On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
less boasting on this occasion , and we trust the result will be more commensurate with the hopes . Sir John Pakington has manifested in the House of Commons the same tender anxiety ¦ which Lord DeBby had displayed in the House of Lords , for the dignity , sensitiveness , and convenience of our colonies ifatfing tbe absence © f Xiord John Russell . It is shan * eful > cry the Tory leaders and journals , to . appoint a Colonial Secretary , and then send him * o transact foxeign business at Vieniqfci iNW the fact is , * jjat the Colonial difficulties which really exist are not likely to he settled by Lord John ' s return to London .
The prospect of a Cape disturbance appears to have been exaggerated . According to the recent accounts , Pr ^ etorius , the chief of the Dutch Transvaal Republic , and the colonists of Natal , had inflicted severe blows upon the Kaffirs and the cognate tribes , while Anta and Sastdhxi were threatened with a demonstration by the Governor-General towards , the Amatolas . Should the savages have been growing confident , these checks will keep them in order .
The gold-seeking disturbance in Australia appears to be really put down ; though the question of convict exclusion , which interests a much larger and more influential class , still remains open ; and the local Government is evidently afraid to carry out the instructions sent to it from Powning-street , which would facilitate the passage of discharged convicts from Van Diemen ' s Land . The island Government of Cuba , apparently with the sanction of thjit at Madrid j is endeavouring to supersede the chances of revolution and
invasion by giving a constitution tp = the island with a representation in the Cortes . We should hail such a measure on every ground . If Cuba were to remain Spanish , it would be a manifest advantage to the inhabitants and to all countries with whom Cuba is in commercial relations ; for it must develop the resources of that island , and so strengthen it to co-operate in the advances of civilisation . Should Cuba ultimately prove to be destined for annexation , tho constitution will
afford the means of effecting that change peaceably . For the present , the outvyard signs are rather against any effective invasion of the island . The -Know-nothing movement is swallowing . up every other in the United States , and concentrates the attention of the citizens almost entirely upon a species of political Protestantism , while incidentally it is swallowing up Abolitionism , Southernism , and every " ism ; " suspending while it lasts th , o two immortal parties of Whigs and Democrats .
Untitled Article
. 6 IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT . i . t the of Lords Lord
Untitled Article
In House , on Monday , Luc an again brought forward his case , and . read certain letters bearing reference to his renewed application for a court-martial , and to the . second refusal of the Commander-in-chief to grant him one .
SECRETAWEB OF STATHS BII / L . On Lord Granviixe moving the second reading of the Secretaries and Under-Secretaries of State Bill , the object of which is to make it legal for more than two Secretaries or Under-Secretaries of State to have seats in the House of Commons at the same time , a rather desultory debate ensued , in which Lord Giusy , Lord Panmu » e , the -Earl of Ellen-BOKOUGir , tho Earl of Ellesmehk , and other peers , took part . —Lord Grey observed that ho understood tliis to be a bill arising from tho consolidation of the former war-offlco with tho new department of
Secretary for War ; but ho conceived that tho measure loll very far short of what was required for tho roorm of the military departments . Ho objected to tho largo vote which had recontly been taken in tho Houso of Commons for barrack accommodation , and for fortifications at home . Tho latter had been pronounced by competent military authorities to bo worse than useless . The Government , lip thought , would do well to tuko tho advico of our civil engineers , rather than that of officers wedded to routine .- ^ -Lord Panmtjre stated that ho agreed with a groat < tai of what Lord Grey had uttered , and
assured the House that all Ordnance wor ks which could safely be suspended had been suspended . Nevertheless , he thought *; necessary that the works for the defence of the country should proceed ; and he hoped he should be able in a few days to bring forward a comprehensive scheme for the consolidation ofjbe . military departments .-The bill was read a secan # ti » ie . . ¦ nyre COLON * 4 X SECRETARYSHIP . In the Ilaase of Coo&mons , on the order for going into-Committee of Supply , Sir John Pawgton called attention " to the state of the Colonial itepartmenL an ^ -jwtde stroagobjections to the fact of Lord John Bussell holding that office while he is absent
on a diplomatic mission , in consequence of which the Home Secretary has to perform the business of the colonies as well as his own . At the present moment —with the Cape of Good Hope threatened with a frontier war , and South Australia in a state of insurrection—the presence of a Colonial Minister is more than usually required ; and neither Sir George Grey nor anybody else could discharge at the same time the duties of two such departments as the Home and the Colonial . He also dwelt upon the evils arising
from the delay of the Colonial Constitutional Bills . —Mr . Addekley took the same view of the matter ; but Sir George Grey denied that any public inconvenience had been suffered from the temporary absence of Lord John Russell , asserting that he felt himself equal to the two offices for a short time ; and Lord Palmekston observed that himself and the Government generally were responsible for the proper management of the Colonies , which could not , therefore , be said to be neglected . —Ultimately the House went into Committee of Supply on the Commissariat Estimates , when
Mr . Peex . said the amount voted last year was 600 , 000 / ., but the Committee would now be asked to vote four times that amount , namely , 2 , 400 , 000 / . The fact was , the sum last year represented merely the commissariat charge for the army in our colonies , aud atout the same amount would be required this year for that department ; 600 , 0007 . would also be required for the commissariat service of our army at home . Mr . Peel explained that up to last year the soldier had to pay a varying price for his rations , according to the fluctuations of the market ; but , as this -was a great hardship , the Government fixed the
stoppage to be taken from the pay of the soldier at 4 jd . The cost for the militia was about 500 , 000 / . The remainder of the vote—1 , 200 , 000 / . —represented the cost of the army in the Crimea . With _ respect to the transport service , Mr . Peel alluded to its being henceforth divided from the commissariat ; and , speaking of the largeness of the vote for transport , he said the men employed upon the Balaklava railway would be paid out of it . He also stated that a large addition had been made in the rations issued to the soldiers at the seat of war . —After considerable discussion , the votes were all agreed to .
EXCHEQUER BILLS ( 17 , 183 , 000 ? . ) BILL . In the House of Lords , on Tuesday , Eail Gran-- j — — jg—^ j ~ tlie ~ tliird reading of thisbill ; and Lord Monteacjle drew attention to the fact that this was not , as it professed to be , an ordinary Exchequer Bill , but a covert return to a principle which had been abandoned last session . He was glad that Government had made the change , but he thought they should have done it openly . Last session , the Chancellor of tlie Exchequer had resolved to meet all the extra expenses of the war by direct taxation ; but as some of tho ways and means then voted would not come in course of payment for some time , he had issued Exchequer-bills that might beheld to discount
the future taxation . The sum thus required was 1 , 750 , 000 / . It was stated that tho Exchequer-bills then raised differed from ordinary Exchequer-bills in simply anticipating by a few months tho supplies which had been voted ; and that they would be paid out of those supplies , and no more would be heard of them . He now found , however , that without a word of explanation these Exchequer-bills had boon converted from short bills chargeable on the revenue into a permanent debt , although tho obligation of renewing them continued from year to year . Thus , it was now sought to add 1 , 783 , 000 / . of Exchequer-bills to the national debt . He had taken the liberty of warning their lordships last year that the course then pursued , coupled with a disclaimer of any intention to
contract a permanent debt , was not to be justified by common sense . It was peculiarly impolitic to condemn the uso of credit in conducting the financial affairs of a country like this , because , superior as was tho wealth of England compared with that of other countries , her credit was immeasurably higher . They were not , however , to have recourso to a loan in every conceivable case—that would be a gross perversion of an otherwiso sound principle ; but if a national exigency arose , so greatly exceeding tho existing taxation of the country that additional rovenuo to nioet the wants of tbo State had to bo obtained by the imposition' of enormous and oppressive new burdens , then'they ought to consider whether , even for tho interests of tho remotest posterity , it would not j © infinitely wiser that the money , or a portion of it ,
is , true , had ? een these ewils in loans—that they ha « tendency to wake Governments and Parliamei more lavish than they would otherwise b e of t public expenditure , and that they throw the de incurred by the present generation on the futui He believed that among eminent political economi ; it is a maxim that these loans injure trade a : labour , by diminishing the capital available for on nary business . It was impossible for him to antii pate what budget the present Chancellor of t Exchequer might propose ; and he declined to gi any information with respect to the Stamp Bill .-
should be raised by a permanent or a temporary lo ? thoaifcUat they should crush the resources of indi try by o » er taxation . In conclusion , Lord Monteat expresse . d , a jhope that the Government would n abandon the penny stamp on newspapers an ii portant and improving branch of the revenue ; ar abover , aB , lte tarusfed that , -whatever their poli might bc-sthey would avow it openly and pursu e boldly . " Eaijl € bB . a » nvii . le denied that the late Chancellor the Exchequer had laid it down as an inflexible ri never to luwre .. recourse to a loan . Mr . Gladstone
The Earl of Derby said that what Lord JMonteag had complained of was , that a departure had bee secretly madefrom a specific promise held outlast yea and that it was no answer to say that the lute Cha cellor of the Exchequer had not bound himself at ; future periods to adhere to the plan of payme within the year . —The Duke of Argxxl defended tJ conduct of the Government .. It seemed to him trivial dispute to contend ahout the question wheth the million and a half which Mr . Gladstone hs borrowed was a loan or not , since , even if tli < proved that it was , it would afford no ground f
charging the right hon . gentleman with a departu from the principle he had laid down . — Earl Gkj considered that Parliament had not been des with candidly ; and that , instead of the taxes ii posed defraying the sums borrowed , we had incum a debt which he believed would be found to reac if not exceed , 7 , 000 , 000 / . Bills were drawn for year or two , and then renewed , at large interest ; ai yet the country was told that it was to have no del —Eventually the ~ bill was read a third time , ai passed . . _ MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE ' S SISTER .
In the House of Commons , on Tuesday , Mr . He wood moved for leave to bring in a bill to ame : the law as to marriage with ardeceased wife ' s sis ! or a deceased wife ' s niece . He referred to the-statu oMlie 32 nd of Henry VIII ., and believed that , if tli were recognised by the judges ,, the marriages question would be perfectly legal . In 1835—owk as he believed , to the desire of the Duke of Beaufc to have his second marriage sanctioned—an act v passed , by which all preceding marriages with deceased wife ' s sister were rendered legal , wh ; those to be contracted in future were to be illeg
Since the passing ofthat act , no less than 12 , 0 such marriages had taken place . The restriction , thought , should be removed . Neither in the Unit States-nor in- Germany did any such-prohibiti exist ; and Dr . Adler , the chief Rabbi , held that tin marriages were not opposed to the Jewish law . Tl accomplished Hebrew scholar , Sir William Jon had expressed his matured conviction that the 16 chapter of Leviticus had nothing to do with the If of marriage . The law had its origin , during the four century of the Christian era , in the Greek ai Roman canon law ; and it was irreconcilable \ vi natural affections .
Sir F . Thesiger opposed the introduction of ti bill . He denied that the violations of the Jaw hi been so frequent as Mr . Hey wood alleged , and pr tested against the precedent of legislating for tl relief of deliberate offenders against tho law . I . insisted that the precept of the 18 th chapter of L viticus was part of the moral law ; that the Ilebrc marriage-law was binding upon Christians still mo stringently , if possible , than upon Jews ; that it \ a the Papal abuse of dispensations that had placed tl ltomish Church in a dilemma with respect to the marriages ; and that , if once the limits of the ma rittge-law were extended , they would only end . I abrogating all the degrees of affinity , and eonfinu the prohibition to relationship by blood , lie disai proved of the compromise of 1835 , and opposed tl present bill because it was against tho law of Go < and tended to tho introduction of discord int
families . , Tho motion was supported by Mr . Bowyek , JVl E . Ball , Mr . Milnes , Mr . SrooNEit , Lord Palmki bton , and Mr . Cobden ; and was opposed by JM Ii . PjuiLLraoitK , Mr . Duummond , Admiral Walcot and Mr . Walpole , tho last of whom observed tin the measure was repugnant to tho general feeling Ireland and Scotland , and , as ho contended , to large , if not tho largest , portion of tho people ol I'M land . ' At tho close of his remarks , Mr . Duummon advised Mr . Spooner to " got rid of tho prohibit * degrees altogether , and marry his gra ndmother l » a man . ( Laughter , - ) Ho had better do this tho sneak about in lanes . Tho hon . member had betu set asido the word of God as contemptible in the cot
Untitled Article
242 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1855, page 242, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2082/page/2/
-