The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-08-07 00:00:00

THURSDIiY.

The Speaker took the chair at noon. A discussion took
place on the subject of a good service pension of•-£100 a year
having been awarded to Lord George Paget.—Lord PAL-
MERSTON, interposing, observed that the question was,
whether the Commander-in-Chief had exercised a discretion
reposed in him by virtue of his office properly or not ; and the
house would, in his opinion, by discussing it, be embarking
into considerations with which it was- incompetent to deal,
while the attempt to decide apon the relative merits and
claims of officers was calculated to prejudice the discipline of
the army.
SuppLy..—The house having resolved itself into a Com-
mittee of Supply, in the first place resumed the consideration,
of the deferred Civil Service Estimates ;- and then the CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved a vote of credit of
£3,000,000, which was agreed to, after a brief explanation.
THE COMMISSARIAT.—Mr. PEEL, in moving the Supple.
mentary Commissariat Estimates, stated that it had been
found that the demands of the army in the East under this
head had exceeded the estimate ; that, supposing the expen-
diture for the__Whole year to proceed at the same rate as in
May and June, the probable amount, before estimated at
£1,200,000 would be £3,700,000 ; there remained to be pro-
vided £2,568,335, which was the suns he asked the committee
to vote. He then gave explanations with reference to the
separate items of the vote.—Mr. HENLEY made some severe
comments upon this vote, on account, not of its large amount
—for he admitted that its necessity had been sufficiently ex-
plained—but of the evidence it furnished of past deficiencies.
—The vote, after considerable discussion, was agreed to.
The Militia Ballots Suspension Bill, and the Sale of Beer,
&c., Bill, were read a third time and passed.
Petitions were presented by Mr. KINNAIRD, from the Chester
and Holyhead Railway Company, and from the Birkenhead.
and Lancashire Junction Railway Company, against the Acci-
dents on Railways Bills.
THE FonEttoN LEGION.—In answer to a question, Lord
PALMERSTON said it was well known that her Majesty's go.
vernment, with the view of raising a foreign legion, had esta-
blished a depot at Heligoland, for the enlistment of any per-
sons coming from the continent of Europe, for, whatever laws
might exist in the several States against foreign enlistment in
the territory of any State, they did not extend to prevent
persons from quitting the country for any purpose whatever.
A similar arrangement had been made at Halifax, in British
America ; but, it appearing that this had led to questions as
to whether or not the law of the United States had been vio-
lated, her MAjesty's,governinent, desirous that no such ques-
tions should arise, had put au end to such enlistment there.

Tire MILITIA..—The House having again resolved itself
into a- Committee of Supply, Mr. PEEL moved a vote of
£109,200 for the expense of the disembodied Militia, which
was agreed to.
Ties OIIDNANCE.—Mr. MONSELL, in moving the Supple.
mentary Ordnance Estimates, gave an outline of the changes
made in the War and Ordnance offices, and explained the chief
features of the new system, the principles of which were, he
said, central control and individual responsibility. This sys-
tem had been too short a time in operation to permit him to
speak decisively upon its merits, but every thing connected
tt ith the military departments was now done much more ra-
pidly than formerly, and he believed that a few months would
show the advantages which the country would derive from the
changes. This exposition gave rise to a long discussion, ter-
minated by a reply from Mr. Mansell; after which the com-
mittee proceeded to consider the several votes, the whole of
which were agreed to.
The Charitable Trusts Bill was, after a brief discussion
read a second time.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.—On the order for going into a
Committee of_Ways and Means, MajorREED moved a resolu-
tion, "That this house, participating in the national anxiety
that no pacific arrangement should be concluded with .Russia
which does not appear best calculated to secure an honourable,
just, and lasting peace, wishes to impress upon Her Majesty's
government how great a satisfaction it would be to
the house and the country to receive an assurance that
no treaty or condition of peace would be finally settled
without having parliament previously called together."
—Lord PALMERSTON said, although he could not consent to
the motion, yet he was ready to agree to the general principle
upon which it was founded—namely, that no peace ought to
be concluded which was not honourable and safe to the
country. If the House, however, distrusted the Govern-
ment of the day, it ought to adopt a motion that would trans-
fer their functions to other hands ; but so long as Parliament
was willing to leave to those who held office the discretion
which belonged to the executive ministers of the Crown, the
motion was one which, he thought, the House would not be
disposed to adopt. If it were requisite to assemble Parlia-
ment, it was always in the power of the Crown to summon it
at very short notice, and it would be the duty of Ministers,
and they would be glad, to have recourse to the assistance
and advice of Parliament.—Mr. DISRAELI said, it would be
unfair in Major Reed to go to a division. The motion as it
stood was really a vote of want of confidence in the Govern-
ment, and it was not fair at the end of the session that
the great Conservative party should be entrapped into
a vote of want of confidence by him. (A laugh.) The
honourable and gallant gentleman had on a former
occasion obtained a pledge from Lord Palmerston that
parliament should be reformed. This was enough for one ses-
sion, and it was too much now for him to advocate the calling
together precipitately of the parliament that was to be re-
formed. (A laugh.) But the hon. and gallant gentleman had
made the serious admission that the government were falling
most rapidly in the public estimation, for he had acknowledged
that the government were but human. (A laugh.) But he
should like to ask whether that was his opinion a few weeks
back, when,' instead of acknowledwing that they were human,
ue.A.au..i.r, Tat 7auurebbetl lase alu War Wald
as a fallen angel in the words,—
" Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen."
( Laughter.) He wished the country to know what was going
on, and that the government that only six weeks back was in
possession of infernal qualities (a laugh) was now acknowledged
to be human, and might be even connected with feebleness.
If the hon. and gallant gentleman went to a division it would
be his (Mr. Disraeli's) duty to support the covernment on this
vote of confidence, of the circumstances of which he wished his
constituents and the country to be made aware.—The motion
was then withdrawn amid the laughter of the house.
NEW LOAN.—The House went into Committee of Ways
and Means, when the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, pre-
vious to moving certain resolutions, made a statement of the
amount of receipts and expenditure, and of the mode in which
he proposed to provide for the deficiency. He had estimated
the receipts of the revenue in April, he said, for the year end-
ing in April, 1856, at £86,339,000, but the subsequent aban-
donment of stamp duties to the amount of £200,000, reduced
the estimated receipts to £86,139,000. The expenditure, in-
cluding the loan to Sardinia and other items, he had estimated
at £81,899,000, leaving a surplus margin of revenue over ex-
penditure, according to estimate, of £4,240,000. It became
necessary, however, to submit supplementary estimates .for
the military services, and he proposed to meet the additional
expenditure by increasing the vote lie had taken of £3,000,000
of Exchequer-bills to £7,000,000, with the option of raising
a portion of that sum by Exchequer-bonds. If the expendi-
dure should amount to the sum which the House had voted
for the estimates, he would still have an unappropriated
Margin of £2,000,000, though this apparent margin, prac-
tically, was nearly absorbed. He was happy to say,
he added, that the receipts of the revenue during the
first four months of the financial year had been on the whole,
satisfactory ; and, so far as a judgment could be formed, it
might be reasonably expected that his estimate of the produce
would be fully realised. The amount of exchequer-bills out-
standing on the 31st of July was £17,099,400, and that of
exchequer-bonds outstanding was £6,000,000. Although this
amount of unfunded debt might seem considerably, it was not
large as compared with that in the late war, and even since
its termination. As there was no other alternative but this
of raising the additional ways and means at this period of the
session, he trusted it would meet the approbation of the com-
mittee. He accordingly moved a series of resolutions, autho-
rising the Lords of the Treasury to issue exchequer-bills to
the extent of £7,000,000, and, in case Exchequer-bills be not
issued for that full sum, authorising the issue of Exchequer-
bonds, bearing interest not exceeding 4 per cent., to such an
amount as would make up the whole sum of £7,000,000, such
exchequer-bonds to be paid off at par within six years of their
date.—After some observations by Mr. GLADSTONE, Mr.
DISRAELI, and Mr. GLYN, the resolutions were agreed to.
LIMITED LrAnniry.— On the order for the third readily,
of the Limited Liability Bill, Mr. ARCHIBALD HASTIE made
a further protest against the measure.—Mr. HANREY and
Mr. MITCHELL supported the bill.—Mr. CARDWELL objected
to the bill that it would facilitate undertakings of a mis-
chievous and fraudulent character, without providing any
safeguards? and that it should have been accompanied by a
general reform and consolidation of the laws relating to joint-
stock companies.—Mr. GLYN strongly condemned the bill,
which was defended by Mr. BOUVERIE, who expressed his
surprise at the opposition of Mr. Cardwell, who had professed
to be friendly to the principle of the measure. He denied
that it provided no safeguards against fraud.—Mr. MALINS
likewise defended the bill, which was read a third time and
passed.
CRIME IN IRELAND.—On the order for the second reading
of the Crime and Outrage (Ireland) Act Continuance Bill,
Mr. BOWYER opposed the bill.—Mr. HORSMAN said the
Government, notwithstanding the improved condition of
Ireland, didnot feel justified in discontinuing this measure,
which it was proposed to prolong for another year.—Mr.
KENNEDY moved to defer the second reading for three
months.—The bill was strongly opposed by Mr. DE VERE,
Mr. COGAN, and Mr. BRADY, and was supported by Mr.
MACARTNEY.—tipon a division, the amendment was negatived
by 42 to 19, and the bill was read a second time.
The other orders were disposed of, and the House adjourned
athalf- past 2 o'clock.