The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-31 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY.

Their Lordships are too fond of " last words."
The Local Government Bill had been read a
third time yesterday, and to-day the only ques-
tion was that the Bill should " pass." Various
amendments were hereupon suggested and dis-
cussed for a long time, chiefly referring to the
exceptions which should be allowed in the legisla-
tive prohibition against producing smoke within
the metropolitan districts. Lord DERBY soundly
rated the Peers for not having made up their
minds on these points of detail at earlier stages
of the Bill, especially as their Wednesday sit-
ting was formally appointed for the transaction of
unopposed business. The House received this
Ministerial rebuke with fitting humility, and
forthwith passed the Bill unaltered. But the
discussion protracted a sitting which every one
had hoped to be concluded in half an hour from
half-past four until six o'clock—a sad waste of
legislative time.

TJWRSDAY.
They sat for more than four hours—from five
to past nine—chiefly engaged in " considering "
whether they should agree with the Commons'
amendments to their own Bills, or admit the
Commons' reasons for disagreeing with their
amendments to measures originating in the other
House. In almost every case the Commons were
allowed to have their own way, the only excep-
tion of any consequence being that their Lord-
ships, on the advice of Lord DERBY, determined
to insist on the amendment in the Government
of India Bill by which the nomination of mili-
tary officers in the Indian service was preserved
as a Royal prerogative instead of being left to
the arbitrament of open competition.

FRIDAY.
All the loose threads and ragged ends of legis-
lation were neatly tied up, and finished off, a
considerable bundle of Bills being prepared for

725

the Royal Assent. The Government of India
Bill—the bill of the session—forms one of

the group.
The Peers then rested from their sessional
labours. On Monday the Houses meet to hear the
Prorogation Speech, releasing them from the cares
of legislation until next February.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
MONDAY.

The compromise so long maturing was at last
consummated. The House of Commons finally
surrendered its Christianity. Mr. ROT HSCHILD—
who as an English legislator must, at all events,
repudiate his alien title, even though preserving
his alien faith—after the formal resolution had
been passed, swore the truncated oath, and took
his seat beside his friend and proteg6e the Noble
Member for the City. As much enthusiasm was
got up among the Opposition members as could
be contrived in a House numbering, as the pre-
ceding division had shown, barely a hundred
members, "all told;" and the Jew atom of the
British legislative system, after voting in a
couple of divisions, departed for Goodwood.
At the evening setting Mr. WILSON remarkep
that several millions were, or would be, spent
upon the construction of harbours of refuge. At
least two millions worth of property, besides
some hundred lives, were also annually sacrificed
through the want of harbours of refuge. The
profit and loss question had thus become very
large in dimension and very delicate in adjust-
ment ; and he recommended that it should be
referred to that recognized tribunal of arbitration,
a Royal Commission. After listening to various
miscellaneous opinions on the subject, the Govern-
ment, through Sir JOHN PAIINGTON, announced
that the commission prayed for had already been
conceded.

TI.TVADAY.

The changes suggested by the Peers in the
Government of India Bill were discussed at the
early sitting, and again in the evening. On the
whole, the Commons decided on retaining their
oziginal opinions and clauses.
The only national ceremonial which has been de-
cently conducted for many years confessedly was
the funeral of the Duke of Wicin.ntaron, solem-
nized under the auspices of the Conservative Go-
vernment in 1852. Having buried the British
Cesar, it is left also to the Conservative Antony
to praise him, by erecting a monument to his
honour within the Cathedral beneath whose
dome his remains repose. Preceding Ministers
had evaded, or botched, the work ; and Sir Ban-
JAMIN'S contrivance of public competition had
proved a deplorable failure. The House, when
asked by Mr. STUART WORTLEY to discuss the
question, decided on leaving it in the hands of
Lord JOHN MANNERS, as the best chance of
getting the monument finished before the expi-
ration of the current century.

Having nothing to do, the House made holiday

THURSDAY.

The Commons considered some Lords' amend-
ments in their Bills, and then waited idly for three
hours to learn the result of the Lords considera-
tion of amendments made by the Lower House
upon measures sent down from the Upper. Mes-
sages communicating these decisions were inter-
changed at intervals, and some Bills finally
disposed of.

FRIDAY.

A similar operation was repeated to-night, and
the last remaining Bills of the session—the In-
dian Government Bill among them—adjusted
into their ultimate shape. The paper was cleared
of bills by nine o'clock, but, as it was under-
stood that the House on rising would meet again
only for Prorogation, several Members took this
last opportunity of " calling attention" to divers
important subjects, and the discussion was pro-
longed for two or three hours. Among others,
Colonel NORTH asked whether any pension was
to be granted to Sir J. INGLIS for his gallant
defence of Lucknow. Lord STANLEY replied,
enigmatically, that the Government fully appre-
ciated the eminent services performed by that
Gallant Officer. [Thus ends--except in its for-
mal dismissal—the memorable Sessaon of 1858.
Valete et plaudite.]