The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-03 00:00:00

CONJUGAL RIGHTS (SCOTLAND) BILL.

Their lordships went into committee on this bill.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said the object of this bill
was to render sentences of divorce pronounced by the Scot-
tish Courts valid all over the Empire, and he proposed that
the operation of the act should be limited to parties born or
domiciled in that country.

The bill passed through committee, and was reported
without amendments to the house.

COAST OF AFRICA, &c., ACT AMENDMENT BILL,
This bill passed through committee.
CROWN DEBTS AND JUDGMENTS BILL.

The amendments of this bill were considered and agreed

MILITIA ACT AMENDMENT BILL.

This bill was read a third time and passed.
DEBTORS AND CREDITORS ACT AMENDMENT

BILL.

Lord BROUGHAM moved, " That as regards the
Debtors and Creditors Act Amendment Bill, inasmuch as
persons in actual custody, who were to be released by the
Bankruptcy Bill lately withdrawn, had relied upon that
bill being proceeded with, and had not considered any
amendment of the Debtors and Creditors Act was required,
the circumstances which required legislation on the subject
matter of the said bill are of such urgency as to render the
immediate consideration of the same necessary."
The- motion having been agreed to,
Lord BROUGHAM then moved that the bill be read a
second time, which was also agreed to.
METROPOLITAN POLICE FORCE DOCKYARDS

BILL.
This bill was read a third time and passed.
HERITABLE SECURITIES, &c. (SCOTLAND) BILL
This bill was read a third tinge and passed.
MAYNOOTH COLLEGE BILL.
Lord REDESDALE protested against what he con•
sidersd a very unjust provision of it, which created a
charge of £650 per annum for some time upon the students
of the college.

The Duke of LEINSTER defendel the bill.
The bill was then read a third time and passed.
The Bank of Ireland Bill and the Weights and Measures
(Ireland) Bill were severally read a third time.
The Sheriff Court-houses (Scotland) Bill was read a
third time and passed.
THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT (1858) AMEND-

MENT BILL.
The report of amendment on this bill was brought up
and agreed to.

Tho Common Law Procedure (Ireland) Act Bill, Copy-
hold and Enclosure Commissions Bill, and Turnpike Trusts
Arrangements Bill were severally read a third time and
passed.

MILITIA BALLOT BILL.
This bill passed through committee.
SMITHFIELD MARKETS, STREETS, AND
IMPROVEMENTS BILL.
This bill was read a third time and passed, as were also
the following bills :—Prisons (Scotland) Bill, Police and
Towns Improvement (Scotland) Act Amendment Bill, and
County Coroners Bill.
The Industrial Museum (Scotland) Bill passed through
committee, and the house adjourned at ten minutes to 12
o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—(YESTERDAY.)
FORTIFICATIONS AND WORKS.
The house again went into committee on a* vote for
£2,000,000 for fortifications and works moved by Lord
Palmerston.
Mr. LINDSAY moved the following amendment :
That, as the main defence of Great Britain against ag-
gression depends on an efficient navy, it is not expedient to
enter into a largo expenditure on permanent land fortifica-
tions."

Mr. H. BERKELEY seconded the amendment in a
humorous speech.
Mr. S. HERBERT, who, in consequence of his fre-
quently turning his back to the reporters and speaking to
the members behind him, was very indistinctly heard
in the gallery, observed that the two speeches in which the
amendment had been moved and supported, required som e
notice from him. In the first place, he thought his gallant
friend behind him was somewhat too credulous as to the
state of preparation in which this country was, and espe-
cially as to the present condition of the ordnance, when he
depended upon the statements of a French officer. His
gallant friend said that he had met a French officer who
told him that all our ships were about to be armed with
smooth bored guns, while France had 600 rifled guns in her
fleet. Now, that statement he (Mr. S. Herbert) could meet
with a direct denial. In the first place, he did not believe
that France had got 600 rifled guns on board her ships
They had, he knew, rifled a considerable number of cast-
iron guns, and it happened to them as it happened to us, that
whenever those guns came to be tested as guns ought to be
tested that were intended for real service, they failed. (Hear)
hear.) The consequence of sack failure was that France had
now taken a different course, and no doubt, would, in the
end, succeed in making excellent rifled guns. Then said
his gallant friend, this French officer asked where was Sir
W. Armstrong and his guns ? and his gallant friend added
quoting the opinion of the right hon. and gallant officer op-
posite (General Peel), as to the excellence of the Armstrong
gun, that they would shortly be produced in such numbers
that they would very soon altogether displace the existing
armaments. "Great is Armstrong, and Peel; is his pro-
phet." Now he (Mr. S. Herbert) could inform his gallant
friend that the Armstrong had been delivered at the rate of
12 guns a
week. [Au HON. MEMBER, " What size ?"]
NAPIER-" What weight ?"1
45. [Sir C. He could not tell
the weightybut they would soon have 80-pounders, Besides
these they had now 12 batteries of rifled cannon manned
and horsed complete, numbering 72 guns. (Hear, hear.)
He mentioned these facts to dispel misapprehensions that
were going abroad that the Ordnance department
was in an inefficient state, and that we were
about to lose the advantages which these great scientific in-
ventions in the art of gunnery were calculated to give.
(Hear.) The hon. gentleman (Mr. Lindsay) said that inva-
sion was impossible—that it would be useless for less than
100,000 men to come, if they came at all; and that if they
mowed in effecting a iauclittg) notate of tllera would ever