Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-26 00:00:00

THE DAY'S NEWS.

Parliament has virtually concluded its labours
this session. Yesterday afternoon both houses
had short sittings. The only business of moment
in the Lords was giving the royal assent to a
number of public and private bills, including the
Mersey Conservancy Bill. The House of Com-
mons considered the amendments of the House of
Lords to the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes
Bill, and after a conference with the House of
Peers, the measure now only awaits the royal
assent to become the law of the land. Both
houses adjourned until Friday, when the formal
prorogation will take place.
The local incidents of the day include the case
of the Royal Oak Burial Society, which was again
before the County Court yesterday, the presiding
judge, in the absence of Mr. Pollock, being
J. S. T. Green, Eq. Mr. Brett, barrister-at-law,
appeared for the defendants, and contended that
the County Court had no jurisdiction in the
matter, but this Mr. Segar, who appeared for the
plaintiffs, said was contrary to the spirit and
Intention of the Act of Parliament. The deputy
judge postponed his decision until he could con-
sider all the arguments raised as to the jurisdiction
of the court. Truly, this contention is anything
but agreeable, and must make all the parties
interested in the society sick of such squabbles and
contention for the mastery•

The proceedings at the Assize Court yester-
day embraced a number of cases. They will be
found reported in another column, but do not
require any special notice.
The Police Court proceedings yesterday were
devoid of any interest if we except a little
skirmishing between Mr. Mansfield and Mr. Good-
ere the solicitor, who protested agaillst the court
permitting Mr. Clough to act as advocate before
the magistrates. Mr. Mansfield took the grumbling
solicitor rather short, defined his conduct in inter-
rupting the business of the court in anything but
complimentary terms. The matter ended by the
worthy Stipendiary telling Mr. Goodere that he
would not hear any further complaints from him
on the subject.
At the meeting of the Select Vestry yesterday,
Mr. Denton was particularly anxious for informa-
tion respecting the piggeries and the chanting
of Grace before and after meat. Mr. Bairstow
replied in a manner which indicates that Mr. Den-
ton pays but little attention to the proceedings of
the Vestry. Mr. Woodruff, in moving the confir-
mation of the proceedings of the Finance Commit-
tee, took occasion to refer to the health of the
town, and its freedom from cholera and fever. He
also made special allusion to the crowded state of
the asylums to which the Vestry were in the habit
of sending their pauper lunatics, and moved a reso-
lution asking the visiting magistrates at Rainhill
to increase the accommodation whereby a conside-
rable saving would be secured to the parish. The
motion being seconded was carried nem con.
The other local and domestic intelligence is not
of any moment. The owners of the Black Ball
clipper Lightning gave a grand banquet to a
number of distinguished visitors and guests, on
board that ship at Gravesend, on Monday. A
report of the proceedings will be found in another
column. Another episode has taken place in the
House of Lords, on Monday night, as proxies were
being taken in one of the divisions on the Divorce
Bill, which eventually gave the Government a
majority of ten. A curious scene occurred.
Seeking, perhaps, only a cool seat oa this, one of
the hottest nights in this the hottest of summers,
the Earl of Suffolk had betaken himself to one of
the back rows of the episcopal bench, now ren-
dered almost vacant by reason of the bishops
being required elsewhere on diocesan duty. On
his declaring himself the holder of a proxy of a
lay peer, his exercise of it was prounounced by
the opposition to be informal, inasmuch as a
standing order of the house declared that no
lay peer -should speak or vote from the episcopal
bench. The Government maintained the validity
of the proxy so tendered, whereupon a bristling
discussion sprang up, which had a dash of the
ludicrous in it from the circumstance that the
peers, in obedience to another standing order,
remained seated all the time. Further to compli-
cate matters, the venerable Marquis of Lansdowne,
himself the pattern of punctilio, and setter of pre-
cedents, "rose" to dispute the supposed standing
order, and was immediately told to sit down again
The contention about this single vote was as fierce
as if the voices of a hundred peers were in dispute,
and the committee actually divided as to whether
the proxy should be admitted or not. It happened
that just as many voted for the admission of the
proxy as for its rejection; and, in accordance with
another standing order provided in such a case, the
proxy was recorded, and the government and their
supporters gained their point.
It is currently reported in the metropolis that
in the event of a vacancy occurring in the repre-
sentation of the metropolitan county by the ele-
vation of Lord Robert Grosovenor to the peerage,
Mr. Wakley, who so long represented Finsbury,
may be induced to become a candidate on the
Liberal interest. In some other quarters Sir Wm.
Clay, Bart., the lee representative of the Tower
Hamlets, is said to ba a likely person to present
himself as a candidate.

With respe;jiO-ih; contemplated peerage cre-
ations we take the following. from a Landon
contemporary of yesterday :—" Lard R. Grosveno
is named, by common rumour, for this elevation,'
and Lord Harry Vane., and the Hon. C. C. Caven-
dish, Even Lard John Russell's name has gone
all over the City, and the talk is that his lordship
might be induced to bury himself in the Lords
upon condition that is made a Duke
This wouldbe one of the happiest coups ever
managed by Lord Palmerston, and that which
induces city gentlemen to believe in its possibility
is the remembrance of the late speech of Lord
John Russell on the ballot, his lordship having
concluded by the most solemn asservation that as
long as he had a seat in the Commons his vote
would be given against that measure. In another
House he would be able to redeem himself, and
preserve his consistency by advocating the ballot;
that is to say, if by any possibility a Duke
could be induced to advocate the ballot
It will be batter news, we apprehend, to be informed
that Lord John Russell has declined the honour
of being made a peer, and that the services of such
men as Sir Benjamin Hall and Mr. Hayter have

been rewarded by making them vessels of honour
to ornament the House of Lords "

Ths citizens of Dublin are making great prepa-
rations for tha approaching meeting of the British
Association to be held in that City an interesting
and successful synod of savans in the Irish
Metropolis is anticipated.
Respecting the Indian Mails, London advices of
last night inform us that eleven days have elapsed
since the mail steamer Nubia arrived at Suez from
Calcutta with news to the 21st of July If the
steamer from Bombay had come in at the same
time, the mails would have reached Marseielles in
time for the letters to have been delivered in
London on Monday. It is probable that the Bom-
bay mail had not even arrived at Suez on the 16th,
two days after the Nubia The despatches from
Bombay will bring news from Delhi later than that
received at Calcutta to July 21st, as the com-
munications are less interesting. The arrival of
both the Calcutta and Bombay mails at Marseilles,
may, however, now be expected every hour.
We have not much continental or foreign news
of moment. The continental papers are as much
occupied in dealing with the Sepoy revolt as we
are ourselves, but they do not appear so much
astonished that it should have occurred. The
German papers continue to indulge in comments
concerning the Osborne conference, and some of
them deny the statement of a correspondent of the
Star, that the union of the Principalities is a point
that has been conceded and settled in England.
We certoinly thought it our duty to publish that
announcement upon the authority of another, but
without pledging ourselves to its accuracy. Of
one point we can speak with greater certainty,
having received the most direct information, that
if the new elections in Moldavia are allowed to be
free, no doubt can be entertained that there will
be a majority in favour of the union. The people
of Moldavia are nearly at one with the people of
Wallachia in desiring a united government and an
independent country ; and their own explanation
of the diplomatic diversity of opinion on the point
is, that if Russia says one thing England will say
the opposite, and that Russia is sure to decide for
that which England disapprove 2. In the Princi-
palities there is only one serious political point,
and it is a point which all the native inhabitants
have embraced, namely, " Leave us alone, and we
will manage our own affairs in our own way, with-
out European intervention or interference."

From Paris we learn that Admiral Trehourat-
has been ordered to proceed with the experimental
squadron to Tunis. The Pays learns by a letter
from London, that permission has been definitely
granted for the passage of English troops across
the Isthmus of Suez. These troops will take the
railway, and will find at Suez boats, taken up at
Calcutta by the East India Company, waiting for
them. According to arrangement made by agents
of the company, these ships were to be in the Red
Sea by the end of August at the latest. The
authorisation granted by the Viceroy of Egypt
does not extend to the future; it is only temporary,
and special for the existing occasion. In noticing
the progress of events in India, the Debats dis
cusses, the probability of the rumoured intrigues
of Russia in British India, and comes to the con-
clusion that the Government of St Petersburg is
innocent of the charge, less perhaps from want of
will than from absence of available means.

From St. Petersburg wo learn that the Russian
Government, after the war, published an order for
the organisation of the fleet in the Pacific Ocean,
which was to assume the title of the Squadron of
Siberia. The Government appears now to have
decided on increasing the strength of this fleet a
ukase of the 20th July having added fourteen
superior officers to it, who have already left for
their destination, and a similar number will,
from Ist January, 1858, be _ added annually.
This measure is connected with the Efforts
which Russia is fusing to:strengthen her position
on the Pacific.

According to late letters from Tunis, we learn
that the statements published about the disturb-
ances in the capital of the regency have been
greatly exaggerated. After the attack upon the
Jew, some further violences were committed against
other Jews and Christians in the streets, who had
to defend themselves with sticks and even arms
against the sabres of some fanatics ; but no one
was killed, and only a few slight wounds and con-
tusions were given and received. There was some
alarm in the town on account of a rumour to the
effect that two powerful tribes of Arabs had re-
volted, refusing to pay tribute to the Bey, and fears
were entertained that they might take advantage
of the disturbance and attack the town ; but the
riot having been put down by the Bey's troops,
there was nothing further to be feared for the
residents.

The steam ship Hydaspos arrived at Southamp
ton from the Brazils yesterday morning.

IN a day or two the curtain will fall upon the
first session of Parliament of 1857. About
Friday, "My Lords and Gentlemen" will be
dismissed from their legislative duties, and the
country left in suspense, as to the future inten-
tions of Government, not only respecting the
state of affairs in India, but also what steps will
be taken respecting the new Reform Bill next
session. We cannot allow the prorogation to
take place without briefly reviewing the legis-
lative business transacted since the meeting of
the new Parliament. After the general election
it was considered that Lord PALMERSTON would
have little or no trouble in carrying every really
practicable and useful measure, not only in the
Commons but also through the House of Lords.
Immediately after the assembling of the new
Parliament, there was not much business brought
forward. Indeed, the speech from the throne, on
the opening of the session, gave little hope that
the business to be transacted would embrace many
or new important matters. The first announce-
ment of the Ministerial intentions were indicated
in the notices given by Mr. HATTER, for leave to
bring in a Jew Bill, a Bill to regulate the Sav-
ings' Banks of the United Kingdom, also Bills to
regulate Insurance and Joint Companies, and
extend the powers of the Board of Health. In
the Peers, the Lord Chancellor lost no time in
introducing the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes
Bill. This has been a standing dish of debate
from the beginning to the end of the session.
With regard to the measures indicated above
it is only necessary to remark that the Jew Bill,
after passing the House of Commons by a large
and emphatic majority, was, as usual, cast out
by the Lords temporal and spiritual—the latter
manifesting an amount of ferocious bigotry that
ill becomes the expouncLri of a 1; Jpal, the
main principle of which is the cultivation
of peace and good-will towards men. After
Lord PALMERSTON'S Bill had been rejected,
Lord JOHN RUSSELL had recourse to attempts to
authorise Baron ROTHSCHILD to take his seat for
the City of London. His attempts were futile,
and the measure has been shelved for another
Session. Let us hope that when this reasonable
and long delayed act of justice is again intro-
duced, it will meet with that success which it

eminently deserves.
The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Bill has