The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-03-12 00:00:00

The illness of Mr. Disraeli—
anxiety among his friends

—bronchitis—is causing some

The" Sophisms of Free Trade" has already reached a
fourth edition, and is also published in a cheap form.
The premier has intimated that the Easter Holidays In
the House of Commons will extend from Wednesday the
27th instant to Monday the Bth of April.
Mr. Wood has brought a bill into the House of Com-
mons to allow of vestry meetings being held in other
places than churches.

On Friday evening, in the House of Commons, Mr
Cobden presented a petition from Liverpool in support of
his motion for the restriction of the national expenditure,
signed by upwards of 3,000 persons.
On Saturday an influential deputation, headed by the
Duke of Richmond and Lord John Manners, waited on
Sir George Grey, at the Home-office, to present memorials
to her Majesty in favour of an application to Parliament
to put an end to the working by " shifts" in factories.

A great meeting was held in Greenock on Thursday, to
originate a national testimonial to Robert Wallace, Esq.,
late 141. P. for the borough, for his services in obtaining
the penny postage. Several hundred pounds were sub-
scribed.

A disgraceful hoax has been played off upon the Mar-
quis of Londonderry and the House of Lords—the letter
purporting to be written by the Rev. Mr. Rutherford, and
which was read by his lordship.in the house, turning out
to have been a forgery.

In the Commons, On Thursday, Mr. Bright presented
an enormous petition from Manchester, signed by more
than 19,000 persons, including the Mayor and the two
commercial associations, praying for an immediate and a
considerable reduction in the duty upon tea.
Lord Campbell is generally considered to have a tole-
rably high notion of his own attainments. He brought
the Melbourne administration into great discredit, by wor-
rying it into making him a ten days' Chancellor of Ire-
land; and now he has• worried Lord Denman off the
bench, and got himself made Chief Justice of the Queen's
Bench.

In the House of Commons, last week, " an hon. mem-
ber," in the course of Mr. Drummond's speech, excited
much laughter by crying out, in a very loud tone of voice,
" Oh, oh !" The Speaker : " Order, order !" —Mr.
Drummond said, " there was no use in the Speaker try-
ing to control hon. gentlemen with brilliant eyes and
white waistcoats." (Loud laughter.)
It is extraordinary that not one of the paid humanity-
mongers—not one of the roaring, ranting patriots—
not one of the Cohdens, Brights, Humes, O'Connells,
or O'Connors, was present, on Friday, at Exeter Hall,
to hear the statements of Dr. Achilli—to welcome his
return to England, or to sympathise with him in his
victory, for such it was, over the hell-born Inquisition.
ON DIT.—It is rumoured in private letters from Lon-
don that a nobleman nearly connected with the govern-
ment, and hitherto reputed to possess a clear income of a
quarter of a million sterling, has found his affairs to be in
so deranged a state as to necessitate a break up of his
princely establishment. The affair, if rumour speaks
truly, is likely to lead to a break up of the Cabinet as
well.—Cheltenham Examiner.

THE BALLOT.—In the majority of 176 against the ballot
bill, on Friday, were Lord Ashley, E. Cardwell, J. W.
Patten, and nearly all the Conservative members. Among
the minority of 121 were J. Bright, J. Brotherton, R.
Cobden, Sir J. Duke, W. Ewart. G. C. Glyn, A. Henry,
J. Heywood, L. Hey worth, J. Kershaw, J. Locke, G. F.
Muntz, R. A. Thicknesse, T. Thorneley, Sir J. Walmsley,
and Lord D' Stuart. Mr. W. Brown and Mr. W. Jackson
paired off in favour of the measure.
MARRIAGES' BILL.—In the majority of 182 in favour
of the second reading of this bill we find M. T. Baines,
Sir T. B. Birch, J, Bright, J. Brotherton, E. Cardwell
(we regret to see the hon. member again in such company),
It. Cobden, W. Ewart, T. M. Gibson, G. C. Glynn,
C. P. Grenfell, Sir G. Grey, Earl Grosvenor, A. Henry,
S. Herbert, J. Heywood, W. Jackson, J. Masterman, R.
Spooner. R. Thicknesse, T. Thorneley, J. Tollemache,
Sir J. Walmsley, and E. Denison. In the minority of
130, there were W. Gladstone, H. Goulburn, Sir J.
Graham, J. Hornby, Sir R. Inglis, G. C. Legh, Colonel
Lindsay, Lord Mahon, Lord J. Manners, P. Maule, J.
W. Patten, Sir R. Peel, F. Peel, J. Plumptre, R. L.
Shiel, Colonel Sibthorp, E. Stanley, Sir F. Thesiger, and
J. Roebuck.

CEYLON INQUIRY.—IMPORTANT EVIDENCE.-At the
sitting of the committee, on Thursday, important evidence
was given by Mr. Selby, judge-advocate-general of Ceylon.
As law-adviser of the crown, Lord Torrington, the gover-
nor, consulted witness as to the power he possessed of
proclaiming martial law, and witness responded with an
opinion in the affirmative, if the necessity of the case
required it, adding that his excellency was the best judge
of that. Subsequent events showed that the disturbances
were not of so serious a nature as was at first apprehended,
and if judged by subsequent events, the declaration of
martial law was injudicious, but the representations to the
government were exaggerated. As the offences were not