The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-30 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF LORDS.—Yesterday.

The business of the session of Parliament for 1864 ter-
minated to-day. At 3 o'clock the Lord Chancellor, Earl
de Grey and Ripon, Lord Wensleydale, Earl St. Germans,
and Lord Sydney entered the house robbed as Royal Com-
missioners, and, having taken their seats in front of the
throne,
The LORD CHANCELLOR directed the Usher of the
Black Rod to inform the Commons that their lordships
desired their immediate attendance in that house. Ina few
minutes afterwards the Speaker of the house of Commons,
accompanied by Lord Palmerston, Sir (3. Grey, and a large
number of other members, appeared at the bar.
The LORD CHANCELLOR then informed them that
her Majesty, not thinking it fit to attend and prorogue Par-
liament in person, had directed the same to bo done by
royal commission.
The Royal assent was then given by commission to the
following long list of public and private bills : —Consoli-
dated Fund (Appropriation)—Exchequer Bonds (L 1,600,000)
—Fortifications ( l'rovision for Expenses)—Scottish Epis-
copal Clergy Disabilities Removal—Turnpike Acts
Continuance-- Registration of Title Deeds—loaian States
Acts of Parliament Repeal—. Turnpike Trusts
Arrangements— Bank Notes, &c., Signature---lle-
fence Act Amendment Acciden, Compensation Act
Amendment—Burials Registration—Bleaching and Dyeing
Works Act Extension—Sale of Gas (Scotland)—Justices
Proceedings Confirmation (Sussex) -- Expiring Laws
Continuance Bank Post Bills (Ireland) Corn
Accounts and Returns Westminster-bridge Traffic
Stamp Duties (1864) Act Amendment—Naval and Victual-
ling Stores—Public Schools—Civil Bill Courts (Ireland)—
Harwich Harbour Act Amendment—Portsmouth Dockyard
(Acquisition of Land)—Local Government Supplemental
(No. 2—Criminal Justices Act (1855) Extension
Armagh Archiepiscopal Revenues—New Zealand Gua-
rantee of Loan—Public Works (Manufacturing Districts)
—Poor Removal—Sheriffs Substitute (Scotland)—Drainage
and Improvement of Lands (Ireland)—West Indian Ea-
cumbered Estates Act Amendment—Poor Relief (Me-
tropolis)--Weights and Measures (Metric System)—
Limited Penalties—Cranbournestreet—Salmon Fisheries
(Scotland) Act Amendment—Poisoned Flesh Prohibition,
&c.—Naval Discipline—Judgments, &c., Law Amendment
—Highways Act Amendment—Railway Companies Powers
—Contagious Diseases—Thames Conservancy—lmprove •
ment of Land Act, 1864—Pier and Harbour Orders Con-
firmation—Dublin, Rathmines, and Rathgar Railway
Great Eastern ailway Junction—Alford and Mable-
thorp Railway—Drayton Junction Railway—East Glou-
cestershire Railway—Glasgow (City) Union Railway—
Kingsbridge Railway—Lancashire Canal Transfer—
Launceston, Bodmin, and Wadebridge Junction Railway
—Liverpool Central Station—Metropolitan Railway (Not-
ting-hill and Brompton) —Scottish Central Railway (Sta-
tions)—Swansea Vale, and Neath and Brecon Railway
—Tamar, Kit Hill, and Callington Railway-a.Woreester,
Dean Forest, and Monmouth Railway—Great Northern
and Western of Ireland Railway (No. 2)--Railway Con-
struction Facilities—KilkennyJ unction Railway—Parsons -
town and Portumna Bridge Railway—Much Wenlock and
Severn Junction and Wenlock Railway Companies—Metro-
politan and St. John's-wood Railway—Alton, Alresford,
and Winchester Railway—Bembridge Railway, Tramway,
and Pier—Dublin and Baltinglass Junction Railway—
Breoon and Merthyr Tydvil Junction Railway (New Lines) '
—Dublin Improvement—Great Western Railway—North
Devon and Somerset Railway—North Staffordshire Rail-
way (New Works)—North Staffordshire Railway (Silver-
dale Madeley, and Drayton)—Petersfield and Bishops
Waltham Railway—South Eastern Railway (No. 4)—
Cannock Chase and Wolverhampton Railway—Great
Eastern Railway (Metropolitan Station and Railways)—
London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway (Additional
Power)—Metropolitan Railway (Trinity-square Eaten-
sion)—Neath and Brecon Railway (Extension)—Port-
patrick Railway—Portpatrick Railway (Steamboats)—
St. Helen's Canal and Railway—South Wales Mineral
Railway—Exmouth Docks—Manchester, Sheffield, and
Lincolnshire Railway (Steamboats)—Dublin Trunk
Connecting Railway—Metropolitan Districts - Rail-
ways—North Western and Charing-cross Railway—
Sheffield Waterworks (Bradfield Inundation)—Tooting,
Merton, and Wimbledon Extension Railway—Aldborough
Pier and Railway—Holy well Railway.
The LORD CHANCELLOR then read her Majesty's
speech on the closing of Parliament,immediately after which
his lordship said, by virtue of the royal commission, he de-
clared Parliament prorogued until Thursday, the 13th day
of October.
The members of the House of Commons then withdrew,
and the proceedings terminated.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.--Yesterday.
The SPEAKER took the chair at a quarter past two
o'clock.

STANDING ORDERS.

Mr FORSTER gave notice that he would move, next
session, for an alteration in the standing order No. 7,
FIRE INSURANCE.
Mr SHERIDAN gave notice that, next session, ho
would repeat the motion he had made for a reduction in
the insurance duty on house and stock property.
THE DANO-GERMAN QUESTION.

In reply to Sir H. VERNEY,
Lord PALMrRSTON was understood to say that, so
long as the Conference was sitting in this country, the
Government interfered, but at present they did not think
themselves bound to make any proposals in reference to the
subject,
THE WOUNDED RIFLEMAN.
Mr H. B. SHERIDAN asked the Under Secretary of
State for War whether the 20th section of the Volunteer
Act of 1863 would apply to the case of a private (William
Lodge, 146, Cannon street-road, St. George's-in-the-East,)
of the Third London Rifle Volunteer Regiment, who was
disabled while under official inspection, and therefore in
actual military service, viz., on the 16th of May, 1864, at
West-end Park, Kilburn—the section referred to being as
follows :—" A volunteer, or non-commissioned officer of
th. ‘,-,1,-mt.-er Derman Ant staff, disabled on actual military
service shell, according to his rank, be entitled to the like
Pension and other benefits, if any, as a soldier of her Ma-
jesty's army."
Mr HUTT, in the absence of the Marquis oi Harting-
ton, said that.unfortunately, except in the case of injuries
inflicted in consequence of an invasion of the country, a
member of the Volunteer corps would not be entitled to a
pension.

PRISON MINISTERS ACT.
Mr HENNESSY called attention to the proceedings of
the Middlesex magistrates with reference to the Prison
Ministers Act; and moved an address for papers. He
said that a petition numerously signed had been presented
against the practice that prevailed at Coldbath-field Prison,
in ,conformity with the instructions of the visiting jus-
tices of Middlesex. That practice had reference to
the manner in which Roman Catholic prisoners
were treated in regard to being compelled to receive
spiritual instruction from scripture readers and clergymen
of the Church of England. which he contended was in
direct contravention of the Prison Ministers Act, and the
spirit upon which legislation had proceeded in dealing with
Roman Catholic convicts, in order to prevent their con-
scientious feeling being outraged under the circumstances
in which they were placed. He denounced in strong terms
the conduct of the visiting justices, which he argued was
a proof that the old feeling of animosity against members
of the Roman Catholic body was still in existence in this
country,and developed itself frequently notwithstanding the
alleged feeling of religious tolerance which was stated to
prevail.
Mr NEWDEGATE defended the justices of Middlesex
from the imputation of the hon. and learned member. He
said that Mr Pounall (the chairman of that body) was a
guarantee that nothing of an unfair description would be
sanctioned by him. He read the resolution agreed to by
the justices which prohibitedinterference with the spiritual
instruction of the prisoners.
Sir G. GREY said that his attention had been drawn to
this subject, and from inquiries he had made he was quite
satisfied that there was no foundation for the charges that
had been made against the justices of Middlesex, and he
rdiculed the idea of such a body compromising themselves
in the mode in question.
MEXICO.
Mr KINGL AKE called attention to the state of our
present relationswith Mexico, and moved an humble address
to her most gracious Majesty for the production of certain
papers in reference to the subject. Ile said it was rather
anomalous that the French invasion of Mexico, which re-
sulted in the occupation of only a small portion of the terri-
tory, should have led to 39,000 French soldiers being
stationed there.
Lord PALMERSTON said that the policy which was
pursued by this country was to enter into amicable relations
wi,'l.l every Power, whether a monarchy or a republic, when
eithe: of their forms of government had been established.
Before the Archduke Maximilian went to Mexico the Go-
vernment
of the country had declined to enter into any re-
lation or trek ty with him, as being opposed to the practice
of government.
01, . However, when the people of that
country
ed him, they then entered into
re co
with him. The principal• ground
friendly relations .w f
this country in regard to Mexico
of complaint on the par, (!,
ten governed by some chiefs who
was that it had hitherto u. in%rpose of plundering and ill-
used their authority for the
h regard to a change in the
a treating British subjects.
'lst be remembered that
Government of that country, it nk
large portion of the population wert: to which in favour of the same,
they had
not being satisfied with Spanish rule
been so long subjected.
PROROGATION •OF THE HOUSE.
At a quarter past three o'clock,
Sir AUGUSTUS CLIFFORD? Usher of the ilack Rod
summoned the Speaker and members to the Upper House
to hear the Royal Speech proroguing Parliament bj com-
mission. The right hon gentleman, accompanied by eslve-
ral members, then proceeded to the House of Lords, ant.;
after a short absence, returned.
The SPEArER having read the Royal Speech, the mem-
bers shook hands with the right hon. gentleman, which
terminated the session of 1864.

The Turkish line-of-battle ship Paiki Niraet, Capt. Arif
Bey, bearing the flag of Admiral Edham Pasha, which was
towed from Spithead to Southampton on Tuesday afternoon
by her Majesty's steamer Lucifer, is now in dock at the
latter port discharging her guns, anchors, and other heavy
materials, preparatory to her going into the large graving
dock. The Paiki Nusret is an entirely new vessel, built
under the inspection of the Turkish Government at their
dockyard at Constantinople. She has come to this country
for the purpose of receiving her machinery. She carries 34
6S-pounders on the lower deck, 42 32 .pounders on the upper
and main deck, and two Si-pounder carriage guns. Th
Mayor of Southampton (Mr G. S. Brinton) paid the Ad-
m'.ral a visit on board the frigate on Thursday, and cor-
dially welcomed him to the port.
In accordance with instructions received at headquarters
of the Royal Engineer establishment, Chatham, a number
of trained non-commissioned officers and men have been
selected from the various companies on the home establish-
ment to proceed to Persia, for the purpose of being employed
in laying down the overland telegraph from
~ the Red Sea.
through Turkey and Persia, to India.. Ihe non-commis-
sioned officers and sappers of the Royal Engineers already
engaged in the undertaking, under the command of Colonel
P. Stewart, Royal Engineers, have proved insufficient for
the work in consequence of the unexpectedly heavy duties
and the heat of the climate, and their numbers are ac-
cordingly ordered to be augmented. The men who will
compose the detachment have been selected from the
telegraph school at headquarters, and none but those of
robust health and constitution will be employed in the
undertaking. In addition to their ordinary regimental
L pay the sergeants selected for this duty will receive
o Lid per month, the corporals £l4, and the sappers
£l2, and will at the same time receive a step in promotion
bctoio Waving England.

Floating befor a Swimming ; or, Every.
Man his own Corks,

DEDICATED Ti 3 THE HUMANE SOCIETY.

A few practical observations on what is called swimming
may tend to save the lives of some, and teach many others
to remain easily and quietly on the surface of the water, in•
stead of making the usual violent exertions called "trying
to swim," with the attendant exhaustion and gulping of
water, which often ends in discouragement, if nothing
worse. It may draw attention to the subject to commence
with what might seem (to some) a paradox, namely, that
the movements of swimming have nothing at all to do with
the main point of safety in the water, which is—remaining
on the surface. To walk is necessary for locomotion on
land, and so is swimming for locomotion in the water; but
swimming could prevent nobody from going to the bottom
if he wore not epecificalls lighter than water, that is,
naturally capable of floating in a state of stillness. It is
is for this reason that people even take some time
in drowning themselves—that is, by overcoming their
ignorant and terrified struggles the natural buoyancy which,
if left to itself, would keep them on the surface. Without,
this buoyancy they would go down at once ; as they would
in spite of this buoyancy if they were loaded with stones,
and no swimming could have the slightest effect. Corks of
course keep people higher out of the water, but they are
worse than superfluous, as they impede swimming, that is,
motion through the water, which is the proper meaning of
the word.

It is on account of its buoyancy that a log of light wood
floats, and not because it can swim. The log of wood floats
because it is lighter than water, and floating does not need
an exertion of the will ; but it cannot swim, because it has
no will to exert. It displaces as much water as is exactly
equal to itself in weight, but less than itself in bulk, and the
difference of bulk remains above water.* So it is with our..
selves. Every man, woman, and child in Great Britain
would be as safe from sinking as this log of wood, if they
would think as little about it and remain equally quiet.
Nay, the fattest and heaviest out of water would be the
most buoyant in it. Any boy might float like the "buoy
at the Nore," and the fattest alderman sing " I'd be a
butterfly," poising himseif lightly on the waves. They
have simply to keep their limbs well under water, for
these, in proportion to their size, float them while in
the water, and sink them when out of it. They may
lay themselves on their back, as in a luxurious water-bed,
and stare at the sky—' Supinos ad sidera tollite vultua'—
only keeping the mouth shut. The mere nose above water
would be qaite enough for breathing, and no gobemouche ci
bouche Halite has any business there at all. The human
body is lighter than water by about the proportion of tha
head, and the head will therefore remain above water, if
every other part be below it.t
Any practised person knows the greatest difficulty is to
dive or sink (that is, to strive against the natural buoyancy
of the body), and not to float. Let anyone try to pick up
a bright object from the bottom, in about five feet of water.
ee him
bottom tthat
.t
itThe
is esat
sr
ioenrgt
or ersei
ms t alice
aht et
hmeeteotps wt
hi tahn wt
to will llgcoo nt
ovint
hc
We may say with Moloch in Milton (but with reference to
a much denser fluid),

" Descent and fall to us are adverse—
With what compulsive and laborious flight
We stink thus low—Th' ascent is easy then I"

The advantage of floating over swimming is, that it may
be practised in a moderate-sized bath, or in any depth that
is sufficient to prevent grounding by the stern. This chief
point gained, the motions of swimming will come with the
mere desire to move about, the limbs as usual obeying the
impulse of the will. In learning to swim, instead of to float,
we begin at the wrong end, and with the wrong notion that
swimming (instead of our own natural buoyancy) floats us
in the water. Taken in the right order, they both coma
naturally—" Beier, mon ami, commencez par le commence-.
ment."

When any quadruped, as a horse or dog, gets out of depth,
it finds itself at once lifted up, and floating with the head
above water, and having no fears on that score, its desire
to reach the nearest point prompts the natural motion of
the four limbs. Man has not, like the quadruped, the ad-
vantage of finding himself in the water in his ordinary po-
sition; his uninstructed reason becemes a worse guide than
the unerring instinct of the brute. Fear prompts him to
raise his arms out of the water, and then they tend to sink
him, while the necessary position of the beast's four limbs
keeps them under. T hue the efforts of the timorous to save
themselves are the very causes of their drowning. Tossing
with the arms above water, screaming with the mouth wide
open, they get out of breath, water supplies the place of
air, and they are choked or stifled—that is, drowned. But
the time that it takes to frustrate their natural buoyancy
proves the very thing they ignorantly doubted, for if not
lighter in themselves than water they would have suck
like a stone. Nature has benevolently given us this buoyant
principle of safety in common with the beasts, and we per-
versely mar it by our ignorant terrors, and by absurdly
fancying (according to the vulgar error) that the action of
swimming, which is only moving through the water, keeps
us on the surface, and not our own natural buoyancy.

J. F. D.

* It is just the reverse with a body heavier than water ;
this displaces as much water as is exactly equal to itself in
bulk, but. not less than Itself in weight, and the difference
of weight takes it to the bottom. A body of exactly the
same specific gravity as water will remain at rest in any
part of it, and fishes have the power of adjusting themselves
to this condition. Their fins, like our limbs, serve only for
locomotion, and have nothing to do with floating them.
t A correspondent, who is as much at home in the water
as the writer of this, says—" People are continually being
drowned through their own unreasoning action, when their
lives might have been saved had they merely remained quiet
and kept their arms under water. I believe that women in
general would float naturally if they lay flat upon the water
with the face and cheek-bones (and nothing else) out of it."
Women, having smaller bones and lighter tissues than men,
are of course rather more buoyant. A few of the very thin-
nest men, with a large preponderance of bone, might find
it less easy to float.

LONDON GAZETTE—Last Evening,

WHITEHALL, JOLT 27.

The Queen has been pleased to direct letters patent to be
passed under the Great Seal, appointing the Rev. William
Conway, M.A., to the place and dignity of a Canon of the
Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster, with the
Rectory of the parish church of St. Margaret's, Westmin-
ster, thereunto annexed and united, void by the death of
Dr. William Cureton.
WHITEHALL, JUIN 27.
The Queen has been pleased to present the Reverend
James Stewart to the church and parish of Peterhead, in
the Presbytery of Deer and county of Aberdeen, vacant by
the transportation of the Reverend James Mitchell to the
church and parish of South Leith.
The Queen has also been pleased to present the Reverend
Ewen Campbell to the church and parisa of knock, in
the presbytery and Island of Lewis, vacant by the resigna.
tion of the Rev. James McDonald.
DOWNING STREET, JULY 28.

The Queen has been pleased to appoint Henry, Shaw,
Esq., to be Treasurer for the Island of St. Vincent.
JULY 29.

The Qaeen has been pleased to appoint Anthony Mus-
grave, Eeq. (now Lieut-Governor of the Island of St
Vincent), to be Governor and Commander in Chief in and
over the Island of Newfoundland and its dependencies.
Her Majesty has also been pleased to appoint George
Berkeley, Eeq. (now Colonial Secretary for the colony of
British Honduras), to be Lieut-Governor of the Island of
St Vincent.

ADMIRALTY, JULY 27.
The following promotions of Engineer officers of the
Royal Navy have been made :—Mr Thomas Frith Pyatt
Shelley, Mr John Taylor (B), Mr George Purkis, Mr John
Ertiugton Warner, to be First Class Assistant Engineers—
and Mr Alfred James Tout. Mr James Nelson, Mr John
Ferguson (B), Mr George Quick, Mr James Lurie, to be
Acting First Class Assistant Engineers.
ADMIRALTY, JULY 28.
To be a Paymaster-in-Chief—John Nott, Esq.
FOREIGN-OFFICE, JULY 20.
Notification of the Raising of the Danish Blockade of the
Prussian Ports in the Baltic, and of all Por s and Har•
hours on the Coasts of Sleswig and Holstein.
It is hereby notified that Earl Russell, her Ma-
jesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
has received from her Majesty's Minister at Copenhagen
an official notification (published by the Danish Ministry of
Marine), of the raising of the blockade of the Prussian ports
in the Baltic, and also of all ports on the coasts of Sleswig
and Holstein, from the 22d July inst.
The following is a copy of the said official nobileation
above referred to :
Theto t the concluded Ministry
efsuspensionMemn blockade of
the Prussian ports Colberg, Carlin:dn. lade, \vol.
arin e notifieso f herewithhostilities,
and Sletrrig, will be raised f
as also all ports of Holstein from
gest, Greifswalde, Stralsund, Barth, Danzig, and Pillhu,
the 20th inst., at noon. in that
the laccording

0• LVILEN.

Mthistry of Marine, Copenhagen,
the 19th July, 1864.
--......•

upholsterer,merchaAlot,
tChrutched-friars
BANKRUPTS,
sea, Hants
n baker, Bic •
William Ita3r Birmingham
L. Birch, pewterer, Birmingham
Thomas •
John Robert Wyatt, builder, Wandsworth-road
Henry Lee, clerk, Chelsea
Nathan Cropley, clerk, Ely
Wjamilleiasramllooorbee,
Jane Hugoe, dressmaker, Upper Holloway
Phillips, baker, eFrliCkhinelgthenamham
Robertson, u
John Robert Taylor,Phil
William B. Tyzack, auctioneer, Norwich
Charles Newcombe, builder, Bermondsey
Wm. Bruce, linendraper, Heckinondwike
Matthew H. Andrews, butcher, Worcester
SCOTCH BANKRUPTS.
Edward Webb, batter, Aberdeen
Alexander Laing, ironmonger, Forres
James Macmillan, tea merchant, Inverness

Course of Exchange,--This Day.

—'
Amsterdam
Ditto
1
2 1
Rotterdam — 12 Of 1
Antwerp -• • 25 621 25 65
Brussels — 25 621 25 65
Hamburgh
Paris
Ditto
Marseilles — 25 05 25 70
Frankfort on Maine.. -- 120 1201
Vi 11 85 11 90
Triesteenna
-- 311 31

Peiersbnrgh ..
Berlin ..............

Madrid ...........•

43
4Si
25 721

Cadiz ..............

1:5 75

Leghorn ..........