The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-04-08 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-THURSDAY

In reply to a question of Mr. Hunie, Mr. BAILLIE said he
Would bring forward his motion with respect to Ceylon if pos-
sible before Easter; but if not possible, he would bring it on
on the first open day subsequently.—Lord J. RUSSELL moved
that the house should resolve itself into a committee of the
whole house, to take into consideration the mode of adminis-
tering the oath of Abjuration to persons profe,sing the Jewish
religion. The noble lord said he had so often stated his views
upon this subjezt, that it was unnecessary to repeat them upon
the present occasion. As, however, some circumstances had
Occurred to place the question on a different footing from that
which it previously occupied. he should make some observa-
tions upon its present position. He referred to what had taken
place lest session, when Baron Rothschild presented himself to
take the oaths, and refused to repeat the words " on the true
faith of a Christian," on the ground that they were not binding
on his conscience; and contended that those words were never
intended to apply to the exclusion of the Jews. It appeared to
him, however, that those words could not be omitted from the
Oath without an express act of parliament on the subject, and
the question was, whether they would relieve the Jews from
taking that part of the oath? The question resolved itself into
this—whether religious belief was to disqualify men from the
exercise of civil rights and political power ? He thought it
thou d pot, and therefore submitted his resolution to the house.
Sir R. H. INaLts said that for the last twenty years he had
felt it to be his duty to oppose every measure of this description
which was brought before the house. The principle at stake
Was that of Christianity; and if Jews should be admitted, how-
ever small the number, the principle would be given up, and
the Parliament would be unchristianised. It was to be recol-
lected that the Jews regarded Him whom we retarded as our
Redeemer—God—as a crucified impostor. To the admission of
parties holding such sentiments into a Christian Legislature he
would never be a parts, and he therefore moved that the house
should resolve into a committee that day six months. Mr.
NewonosTE believed that there was a connection between
this measure and Papal aggression, for Pius IX. might well
think it safe to adopt the—eourse he had recently pursued when
he saw the Government and one branch of the British legisla-
ture ready to put an end to the last remnant which distin-
guished it as a Christian assembly. The house then divided,
and the numbers were—For the motion, 166 t against it, 98.
Majority. 68. The house then went into committee, and a re-
solution upon which to found a bill was agreed to, after which
the house resumed —ln reply to a question from Sir R. H.
Inglis, Lord J. RussEnn said he hoped to be able to bring on
the second reading of the bill on Friday week.—On the motion
for the house going into committee on the Designs Act Exten-
sion Bill, Mr. ARKWRIGHT moved as an amendment, " that
the house go into committee on the bill that day six months."
After a short discussion, the house divided, and the amendment
was negatived by a majority of 132 to 42. The bill then passed
through committee.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—FRIDAY
Sir B. HALL asked Lord J. Russell whether, during the last
six weeks, he had had any communications with the arch-
bishops and bishops of the Estah`isheci Church, in reference
to the continuance of certain forms introduced Eta our
churches by different clergymen, and against which certain of
the bishops have ch 'rged their clergy; and whether it is the
Intention of the archbishops and bislinps to take any effectual
steps for the purpose of suppressing such practices, which the
Bishop of London, in a recent charge. has denounced as hit.
trionic performances? In other words, would the noble lord
tell them whether they intended to take any stets /X, iepress
Puseyisin ?—Sir P.. NoLis moved that the House, at its rising,
do adjourn until Monday next, in order, by the motion, to have
the opportunity of protesting against this House being made
the arena of any religious discussion, because it • contained in
it men of all denominations, who were not therefore fitted for
legislation on any subject connected with the Church.—Sir B.
HALL said that public opinion had been pronounced against
Puseyite practices in the Church, and vet no steps had been
taken by the right rev. prelates of the Church to put an end to
such practices.—Lord J. RUSSELL was extremely sorry that
Sir B. Hall should have brought the case he referred to before
the House. which had only ex paste information before it. In,
reply to the question he said be had had no recent communica-
tion with the archbishops and bishops upon the subject -to
which it referred, and which he thought was better left in their
hands ; but he could state that an address had been presented
to her Majesty, very numerously signed, praying for the dis-
continuance of certain practices in the Church, and Sir G.
Grey, had received her Majesty's commands to refer that ad-
dress to the Archbishop of Canterbury, anti to declare, in reply
to it, that it was her Majesty's wish to discourage any innova-
tions not conformable to the law and established usages of the
Church, and expressing her full confidence in the discretion
of the archbishops. Lord John added that he did not think it
desirable to bring on -discussions of this ..ature in that House;
that the matter was best left in the hands in which it was
placed ; and that nothing would induce him to take any steps
that might lead to the disruption of the Church.—The House
next resolved itself into a committee of ways and means ; arid
the CHANCELLOR of the EXCIIEQUER proceeded to state his
new financial scheme, and said, that time having been afforded
to him to re-consider his former proposition, he had taken
advantage, of that time, and the result was that in preference
to adopting the advice of Lord Stanley and reducing the in-
come tax with a view to its abolition, and laying on as an
equivalent a duty on the importation of foreign corn, he ad-
hered to his original policy of reducing the duties on articles
imported from abroad. lie should propose that which ,he
believed to be right to the house, and abide the consequences.
The greatest charge made against the Melbourne Administra-
tion was the deficiency of the income to meet the expenditure,
and the consequent incurring of additional debt in time of
peace. Hecontended strongly for the necessity of keeping a
surplu: to meet unforeseen contingencies, such as an empire so
extensive as this must necessarily be exposed to. The Kaffir
war would lead to considerable expenses, and it was only lately
that a demand had beets made by the East India Company of
no less than -X400,000 for- unliquidatedexpenses of the Chinese
war. He hoped that, on examination, this sum would be very
much diminished; but •it was right to have a surplus to meet
exigencies. He believed that the circumstances of the Peoplt
were very much improved by-recent legislation, and that they
were better able to bear the burden of taxat,on than for a lung'
time back. It was said that the necessaries of life were from
40 to 60 per cent. cheaper than they used to be, anti if so, to
that extent at • least they -must be better enabled to bear the
pressure of taxation; and to assert the contrary was a pOsittrfi
and palpable delusion. He had no reason to alter the estimate
be had already given as to the probable income of the country
for the present year ; and as to the expenditure, the estimates
of that were already before the house, and would be dealt with
by it. He at once admitted that his budget contained nothing
very striking. It was not -his object that it should do so ; he
only sought to make it suitable to the occasion. He had not
proposed to reduce the duty on tea, because, though a high
one, it was not a protective duty, and 'there were other duties
which he thought had- a prior claim on his attention. The
house should recollect that, if every available surplus should
be devoted to the reduction of small items of taxation, it would
be impossible for any Chancellor of the Exchequer to attempt
at any time any great measure of reduction. It was said there
was •no principle in• the reductions he had'proposed. This he
denied : for, having by their former legislation supplied the
masses of the people with food and clothing, and hiving also,
with a view to the imprOVenaent of their dwellings; removed
the duty on bricks, he had this year, with the same view, pro-
posed the reduction of the duty on timber and the abolition of
the window duties. Herhad also proposed this year a 'reduc-
tion of the duties on clover and grass seeds, and on lunatic
asylums hut he was unwilling to force those meastres in op-
position t the opinions of those who would be mote imme-
diately affected by them.. A claim bad been made for the total
repeal of the window-tax, which amount to X 1,856,800. ' If we
were to do this-without an equivalent, the result 'would he that
his surplus would be reduced to about-X.40010, with which he
would be -utterly unable to meet such- an emergenty as the
Kaffir war.. The right hon. gentleman then proceeded to defend
the imposition cif a hbOseduty es an equivalent for the Window
duty,*adMittinir, however, that he was wrong in drawing a dis-
tinction between old. houses and nety, and that the true princi-
ple was a uniform duty for all. He proposed to avoid all refer-
ence to the number of Windows, and to impose'a miifortn duty
of 9d. in the pound on-all private houses, and 6.1. irf the pound
on all houses with,shops, He proposed- to exempt all 'houses
pot exceeding £2O-per annum in value.- .Tbe resnltlytuld be
that he would -give,st relief from taxation to' the extent of
.i 1,136,000. .The house tax-would,he believed, pooddce about
£720,000, which would have to he paid by about 400;000 persons
out of the whole population: frwas, in fact, the neatest ap-
proach to a fair property-tax that coutd wlti lie-derfsed. He
adhered to his former proposition; with 'relpect. to the duties
on timber and coffee, which involved'a loss to therevenue of
X41,0.0(0, making a total loss of. £1,536,000, and leaving a stir-
plus of only £365,000. To this, however, would have to be added
for this year only the-
hair year', window 'duty due In next
July, being £5611,000, making a totalautplus of X 924.000. He
did not think it right to make any-further reduction under
existing 'circumstances. With respect to the renewal of the
income-tax for a time to he llmitedihe argued that they should
not aim at its reduction until the object f twhich it was enacted
was carried out—namely, the effecting beneficial reforms' in the
financial arrangements of the country.' 'The right hon. gentle-
man concluded by moving pro forma a resolution upon which
to -found a bill for the renewal of the income-taxi- Mr. T
Itaaititl attackedthe Chancellor of the Exchequer for profess
trig Unit fit.had relieved the'country from taxes on articles in
general use; When iu.pdfrit of fact his chief reduction—that-'of
the window tax extended only to 4C0,000 persons, and those
in the stealthiest" towns in the country.—Lord J. RUSSELL
taunted Mr. Baring with- not having' expressed similar indig-
nation against Sir It. Peel, when in the year 1847 he adopted a

similar course, with a surplus of only 4E90,000. Be supposed
the hon: gentleman had forgotten where he was speaking, and
imagined himself making an after dinner speech ;where facts and
:figure* were unnecessary.—Mr: MECUM' :said that alt the:
speeches delivered in-that house:were Men-dinner speeches,
and the noble lord himself was clever so happy as when be made
after-dinner. speeches. There WWI no Melon' -whatever be.
iween the cage of Sir R. Peel and that Of-the noble tent. Sir R.
Peel's Government was a strong one—the noble lord's was
-very weak ; Sir R. Peel had confidence in' himself—the noble
lord had not ; Sir R. Peel was supported by a greatparty ; the noble
lord was not—he had only a large surplus.and.a email party.—
After some further discussion, :in which Lord Ebrington, Mr.
Frewen, Mr. Wawn, Mr. Laboucbere, and other hen. members
took part, the resolution was agreed to, and the house resumed.

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.

LATER FROM AMERICA.

ARRIVAL OF THE ASIA.

The British steam-ship Asia, Captain Judkins, arrived
here on Saturday, shortly before midnight, with the mails
and passengers from Canada and the United States. She
left New York at one o'clock on the 26th ult., and passed
Holyhead on Saturday at tha same hour, reaching that
point. deducting the difference of time, in 9 days and 19
hours, a passage in point of speed unequalled by any ship
on the station between New York and Liverpool. She
brings 110 passengers, £150,000 in specie, and papers 7
days later than those received by the American steam-
ship Pacific.
The news by this arrival is of an interesting character,
and furnish dates from New York of the.26th ult. ; Cali-
fornia of Feb. 15 ; Chagres, of the 11th ; Jamaica, of the
14th ; Havannah, of the 19th ult.; and Mexico of the
22nd of February.
An additional amount of gold had reached New York
from California to the extent of 1,300,000 dots. _

The third trial of General G. Henderson, accused of
being concerned in the Cuba expedition, resulted in the
inability of the jury to agree on a verdict.
Three of the ablest and most eminent of the American
editors of the last half century have died within a few
days ; John S. Skinner, of Philadelphia ; Isaac Hill, of
New Hampshire ; and MordeCai M. Noah.
On the 25th ult. a steamboat collision occurred on the
Ohio and resulted in the loss of one of the steamers and
fifteen lives.
Jenny Lind has excited an immense furor in St. Louis,
and would remain longer than intended in that city.
Premiums of £1 and upwards were being paid for tickets.
so great was the demand.
It was reported at San Francisco that a difficulty had
arisen between the commander of the French frigate
Serieuse and the government of the Sandwich Islands.
The commander demanded the payment of 25,000 dollars
as a commutation for customs alleged to have been col-
lected contrary to treaty obligations. The king refused
to accede to this claim, and threw himself on the protec-
tion of Great Britain and the United Stat's. Upon this
the French commander landed his men at Honolulu, and
prevented several Hawiian vessels from proceeding to sea.
A shocking murder had been committed on the Chagres
river. The victims were 11 in number—eight men, two
women, and one child.—Two men named Fidele Pepin, a
native of France, and Lent-lore Landry, goldbeater, of
Paris, were among the number.
Our advices from Mexico are to the 22d of February.
The administration of Arista did not appear to give satis-
faction. Senor Facio, the minister to England, was to
retain his appointment ; a charter had heen issued for the
construction of a railroad from Vera Cruz to Medellin ;
one of the waggons of the freight line had been attacked
near the city of Mexico, and a large quantity o. goods
carried off. The New Orleans Della reports that the
Mexican Senate, in -ecret session, declared Jose de Garay's
grant of the right of way across the isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec null and void, be having forfeited the same twice.
From San Juan de Nicuragua we have intelligence to
the 14th ult. The steamer Director was running regu-
larly on the lake. The news of the battle between the
armies of the Republics of San Salvador and Guatamala
is fully confirmed ; the former lost 528 men. 200 prisoners,
and a large number of euns. The King of Mosquito was
staying on board Her Majesty's schooner Bermuda. The.
English Consul, Mr. Chatfield, had published a letter
claiming, under the Mosquito King, the territory close up
to Truxillo. The British fleet had sailed towards Gua-
temala.

We have accounts from Kingston, Jamaica, to the 14th
ult., being a fortnight later than the previous advices.
The cholera was fast disappearing from the island. The
side papers had not recorded a single case as occurring in
that part of the country, although' the disease had ap-
peared in the mountains of Westmoreland. Sugar, 20s.
per 100Ihs.
From Havannah we have advices to the 19th ult., but
tli> intelligence contained therein is uninteresting.
The ice on the St. Lawrence having broken up, the
navigation was completely oncn. _ _

CALIFORNIA.—The reports by the Asia about the
"Bluff's" are not so "golden" as those previously re-
ceived, and numerous parties have returned with unsatis-
factory accounts. The Alla California, however, gives
very glowing advices from other quarters. Our contem-
porary says, " We had a conversation with a gentleman,
sterdav, upon whose word we can place the utmost re-
liance, who informed us that an immense discovery of gold
has lately been made upon a hill in the vicinity of the
Mokolumne River, which hadnever previously been
wrought. A party of four struck upon the very summit
some three weeks since, and, by digging down fifteen feet,
have thus far extracted over 4000 dollars. The gold,
although much coarser, is similar in colour to that found
in the vicinity of Neveda, black and rustic.' The gentle-
men who have been working this have hat! much difficulty
in washing, being obliged to convey the dirt a great dis-
tance to water. The continued discoveries which are
being made upon the hill-tops are opening new resources
in the mineral wealth of California. The idea that the
gold of California has been exhausted is ridiculous in the
extreme,"

M. Eugene Sue has been elected by the French Na-
tional Assembly, president of the second committee, by
18 votes against 17 for the Duc de Brogli-.
A party of British officers have been attacked at Aden
by Arabs whilst asleep in their beds, and one of them,
Capt. Milne, murdered. Lieut. M'Pherson was wounded,
but is now doing well.
THE WILD WOMAN OF THE NAVIDAD.—We have been
informed by Mr. L..wrence that the famous wild woman
of the Navidad has been caught. A party of hunters,
who were out hunting deer, accidentally came upon the
camp of this singular creature and captured her. She is
an African negress, who fled to those wilds when the set-
tlements were deserted just after Fannin's defeat, and she'
has been wandering like an ourang-outang for a period of
15 years. Her tood during that period has consisted of
acorns, nuts, and other wild fruits, with such other food
as she could occasionally steal from the neighbouring set-
tlements. She cannot speak any English, but converses
freely with the Africans on the neighbouring plantations.
—Galveston (Texas) News.
A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER.—A Berlin paper, the
Constitutionelle Correspondence, relates a most incredi-
ble story, or a curious imposition. On the 30th of Sep-
tember last, a stranger bearing all the marks of Caucasian
origin, was arrested in a small village in the district of
Lebas, near Frankfort-on-the-Oder. He is represented
as speaking but broken German, and on being called to
give account of himself, he said his name was Jophar
Vorin, and that he came from a country named Laxaria,
situate in the portion of the world called Sakria. He
appears to understand none of the European languages,
but reads and writes what he calls the Laxarian and Abra-
mian tongues. The, letter he declares to be the wr tten
language of the clerical orders in Laxaria, the other the
common language of his people. He says that his.religion
is christian, and that it is called Ispatian. Laxaria he
represents to be many hundred miles from Europe, and
separated by vast oceans from it. His purpose in coming
to Europe was to seek a long-lost brother, but , that ,he
had suffered shipwreck on the voyage, where he did not
know, nor could he trace his route on shore on any map
or globe. The five great compartments of the earth he
calls Sakria, Aflar, Aslar, Auslar, and Euplar. The
authorities in Frankfort-on-the-Oder have decided that
this mysterious stranger is not an impostor, and they
have requested that he may be removed to Berlin, to
undergo an examination by the learned and scientific of
the metropolis.