The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-28 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 1863,

In the House of Lords, last night, several mea-
Pura, including the Union Relief Aid Act Con-
tinuance Bill, and the Tobacco Duties Bill, received
the Royal assent by commission ; and, after a short
conversation, Lord WESTBURY'S bill for augment
ing the value of the Crown livings in the gift of
the Lord Chancellor was read a second time.
In the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, in reply to a question from Mr. HENRY
itiEYMOUR, stated that he had heard that a pro-
poaal was likely to be made to the Government
with respect to purchasing for some public object
the Exhibition building ; but he did not think the
proposal was one that could be entertained. In
answer to Lord JOHN MANNERS, Sir GEORGE
GREY said the Inspector of Factories in Lancashire
liad reported that steps were being taken to adapt
t he machinery in the mills to the use of Indian and
other descriptions of cotton. Mr. HENNESSY made
another appeal on behalf of Poland ; and Nlr. W. E.
FORSTER raised a discussion on the fitting out of
war vessels in this country for the Confederate
states. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL warmly de-
t'ended
the conduct of the Government with respect
o the fitting out of the Alabama, and retorted that
the American Government had not always respected
our neutrality when their own interests were con-
cealed.

Beyond all doubt of it, the most telling speech
yet delivered this session is the one reported in
another part of our impression of to-day, as having
been delivered last night by Mr. LAIRD in 'newer
to the taunts of Mr. BRIGHT. At every sentence,
this speech of Mr. LAIRD'S yesterday rang with the
golden ring of a true eloquence. It was the elo-
quence of a manly indignation. His argument was
based firmly, step by step, upon the logic of facts.
it was all apropos, of course to the vexed question
of the Alabama. It began and ended with it.
Beginning with the beginning, Mr. LAIRD
hesitated not one instant in remarking,
" I can only say, from all I know and all I have
heard, that from the day the vessel was:laid down to
her completion everything was open and above-
board in this country." On saying which the
Mouse—not Mr. BRIGHT, but the House—cheered.
iMr. BRIGH'I'S voice was audible a few seconds
Lfterwards, it is true, calling out (of course, ironi-
cally) " Hear'." viz., immediately, upon Mr.
LAIRD'S remark that when the Alabama left the
Custom-house officers declared there waa nothing
I,grong about her ! Notwithstanding which der--
hive exclamation Mr. LAIRD stuck to his text—
repeating immediately afterwards, in reference to
the Custom-house officers and the Alabama, "They
only left when the tug left, and they were
obliged to declare that she left Liverpool
r. perfectly legitimate transaction." Admir-
ably well, as a pendant to this, did the hon, mem-
ber add directly, and in great good humour, that
One point, as it appeared to him, had been over• J
3coked in the whole coarse of the discussion, " that
if a ship without guns and without arms is a dan-
gerous article, surely rifled guns and ammunition
of all sorts are equally, and even more dangerous."
And then, amidst the rene red and reiterated cheer
inn of the House, How he did turn the tables, to be
cure? Giving some of the names even of the
idehnquent speculators. "I have referred," he tells the
H3use,with a delightfully ingenuous frankness, " to
the bill of entry in the Custom houses of London and
Liverpool, and I find there have been vast shipments
cf implements of war to the Northern States through
the celebrated house of BARING and Co., BROWN,
HIPLEY, and Co., of Liverpool, and a variety of
other names, which I need not more particularly
mention, but whose Northern tendencies are well
known to this House." A little further on
and he delights the House by entering cate-
gorically into an enumeration of some of the
particulars : "scme details," as he quietly expresses
it, " of the sundries exported from the United
Kingdom to the Northern States of America from
the Ist of May, 1861, to the 31st of December, 1862.
'There were," says Mr. LAIRD (speaking, mind
from accurate information furnished to him from
the Custom House authorities)—" Muskets, 41,500;
rifles, 341,000; gun flintP, 25,500; percussion caps,
49,982,000; and swords, 2,250!" And he further-
more goes on to remark—" The best information I
can obtain leads me to believe that from one-
third to a half may be added to these numbers
Tor items which have been shipped to the Northern