The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-09 00:00:00

TURRET SHIPS.

Mr. O'BgIRNE asked the Secretary to the Admiralty
whether it was true that their lordships had decided upon
testing the resisting power and general efficiency of the
cupola system by firing at one of the turrets of the Royal
Sovereign ; and, if it had been so decided, whether he had
any objection to state to the house the nature of the ex-
periments proposed ?

Mr. BARING said such an experiment was about to
be made, but the details had not yet been decided on.
SCOTCH AND IRISH REFORM BILLS.
Sir F. HEYGATE asked the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer when he intended to proceed with the second
reading of the Scotch and Irish Reform Bills
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he
could not fix any day at present, but it would doubtless be
a distant one.

JAMAICA.
Mr. GILPIN asked when the report of the Jamaica
Commission might be expected.
Mr. CARD WELL said he had not yet received the
whole of the evidence, therefore he could not give the hon.
gentleman an explicit answer. No steps had yet been
taken with respect to the Indemnity Bill.
CATTLE PLAGUE.

Mr. BRUCE informed the house that the disease ob-
servable amongst the cattle in the Isle of Man was not
rinderpest, but one of a local description.
THE BELGIAN PRESS.
Mr. DISRAELI said before going into committee ho
bogged to make a few remarks upon some observations
that had fallen from him in referring to the conduct of
our plenipotentiary at the Conference. On that occasion he
had remarked that our plenipotentiary had entered into a
conspiracy to barter away the freedom of the press in Bel-
gium. He contended that the statements were neither un-
justifiable nor reckless, and that he was fully justified in
all that he said by the official documents on the table of
the house.

Mr. LAYAIID said as he had not anticipated the right
hon. gentleman would go into the matter, he was not pre-
pared to answer his observations as fully as he could. The
charges made by the right honourable gentleman op-
posite against Lord Clarendou were of such a
nature that, if true, they would be productive
of the greatest injury to the political character of the noble
earl, and render him incapable of remaining at the head of
the Foreign Office of the country. The right hon. gentle-
man had said that the noble earl had entered into a con-

_
spiracy to abolish the liberty of the press on the continent ;
that ho had agreed to an alteration of the boundaries
of Turkey, which it took all the talent of Lord Pal-
merston to settle ; and that he had wilfully neglected the
interests of Circassia. He had to state that each of those
charges were directly opposite to the facts of the case.
With respect to the first of the accusations, Count
Walewski, at the Conference, referred to the vio-
lent denunciations which appeared in the Belgian
papers against the Emperor Napoleon, some of
which openly advocated his assassination, and the only
observation made use of by Earl Clarendon which at all
referred to the matter was, that in the course of the dis-
cussion he said he considered men who preached
assassination were undeserving the protection of
the press. The second accusation, that he said
interfered with the boundaries of Turkey was the opposite
to the fact ; and with respect to Circassia, Lord Clarendon
had done all in his power in favour of that country instead
of neglecting it. The three accusation; therefore, against
the Earl of Clarendon had
'each fallen to the ground.
(Hear, hear.)
On the same motion for going into Committee of Supply,
there was the usual Friday evening melange of incongruous
subjects.

Mr. VERNER called attention to the reports of the In-
spectors-General of Prisons in Ireland for the last five
years with reference to the grave irregularities consequent
on the management of certain city prisons by Boards of
Superintendence, eliciting a reply from Mr. C. Fortescue.
Sir J. S. Maxwell, in an interesting speech, brought under
the notice of the house recent returns relating to the office
of Lord Lyon King-at-Arms in Scotland, and pressed the
Government, besides undertaking the necessary reforms in
the Lyon Court, to appoint to the vacant office some man
distinguished in historical literature, a suggestion which
was supported by Mr. G. Duff, and to which Mr. Childers
replied that the subject was under the consideration of the
Government. General Dunne complained of the non-
payment of a sum of £5,000 granted for the building and
repairing of fishery piers in Ireland ; and Sir John Pak-
ington related the circumstances attending the recent
wreck of the Great Northern on the coast of Lancashire,
to which Mr. M. Gibson replied that inquiry was being
made, and if the wreck was found to be due to misconduct
of the crew the law would be put in force against them.

Mr. BERESFORD-HOPE called attention to a rumour
that the Royal Academy has refused a site at Burlington-
house, and is ready to move to South Kensington, to which
Mr. Cowper replied that though he had no official infor-
mation of it, he had hoard the rumour, and had reason to
believe it to be well-founded. A desultory conversation
hereupon „followed, turning upon the architectural beau-
ties of Burlington-house, the advantages of the Kensing-
ton site, the wants and constitution of the Academy, and
the other vexed questions connected with this subject,
in which Mr. Powell, Lord J. Manners, LoM Elcho, Mr.
Ayrton, Mr. Gregory, Mr. Bentinck, Sir G. Bowyer, Sir
W. Jolliffe, and Mr. Hubbard took part, Mr. Layard inti-
mating that the Government were not altogether satisfied
with the decision of the house two years ago on the
National Gallery site ; and by Lord Cranborne, who raised
the whole question of the expediency of spending public
money on art collectiohs, which, when placed in an out-of-
the-way site like Kensington, could only be luxuries of
the rich, and could not be enjoyed by any great number
of the people.

Mr. D. GRIFFITH put some questions as to the course
which the Conference on the Danubian Principalities is
taking in reference to the expressed wishes of the Moldo-
Wallachian population, prefacing them by a slight sketch
of the history of the Principalities and of the arrangements
of the Treaty of Paris. He examined at length the motives
of the population for desiring a foreign Prince, quoting a

passage from a speech of Mr. Gladstone's in this sense,
made eight years ago, and recommended a close union with

France in this matter.
Mr. LAYARD controverted much of Mr. Griffith's his-
tory, and entered into an elaborate narrative of the diplo-
matic transactions in relation to the Principalities to show

that tho suzerainty of the Porte over them had been recog-
nized by all the Grett Powers, and that they were bound