The Express.
London, England, 1855-07-27 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, JULY 27.

Now that the chance of passing the Partnership
Amendment and Limited Liability Bills has become
almost a forlorn hope, the noble lord at the head of
the Government has suddenly awakened to a sense of
their vital importance. The principle of limited
liability is so well established that any bill framed
with a liberal and frank acceptance of it might have

been carried almost without an effort. But whether

it is that Lord PALMERSTON has only just discovered
that a relaxation of the present law of partnership
would be a most popular addition to his scanty stock

of Government Mesa urea, or that he acorns en easy
victory and cannot condescend to any but a _ dashing
. _

and desperate service, be has contrived to delay the
discussion of the Bills upon this subject to a period

when it will need all hie energy, backed by unusual
forbearauce on the part of his opponents,

and some ommeesion from the House of Lords,

to enable them to blooms law. It is very any to
understand the ad capMadum declaration by which
the noble Viscount endeavoured yesterday to cast off

the responsibility of the delay that threatens to be
fatal to legislation, for this session at least. With

the well-aieumed indignation of a man whose @transom

efforts had been thwarted by an organised opposition,
he assured the House that he would go on from day
to day, from morning to morning, perhaps into Sep-
tember, rather than suffer the Bills to be talked ont

and the hopes of the country to be baulked. And this
magniloquent explosion comes from a Minister who
has never given an entire sitting to the discussion

until the time has paned after which the Hone of
Lords has resolved not to read a Bill a second time.

We believe that Ministers do desire to carry these
Hills. We are quite sure they wish to have credit

. -
for doing so. But the results of yesterday's debate
are not very encouraging. The House did not get
beyond Mr. MUNTZ.B amendment, the whole morn-

ing having been exhausted in re-affirming a principle
sanctioned a year ago by a unanimous resolution of the
Commons, and all but universally accepted in the

. .
country. If a long session were still to come, the die.

suasion would have been satisfactory enough, for not
more than one or two members out of the forty who
voted against the committal of the Bill had the

courage to declare themselves opponents of the prin-
ciple of limited liability. Public opinion has silenced
open opposition, although the secret hostility of the
capitalists is not the less active. Even while affecting
to bow before the principle, they reproduced all the old
threadbare arguments against it of rash and reckless
speculation, the encouragement to fraud, the redun-
dancy of capital, &c., &c., which have been
demolished again and again. But the lateness of
the session was the great topic, and four mortal
hours were wasted in proving that the House had no
time to waste. At this rate there is no hope of any
good being done before the recess. It is only by
economising every hour that time can possibly be
found for the discussions absolutely necessary before
the Bills can be reduced to any useful shape. No less
than seven amendments of the most important kind
stand for coosiderstios. Perhaps the best of them is
that of the hon. member for Belfast, who proposes to
strike out nearly the whole of both Bill., and to sub-
stitute an entirely new set of clauses of his own. Then
there is Lord GODERICH% motion to strike out the
clause by which the privilege of limited liability
is restricted to companies in possession of at least
20,0001. of capital. This is an essential point,
upon the settlement of which it depends
whether the Limited Liability Bill shall be a real
working measure of relief, or a mere idle mockery
of the popular wish. If the Bill should pass with
any such restriction as it now contains it would
remain a dead letter, just as the Irish Anonymous
Partneship Act broke down, mainly from the same
cattle. In the interval of more than a century since
it posed scarcely an instance has occurred of its
powers being resorted to, owing to the exclusion of
associations with small capitals, and the addition of,
vexatious requirements that the wealthier bodies
would not submit to. If the proposed restriction
is maintained, the same fate will doubtless

country and the details alone are left to be ,
it is found impossible to get aam through P rlament
in a session of six months. the most we look. id
some better law-making machinery theism' poseseral
present the better. Wherever the.faelt lies 11 Ault
be mended, if the Legislatufe is to retain any. hither
position than that of the rst debiting dui, lette
country.

LATEST FROM ABROAD.

DESPATCH PROM GENERAL PELIBBIER.

Th. Nontteur of this dAy contains the following:
" CRIMEA, itILT 26, II A. w.

" Atter a brisk cannonade the ROISISSUP made a
sortie, about midnight, on the left el the Little
Redan.

" Az we are now quite dose to them it did not
take the enemy we minute to reach our sation.
maim

" They were vigorously received by the Chastain-
i-pied of the Imperial Gaud, and by some com-
panies of the 10th Regiment of Infantry of the line.
"The Russians beat a hasty retreat. having some
wounded, and eight killed, between our ambuscades
and the fosse of the place.

" A very dark night enabled them to carry off the
others.

"This affair doss honour to Lient..-CoL de Taxis,
of the Infantry, and to Captain Leooeq, of the En-
gineers. General Bison was on duty in the
trenches."