The Express.
London, England, 1861-07-10 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

A late edition of the Express is published every
evening during the racing season, containing the
results of the day's rams.

Tne rue at Corroes Wharf will not have raged
a fortnight in vain if it haves behind some more
durable record of the havoc and fury of its resist-
less course than a pile of stately buildings, erected '
with startling rapidity over a yawning ruin on the
river's side, and constructed with all the appliances
and means that commercial enterprise can suggest,
for converting at the shortest notice a fire-
proof
aorehouse into a waterproof furnace. Nor
will the loss—compared with which two millions of
property are as dust in the balance—of such a
chief as Mr. Baatnwoon prove absolutely irrepa-
rable, if it impresses on the minds of his innu-
merable mourners the reality of the remonstrances
and warnings which were so easily forgotten or die- I
regarded while that lamented public servant lived
and worked. Fires are so frequent in a vast city, '
so common as street incidents, so trivial as sights, ,
and the system of insurance is so much a matter
of course, that it is only when the rush of an
engine through the empty street surprises the
last loiterers of fashion or the last stragglers of
misery in the dead waste of night, that anybody in
this huge hico of human creatures stops for a
moment to reflect how soon the most indispensable
of all the servants that minister to life becomes
the most deadly and destructive of masters,
if not arrested and put down by the organized
activity and trained skill of a service officered
and manned by private enterprise. It is no doubt i
consistent with all our ideas and arrangements
that the preservation of life and property from
the most ordinary of accidents should be as inde-
pendent as possible of State assistance and respon-
sibility. The State has more than enough to
occupy it. attention and its estimates in organizing
the means and materials of destruction to the lives
and properties of national enemies, without sparing
time and money for the preservation of the lives
and properties of its own subjects. This may be
very well conceded : and yet the question arises,
whether the safety of the population is sufficiently
provided for by the combined voluntary efforts of a
certain number of Insurance Cowponies f What-
ever may be the answer to this question, it is un-
fortunately beyond all doubt that the existence of
London—the market and entrepiit of the world—
is at the mercy of the wind and weather whenever
one of those " tremendous conflagrations" occurs,
whose periodical recurrence is a statistical common-
place. No one who has ever assisted, as our
neighbours say, at the most ordinary of Fires, even
as a spectator, can have failed to Doti°e the poor
figure the fire-engines make, however sealously
worked against a burning house. The quantity of
water brought actually to bear on the fire seems
always miserably short and insufficient. How im-
manent in such a cue as this at Corrow's Whirl
is strikingly suggested by the simple fact that a
line of wharves on the water's edge was not only net
saved from burning by the Thames, but almost
literally et the Thames on fire On these points,
an able professional contemporary is explicit and
precise, pointing out the ridiculous inadequacy of
the fire-engines which are called into operation in
these extreme emergencies. "The London Brigade
" fire-engine," according to the Engineer, "throws
" about 90 gallons of water per minute, of which
" discharge a portion only can be counted upon as
" effective when projected at a distance of several
" feet upon a burningbuilding." A Parisian journal,
moved by a spirit of generous commiseration for a
national calamity which illustrates the superiority of
a people of raissinistres, explains the wholesale con-
flagration in Tooley-Streetasthe inevitable result of
a want of buckets. The philosopher who argued
that the Deluge might have spared the human
race had the science of boat-building been more
advanced among the contemporaries of Noon, was
not a shrewder or a bolder commentator than our
sympathising friend on the banks of the Seine.
Our contemporary whom we have already quoted
considers it " demonstrable by experiment and
" maculation that a file of stout fishwomen could,
" in a given time, have handed up nearly
" the same quantity of water in pails,"
as any one of the " hydraulic canal-
" vanees " which were engaged in pumping on
Curren's Wharf. These " Brigade engine.," in
fact, even when the supply of water is abundant,
are absurdly inadequate to make the slightest im-
pression on acres of flames fed fat by lofts and
cellars full of oil and tallow, and by all the condi-
ments that lend strength and fierceness to com-
bustion. Whether they manage them things much
better in France, in all that relates to water supply
and fire-engines, we are not exactly informed.
We know that the Posipiers are • very effective
and complete body of firemen ; and though, like
the British policeman, their costume and title are
a cause of wit among their mocking fellow-citizens,
their services are not the lees sincerely respected.
But that whatever apparatus exists for the extinc-
tion of fire in France is thoroughly " adminia-
"tend," is beyond all doubt. In putting down
fires, as in putting down parliaments and
constitutions, our neighbours have certainly
what they would, perhaps, admit to be la gush*
ik lertra difa.tts, just as we inlanders ham lea
&yowls de aris richt& A Tools" Street coolaps-
tion in Paris would have been put down by the'
State. The army of Paris would have "suppressed"
it like an insurrection with battalions of buckets.
A Marshal of France would have conducted the
operations and blown up half the sap, If near
eery to the success of the camp►ign, and to his own
glory. Regiments would have dashed up to the
deadly breach of the crumbling walls as gaily as to

the Malakoff, and faced the death of a Baansmoon
as calmly and joyously as death on the field of
battle. The Eatreamt himself would probably
have cheered the legions with his presence.
In this ungoverned country of ours, where
we like to be let alone, and not to be
put down by anybody even for our own advan-
tage, we leave to Insurance companies the care and
duty of looking after their own interests, and
though we cheerfully lend a hand at a fire we
scarcely know what commission Mr. BILAIDWOOD
held or in whose service he died. People are sur-
prised to hoar that any public building not insured,
though it were the Royal Palace or the British
Museum, must be saved from fire by borrowed
engines and volunteer brigades. Nor is it reassur-
ing to learn on reliable authority that all the
associated enterprise of the companies who in this
dense and huddled capital have millions of pro-
perty always at the mercy of carelessness or
accident, is provided with engines hardly superior
in power to " a file of stout fishwomen ;" and that
the London water supply, which might enable us
to dispense with fire-engines altogether, is inferior
to that of some provincial towns. Our Ame-
rican kinsmen, proverbial se they are for foolhardi-
ness, are far in advance of the staid old mother-
country in the means of preserving life and
property from fire. Not only are their firemen a
model service for discipline, equipment, and effi-
ciency, but they " have had steam fire-engines in
" regular and extensive use for the last nine
" years." The largest of these are self-pro-
pelling, and capable of discharging 880 imperial
gallons of water per minute. The value of the pro-
perty lost by the last great fire would, according to
the Engince.r, have " paid for more than two
" thousand steam fire-engines of the largest class,
46

and hal; •a-dozen inch mach loos would alone throw

' " more water than all the brigade, pariah, and pri-
" vete tire-engines in London." These are cer-
tainly startling statistics. And it is a poor sign
of our boasted civilization th►t, while we lavish
millions on all the arts and instrument, of aggressive
and defensive warfare, we have neither the wit nor
the care, with all the water of the Thames at our
doors, to save all London from burning, if the wind
will have it so.

We are requested to state that the hour for the

commencement of the review at Wimbledon on the
13th instant is altered to b p.m. AA, however, it
is possible that some of the corps cannot be on ihe
ground at that hour, H.R.H. the Commander-in-
Chief has been pleased to intimate that such bat-
talions as may not be present at 5 p.m. may be
brought into line as they arrive upon the ground.

if Dt Court.

0580R277.. Jun 9.

The Queen, Prince Consort, the Crown Prince
sad Princess of Prussia, Princesses Alice, Helena, and
Louise, drove to Carubrook yesterday alteration.
The Countess of Gainsborougb, Lady A. Bruce, Countess
Beal. Baroness von Dobeseck, Count Furstenatein, and Lieu-
aniantCokesel von Obernita were in attendance. Colonel
the Hoe. A. Hirdinge also attended on borseback.

Captain the Hon. 5. Denman bad the honour of dining
with her Majesty.

A deputation on the subject of the horse ride in Ken-
sington Gardens had en interview with Lord Palmerston
yesterday.
()overact Wodehouae had an interview with the Duke of
Newcistle yesterday, at the Colonial-oaks.
Her Baja My's CAAeffluent/Dere for the International Ex-
hibition of 1062, held a meeting at South Kensington
Museum yesterday.
The Building Committee held • meeting at South Ken-
sis=yesterday.
tcheo were scut yesterday from the Colonial-office
to the Lord High Commissioner of the lonian IMands.

The Kerry Pod understands that Lord Castle-
man has written to Killarney, ply* directions to have
Kamm House fitted up in all loge foe the reception of
her Ila Piety, who may be expected to arrive on the 26th
prokinso.

The corporation of Belfast Laving resolved to
present so whims to the Prince of Wales, the townclerk
wrote " to the aide•de-camp ia waiting oa his royal high-
esse," inquiring whether he would be pleased to receive a
depot ties to present the Alms. The following answer
we returned :—"any, the Oarragh, July 4. Sir,
reply to your letter of the 3rd inst., I sin directed to state
that the Priem of Weiss is lima 'Mined by the wish
whisk me .:peer ea behalf ef the esemoolies of Belfast ;
bet, that as his royal higher* le privately penning his
millsry studies at this place, be has declined to metre say
addreress except the. of lb. municipal mitlitelthe of
Kingstown sad Dublin en the seemioa of his peesteg through
One towns.—l have the bower to be, Mr, your mast
ebsdiset servant, R. Bums, Major•GmeraL—Jaress
Oethrk, Km., Town Clerk, he."

An unusual stillness pervaded the camp at the
Cerigb, on Monday, broken only by the ordinary morning
parade sad drill exercise of the troops and the exams.
plus mese of camp duty. To • etreerer vilifier the
Cough there is sothing that would sweet le dee aid
the pewees of his Royal 10gbasan the Prises of Wales ia
that Iscalia, there being so display of soy kW, or sap
Wag Ems Asa is to be seers or had of in defer phew.
Os Monday forearms the troops were paraded for drill, his
Taal highs= Asia ditty with hie own regiment, the
Chumiller Owe. His royal Weems in the eves*
eauped is a pawl of cricket, and afterwards is a pure of
croquet, with Wesel Koppel and a nuniber of allows of
the Over&

Their Royal Righseases the Duda= of Cam-
bridge sad the Primers limy hoesered the Dowager lady
Irmo with liar soya y at diem het evades et bee
hdyeliVe reideme ia retemegeari. A whet peaty wee
bribed to meet the royal suede.
Thar Royal Rieman the Duchess of Cam-
bap sad the Primer Mary will leave town early next
week far Germuly.
His Grace the Duke and her Grace the Duchess
et Northumberland have het the Hated Maurice, Paris,
ter Boulogne on their return to London.
The Duchess of luveruees entertained a select
sire's at dinner, teat evening, at bee apartments in Kensing-
ton Palos.

The Marquis of Lansdowne will give a omelet at
lan/dowse Roam ea Ifenday next, w►ea their Royal
Eighaseees the Dachas of Cambridge and the Princess
Miry will ►aaoar his lordship with their perinea
The Marchioness of Drogheda left town on &tar-
dy for Moore Abbey, meaty Kildare, in order to MOWN,
►is Royal Highsen the Prince of Wales, who is expected to
visit the marquis end marchimmes at the abbey to-day.
. - .

The Martinis and Marehionesa of Headfort have
Wt thigh. Camp's Hotel foe Readied Howe, Intend.
The Marquis and Marchioness' of Miss., with the
lady lull Kennedy, have left the Burlingtoo Hotel for
Colman Castle, Amide., N.B.

Lord and Lady Herbert propose to leave in a few
dims for the Oentinent with the view to the improvement
of hie lordship's Minh, which, we are sorry to ley, is sot
estidectory. It is his lordship's inteutioo to Dolours a
meeth at

Lord And Lady Frederick Gordon Hallybarten
have left Kensingtoe Palace for Soothed.
Sir John Rameden leaven town to-day for his
mat In Yorkshire.

Lady Egerton of Tattoo's ball is postponed from
Ms 11th to Mayday, the 15th toot.
The Laid Mayor, in deference to • requisition,
lee eeseened a pedals ametias to be bold at tie Gaildiall to-
(Tharedav), at I elicit, to *seeder the soviet,
depth• the NW. Movies Aid of Use • Loads•.

LAI

INTALLI' GMCIII.

ITALY. ~.
THE POPE'S HEALTH.

A letter from Rome of June 29, in the Senfinefla
Brraciana, says :
The Fope is going fast ; he is dying in sleep. The phial-
elan Francesco Saul, who was lately sent for, could not
understand his strange milady. The following, among
other symptoms, show the utter falsity of the assertions
made by the French journals that his Holiness has reco-
vered :—A persistent state of somnolence; continual pain is
the epigastric region ; a sort of paralytic trembling all over
the body, but particularly in the bands ; cold shivering fits
so severe that be is obliged to be mapped up in blankets ;
groat depression of spirits, and such a want of appetite that
hem swallow nothing but ices.

A telegram from Turin, dated Monday, states
that the syndic of that city has received from
London a list of the English subscriptions towards
the monument to Count Cavour. Amongst the
subscribers are said to be Lord Palmerston, Lord
John Russell, and other ministers, several members
of the nobility, clergy, and House of Commons, the.
It is stated in the indipesdasce of yesterday
evening that the new minister of France at Turin
will be M. Benedetti. Of all the members of the
official world in France, this gentleman is said to
have the strongest sympathies with the Italian
cause.

L0r;:l Dltruuton, orandMuter of the OraDeo-
us of the meaty Antrim, bee pail/abed as address eajeia-
bug the brethren ant to have nay deroonstratioos as the
appeaddar 12th of July ; god the Belfast Namibia", the
Mad* emu of the body, has Do doubt that "both Ia that
aranty end throughout Meter, the protestaat aaalvenary
trill pre ever ia pesos mad hannotay."

" itty.
rtri;
. • • .;,• c •
•
THIP. 'EXPRESS, WEDNIISPAV E JUL r :'lO, 11.861.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(nom °us ows

PARIS, TI7IISDAT EVIIIIIM.,.

The Pays, is announcing that M. Thouvenel is
going to his country house for a holiday, says,
quite contrary to the declaration of the Patric last
night, that the name of the new French minister at
Turin will not be known till his return.

K Grandguillot, congratulating K de la Guer-
ronniere in the Constitutionne/ on his elevation to

the Soweto, says of hisi :—" He is a new man, who
belongs entirely to the present rdgime, and has
gained in its service the celebrity which he enjoys."
This is altogether a mistake. M. de la Guar-
ronniere was an ardent republican as long as the
republic lasted, and (barring two or three official
pamphlets) the writings to which he owes his reps•
Cation were articles written in the (then) republican
journals the Pays and Prase, when he was the
political associate of M. de Lamartine and M. Emile
de Girardin.

The Bourse, after opening heavily, became firmer
at the close. Rente rose 100., both for cash and
account, leaving off at 67fr. 600. and 67fr. 66c.
Mobilier rose 31r. 75c. The Lyons Railway rose
6fr. 25c., and Orleans 3fr. 75c. ; in the other lines
there was Little change.
At length the progress of the Mirk trial has pro-
duced au incident which goes to confirm the gene-
ral suspicion that there were scandals in the back-
ground. But the chary revelation made serves only
to whet public curiosity—not to gratify it. One
of the charges was that the Minn Caisse had lent
large sums of money without security to insolvent
persons. M. Ldon Duval, replying to this charge,
OD behalf of Count Simeon, said :—" K Mires owed
' six millions ; be has paid five, and his house in
the Rue Neuve des Math urine is a good security for
the other. M. Salamanca has paid off all he owed.
As to the other debtors to the Caine I am not going
to mention their names ; but their high position,
which prevents me from mentioning their names,
is for me a certain assurance that they will not long
leave their debts unpaid." It is a pity that the
public should not know who the high personages
are, because the belief is that money was advanced
to them as • bribe for their political influence.
In consequence of the continually increasing
complaints of the high rate of house rent, the
municipality of Marseilles have resolved to build •
number of houses divided into apartments suitable
fur the working classes—the price of s lodging for
a family to be not more than 160 fr. or 175 fr. •
year. It is said that a proposition will be brought
forward at the next meeting of the Municipal
Council of Paris to follow this example.
It is stated that a concession has been granted
for a new theatre to be built at the corner of the
Faubourg St. Denis, on the Boulevards, in which
English and French plays will be performed alter-
nately.
In February last I ventured to express an opinion
that the civil chamber of the Court of Caseation
had, to meet a hard case, unjustifiably strained
the code by holding that a woman who had
married • liberated convict, not knowing the fact
of his conviction, was entitled to set aside the
marriage on the ground of a mistake as to the
"identity of the person." The Imperial Court of
Orleans, to which the case was remitted by the
Court of Caseation, has confirmed my view and
decreed the marriage a good one. The point must
now come before the three Chambers of the Court
of Caseation united, for decision in the last
resort.

A priest, named Lhimeau, vicar of Availles, in
the department of the Vienne, was lately sentenced
by the provincial correctional tribunal to two
years' imprisonment for insulting the Emperor in
the pulpit—the gravamen of his offence being a
sermon which was a paraphrase of the Bishop of
Poitiers' charge. Last week the case was brought
by appeal before the Imperial Court of Poitiers,
and the priest took an exception to the jurisdic-
tion. The court gave judgment against him on
the exception, but allowed him time to appeal to
the Court of Caseation before trying the case on
the merits.

The address; in which M. Dapples, the President,
opened the session of the National Council, on the
let inst., was of a somewhat alarmist character.
After reminding the Council that at the conclusion
of the last session they expected to be convoked
much sooner than had been the case, he said that
if the dangers that then threatened Europe were
suspended, they were still imminent. None of the
questions which then agitated Europe had been
settled, and he urged vigorous preparations for the
defence of Swiss neutrality. M. Dapples then
said :

My wards may seen to you alannist. War has been so
long spokes of, and yet Switesrland is still at pesos.
Gentlemen, there is also a dieser. The men are now few
who took part in the struggles of the beginning of this
century ; we have almost all lived in an era of uninterrupted
peace, and we find it difficult to imagine it disturbed. We
are thus liable to go to sleep in • dangerous security, and to
shut our eyes in order not to see what we do not wish to be- I
here. It is against this false security that we ought above
everything to be on our guard, for no sacrifice will
be too great when our liberty is at stake. Thirty
years ago, Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, (less
Switzerland advice full of sagacity respecting her
military organisation, wrote The Emperor Napoleon
is speaking of the taxes which it was necessary to levy
in times of difficulty, "It is better to pay taxes to oneself
when the safety of one's country is menaced than to pay
them to the Russians or the Austrians." There is none of
us who on that point does nut perfectly agree with the il-
lustrious warrior. Payment for payment, it is better to
employ our mosey la preparing for our defence than to sea
it node use of far great adventures, and if our blood most
be shed, there is more homer and more profit in shedding
it oa oar own soil Ora as foreign battle fields.

YREELABOUR IN TM FRENCH COLONIES.
Yesterday's Moniteur publishes the following
letter from the Emperor to the Minister of the
Marine and the Colonic*:

Footainebleau, July 1, 1861._

Monsieur le Ministre,--Since the emancipation of the
slaves our colonies have sought to procure labourers en
the come of Africa by way of repurchase, and by means
of contracts assuring to the negroes • salary for the work
which they execute. These engagements are made for five
or seven years, after which the labourers are sent back to
their country gratuitously, unless they prefer to settle in
the .olony ; and, in that case, are permitted to reside
there on the moms terms as the other inhabitants. This
mode of recruitment, it must be admitted, differs
completely from the slave trade ; in fact, while the latter
had for its origin and object slavery, the former on the con-
trary leads to liberty. The negro slave as soon as he is
engaged as • labourer is free, and is not under an, other
obligations than those which result from his contract.
Nevertheless doubts Lave been raised as to the come-
. queeces which these engagements may have on the African
populations. It has been asked whether the price of re-
purchase did not constitute a premium on slavery. As far
back as 18W I ordered the cessation of all recruit-
ment on the eastern coast of Africa, where it had caused
inconveniences; since then I have preecribed the restriction
of operations of this sort on the Western coast. Lastly, I
have desired that the questions raised by African emigra-
tion should be most carefully examined. Today I sign a
thaty with the Queen of Great Britain, by which her
Britannic Majesty consents to authorise in the provinces of
India submitted to her crown the engagement of labourers
for our colonies on the same terms as those observed for the
English colonies.
We ought then to find in India, in the French possessions
in Africa, and in the countries in which slavery is prescribed,
all the free labourers we have need of. In such chem.
stances I desire that the African recruitment, by way of
repurchase, be campLetaly abandoned by French commerce
from the day when the treaty concluded with her Britannic
Melody shall begin to receive its execution sod through its
whole duration. If that treaty should cease to exist, it
could only be in virtue at an express authorication to this
recruitment, and if it was recognised as indispensable and
without inconveniences, could be resumed.
...

You will be good enough, then, to take the necesenry
meaautwi for giving effect to this deciaiou from July 1,
1862, and for prohibiting in our colonies the introduction
of Negroes recruited on the coast el Africa subsequently to
that epoch.

M. LEVEREJER ON THE COMET.

In Monday'. Bitting of the French Academy o
Sciences, M. Leverrier expressed himself as follows :—" We
do not know this comet ; it is the first time it visits us, and
I those who have endeavoured to predict its course, determine
He distance from the earth, and measure ite tail, have either
deceived themselves or the public. Three elements are
necessary to calculate the orbit of a comet : first, the exact
position of the star; then, its velocity ; and lastly, the vari-
ation of velocity produced by the mass of the sun. I
caused the comet to be observed on the 30th of June, and
then on the night of the Ist, and morning of the 2nd
inst., in order to determine the variation of velocity. These
three observations would have followed too closely upon
each other for the calculation to be attempted, were it not
that the comet moves very rapidly. On the 3rd, at 10
a.m., M. Levy brought me the result of his calculations,
and we then obtained an insight into the orbit of the
comet. Mr. Hind has since sent me the orbit calculated by
the English astmoomers, which perfectly agrees in all but
two mioutes with our results. It is now pantie() that this
is not Charles the Fifth's comet ; and, moreover, it rem-
Woo none of those already observed. This circumstance
will contribute not • little to throw confusion upon the
little we know of these erratic bodies. I cannot yet say
whether this comet is periodical or not; its orbit has
up to this day been too cursorily determiued
to enable us to pronounce it elliptical, paraboli-
cal, or even hyperbolical. At any rate appearsooss
sr* against its return, for the orbit is nearly
perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, while those
of periodical comets usually form ► very small angle with
that plane. It is only now we can determine the distance of
the comet from the earth, and the length of its tail. On
the 30th of June, the line joining the centre of the sun with
that of the comet made an angle of four degrees with that
joining the centres of the sun and earth, the length of which is
known. The angle which this line formed with the visual
ray, drawn from the eye of tho observer to the centre of
comet, was 24 degrees. The triangle thus formed may,
therefore, be calcted, and it gives us the distance of
comet from the earth, amounting to between six and seven
millions of leagues (about seventeen millions of miles Eng.
lath). The length of the tail might be similarly calculated.
The comet is rapidly moving away from us, and it is, then-
fore, not surprising that its brilliancy has diminished. On the
10th it will be equally distant from the sun and earth ;
we shall soon lose eight of -it, sad notrooosboro only
will be able to follow it for about • month longer. It pre•
seats a singular peculiarity. M. Chacoruac has studied the
nucleus with one of M. Foucault's telescopes of • diameter
of 40 centimetres ; iostead of it. being hollow like the half
of an egg-shell, like most of the comets already observed,
it present. the appearance of • sun composed of fireworks,
the bent rays of which burn in the same sense. Moreover,
the comet has not drawn Dearer to the sun. These are all cir-
cumstances calculated to introduce great complications into
the theory of amen."

The Rev. Wm. Annesley, A.M., has been pre-
ferred by the Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol to the
vicarage of Abbots Leigh, near the city of Bristol, vacant
by the death of the Rev. Canon Morgan.

The Volunteer Ball announced for Friday next at
Covent•garden has been postponed sine die. The reason for
thin is owing to various causes, the chief one being that the
volunteer officers in the country are just now so busy pre-
paring for their autumnal inspections and county gatherings,
that they cannot come up to town for a mere ball. The
review at Wimbledon on Saturday even fails to interest
them, or, indeed, any corps save those immediately in and
around the metropolis.

The last letters from Halifax state that the Nova
Scotia gold discoveries continued to attract attention. In
addition to the deposits at Tangier, others have been found
at Margaret's Bay, to the westward of Halifax, and at •
place called Musquodobit, in the interior. Several speci-
mens were about to be forwarded to England, which are
believed to be above the standard. Some of the quarts at
Tangier is alleged to have yielded 20 ounces to the ton, but
the various statements made are without corroboration from
any one passaging scientific knowledge.
We regret to learn of the death on the 27th of
May, at Calcutta, of Richard Trench, the eldest surviving
son of the Dean of Westminster, aged 25.
Duna or Bin F. PAtott.tvz.—A vacancy has
occurred in the office of Deputy-Keeper of her Majesty's
Records by the death, on Saturday art, at an advanced
age, of Sir Freesia Palgrave. The deceased was beet, in
London in 1788, and was called to the bar at the Inner
Temple in 1827, and was one of the Municipal Corporation
Commissioners. In 188'2 he received the honour of knight-
hood for his general services and attention to constitutional
and parliamentary literature.
PRIESTLY WILL-Da.twiwo.—Two more cues have
come before the Court of Probate in Dublin, in which
priesio, la consequence of taking upon themselves the office
properly belonging to the legal profession, have bred 'Riga-
tics and suspicion. In the first case the same priest had
made no lees than four wills for the one person, rod=
the second trial the following facts came out :—lt a
from the evidence that the will was drawn three
days before Paul Carr died, by the Rev. Mr. Roche,
CC.. since deceased, in the presence of the sick
men's medical attendant, Dr. Morgau. The latter was
examined, and admitted that the will was altogether Rug-
ilby the priest, who said he did not care for the
y of the matter, and was only anxious to prevent
litigation by making a fair distribution of the pro-
perty ; that the deceased was all but insensible, and the
will was read to him only as a matter of form. His hand
was raised, a pen put into it, and a mark made to the will.
He was not capable of doing any business at the time. One
of the witnesses stated that the priest mentioned the pro-
visions of the will to the deceased before they were written
down, and that he muttered something which might have
been assent, end was declared to be so at the moment. It
is time that the will. making propensities of the Romish
clergy were restricted. There is hardly a will made by
them that is not contested, either on account of the sub-
stantial benefits conferred through their agency on the
"Church," or from the discontent of the relatives of the
deceased with the disposal of the propertj.—Post.
SIII COIRCIAL TREATY WITH FRANCE—BOARD
OF TRADE WMITIIIALL, Jinx 6.—The Right Honourablethe
Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade have re-
ceived, from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
copy of a despatch from the French ambassador at this
court, announcing, with reference to the provisions of the
Pod article of the supplementary convention of the 12th
October last between this country and France, that the
French government have authorised the French consular
agents in the United Kingdom to affix their vies to arid-
Catedilyathorieglitinigiuh ClusoltrtbyofthChe Chancery tomnadminietermimkumn aril" fa
Bthe
Charioery. —Gazette.
Tax Fawn's CREDITORS OF SPAlN.—Hams'
Lit ' Shed hoe the following :—" The affair of the
Frees mediate of Spain is at length settled. France re-
trainees to claim the interest, which has been Wig running,
and which, being capitalised, had considerably augmented
the debt. At the present time the negotiators are stipu.
Wag the periods of payment, which will be made to extend
ever several years. Whilst K. Barret has returned to
Paris to come to a definitive widerstanding with the French
government, IL Moe, the Spanish ambassador, has been
summoned to Madrid to twelve the instructions of his
cabinet. His absence will be but short. France had de-
manded that the payment should take place ia four years.
The debt amounta to about 100 millions."

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF OOXIIONEI.-CYHD3 DAY.)
The BFIAKn took the chair et 12 o'clock.
Fle./TKIOII.B BAYTNOB BANKS BILL

On the order for the committee,
Sir F. T. BARLNG explained the object d the bill.
Every cos knew that savings banks had been most
useful institutions, but recently several parties had
opened banks which they called savings banks, but which
were really without anj of the safeguards or rules of these
institutions. The object of the present bill was to prevent
establishments such as those to which he alluded being
called savings banks. He did not wish to interfere
with their business, but merely to prevent
them using • nanie which was calculated to
mislead depositors. To his certain knowledge many work-
ing people were depositing their money in these so-called
savings banks, under the impression that they had all the
safeguards and protection of the government institutions.
Mr. W. E. FORSTER opposed the bill, and said that
there were in his district several institutions which
would be injuriously affected by this bill, but which were
found to be exceedingly valuable to the working classes.
He snorkel to the penny savings banks which bad
been introduced ,
by Mr. Sykes, and which were found to be
most beneficial. Savings banks" was their legitimate
name, and it war casting • slur on them which they did
not deserve to compel them to alter their title. Neither
did he think the bill of the right honourable hero.
net justifiable on public grounds. True it was
founded on a resolution of the committee ; but
there were many other resolutions—among others, one re-
commending a government guarantee for the savings
backs, which guarantee did not in reality at present
exist. If they now made it penal for any other institution
to take the name of a government savings-bank, they
would be only fostering the geeeral delusion that these latter
had a government guarantee. He bad only lately been
made aware that trustees of savings-lads were not
liable, an act having been paved in 1844, giving
them special exemption even from the oonsequenoss
of wilful neglect. The right hon. baronet had mentioned
instances of poor people suffering through the defalcations
of so-called savings banks; but he (lir. Forster) could
match his cease with much worse ones in government
savings banks. There was the lamentable Rochdale
OW, for instance, where the actuary had purloined
60,0001., and the depositors were the sufferers, • special act
of parliament having been passed to protect the trustees.
Besides there were many savings banks not connected with
the government, which were much more secure than the latter.
There was the Kent Savings Bank amongst others, where the
directors for the time being were responsible for the deposits.
Al they were solvent to the extent of half a million, he as-
serted that their security was much better than a delusive
oonnexion with the government. He thought that the best
wanunld be to postpone the bill until they were prepared
to *paste on the whole question, and therefore moved that
the bill be committed that day three months.
Mr. BAINES seconded the amendment, principally on
the ground that the bill would interfere with the penny
saving banks which were rapidly spreading all over the
country. These penny banks were connected with the
Sunday schools, and they should remember that there were
26,000 of the latter scattered all over the country.
Mr. HENLEY also supported the amendment, and on
similar grounds, namely, -that in general effect the bill was
calculated to tread on the penny banks.
[Left sitting.]