1853. 8.-Mr. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer, brings forward his resolutions on the National Debt. His plan consisted of three parts: First, the liquidation of certain minor stocks amounting to 9,500,000l.; second, a change in the issue of Exchequer Bonds; and third, a voluntary commutation of the Three per Cent. Consols and the Three per Cent. Reduced, making together a capital of nearly 500,000,000l., thereby laying the foundation of a permanent irredeemable Two and a Half per Cent. Stock, which was the ultimate aim of the Government, and the key to the resolutions he submitted to the House. These resolutions, after considerable discussion, were agreed to. 11. The Lord Chancellor moves the second reading of a bill for altering the punishment of transportation. He thought they should only leave as subjects for transportation those who were now liable for fourteen years and upwards, including cases of receiving stolen goods, outrages, assaults on the person, attempts to do grievous bodily harm, housebreaking, burglary, and cattle-stealing. For the remaining class, he thought that those who would have been transported for seven years should henceforth be kept in penal servitude for four, and so on in proportion up to fifteen, for which term he proposed ten years' penal servitude. House of Commons, Mr. Keating objected to In the the ticket-of-leave clauses; but the bill ultimately passed the Commons as it came from the Lords. 12.-Mr. Butt moves the presentation of an address to the Queen, praying that the orders given for the gradual abolition of Kilmainham Hospital may be cancelled. The motion was opposed by the Secretary of War, chiefly on the ground that the pensioners preferred out-door relief; but on a division the House authorized the address by a majority of 198 to 131. The foundation-stone of the first Model Lodging-house, erected by the Society for Improving the Dwellings of the Working Classes, laid in New-street, Golden-square, by the Duke of Cambridge. 14. Mr. Milner Gibson's resolution for abolishing the advertisement-duty carried against Government by 200 to 169. The resolutions proposed at the same time relative to the stamp and paper duties were negatived by considerable majorities. Seizure of gunpowder and war rockets in a house in Rotherhithe, reported by the Times to be in possession of M. Kossuth. debate which took place in Parliament on the In the subject next evening, the exile's friends denied that he was in any way mixed up in the transaction. 15.-The Jewish Disabilities Bill read a third time in the House of Commons: majority, 288 to 230. 18. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a speech of five hours' duration, introduces the financial scheme of the Government. The main (380) features were the extension of the legacy-duty, gradual reduction of the Income-tax, equalization of spirit duties, abolition of soap-duty, universal penny receipt stamp, reduction of duty on cabs and hackney-coaches, and the equalization of assessed taxes. The resolutions moved in terms of the Budget showed that 123 articles at present paying duty would be set free altogether, and in the case of 133 the present duties were to be reduced. The total relief he estimated at 5,384,000l. On the subject of the Income-tax-the colossal engine of financeMr. Gladstone said :-"If the Committee have followed me, they will see that we stand on the principle that the Income-tax ought to be marked as a temporary measure; that the public feeling that relief should be given to intelligence and skill, as compared with property, ought to be met, and may be met; that the Income-tax in its operation ought to be mitigated by every rational means compatible with its integrity; and, above all, that it should be associated in the last terms of its existence, as it was in its first, with those remissions of indirect taxation which have so greatly redounded to the profit of this country, and have set so admirable an example-an example that has already in some quarters proved contagious -to the other nations of the earth. I may be permitted to add, that while we have sought to do justice, by the changes we propose in taxation, to intelligence and skill as compared with property-while we have sought to do justice to the great labour community of England by furthering their relief from indirect taxation—we have not been guided by any desire to put one class against another; we have felt we should best maintain our own honour, that we should best meet the views of Parliament, and best promote the interests of the country, by declining to draw any invidious distinction between class and class-by adopting it to ourselves as a sacred aim to diffuse and distribute the burdens if we must, and the benefits if we can, with equal and impartial hand; and we have the consolation of believing, that by proposals such as these we contribute as far as in us lies, not only to develop the material resources of the country, but to knit the various parts of this great nation yet more closely than ever to that throne and to those institutions under which it is our happiness to live.” 22.—A body of peasantry, under the direc tions of the Jesuits, attempt to seize Friburg, but are driven into the College, and surren der to the Civic Guards after the loss of a few lives. 25.-In a debate on Lord Derby's amend ment on the Canada Clergy Reserves Bill, the Bishop of Oxford took occasion to read an extract from Burke, illustrative of the statement that the Americans became untractable whenever they saw the least attempt to wrest freedom from them by force, or shuffle it from them by chicane.-The Earl of Derby would not admit that by this amendment they at tempted either to wrest by force" or "shuffle by chicane." The Bishop of Oxford would, he was sure, regret the use of such expressions, and think some apology due for having so pointedly characterised the amendment. It was an application of terms which could not be made without giving offence.-The Bishop of Oxford explained, that he had made the allusion with a smile, in a playful way, and had no intention to do what was offensive. At the same time, he must remind the noble Earl, that to speak of the promoters of this bill as advocating a shuffling and shifting policy was calculated to prove offensive to them, as he believed it had proved to his noble friends near him.-The Earl of Derby: "My Lords, I accept at once the explanation which has been offered by the right reverend prelate but when he tells me that it is impossible for him to say anything offensive because he has a smiling face, he will forgive me if I quote in his presence from a well-known author, without intending in the least to apply the words to him 'A man may smile, and smile, and be a villain.' (Cheers, laughter, and some deprecatory remarks.) I am at a loss to conceive to whom what I say can be offensive.". -The Earl of Clarendon (interposing with great energy and (Loud excitement of manner): "It is to me. cheers.) It is to me, I say. (Renewed cheering.) I and my noble friends near me were offended by that expression. We are not accustomed to hear such expressions. (Repeated and prolonged cheering.) We are not accustomed, even in the language of poetry, to hear such a word as 'villain' applied to any noble Lord in this House. (Loud cheering.)"-The Earl of Derby thought this interference uncalled for, and somewhat angrily explained that he meant nothing personally offensive. The amendment was rejected by a majority of 40. 28.-Died at Berlin, aged 80, Ludwig Tieck, German writer. 29. The Government Jewish Disabilities Bill thrown out in the House of Lords on the second reading by a majority of 49. Wreck of the Rebecca, of London, on the west coast of Van Diemen's Land, while She on her passage home from Sydney. struck on a reef when sailing at the rate of 84 knots an hour, and drifted shoreward, where she went to pieces under a heavy sea. persons on board only II were saved. Of 30 30.-Mendaco and Maria Giusto hanged on the mole at Genoa for murdering the wife of the former. May 2.-The Budget resolutions relating to the Income-tax carried, after three nights' debate, by 323 to 252 votes. 3.-Wreck of the American emigrant ship William and Mary, in the channel of the Bahamas, and less of 170 lives. The captain, most of the crew, and about thirty passengers got off in two of the boats, and were picked up by passing vessels. 4. The city of Shiraz, in Persia, visited by an earthquake, in which it was reported that no less than 10,000 of the inhabitants were overwhelmed. 5.-Prince Menschikoff presents his ultimatum to the Porte, in the shape of a note accompanied by the draught of a proposed convention or arrangement which the Porte was to sign within five days, under a threat of serious consequences if a longer delay took place. The note (which was written in the third person, in the name of the Ambassador) demanded that "The Orthodox Eastern religion, its clergy, and its possessions, shall enjoy for the future, without any prejudice, under the protection of his Majesty the Sultan, the privileges and immunities which are assured to them ab antiquo, and, upon the principle of perfect equity, shall participate in the advantages accorded to the other Christian sects.' He could not consider any delay in answering other "than as a want of respect towards his Government, which would impose on him the most painful duty." After an interview with our Ambassador Rifaat Pasha wrote on the 10th that, while the Porte was willing to negotiate with respect to certain of the demands made by Russia, it was "contrary to international rights that our Government should conclude a treaty with another on a dangerous matter, affecting not only those things on which her independence was grounded, but, as was well known, her independence itself in its very foundations." On the 12th Prince Menschikoff succeeded in obtaining a private audience of the Sultan ; but his Highness having previously been informed by the English Ambassador that, in the event of imminent danger, he was instructed to request the aid of her Majesty's fleet in the Mediterranean, the Russian Envoy did not succeed in his attempt to turn the Sultan from the line of policy advised by England, viz. to treat as two distinct things the original question of the Holy Places and this new claim for a Russian Protectorate under a secret treaty. The Ottoman Council declining to enter into the treaty or convention required by Russia, Prince Menschikoff took his departure from Constantinople with the Embassy on the 15th. Having ascertained on leaving that the Sultan was about to issue a firman confirming the privileges of the Greek Church, Prince Men schikoff wrote to the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs: "Whatever may be the motive of this determination, a declaration or any other act which, although it may preserve the integrity of the purely spiritual right of the Orthodox Eastern Church, tends to invalidate the other rights, privileges, and immunities accorded to her religion and clergy from the most ancient times, and which they enjoy to the present moment, will be considered by the Imperial Cabinet as an act of hostility to Russia and to her religion." In Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Lawless made a motion to exempt Ireland from the Income-tax. A "scene" was created (381) 1853. by Mr. Duffy's declaration "that in the worst 6. Commencement of the sale of Louis Philippe's Spanish and Standish galleries at Christie's. The first, containing 528 pictures, produced 27,000l.; and the second, 244 pictures, 10,000 guineas. Professor W. E. Aytoun (Edinburgh) commences a course of lectures on poetry and dramatic literature at Willis's Rooms. 8.-Died at Rome, where he was held in high regard, Father Roothan, General of the Jesuits. 9.-Royal assent given to the Canada Clergy Reserves Bill, abolishing the title of the Protestant clergy to certain portions of waste lands in the colony. 10. By a majority of 138 to 115 votes Mr. T. Chambers obtains leave to introduce a bill for facilitating the recovery of personal liberty in nunneries. Attempt made to extort money from Mr. Gladstone, by charging him with improper conduct towards a female in the Haymarket. Walking home from the Italian Opera, whither he had gone in his brougham after the division on the Nunneries Bill, he was accosted by one of the unfortunates frequenting that locality. While listening to her story, a person named Wilson stepped forward, and addressing him by name, said he would expose him in the Morning Herald, unless a sum of money was paid there and then, or a situation promised in Somerset House. After some little delay, during which the female passed into her lodgings, a policeman was procured, and the offender given into custody. He was tried at the Central Criminal Court, on the 15th of June, and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour. 12.-Opening of the Dublin Exhibition, erected by Mr. Dargan, for displaying works of industry to his countrymen by way of encouragment and example. The ceremony was performed by the Lord Lieutenant (the Earl of St. Germains), accompanied by the Countess and a large train of Irish nobility and gentry, knights of St. Patrick, officials, and dignitaries. (382) MAY 15.-Proclamation of the new Constitution of the Argentine Confederation. 17.-Destruction by fire of Brogden's North Shore Cotton Mills, Liverpool. Advantage had been taken of the absence of the workmen during the Whitsun holidays to execute repairs in the machinery, and it was supposed the disaster originated through the carelessness of some of the tradesmen thus employed. The value of the buildings, machinery, and goods destroyed was estimated at 80,000l. The Governor of Jamaica, in opening the Legislature, censures both Houses for attempt ing, under cover of providing for the principal supplies, to appropriate its grants so as to defeat former permanent appropriations. At the annual meeting of the British and 19.-The ship Argyll foundered at sea near 24. The Edinburgh Adelphi Theatre de- 27.-In answer to Mr. Disraeli, Lord John Russell said that the most perfect confidence and accordance subsisted between her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople and the Ambas sador of the Emperor of the French. They each took the same view of the Russian proposals In the present state of the negotiations, it would be improper to produce the instructions upon which Lord Stratford acted; but he might say the policy which dictated them was that of maintaining inviolate the faith of treaties and the independence of Turkey. 30.-Lord John Russell declines to inform Mr. Disraeli whether or not the British fleet had been ordered to the Dardanelles. Election of Chamberlain for the City of London. Sir John Key, alderman of the ward of Bridge Without, and twice Lord Mayor, the candidate started by the Corpora tion, obtained 3,185 votes, against Mr. Scott, of the Chamberlain's office, who polled 2,914 This was the largest number of the Livery who ever voted in such a contest. The withdrawal of the Russian Envoy from Constantinople being now fully confirmed, a sudden reduction takes place in Consols. The market closed heavily to-day 1001. Next day they fell a }, owing it was thought, to the silence observed by Ministers regarding the probable movements of the fleet. 31.-Lord Lyndhurst's Alteration of Oaths Bill, designed to strike out such portions from the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration as were inoperative, idle, and absurd, thrown out in the House of Lords, on a second reading, by a majority of 15. Count Nesselrode writes to Redschid Pasha, at Constantinople: "Place once more the real situation of affairs before his Highness; the moderation and the justice of the demand of Russia; the very great insult done to the Emperor by opposing to his intentions, which have constantly been friendly and generous, unfounded mistrust and inexcusable refusals. The dignity of his Majesty, the interests of his empire, the voice of his conscience, do not permit him to accept such proceedings in return for those which he has had, and still wishes to entertain, with Turkey. He must seek to obtain their reparation, and to provide against their recurrence in future. In a few weeks the troops will receive the order to cross the frontiers of the empire, not to wage war, which it is repugnant to his Majesty to undertake against a Sovereign whom it has always pleased him to consider a sincere ally, but to obtain those material guarantees until the moment when, brought to more equitable sentiments, the Ottoman Government will give to Russia the moral securities which she has in vain demanded for two years through her representatives at Constantinople, and in the last instance by her Ambassador. The draft of the note which Prince Menschikoff presented to you is in your hands. Let your Excellency hasten, after having obtained the consent of his Highness the Sultan, to sign that note sans variantes, and to transmit it without delay to our Ambassador at Odessa, where he still sojourns.' Redschid Pasha replied :- . "I entertain the hope that the Court of Russia will appreciate with a feeling of confident consideration the sincere and loyal intentions of the Sublime Porte, and will take into account the utter impossibility in which it finds itself to defer to the desires which have been expressed. Let that impossibility be appreciated as it merits to be, and the Sublime Porte, I can assure your Excellency, will not hesitate to instruct an Ambassador Extraordinary to proceed to St. Petersburgh to reopen there the negotiations, and to seek, in concert with the Government of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia, an rangement which, while it may be agreeable to his Majesty, shall be also such as the Porte La accept without affecting either the basis of independence or the sovereign authority of is Majesty the Sultan." Mr. G. H. Moore's motion for a select Committee to inquire into the ecclesiastical evenues of Ireland, with a view of ascertaining How far they could be made applicable to the benefit of the Irish people, rejected by 240 to 58 votes. Lord John Russell created some discussion in the House, and a temporary split in the Ministerial ranks, by denying that the Roman Catholics were in a state of social and political degradation, or had any social inequalities to complain of. "If Roman Catholics of former years," he said, "have expressed gratitude for concessions made in their favour, they are extremely unlike some of the Roman Catholics of the present day, who have met the largest concessions of Parliament with reproaches and revilings; as if they wish to prove how much they differ from their ancestors, and to make up for their exuberance of loyalty and attachment to their country." It was evident of late years that the Roman Catholic clergy have aimed at political power at variance with the due attachment of the Crown, the liberties of the subject, and the general course of liberty. He was obliged, therefore, to conclude most unwillingly, but decidedly, that the endowment of the Roman Catholic religion in Ireland was a measure which the Parliament of this country ought not to sanction. June 1.-Count Nesselrode sends from St. Petersburg a despatch informing Baron Brunow of the Emperor's intention to occupy the Principalities. On the same day a despatch was forwarded from the Foreign Office here to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, authorizing him in certain specified contingencies to send for the fleet, which would then repair to such place as he might point out. Next day instructions were sent to Admiral Dundas to proceed at once to the neighbourhood of the Dardanelles, and there place himself in communication with her Majesty's Ambassador. - Lord Hotham's Judges Exclusion Bill thrown out in the Commons on the motion for a third reading. Mr. Macaulay addressed the House with great vigour against the bill. There was no more reason, he said, for excluding judges from the House of Commons than from the House of Lords, where every member was in some measure a judge. Without affording any compensating benefit whatever, it was a measure which would lower the influence and lessen the usefulness of the House of Commons. At the Custom House, tea deliveries at the reduced duty are made to-day to the amount of 200,000/. 2.-Explosion on board the Times screwsteamer in Dublin harbour. Two of the passengers were killed on the spot, and ten died after their removal to the hospital. 3. Sir Charles Wood introduces the new Bill for the government of India, in a speech of five hours' length. He proposed to continue the relations of the Board of Control to the Board of Directors as they stand, but to change the constitution and limit the patronage of the Court of Directors. The thirty members of the Court were to be reduced to eighteentwelve elected in the usual way, and six nominated by the Crown from persons who have been Indian servants for ten years. With rcspect to patronage, now entirely in the hands 1853. of the Court of Directors, it was proposed to do away altogether with nomination by favour, and to make civil and scientific appointments depend on merit alone. The bill gave rise to frequent and lengthy discussions in the Commons, but was finally passed, with some trifling amendments, on the 28th of July. Sir John Pakington's motion for abolishing the salt monopoly was carried against the Government by 117 to 107. In the House of Lords the bill was severely criticised by Lord Ellenborough, but was ultimately carried through all its stages there, and in due course received the Royal Assent. 3.-Messrs. Keogh, Monsell, and Sadleir, having resigned their appointments under Lord Aberdeen, in consequence of the language used by Lord J. Russell regarding the Catholic religion in the debate on the ecclesiastical revenues of Ireland, Lord Aberdeen now writes to these members of his party: "While the vote on that occasion had the sanction of the Government, the reasons for that vote given by Lord John Russell, and the sentiments of which you complain, are not shared by me, nor by many of my colleagues." led to a withdrawal of the resignations. This explanation 5.-Fire on the premises of the Patent Gutta Percha Company, City-road, and destruction of property valued at 100,000/. The flames spread to two vessels lying in the basin, and from them to a range of warehouses on the opposite side. Among the premises destroyed were a Patent Fire-wood Factory and the works of a Patent Cooperage Company. 6.-Wreck of the Nessree, thirty-five miles south of Bombay, and loss of about 350 passengers, chiefly Indian pilgrims coming from Arabia. 8.-Drummond's (Duke de Melfort) Restitution Bill read a second time in the House of Lords; the object, as explained by the Lord Chancellor, being the removal of the attainder against the earldom of Perth, forfeited for the adherence of the fifth Earl to the fortunes of the Stuarts in the Rebellion of 1745. 9.-Gavazzi riots in Canada. the reverend padre was thrown out of his At Quebec pulpit, and at Montreal the disturbance was so serious that the military called out to repress it were compelled to fire in self-defence. Seven persons were killed on the spot, six severely or mortally wounded, and ten or twelve others slightly injured. During the Commemoration at Oxford, the Earl of Derby is installed as Chancellor, and a large number of his friends and political supporters receive the honorary degree of D.C.L. 10.-Exhibited in Wyld's Globe, Leicestersquare, a nugget found at Ballarat diggings, sixty-six feet below the surface, weighing 134 lbs. 11 oz., and valued at 6,000l. 11. In the House of Commons, Mr. Keogh entered into an examination of the charges (384) JUNE made against him with reference to the forma⚫ 12.-Count Nesselrode addresses a circular 13.-The Morning Herald affirms that the Premier, and also the Earl of Clarendon, were some time since fully acquainted with the designs of Russia, and approved of them. The Times of the 16th contained a semiofficial explanation, that the knowledge of the Cabinet was confined solely to the alleged violations by Turkey of treaties concerning the Holy Places. 14.-Formation of a military encampment on Chobham Common, the force comprising four regiments of cavalry, three battalions of Guards, two brigades of infantry, each com prising three regiments, one troop of Royal Horse Artillery, three batteries of Horse Artillery, a company of Sappers, and a PonA variety of military displays were made in the presence of large gatherings between the 21st of June, when operations in the field commenced, and the 20th of August, when the camp broke up. toon train. 16.-More personal explanations in the House of Commons between Mr. Keogh, Lord Naas, and others, as to the offer of office to the former by Lord Derby. 21.-St. John's College, Hurstpierpoint, a Middle Class Training Institution, opened. The Liverpool Election Committee report that they found neither Mr. Turner nor Mr. Forbes Mackenzie duly elected to serve in the present Parliament. 22.-Martin Kossta, a Hungarian by birth, but now an affiliated citizen of the United States, seized by the Austrian authorities at Smyrna as a rebel. rendered to Captain_Ingraham of the United He was afterwards surStates corvette, St. Louis. 23. In the debate on the second reading of the India Bill, Lord Stanley, in a very thin House, moved, "That further information is necessary to enable Parliament to legislate with advantage for the permanent government of India; and that at this late period of the session it is inexpedient to proceed with a measure which, while it disturbs existing ar |