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    ©!) * He a Set. [Saturday ,

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    motion. On the motion that the Smithfiel...

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    Unaccustomed Spectacles Have Been Presen...

    The compact union which exists anoonjr the Northern despots is daily made more manifest . Not in the palmy days of the Holy Alliance did they flatter each other more obstinately . That celebrated " Baiser de Lamourette" in the old Convention of ' 92 , is outdone by these regal hypocrites . Now it is the King 01 Prussia who invests a couple of Russian Princes with the command of Prussian cavalry ; then the Russian Emperor , who flings a shower of orders among the Austrian Generals , and bestows a command oh the Prince of Prussia ; and grateful Austria surrenders the brave Bakoon ' m to the Gear , to be forthwith whirled away into Siberia , and destined to a life of exile and anguish among its snows .

    And these humane potentates have found a fitting tool in the poor Pope . The tender father of his people has become the lival of Haynau . In Rome , now-a-days , a man is sent to the galleys for twenty years if he attempt to persuade another from smoking tobacco . That is mild compared to what they inflict upon women for the same offence . It is scarcely credible—nay , would be quite incredible , if the story were not in the official Giornale di Roma , —that at Perugia , on the 9 th of June , a woman , by order of the " constituted authority /' was condemned to receive , and did receive , twenty lashes /

    Among the disasters of the week , some have been striking from their magnitude , or the personal traits which they have called forth . The great fire near London-bridge was a terrible memento of our scanty command over " the devouring element . " By the accident at the Bedminster colliery , more than thirty poople were buried alive—hopelessly , as some assumed : they were all rescued , unhurt , mainly through the courageous example of James

    North , a youth whose name may be added to the list that is adorned by that of Grace Darling . And the gallant conduct of Mr . Crampton , in traversing the steps of a railway train in motion , to let the guard know that it was on fire , is scarcely the less admirable because he was among the people endangered ; courage and presence of mind are qualities too absolutely good to depend on selfish motives .

    ©!) * He A Set. [Saturday ,

    ©!) * He a Set . [ Saturday ,

    598

    Motion. On The Motion That The Smithfiel...

    motion . On the motion that the Smithfield Market JRemoval Bill be read a third time , Mr . Siaffohd entered hi »

    the consideration of tho Metropolitan Water Supply Bill . Mr . Mowatt moved , thut the Standing Orders be suspended , und tho bill he Bent before the Bame nelect committee as the Government bill . ThiB motion was met by Mr . Wilson Patten with the objection thut the Standing Orders had not been complied with , an notices hud not been properly served upon the parties who would be affected by the bill . Alter u short discussion Mr . Mowatt withdrew bin

    He hoped these dissensions would come to an end , and that the Cape , though expensive now , would become prosperous and flourishing . The vote now asked lor was to carry the colony through its present crisis . The report was agreed to . As the session draws towards n close , the House of Commons makes a grent show of work . On Tuesday , they met at twelve o ' clock , nnd proceeded at once to

    " But now it was said by some of the colonists , or on their behalf , ' If this is a question of defending the frontier , and our own farms and possessions , we are ready to appear in arms for their defence ; but if this is a question of defending British Kafraria , that is no affair of ours ; with that the colonists have nothing to do j but you are bound with the money of Great Britain , and by the arms of her Majesty ' s troops , to defend that territory . ' That he thought was not a very reasonable proposition . "

    " Still he thought it would not be right to say , if tho war should continue for an indefinite time , that a representative constitution should be withheld from the colony during that indefinite time . " As to the occupation of British Kafraria , that had been done simply as a measure of defence for the frontier . The plan had been approved of by Sir B . d'Urban : —

    nate course , " in Lord John Kussell ' s opinion . He denied that the elected members were called , or led to believe that they were called , solely to frame a constitution ; and it was quite impossible for the Governor not to bring on the estimates . If the Legislative Council had decided what those estimates should be , settled the Constitution , and forwarded the ordinances declaring it to London for the sanction of Ministers , representative government would at this time have existed in the colony . He believed it would be far better that the colony should have representativa institutions ; but now there were great difficulties : —

    charge the seceding members with being obstructive . He hoped Government would not delay the grant of institutions so often promised to the Cape . Lord John Rtjsbeix , in reply to Mr . Hume , gave his version of the story . He characterized the result of the liberty to elect the five members granted by Sir Harry Smith as " not very fortunate . ' He did not impute any bad motives to the seceders ; but , upon the authority of Sir Harry Smith , he stated that they had intended to resign from the first , if defeated upon a particular question . Sir Andries Stockenstrom had " taken a most

    unfortuproposed Constitution . These gentlemen went with that understanding ; but the Governor had thought fit to bring under their attention , and to demand their assent to the financial estimates of the colony . Upon this four resigned , believing that they had no power to vote away the money of the colonists , and that their sole business was to settle the basis of a future representative government for the Cape . They had agreed to almost every principle of the Constitution ; but upon their secession the work was abandoned . Mr . Hume did not think it fair of the noble lord to

    Constitution had been sent out from Downing-street , to be revised and settled by the Council at the Cape , subject to the approval of the Imperial Government . There were five vacant seats in the Council at the time of its arrival at Cape Town ; and the Governor , Sir Harry Smith , instead of appointing nominees , of whom the rest of the Council was composed , had caused these vacancies to be filled up by delegates elected by the colony , in order that the sense of the colony might be taken upon the

    solely by the aggressions of the Government of the Cape , which had taken possession of what is called British Kafraria , and thus usurped the territories of the Kafirs . The colonists had nothing to do with the war . It was out affair . He asked Lord John Russell to review the decision to which he had come a tew nights ago , when he declared that he did not intend to grant a Constitution to the Cape until the termination of the war . The draft of a

    The order of the day first on the paper was for the second reading of the Universities ( Scotland ) Bill , the object of which was to repeal certain religious tests , which affect the candidates for professorships in the Scotch universities . Mr . Cowan moved the second reading of the bill . He traced historically the imposition of the tests , which originated in times of trouble and dissension ; arm l > e denied thnt they were now applicable to the state ot the Scotch Church . One of the tests bound the professors to follow no divisive course" -which woiiia have the effect of splitting the Church into sects . Bat numerous secessions h * d since taken pi sec , ft " the Scotch Church was no longer the united body which it was in 1 G 90 .

    "The tests which it was the object of th !« bill * abolish were imposed , as he had said , for the purpose « j excluding Prelatista from the chnini of the universities , but Ihe fact was that , in spite of those teets , a larK number of Episcopalians did fill those chairs , and , » was glad to admit , filled them with credit to thenmei *'" and advantage to the country . ( Hear , hear . ) "J > all ho wanted was , that other Dissenters , whom i » tests were never intended to exclude , should bo a " admitted to fill those chairs without let or hindrance . Tho bill extended to all chairs except the theological ,

    the information which her Majesty ' s Government possessed on the subject . From , a communication which the Secretary of State for the Colonies had received from the Governor of Van Diem ^ n ' s Land , it appeared that Mr . M'Manus applied to the Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus , in consequence of which he was brought before that Court , but the return to the writ was deemed insufficient , and Mr . M'Manus was subsequently , though for what cause he knew not , arrested , and the question was likely to be again raised before the Supremo Court of the colony . With regard to the other matters to which the honourable and learned gentleman ' s questions referred , the Government had no information .

    Under-Secretary for the Colonies whether the state prisoner , Mr . M ' Manus , was not discharged from the custody of Sir William Denison ' s Commandant at Port Arthur by a solemn order of the Supreme Court of Van Diemen ' s Land declaring such custody illegal ; whether the said state prisoner , after having , in consequence of such order , with the connivance of Government , quitted Hobart-town and returned to his own house at Launceston , had not been again arrested by Sir William Denison upon the same charge on which his Excellency had caused him to be placed in such custody ; whether it was true that he was , upon such his second arrest , brought all the way back from Launceston to Hobart-town , a distance of 120 miles , on foot ; and whether he was not , at the date of the last advices , suffering from fever occasioned by such treatment ? Mr . Haaves would state to the House all

    Robert Inglis defended the bill against the charge of creating patronage , on the ground that the incomes of the clergy would be small ; that one-third of the pews in these churches would be free , and that strong restrictions would be laid on the pew-rents . The hostility to the bill was so strong that the debate was adjourned until Friday . "When the House of Commons met on Wednesday , Mr . Anstey stated that he wished to know from the

    the Bishop of London for taxing the poor , in order to aggrandize his own patronage and power . " The bishops refused to consecrate churches built by private individuals , unless thev were endowed . He declared it was " preposterous ' in Sir George Grey to press the bill to a second reading , -when it had only come from another place five , and only been printed three days . Mr . W . J . Fox asserted that it -vras a " tax bill , and a tax of all others the most inexpedient , as it taxed people for going to church . " Sir

    The bill , which is a result of Lord Ashley ' s celebrated speech in favour of the sub-division of large parishes , was strenuously opposed . Mr . Hume , who called it a * ' dead robbery upon the public , and especially upon the poor , " and denounced it as a means of creating ' * fresh patronage" for the promoters , at other people ' s expense , moved that it be read a second time that day six months . Sir Benjamin Haxl said that the bill was nothing more than a " project of

    The bill was taen , read a third time and passed . Sir Georg * Gas * moved that the Church Build Acts Amendment Bill , which came down from th ^ Lords on Wednesday week , should be read a seen a time . He said that the object of the bill was «< t enable the Church Extension Commissioners todiv ' n * large parishes into districts , to build new church and to endow the ministers of the same by means ^ f pew-rents . " One of the clauses of the bill would enable the commissioners to impose pew-rents unn pews hitherto occupied by the poor gratis ; a clause which had been objected to , and certainl y , it would appear , that such a power would operate unjustl y .

    protest again $ t it , » nd Mr . Hume , seconded }^? W . WitLiAMft , Moved that it be read a third ?•' that day si * months . The debate was wholly important , though the opposition was determirS " On a division there were— « urtea . For the amendment , 32 ; against it 81 Majority against , 49 . ' '

    The bill passed through Committee , the House resumed , and the bill , without amendment , was reported . On the motion for the resumption of the adjourned debate on the report upon supply , Mr . Humb drew attention to the vote of £ 300 , 000 , the first instalment of the cost of the Kafir war . He stigmatized the Government of the Cape as gros 3 mismanagement . The war had been brought on

    and it certainly appeared to him tk » t the exclusion upon any such grounds of persons from office by the power of the Legislature , they being loyal subjects of her Majesty , was a species of persecution altogether inconsistent with the high and pure ( spirit of Christianity . { Cheers . )"

    PARLIAMENT OF THE WEEK . The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was at length reported from the Committee to the House , on Monday night , *• amidst loud and general cheering . " Precarious to the last , the Ministry barely carried their own preamble . In committee Mr . Walpole moved that words be inserted in the preamble which in effect declared , not only that the Pope had no temporal or civil jurisdiction , but no jurisdiction whatever . This declaration he asserted -was necessary to make the bill , which "was ineffective as a remedial measure , a national protest , or as Mr . Disraeli said , a measure of retaliation . The amendment was opposed by the Solicitor-General and Lord John Husseli ,, who naturally thought that their own preamble was perfect , and who neither agreed with the ultra-Protestants , nor with Mr . MooitE , the nearly solitary spokesman of the Irish Brigade , in thinking that it was a moot and reserved point , whether , in taking the oath of abjuration , the Roman Catholic members abjured the spiritual as well as the temporal power of the Pope . When the committee divided , there were— For the amendment , 130 ; against it , 140 . Majority for Ministers , 10 . Mr . "Waxpolts then proposed another addition , de-Hcriptive of what was done under the rescript in the way of assuming titles . Lord John Kubsell thought the preamble better English" without the addition . The Committee did not stop to discuss the question , but almost immediately divided again ; there being—For the amendment , 117 ; against it , 141 . Majority for Ministers , 24 . The preamble was then puMt-For the preamble , 200 ; against it , 39 . Majority for , ltil . The preamble being thufi adopted , the House resumed , and the bill was reported to the House , which again immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Oath of Aljurotion ( Jews ) Hill . No opposition was offered . Sir liouBitr Inulih and Mr . Plumi ' - thk agreed in the policy of not dividing the Committee . Strong protests were the weapons of hostility . In reply to tin illnntured remark of Mr . Nai'ieji , Lord John Husskll inado u statement which may possibly be usefully remembered some day . Ho * aid : — ' ^ * ^^^ i * ffiJV cA to him that while they were pers <^< •«"'"* Jf f | f 1 * i $ N ? n doing a " they could to promote the / - . > = 5 J ^ y'fe ^ lJS ' ' antl iu > d'ff " ' throughout the //' : ¦! , , zII ^^^^ St " ' * feel lliat Christianity derived no | V | -I' ' t * W ^^ S ' t ^ wQA ^ of extension which could in any I ' .-l i ^ V * , ^ y ^ , * f * H ^ r e CttUed civil persecution—{ hear , hear )—

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 28, 1851, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28061851/page/2/