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IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. '

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IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. I C^n.ir.iwd from lay) HOUSE OF LORDS —MONDAY. Lord Ellcnborough moved for the production of the pipers relating to the constitution of the land transport, "c. rps After a short discussion the motion wis agreed to. Some other business was then dispatched, and their ■Lordships adjourned at an early hour. ill the House of ComiBons, at tha time of private 'V:"3iaess, a debat<rcf some length arose upon the three ii, nloii Dock Bills, which stood for a second reading, '^but whi h were thrown out n 3 division by a large ■••in ijo>i y. A::i a ;t "variety of questions put to Govern- ment. Mr. C. fJd'rkiey inquired whether it was true or not that Lord Liu an bad been recalled from the command of the cavalry in the Crimea? Lord Palmerston replied that it was true, and that it Vas in censequeive of itferences between Lord Lucan and the Co aman kr cf the' Forces, which rendered it impossible for them to act together. TUESDAY. Lord Pan mure moved the secoaed reading of the Army Service Act Amendment Bill. The Earl of Ellenborough complained of the course i otkerl by the nobte Lord in merely moving a measure of *uch importance without a detailed statement of the cou- ditior. of.the army. Ho was not dispssed to oppose the measure under existing circumstance.0, but he could not nelp thinking th; t the period for which this addition to our military forre was enlisted should be limited to three years. The noble Lord then proceeded in a somewhat discursive speech to comment on the vices inherent in "3ur military system, and the mistakes which had been Committed in the conduct of the war. He was dissatisfied ith the "Vav in which the ranks of the militia were filled up,and, instead of the counties, would make the -Pour.Law unions responsible for the proper quota to be furnished to that force, fining them if they failed to make it up. With respect to the conduct of the war, the principle on which the War Departments seemed to have acted was that "f sending out to the seat of war -every available man, taking no care to provide for its efficicncy by maintaining sufficient reserves. The only p jint which he looked upon with any satisfaction was the treaty with Piedmont, a country which he rejoiced to see assuming a new position in Europe. On the other hand, the way in which the proper carrying on the war in Asia had been neglected by the Government was de- Elorable. By a little management Persia might have cen made an useful ally, and an attempt at least should have been made to employ a portion of our available Indian strength in that quarter, which, combined with Persia, and added to the force which Schamyl could bring into the fi Id, would have proved irresistible. The Earl of Harrowby thought that a great mistake had been made in not calling the oppressed nationalities of Europe to aid in our present struggle with Russia. Lord Panmure had not expected to be led into a debate oa the bill, but had no objection to insert into it the limitation proposed by Lord Ellenborough, especially as he fervently hoped the state of things which required an enactment of this nature would not continue so long as three years from the present time. With regard to recruiting, the attention of the Government had been aeriously directed to the subject, and there was no ques- tion that mean" must be found, if not gentle, then by compulsion, to fill up the ranks of the service, so that the war might be carried on with vigour. The noble lord then replied to some other points touched on by Lord Eilenhorough, and concluded by moving the second reading of the bill, with the insertion of the limitation proposed. Lord Malmesbury complained that the militia reg- iments had beeu completely disorganized by the sergeants of the line who had been sent to enlist militiamen for their regiments. In consequence of this system, as well as of the violation of the original understanding on which the force had been raised, an impression now prevailed that the militia as a body had not been fairly treated. Lord Grey quite agreed with Lord Malmesbury in thinking that the departure from the original Understan- ding had had a very pr.-judical effect on the militia. Instead of enticing away men from the militia into the line, the proper way was to increase the army in a legitimate manner, by holding out sufficient indneement to men to enter at once into the regular service. With regard to what he could not help calling the wild and extravagant suggestions of Lord Ellenborough with regard to a Campaign in Asia, he was glad to find Lord Panmure gave them no countenance. With regard to Pol ind, too, and her nationality, he trusted that the present war would not be diverted from its original obj 'ct into a scheme for the restoration of that kingdom. No man felt more for the fate of Poland but the Poles, by their incurable dissensions and divisions, had ruined their country. Af er some further discussion, in which Lords Har- towby, Fi:zwilliam, Granville, Colchester, and Eglin- toun took part, Lord Panmure replied. The bill was then read a second time, and, the standing erdert having been suspended, it was passed through all its stages, a olause limiting the period of service to three years having been inserted on the third reading. Their Lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—MONDA*. On the first order of the day for going into Committee of Supply. Mr. Layard rose to call attention to the present otate of affairs, and to the actual condition of the country, which was supposed, he said, to he standing almost on the brink of ruin. He adverted first to the eomposition of the Government, to which was to be confided the conduct of one uf the greatest Wars ever intrusted to any Ad- ministration. 1 hat Government was almost identical with the last; it behoved Partiament therefore to con- sider what the late Government had done and how far those members who remained were worthy of its confi- dence. After glancing at the alleged deficiencies of the late Administration in regard to their diplomacy, the blockade of the Russian ports, and the Foreign Enlist- ment Act, he observed that what was porposed by the prvsenl Ministry was not to be recall incompetent agents, but to #end out a series of commissions; what the country, however, wanted was not commissions, but men, or a man, fit for the emergency. Among the pros- pective measures enumerated by Lord Palmerston nothing was said about the Horse Guards; yet, unless the Go- Temment were determined to remodel that branch of the military administration, and to do away with the syetem ■of favouritism, the country would not be satisfied. Mr. iLayard insisted strongly upon the latter point, and waited upon the G vernrnent, if they desired to save the remnant of our gallent army in the Crimea, to send thither a man of vigour, who would in defiance of of family considerations, cut down abuses with a knife. In spite of the great reputation of the First Minister, the pe:ple of England, he thought, would not be content with what he had done; they were not now quiet, but a storm might arise, and not unless the Government did something, not only thcy,T)ut others would be ship- wrecked. General Peel said he had votod against Mr. Roebuck's motion, not because he denied the question, or because he treated the motion as a vote of non-confidence in the Government, but because he had no confidence in the tribunal, believing a committee of that House to be the tribunal for trying such a question, and that the causes of the evils which had befallen our army were so evident that no committee was required to discover them. Tho war had been entered upon with inadequate means; with such means more had been attempted than any army could accomplish. Lord Palmerston was, be said, the last to find fault with a man who blamed any part of our administrative system, aud he protested against the language he heard fom Mr. Layard, who had talked of the degradation of this country and of it-i becoming the laughing stock of Europe. He lamont.-d the sufferings of the army, and he hrd b'pn aggravated by the want of msnagement on the part of those who had the administration of the de- tails Lut these mis'.akcs had not been confined to the British troops; he had very good ground for asserting that the sit k and wounded of the Russians amount to 35.000 Wl0. Tn se sufferings arose from the physical Ciusein the p. wjr of no man to control. A'ter a brief reply to some of the parts of Mr. Layard's speech, Lord Palmer- ston added that he was satisfied that the people of this coun- try looked more deeply into those things than that gentle- man a ipposed, and that when they saw a Government established in consequence of the failure of two attempts they would feel that men who undertook the conduct of affairs in such circumstances from a sense of public duty, and from honourable motives, were entitled to the ere lit of being actuated by a desire to perform a public duty, and that they would give their support to such men, not f ireing themselves upon the country, but coming for- ward at an emergency. The Government threw them- selves upon the generosity of Parliament and the country, and be was convinced, that with their support, in spite of trifling reverses, they would carry the contest to a suc- cessful issue, and, whether by an honorable peace now, or by force of arms hereafter, place the country upon a proud footing of security. After some remarks by Mr. J. Phillimore, Mr. Warner, dad Major Reid the House went into committee of supply upon the Army Estimates. Mr. F. Peel prefaced the details of the estimates by re- marking that tjUy differed from the estimates of the cur- rent year -frKt. in the increased number of men—namely, 178,646 (exclusive of the troops in India, of the foreign corps, and the embodied militia) which exceeded the vote of last year by 3-5,869 men secondly, in the large aug- mentation of many of the s-jvices heretofore included in the egfia/ntci, and in the creation of new departments, such as the land transport corps. He then stated the manner in which the increase was distributed over the entire army, and explained the various items. The charge for the effective land forces was £ 7,353,000.- an •xc .83 over tho charge of last' year of £ 2,630,000. The •.barge for tho emhodied, militia was £ 3,813,000. The total amount for effective and non-effectivu services was £ 13.721,000. The total strength of the army for the oming year, exclusive of artillery, engineers, and the roops in India, was 193,595 of all ranks, of which lumbar 14,950 would consist of foreigners and this ttrmcd the first vote submitted to the committee, the ;Kussioii of which, embracing various matter connected "ith the prosecution of the war, occupied the rest of tj»e e eni:<g. 1a ifd IMrryerston, in tho course of a general reply to ob- ji't; tons, \inlijated the policy of tho 'iov. nim r.t in the eond K t of hostilities, their main object being, he observed f er pplo the Russian power in the Black Sea, where alone an ffcctual blow could be struck, Laving the 1 nvl frontier of Turkoy to the protection of A istria. lie stai-d likewise, as the reason why the Gsvernment had n«t hitherto succeeded in putting* the Foreign En list- m nt Aot in operation, that tlie language used in thr 4eb-itoe in Parliament had created such a feeling, o in iv^r.iuoq throughout the co.itinant, that persons wh had been prepared to take letters of service in Germany had thrown them up, declaring that they were unable to raise a man. With regard to the deficiencies of the army, he added, they arose not from want pf snpplies, but from want of arrangements for conveying to the men and horses tho things sent out for them those dAlpiencies would be remedied by the Government. „ Mr. Wilson gave explanations respecting the.e p sent to the Crimea, in reply to some severe remarksby Colonel North. This voto, and the next, for the sum of £i,353,80,i, having been agreed to, the Chairman was ordered to report progress. The House then went into committee on the News- paper, &c., Postage and Stamp Duties, when The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved the following resolutions —" That it is expedient to repeal the ex- emption of newspapers from postage duty, and to charge on newspapers and printed books and papers transmitted by post rates of postage not exceeding Id. for every four ounces in weight, and for any fractional part of four ounces and -1 That it is expedient to alter and amend the laws relating to the stamp duties on newspapers, the printing and publishing of newspapers, and registra- tion and giving securities in connexion therewith, and regulation of the Duties of postage on printed papers," which were agreed to. The Consolidated Fund Bill was read a seccnefi time. The other orders having been disposed of, the House adjourned at 25 minutes to 2 o'clock. TUESDAY. Mr. Serjeant Shee moved for leave to bring in a bill to provide compensation for improving tenants and to consolidate and amend the laws relating to leasing pov- ers in Ireland. Government offered no opposition to the measure, and leave was given to bring in the bill. Mr. J. Phillimore moved for leave to bring in a bill for the appointment of public presecutora. It was most important, he observed, that every step in criminal pro- ceedings should be taken (as Was-done in every country but England) by a competent" pubiie authority instead of which an unlimited power of connivance was given to the police. The Attorney-General did Rot offer the slightest op- position to the introduction of the bill, and was ready to p 1. admit that if anything ,could. be done to appoint a public prosecutor, consistently with a due regard to expencc and to patronage, which the. measure must extend, it would be very desirable. But the subject, he observed, was one of the greatest possible difficulty, our whole criminal system being almost incompatible with the ex- istence of a public prosecutor, and he feared the subject was not yet! ipe for legislation. After a short discussion, in the course of which Mr. Ewart and Mr. Phinn reccommended a previous investi- gation of the subject by a select committee, leave was given to bring in the bill. Mr. Collier called attention to the state of our trade with Russia, and moved for certain returns. He adver- ted to the peculiarity of our trade with Russia. The landed proprietors of that empire drew their revenues from the products of the soil, for which we were the greatest customers, and those products were raised by the advance of capital by British merchants, the cutting off of which resource would sap the foundation of the Russian power. At the outbreak of the war the rouMe. the pulse of Russian commerce, declined from 38d. to 32d., aft 1 was expected to fall still miich lower; the ruin of the Russian landed proprietors was anticipated and the bankruptcy of the Czar. But if he had failed in our military operations in the Crimea, the failure of our op- erations against the commerce of Russia had been greater. So far from the principal Russian ports in the East hav- ing been blockaded, their exports had been greater than before. The commerce of Russia had suffered no injury; L10,060,000, had gone from this country to Russia in the present year, and the rouble had risen 'to par. Most effect had been expected from the blockade of the Black Sea ports, and those in the Sea of Azotf, and he contras- ted the answer given to questions put irt that house to Sir J. Graham with the facts. We had blockaded the mouths (if the Danube, which ought not to have btien blockaded, and had not blockaded the ports in the Sea of Azoff, which should have been closed; the consequence of which had been that British merchants, who had made arrangements for openiag up new markets for produce hitherto supplied by Russia, had sustained enormous loss, the only parties benefited being the Greek merchants. Some explanation upon this subject, he considered, was due to the public, who were entitled to know the causes of this failure and the patties in fault. With respect to the blockade of the Baltic that had been evaded by the system of and carriage which, with the connivance of Prussia, the Emperor of Russia had organised and brought to perfection. He suggested that Prussia had been thereby guilty of a breach of neutrality which would furnish a ground of remonstrance that we niight enforce a right of search or we might prohibit the importation of Rus- sian produce into this country. The objections to this policy were twofold—one, that it would be ineffectual the other, that it would injure ourselves. He denied the former,and, admitting the latter, he insisted that we must be prepared to submit to the necessary sacrifices of war. Mr. Mitchell concurred in the views and principles enunciated by Mr. Collier. it appeared to him: remarkable that at the end of twelve months of war wa had inflicted so much pressure upon the enemy with so small an injury to our own commerce; and this result he thought justified the mode of aggression which had been adopted by the Government. Mr. J. L. Rictlrdo,; in replying to Mr Collier observed, that, by shutting ovlt tie produce Of Russia, we could so coerccand intimidate, and impoverish the Emperor as compel him to make peace upon such terms as we should dictate^ The whole amount of the exports of Russia to this country was but £ 7,000,000., and supposing the profit to be ten, or even 15 per cent, the loss at the utmost would be only £ 950,000., wherehas the Emperor of Russia with a stroke of his pen shut out £ 6,000,000. worth of corn. Sir. J. Graham explained the causes of the delay Of the blockade in the Black Sea. At present he believed that every port in the Black Sea, except the mouths of the Danube, was closely blockaded. Mr. Duncan made a few remarks, and Mr. Collier having, in his reply, corrected what he considered to be a serious error on the part of Mr. Cardwell, the motion for the returns was agreed to. The report of the Committee of Supply and the report of the Committee on Newspapers, &c., Postage and Stamp Duties, wete broiight up' and agreed to. The House adjourned at half-past 12 o'clock.

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