he has actually proposed a Commission for Inquiry whether a Supply might not be brought from India to compete with that of the United States in the markets of Manchester; to which the government has responded by a negative. For a very different object of inquiry new hopes have arisen. The possible safety of Franklin has been suggested by the report of the immense fields of crushed ice now rife in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is supposed that these vast fields are portions of the slowly released masses, the growth of many preceding winters, which were first broken two winters ago by the strong south-west and southerly gales over all the North Atlantic and North Pacific; but which, in consequence of their bulk and extent, were again condensed before they could be fairly swept into the Atlantic, and thus offered continued obstruction to the release of Franklin and his ships. Nor would this appear to be impossible, assuming detention in the ice to have been the only danger, and that continued means of subsistence were accessible. Meanwhile the accidents arising out of these floating masses of ice have been lamentable in the extreme,-a vast number of ships having perished, with the loss of more than a hundred thousand pounds in money, and, it is feared, some hundreds of men, but are very justly less an object of surprise and alarm than such incidents on a wellknown coast, in tranquil water, and under a clear summer sky, as the sudden wreck of one of the Glasgow and Liverpool steamers carrying two hundred souls. Inquiry is instituted into this event, and proceedings will be taken against the master and mate. The Law Courts of the past month have supplied fewer interesting or important cases than usual; but rather a curious question has been tried in Dublin, where a verdiet was given of which the effect is to affirm the validity of a bill of exchange already declared a forgery by an English jury, and which had consigned a money-lender to transportation. The English Exchequer has distinguished itself by granting Doctor Philpotts what the Queen's Bench and Common Pleas had successively refused, and, on the ground that it would be able to give judgment sooner after hearing the arguments on a rule than if it had no arguments to hear, has consented to a rule Nisi. This is doubtless some comfort for the Bishop under the defeat of his brother of London's bill in the Lords, which would fain have re-established, in the nineteenth century, spiritual pretensions and spiritual tribunals scouted in the seventeenth century by every intelligent Englishman. Another good act of their Lordships deserves praise, as the first instance of their granting a full divorce upon a petition in formâ pauperis; but we have, as usual, to record legal proceedings less consonant with the spirit of the age, of which an instance offers itself in a bequest of money for an essay on natural theology, declared void on the ground of its not recognising formal Christianity. Perhaps this should be the place for noticing the sudden eruption of a sort of civil war between her Majesty's Customs and the London Dock Companies, originating in what are alleged to be unfair demands made by the Customs on the Companies for duties on goods already passed. Not only would her Majesty's Commissioners have their due payment on barrels of sugar, but a fresh payment on the sweepings thereof, before these undergo the metempsychosis of lollypop or hard-bake. Our summary must not conclude without a mention of two strange arrivals that have furnished very notable attraction during the month to all kinds of sightseeing people. A young Hippopotamus of more than ordinary ugliness from the Seventh Cataract, has divided interest and curiosity with a mission of more than Oriental magnificence from the most distant frontier of India NARRATIVE OF PARLIAMENT AND ON the 30th of May Lord BROUGHAM called the atten- On Friday the 31st Earl GREY moved the second reading of the Australian Colonies Bill, overruling Earl Fitzwilliam's wish to postpone it on account of the very thin attendance. The motion was not opposed; but several peers objected to particular points of the bill, especially the adoption of a single legislative chamber, instead of two separate chambers. On Monday the 3rd inst. the Bishop of LONDON moved the second reading of his bill for providing A New Court of Appeal in cases involving questions of Heresy. He explained that his supposed court was to consist of the bench of bishops, who were to be summoned whenever a case turning upon doctrinal points came before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and their decision, as reported to the Committee of Council, was to govern the judgment of that body. He supported his measure by precedents and analogies; referring particularly to the courts of law, who remitted questions beyond their own immediate knowledge to arbitrators professionally qualified to determine them. These were questions so new to a lay tribunal that its members could not even understand the terms in which they were couched, while a prelate of the church would consider them as the mere alphabet of theology. He concluded, with great solemnity and much emotion, by a devout aspiration that the House might be guided to a right conclusion.-The Marquis of LANSDOWNE considered the measure as perilous at the present moment, besides being objectionable in principle. It violated the prerogative of the Crown, which from time immemorial had been the final court of appeal in all cases, besides being the supreme head of the Church. There was no oceasion for a new tribunal in matters of doctrine; the Judicial Committee of Council could only have to decide whether a certain doctrine was that of the Church, and this fact they were as competent to decide as the Court of Chancery to decide on a point of chemical science. Suppose the bishops were to decide by a bare majority, this would create instead of allaying controversy. He was, however, prepared to recommend that all the bishops should be de jure members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and that no dissenter, in that committee, should sit on ecclesiastical questions.Lord BROUGHAM opposed the bill, but suggested that a committee of bishops might be appointed, which should report their opinions on such questions; those opinions not to be binding, but to be of the nature of aid or advice.-Lord STANLEY denied that the bill interfered with the prerogative of the Crown. He should support the second reading, though he desired the measure to be modified, so as to make the bishops a court of arbiters in matters of doctrine, in the same manner as the judges are in matters of law. The bill was supported by Lord Redesdale, Lord Lyttelton, and the Bishop of Oxford; and was opposed by the Bishop of St. David's, Lord Campbell, the Earl of Chichester, and the Earl of Carlisle. On the division the second reading was negatived by 84 to 51. On Thursday the 6th, the Marquis of LANSDOWNE moved the second reading of the Irish Parliamentary Electors Bill. A desultory discussion of some length 9 2 ensued, in which objections were made to the details of STANLEY objected to the 30th clause, which empowers the Queen in council to establish a General Assembly of the Australian Colonies, on petition by two or more of them; and moved the omission of that clause and the subsequent clauses depending on it.-Lord GREY defended the principle of the clause, but intimated, that in consequence of objections lately urged, he had prepared an amendment to the effect that the general colonial legislature so constituted should be "only for certain purposes." Lord STANLEY'S amendment was negatived by 23 to 22; and Lord GREY then introduced his amendment, the discussion of which was postponed.Lord BROUGHAM withdrew his Court of Chancery Appeal Bill, on account of the difficulties at present attending the arrangement of the duties of the Great Seal. He besought the government to proceed deliberately in their intended measure on this subject. On Monday the 17th the expected debate of Lord Stanley's motion on the Greek Question attracted an unusual attendance both of peers and strangers. Before the business of the house began Lord BROUGHAM suddenly started up with an excited air, and said, that he had given notice that no person, peer or commoner, had a right to sit in the peeresses' gallery, but that a gentleman was now sitting there, and that, if he did not come down, he (Lord Brougham) would move the enforcement of the rules of the house. The gentleman's conduct (he added) was the more intolerable, as he had already excluded two peeresses, though he had a place assigned to him in the house. This objurgation, which produced much laughter, was levelled at the Chevalier Bunsen, who, with two ladies, was sitting in the peeresses' gallery, and kept his seat apparently unaware that he was the object of remark. Lord Brougham then hastened across the house and desired the usher of the black rod to "take him out." Sir A. Clifford went into the gallery, and immediately the Chevalier Bunsen rose and quitted it with his companions. This unpleasant scene over, Lord STANLEY proceeded to move his resolution. It was: "That while the house fully recognises the right and duty of government to secure to Her Majesty's subjects residing in foreign states the full protection of the laws of those states, it regrets to find, by the correspondence recently laid upon the table by Her Majesty's command, that various claims against the Greek government, doubtful in point of justice or exaggerated in amount, have been enforced by coercive measures directed against the commerce and people of Greece, and calculated to endanger the continuance of our friendly relations with other powers." Lord Stanley supported his motion at great length; entering minutely into the merits of the various causes of quarrel with the Greek government, which he maintained were paltry and contemptible; tracing the history of the negotiation between the governments, of our hostile measures of coercion, of the kindly mediation of France and our ungracious reception of it; blaming Lord Palmerston's negligence in not apprising Mr. Wyse of the convention which had been made in London; and accusing the government, through its foreign minister, of having insisted on exorbitant demands, oppressed the weak, and endangered the peace of Europe.-The Marquis of LANSDOWNE defended the government. He maintained that it was the right and the duty of the British government to protect its subjects resident in foreign countries; and brought forward a great many instances in which the British government had done so. It was no objection to the principle of a claim that it was urged in favour of an unworthy claimant, or that its amount was small; the most paltry amount might involve a principle of the highest importance. As regarded the dispute with France, Mr. Wyse had given explanations which showed that it was physically impossible that he could have had any knowledge of the terms of the London convention at the time that he was proceeding to enforce the arrangement entered into by himself; but a desire to return to the terms of the London convention was felt on both sides, and, as far as possible, those terms would be made the subject of a treaty. The resolution was supported by the Earl of Aberdeen, the Earl of Cardigan, Viscount Canning, The consideration, in committee, of the Australian the Earl of Hardwicke, and Lord Brougham: Lord Colonies Bill was resumed on Friday, the 14th. Lord Ward, Lord Beaumont, and Lord Eddisbury defended On Tuesday the 11th, the house went into committee on the above bill. Lord MONTEAGLE again brought forward the question of single or double chambers, by moving, as an amendment to the first clause, that there should be a legislative council and a representative assembly, in each of the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria. After a discussion containing a repetition of the old arguments on both sides, the amendment was rejected by 22 to 20. The Bishop of OXFORD also revived the ecclesiastical question previously disposed of, by moving the insertion of a clause enabling the Church of England in the colonies to lay down rules for its own internal government; but he withdrew his motion on an assurance that the government would inquire into the matter. On Thursday, the 13th, Lord MONTEAGLE moved for copies of official documents respecting the issue of a Commission of Inquiry as to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.-He apprehended that the commission might interfere with improvements now in contemplation, and complained of the course adopted without previous communication with the authorities of the universities. -The Earl of CARLISLE said there was no objection to the production of the papers; and that the total absence of any hostile spirit on the part of the government would be shown by the nomination of the commissioners, who should be members attached to the universities, and able to co-operate beneficially with their own members.-Lord BROUGHAM objected to the commission in toto, and expressed astonishment at the letter which had appeared from Prince Albert, who, he said, had been placed in a false position by the mistaken zeal of his friends. The head of an university ought not to be connected with the Crown, and the Prince had fallen into the mistake of supposing that the royal commission spoke the sense of the parliament, a natural mistake for those who had lived in foreign countries where the legislature and the sovereign were one; but the royal commission would speak the sense of the Crown, and not at all that of the parliament.-The Duke of WELLINGTON expressed his satisfaction with Lord Carlisle's explanation of the way in which the commission was to be nominated, though he did not consider the measure necessary or desirable. The papers were ordered. the government. The resolution was carried by 169 to 132; a majority of 37 against the government. The Irish Encumbered Estates Bill was read a third time on Tuesday the 18th. The Marquis of WESTMEATH moved the addition of a clause restricting the commissioners from selling any estate for less than fifteen years' purchase. It was opposed by the Earl of Carlisle, and supported by Earl Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Stradbroke, and Lord Stanley. On a division it was carried against ministers by 32 to 30. Another clause, to protect from arrest the proprietors of encumbered estates during the legal formalities preliminary to sale, was moved by the Marquis of WESTMEATH, and carried without a division, the Earl of Carlisle merely expressing his disapprobation of it. The bill then passed." On Friday the 21st Lord BROUGHAM stated that he and other lawyers had grave doubts whether, by law, the Crown was able to give the directions, in reference to Sunday Labour in the Post Office, which the address from the House of Commons had prayed. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that the point should receive serious consideration. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE moved for the appointment of a committee to take into consideration the accommodation of the diplomatic body as visitors of the house. After some explanations from Lord Brougham, and remarks from Lord Grey and other peers, the motion was agreed to. The matter of the New Post Office Regulations was brought forward on Monday the 24th by Lord BROUGHAM, who insisted forcibly on the hardship and inconvenience they produced.-The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that the Crown had the power to make regulations as to the transmission of letters, though he feared that the new scheme would tend greatly to the desecration of the sabbath. On Tuesday the 25th, on the presentation of a petition against the Post Office regulations, Lord BROUGHAM recurred to the subject. He had received a letter from a manufacturer who stated that his waggoner was killed on his road home to Derby on Saturday last, and in consequence of the recent postal arrangement he could not ascertain whether any goods had been stolen from his waggon without sending special messengers to Birmingham, Manchester, and other towns where it had stopped. Therefore, in this case, instead of sending letters quietly through the Post Office, this gentleman had been obliged to send men, who, of course, could not go to church, and the consequence was a greater desecration of the sabbath. The day before yesterday the sabbath had been compulsorily broken in every part of the kingdom. All over England this breach of the sabbath was going on, because the Post Office would not employ a few clerks on Sundays. In Liverpool, for instance, where commercial intelligence was of the highest importance, fifty or sixty clerks might be despatched by the railroad to obtain intelligence which might easily have been transmitted by letter, with the employment of only five or six persons. The intended Resignation of Lord Chancellor Cottenham was announced by Lord John RUSSELL, in the HOUSE OF COMMONS on the Tuesday the 28th of May. His Lordship added that any person accepting the great seal must take it subject to the decision of parliament with respect to the amount of pension. As to the separation of the judicial and political functions of the office, that was a subject which required very serious consideration. Mr. MILES moved a resolution that the government should take immediate steps to forward the emigration of orphan girls, inmates of workhouses in England and Wales, to Australia as apprentices. Mr. STAFFORD moved, as an amendment, the substitution of the United Kingdom for "England and Wales," on the ground that such steps would be peculiarly beneficial to Ireland. Mr. HAWES objected on the grounds, first, that there was no longer the same demand as formerly for female servants in the colonies, and next, that the available fund was too small. The discussion was proceeding when the house was counted out. At the evening sitting, in the old chamber, Lord ASHLEY brought forward his motion for the suppression of Sunday Labour in the Post Office. Admitting that a good deal had already been done, he explained his object to be that all the provincial towns should be placed on the same footing as the Metropolis. He had no desire to interfere with the passenger traffic on Sunday; all he wished was to stop the transmission of the mail bags.— The motion was opposed by the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, who observed that it was a curious illustration of the way in which subjects were sometimes taken up in England, that the measure which had caused all the agitation had, by temporarily employing 25 clerks in addition to the 27 previously employed on Sunday, relieved 8000 persons from all Sunday work, which would interfere with their religious duties. He conceived that what had been done should be accepted as a pledge of still further reduction, and would make every inquiry into its practicability. But he believed that the proposed change would produce much hardship to the great majority of the people, especially the poor, who have not the means to command express trains, electric telegraphs, and other expedients for speedy communication. The motion was carried by 93 to 68. On Friday the 31st, Sir Edward BUXTON moved a resolution "that it is unjust and impolitic to expose the free-grown sugar of the British Colonies and possessions to unrestricted competition with the sugar of slavetrading countries." He took a review of the combined effect which negro emancipation, with the successive measures for throwing open the sugar trade, have had on the economic and social state of the West Indies; and contended that the steady and progressive increase of the trade of Cuba and Brazil, in consequence of the advantage of slave labour, is crushing the prosperity of our own colonies. To suppress the slave-trade had been found impossible, and the only protection for our colonies was the imposition of differential duties on foreign sugar.-Mr. HUME apprehended that the evil lay in the difficulties interposed by the British government to an adequate supply of free labour for our colonies from Africa and other places; and moved an amendment to that effect.-Colonel THOMPSON Supported the original motion, in which he saw nothing inconsistent with the principle of free trade.—Mr. James WILSON denied that our recent free-trade legislation had done any injury to our colonies, and contended that, since that legislation, the production of sugar had increased in our own colonies at a greater rate than in Brazil or Cuba.-Mr. E. H. STANLEY (the son of Lord Stanley) in a maiden speech, much complimented for ability, described, from his own personal observation, the desolate state of the West India colonies, and ascribed their condition to their inability to contend with slave-holding countries.-Sir J. Pakington and Mr. Gladstone supported the motion; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Hutt, and Lord Palmerston, opposed it. On the division, it was negatived by 275 to 234. The Metropolitan Interments Bill was considered in committee on Monday the 3rd of June, a discussion having been previously raised on a motion by Mr. Lacy that the bill should be referred to a select committee. This motion was supported by the metropolitan members, who, however, expressed approbation of the principles of the measure; but the prevailing opinion was that the details of the bill could be best amended in a committee of the whole house.-Sir R. PEEL, supporting this opinion, enlivened the debate by a joke, "If the bill were sent to a select committee, it would be one of the most extraordinary cases of Extra-mural Interment ever heard of."-Mr. Lacy's motion was lost by 159 to 57, and the house went into committee.-On clause 2, Mr. DUNCOMBE (whose appearance in the house for the first time since his long illness was hailed with acclamations) moved the omission of that and several of the clauses, for the substitution of provisions giving to the parish authorities of certain districts powers which, as the bill stood, would be given to the board of health. This amendment was negatived by 135 to 57, and Mr. On Thursday the 30th the Commons met at 12 o'clock Duncombe intimated that he would not offer any for the first time in their New House. The sitting further opposition. The clauses up to 18 were then being experimental, no important business was done.agreed to. Resolutions respecting the Irish Poor Law were moved on Tuesday the 4th, by Mr. FRENCH. They were, in substance, that no permanent system of poor relief in Ireland can be beneficial unless founded on a strict application of in-door relief; that vice-guardians are unconstitutional; that the present administration of the poor is extravagant and demoralising; and that it is unjust to throw the chief burden on one kind of property. In his statements as to the evils caused by the present working of the poor law he was supported by Lord NAAS, who described the demoralisation in the Irish workhouses as frightful. There are 119,000 children undergoing contamination by being mixed with a concourse including the most abandoned of each sex. In the South Dublin union, a multitude of young girls are thus drafted among a crowd of able-bodied women who are almost all prostitutes. They are necessarily perverted, and soon enter a vicious course, which keeps them travelling in a perpetual circle from the workhouse to the brothel and from the brothel to the workhouse. It is enough to bring a curse upon the country.-Sir W. SOMERVILLE affirmed that the recent introduction of out-door relief had been necessary to prevent the people from perishing of famine, and vindicated the vice-guardians from the charge of mal-administration and extravagance.-The resolutions, after being supported by Colonel Dunne and Mr. O'Flaherty, and opposed by Mr. W. Sharman Crawford and Mr. Poulett Scrope, were negatived by 90 to 65. The debate on the second reading of Mr Fox's Education Bill, adjourned from the 17th of April, was resumed on Wednesday, the 5th. Mr. ANSTEY supported the principle of the bill, without pledging himself to the details.-Mr. H. DRUMMOND drew a somewhat subtle distinction between education and instruction. Secular instruction might be given by the state, but education-the drawing forth of that which is good, and the non-drawing forth of that which is evil-is a work for the parents while the child is young, and afterwards for the Church.-Mr. Page WooD took a review of what had been done by the Church in the cause of education; and, from what the Church had already done, he inferred that she was worthy to retain the trust. Mr. Milner GIBSON contended that if school attendance was made compulsory upon persons employed in factories, schools ought to be provided at the public expense, open to all religious denominations. The bill did not interfere with the present machinery for religious education. No less than ten millions was annually spent in England on what was called religious education-twice as much as in any other country. The bill did not touch this enormous sum, so that religious education was amply provided for; and what was now asked was provision for secular instruction within the reach of the people. Secular instruction was not the province of the Church; if it were, what a reproach would it be to the Church that forty in the hundred of the adult population of England and Wales could not write their names in the marriage registers!-Mr. Fox summed up the debate, and replied to several misrepresentations of the nature and objects of the measure. On a division, the bill was thrown out by 287 to 58. On Monday, the 6th, the house went into committee on the Factories Bill. The proceedings were almost confined to the discussion of an amendment on the first clause, moved by Mr. ELLIOT, to the effect of legalising relays, provided that young persons and females should not be employed for more than ten hours daily, between half-past eight in the morning, and half-past eight in the evening, and provided that the relays should be absent from the factory for not less than three consecutive hours. Sir G. GREY opposed the amendment as contrary to the whole spirit of the bill.-Mr. EDWARDS charged Lord Ashley, "the Champion of the Operatives," with having abandoned their cause by concurring in the government measure.-Lord ASHLEY replied, with great earnestness, "I never considered myself as their champion, but I did consider myself their friend; and I declare before God, that I have done that which appeared to me to be the best for their interests; and every successive hour, and all the intelligence I receive, convince me that, by God's blessing, I have been enabled to judge aright. I may be permitted to state, solemnly and before this august assembly, that I have sacrificed to them almost everything that a public man holds dear to him; and now I have concluded by giving them that which I prize most of all-I have even sacrificed for them my reputation."-After some farther debate, the amendment was rejected by 246 to 45.-Lord ASHLEY moved another amendment on the same clause, to the effect of giving children of tender years the same protection as that enjoyed by adult females and young persons, namely, that they were to work only from six to six o'clock. This amendment was also negatived by 102 to 72, and the remaining clauses were agreed to. The Metropolitan Interments Bill was then resumed in committee, and clauses, up to the 23rd, were agreed to. The principal points on which the discussion turned were; the power to remove bodies from the present burial-grounds with or without the consent of the incumbent, and subject or not subject to payment of fees; the suspicious absence of any schedule of fees in the bill, and the backwardness of government to give any pledge as to the amount of fees; and on the proper width of the space, or belt, which should be drawn round the cemeteries, and whereon no house may be built. Lord John RUSSELL deprecated the fixing of a schedule of fees without further experience. It was at last agreed that the fixing of the fees shall be left to the board of health, subject to the approval of the secretary of state. On Friday the 7th, Lord John RUSSELL announced that the Lord Chancellor intended to resign as soon as he had disposed of the causes heard by him; and that he (Lord J. Russell) had advised the Crown to put the great seal in commission.-Further progress was made in committee with the Metropolitan Interments Bill, the clauses up to 30 having been agreed to. Her Majesty's answer to the address on the subject of Sunday Labour in the Post Office was communicated to the house on Monday the 10th by Sir G. Grey. It was as follows:-"I have received your address, praying that the transmission and delivery of letters may in future entirely cease on Sunday in all parts of the kingdom; also, that inquiry may be made as to how far, without injury to the public service, the transmission of the mails on the Lord's Day might be diminished or entirely suspended: and, in compliance with your request, I shall give directions accordingly."-Lord John RUSSELL afterwards announced that no exception would be made in favour of foreign correspondence, it being the intention of government completely to carry out the vote. The grant for the New Houses of Parliament then came under consideration. Mr. HUME moved that the amount should be 100,6107. instead of 103,6101.; his object being, by this retrenchment of 30007., to put an end for the present to the proceedings of the committee of taste, and prevent any further expenditure on pictures before they knew the cost of completing what was useful and substantial. He complained of the enormous expense created by incessant alterations, which had swelled the original estimate of 707,000/. into two millions.-The motion was opposed by Sir C. WooD and by Sir R. PEEL, who taxed Mr. Hume with having himself been one of the main suggesters of the alterations of which he now complained; and made good his charge to some extent by reference to parliamentary documents, amid loud laughter.-Mr. OSBORNE Supported the motion, observing that the house should be finished first and adorned afterwards. His opposition to the sum proposed to be granted for Mr. Landseer's pictures was grounded on his respect for that artist, and his unwillingness to see his works in so bad a position.Sir R. PEEL explained that the place intended for those pictures had been assigned with the full concurrence of Mr. Landseer himself.-Lord John RUSSELL defended all the parties concerned in the new building, and opposed the motion, which was negatived by 144 to 62.Mr. HUME then moved for a select committee, which after a short discussion was rejected by 85 to 55. The Irish Lord Lieutenancy Abolition Bill, on the question of its second reading, was warmly opposed by several Irish members, Mr. Grattan, Mr. G. A. Hamilton, Mr. Maurice O'Connell, Colonel Dunne, and Mr. Grogan, who reiterated objections previously made to the measure. It was supported by Mr. Roebuck, and Lord John Russell, and the debate was adjourned to Monday following. On Tuesday the 11th, the house went into committee on the Metropolitan Interments Bill. On the reading of the 32nd clause, which provides compensation to the clergy for the loss of their present fees, Sir Benjamin HALL complained that in some parishes the clergy made a traffic of their burial grounds, and supported his complaint by some remarkable statements. "He would take the case of St. Giles's-in-the-Fields as an instance. What had been the conduct of the clergyman there?a clergyman, too, who was very well off, for he had 10007. a year as Canon of St. Paul's, in addition to 9871. as rector of St. Giles's. It had been the practice there to make a feint of covering the coffin whilst the mourners were present; but as soon as they were gone, the body and coffin were taken up, the head of the deceased was severed from his body, and cast into a hole, in order that putrefaction may speedily set in. This was done in order to afford more ground for burials, and to bring fees to the clergyman. In 1846, there were but 896 deaths in St. Giles's, yet there were 2,323 burials; in 1847, there were 1,298 deaths, and 2,877 burials; in 1848 there were 1,111 deaths, and 3,578 burials; and in the half-year of 1849, there were 571 deaths, and no fewer than 3,423 burials; making altogether 3,876 deaths, and 12,221 burials in the course of three and a half years. The body and coffin were wheeled away in a wheelbarrow; the head was severed from the body and thrown into a vault. Yet this man had the assurance to state in his evidence that the cemeteries of St. Pancras were in a satisfactory condition. He had a sort of square in the burial-ground where the more wealthy class of persons were interred; from whom he of course obtained a higher fee. All these abominations occurred not only under his own jurisdiction, but he had joined with him another clergyman as his sexton--a man who was first a soldier, then a parson, then a sexton, and afterwards, in the natural course of things, an undertaker and stone mason."-Sir G. GREY felt assured that the clergyman, Dr. Tyler, could not have any connexion with such doings. Mr. WAKLEY confirmed Sir B. Hall's statement; but he believed that Dr. Tyler was not aware at the time of what had been going on, for the funeral service was performed by the reverend sexton. The committee proceeded through the bill as far as clause 53 inclusive. Lord NAAS moved that the house should go into committee to consider the present mode of levying the Duty on Home-made Spirits in Bond. He pointed out the unfairness of the present mode of levying, which, assessing the duty on home spirits as they are made, allows nothing for waste and leakage, as in the case of colonial spirits, which pay duty on the quantity measured when taken out of bond. Mr. WILSON and Sir Charles WooD opposed the motion as disturbing the settlement of these duties made in 1846; but it was carried by 85 to 53, leaving the ministry in a minority, a result which drew loud cheers from the opposition. The house then resolved into committee, and resolutions in accordance with the previous vote were passed without further discussion. Lord JOCELYN moved for papers respecting the proposed Railway between Madras and Arcot, and enlarged on the importance of facilitating railway communication in India. The papers were ordered. In moving the second reading of the Court of Chancery Bill, on Wednesday the 12th, Mr. TURNER explained its objects and provisions. Instead of the present proceedings in the Court of Chancery, it provided that if the parties should concur in stating the question in the form of a special case, upon which the matter at issue should be heard and at once decided; this would do away with bill, answers, inquiries in the master's office, and all the load of preliminary proceedings. The second branch of the bill gave protection to executors and trustees, who, under the existing practice, after honestly fulfilling their trusts, and paying over the residue to the legatees, might nevertheless be sued at the end of twenty, or even forty years, by persons having interest under a settlement.-Some remarks, generally favourable to the bill, were made by the SOLICITOR GENERAL and Mr. Page Woon, and the bill was read a second time. On Thursday the 13th, the County Courts Extension Bill was considered in committee. On the motion of the ATTORNEY-GENERAL, clauses were added to the following effect:-That the deputy judge shall not practise in districts where he acts as deputy; that the defendant may agree with the plaintiff about the debt, and enter a written agreement of the amount of the debt, on which the judge may adjudicate in the same manner as if he had tried the case in open court; that the clerk of each county court may select a jury when required, from a list of persons assessed for the poor at a rental of 201.; that the treasury may have the power of ordering the judges, clerks, and other officers, to be paid by salaries instead of fees; also a clause to the effect that if a plaintiff or his attorney do not appear on the day of hearing, costs may be awarded to the defendant for his trouble.-A clause, proposed by Mr. CROWDER, to give the right of appeal in all cases exceeding 201., was rejected by 108 to 25. Mr. EWART moved the committal of the Public Libraries and Museums Bill.-Colonel SIBTHORP said that he would much rather support a bill to encourage the amusements of peg-top, foot-ball, and cricket, and moved that the bill be committed that day six months. After much desultory talk the amendment was negatived by 87 to 21, and the house went into committee, but the chairman reported progress without any progress having been made.-The Marriages Bill was then proceeded with in committee, and the clauses were agreed to. Some debate took place on a motion by Colonel CHATTERTON that the bill should not extend to Ireland, which was rejected by 132 to 114. The Factory Bill, as amended in the committee, came under consideration on Friday the 14th. Lord ASHLEY moved a clause to prevent the labour of children from being taken at any other time of the day than between six in the morning and six in the evening. This amendment was resisted by Sir G. GREY on the ground that the bill did not relate to the labour of children; by Mr. BRIGHT on the ground that it would throw great masses of children out of employment; and by Mr. HUME on the ground that it would interfere with machinery and capital. It was supported by Mr. Edwards, Lord R. Grosvenor, and Mr. W. J. Fox; and negatived by a majority of one, the numbers being 160 to 159.-Lord John MANNERS moved another amendment, to the effect of restricting the labour of all hands to ten hours daily. After a debate of some length, in which the amendment was opposed principally by Sir G. Grey and Lord John Russell, it was negatived by 187 to 142. On Monday the 17th, the adjourned debate on the Abolition of the Lieutenancy of Ireland was resumed and concluded.-Sir R. PEEL expressed his willingness to support the measure as an experiment, though he had doubts as to its beneficial results. He advised the home secretary to take upon himself the functions of the proposed secretaryship for Ireland.--Mr. NAPIER opposed the bill, and said that Sir R. Peel's objections to the measure ought to have induced him to vote against the second reading of the bill, instead of for it.-Sir George GREY thought it desirable that the whole business of the secretary of state for home affairs should be managed by one man, and that the time might come when such an arrangement could be made, as in the case of Scotland, which for many years had a separate secretary of state; but this could not be accomplished at present.-Mr. SHEIL approved of the abolition of the vice-royalty, but contended that the government of Ireland ought not to be absorbed in the home office. The other speakers in favour of the bill were Mr. Sadleir, Lord Naas, and Colonel Thompson; against it, Mr. Roche, Mr. M'Cullagh, and Mr. Butler. The second reading was carried by 295 to 70. On Tuesday the 18th, Mr. BRIGHT moved an address to the Crown, praying for the appointment of a commission to inquire into the means of promoting an increased growth of Cotton in India. He observed that the cotton trade employed nearly two millions of British population, and had a greater capital engaged in it than any other trade in the United Kingdom; that India was peculiarly calculated for the |