The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-17 00:00:00

CITY ORTHOPEDIC HOSPITAL.

THE anniversary dinner cf this institution took place
at the London Tavern on Wednesday last, the chair
being occupied by the Earl of Shaftesbury. It ap
reared from the report that the funds of this charity

are by no means in a satisfactory condition.
receipts for the year past are less than those of 1,
year preceding ; and, although the committee hav,
refrained for a time from admitting any in•patienta
who are not able to pay for their board, the expen-
diture of the year is still somewhat in excess of
income. Besides this there is a debt of more
6001., previously incurred, towards the liquidation
which it has, of course, been impossible to do
thing. This liability presses heavily upon the
mittee, and occasions serious anxiety ; it is
feared that, unless immediate succour be afforded,
the hospital must be closed altogether. A
forcible appeal was made by the chairman for ._
creased support. He pointed out that the deformi.
ties for the relief of which this hospital was estab-
lished are the result and consequence of modern
civilization—that these distortions of the spine
contractions of the limbs are rarely to be met .._
in healthy agricultural districts, and in uncivilized
countries are almost unknown—that they are
--
doubtedly produced by the foul atmosphere
crowded life of large towns. He appealed, th,
fore, to those who derive from the dense popula
of this metropolis the means of acquiring wealtl_
devote some portion of it to relieving the miseries
which this system of things entails upon others. '-
urged that, as it is now ascertained that disorders
this kind may always, if taken in time, be greatly
ameliorated, and often entirely removed, the two it
stitutions which are devoted to this object are utt,
insufficient to meet the wants of a population so
as that of London. The hospital is confined
sect, class, or nation; it offers relief to all persons
afflicted with deformity who are unable to pay
surgical aid. It possesses an excellent medical
and in many cases has achieved cures which
to border on the miraculous ; its operations are _
stricted only by want of funds. The noble chairman
said he considered this state of things by no means
creditable to a community which boasts so loud)
its liberality and enlightenment; he could not
lieve that it would be any longer suffered to cow._
Dr. Little, who was present, gave similar testimony.
It is now seven years since the hospital was founded,
and during that time it has received 5,573 patient
in the course of the past year, with an ineomt
scarcely 6001., it has afforded relief to no less a
732 persons.
The chairman's appeal, we are happy to say, wa'
not without its effect, and subscriptions amounting
to more than 5001. were announced in the course of
the evening.

DEATII OF THE CITY CHAMBERLAlN.—lnformation
was on Thursday morning conveyed to the Lord
Mayor and other corporate officials of the City of the
death of Sir J. Key, Bart., chamberlain to the cor-
poration, which melancholy event took place at his
villa at Streatham on Thursday morning at two
o'clock. Death was caused by an attack of gout,
from which Sir John had been suffering for some
days, although it was not till Wednesday that fears
were entertained of a fatal termination. Sir John
Key first entered the corporation as alderman in
1823, being elected in that year for Langbourn
Ward. In 1824 be served the office of Sheriff
of London and Middlesex, and attained the
mayoralty in 1830. At that time the public atten-
tion was rivetted upon the question of Parlia-
mentary Reform, and Sir John being one of the
leading supporters of a Reform Bill in the City was
elected to the mayoralty also in 1831, contrary to
the usual practice, as an expression in favour of
reform upon the part of the City. In 1853 the office
of city chamberlain becoming vacant by the death of
Mr. Brown, Sir J. Key became a candidate for the
office, throwing up his aldermanic gown to enable
him to do so, and, after a contest of seven days,
during which he polled (3,095, he was elected by a
majority of 275 over Mr. Scott. Sir John was highly
and deservedly respected by his colleagues in the
corporation, and a wide circle of private friends. The
office of chamberlain being, by his death, again
vacant, will no doubt give rise to a new and lively
contest, as the emoluments attached amount to
2,5001. per annum.

DEATH OF THE COUNTESS OF CARDIGAN.—We
have to announce the death of the Countess of
Cardigan, who died at seven o'clock on Thursday
morning, at her residence in South•street, Park-lane.
After passing the winter in Italy, she returned from
the Continent late in the spring in improved health,
but about six weeks since her ladyship became indis-
posed, though no fatal consequences were ap•
prehended. On Thursday morning, at an early
hour, she was seized with very alarming symptoms,
and soon afterwards expired. The deceased Was
eldest daughter of the late Admiral J. R. D. Tolle-
mache, and was born December 8, 1797. She
married first Mr. C. F. C. A. J. Johnstone, but that
marriage was dissolved in 1828. On the 10th of
June the same year she married the Earl of Cardigan
(then Lord Brudenell).

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rott6ings arliament.

HOUSE OF LORDS—No:4cm
The Royal assent was given by commission to
several private bills.
OATHS BILL.

On the order of the day for considering the report
of the sin their lordshi to be offered to the House of Commons
ps' amendments to this
for persisting
bill,
Earl GRANVILLE thought the policy of persisting
in these reasons, after having passed Lord Lucan's
bill, permitting Jews to sit in Parliament, was very
doubtful. It would seem as if their lordships made
a concession against their will ; and the House of
Commons might retort on them that the reasons
required no reply, because they were urged against
a course that had actually been adopted. Of the
reasons themselves three were neither strong nor
conclusive, while the others were offensive to the
House of Commons, or insulting to those who were
now to be admitted to Parliament.
The Earl of DERBY defended the reasons as em.
bodied in the report. They were quite consistent
with the course their lordships bad taken. They
had not changed their opinions on the propriety of
admitting Jews to Parliament, but they had, for the
sake of conciliation, given a permissive authority to
the other house to admit them. It was therefore
gill competent to their lordships to express their
reasons for dissenting from the original bill. He
would propose, however, to substitute another
reason for the fourth in the report, and omit the
sixth altogether. This, he hoped, would remove all
objections to them.
The Mivquis of LANSDOWNE thought the course
proposed the most singular that could be adopted ;
with a bill on their table that was really intended to
allow Jews to sit in Parliament, they were asked to
agree to reasons why they ought not to be allowed
to sit there. It was most inconsistent that the
records of the house for the same day should contain
a declaration that Jews were morally unfit to legislate
for the country and a bill admitting them to seats in

the Legislature.
Lord MALMESBURY was anxious that the views of
the Government on this subject should not be mis-
taken: if there had been any concession, it had been
made to a political necessity, not a moral conviction.
A reply to the House of Commons was required ; it
had been drawn up by a majority of their lordships'
house; and he thought it unusual in a minority to
object to reasons so approved. . .

The Earl of CARLISLE condemned the course of
passing the bill and the reasons against it as incon-
sistent and discreditable.

The Earl of HARDWICKE supported the reasons.
Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY strongly condemned
them, as making the concession appear grudging and
ungracious.

After a few remarks from the Duke of NEWCASTLE,
the first, second, and third reasons were agreed to.
The house divided on the reason substituted for
the fourth of the report, and the amendment was
tarried by a majority of 8; the numbers being,
contents 50, non•contents 42. With this amendment,
and the omission of the sixth reason, the report was
agreed to.

The Earl of Lucen moved the third reading of the
Jews Bill.

Lord DIINGA24NON divided the house against the
motion ; there appeared,—
Contents

Non contents

.... 33

12

Majority for the third reading —2l
Amendments proposed by Lord REDESDALE and the
Earl of HARRINGTON were withdrawn, and the bill
passed.

Their lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-MONDAT.

At the morning sitting the Report of the Com-
mittee of Supply was brought up and agreed to.
After a brief conversation upon the subjects of the
Embassy-house at Paris and Westminster•bridge,
the house resolved itself into a Committee of Supply
upon the estimates for the Civil Service and Revenue
Departments.

THE MASSACRE AT JEDDAH.
In the evening, in reply to Mr. LIDDELL,
Mr. S. FITZGERALD said the onlj information the
Government had received respecting the tragical
oceurence at Jeddah was from the telegram, the
truth of which they had no reason to doubt, and
that immediately on the receipt of the intelligence
Lord Malmesbury had forwarded instructions to our
Commanders on the spot to take every means in their
power to bring the perpetrators to justice.

THE SLAVE TRADE.
On the motion for going again into a Committee
Of Supply,
M. r. HUTT called attention to the slave trade,
Which, he observed, was never in a state of greater
activity than at the present moment, in spite of our

THE PRESS, JULY 17, 1858.

armed cruisers. It had long ago been argued that
we could never succeed by such means; that it was
impossible for this country, so long as high prices
were paid in any part of the world for African slaves,
to suppress the trade, the great law of commercial
intercourse, that of demand and supply, being
opposed to the attempt. The conclusion drawn from
reasoning had been confirmed by practical experi-
ence; our system bad failed, and he wished, he acid,
it were no worse; that we had merely wasted our
money and resources ; but, in his opinion, it had
entailed consequences terrible to contemplate. He
drew a frightful picture of the horrors of the middle
passage, in which the mortality of the negroes was
calculated at from 25 to 33 per cent., and for this
result be held that house responsible. Another
disastrous consequence of the system was that it bad
been dragging this country to the verge of hostilities
with two maritime States with which it was our
interest to remain on terms of amity. Under these
circumstances, he moved a resolution, "That it is
expedient to discontinue the practice of authorizing
her Majesty's ships to visit and search vessels under
foreign flags, with a view of suppressing the traffic
in slaves."
Mr. CARDWELL observed that this was not a mo-
tion to withdraw our African squadron, but to pass a
resolution, and so to fetter the hands of the Govern-
ment,—a proposition which the house was, be
thought, not likely to adopt. Mr. Hutt had not
noticed the resolution of the House of Lords, that
the squadron was not ineffective, but was effective,
and that its removal would annihilate a nascent and
now flourishing commerce in Africa. It bad been
argued that it was hopeless to put down the slave
trade with Brazil ; but we had nevertheless perse-
vered, and the traffic with Brazil had been wiped out.
The squadron bad repressed the slave trade along
1,000 miles of the African coast, while a legitimate
trade had sprung up in native hands, which experi-
enced witnesses had testified must inevitably be ex-
tinguished if the squadron were removed. He
hoped, therefore, that the house would not give its
sanction to a retrogade policy, which would be preju-
dicial to the interests of humanity and derogatory to
our honour.
Mr. S. FITZGERALD said he should ask the house
to express a strong dissent from the resolution. In
reversing any policy of this country there would be
a general disinclination on the part of the house to
come to a precipitate decision ; but the policy we
bad pursued with reference to the slave trade was
one in which we asserted a high principle, and had
invited the co-operation of all the nations of the
globe, and its moral effect upon the conduct of other
States had been most important. Mr. Hutt had put
the question upon two issues ; first, whether the
policy bad been successful or unsuccessful; and,
secondly, whether particular circumstances did not
render that policy at present unadvisable. As to the
first, after a careful consideration of the matter, he
had come to a conclusion totally opposite to that of
Mr. Hutt. In stating the fists upon which he based
his conclusion, he showed the enormous increase
which bad taken place in the exports from Africa,
not merely in palm oil, but in cotton, expressing a
confident hope that, if we succeeded, as he believed
we should, in repressing the slave trade, before many
years we should receive a most important supply of
this article from the west coast of Africa. With
regard to the second point, be explained the grounds
upon which he entertained no doubt that the fears of
Mr. Hutt as to any interruption of our good under-
standing with France in respect to this matter were
unfounded. As to the United States, he repeated
what be bad stated upon a former evening on the
subject of the right of search, and read a despatch
which he had received that day containing very satis-
factory assurances on the part of General Cass, which
showed, he said, that there was no prospect of any
difficulties occuring betweeen this country and the
United States to prevent ourj perseverance in that
just and humane policy which we had pursued for so
many years, and which he hoped the house would not
relinquish.
Mr. M. GIBSON said be was glad that the practice
of visiting American ships in the Cuban waters bad
been given up, and he thought that the Government
was, to a certain extent, carrying out the principle
of Mr. Hutt's motion, which only sought to discon-
tinue the practice of visiting and searching vessels
under foreign flags. We were paying, he observed,
a large sum of money to keep up a maritime police
which was ineffectual, since slaves were obtained,
and it was impossible to maintain an effective blockade
of the extensive coast of Africa. Cuba got as many
slaves as she required ; but, in order to allow a
margin for the negroes our cruisers might capture,
more were shipped from Africa; the middle passage
was thus rendered more fatal, and our squadron
inflicted a great increase of suffering and mortality.
He called upon her Majesty's Government to repeal
the Brazil Act of 1845, which had bean passed on the
ground that Brazil had failed in fulfilling her treaty
obligations with this country in regard to the slave
trade, but which there was no reason now for

687

maintaining. It was a most offensive and improper
law, he said, and should be erased from our statute-
book.

Mr. A. Mims noticed the difference between the
circumstances of Brazil and Cuba.

Mr. GURNEY admitted that the real question was
whether the system had been successful or unsuc-
cessful. Mr. Hutt said it had been an entire failure ;
he (Mr. Gurney) believed there was good evidence
to the contrary.

After some remarks by Sir G. PECHELL and Sir C.
NAPIER,

Mr. ROEBUCK, while denouncing the slave trade u
an unholy traffic, asked whether Cuba did not obtain
as many staves as she wanted ? If so, as far as
regarded importation, our endeavours bad had no
effect whatever; but, as regarded exportation, we
bad compelled the export of a larger number of
slaves to keep up the importation, so our efforts had
been mischievous ; they had been nugatory for good,
and, besides the sacrifice of money, they had in-
creased the sufferings of the slaves. He insisted
that the operations of our cruisers had in no way
contributed to the growth of legitimate commerce in
Africa. He contrasted our conduct towards Brazil
with that we had just adopted towards America. "We
had truckled, be said, to one, and bullied the other,
because this was weak and that was strong. He
supported the motion, which he regarded as a
humane one.

Sir J. PAKINOTON contended that although we bad
not done all we wished, we had accomplished great
things, and that, if it had not been for the continued
efforts of this country, the slave trade would have
been far more prosperous. The revival of the slave
trade, which our squadron had reduced to a mini-
mum, was contemporaneous with the reduction of
the squadron in the Cuban waters in consequence of
the demands upon our navy in the Russian war.
Late accounts from Cuba, however, stated that, not-
withstanding the revival of the traffic, so great was
the difficulty of introducing a sufficient number of
slaves into Cuba that a considerable number of
Indians had been brought thither from Yucatan.
The good rendered by the African squadron was not
limited to the suppression of the slave trade ; it
bad fostered legitimate commerce, and in a few
years we might look to Africa for a supply of cotton
He gave an indignant denial to Mr. Roebuck's as-
sertion that we had truckled to the United States, a
charge which, he said, was utterly unfounded.

Mr. Burros denied that the efforts of our African
squadron bad been a complete failure, or that they
had increased the horrors of the middle passage. Ile
mentioned facts which he thought demonstrated
that our cruisers were very effective and threw
serious impediments in the way of the slave trade.
He enlarged upon the splendid commercial prospects
of the west coast of Africa if the traffic in slaves
could be stopped.
Lord C. PAGET said, he had a pocket-full of letters
from naval officers, stating that the efforts of our
squadron on the coast of Africa, though noble and
sublime, were utterly futile. He added his own
testimony to the amount of suffering caused by the
pursuit of slavers and to the hardships endured by
the crews of our own ships on the African station.
Lord PALMERSTON observed, if mere assertions
could induce the house to concur with those who
made them, Mr. Hutt would succeed in his motion,
but all his assertions were diametrically opposed to
the facts. Our policy, instead of having been un-
successful, had been eminently successful. That it
had increased the horrors of the middle passage was
an assertion diametrically opposed to the fact, as well
as the statement that the Cubans got as many slaves
.as they wanted ; the well-known high price of slim as
n Cuba showed that the supply fell short of the
demand. He claimed credit to the British Govern-
ment for putting down the slave trade in Brazil,
which he denied to have been the result of any im-
proved opinion in that country. It had been argued
that the British Government were bound to propose
to Parliament to rescind the Act of 1845 ; but he
believed that the continuance of that act for the
present was the only security against the revival of
the slave trade in Brazil. Upon commercial and
political grounds ho thought it would be unwise to
retrace our steps, and, regarding the matter in a
religious point of view, he suggested that, by revers-
ing our policy and re-establishing this abominable
traffic, England would bring upon itself a measure
of guilt.
Mr. Glum supported the motion, contending that
the facts which were said to be at variance with its
object had not been established, and that negro
slavery could not be put an end to by the means we
had adopted.
Mr. P. O'BRIEN and General THOMPSON made a
few remarks.

Mr. DRUM BOND warmly opposed the motion,
declaring that he would heartily rejoice at bearing of
the rising of the blacks, and at their inflicting a
measure of justice upon their oppressors.

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