The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-06 00:00:00

Volitltal.

CABINET COUNCILS were held on Saturday, the
20th ult., and Friday, the sth instant, at the official
residence of the First Lord of the Treasury, in
Downing-street. The Ministers present were, Vis-
count Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis
of Lansdowne, Earl Granville, the Earl of Har•
rowby, Sir George Grey, the Earl of Clarendon, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Charles Wood,
Lord Stanley of Alderley, the Right Hon. M. T.
Baines, and the Duke of Argyll.

SIR ALEXANDER DUFF GORDON is mentioned as the
probable successor to the vacant Commissionership
of Inland Revenue.

Mr. RICHARD PATTINSON has been appointed Go-
vernor of Heligoland.

Ma. MATHEW, late her Majesty's Consul at Phila-
delphia, one of the British consular officers whose
exequatur was withdrawn by the Government of
President Pierce, has been appointed Consul-General
at Odessa.

THE HONOUR OF KNIGHTHOOD was on the 28th
conferred on Mr. Baron Watson and on Mr. Rowland
Macdonald Stephenson, Civil Engineer of Calcutta.
MR. ARNEY, of the Western Circuit, will become
Recorder of NVinchester, in the room of Mr. Stock,
whose transfer to the Recordership of Exeter we
have already stated,

1159

Sin R. BETHELL addressed his constituents, at
lesbury, on Saturday afternoon last. After allud-
ing to the honour he bad received at the hands
of his sovereign, he congratulated the electors
upon the termination of the war and the prosperous
state of the country, expressing also his opinion that
the peace would be permanent and in every way
satisfactory. He alluded to the great increase of
crime, and observed that the only way to protect the
commercial interests of the nation from such frauds
as had recently attracted attention was to award
such punishments as would deter men from acting
dishonestly. He was in a position to state that the
Church-rate question would form one of the first
measures for discussion in the next session, and
there was no doubt it would be satisfactorily settled.

A CONVENTION between Great Britain and Hon-
duras, relative to the Mosquito Indians, and other
matters arising out of the recent territorial arrange-
ments, has been published in the New York
papers. The following are the principal articles :
Art. 1. The Republic of Honduras engages not to dis-
turb the subjects of her Britannic Majesty in the enjoy-
ment of any property of which they may be in possession
in the islands of Ruatan, Bonaca, Elena, Utile, Itarharete,
and Morat, situated in the Bay of Honduras.—Art. 2. Her
Britannic Majesty agrees to recognise the mid•channel of
the river Wan: or Segovia, which falls into the Caribbean
Sea at Cape Gracias a Dios, as the boundary between the
Republic of Honduras and the territory of the Mosquito
Indians, without prejudice, however, to any question of
boundary between the Republica of Honduras and Nicara-
gua. And whereas the Mosquito Indians have heretofore
possessed and exercised rights in and over the territories
lying between the river Winix or Segovia and the Roman
river, her Britannic Majesty agreed to recommend to the
Mosquito Indians to renounce any such rights in favour of
the Republic of Honduras, on condition of receiving from
the Republic some reasonable sum by way of annuity for a
limited period, to be paid half-yearly, as an indemnity and
compensation for the loss and extinction of their interest
in the said territory. When such an arrangement shall
have been acceded to by the Mosquito Indians, her Bri-
tannic Majesty engages to recognise the sovereignty over
the said territory as belonging to the Republic of Hon-
duras. And whereas British subjects have, by grant, lease,
or otherwise, heretofore obtained from the Mosquito Indians
interests in various lands situated within the territory
above described, lying between the river Wan: or Segovia
and the river Roman, the Republic of Honduras engages
to respect and maintain such interests.
The other articles provide for the conclusion of those
arrangements by special commissioners.

MR. AUGUSTUS STAFFORD, M.P., at the Rutland
agricultural dinner, on Wednesday, expressed his
objections against any inquisitorial mode of obtain-
ing agricultural statistics. The agriculture of this
country rested precisely upon the same footing as
every other class of manufacturing industry :

We know the imports of agricultural produce; we know
the exports of agricultural produce also. They know the
import of cotton wool, and they know the export of cotton
wool. It is the same with iron ; it is the same with every
other article. But what would Mr. Turner or any other
respectable shopkeeper of Oakham say if a Government
inspector stepped in and said, " How many yards of calico,"
or " bow many yards of riband have you sold during the
last six months ? Write it down for me, and deliver it
under a penalty." Then, if the inhabitants of towns would
not like that inquisitorial process, why should the farmers
be subject to it? for as are the cotton and the ribands of
the haberdasher, as is the iron of the ironmaster, so is the
wheat, so is the corn, so is the poultry (we were to descend
even to the ducks and hens) of the farmer. And we were
to register the results, and have them served up to the
Houses of Parliament in a blue-book. Now, I don't wish
at all to undervalue the importance of knowing in this
great and flourishing community the increase of food
raised—the increase, if I may so speak, of agricultural
wealth which is year by year produced in this still more
and more fertile island. But, as a guide to the agricul-
turist, as a guide to the corn•merchant, as a guide to the
consumer, I believe—so large are our importations of
foreign cereal produce—that these agricultural statistics
would be of little or no use whatever.
The Honourable 3. G. NOEL expressed a similar
opinion:—

He thought that the Agricultural Statistics Bill, as pre
sented to Parliament, was an insult to the tenant.farmers,
and right glad was he to find that that bill was withdrawn.
Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer had recommended a concilia-
tory system of procuring agricultural statistics. Those
returns must be given voluntarily; there must be no
prying. To a general and proper system he (the speaker)
trusted they would not object, because he believed that the
matter derived from these statistics would be most useful
and beneficial.

The Hon. G. H. HEATHCOTE could not pledge
himself to oppose every Agricultural Statistics Bill
brought in:

He thought it seemed agreed that all parties, even by
those gentlemen whom they had always looked up to as
the friends of the farmers—and Lord Derby, he thought,
was in favour of something of the kind—it seemed agreed
that it was desirable, and he thought they could hardly
expect him to give a pledge to oppose such a measure.

MR. T. 1../VI HODGES, one of the membe rs for
Essex, was presented last Tuesday by his supporters