The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-22 00:00:00

364

THE LAW OF PARTNERSHIP.
MORE than a month ago we called attention to the
important subject of the limitation of partnership lia-
bility. Since then the Liverpool Chamber of Commerec
has, after full discussion, adopted a resolution in
favour of the proposed change, viz., that it would be
politic and expedient to limit the liability of each
partner or shareholder in any copartnership or asso-
ciation to the amount which he has subscribed to its
funds, so that credit may be given to the capital sub-
scribed, and not to the individual subscribing it. Mr.
FIELD, a solicitor of great experience, states in a
pamphlet to which we alluded on a former occasion
that

" there is much opposition of opinion on the subject in
question among the members of our present Government.
The usual, and in this case, I think, unworthy, resource of
appointing a Government Commission has been resorted
to. The members of the Cabinet have referred This one of
their differences to an arbitrator. Of course the report will
depend on who are appointed upon the Commission. A
Government Commission to determine a mere dry scien-
tific truth is strange enough; still stranger, to determine
one on which all our great political economists (J. b. Mill
and others) are already agreed."
To deliberate is doubtless wise, but even virtue may
be carried to excess. Surely if, as Mr. FIELD states,
" all our great political economists " and the Liver-
pool Chamber of Commerce have formed an opinion
on the subject, the Government may, without the
imputation of rashness or levity, express one also.
Ample experience of the working of the system is
visible in America, France, and other nations. At
the present moment, and for many months pre-
viously, legislation on this subject was peculiarly de-
sirable. Yet, with every incentive to action and ex-
pedition, the only assurance lately furnished to us
that the long-delayed report will be forthcoming is
a statement Mr. CARDWELL made before the Easter
recess that "he had hoped to have that evening
" laid upon the table of the House the Report of
" the Commissioners upon the Law of Partnership,
" especially as to the limitation of liability; but he
" had received a communication from the secretary,
" informing him that the Commissioners would meet
" on the following day (Wednesday), and therefore
" this would be impossible. lie hoped, however,
" that the report would be laid upon the table im-
" mediately after the Easter recess." So do we ; but,
" after the long delay and the failure of past hopes,
we fear the wished-for consummation is as uncertain
and problematical as was the return of " Malbrook "
from the wars :
" When will he come back again ?
Perhaps at Easter it may be,
Or perhaps not till Trinity."

COLLEGE FELLOWSHIPS.
TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS."

Sir,—Will you kindly allow me a few lines for a
suggestion respecting the tenure of College Fellow-
ships? It is this, that a Fellow of certain standing—
say an M.A. of four years, and in Priest's orders—
should be allowed to vacate his fellowship and yet
remain on the list for the College Church preferment.
The acquisition of landed property, or of a living,
above a certain amount, should make his claim ipso
facto void.
Undoubtedly a quicker succession to Fellowships
(an object which certain proposed enactments seem
to have in view) would thus be secured. According
to my idea, a Clerical Fellow who was not inclined,
or nct fortunate enough, to be appointed upon the
College staff, would hold his Fellowship some five or
six years, then vacate it by marriage, and take a
curacy. A man, I grant, might have to wait a little
longer for a living, but I will answer for it that a
married curate of five-and-forty years of age would
be better fitted to work a parish than a man of five-
and-thirty, whose previous life had been spent in
College.—Yours faithfully, B.A.

DEAN NOWELL wag the accidental inventor of
bottled ale. He was out fishing with a bottle of the
freshly-drawn beverage at his side, when intelligence
reached him touching the peril his life was in, under
Mary, which made him fly, after flinging away his
rod, and thrusting his bottle of ale under the grass.
When he could again safely resort to the same spot,
he looked for his bottle, which, on being disturbed,
drove out the cork like a pellet from a gun, and
contained so creamy a fluid, that the dean, noticing
the fact, said rejoicing therein, took care to be well
provided with the same thenceforward.—Table Traits,
by Dr. Doran.

THE PRESS.

NOTES ON THE NAVY.

No. I 11.—" THE COUNTRY'S EXPECTATIONS."
THERE was something very significant in the part-
ing speech of Sir Charles Napier at Portsmouth. It
will be recollected that he referred to the novelty of
the experiment of a steam-fleet, to the suddenness
with which the crews were enrolled, and also to the
great expectations of the country. The confident
tone of the people in relation to all connected with
the "Blue Jackets" was well echoed by Lord Pal-
merston when he said in one of his speeches last
autumn that " We had a navy which could go any-
where, and do anything," a form of expression once
used by the Duke of Wellington before a parliamen
Lary committee in characterising the Peninsular
army of 1814, after it had undergone its glorious
campaigns.
If maritime success, if the storming of towns
and the destruction of fleets, depended solely upon
enterprise and experience in the officers, and dare-
devil heroism in the men, the events pending in the
Baltic might be waited for with apathy. But in war
of every kind, by land and sea, there is proverbial
uncertainty. Madame de Stael once said that the
world was ruled by " ce grand mat de circonstance,"
and it might bo well for us to recollect that the
history of England in the last war records unlooked-
for reverses as well as unexpected victories. The
same Cabinet presided over our destinies when Tala-
vera was won, and the Walcheren expedition was
planned. Nay, more, it was the same Minister
(Castlereagh) who organised the unfortunate expe-
dition, and who had the merit of forcing the Cabinet
to name Sir Arthur Wellesley to the command in
Portugal. Who could have anticipated that in &period
of seven short years events so dissimilar as those
that occurred at Walcheren and Waterloo could
ever be narrated by a historian ? But even the
annals of our glorious navy, and the biography of
our immortal Nelson, might teach us not too blindly
to expect marvellous achievements all at once.
For example, in all Nelson's soul-stirring exploits
there is nothing which Englishmen read with more
delight than his combination of audacious enterprise,
skilful measures, and personal heroism, displayed
by him almost to perfection at Copenhagen. Yet in
the very summer of the year in which he so much dis-
tinguished himself he met with a decided repulse.
The failure of his attempt on the flotilla at Boulogne
is well worth recording. Mark what the naval histo-
rian (James) says:—
" The port of Boulogne was to be the central rendezvous
of the grand flotilla ; and on the 12th of July Buonaparto
issued an order for the assemblage there of nine divisions
of grin-vessels, and of the same number of battalions of
troops, besides several detachments of artillery to serve
the guns on board the flotilla. Of which flotilla Rear-
Admiral Rene-Madeleine La Touche- Treville was appointed
the commander-in-chief, with directions to exercise the
troops in ship-working, in firing the guns, in boarding,
and in getting in and out of the vessels.
"These preparations, exaggerated as they were by the
French journals, spread no slight degree of alarm on the
shores of England, and caused corresponding preparations,
in the defensive way, to be made by the British Govern-
ment. Among other measures taken to calm the public
mind was the appointment of Vice _Admiral Lord Nelson
to the chief command of the defence constructing and
collecting along the coast from Orfordness to Beachy
Head."

Nelson, after taking his measures, gave the order
for the attack on the 15th of August. What became
of the first division /

" The first division, under Captain Somerville. ork
getting near to the shore, was carried by the current con-
siderably to the eastward of Boulogne Bay. Finding it
impracticable to reach the French flotilla in the order pre.
scribed, Captain Somerville ordered the boats to cast each
other off and make the best of their way. By this means,
at a little before the dawn of day on the lfith, some of the
leading boats got up to and attacked a brig. lying ()lose to
the pier-head ; and, after a sharp contest, carried the
vessel, but were prevented from carrying her off, owing to
her being secured with a chain, and owing to a heavy fire
of musketry and grape-shot, opened as well from the shore
as from three loggers and a second brig, lying within half
pistol-shot of the first. Thus compelled to abandon their
prize, and the daylight putting a stop to further operations,
the boats of the first division pushed out of the bay. The
persevering efforts of the officers and men of this division
had cost them dearly."
And how fared the second division ?

" The second division, under Captain Parker, was more
successful than the first in meeting less obstacles from the
current, and at about half an honr past midnight got to
the scene of action. One subdivision of the boats, led by
the captain, immediately ran alongside of a large brig, the
Biota, moored off the Mole head, wearing the broad
pendant of Commodore Etienne Pevrieux. Nothing
could exceed the impetuosity of the attack ; but a very
strong netting, traced up to the brig's lower yards, baffled
all the endeavours of the British to board, and an instan•
taneona discharge of her great guns and small•arms, the
latter from about 200 soldiers stationed on the gunwale