring basis.
Colonel Jervis gave notice that If the hill should go into
committee he would move the omission of Clause IL

Mr. Eatliboue asked whether the Anglo-American Com-
&winners have instructions to discuss with the American
Government the advisability of England and America cc-
operating to tifeet such changes In maritime international
law as ins, minimise the risk of 0011160 n I always neutrals
and bellig.rents.

Mr Gladstone did not think it desirable that the cnn-
mirsioners' instructions should be brought, one by one, before
the public of this country. Whatever might be done, should
be done deliberately and by the consent of both countries.
The subject of the question was one which bed been die-
roared by the representatives of both countries for a burnber
of years, and ho should be much disappointed and surprised
U any cowrie which might he decided upon should not In.
elude the cons( terstion of those improvements which it
would re practicable to introduce into the maritime inter-
national law.

Mr. Trevelyan moved the two falowing resolutions :
" The in the r pinion of this House no scheme for military re-
orgardxstion can be rec.trded as corn tote which does not
alter the tenure of the C dnmsdni-lo•Cblef in such a manner
as to enable the Secretary of State for War to avail himself
freely of the hest administrative talent and the molt recent
military experience from time to time existing in the Brielsh
army and that the consideration of the cost involved in the
*bandit m uf the pur,base aystem urgently calls for the *tame-
diaterem,val, f obsolt te and antiquated sourcesof military ex•
penditure." After expressing his entire approval of the
proposed marit.r f abolishing purchase, he directed his
Met atta,k on the permanence of the C.,mmander-in.Chlel's
app ,Intment, arguing that It prevented the secretary of
Stao, almost always a civilian, I,ni obtaining competent
mldtary advice. Quoting the evidence of the Duke of
catarldgelbefore the Commission, he dilated on She

•eo enure...mg sae new system el promotion ny
selection to persons who had confessed that they
were in a'lle and unwilling to undertake P. Many on.
portant military questions, too, were coming up for discus-
Alert and settlement, such as the localization of the army, the
separation of the foreign and home armies, &c., and the
II tree Guards, he maintaine I, which had always oppoted
reforms in the arm), was Inc wupetent to advise the War
°Moe In regard to them. In along digressiou into the con.
downed purchave system he mmtended that the Gone
Guards wan to blame for its not having been abolished after
the Crimean war, and In like manner he attrlbutA to the
lone Guards the in 'realm in the Aro y E imntes which had
nit prevented • cry for larger armarreqts. Under this head he
went Into a minute and discursive discussion of certain votes
In the Army Estimates, Is tog his Sneer on such points as
the 'the,brs ecionelefev, army agent.. &c the retention of
which he attributed to the Influence of the Duke of Cambridge
and tire Horse Guards. and promised theft the ' Army Ee-
-1 ormers " old fight all these matters in Committee of
Supply.
Idr. Anderson seconded the motion, and inveighed against
the past, present, and future operation of the it rse Go d',is
infloence. Ills remedy was to reduce the scale of nigh nay
and to abolish many of thor Ific,s, leaning their duties to be
performed by mil tory Under :3 tcretat lea.
After • lengthened debate, in which stveral hon. me inhere
took part,
Mr. Ca 'dwell declined to be drawn into a discussion of
many points raised Which more ptoperly belonged to the
coming debate on the Army Intl, but he ',Wed out
that the dual Government had been entirely ant:tithed
by the Order in Council of last year, and that the
Horse Guards was about to be brought under the same
roof as the War Office. The Duke of Cambridge wail
not the only parson who was ('pp sect to promotion by
selection 14 sears ago; and Ms opinion then was no reason
why he ahould not carry it out now. Considering the
MCP/111V of not lowering the Importance of Vas Wish n Mee,
and the restriction it would impose on the choice of the
Government, he was opposed to limiting its tenure as pro-
posed, and he evt nestly begged Mr. Trevefyan to he content
with the debate, and not to press his motion to a division.
Mr. Trevelvan, however, relined, and ens division he was
beaten by 5. 1 to 83.
-

Bills were brought in by Mr. Taylor to abollah the limns
Law., by Mr Itylamb; to prevent tLe Is of Liquor on Sun-
daes, and byllr. Charley the the better prottetiou of lufatt
Life.

B,me other business was disposed of, and the House ad-
journed.

In the Ileum of Comm VS, Feb. 22, 81r 12 beift Peel gave
notice that on Friday, the led of 111.trch, be would c 11 the
attention of the 11,,use to the cirnum3tancea u.nler which her
Alvjostye Ambaaaador tilted Pada on the 17,h Septt mher
last, with reference to due ttatemmts on the only act made by
the Frlrne Allnieter.

Mr. PIMA('II, In moving the second reading of the Mer-
chant Shipping Su Nay Mil, briefly reviewed the legislation
of the lent quarter of a centwy for the protection of work-
men, and said that this legislation was exclusively limited to
the protection one benefit of workmen on land. That large
poculatim of workers employed at *ea, numbering 738 Oi 0
men, and with their families cii Wilting one-fourteenth of
the whole population of this condo,. were excluded from
p trticipation lathe benefits of the numerous Acts which had
been passed Only recently the crew of a ship had been Coln.
MILLed to prisou forroiosicgtoprooeed to lealnall unseaworthy
ship, end such cases were extremely Ire Mient Mines and f ac-
loth e were Inspected to prevent lives being placed in jeopardy,
and the load. of carriages were limited, birth rumens wore takt n
fir the inspection of ad ps or to prevent overloading. 0 wing
to the security obtaine d by Insuroice, It was a matter of
Indifference to many shipoweets whether their vessels sunk
or not, and, in fact, in many instances the Molting of a vessel
resulted in pecuniary benefit to Ito owner. Ile maintained
that many ships were ev..rloaded with a positive decgn
that they should sink, and be therefore asked the
Meuse to carry out the opinions which had been expressed
by the Chamber. of Commerce en this aril:pot, by pro-
visillog for a compuleory periodical lutmectlon of all an-
tlered salting and steamships, and for the prevention of
overloadirg by lining a maximum load-line, lie du not
so, h tie II ruse to pass any nits% tan which would embarrass
the honest shipowner, but tel prevent others less scrupulous
trim loading their vessels alibi the distinct Ishii definite
intentlen that the load should sink the ships. As Ye-
garded the or.jectis n whi. It had been urged to insmeth anti
account of its heavy expenditure, he proposed that a reale of
charges should be arranged corresponding to that of Lioyd'a,
and by this means a new source of revenue would be created
Ile thought that it was a shame and S reproach to the
Liberal party, which had ko long held office, that they bed
done nothieg Sr the protection of the lives of the large
cumber of British working men who were employed at se.;
and he spybilled to the humanity of members on both sides
of the !louse to assist him iu passing this measure, the mond
reading of which he now moved.
Mr. Wheelhouse seconded the motion.
Mr. Edstace s nith moved that the bill be read a eecond
time that day six months, which amendment was sect nded
by Sir. ftethbone, on the ground that the bill removed re-
sponsibility trim those who alone were really Ina position to
the the necessary precautions to ensure the ihsfety of their
vessels.

Atier mural:s from Mr. llenley, Mr. Norword, and Sir (1.
Jenkluso%
. . . _

Mr. U Ferteseue said that the Government had already
placed before the house better me 0111 01 attaining (be same
ends which the present bill aought, and he could not there.
tore advise the 'Line to accept the bill.
After expressions of opinion from several other hon.
members,
Mr. A. Pc.el said that the Government would consent to
embodi lug their proposals in a separate bill II the Merchant
Shipping Bell should not he passed this session.
The bill was then withdrawn.

The Pahtic Parks, dm.. Lind) hill, and County Properly
Bill, were read a second time.

Leave was given ti Mr. Sl'Llreu to Mir g In a bill for the
Alioll.lon of Church Rates In Scatland ; tc Mr. S'irridau, a
bid to Prut,ct the Ironrty of Lodgers against Distraint,
upon the property of the lam:Mord : Mr. West a bill to amend
the law as to the rLdits of parishioners hi respect to their
palish churches, ite:

On the motion of Mr Hick, a select committee woe ap-
pointed to Inquire into the cause of steam boiler explosions
On the motion of Mr. Clan, a new writ was ordered La be
isiuml for the City of Hereford in the room of Calonel Clyde,
and the House arj