The Press. — 1858-08-07 (London, England)

THE SESSION. WE abridge from the Standard of Monday last the following summary of the session:— The Imperial Parliament, which will this day be prorogued by Royal Commission, has been sitting exactly eight months. It was called together hastily on the 3nl of December last in consequence of the suspension of the Bank Charter Act. It was in the midst of the crash of falling banks, and the ruin of large commercial establishments, that the letter signed by the then Premier, Lord Palmerston, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, authorizing the Bank of England to exceed its legal issue of notes, appeared, and immediate relief was felt ; discount, which was then at 101. per cent., quickly fell to 61., 51., and even lower, and the consequence was a general restoration of public confidence. Ministers were accordingly enabled to meet Parliament in the same spirit, and the Palmerston Administration was probably never stronger than at the opening of this session, which has witnessed its fall, and the formation of a Conservative Government. Parliament only sat just long enough to enable it to pass the necessary Indemnity Bill, and adjourned until the 4th of February. Before its re assembling, however, a great event had occurred. A conspiracy against the life of the Emperor of the French had been organized, and on the 12th of January an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate him while going to the Opera, in company with the Empress, was made. Several infernal machines were thrown at the carriage of the Emperor, which exploded, killed six, and wounded 200 of the populace. When it became known that these machines had been constructed in Birmingham, and that the assassins had made their preparations in this country, general exasperation was felt in France, and many of the addresses from the army contained menacing expressions against England. Accordingly, the moment Parliament reassembled, the Earl of Derby in the House of Lords, and Mr. Roebuck in the Commons, brought the subject before it, and inquired what the Government intended to do. Lord Palmerston replied by bringing in the Conspiracy to Murder Bill, which was read a first time on the Bth by a majority of 200 for Ministers, and the second reading fixed for the 19th. Before that time, however, the despatch of the French Foreign Minister became public, in which it was stated that in this country assassination was elevated to a doctrine, preached openly. Accordingly, when Lord Palmerston, on the 19th, moved the second reading of the bill, Mr. Gibson moved a counter resolu• tion, that it was not expedient to legislate before that despatch had been answered, and carried his amendment, in a very full house, by a majority of 19—the numbers being 234 against 215. The Ministers accordingly resigned, and the present Government was appointed. Although the present session has lasted eight months, yet, in consequence of the numerous adjournments resulting from the breaking up of the Cabinet and other circumstances, the actual number of days on which the two houses have sat is perhaps not more than usual. During the whole session, from its commencement in December to its termination today, the Lords have sat on 83 days, the average length of each day's sitting being 2 hours 34 minutes, and the total number of days and hours it has occupied in the actual transaction of business, computed at 12 hours a day, is 17 days 7 hours and 10 minutes. The number of divisions taken in the House of Lords during the session has been 19, of which no less than 12 were taken in July, showing the enormous amount of bua'ness thrown into the last month of the session. The most important division of their lordships was that which was taken on the 14th of May, when the Earl of Shaftesbury's resolution, condemnatory of the present Government, was rejected by 107 to 151. This was also the most protracted sitting, their lordships being occupied in debate eight hours and five minutes. The Commons sat on 103 days, the average length of each day's sitting being eight hours. The house has been occupied in the actual transaction of busiices, estimating the business day at 12 hours, 67 days 101 bodrs. The total number of hours it has sat after midnight iistAle. 'The two most protracted sittings of the Commons wars on July Bth and 12th, on each of which days the house met at twelve o'clock a.m., and did not separate till