LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XIV, Issue 1442, 27 July 1860, Page 3

LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

[FROM THR LONDON CORRESPOND SNT OF

THE SYDNEY HERALD.]

London, 1 8th May

At length the Reform Bill has safely passed the rocks and shallows of St. Stephen's Channel. The debate on it terminated in true Milesian style, by that being read nem cox that almost every speaker had exclaimed against. Mr. Gregory made a most telling speech, and showed how the freedom of the Press is respected in America. Mr. Gladstone sp'jke in a manner that must have shocked his supporters at Oxford. Speaking of the six nights' debate on the Reform Bill, the Right Hon. gentleman irreverently observed that they had spent upon the discussion that term of titoo that sufficed for the Creation ! The House does not go into committee on the bill until the 4lh of June, and it is just within the range of possibility that it may uot trouble the Peers at all this session. If it does, Lord Grey's Select Committee will be full of danger for Lord John's " Poor little bill." Tho debate on the 9th instant, on] the position of the Press in relation to Parliament, was remarkable for the effort made by Mr. Walter, the chief proprietor of tha Time 3, as be is oonsLlered, to exalt his senatorial character at the expense of journalism. His admissiqn, too, that his proprietary interest in the Times is of a very limited description," but that he " has large property connected with it wholly independent of a limited propiietary interest," tends very much to perplex the public, whilst it stimulates their ourioaity. Mr. Walter and Mr. Lowe, of the Times, with Mr. Caird, its late Agrioultural Commissioner, supported thf third reading of the Paper Duty Repeal Bill— .carried by a majority of 10 only. It is understood that the Timks 'people have bitten their fingers in this matter, They thought to get paper very chsapand to reduce their price a penny, repay, ing themselves by an increased charge for advertisements, and an increased sale. One of the managers is a paper maker, and of course there would have been a good deal of grist to that mill. When it was ascertained that the scarcity of rags would make paper dearer uti ler an increased demand for it, the Tim as began to listen to Mr. Wrigley, and to manifest symptoms of uneasiness, but its representatives in Parliament had gone too far to publicly retract, and they voted for the thirdl reading of iha Paper Deputy Repeal Bill. A more formidable opposition never menace 1 >\ bill transmitted from the Lower to the Upper House. Lord Monteagle will move an amendment with the design of defeating it altogether, and Lord Derby^h is announced that he will give this amendment the utmost weight of his support. Lor I Monteagle is a Whig, and an ex-Chan-oellor of the Exohequer.and the G ivern. ment will have to meet in him, n>t only one of their own party, but an au'horify on financial matteis. Ministers talk of resignation in the event of defeat. Trie Customs Bill is passing rapidly through the House of Lords ; Lord Derby, though disapproving of the policy which it represents, and of the Frenoh Treaty, not wishing to disturb the finanoial arrangements of Government in that respect. According to the Economist, Mr. Cobden's commercial treaty is likely to prove a oomplete failure, as under the treaty of a duty of 30 per cent. "ad valorum" would amount to a prohibition on those manufactures, which we could only expeot the Frenoh woald consume. The Economist further says, "We are eutirely in the hands of the Frenoh Government, that Government oan sny whether, as far as regarda our manufactures, the treaty shall bo a reality. Wa hope it will be a reality." This hope reads very much like a doubt.— A passage of arms between Earl Grey and L»nl Johu Russell has been witnessed in the past week with considerable regret. The name of Grey was so prominently associuted with the Reform thirty years ago, that it is painful to find it in these latter days synonymous with obstruction and mischief. The Ear! Grey bf the present duy is a man of as great ability aa his father, but no more like him in sentiment thau a satyr to Hyperiou. He *h<u

deserted all bis Liberal colleagues, and ho rarely misses. au opportunity of giving them " a sly poke." When Mr. Walpole was quoting something that Earl Grey said, Lord John Russell observed, "It is not true." Lord Grey, in a cold-ly-oivil kind of way, asked him what he means by it. Lord John enters into explanation, which, as the subject of dispute is very small, we need not follow, but he reminds " Dear Lord Grey" that when he was Colonial Minister, in 1848, it was his (Lord John's) delight to defend the honour of bis friend. Lord Grey had not then imbibed those prejudices against Lord John, of which he had " lately felt so painfully the effects." Lord Grey responds, that he " don't feel it ueoessary to defend himself; tbat bis former colleague is quite welcome to taunt him," &c, and that he shall mention the subject in the House of Lords. Lord John intimates that be shall publish the correspondence. Earl Grey says that will save him tbe trouble of making a speech, and here the correspondence tloses.

Tbe speaker of the House of Commons was called on to exercise his rare privilege, tbe casting vote, last week on an unimportant question in the Scotch Fish cries Bill. Tbe right boo. gentleman ■very properly gave effect to tbe last deoision of the house on ibe subject, leaving things as they were before the question was put. This is a thoroughly unobjectionable and right course of procedure; it exhibits the deference of the man to the House, acknowledges the supremacy of Parliament, and avows that its Speaker stands aloof from hostilities. How different this is to the conduct of some of the right hon. gentleman's predecessors'. — Fertile as have been the national annals of late years in remarkable illustrations of crime, the two oases which have been disposed of during the present week have features of peculiar interest. Pullinger — sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude — is a singular proof of the absolute helplessness of employers when a man is determined to be a rogue. Talk of reform in public business ! Why the evils of the Circumlocution office are nothing compared to the facilities for fraud presented by private establishments. In Goverment employ we may hear of extravagance, but there is nothing like the cases of Redpath and Pullinger. The Admiralty may be victimised with rotten gun-boats, but there is no pocketing of a quarter of a million of money by dexterous cashiers and confidential clerks. With regard to the case of EugeniaPlummer, that a girl so young should, without apparent motives, have been guilty of a crime so atrocious, argues a double precocity, which but for the evidence would have been incredible. Whatever the gross indiscrimination of Mr. Hatch in admitting her to his bedroom whatever the share of the girl's iguorant mother, it is evident that by some means or other the minds of the children had been thoroughly depraved. Some people believe that the mother has been the principal instiumeut in polluting the minds of her little daughters. We can scarcely corideive the possibility ef suoh unnatural trefifymeut. Nevertheless, of the corruption, of that youug heart there cannot be a doubt. Whether heiress to £20,000 or a suit of rags, whether the inhabitant of an affluent home, or the miserable deuizen of a garrat or a cellar, parents may recognise, and if they be wise will meditate upon, the necessity of a tender watchfulness ever their offspring. The inconvenieuces of appeal in criminal cases are strongly marked by this extraordinary case. There are now two judicial decisions in force, of equal weight, the one coutrad'cting the other — one declaring that Mr. Hatch is guilty of abominable conduct, the other that his accuser is guilty of perjurj. it is just as likely, if the whole case were submitted to a third jury, that the decision now arrived at would be reversed as that it would be confirmed. Where are we to end under such a system?— Sir Charles T re velyan, the lately appointed Governor of Madras, has just done a daring, and it is thought'by many, au imprudent act. He fftis.* openly" condemed, in a Government " minute," the Indian financial scheme of Mr Wilson, to which the Government both of London and Calcutta are committed, Tbat S ? r Charles, au old official, who has been used to .harness* all his life, should kick over the traces in this way petrifies redtapedom. If he had not approved, he at least might have been silent. He had more than one course to pursue. The Governmeut has not, and Sir Charles has of course been recalled. Thi.i " minute" has cost him the loss of an «ffioe worth £.2,000 a year. Storms seem to be gathering in all quarters of the horizon, and they are too «minous to be disregarded. For a long time nothing has been heard of that mysterious . bargain which was admitted lo have been signed between the French aid Russian Governments. People now ask whether the recent gathering of diplumuiists, the formal complaints of the Russian Government, an! the Czar's threatened remonstrances to the Sultan, touching the "intolerable condition " of ©reek Christians in Turkey have anything to do with that secret convention ? Is the reappearance just no* of M Lavalette at Constantinople, the scene of bis former mischievous meddlesomeness, a coincidence, or any accidental arrangement P, People shake their heads douluisigly, and regard with a serious air the almost simultaneous movement of Russian troops in Bessarabia, the revival of a i old complaint against the Sublime Forte, and tfoe industriously circulated

report of an understanding among the rascally semi-barbarious inhabitants of Servia, Motenegro, and the neighbouring provinces. Add to this the increasing intrioaoy of the Italian question — the seeming connivance of Sardinia with Garabaldi's expediton — the semi-official intimation that, if Sicily is to be annetted to Sardinia, France will require additional guarantees — the formation of papal brigades, Irish and otherwise, under Lamoriciere, and almost within sight of the Legations — Austria's objection to the reappearance of Sardinia in any conference on the Savoy question, because she has now no interest in the provinces assigned to France, and is not entitled to sit as "a great Power" — the coutinued discussion aud denial of a Franco-Danish Alliance — the watchful, and something more than watchful, attitude of Prussia, in strengthening her army, and looking into her Baltic defences. In face of all these things, the probabilities of a conference are disappearing; and in the strength of amicable dispositions to modify, if not remove, danger to Swiss independence, jealousy and ill-will are not unlikely to be in the ascendant. Moreover, thanks to that border ruffian General Harney, an unexpected and inopportune difficulty has occurred with the United States, very little, if any, progress at all having been made in the settlement of that awkward business regarding the islands of San Juan. We say nothing of the war in China, the reported resumption of Russian-inspired hostilities between Khiva and Affghauistan, the Suez Canal question, and the appearance of French Imperial squatters in the Red Sea.

The Archbishop of York died on the 4th instant. Dr. Musgrave was the sou of a Cambridge draper, and in 1837 was elevated by Lord Melbourne to the bishopric of Hereford, which sacred offioe he filled for ten years, when he was translated to the see of York. Dr. Langley, Bishop of Durham, succeeds to the vacant archbishopric, and the Bishop of Carlisle (Montague Villiers) becomes Bishop of Durham. The obituary likewise includes General Sir Willougbby Cotton, G C.8., and K.C.H., a Peninsular veteran ; Major-General Berkeley Drummond, and Sir Charles Barry, the eminent architect.

London, 4th May

The Reform Bill has beeu read a second time, after having had a very narrow escape on Tnursday week. The debate was characterised by a luminous speech from Sir E. B Lytton, who insisted strongly on the fallacy of basing the franchise on numbers merely. Speaking for the Conservative party, be expressed his willingness to grant a much larger and more comprehensive measure than Lord John Russell's at the same time maintaining that the proper foundation of the franchise was the equitable distribution of power between property and population. After Sir Kdward had concluded there was a rush from the House, and, for a few minutes, great danger of a " count out." To save bis bantling, Lord John was obliged to speak, but he seemed to do so without heart or courage. He appropriated to the first Reform Bill all the social reliefs and national blessings we havo sinca received, and made a strange admission for the propounder of the " finality" dootrine when he said that he was inclined to belie\e that they had placed the franchise too high in the old Reform Bill, There is no enthusiasm on the subject, and even those who intend to vote for the bill fail to speak in its favor. Mr. Marsh, Mr. Black, aud Sir R. Ferguson—all moderate liberals — have raised objections of some kind to the measure ; whilst scarcely any one on their side of the House has given it a beany support. An instance of the reviving vigour, of Conservative principles occurred on Friday night in the House of Commons, on the proposal for the third reading of the bill for unconditional abolition of Church rates. Last year this measure was car ried by a majority of 74 through the Commons, but rejected in a very decisive manner by the House of Lords. This year the majority on the second reading in the House of Commons dwindled down to 29, and on Friday last, in a House of more than 500 members, including pairs, the bill was only passed by a majority of nine. Dock-yard management aud expenditure have formed another subject of discussion, and Mr W. Jackson has done good service in ohtßining the sanction of the Government to the appointment of a Royal Commission to enquire into the whole matter. The abuses are so flagrant, aud the cost of them so enormous, that a searching investigation is rendered imperative. In the Upper House, Lord Lyndhurst has called attention to the state of the naval reserve. The veteran Statesmen insisted strongly on the necessity of England's possessing a thoroughly efficient navy, and contended that it was important for this country to have a steam navy double the strength of that of the French. "We ought," he said, " to have a channel fleet equal to that of France — a home fleet, in case of disaster- — a Mediterranean fleet— and a fleet of observation for the protection of distant possessions. ' The Duke of Somerset,, on the part of Government, declared that the navy was never in a more satisfactory condition. It is nevertheless true that the majority of the gunboats built during the Russian war have proved worthless, and that up to the present time the naval reserve scheme lius only produced 1000 men ! Mr. Gladstone's budget is reported to be

stimulating trade, increasing employment, and raising the "price of labour. Two branches of trade seeno, however, to be suffering from its operation — the paper and ribbon trades. The latter, at Coventry and other plaoes, is completely paralysed for the preseut, owing to the uncertainty which prevails as to the change likely to be effected by the introduction of cheap French silks . Foreign dried fruits — such as raisins, currants, or figs — have fallen considerably in price, and the consumption has proportionately increased, The reduction of the duty on foreign eggs has brought down the price of the home new-laid artiole considerably., and English heus appear to have been stimulated to exertion by the foreign competition of their species. So far, Mr. Gladstone has dona his financial spiriting gently, but now the Times takes him severely to task for the manner in whioh he has dealt with the Canadian timber duties. Mr. Halliburton (Sam Slick) made an elaborate speech in favor of maintaining the differential duties; but Mr. Gladstone would not condescend to reply, so that the clockmaker — who is a parliamentary failure— took nothing by his motion.

Last week, and even up to the present time, the prize fight for the " champion's belt," between the Englishman (Tom Sayers), and the American (John Heenan), known in his own country as the Benecia Boy, has almost, if not quite, superseded politics. The discussion now is, — shall the fight be resumed ? We believe it will not. Still, Englishmen cannot but be proud of Tom Suyers. To see him beside Heenan, one would suppose he had not the slightest chance with such a giant; and yet, with a disabled arm, he would probably have beaten the American, if the latter had not choked him by hugging him over the ropes. The friends of the Beneoia Boy assert tbat he had a right to do this — that it was fair play, and according to tbe rules of the ring. All we can say is, that if such is the oa&e — and prize-fighting is not put down by law — that rule which favours such an unfair, and, in a big fellow like Heenan, such a cowardly proceeding, ought to be expunged. Sayers has reaped much applause, and some money — perhaps £ 1000 — by the fight. It has been reported that a bishop was present at the fight; this of course is untrue, The report probably aiose from Mr. Bishop, gunmaker, being there, who goes by the name of " the Bishop of Bond street." Nearly all the journals published leaders on the late encounter. The John Bull points out how the chroniclers of the doughty contest, while they recognise and meet the publio requirements by the fullest details of each successive round, anxiously guard their own respectability by entering the protest conveyed by such epithets as " disgusting," and " sickening;" and contends that we have a great many points about us tbat want refining before we have any business to cant about our " civilisation," or to point the finger of scorn at the iraternitv of the prize-nng. The Spectator writes in a similar strain. " Depend upon il there are many things which are more dangerous to society, and more horrible than prize-fights, and which the suppression of pugilism will in no way tend to remove." We commend to the consideration of all persons in authority, the excellent example which Mr. Selfo, the Thames Police magistrate, has set them. This gentlemen, having convioted wrongfully a person under an old statute, was set right by a letter in a newspaper, a^.d immediately calling tbe parties in the case together, he publicly acknowledged his mistake, expressed his obligations to his unknown censor, and fined himself in the penalty that he had inadvertently imposed on the defendant. Such conduct is truly honourable. How many are there who would under such circumstances have persisted in their error, and have taken the first opportunity " to run a-muck " at the Press, for daring to criticise the acts of public officials! Mr. Cobden, it is said, hss accepted the sum of £40,000, subscribed for him by his Lancashire friends, who hope to be suoh great gainers by the treaty, on condition of his handing over to them some unproductive shares in an American railway. Mr. Cobden 's " friends" ought to decline this condition, for if they accept the shares, with their liabilities, they may find themselves in the wrong box.— A singular instance of the reputed power of Mazzini, and the earnestness of the agents he employed, is reported in* a letter from Palermo. The monks who fought so desperately in the convent, at Palermo, when the place was taken by the Neapolitan troops, were, it is said, false brethren ; they were revolutionary agents of Mazzini's ; they took the habit of monks a year ago, and all tbe intermediate time they have lived in hope of a favorable opportunity of making the " religious habit " subservient to their political practice. — By this time the King of Sardinia will have made his entry into Bologna, and the States of the Church will be thus constitutionally incorporated with the kingdom of Piedmont. The King's foot having trod upon the soil of the ecclessiastical territory, by this act ithe Pope will be morally dispossessed of tho province. What tbe Pope will bere 7 after do remains to be seen jin the meantime the entry of Viotor Emmanuel will be made as official as possible.— The sudden death of Baron Bruok, the Aus trian Finance Minister, was lately announoed at Vienna. It now turns out that tbe Baron commited suicide by first swallowing poison, and then cutting his throat. The motive of terrible act was,

the Minister's complicity in a gigantic system of frauds, which seems to have extended from Bohemia to Trieste. — There has been a serious outbreak in Algeria, caused by a prophecy similar to that of the 100 years' rule of the English in India- The term of French oonquest in Afrioa was proclaimed to have expired, and a prophet arose to drive out the invaders. A contest of five days, in which the Prenoh lost ninety men in killed and wounded, .ertnioated the outbreak. — After all, the Cnunt de Montmolin and his brother did not escape. They were arested near Sarlosa. The Spanish Government has granted a general amnesty. The Earl of Elgin has set out upon his second mission to China ; and the French special Plenipotentiary has gone with him. It may be hoped that his diplomacy upon the present occasion will be more permantly successful than upon the last. — A discovery of a very painful nature has been made in the city. The chief cashier in the Union Bank of London, Mr. Pullinger, has been discovered to have defrauded the company to the extent of £263,000. He has fallen from a high position of confidence, competence, and respect, to be the inmate of a criminal prison, by being connected with the Stock Exchange, where his losses were enormous. The contest between the Bank of England and the discount brokers has terminated. The question at issue appears to have been whether the Bank of England should discount bills which the brokers had already discounted for others. The Bank refused to do so, and Messrs. Overend, Gurney, and Co., suddenly withdrew about two millions in notes from the Bank. This seriously altered the accounts of that establishment; but the notes have been sent back, and harmony is restored, the Bank maintaining their rule not to re-discount for billbrokers.