IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume II, Issue 62, 5 October 1853, Page 3

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

[House of Lords, June 13, 1853 ] Turkp.y and Russia.— ln reply «» b question from tlin Mniqmi Clanricarde, the Enrl of^Clarcn. don »a d i " When the announcement was received i in i his country that the depnr'ure of Prince Menshikoff from Constantinople had becu followed in a very few days by that of tho whole Russia legation, •nd when the rupture of official relations between Russia and Turkey was accompanied by menacing circuinstenoct, her Majesty's Government thought it was their duty to give to Lord Stratford dc RrdcliuV, authority to send for the fleet, and to instruct A'linirnl Dunilas to proceed to the nrighhourhotnl of the D-tnlniiiilet, there to await nny cowoiuiuca ion he might rereivn from her Moji sty's Ambassador at Constantinople " nml >dde I th.it ibis step hud been taken in concert with the French Government. The amlißondors >ud Admirals of both countries had been furimhcd with instructions precisely similar in character. Inuh.— Tlif Kail of lilienborou^li inmoving for correspondence between the President of Ihe Board of Control anil the Directors, on the suVjoct of the measure to be proposed for the- future Guvarnnaent of India, snid tint at an curly period of the Session he had tnkon occasion to c*pieai tho opinion thnt il would bo mlVitAble 111 at legislation with respect to the Government of India, should be deferred for another year, Hecuit circumstances in India linl induced an nltciation in that opinion ; and it seemed to him thn' the tmic had ccmo whon it would be expedient to put mi end to that, which was in fact, the moat irrational government nuwtxisting. Oaiiw, — Lt>rd Brougham pmenled a number of pciiiioiu, principally from minister of the Church of Scotland, in favour of ihc general abolition of oaths. He did not himself advocato «o sweeping a incaiurc, for there were undoubtedly cases in fflr' '■ the form of an oath wos 'necessary to insuro the truth ; but he proposed to give tlio Judgo who presided, power to accept an uffirmation instead of an oath, whenever, in his opinion, tbe objection to an oath was founded on really conscientious principles.

C ußi.,us and Evkntfm. HiiTuRY —An officer well known nt Cululs «nd Liilc for n)«iij years by the name of Commmdsnt Coulombo i, or Coulorobon I'limmortHl, haj jutt disd at the Utter town sged 89. His history is a curious one. He entered the itrmy in 1781 M tlio «ue of 19, and paucd vritli honor through all the Inner gride* of the array. In 1792 he entered the King'i Gunr 1. slid at the end of that year, being r«iird to tho run!; uf commandant, was charged with tlio ta*L. of rc-irgan-iiing the ninth btttulion of (he Pas ile Cains. In the war of Li Vendee, he distinguished himi-lf particularly, and it itk to hit exertions that Gou» critl Hoche owed in part hii aucccn in the affair of Quilicroo. At the head of some hundreds of men Coulombon lurpriird this fort of l'untbievrc, in which was 2000 emigrant!. lieiog without afliir Coulombon railed above the walli a loldier'i cap, which Hoche psrceiving, icnt him aid, and the fort surrendered. Some lima after, Coulombnn, accompanied by a small escort, was proceeding lo Sain ISrlctic, whither he had been summoned by General Valletuux. when ho was etlaclcud by n h.xly of Vendeans, and his bone killed under him, and his escort put to flight. Couloiiibnn, heing taken prisoner, was coudemntd by the Vondeans to dcalb, but was informed that he should be pardoned on condition of his dirulfiug tho password of tria army, onil 'ncilueting the capturt of Lam. Imlle. Coulombon, who wai Iben a raarritd man' mid the fatliT of tiro eons, refused wilb indignation saying, '' Do your duty. My children shall nt»er bate to blu>h for their father." Immediately afitr, he was taken out, and a file of m;n b«lng placed a short distiiDcu fiom him, the word to fire was given and he fell pierced with two bslli in the lower part o( the body, rind eight others in the breast. To mnlio the mutter still more sure, four stabs Hero given him with a bayonet, and • number of blows were administered to him on the body with the butt cud of the men's muskets. A grare was then dug and the body about to bo thrown into it, when the sound of a drum was beard, which caused the V.ndeans to mako on". The tucort had given tho alarm to the garrison of Lsmballe, and a budy of men were sent out to the aid of the Commandant. Wi.cn the men came up, tbe body of Coulombon showed signs of Ufa. He Has carefully r«mofed> and after several days lethargy, recovered his senses, and by the unremitting attentions of eight j medical men hit life was saved. He was then 28 years of age and bs lived for GO years, he wore on his breast a silver plate, which covered s vast wound, which took 14 ytars to close up. Coulombon being decorated in 1840, when the order of the Legion of Honour wuiustitated, continued to serve till tbe year 1846, His eldest son was killed at Waterloo, being tlien a lisutenaut of artillery. Sine* that period Coulombon baa lived In honour among bis other children, who had become manu> fncturers, and one of whom at present direo s an important establishment at Lise.