The Welshman

HOUSE OF COMMONS, THURSDAY, March 5. Lord Palmerston said, the House would naturally ex pect, after what had 'passed on Tuesday night, that he should state the course which, on due reflection, Her Majesty's Ministers intended to pursue. After the House had, by a combination of parties, affirmed a resolution which was avowed to be meant as s vote of censure, under ordinary circumstances they could hardly have any alter- native but to tender to the Sovereign the resignation of their offices. But the present case seemed to be of so pe- culiar a character that they had felt it to be their duty not to submit their resignations, but to advise the Crown, at the earliest period which the state of business before the House would permit, to call upon the constituencies to exercise the right which the Constitution placed in their hands. It was vain to deny that the vote of Tuesday rendered it very difficult, if not unseemly, for any Govern- ment to conduct the business of the country, in the state of parties which the vote indicated, throughout the session. This was a very old Parliament; it had seen three Ad- ministrations, a transition from profound peace to a great European war, and from that war to peace agai. n. The state of public business did not allow an immediate disso- lution. The Estimates had not been voted, taxes were to be imposed, and the Mutiny Act had not passed. What he proposed therefore was a course which had been adopt- ed on a previous and similar occasion—namely, to be con- tent with provisional and temporary measures, to continue taxes which had been voted for three years only for the ensuing year, to vote sums on account of the Estimates, and to continue the Mutiny Act for a portion of the year, leaving other matters to the new Parliament, which would assemble in May. Mr. Disraeli thought the course proposed by Lord Palmerston would be most to the public advantage, and he would, he said, give every facility in his power to the progress of business. He believed that the appeal to the country would prove of great benefit to the public interests, and he trusted members would be returned with more de- finite opinions. Mr. Cobden observed that the House on Tuesday had come to a solemn vote which had been entirely ignored by Lord Palmerston, and he asked him what he was going to do in consequence of that vote ? The Executive Govern- ment had no right to hold office unless they were pre- pared to carry it out. If any danger to the British re- sidents in China was to be apprehended from the vote, the first consideration of the Government ought to be the safety of our fellow-countrymen, and they should send a competent person by the next steamer, armed with full power to supersede all existing British authority in China, and to act according to circumstances. If Lord Palmer- ston did not intend to take this course, what other course would he take ? A new Parliament could not assemble until the end of May, and what would be doing in China in the meanwhile ? Sir C. Wood said it was not his intention to reopen the question He assured the House that efficient measures had been taken to collect a sufficient force to protect the British residents in China. After some observations by Sir J. Walsh and Mr. Depdes, Mr. S. Herbert inquired whether the Government were going to continue the war for the same object—namely, the entry of Sir John Bowring into Canton, and whether the conduct of affairs there was to be left in the hands of a man who, in the opinion of the House, had brought about the present dangerous state of things ? Sir G, Grey denied that the object of the war was to obtain an entry into Canton. The Government, he said, had directed its most serious attention to the existing state of things in China, and would take every precaution to protect British lives and property but they did not intend to send out civil and military officers to act in accordance with the views of Mr. Cobden, who had no right to assume that they had any other intention than to en- deavour to place our relations with China on a proper footing. To accomplish this object, they would employ the means best calculated, in their opinion, to do so; and he trusted that the House would leave the honour and the interests of the country in their hands. Lord J. Russell considered that the House was entitled to ask for an explanation of the policy intended to be pursued during the next three months after it had de- termined that conduct which had been approved by the Government was worthy of its censure. Ministers should state the terms that were to be asked of China-what, in fact, was the object of the hostilities. He declared the charge against him of combination with the Conservative party to be false and calumnious. The concurrence, he said, was on the merits of the question and he believed that no vote would confer more honour than that of Tues- day upon the Parliament of 1852. Mr. Roebuck rose to protest against the statement of Lord Palmerston that his vote was the result of a com- bination, by which he meant conspiracy of parties. He knew nothing of any combination of parties, but voted as he did because he considered the honour of the country endangered by the policy of the Government. A set of men had disgraced England, and these men were sup- ported by the Government. After a few words by Mr. James M'Gregor Mr. Gladstone asked, if we were not making war to obtain the admission of Sir John Bowring into Canton, for what were we at war ? Three months would elapse before Parliament could reassemble, and upon whose policy were the measures in China to be carried on during that interval ? The House was bound, he said, to require an answer to this question. It was not right to vote supplies for carrying on a war which had been condemned by Parliament yet it had been distinctly indicated that it would be carried on just as if the resolution had never been adopted. Lord Palmerston had talked of a combination when had it before happened that a case was so strong as to compel the House to interpose in order to check the mad career of the Government in another quarter of the globe? Over- ruling necessity had altered usage, and the Division comprised the names of Lord J. Russell, who had led the the Liberal party during more than 20 most eventful years, and Mr. Roebuck, no political enemy of Lord Palmerston. Mr. T. Duncombe said, the noble lord Was going to appeal against, if not a combination, a strange union, of parties, and he was justified by the Division lists, where were to be found voting in the minority 12 out of the 15 metropolitan members, a member for the West Riding of Yorkshire, and members for Birmingham, Leeds, and Liverpool. The noble lord had said he did not mean to act upon the vote. After some sharp censures upon the foreign policy of the late Administration Mr. Duncombe expressed his conviction that, if Lord Palmerston pro- claimed to the country that he would maintain the honour of the national flag, he might defy the petty jealousy by by which he was surroundsd and set at naught unprincipled cabals. Sir J, Graham defended the foreign policy of Lord Aber- deen's Government, and requested some explanations upon the subject of the finances. Sir J. Pakington pressed the Government to say whether they intended to carry out the resolution, and whether the conduct of affairs in China was to be left in unsafe and in- competent hands. Mr. Fox repelled the accusation of being actuated by party spirit in this vote. Nothing, he said could be more alien to his feelings and sentiments. Sir F. Baring pressed the inquiry, which he considered a most important one, whether Sir John Bowring, whose conduct, he said, bad been defended by none except on the Treasury bench, and hardly there—was to continue in his present situation. Mr. Bentinck made a short reply to remarks which had fallen from Mr. Gladstone. Lord Palmerston said, it was not his intention to renew the debate upon this subject. With regard to the expres- sion he had used of combination," he had said nothing which, he thought, could give offence to any man. Whether it was a combination or an accident-a fortuitous concurrence of atoms—he had stated it as a fact, not as a reproach- The House, he admitted, had a right to ask what was intended to be the policy of the Government. There would be no change, and could be no change in that policy, which was to maintain in China, as elsewhere, security to the lives and property of British subjects and the rights of the country arising out of treaty obli- gations, and to improve our relations with China. The intention of the Government, as he had stated on Tuesday, was, in conjunction with France and the United States, to endeavour to place those relations upon a per- manent footing, and it must be a subject of serious deli- beration on the part of the Government who the person should be to whom was to be committed so grave and im- portant a function. After some further discussion the subject dropped. The Chanceller of the Exchequer stated the course he proposed to pursue, in the Committee of Ways and Means this day in relation to the taxes. Mr. Mackinnon moved for a select committee to consider the expediency of allowing a further redemption of the land- tax but, the Chancellor of the Exchequer objecting, he withdrew the motion. The House was disposing of some further business when it was counted out at five minutes past 8 o'clock. FRIDAY, MARCH 6. On the motion for adjournment until Monday, Mr. Layard observed, with reference to an answer previously given by Mr. V. Smith, that the House had hitherto had no knowledge whatever of the causes of the war with Persia, and that it had a right, before it separa- ted, to some information respecting the history of the war, by having the papers, or a selection of them, laid before the House. Mr, V, Smith considered that it was not desirable that the House should depart from the discretion it had hitherto exercised, and force a discussion on a matter still pending. Sir H. Willoughby objected to a war of this kind being entered upon without the previous sanction of the Home Government. Mr. Gladstone was not satisfied with what had fallen from Mr. V. Smith, the upshot of which was that a war would have been entered into without the consent of Parliament that when Parliament met negotiations were commenced, which could be assigned as a reason for not inquiring into the cause of the war and when papers were asked for it was said that their production would interfere with the negotiations. According to this, the representatives of the people would have no opportunity of pronouncing an opinion upon the war, and the conduct of the Government in relation to it, until the meeting of the new Parliament. Mr. Evelyn called attention to the conduct of the Admiralty in reference to the Arctic vessel, the Resolute. Explanations were given by Sir C. Wood. Mr. Scott called attention to the necessity of taking measures to obtain guano from the Arabian Islands on terms more moderate than those lately concluded by the Government, and to secure its importation from those islands to this country. Mr. Labouchere repeated the explanations he had given upon a former occasion, observing that the principles upon which the Government had acted in this matter had been those which had been adopted by successive Administra- tions, and that their attention was directed to the securing a supply of guano to this country. Mr. Henley called attention to the Abstract of the Returns of Wrecks and Casualties" lately presented to Parliament, upon which subject a few remarks were made by Mr. Lowe and Mr. Cardwell. Lord Naas inquired whether any arrangement had been completed for the improvement of the communication between this country and Ireland. Mr. Wilson explained the causes of the delay, and the present state of the arrangement. Sir F. Kelly inquired whether the Government intended to allow the Hongkong Ordinance of 1855 to remain in force ? Lord Palmerston replied that he was not aware of any intention to repeal it. The motion for adjournment was agreed to. On the order for going into a Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Disraeli said, he had no wish to disturb the balance between direct and indirect taxation, and, although he had been of opinion that by an economy of expenditure any material addition to the taxation might be avoided, he had been prepared to give every assistance to the Government consistent with the settlement of 1853, which he consi- dered a compact. But the state of things, he said, was now altered. Lord Palmerston had stated the intention of the Government to appeal to the people. But, in that case, in what circumstances did the House find itself ? How could a moribund House, which could not bind a new House upon the subject of war, bind it in respect to taxa- tion? A new Budget might be introduced in May, and it would be much better, in his opinion, for the new House of Commons to deal with the subject of taxa- tion. He hoped, therefore, that the House would well consider before it consented to grant new taxes, and he should support the motion of Mr. Gladstone for not in- creasing (or suspending the decline of) the duties upon tea and sugar. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, it would be com- petent to the new House of Commons to alter the rate of duties he proposed, but it was necessary to deal with the subject of taxation for the interval between the end of the financial year and the commencement of the legislative action of the new Parliament. Mr. T. Baring said, he should oppose the motion of Mr. Gladstone, because it seemed to him that, in the present temper of the House, as regarded the expenditure, it was a very hazardous experiment. He should, therefore, support the taxes as proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sir II. Willoughby considered that Parliament was bound to take cff the whole of the war taxes, and, if there should prove to be a deficiency to look out for other objects of taxation. The House then went into committee, when The Chancellor of the Exchequer recapitulated the principles of his financial policy, reiterating and defending many of the views upon which his Budget was founded, aud, stating his reasons for altering the proposed tea duty. He observed, in the course of his speech, that, judging from the present, and making due allowance for temporary interruptions, there never was in our history any moment at which there was less ground for alarm as to the possi- bility of raising an adequate revenue from taxation without a serious pressure upon the springs of the national in- dustry. He moved a resolution that the duty on tea should be, after the 5th of April, 1857, to the 5th of April, 1858, Is. 5d. per lb. Mr. Gladstone, in moving, by way of amendment, that the duty be, after the 5th of April, 1857, Is. 3d. per lb., and after the 5th of April, 1858, Is. per lb., repeated the objection he had urged to the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer's financial scheme, which, he insisted, was adverse to the principles of the last 15 years. He contended'that his scheme would go to the country with a deficiency of ways and means, unless the expenditure were reduced. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had speculated upon a surplus revenue of £ 800,000 but since then, the altera- tion in the proposed tea duties (from Is. 7d to Is. 5d.) would reduce the nominal surplus by about E500,000 but he had not provided for the expenses of the hostilities with China, or those of the Persian war, after the 5th of April, and these, with other items, would leave no surplus income. Nevertheless, he maintained that the war duties ought not, contrary to stipulation, to be continued in time of peace and he condemned, besides, the manner in which the tea trade had been dealt with in relation to the war duties. If the House agreed, at a time when there was a nominal surplus, to impose these additional taxes upon tea aod sugar, it would afford, he said, a fatal precedence. The rigid maintenance of pledges given by Parliament was of the utmost possible importance. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, although he had listened to Mr. Gladstone's speech, he could not unders- tand its drift and policy, and if he had been called upon to prepare a Budget upon the principles recommended by Mr. Gladstone he should be utterly at a loss how to set about it. He had represented the Budget unfairly as one of increased taxation that a less reduction than a greater was no re- duction at all; but a reduction of the duty on tea from Is. 9d. to Is. 5d., instead of to Is. 3d. although a less reduc- tion, was still a reduction, and not an increase of the duty. Sir G. Lewis then reviewed and replied to the other por- tions of Mr. Gladstone's speech. Lord J. Russell vindicated the opinion he had expressed upon the Budget, and said he had thought the proposal for arresting the fall of the war duties-whether this was termed a reduction or an augmentation of duty,—was a fair proposal. The only difference between him and the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer being now only Id. per lb. (Lord John having given notice of an amendment to fix the duty on tea in 1857 and the two succeeding years at Is. 4d.), he would not divide the committee against the motion, and he should not support the amendment of Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Ricardo complained of the evils attending the tampering with duties, and insisted that there had been a contract with reference to the war duties upon tea and sugar. He also condemned the mode of assessing the duties upon sugar. The original motion was supported by Mr. Gregson and Mr. Pollard Urquhart, Mr. Gibson contended that this was a proposal to increase the duty upon tea beyond what it would be if the law were left alone, and that the Estimates could and would be re- duced far more than equal to a 2d. duty on tea. He should vote for the amendment. The debate then acquired the desultory character of an ordinary discussion in a committee. Upon a division Mr. Gladstone's amendment, that the duty after the 5th of April, 1857, shall be Is. 3d. per lb., was negatived by 187 to 125. The original resolution, fixing the duty at Is. 5d., was then agreed to. Other resolution, moved by the Chancellor of the Exche- quer, fixing the duties upon sugar and certain other Customable articles, were likewise agreed to. The Norfolk Island (Ecclesiastical Government) Bill was withdrawn. The Industrial Schools Bill passed through Committee pro forma. The House, after some further business, adjourned, at 20 minutes to 12 o'clock, until Monday. MONDAY, MARCH 9. I Several Bills were withdrawn. 1 Before the orders of the day were read, the Speaker said, after the statement made by Lord Palmerston on Thursday, announcing an approaching dissolution of Parliament, he felt that it would be inconsistent with the respect due from 1 him to the House if he did not announce his intention to retire from Parliament, and if he did not offer to the House his sincere and grateful acknowledgments for the uniform confidence and support he had received not only from all parties, but from every individual member of the House. Lord Palmerston, addressing the Speaker, said he was sure he was a faithful organ of the feelings of every mem- ber of the House when he assured him that it was with the deepest regret they had heard this announcement. He believed that no man had ever sat in that chair who united in a greater degree all the qualities required in their Speaker, and their regret was mingled with feelings of the deepest gratitude. He gave notice that this day he should move an expression of thanks on the part of the House to the Speaker. The Commissioners of Supply (Scotland) Act Amend- ment Bill was read a third time and passed. The Report of the Committee of Ways and Means was brought up and agreed to. On the order for the second reading of the Income-tax Bill, Mr. Disraeli, with reference to the dispute with Persia, observed that reasonable terms had been offered at Con- stantinople, which had been rejected; this rejection could not have cost the country less than f 600,000; and he wanted to know, if half a dozen of these difficulties oc- curred every year, costing upon an average L500,000 each, how, under this turbulent and aggressive system of diplo- macy, the Income tax even of 7d. could be taken off ? He did not feel justified in opposing the Bill, or any measure calculated to increase our resources, but he advised a more conciliatory foreign policy.. After a somewhat discursive debate, Lord Palmerston vindicated the foreign policy of the Government from the charge of being turbulent and ag- gressive, suggesting to Mr. Disraeli that the turbulent and aggressive policy of Her Majesty's Government" would not be a successful elec! ion-cry for him and his friends Mr. Gladstone, considering that Lord Palmerston had challenged the approbation of the House of the foreign policy of the Government, by way of protest briefly review- ed that policy as respected Persia, Naples (where, he thought, we had done either too much or too little), China, and America. Lord J. Russell observed that the result of our proceed- ings at Naples had shown the inconvenience of the course which the Government had pursued but he dis- sented from the proposal to resume our diplomatic relations with the King of the Two Sicilies, who had shown no desire to change his mode of government. After some remarks upon the inexpediency of producing papers while negotiations were going on, Lord John suggested what he considered should be the principles by which our negotia- tions with China ought to be regulated. He then pro- ceeded to discuss the question as to the maritime rights of neutrals in time of war, and the proposition of the United States to exempt the ships and goods of private merchants and of belligerents from capture. If we were to agree to this proposition, he said, our being a great naval Power would be of no advantage to us; we should be ex- posed more frequently to war, and in war we should be almost helpless at sea. Mr. Cobden said he totally differed from Lord J Russell upon the subject of the United States' proposition, and that at the proper moment he would offer arguments which, he thought, might change Lord John's opinion. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the course of a reply to objections regarding the Income-tax, stated that no answer had been made to the proposition of the United States, which was under the serious consideration of Her Majesty's Government, who would not come to a hasty coh- clusion upon the subject. After some words from Lord H. Vane, the bill was read a second time. The House having resolved itself into a Committee of Rnnnlvon the Navv Estimates.  r Sir C. Wood said, as he proposed to take votes on ac- count, he did not think it necessary to go at length into the different items he gave, therefore, only one explana- tion, of the reasons why he had been unable to make a reduction of the number of men to the extent he had ex- pected. He should move a vote for the number of men (38,700 seamen and 15,000 Marines) for four months only, and the money votes he should ask were one-third of the estimates, amounting in the aggregate to £ 2,700,000. Mr. W. Williams wished to call the attention of the committee to two or three points connected with these estimates, with a view of having them explained by the right hon. baronet. He found that in the expenditure of last year there had been several deviations from the votes of the house-those on some items being greatly extended, on others curtailed. Several items, too, were jumbled up in one vote, so that it was impossible to know the sum re- quired to be spent on any one of them in particular. He considered that it would be better to refer the estimates to a select committee, as it was only by such means they would be able to unravel the intricacies with which they abounded. It did not come within the province of the auditor to correct over expenditure, and thus Government was enabled to apply the public money without the sanction of Parliament. In one return the auditor stated that on each one of 19 items there had been more expended than had been voted, and that on five others the expenditure had been less than that authorised by Parliament, the balance against the nation amounting to 4323,000. They were now called on to vote 33,000 seamen and 15,000 marines, while during the war they voted 60,000 seamen and 16,000 marines. In 1841, too, the year of peace in which they had voted the greatest number of men, the seamen numbered 32,500, and the marines 10,500. From a comparison of these figures he was led to think it very extraordinary that in proportion to the number of seamen they should want so many marines. They had now 32 generals of marines, whereas formerly they used to have only two, one of whom was also an admiral and the other a military officer, and he had never heard of a general of marines taking the com- mand of a division; It was now proposed to vote £ 1 '395 000 upon naval stores, and £578,000 upon new works in the'dockyards. During the last four years they had expended on stores no less a sum than ;E9,800,000, and upon new works LI,395,000, so that the amount now pro- posed appeared to him extravagant. They had since the French war, expended 112,600,000, upon their dockyard8 which were then capable of accommodating about 10,000 ships in commission. The expenditure upon labourers was very disproportionate to that outlay. Another point was, that they had now 17 admirals in commission, three or four of whom were commissioners in the dockyards, and 270 idle. The total number of ships in commission was 297, so that they had, within 10, an admiral for every ship. The several votes were ageed to, after discussion. Mr. Bouveric obtained leave to bring in a Bill to con- tinue the Act for charging the maintenance of certain paupers upon the union funds. The Attorney-General had leave to introduce a Bill to make fraudulent breaches of trust and duty by trustees, directors, and agents criminally punishable. After some further business, the House adjourned, at a quarter-past ten o'clock. TUESDAY, MARCH 10. Before the commencement of public business, Lord Palmerston, addressing the Chair, said, it had been his duty, on the previous day, to be the organ of expressing to the right hon. gentlemen who filled it the regret of the House at the intimation that the new Parliament was not to have the benefit of his assistance in conducting its deli- berations. That day, he observed, he had a more agreeable duty to perform, that of returning to the Speaker, by a unanimous vote, the thanks of the House for his able and distinguished services in the chair during eighteen years. In a warm eulogy upon those services Lord Palmerston dwelt upon that combination of promtitude of decision, justice of judgment, and firmness of purpose, with the most conci- liatory demeanour, which distinguished the Speaker, whom no one, he remarked, ever approached in search of informa- tion, not only without experiencing the most courteous reception, but without receiving the most accurate informa- tion in regard to the matter upon which he consulted the Chair. He likewise spoke in terms of strong commendation of the manner in which the Speaker contributed to the de- spatch of the business of the House, and concluded by moving a vote of thanks to the Speaker for his eminent and I distinguished services and his exemplary conduct in the chair. Mr. Disraeli seconded the motion, and, in the name of the members seated on the left of the chair, expressed their entire concurrence in this estimate of the qualities and ser- vices of the right hon. gentleman during the memorable period of his Speakership their deep emotion at the separa- tion of the tie which had so long united him to the House, and their affectionate thanks. Lord J. Russell added his cordial concurrence in these sentiments, observing that that the proper conduct of the ordinary business of the House had been greatly facilitated by the Speaker, who had, he said, marked the line where it was wise to concede, and where it was necessary to resist in- novation on established forms. The motion was agreed to nem. con. The Speaker, in a tone of deep feeling—every member of the House uncovering—returned his grateful thanks for this crowning mark of the favour and approbation of the House. Lord Palmerston rose again, in order to give, he said, to the Crown an opportunity of going hand in hand with the House in acknowledging the great and eminent services of Mr. Speaker, moved (following the examples on former similar occasions) an address to Her Majesty that the House would make good any expense attendant upon such mark of Royal favour. The motion was seconded by Sir J. Pakington, and agreed to nem. con. Lord Palmerston further moved the thanks of the House to the Speaker for what he had said that day, and that it be entered upon the Journals of the House. This motion was likewise agreed to. Mr. T. Duncombe called attention to the grievances com- plained of in the petitions of the non-commissioned officers and drivers of the Land Transport Corps who served during the late war in the Crimea, and moved that they be referred to a Select Committee. The motion was seconded by Sir W. Codrington. Mr. F. Peel explained the circumstances connected with the raising of the Land Transport Corps, and offered no ob- jection to the motion. After some remarks by Sir J. Tyrell and Sir J. Fergusson, the motion was agreed to. The Chancellor of the Exchequer obtained leave to bring in a Bill to amend an act of the last session of Parliament for repealing and re-imposing, under new regulations, the duty on racehorses and Mr. Wilson a Bill to amend the Cinque Ports Act. The House having resolved itself into a committee upon the Income-tax Bill. Sir F. Kelly, after a general protest against this first de- parture, as he deemed it, from the policy of the Act of 1853, whereby that Act might become a dead letter, moved to sub- stitute 5d. for 7d. in the pound in the tax upon incomes for the ensuing year. Mr. W. Williams fully concurred in the proposal. The estimates so much exceeded those of the year before the war that he believed they could easily be reduced without impairing the efficiency of the army and navy to an extent which would enable the Government to take off the 2d. There were, it is true, two wars upon hand, but the ex- pense of those wars was not included in the estimates, and, unless the right hon. gentleman could tell the house that the excess of 14,000,000 for the army and navy over the esti- mates for the year before the late war was necessary for carrying on those wars, he hoped that the committee would assent to the proposal of the honourable and learned gen- tleman. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in opposing the amend- ment, argued that thesupposed moral contract of 1853 had been based upon an assumption that there would be a con- tinuance of peace but the very foundation of the settle- ment bad been subverted by the war. He observed that, so far as the Government were at present advised, it would not be necessary to make any addition to the Estimates on ac- count of the Chinese war. The amendment having been negatived, Mr. W. Williams said that the Bill consisted of only one clause, and he was desirous of striking out the proviso which imposed a tax of 5d. in the pound on all incomes between :,1.)0 and Y,100 a-year. When this tax was originally proposed by Sir R. Peel that great statesman distinctly stated that X150 was the lowest point to which the impost should descend, otherwise it would inflict the most serious hardship upon a large and deserving class of the community. At each successive renewal of the tax the exemption of incomes below X150 was invariably continued until the year 1853, when incomes as small as X100 were brought within the range of this impost, thus provoking loud and grievous complaintslfrom those who were for the first time affected by it. The injustice of this provision lay in the fact that those subjected to it had to pay as large an amount of taxation on the necessaries of life as was con- tributed by the richest classes in the country. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, possessing a very large income himself, could not appreciate the pressure of this tax upon a man with only £ 100 a-year. It deprived such a person of many of the comforts of life, and seriously interfered with the education of his children. The small shopkeeper, struggling to make both ends meet, the artisan, earning weekly in wages, with the aid of overtime, just jElOO a-year, and the hard-working and scantily paid clerk, striving to maintain a respectable appearance, were all entitled to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's compassion. Moreover, the mode in which the tax was assessed was most oppresive to this class of persons. A striking illustration of this was furnished by the case of a poor man who kept a chandler's shop, the average weekly return of which he swore did not exceed £ 3 15s., yielding a profit of only 10s., and who, although his entire earnings, with the addition of £10 from precarious employment as a dock-labourer, were not more than X40 a-year, was nevertheless charged to this tax on an income of ZCIOO. This poor person went before the com- missioners, and was put to great trouble before he obtained redress. He had been told of numerous cases of oppression by working men, and one of his constituents, whose income was a little above Y,100 a-year, but who, having a family in a state of great distress, was absolutely unable to save the amount necessary to pay the income-tax, was thrown into prison, where he remained about three weeks, and was then released through the charitable assistance of some friends. Clerks and shopkeepers were obliged to keep up a respectable appearance, and the deduction of X2 or £3 from their small incomes for the purpose of paying the income-tax was a very serious matter to them; and he was convinced that the money now required by the Chancellor of the Exchequer might be saved by making a reduction in the expenditure. He concluded by moving the omission of the proviso to which he had referred. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said the rate of the tax upon this class of persons would be reduced by the Act more than one-half, and E350,000 a year was a larger sum than he felt himself justified in asking the House to sur- render. The amendment was negatived upon a division by 53 to 7. The Bill then passed through Committee. On the report of the Committee of Supply, Mr. Gladstone moved a resolution that, in order to secure to the country that relief from taxation which it justly expects, it is necessary, in the judgment of this House, to revise and further reduce the expenditure of the State. The position of the House, he said, was peculiar and un- exampled. Strong objections were entertained to the amount of the Estimates, and, had the deliberations of the House not been affected by the prospect of a dissolution, the House would probably have remitted the Estimates to the Government for further reduction. Of these Estimates, so objected to, one-third was to be voted for four months, for no other reason than that the Government had been visited by a vote of censure, and that they had appealed to the country. The effect of his motion was not to assert an abstract principle, or to interpose any obstacle to a vote of supply, but to refer back the Estimates to the Government for reduction, or to express an opinion that they should, during the interval before the next Parliament, apply them- selves to the examination of the Estimates, with a view to a reduction of expenditure. He made the motion, he said, on two grounds; first, that there did not appear to be an adequate provision for the exigencies of the year; and, second, that the expenditure of the country had not of late been kept under due control, but had increased to a point which had become embarrassing, and which threatened to become even alarming. He then went into details to show that a deficiency of revenue stared the House in the face, and that the expenditure was too high, comparing the Estimates with those of preceding years. The Military Estimates in 1852 were £16012000, whereas this year they were £20,617,000, being an increase of Lt,600,000. The civil charges, he thought, should be vigilantly watched, -and he objected that the vote for education was getting too large, and that the creation of a Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education had added a new salaried othoer, without duties, to discharge slight Parliamentary functions which would be better lodged in the hands of a Cabinet Minister. It appeared to him, he said, that the administra- tion of the public money was conducted under quite a different set of notions and rules from those of 15 or 20 years ago. He adverted, in particular, to the appointments to the judicial bench pending a commission to inquire into the expediency of reducing the number of judges, citing a letter from the late Mr. Baron Alderson, who was of opinion that 12 judges were sufficient for the Term business. Mr. W. Williams seconded the resolution, remarking that the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Gladstone) had made out so clear and urgent a case of necessity for revising the extrava- gant expenditure of the country for the ensuing year that he could not by any observations of his own hope to strengthen it. He would only remark, reference having been made to the subject of the legacy duty, that he (Mr. Williams) had on several occasions called the attention of the House to that question, and had urged them to impose some such duty on real property as had been imposed on personal property for the last sixty years, and by which he had no doubt a sum of from f 1,500,060 to R,2,000,000 would bo added annually to the revenue of the country. The Chancellor of the Exchequer admitted that there was much in the speech of Mr. Gladstone which deserved consideration, but he declined to follow him item by item. Upon the subject of taxation or revenue, he observed that his plan was limited to the ensuing financial year, and it would be a waste of time to go into an investigation of the revenue and expenditure of succeeding years. He antici- pated no deficiency in the ensuing year. As to the expendi- ture, he did not understand that the House, by voting sums on account, had approved the Estimates a new Parliament would be competent to examine them. He did not believe that the Estimates, though large, were extravagant, the most energetic efforts having been made by the Government to reduce them. Noticing some of the criticisms of Mr. Gladstone, Sir C. Lewis justified the appointments to the judicial bench, observing that the issue of a commission showed that the Government bad not neglected the question and that, vacancies having occurred before the circuits could be reconstituted and changes could be made in the law that would enable a smaller number of judges to perform the duties required of the Bench, the Government had no alternative but to fill up those vacancies. After some remarks by Mr. Glyn and Air. Newdegate, Mr. Disraeli protested against a proposal thrown out in the course of the discussion to refer the Estimates, which ought to be framed upon the responsibility of the Govern- ment, to a committee, and expressed a hope that the new Parliament would hold the Government well to their duty. Sir H. Willoughby said a fow words, and the amendment was then negatived. The report was agreed to. The Extra-Parochial Places Bill passed through Com- mittee. Other bills were advanced a stage, and the House adjourned at 20 minutes past 11 o'clock. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11. On the order for the second reading of the Ecclesiastical Corporations Bill, The Marquis of Blandford, in announcing his intention to withdraw the Bill. explained briefly its general objects,— namely, first, to vest the property of Ecclesiastical Corpora- tions in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; secondly, to make ulterior arrangements for the application of the property, when so transferred, to the providing and increasing endowments. As objections were entertained, he said, to leaving the property in the hands of the Commis- sioners, he was ready to reconsider the measure, and see whether he could meet the views of those who objected so to leave the property. After some remarks by Mr. E. Denison and Mr. Walpole on the subject of the Ecclesiastical Commission the order was discharged. The order for the second reading of the Imprisonment for Debt, &c., Bill was moved by Mr. Pellatt, but after a short discussion the motion was negatived. The order for the second reading of the Grand Juries (Ire- land) Act Amendment Bill was discharged. The House then went into a Committee of Supply on the Civil Service and Revenue Estimates, when certain votes (including a grant for education), were taken on account, after discussion. On the report upon the Income-tax Bill, The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave explanations, first, as to the reasons for the omission of the word "property" in the original draught of the Bill, which, he said, was perfect- ly correct; and second, as to the difficuties, suggested by Mr. Gladstone on the preceding evening, in the collection of the succession duty. The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Bill, the Customs Duties Bill, the Indemnity Bill, and the Copyhold and Inclosure Commissions, &c., Bill passed through committee. Other bills were read a second time, and at a quarter past 2 o'clock the House adjourned.

THE POPULARITY OF THE PREMIER. j The enthusiasm in favour of the Government is spread- ing. The constituencies, one after another, are in the majority of instances expressing their emphatic disapproval of the course recently pursued by the Opposition. That course, to say the least of it, appears—viewing the matter as a mere question of Party Tactics-really and truly ap- pears to have been a mistake, a blunder, a slip" of the judgment, on the part of the antagonists of the Adminstra- tion. Its immediate result—so different from what the majority of 263 must have anticipated-proves it incontro- vertibly to have boen a movement on the part of its pro- moters decidedly impolitic, injudicious, and ill-considered. It has literally, in point of fact, created for the Ministry (what they must otherwise have lacked) a Good Cry upon which to go to the country. It has resuscitated, or rather rejuvinated, the prestige of Lord Palmerston—a prestige latterly somewhat obscured under the darkening influence of the Paris Conferences-the prestige, we mean, of the Noble Viscount as the British Minister." It has enabled him to lead off with the strongest suit in his hand- in the great game of the General Elections—and to lead off that suit, moreover, pointedly at the trump-card! The Chinese Question, upon which his Cabinet was placed in a minority of sixteen, has-in other words—enabled Lord Palmerston to go to the Country, upon the very best policy upon which by possibility he could at any time have gone to the country, namely, upon the matter of his Foreign Policy which is the very basis:of his reputation as a states- man. That Foreign Policy in regard to which he stands before England in his most patriotic character, and before the world at large in a light the most conspicuous, defined, and chivalric Covered with the prestige of his Foreign Policy Lord Palmerston is clad, as it were, in a panoply of steel, im- penetrable to the most deadly blows of his antagonists. Armed thus cap-a-pie, according to the noble image of the Poet of "King Arthur"—save where his brave eyes look out unshadowed upon the contest he ever disdains not to regard thus undauntedly as it were face to face-He of whom our English Sir Walter has sung- He-rides to war, no visor to his helm It is for inasmuch as the political opponents of Lord Pal- merston have themselves in this manner thus perversely afforded him the precise opportunity he himself might most eagerly and most reasonably have desiderated, that we conceive they have acted most inconsiderately in regard to their own chances of success among the constituencies. Had they tempted the trial of strength with the Palmer- ston Administration upon any other matter than the one they have thus most mistakenly selected, they had acted surely more wisely in their generation Powerful, as we have said, in the prestige of his Foreign Policy, the Noble Viscount is anything but powerful, for example, in the matter of his Home Policy-in regard, for instance, to his recently avowed opinions upon the great question of Parliamentary Reform. Opinions, by the way, which the Noble Lord must simply alter or modify forth- with—according to the good-humoured and point-blank recommendation addressed to him on Thursday evening in the House of Commons by gallant Tom Duncombe, M.P. for Finsbury—Thomas Slingsby Duncombe, the indomitable, indefatigable, and thoroughly consistent champion of all that is best and truest in Radicalism Thomas Duncombe, who, now for nearly thirty-tree years, has advocated the same liberal principles in the House of Commons, first of all, from 1824, as Member for Hertford, and secondly, ever since 1834 as the chosen representative of the most ultra- liberal of all our fifteen great metropolitan constituencies; Yes-there is no mistake about it-as the Member for Finsbury said on Thursday evening, the Noble Viscount must change his views about Reform generally, and Par- liamentary Reform particularly. In which contingency we venture to assert that his supporters would come in not only at the head of the poll, but as the saying is, on the heads of the people," not merely with the hands and votes, but with the hearts and Godspeed of the vast majority of the Constituencies. Even as matters stand at the present moment with me Premier's late bungling avowal of a total want of sympathy with the political hobby of the Hon. Gentleman the Mem- ber for East Surrey, still fresh in the public recollection- how earnest and wide spread, in spite of this, is the enthu- siasm manifested throughout the country at the present moment, in favour of the cause represented by the Noble Viscount's Government What might it not be otherwise- supposing the Prime Minister, actuated by a wiser inspira- tion, to have generously sustained, instead of preversly opposing Mr. Locke King's motion! In that contingency, as we have said, his supporters would infallibly, in a mea- sure, be returned upon the shoulders of the electors into the new Parliament. Even with that recent speech and that recent vote of his, in the popular remembrances—see the wide-spread and deep-rooted enthusiasm in favour of the "British Minister," manifested more particularly by the more liberal among the most liberal of the constitu- encies An enthusiasm so remarkable that the Noble Viscount's name has been prominently brought forward as that of a probable candidate for the suffrages of the two most remarkable constituencies in the three kingdoms; and that, moreover, in these two instances, as powerfully, if not overwhelmingly, opposed to two of the most distin- guished leaders in the motley ranks of that marvellous Oxford Mixture"—the too-successful Opposition! The West Riding and the City of London bidding against each other for the Prime Minister as the favourite among the suggested candidates! Mr. Cobden being coolly recom- mended to console himself by winning the most sweet voices" either of Boston or Stockport! While Lord John is virtually tent to Coventry, by having his name just for all the world as coolly recommended to the suffrages of either Stroud or Tavistock I-Sun.

WAS BURNS HAPPY AT HOMB ?-Bat why not say that the three years he lived at Ellisland were all happy, as happiness goes in the world? His wife never had an hour's sickness, and was always cheerful as day, one of those Sound healthy children of the God of heaven," whose very presence is positive pleasure, and whose silent contentedness with her lot inspires comfort into a bUB- band's heart, when at times oppressed with a mortal heaviness that no words could lighten. Burns says, with gloomy grandeur, There is a foggy atmosphere native to my soul in the hour of care which makes the dreary objects seem larger than life." He who suffers thus cannot be relieved by any appliances save those that touch the heart I —the homelier the more sanative—and none so sure as a I wife's affectionate ways, quietly moving about the housed affairs, which, insignificant as they are in themselves, are felt to be little truthful realities that banish those mon- strous phantoms, showing them to be but glooms and shadows.-Profe-ssor Wilson's Essays

THE NEW SECRETARY OF STATE OF AMERICA. By the last steamer from America we learn that the new President, Mr. Buchanan, had appointed General lawis Cass, of Michigan, to be Secretary of State-that is, Minis- ter of Foreign Affairs had Chief of the Cabinet. There was a time when such an act would have been receded in Eng- land as a most serious demonstration, General Cass is a well known to us by reputation as one of our own pouu- cians. From a time beyond the memory of most of m he has been in English eyes the representative of the great Western Democray, with all its prejudices and animosities. The General is said to be 75 years old, and during the term of his political life he has been a Minister at home, a repre- sentative in Europe, and for a number of years senator from the State of Michigan. But whether at a bureau in Wash- ington, at a levee at the Tuileries, or amid the clearings of his Western home, he has ever been the vehement de- nouncer of England, her ambition, her hatred of liberty, her designs to thwart the development and disturb the peace of the United States. The life of General Cass has beer nearly contemporaneous with the acknowledged indepen- dence of his country; he remembers America thinlypopull- ted and a second-rate Power; the struggle of 1812 fount him a young man; the long war of abuse between Tory England and the touchy young Democracy of America it still fresh ift his recollection; and, like many a man °: strong feelings and deeply-rooted prejudices, he has carried the traditions of one age into another which has little in common with it. In the series of disputes regarding the Maine boundary, Oregon, and Texas, the voice of General Cass was ever violent, and his prophecies of inevitable war went near to cause their own fulfilment. At that time there existed a kind of international soreness, which seems now to have passed away. Scarcely a copy of any Opposition paper in Paris was published without a tirade against "perfidious Albion," and the American press was not behindhand in accusations and invectives. Ireland was mad with misery and sedition Canada was just becoming tranquillized after a long fever of discontent. Consequent- ly General Cass and his speeches excited no little curiosity. He was supposed to express the feelings of the majority of his countrymen, and to indicate the likelihood of a new alliance of France and America against the mother country. But those days have passed away. The British Empire has seen discontent and disorder vanish from its bounds. All important points of difference between England and the United States have been settled; the communications between the two nations have increased so wonderfully as to make them for all commercial purposes a single country; a better feeling has come into existence, founded on a clearer understanding of each other's circumstances and institutions. Our own relations with our nearest European neighbour are of the most cordial kind. The speeches of General Cass and his school have therefore lost most of their importance. We feel that much of such language is mere popular oratory, much of it the promptings of a restless and suspicious temper. The warlike tone is, we believe, not one to which any large section of politicians in any country now responds, and those who will adopt it run the chance of being looked upon as crotchetty or anti- quated.-Tiines.

ABOLITION OF GREENWICH FAIR.—We stop the press to announce, on the most reliable authority, that the battle is now won, and Greenwich Fair is abolish ed.-GreettwicA Free Press. EXTRAORDINARY FISHING FEkT.l- Ket-so Mail says an extraordinary feat was performed by Mr. h .dham Purves, Liuton Burnfoot, on Thursday last, in Sunlaws ;.ater, on the river Teviot. Mr. Purves went out in the early pat- of the day, and after fishing for three hours, killed eight fisb, weighing 1201b. The most remarkable was that this large creelful" was captured with seven minnows! The average weight of the fish killed was 151b. MYSTERIOUS DISCOVERY.—A day or two ago, some workmen, in excavating on the estate of Major Sibthorp, M.P., of Canwick, near Lincoln, laid bare two perfect skeletons, buried at some 18 inches below the surface. Both were those of females, one that of an adult, the other that of a child, apparently about three years old at the time of burial. The larger skeleton was found lying in a position betokening that the body had been doubled up when consigned to the earth, the skull and the feet being in close proximity. On the spot a razor blade and a short dagger, both much corroded, were dug out, and excited great curiosity. Altogether, the circumstances would induce the supposition that at some time a terrible deed of blood has been committed in the locality, and it is a singular fact that the exact spot on which the discovery was made has been regarded, for time immemorial, by the inhabitants of the district with feelings akin to terror, and the nightly wayfarers hasten past the lonesome place with dread and misgiving. CAPTURE OF JACKSON," THE AUSTRALIAN IMPOSTER.— The man who called himself James Jackson, alias Smith, and who imposed on several persons in Lincolnshire and other counties, by pretending to be a missionary returned from Australia, and was intrusted with very valuable pre sents from persons in Australia to their relations in Eng land, was captured by Superintendent W. B. Graham, of the Bedfordshire constabulary, on the evening of the 2nJ inst. The superintendent having heard that a man ha.,1 been at Sharnbrook inquiring about persona hanng rela- tions in Australia, and pretending to have jelo that he had brought from that colony for two widows, cleverly followed him up and apprehended him. He was taken before a magistrate, and remanded. It is supposed from his adana- sions that he has imposed upon hundreds of persons. WEAKNESS OF THE OrPOSITION.-In the days when the whole political world was divided into two great stand- ing armies, to one or the other of which every prominent man belonged, and between which the great body of the people fluctuated, it was beyond a doubt that the Govern- ment never could be beaten in debate, unless the feeling of the country was decidedly against them. A Parliamentary defeat then indicated a transference, more or less percoa nent, of the preponderance of numbers from their side to that of their opponents; and there could therefore be ro question that an Administration formed by the latter wouli be able, at least for a time, to command a majority which would enable them to carry on the Government. But at present, though a defeated Ministry still, for the most part, thinks it necessary to resign, it is by no means so certain that its discomfiture indicates a preponderance of political power or popularity on the side of the Opposition. It is quite as likely that the victory has been gained by a temporary co-operation of parties disagreeing from one another as widely, or more widely than from the Govern- ment, but which happen to coincide in opinion, or can agree to vote together, on some particular point. Of this the division of Tuesday night afforded a remarkab example, and in such a case the resignation of the existing Government would simply throw the reins of power into the hands of a party habitually far weaker than themselves. The Ministry were not defeated by the Tories nor by the Peace party; still less by the Peelites or Lord John Russell. Neither of these parties, if left to itself, could have commanded more than a tolerable minority. All united were able to obtain a bare success. Unquestionably Lord Palmerston is the head of by far the largest, though the least compact and disciplined, party in the House of Commons. He can command a far greater support than any other possible Minister could do. On most subjects he could insure a majority but this especial topic was aptly selected to give the best possible chance to all factiously disposed enemies of the Government. The topic was one on which it was easy to make excuses for intrigue and ambition, in the names of honesty, humanity, and in- dependence on which it was easy to get up a strong prima facie case to attract popular sympathy, to entice unwary members, and on which, moreover, a certain number of members-not perhaps many, but enough to turn the scale-were certain to join in a vote of censure which their principles would have directed them to make far more severe. The ground was well chosen, and the generalship of the Opposition has won the day, but how to follow up a victory gained by such a motley force must prove a very perplexing question. In the meantime Lord Palmerston has expressed his determination to appeal to the country against the verdict of the House of Commons; and, as the constituencies are not quite as much au fait of party moves and coalition as their representatives, and inclined to look thereon with no friendly eye, we hope and believe that public opinion will reverse the decision of Tuesday night.— Manchester Guardian. EXTRAORDINARY CASE.—Dr. Chas. Sumner, of Roches- ter, communicates the following particulars of a case which came under his practice to the Daily Union of that city: The subject was a young lady, 19 years of age, of nervous temperament, very healthy, and the daughter of a respect- able farmer in Butternuts, Otsego county, New York. She first came to my office on the 28th of April, 1868, to have a needle extracted from her left arm, which she said I got in accidentally as she was moving a bundle of carpeting. This, a medium-sized sewing needle, was soon found and extracted from the interior side of the forearm, about mid- way between the wrist and the elbow. In less than a week she called again, saying she had another needle in her arm. I examined and found deep in the bend of the arm a hard substance, which proved to be a needle similar to the first, and accounted for in a similar manner. One week after this six needles were found, deep in the flesh, about three inches from the elbow. On May 29, 14 were taken out, higher and more on the posterior side of the arm. 30th, 11 were taken from the arm and shoulders. Some of these were superficial, lying just under the skin, but most of them lay deep in the flesh, and a number entirely under the biceps muscle. One of large size lay with two-thirds its length imbedded in the brachial artery. One large darning needle was found lying directly on the bone at the intersection of this deltoid muscle this caused some inflammation and suppuration, which led to its detection. June 4.—12 were removed from the left arm, 2 from the wrist, 11 from the left and 1 from the right breast. The whole number extracted during the month of the June was 87; September, 10 October, 28, mostly from the left breast and left side of the abdomen. About the last of November, 1853, she was attacked with violent spasms these continued about three weeks, and subsequently a large number of needles were found in all parts of her left side, from the shoulders to the knee. When apparently asleep she would converse with her mother and tell her where the needles might be found, but when awake she could seldom be induced to speak of them. Also when in this sleeping or somnambulic state she was entirely uncon- scious of pain. While cutting through deep muscle, or in the most sensitive parts, we never could perceive a motion indicative of feeling (a number were extracted in this sleeping state); on the contrary, when awake she ex- perienced acute pain, even from the least incision. From January 1854, no needles were found until the middle o the following summer, when she resorted to pins, cuttmg off the heads and tbursting them into the flesh. Subs- quently she used hairpins, either straightened and pp^ whole, or the broken halves. These were ?''nddeep m the large muscles of the thigh. Several pieces of wire nd parts of the largest size of knitting needles, nearly 6in. ai.a length, were found lying directly on the boneof the thigh on the anterior side. The whole Dumber ex!racted wm-Of sewing needles, 297, and these were of 911 sires n$ 67; darning needles, 2 hairpins, ?; ?'?f.?-J? ?-n, s. 67 wire, each, 5 ;-total, 383..A.lt every «n<bbeeunt wire, each, 5 ,-total, 383. Atmo.t ?'??aS? "? resorted to find the r!l80 J ho ..tJaDI..tër d "ial of 'Do\hmg has yet developed it. SM'??'i'?? "n*ter?M' of knowing when, how, or why she did it, gs«imnp ply j saying, knowing when, how, or why she did else ?; u It must be that I do it, for I ?°?f.? "?A?'?? perfectly sane on every other sub? occurred about 20 years ago at i ar ge° ? p?hMC.?]