The Express.
London, England, 1860-04-28 00:00:00

he was informed that negotiations with the governoieut el
France were Aleut to be commenced as to the has upon
which the 30 per cent. duty upon goods exported from this
country to France should be laid. He remembered the
difficulty which occurred with America on the subject of
this valuation. If the valuation of goods was too high the
80 per cent. would amount to prohibition on the export of
silks from this country. The question of valuation deter-
mined the amount of duty, and he trusted that the eaten-
, ties& of the government would be closely directed to this
Mr. M. GIBBON said the government were in nowise
reeponable for the Gas Act ; and he was not able to give
his hon. friend a legal exposition of the various clauses
which it contaired. All that the Board of Trade had to do
with it wee this, The Treasury wrote to ask them whether
they thourht it was
practical measure. The board took
it into consideration in conference with the Astronomer
Royal ; and they replied that the act did not appear to
them to bar imprietnable. With that the connexion of the
Board of Trade with the measure terminated. With respect
to the observations of the hon. member for Warwickshire,
he did not understand that the commissioners were about
to negotiate upon any new basis, or upon any new principles.
They were merely to arrange the details of the treaty ; and
he bad no doubt that it would be their earnest endeavour to
place the various duties on the most satidactory feeticti•
REFORM STATISTICS.
Sir M. FARQUHAR raised a question respecting the
returns laid upon the table (and often referred to in the de-
bates upon the Reform Bill) of the numbers of male ocs.u.
piers in cities and boroughs assessed from 6f. to 10/.
Mr. VILLIERS adhered to his repeated assertion of the
accuracy of the returns, which every re-exemination, he sold,
had confirmed.
Sir J. PAKINOTON observed that all MA Villiers must
mean was that the returns were correctly copied from the
rate-look (to this remark Mr. Villiers assented,: but this
was no answer to the point at issue—the number of persons
who would obtain the 6'. franchise. The greet estimated
rental was no criterion of the rent actually paid.
Mr. HENLEY remarked that 'the accuracy of the re-
turns was not doubted ; the objection was that the returns
did not represent the rent.
The discussion of this and collateral subjects ran to a
considerable length. In the course of the discussion,
Mr. E. JAMDI sail he only interfered in this interlocu-
tory discussion because he had been personally referred to.
There had been a great deal of assertion on one side, and
counter-assertion on the other, without its appearing who
was right. He had never impugned the intention of the
government in procuring these returns, or their accuracy so
far as they gave the imoroation sought. All he had am-
, pusses" was the statement of the noble lord (Lord J. Rus-
sell) that those returns showed an additional number of
voters of 150,000 only.
Lord J. RUSSELL—One hundred and ninety thousand.
Mr. E. JAMES believed the noble lord's statement wee
about 200,000 in round numbers. That was all the charge
Le made—that the noble lord's statement was inaccurate.
That point would probably soon be decided : and the sooner
the better ; for it was painful to find the hon. members for
Liverpool differing xi widely as to the number of their fu-
ture constituent —one saving it would ho 21,000- the other
30,000 (Hear, hear.) Ile rose to ask the Home Secretary
whether it was the intention of the government to introduce
any measure to provide for the registration fur this year of
the persons who would become entitled to vote in the event
of the Reform Bill passing this session. This Wl.ll a ques-
tion of very considerable importance. As the bill stood, it
had no machinery whatever for the registration
or revision of a new constituency. He was anxious to know
whether this had leen an oversight on the part of the go-
vernment, and whether they meant to bring .11 a subsidiary
bill to supply the defect, or whether it had been inten-
tionally el me, and they meant to leave the law as it stood.
Assuming the Reform Bill to pass this session, the govern
meat could not hope that it would do so before the 70th of
July. The system of registration as at present provided foe
eameamed in July ; and this being so, it would not include
the new constituencies to be created under this lull- The
Iteiann Bill of 1.5.32 received the royal assent MA the 7th of
Joe ; end it prescribed for the first time the whole system
et migration and revision. The operation began on the
Nth of June ; lists were made out ; and all the new voters
ware paced on the register The Reform Bill of last session
contained clauses regulating the system of registration, and
also a provision, neo:seiary to any reform bill' that in the
event of the bill pa...mg into law, a new system of regain.-
hen should be at one: commenced. Unless the sue( raiment
meant to introduce a suinidiarg bill, there would be a perfect
chaos of eonfasion. The bill of Mr. Disraeli psvvishal that the
registration should commence immediately after the new hill
passed. The present bill niade no such provimon; but he inferred
from one of its clauses that the governmeut did hot intend
the new constituencies to be registered, or become voters.
until 15412; and he would tell the hoase why. Ho hoped
that this bill, though a mere skeleton, would pass in the
present session : but if it did so it must be too late for the
corning registrstion, county claims being made on the 110th
of July, awl borough claims on the 314 of August. The
law was that the registration of this year should list until
the 314 of December, 1661 • therefore, in the eviut of this
bill passing, and being too lite for the present year's regis-
tration, the register of this year would be the register of
voters until the end of 1861 ; and assuming that au election
occurred next year, the new constituent body would not be
IC the register at all. By the 20th section of the bill the
sew votary were to remain subject to the conditions at present
affecting voter., and were to be entitled to be placed on the
county and borough registers on and after 1860. But the
register of 1660 was in force for the whole of 1861; conse-
quently those not rr'istereel in Iwo could uut vote till 1862.
This being the c..ose, he wanted to know whether the o-
vernment contemplated a dissolution on the passing el this
bill; if so, they surely could not mean the election to take
place on the, old constituency. What a manifest injustice
this would be, end what alarm and confusion: it would ex-
cite iu the country. He did not ask the government whe-
ther they meant to dissolve on the passing of this bill; that
was a question of policy for themselves to decide ; but cir-
cumstances might hriug about a dissolution iu the spring
without the government intending it. The government
might be in the heyday of their popularity just now—thear,
hear)—but in the height of prosperity calamities might
sometimes happen ; and the govenmeut might be wrecked
suddenly—

" Like ships that had gone down at
When heaven was all tranquillity.
(Hear, hear.) He I,,ped that the government would Onto
whether they meant to introduce a subsidiary bill, or to
rely on the law ea it stood, by which the new constituency
could have no votes till ldll2.

Sir G. C. LEWIS said the government was quite prepared
to go into detail on the provisions of the reform bill, when-
ever it should please the house to read it a second time ;
and he hoped that would Le on the earliest day on which
it suited the convenieuee of the home to do so. (Hear,
hair.) But he did not think that their debates on that bill
would is abridge] by their discussing any of the clauses at
that time, either with respect to registration or other
matters. (Hoar, hear.) The clauses referred to were not
the result of any oversight, but were deliberately intended
by tle• government, who had a very clear view of the effect
that 'dem clauses would have bathe event of the bill passing
in time this year for the registration of the new oonstouencv
to take place. The bill of last year contained a number of
clauses with respect to registration ; these were neemary
on account of the new franchisee introduced ; but as the
present bill merely extended the existing franchise
in counties and boroughs, and did not intruduce
any franchise of a new description, all the govern-
ment proposed to do was simply to make the existing
machinery for registration applicable to the extended (mu-
ckier,. And there was no doubt, if the time shoold allow,
that the provisions of the bill wore quite effectual for that
purpose. If it should tutu out that the period of the ses-
sion was too advanced the time for consider's% that question
would be when they were in committee.
Sir C. WOOD, in reference to the quartiou asked by
Yr. Mildmay, said that lie had received accounts rontirni-
lag generally the stateuseuta that had sp?oareil iu the public
press as to outrages emornitted by curtain p.issengeni
to India on their pommy through Egypt. The
facia had been reported in a despatch from tie
consul-genera. at Egvpt—sad in otroct it stated
that termite -five or twenty-six of the passengers pro-
ceeded to tho citadel, obtruded themselves into a mosque,
where they c .o.loete.l themselves most improperly, forced
their way into the platy vet apart fur the Viceroy's harem,
and intsnraptel the precas by riiimickieg the wor-
eh' . The Vis seut,e mmonst.unce, and that being
eetual he soot an olhcer with a body of janisaarie.,
forced them away, and, what was to them of more con-
sequence, protected them from the just indignation
of the people. Next day the connd.general
waited upon the Pacha sad apologised. hi this
respect nothing 4:meld be were proper than what wee done
by the Br.tiaL reprosentative, nor cool] anything exceed the
kindness with e Irich the apology was received by the off.•
me of the Pads. With regard to the messenger. them-
selves, they went off by the railway, and the government
had therefore nu certain information as to who were the par-
ties who were engaged in the outrage. The consul did not
say that any of them were cadets or others in the Inilisin
service, though fr. an one expression in his deap„tch that
might be inferred. He (Sir ('. Wood) had sent
out directions by the mail, yesterday, to she
Governor of their's. asking Lim to call upon
the senior Akar iu charge of the cadets to report all the
circumstances so fares he knew them, and the name* of the
persons connected with the Indian service who were con-
cerned in this gross outrage, in order that they might be
made amenable fur their conduct. (Hear, hear.) With
regent to the future. his noble friend (Lord ,r. Russell) had
addressed .1 despatch to the British ismsul in Egypt, direct.
leg Lim to act under the power that belonged to his office
by arresting acy British subject who might in future lie
guilt of such conduct. (Hey, hear.)