The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

tolittral.

MR. LANOSTON AND MR. CARDWELL attended the
annual Druidical dinner held at Oxford last week,
and in returning thanks Mr. Cardwell, in the course
of his speech, greatly eulogised the endurance and
courage exhibited by Englishmen and women in
India during the prevalence of the insurrection.
With regard to the future government of that coun-
try, he said that, in the first place, it was the duty of
all Governments, and should be their chief object, to
promote the welfare and prosperity of the country
and people who live in it, and, in the second place,
with regard to the subject of religion, that while on
the one hand they should not attempt to propagate
our pure and holy faith as Mabomet propagated his,
that was by force and the sword,—while they should
scorn the base policy of attempting to preach a
hollow and hypocritical profession of our opinions,
by bane and unworthy influences, so on the other
hand he believed that justice, and mercy, and truth
were the essential attributes of every wise and just
Government, and were attributes also which were
inseparably connected with the religion which we
professed. And it was in that spirit of justice, of
mercy, and of truth that the Government of the
Queen of England over 200,000,000 of an alien race
must be administered.

Os MONDAY next the following provision in the
Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act (the 20th and
21st of Victoria, chap. 85) will come into operation
with respect to the property and earnings of deserted
married women. Section 21 :
A wife deserted by her husband may at any time after
such desertion, if resident within the metropolitan district,
apply to a police magistrate, or if resident in the country
to justices in petty session, or in either case to the court,
for an order to protect any money or property she may
acquire by her own lawful industry, and property which
she may become possessed of, after such desertion, against
her husband or his creditors, or any person claiming under
him, and such magistrate or justices of court, if satisfied
of the fact of such desertion, and that the same was with-
out reasonable cause, and that the wife is maintaining her-
s !If by her own industry or property, may make and give
to the wife an order protecting her earnings and property
acquired since the commencement of such desertion from
her husband, and all creditors and persons claiming under
him, and such earnings and property shall belong to the
wife as if she were a few sole ; provided always that every
such order, if made by a police magistrate, or justices at
petty sessions, shall within ten days after the making
thereof be entered with the registrar of the county court
within whose jurisdiction the wife is resident, and that it
shall be lawful for the husband and any creditor or other

person claiming under him to apply to the court, or to the
magistrate or justices by whom such order was made, for
the discharge ; provided also that if the husband or any
creditor of a person claiming under the husband shall
seize or continue to hold any property of the wife after
notice of any such order he shall be liable at the suit of
tie wife (which she is hereby empowered to bring) to
r3store the specific property, and also for a sum equil to
double the value of the property so seized or held after
such notice as aforesaid. If any such order of protection
b 3 made, the wife shall, during the continuance thereof,
be and be deemed to have been, during such desertion of
kir, in the like position in all respects with regard to pro-
perty and contracts, and suing and being sued, as she
would be under this act if she obtained a decree of judi-
cial separation.
A REFORK ASSOCIATION for the promotion in the
counties of Durham and Northumberland of the
new parliamentary reform movement has been
organised in Newcastle-on-Tyne. A similar associa-
tion has also been formed at Birmingham, upon the
basis of the six points.
A GENERAL CONFERENCE of delegates from the
various metropolitan vestries is under consideration,
for the purpose of discussing the propriety of re-
sisting the attempt which is to be made in the en-
suing session of Parliament to abolish tolls in the
neighbourhood of the metropolis—a course which it
is thought would have the effect of throwing the
expense of the roads upon the parishes, thus in-
creasing to a very serious extent the parochial rates,
particularly in poor districts, where frequently the
traffic is the greatest.
IT IS UNDERSTOOD that a bill to authorise the
India Company to raise a loan in this country will be
introduced immediately on the assembling of Parlia-
ment. This measure will be in no way connected
with that for the general reorganisation of the
Government of India, which will be bronght for-
ward at a later period. It will be simply sack as
would have been proposed if there had been no
thought of altering the existing system. Whether
the India Company will avail themselves of it to its
full extent is an unsettled question. A loan is now
open at Calcutta, and, if a favourable turn should
take place there, so as to induce rapid subscriptions,
it may be necessary to seek only a small amount
in London. It is also stated that the whole of the
six or eight millions that are required wilt be die•
bursed in this country for dividends on India Stock,
purchases of stores, the hire of ships, &e. This con-
sideration, however, although it diminishes the
prospect of inconvenience on the present occasion, in
no way mitigates the inherent objections to the