Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-31 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

The Cintra steamer, arrived in the Mersey yesterday,
with Lisbon dates of the 24th, when the only foreign
vessel of war in the Tagus was the Dutch frigate
Ruyter.
The Peninsular Company's packet Sultan arrived at
Lisbon on the 21st inst., and after landing passengers and
mails for that port, proceeded on to Cadiz and Gibraltar
on the morning of the 22nd.
The Alhambra, packet from Gibraltar, arrived at
'Lisbon on the afternoon of the 18 tb, with her engines out
of order, and, after partially repairing, left with the mails
for Southampton on the 21st, the Portugese man-of-war
Infante don Luiz towing her a few miles out to sea.
In foreign exchanges a few transactions had been tifcc-
ted after the closing of mails for the Alhambra, but paper
on London was in demand at 541 at three months' date.
The Stock ma-ket continued very dull, and the following
quotations might be consiedred nominal :—Three per
.Cent. Registered, 46- to 47 ; Coupons, 46 to 461 ; Defer-
red, 281 to 281 ; Bank of Portugal Shares, 8 to 84 per
cent. pm. ; Bank of Oporto. 20 to 22 per cent. pm.
The Duke Saldanha had, at his own request, received
his dismissal from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the
Portuguese army, and the Count of Santa Maria appointed
ad interim to that post. „,_,

IMPE RIAL PARLIAMENT.

(By British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.—THURSDAY.
The House met at five o'clock.

THE FREE NEGR) SYSTEM.

Lord Brougham expressed gratification that the people
of Martinique had repudiated the favour intended to be
confer ed upon them by the recent arrangement at Mar-
seilles and Nartes, for the importation of free labour into
their island. The more he clnsidered this subject, the
more was he convinced of the mistake that the French
Government bad comrdtted in sanctioning the Marseilles
project.

INDIA.

The Earl of Ellenborough alluded to the proclamation
of the Governor-General of India, of the 16th May, declar-
ing in strong terms the determination of the Government
to adhere to its former practices of not interfering with
the religion of the natives, and inquired why it was not
laid upon the table with the Indian papers pre-
sented to the House. In a letter of the Court
of Directors, hope was expressed that the proclamation in
question would produce a salutary effect, and be thought
there could be no objection that it should form part of the
documents for public information. He recalled to the
memory of the House, that so far back as the 28th of
January, General Hearsey communicated to the Governor-
General, that amongst the Sepoys there was a report that
they would be •forced to embrace Christianity on the 11th
of February. General Hearsey said they were dwelling
upon a mine which might at any moment explode,
and yet it was not till the 27th of March that
the Gevernor•General made a general order in
reference to the subject, and that g►eneral order
was not read to the troops until the disbandment of the
19th Regiment. The order set firth that it was the inva-
riable rule of the Government of India to treat the religions
of a'l its subjects with respect, but it said nothing as to
the intentions of the Government for the future. Oa the
16 h of May there was another proclamation, but that was
not issued till after the occurrence of the events at Meerut,
and the salutary effects expected was lost. A strong
feeling arose en the 22nd of January respecting the greased
cartridges amongst the Sepoys at Dumdum, upon which
eight days elapsed in communications from one officer to
another, and four days elapsed before its ominous events,
which took place about eight miles from the Government
House at CalcuttP, became known to the Government.
This systematic loss of time in the communication of
important matters was shown in repeated instances in the
papers before the House, and he would ask whether such
a state of things would have been allowed had the Marquis
of Wellesley or Warren Hastings been in India. No doubt
the Government of India was iw the hands of clerks and
secretaries instead of the Governor-general. He believed
that the discontent of the Sepoys was owing to the greased
cartridges, and that gave him hopes of the re-establish-
ment of confidence in that portion of the Indian army
without which it would be imp ssible to carry
on the Government of India. He would post—
pone any remarks he had to make upon the
telegraph messages till further information arrived.
Earl Granville said, there would be no objection to the
production of the proclamation. He denied that there was
any grounds for the charge of the noble earl, that the
Government of India was carried on by secretaries and
clerks, and stated that the Governor—General was paying
the utmost attentio❑ to all that was taking place, and hal,
by showing himself fully equal to the emergency, risen
in the estimation of all the Europeans in India.
The Earl of Ellenborough had drawn his inferences
from the papers on the table. He thought the Governor-
General might have himself taken the journey to Dum-
dum, a distance of only eight miles from the Government
House.
The Duke of Argyle referred to the use of 'greased car-
tridges, and stated that Lord Canning immediately, on
hearing the objections of the men to them, had directed
that they should purchase their own cartridges.
After some further discussion, the subject dropped.