The Press.
London, England, 1856-07-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

called upon to serve, and be put on board ship again.
They are therefore men who have gone through all the
naval tactics, and who have learnt all that is to be taught
in the navy, so that when they come back to the service
they are perfectly well•trained men.

Sir Charles Wood then briefly explained the details
of the bill. At present the whole number of our
reserve seamen amount only to 3,000 men. These
he proposed to increase to 10,000, and to take for the
future into the Coast Guard service only tried seamen,
and to MBB3 together, under certain regulations for
training and exercise, all volunteers, pensioners, and
Coast Guard men, into one body of reserve. With
respect to the Coast Guard service, he proposed to
transfer it from the Customs to the Admiralty, and
to make it generally much more efficient than it is at
present, by stationing ships of war in every principal
port on the British coasts, and attaching to each
ship, for preventive duties, a certain number of gun-
boats, the divisions of men at each port from time
to time being exercised at gun-batteries and other
drill. _ _ _

Sir JIMES Gamliaa cordially approved of the
measure. He said :

My right hon. friend has pointed out the opposite course
on the other side of the Channel, which has been in opera-
tion for nearly a century. As a system nothing can be
more perfect. It had its origin from M. Colbert, in a
country where great vicissitudes have occurred, where
there has been monarchy, republicanism, revolution, and
usurpation; but throughout the whole of that period, not-
withstanding all the vacillations of Government, that great
system of naval conservation has never been cast aside,
and amid all changes it still remains perfectly unimpaired
I don't believe that human skill can devise a better system
than the French system of naval administration. The
whole naval population of that country, which has a coast
on the English Channel, the Atlantic, and the Mediter•
ranean, is under the command of the Government, and in
the shortest time and with the utmost certainty may be
made available for war. Ido not wish to push this topic
further, but still when we know what are the means of the
first naval power next to ourselves it becomes an act of
common prudence without the least delay to do all we can
in favour of the voluntary system. That is the object of
this measure.

Sir F. BARING cordially concurred in the measure,
and especially agreed with the transference of the
Coast Guard from the Customs to the Admiralty.
The bill was then read a second time.
THE BRIGADE OF GUARDS.

Mr. PEEL, in answer to Sir J. Fergusson, said that
the number of companies in each battalion of the
Guards had been increased to ten during the war,
and as it was not the intention of the Goveniment to
make any reduction in that number, of course any
vacancies which occurred in the number of captains
would be filled up.

THE CRIMEAN REPORT.
Mr. PEEL, in reply to Mr. Palk, said the report
would be printed and laid on the table as soon as
possible.
REINFORCEMENTS FOR THE CAPE.
Mr. LABOUCHERE, in reply to Lord W. Graham,
whether it was true that three regiments had been
sent to the Cape, and whether that was merely a
measure of precaution, or was caused by any imme•
diate prospect of an outbreak there? said, in the
last despatches received from the colony the governor
expressed his confident hope that no attack from the
natives would take place, but, under the circum-
stances, the Government had thought fit to order
reinforcements to be sent there.

ADJOURNMENT OVER WEDNESDAY.
On the motion of Lord PALMERSTON that the house
at its rising do adjourn until Thursday,
Mr. DISRAELI, not opposing the motion, entered
his protest against this novel practice of the Minis
ter of the day giving a holiday to the house, and
entertaining the members at the public expense.
The precedent he considered to be one which the
house should have an opportunity of showing that it
did not approve.
Mr. W. WILLIAMS wished to know from what fund
the expense was to be defrayed.
Lord PALMERSTON agreed with Mr. Disraeli that
it would be very unfitting on slight occasions to pro-
pose that the house should postpone business to
pleasure ; but the review at Aldershott was a special
occasion. The expense, which would be small,
would be paid out of the sum voted for civil contin•
genlies.
Mr. HENLEY and Sir IL Wir.LounHav thought the
members who went to the review ought to pay their
own expenses.
The subject then dropped.
MR. JAMES SADLEIR AND THE IRISH ATTORNEY-

GENERAL.
Mr. J. D. FrrzoERALD, pursuant to notice, entered
upon his statement in reply to the charges made
against him by the Irish Master of the Rolls. Mr.
Fitzgerald, having stated at great length every
minute detail connected with the Tipperary Bank
frauds, observed that up to the 28th of May James
Sadleir had been acquitted of participation in his
brother's frauds. Nobody had asked for his prose-
cution at that date, nor even when certain strong

681

expressions were employed by the Master of [the
Rolls, on the 3rd of June. Then, however, be (Mr.
Fitzgerald) took immediate steps to set the law in
motion against Sadleir, and followed them up as ex-
peditiously as the case permitted. In the opinion
of counsel taken by the Crown Solicitor on the
23rd of June, the case was not one for publio
prosecutiou ; hut he (Mr. Fitzgerald) did not
agree in this opinion, and did not hesitate to over-
rule it, and to direct a prosecution 14 the Crown
against Sadleir. A warrant accordingly issued
for his apprehension, to secure which a reward was
offered, but in vain, for he stated, not as an impu-
tation upon the Master of the Rolls, but as a fact,
that Sadleir had been frightened away by the
irregular" observations of that learnel judge on
the 3rd June, in proof of which he would read an ex-
tract from a letter received from a gentleman con-
nected with the affair:—

James Sadleir had not the slightest idea that he was In danger
until he read on the 4th of June the remarks made by the Ideates
of the Rolls on the drd. He came in to his solicitor that mot ning
with the paper in his pocket from Bray, where he was residing,
and he said, " I must now stand my ground or cut."
I said on Friday that the inference which I drew was, not
that James Sadleir had fled, but that if he had it was in
consequence of the language of the Master of the Rolls,
because I think there never was language used more calcu-
lated to alarm a criminal—( Hear, hear)—and to show h;n2
what he must do. On my own responsibility I undertake
to say that the statement made in the passage I have
quoted can he proved. I have got a clue, not from the
witness, and I undertake to say that before a committee of
this house a gentleman shall be produced who must prove
this. James Sadleir was induced to remain in Ireland
four days alter the 4th of June, and for what purpose ? He
remained at Kingstown up to the Bth of June, and his last
act before he loft was to swear an affidavit for the official
manager and for the creditors in answer to the affidavits of
the English shareholders charging him with fraud, and
having sworn that affidavit be stepped on board the
steamer, and I am not able to tell what has since become
of him.
Mr. NAPIER was bound to say, after having heard
the statement of Mr. Fitzgerald, that he had no
charge to make against him. He justified the share
he had taken in the matter, and claimed for the
Master of the Rolls the merit of having discovered
the full extent of this gigantic fraud, excusing any
excess of zeal on the part of the learned judge by his
acting upon misinformation.
The motion for adjournment was then agreed to.
WINE DUTIES.
Mr. OLIVEIRA called attention to the high duty
charged upon foreign and colonial wines, and moved,
with a view to promote increased commercial rela-
tions with France, Spain, Portugal, and other wine-
growing countries, that the house will resolve itself
into a committee to take into consideration a reduc
tion of the same.
The CHANCELLPR of the EXCHEQUER said unless
the reduction of the duty on wines were carried to so
low a point as to disturb the proportion between it
and the duties upon other fermented beverages, it
would be ineffectual in stimulating consumption to
the reouired extent. To impose an ad valorem duty
upon wine would be to open a door to fraud, which
could not be prevented by any contrivance for deter-
mining the quality of wines.
Mr. OLIVEIRA then withdrew his motion.

GENERAL BEATSON.
Colonel DUNNE moved an address for copy of the
correspondence between the Minister at War and
General Beatson, as to certain charges preferred
against that officer.
Mr. F. PEEL said the inquiry might be considered
as still pending ; he could not, therefore, consent to
the motion.
The motion was negatived.
CONSOLIDATED FUND.—SLAVE TRADE.
On the order for the third reading of the Consoli•
dated Fund (Appropriation) Bill,
Sir G. PECHELL called alention to the continued
traffic in slaves on the coast of Cuba.
Lord PALMERSTON said although the slave trade at
the Brazils might be considered as extinct, he was
sonT to say, with regard to Cuba, that the Spanish
Government, though always profuse in promises and
liberal in orders, were not successful in having those
orders executed. An efficient watch would, how-
ever, be established on the Cuba coast.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER proposed to
move, as an addition to clause 30, the following pro •
viso :
Provided also, that there shall he laid before the House
of Commons, with the nal), and army estimates for esch
year, a statement showing all cases in which the naval and
military departments shall have obtained the sanction of
the Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury to any alte-
ration in the sums appropriated to the respective votes
aforesaid, during the year ended on the 31st day of Decem-
ber of the preceding year; together with copies of the re-
presentations made to the Commissioners of her Majesty's
Treasury by the said departments.
The proviso was agreed to, and the bill then
passed.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER obtained
leave to bring in a bill to abolish the office of Cursi-
tor Baron of the Exchequer.

HOUSE OF LORDS-THURSDAY.
BISHOPS' RETIREMENT BILL.

On the order for going into committee on this bill,
The Earl of Dsitsy said the admission of the
principle of negotiation between the Minister of the
day and the individual concerned was a bad one in
itself, and that grave inconvenience might arise from
suspicions being engendered as to the motives which
might lead to the retirement of a bishop :

The particular circumstances of the present case enable
yon to allow a pension to the retiring bishop from the
superfluity of the income of the see, but the effect of the
bill will be that in cases where such means do not exist,
and where it is desirable that a bishop shduld be able to
retire, you will not be able to provide a retiring pension.
If therefore you rest this case upon the dubious ground of
being thus able to furnish a pension from the superfluity
of the see, you will do away with the possibility of provid•
ing retiring pensions for bishops in future where no such
means exist. Before I sit down I wish to ask her
Majesty's Government whether they are prepared to con-
sider the propriety of making an arrangement that the
annual sum of money saved by the effect of this arrange-
ment shall be held as it were in pawn until there is an
opportunity of introducing a general measure, in order to
form a nucleus for the formation of a surplus fund avail-
able for providing pensions to retiring bishops.

The Earl of HARROWBY said the Government
could give no such pledge with regard to the money
saved. It should not, however, b appropriated in
any other way, until some decision were arrived at
on the general question.
The house then went into committee, the clauses
with amendments were agreed too, and the bill
passed.
The Bishop of Oxionn gave notice that he should,
at a future stage, move the introduction of a clause
to the effect that the sums received from time to time
by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners from the re-
venues of the sees of London and Durham should
be carried to a separate account, until Parliament
bad decided whether any provision should be made
for the retirement fzom their offices of bishops
unable, through age or infirmity, to discharge their
duties.