Potter's Electric News

IMPERI,IZ PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—FMBAY. Mr Rearderi attempted to give notice of a ques- tion to the Government respecting the Queen's visit to Scotland, but was interrupted by the loud remonstrances of the House, and by the Speaker, who reminded him that though it was permissible to put questions to the Ministry in any matters relating to the discharge of public duties by the Sovereign, they must be couched in respectful and Parliamentary terms. THE SUSPENSORY BILL. Mr Gladstone moved the second reading of his Suspensory Bill (Established Church (Ireland) Bill is the title). The earlier part of his speech was devoted to a resume of the debates and votes of the Session on the Irish Church question for the pur- pose of laying a foundation for the Bill. From it he contended that at the beginning of the Ses- sion the Government and the Opposition were agreed that considerable nodifications were neces- sary in the ecclèsiastical arrangements of Ireland, but while the Government proposed, in Lord Mayo's speech, to create religious equality by levelling up,' by giving instead of taking away, the Opposition had laid down and had induced the House to accept the contrary mode of treatment- complete disestablishment and disendowment. The Opposition had laid it down, too, that the same principles should be applied to all other re- ligious bodies in Ireland, and they had emphati- cally renounced the idea of endowing any other religious community, the creation of a clergy salaried either by State funds or from ecclesiasti- cal property, and for himself he had insisted that the funds should be devoted exclusively to Irish purposes. He complained that the Government, after accepting the second and third Resolutions as corollaries of the first, should refuse to recog- nize this Bill as the natural sequel to the three Resolutions. If, as they admitted, considerable modifications were necessary in the Irish Church, they ought to join in preventing the creation of new vested interests, and the only persons who could reasonably and consistently oppose the Bill were the opponents of all reform of the Church. As for the Bill itself, combined with the Church Temporalities Act, it would provide for the govern- ment of the Church, and for the filling up of all vacancies until a final settlement could be made. To Mr Liddell, who on a former evening had urged the futility of proceeding with the Bill when the Lords were sure to reject it, he replied that such a consideration ought not to influence the conduct of the House of Commons, and that he bad a con- fident hope that the same motives of great public necessity which bad led him to take up the qa§s|ion would induce the House of Lords to ac- cept the Bill, Mr Hardy was loudly cheered by his supporters when he rose to move the amendment of which he had given notice—that the Bill be read a second time this day six months. In the first place, he denied Mr Gladstone's assumption that the Go- vernment were agreed with him that religious equality ought to be established in Ireland, and the questions of paying the Roman Catholic clergy and increasing the Regium Donum bad never been dis- cussed in the Cabinet. For religious equality, if set up in Ireland, could not be confined to that country. It must be extended to England and Scotland, and if an Establishment was of no use in Ireland, the English and Scotch Establishments must be swept away. The argument that, having confessed the necessity of modifications in the Church, the Government ought to accept a Suspen- sory Bill Mr Hardy characterized as too absurd and unreasonable to require an answer, and he denounced the Bill as the first ever laid before Parliament for the avowed object of secularizing Church property. Passing to the details of the L Bill-which, though.badly drawn and ill-expressed, he would make no attempt to amend in Committee -Mr Hardy attacked, first, the preamble, which, he said, contained an untrue recital. Her Ma- jesty had not placed her interest in the temporali- ties of the Irish Church at the disposal of Parlia- ment she bad merely waived that interposition which might have prevented Parliament consider- ing the question, and she had in no way given an Z, q assent beforehand to that legislation, whatever it might be, nor abdicated her constitutional right to veto the Bill. Touching briefly on the Corona- tion Oath Act of Union arguments against the Bill, and quoting the opinion of an eminent lawyer that a Bill to disestablish the Irish Church, unless there were a saving clause, would, ipso facto, re- peal the Union, Mr Hardy went on to complain that the House of Lords should be asked to pass this Bill without its opinion being first taken by a resolution or a joint address. To-night, for the first time, Mr Gladstone had distinctly disavowed the application of any of this money to the en dowment of another religious body and on this part of the subject Mr Hardy remarked that though the Roman Catholics might now disclaim all desire for endowments—remembering their former pledges never to attack the Establishment -their disclaimer could not be expected to be bind- ing beyond the present time. Another objection which he urged to the Bill was its hap hazard character. It was impossible to foretell whether it would hit Belfast or one of the parishes where there were few or no Protestants. By interfering with the action of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the ordinary course Mr Hardy showed that the Bill would stop the supply of clergy for the frisla Church, and would do great injustice to the exist. ing incumbents, and be urged the inexpediency of unsettling the Church until a complete plan of settling the question was laid before the House. The object of the Bill was to paralyze the Irish Church, so that she could offer no resist- ance when the time for the real decision on her fate came. But it was the duty of English Pro- testants not to forsake their Irish brethren in their emergency. The question would be referred; to the new constituencies at the earliest moment, and Mr Hardy concluded his speech by express- ing complete confidence that they would defeat1 a design which, quoting the words of the late Bishop of London, 4 begun in spoliation and sacrilege, must end fti ruin and confusion.' Mr Lawson supported the Bill. Mr Liddell asserted that Mr Gladstone had not cleared himself of the charge of wasting time en a. Bill which could come to no practical result, nor had he answered the all-important question—what will; you do with the money ? He objected to the sepa- ration of the Irish Church from the State as unwise, unjust, and unnecessary, and preferred the solution by endowing the Roman Catholic clergy. That the Ministry would have greater powers of obstruction in this attack if they had been in opposition was his reason for regretting that they remained in office, and in all probability2 had not the Conservatives been in power, the question would not have been raised now. Lord Elcho opposed the Bill as an unprecedented stretch of the powers of a majority, though he ad- mitted that, having so strongly condemned a mere abstract resolution, Mr Gladstone was bound to bring ijji a Bill of some sort. The principle of religious 4 equality on which the resolutions of the Bill were founded was utterly inconsistent with our present constitution, and must lead either to the disestab- lishment of the English and Scotch Churches, or to the repeal of the Union. It could not be established unless the Act of Settlement were repealed, and not only the Woolsack but the Throne were thrown open to Roman Catholics. And this was actually pro- posed by that prolific legislator,' Sir C. O'Lochlen, who had within the last few days given notice of a motion to relieve the Sovereign from taking the de- claration against Transubstantiation. That notice which, if there was to be a general election, Lord Elcho hoped would be placarded in six-foot letters in every borough in the kingdom, changed the aspect of the question, and it disposed finally of the asser- tion that the Roman Catholics had no ulterior de- signs. Mr Disraeli commenced by arguing, in reply to Mr Gladstone, that the Government, by not dividing against the second and third Resolutions, were not precluded from opposing this Bill. And to Mr Glad- stone's argument that, as they admitted the possi bility of modifications in the Irish temporalities, they ought to join in preventing the creation of new vested interests, he replied that if he would put in his Bill a clause to reserve the income of the suspended benefices for the benefit of the Irish Church the Government might be more inclined to support it. Mr Gladstone, now for the first time, had declared that these funds were to be applied to secular pur- poses, and that Mr Disraeli declared, amid loud cheers, he would oppose as strenuously as the policy originally ascribed to him of bestowing these funds on other religious bodies. Accepting Mr Forster's challenge, he denied that it had ever been proposed to endow a Roman Catholic University (as the recent correspondence showed), or to endow the Roman Catholic clergy. Lord Mayo had never pro- posed it, and he himself had distinctly argued against paying the Roman Catholic Clergy. Neither did he believe that Lord Mayo had used the words 4 poli- tical equality,' but if he bad it was a vague phrase to which people might attach very different mean- ings, and certainly a distinct policy like that attri- buted to Lord Mayo could not be extracted from it. As to increasing the Regium Donum, not a word had been said by Lord Mayo about that, and the Govern. ment, though admitting that it was a I miserable pittance,' had always stated that it would be hope- less to ask Parliament to increase it. In reply to the argument that this was a great act of justice to Ire- land, Mr Disraeli maintained that Parliament should deal with Ireland as practical men with reference to its existing condition, and pointed out that by offend- ing and insulting a powerful minority the same dis- content might be raised which it was desired to re- move. Eg repeated that the Bill was ihi first step 1 towards the disestablishment of the Church » that it would bring about a crisis in England, and if its policy Was persevered ih it Would disturb the social system of the ttittbhy to its centre. He denied that he had raised a No Popery cry the only cry he had heard was a No Protestant' cry. That Mr Gladstone had embarked on a dangerous policy there was a growing opinion throughout the country among powerful classes who usually took little share in politics. The opinion of the public on a question of this character could not be changed by mixed ma- jorities in the House of Commons, and that opinion would triumphantly assert itself. Mr Gladstone woupd up the debate, and, after replying to some of the minor speakers, entered on an elaborate analysis and comparison of the speeches of Mr Disraeli and Lord Mayo, from which he in- sisted that the Government had originally contem- plated the equalization and concurrent endowment of all religious bodies in Ireland and so far from the policy of disestablishment being hastily thrust upon the country, it was but the counter plan to the scheme of the Government. The Earl of Mayo made a short explanation, de- nying that he had ever proposed an immediate and large endowment in Ireland for religi-ous purposes. In the speech so often alluded to he had simply advocated the continuance of the policy which had proved so beneficial to Ireland, and of which the Maynooth Grant, the Regium Bmwn, and the ap- pointment of Roman Catholic chaplains in gaols and workhouses were the chief results. As to the Regium DoMtm, he had always told the deputations that it would be impossible H induce ftrliameritto increase it. After Mr Newdegate had vainly endeavoured to get a hearing, the House divided, and the-second reading of the Bill was carried by a majority of-54— -312 to 258. Mr Gladstone fixed the 5th of J'uce for the com- mittee. THE BATTLE OF THE ARMY.—Here was I, on a sunshiny warm afternoon on a lovely autumn day, toiling up a hill which might have been a ridge removed from, the infernal regions with all its demon population 1 Tumult, indescribable and infinite the noise of the cannon, for which there is no word, for it is not a roar, nor is it thunder the scream of shells, the trash of shot, the deadly song of the leaden birds ha oowtinuous flight around, the storm of human I voices in all the variety of sound of which they are ,capable; command, angry urgence, pain, imprecation, » hate, furious outcry, and passionate appeals for help and mercy, all mingled together, with a cracking and hissing of flames from burning villages, and a ringing treble-of avasketry,—this was the music to which the play was going, the acters terribly in earnest, some only .caring to get away if they could, others only to kill or be killed, so that the agony were over ooon. With faces blackened with powder, and eyes staring wildly and teeth clenched, and with tongues lolling out, the men pressed up the slope, some loading and firin.g,coolly, others mechanically, moving on with very little formation towards the gray-coated columns posted above. I could see their brass- spiked helmets flittering about as the gunners loaded and fired and figure-sof the men, as they sponged out and rammed home, stood out distinctly against the snowy folds of smoke from the guns. To see a man fall gently forward on his face and hands as though he had tripped on a stone and would get up immediately, and yet to know he would never stir more to see another spring up in the air, drop his firelock, clap his hand to his heart, and plump into the grass; to see a man pirouette and reel and drop, and try in vain to rise; to see a man tumble and roll over again and again like a rabbit shot in full run to see a man stagger, lean again his musket, slowly incline himself to the ground, and there lean on his arm whilst one hand pressed the wound to see a man topple abruptly and then crawl away, dragging a broken leg behind him; to see a body standing for a second ere it fell, without a head, or the trunk and head lying headless; to see in the line of a rush of grape a track of dead and dying, just as small birds are cut down in winter-time by boys in a farm-yard. this was in a few,minutes quite familiar to me, and was fai less terrible than one glimpse of some terror- stricken wretch as, in fear of being trodden to death he sought to creep away to a quiet place to die: or the mute imploring faces of the wounded, who all at once felt their part in the day was over.—Dr Russell \in>Tmlef$Magazine* •

THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH. The Secretary of State for the Colonies has re- ceived the following message from the Earl of Belmore, dated Sydney, April. 22, and telegraphed from Point de Galle on the 15th instant a His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh resumed command of the Galatea, and left Sydney on April 6, when the external wounds inflicted by buttet bad completely healed. O'Farrell was exe- cuted yesterday.' H.S.BRYANT. MELBOURNE, April 26. His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh sailed on the 6th inst. for England. O'Farrell was hanged on the 21st inst. He con- fessed that he had acted alone, and all fears of a Fenian organization existing in the colony have proved to be groundless. 4b THE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION. Secretary Sir Stafford Northcote has received from Sir Robert Napier the following telegram, dated Ashangi, May 5, 1868 0 Arrived with rear brigade, May 5, at Lake Ashangi, 130 miles north of Magdnla 5th and 8th Native Infantry have returned to Bombay troops and stores are being shipped away from Zoola fast. Captain Roberts and others wounded doing well; troops in good health. —«» NARROW ESCAPE.-At about a quarter to 12 on Saturday morning, as one of the Newgate coast- guardmen was on duty on the Ramp,'he observed that one of the Margate pleasure-boats had cap- sized near the Newgate station. Lieutenant Hart, the chief officer, immediately launched a boat, and with a few of his men proceeded to the rescue. He then fonnd that the boat, which bad capsized in a squall, had contained two ladies, a Mr Horn, and a waterman named Charles Emptage, the whole of whom were clinging to the capsized boat and ex- hausted, especially one of the ladies, who could not have survived many minutes had it not been for the prompt assistance of Mr Hart and his men. On being brought to shore the usual restorative measures were resorted to, and in a short time all had sufficiently recovered to be conveyed home. ERUPTION IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.—Advices from the Sandwich Islands report the occurrence of one of the most terrific volcanic eruptions ac- companied by earthquakes, probably ever recorded. It occurred in Hawaii, in the district of Kona, and the volcano is called Mauna, Loa. The earthquakes at times were so. violent that no one could stand up; immense precipices were levelled to the earth, and a tidal wave from the sea swept over the tops of the tall cocoa-nut trees. Five villages suffered from the visitation, 80 persons being known to have been killed. The mountain whilst in erup- tion vomited forth deep streams of lava, which pushed far out into the sea, driving the waters back and agitating them as by a storm. A huge island was thus thrown up, and the streams of smoke issuing from the crater of the volcano enveloped the surrounding country in partial darkness. SUICIDE OF BARNES, THE PANTALOON. An in- quest was held last night at the Salutation Tavern, Barton-street, Westminster, respecting the death of William Augustus Barnes, the well-known panta- loon. The first witness was Ann Grant, a cousin of deceased, who had been his housekeeper for about seventeen yea*s„ He resided in North-street, Smith-square, and he and his housekeeper were like brother and sister. • By profession, theatri- cally, he was a pantaloon, but otherwise was a photographic artist.' Since the stoppage of the pantomine, IFaw, Fee, Fo, Fum; or, Harleqwin Jack the Giant-Killer,' at Drury-lane, in wfoijch piece he was pantaloon, the deceased bad hem in rather low spirits. The season of pantomime was past, and&is business as a photographic artist was not very remunerative. On Sunday morning last y r, he sat down to breakfast with his housekeeper, but complained that he had a pain at his feeart, and was ^o ill that he could not eat. He shortly after- wards left the breakfast room, for theipurpose of preparing his camera and his chemicals for use, as shi gentlemen were about to wait upon him, and have their portraits taken. In a siiort time he called to his housekeeper,« I want to speak to you particulafly come down directly.' She descended and found him sitting in his ea-sy chair. He seemed excited. He took bold cjf her band, and shaking it, said, God Almighty feless you. Good bye.' She saw that something was wrong, and ran out for assistance. In tea mifiutes he was dead. Other witnesses were examiiaed. One of them, David Gammon, bad been a friend of deceased for! twenty years. He saw him Marly every day, and found him as a rule a jocular man. On Saturday night last the deceased kissed 'Gammon's little boy, j 15 y of whom he was very fond. and said, If I die be- fore to-morrow morning, you must pray for me.' The medical evidence showed that he had taken a quantity of cyanide of potassium. A verdict was returned to the effect that be had committed suicide whilst in an unsound state of mind. THE MARQUIS OF HASTINGS'S AFFAIRS.—The public will be gratified to learn that a conference of the Marquis of Hastino-a friends was held on Thurs. day night, which may be regarded as an indignation meeting at the manaer in which the Marquis has been treated by certain of his betting creditors. It should be mentioned that previously the two heaviest creditors had gone before the full Committee at Tat- tersall's to endeavour to declare the Marquis a de- faulter, and scratch his Derby bets. The Committee, after due deliberation, determined that they were not justified in interfering. Among other transactions brought before the Committee, it appears that Mr J. B. Morris laid Lord Hastings last year £12,000 to jE2,000 against Lady Elizabeth, and subsequently Mr Morris informed the Marquis that the bet was laid for Mr Chaplin, and wished it to be transferred to that gentleman's name. This was at once declined, and Mr Chaplin endeavoured to get the bet erased. The Committee ruled on this question that they could not recognise Mr Chaplin, but ordered both parties to stake the joint amount which will be forthwith done. As a satisfactory sequel to this, it was further resolved on Friday night last by the "arquis that £10,000 should be placed in the hands of Mr Steel on Saturday morning to effect a partial liquidation of the outstanding account; and at the same time a noble lord, who has behaved in the most handsome manner throughout, volunteered to give his joint guarantee with the Marquis to pay a further 910,000 in six months; but provided Lady Eliza- beth wins the Derby the adcount will at once under- go further settlement. To this compromise the creditors have agreed. Under these compromise the Marquis will be present at Epsom in the Steward's Stand to see Lady Elizabeth run in his own colours, and, if the wishes of the public could effect it, win the Derby. The promptitude of this arrangement and its honourable nature confirms all we bavp written as to Lord Hasting's intentions, and we can state on authority that he has sustained the greatest mortifi- cation in not being present at recent race meetings, and that his lordship's sole anxiety from the first has been a desire for settlement. It was also fully con- cluded late last night that Fordham would ride Lady Elizabeth in the Derby, and we can contradict a rumour which had been current that T. French would have the mount.—Spot ting Life, y