The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-30 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

shall cease and determine from the date of the accession
of his Royal lighness Prince Frederick William of Prtsaia
to the throne of Prussia.
He might, he said, be referred to precedents in sup-
port of the Government proposition, but such pre-
cedents should be rather avoided than followed by
a reformed Parliament. He would not object to
the revival of the annuity should her Royal High-
neis become a widow.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER opposed the
amendment, which he characteri-ed as being too
minute and niggling to be worthy of the British Par-
liament. He would rather abandon the bill, and
give up the arrangement altogether than adopt one
which would reflect such discredit on the nation. The
pride of the country would revolt at the acceptance of
such a degrading position.
Mr. W. WILLIAMS was surprised that a proposition
so reasonable should be for one moment objected to.
Mr. WALTER regretted that Mr. Roebuck had not
made his motion more definite than be had done,
for he thought the payment of a sum down was
better than the proposition of the Government. He
would suggest a modification of the motion, to the
effect that the Princess Royal should receive 12,0001.
a year until she became Queen of Prussia, when it
should cease.

Mr. DISRAELI thought the Crown ought not to he
placed in the humiliating position of coming down to
the hou3e on such occasions, by depriving it of its
hereditary revenues. If the Queen had not given up
her hereditary revenues, amounting to 260,0001. a
year, she could provide for all the Royal Family
without coming to Parliament. He objected to the
bmendment proposed as shabby, and calculated to
cause great inconvenience, and perhaps embarrass-
ment. . . _ _ _

Sir F. BARING thought the proposition of Mr.
Bowyer would attach to the grant the character of
extreme shabbiness. He could not, however, agree
with Mr. Disraeli that the bargain made with the
Crown at thecomtnencement of each reign was a bad
one. The very reverse he believed to be the fact.
Mr. ROEBUCK said the bargain was made when
William IV. came to the throne, and it was by no
means a bad one. On the contrary, it was very
advantageous to the Crown. Even when the Crown
had the hereditary revenues in its possession it never
prevented applications like the present being made
to Parliament. He •could not vote for the amend-
ment, and would entreat Mr. Bowyer to withdraw it.
After some explanatory remarks from Mr. Dm-
RAELI and Mr. W. WILLIAMS,
Mr. BOWYER consented to withdraw his amend.
ment, and the bill went through committee.

LUNATICS IN SCOTLAND.

On the motion for going into committee of supply,

Mr. E. ELLICE called attention to the recentre-
port respecting the state of lunatic asylums in Scot.
land, and complained of the negligent manner in
which the law was adrc.inistered with regard to the
custody and protection of pauper lunatics in that
part of the United Kingdom.
Sir G. GREY intimated that a new bill on the sub-
ject in question was already under preparation, and
would be introduced by the Lord Advocate.
Some further discussion followed, after which the
subject dropped.

ARMY ESTIMATES.

The house having gone into committee of supply,
the remaining votes on the estimates for the army
service were proposed and agreed to amidst a mis-
cellaneous discussion.

MINISTERS' MONEY.

The motion for going into committee on the
Ministers' Money (Ireland) Bill was opposed by
Lord J. MANNERS, who objected to proceed with the
measure at so late an hour (half-past twelve).
Sir G. GREY contended that the question had
already been discussed, and there was no reason for
delaying progress.
Mr. H. HORSMAN explained that the income
received by the Irish Church Commissioners was
now 09,000/. per annum, the expenditure, including
12,000/. psid for ministers' money, being 07,000/.
After some further discussion the bill was passed
through committee.
The house adjourned at half-past one o'clock until
Thursday next.