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ter acquirements , and experience in examinations render them peculiarly fitted for the duty . —The Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed a hope that Mr . Deasy would not persevere in his motion . Oa a division , the motion was negatived by 44 to 35 .
FRANKXIS EXPEDITION . Mr . Napier called attention to the communications with her Majesty ' s Government respecting another Franklin expedition , and the urgent nature of the claim for a further and complete search . He also moved for papers . — Captain Scobell seconded the motion . — Admiral Walcott could not support the motion . He could see nothing upon which the slightest hope of success could rest . —Sir Charles Wood concurred entirely in the opinions expressed by the previous speaker . As long as there was any chance or reason to hope that
some of the survivors of the expedition might be found , successive Governments spared neither risk nor expense in fitting out expeditions in search of them . Upwards of 610 , 000 J . had been expended in such expeditions . The Government had a painful duty to perform ; but their conviction -was , that there was do hope , and that they were not justified in risking more valuable lives . Neither did he thinfc there was any chance of recovering the logbooks or other documents . —After further discussion , the motion for papers was withdrawn . The House shortly afterwards adjourned .
Wednesday , February 2 5 th . SKA-COAST FISHERIES BILL ( iKELAND ) . In the House of Commons , Mr . M'Mahon moved the second reading of this bill , which was opposed by Mr . Fitzgerald , who moved to defer the second reading for aix months . The bill was also opposed by Mr . Napiee , Mr . George Butt , Mr . Grogan , Mr . Meaghek , Lord STaas , Captain Bellew , Colonel Dunne , and Mr . O'Flaherty ; and was supported by Mr . Kennedy , Mr . BowrER , and Captain Scobelx .- —Mr . M'Mahon having replied , and stated that his object was merely to make Irish fishermen as free as Englishmen to fish upon the high seas , the House divided , when the amendment was carried by 185 to 10 ; so that the bill is lost . JUDGMENTS EXECUTION , &C , BILL .
The House then -went again into committee upon this bill ; but , after . ^ a division upon the first clause , adverse to the views of the framer , Mr . Craufurd , the Chairman reported progress , in order that that gentleman might determine whether he would proceed further with the bill . The report upon Savings Banks was brought up , and agreed to . The Commons Enclosure Bill was read a third time , and passed .
Thursday , February 26 th . THE LAW OF LIBEL . In the House of Lords , Lord Campbell moved for a select committee to consider whether the privilege now enjoyed by reports of proceedings of courts of justice may be safely extended to reports of proceedings of the two Houses of Parliament , and of other assemblies and public meetings . —Lord "Wensleydaxe briefly supported the motion , considering that the present anomalous state of the law on the question renders inquiry into its principles necessary .
THE CHINESE DEBATE . The adjourned debate on the Earl of Derby ' s motion was then resumed ; but the various speeches delivered did not add much to the arguments of Tuesday night . The contention again mainly turned on the assertion by the one party that the lorcha was not an English vessel , and on that of the other side that it was . In support of the motion , the House was addressed by the Earl of Carnarvon , Lord St . Leonards ( who argued that , by the Imperial law , which no colonial ordinance can set aside , a vessel cannot be considered English unless owned by an English subject ) , the Earl of Malmesbury ( who waived the quostion of legality , but condemned our reprisals as excessive ) ,
the Bishop of Oxford ( who spoke from a religious point of view ) , and the Earl of Ellknborough ( who said he believed that no insult to the English flag had been intended "b y the Chinese , and who attributed all the disasters to Dr . Bowling ' s monomania for entering China ) . — The motion was opposed by Lord MIkthuen , Earl Gkanvilho , and Lord Wenslkydale , the last of whom argued that the distance from China is too remote to permit , in case of hostilities , of a course so dilatory as sending homo to the Government for instructions , and who contended that the English flag was flying at the time , that the Chinese wantonly insulted that flag , that tho vesaol was to all intents and purposes an English vessel , and
always failed , with the Portuguese , the Dutch , and ourselves . He trusted the Government would deny a report that they were about to send an envoy to Pekin . On their Lordships dividing , there appeared for the motion : — Content—Present 53 Proxies .... 57 — 110 Not Content—Present . 71 Proxies . 75
Rotterdam had been prevented , in consequence nf -7 having the disease .-Mr . Henry BAiLLiSeV ^ 1 ther the importation of cattle from places wtSe « L J ° " ease existed would be prohibited for a limited J •! l -Mr . Lo ^ said the Board of Trade had ^ T ^ f do so . ¦ f ^ ner to
—146 Majority against the motion ...... 36 Their Lordships then adjourned . The same question formed the subject of a long debate in the House of Commons , where Mr . Cobden anoved"That this House has heard , with concern of the conflicts which have occurred between the British and Chinese authorities in the Canton river ; and , without expressing an opinion as to the extent to which the Government of China may have afforded this country cause of complaint
respecting the non-fulfilment of the treaty of 1842 , this House considers that the papers which have fceen laid upon t"he table fail to establish satisfactory grounds for the violent measures resorted to at Canton in the late affair of the Arrow ; and that a select committee be appointed to inquire into the state of our commercial relations with China . " In support of this motion , Mr . Cobden urged several considerations , of a nature equivalent to those contained in Lord Derby ' s speech in the House of Lords on Tuesday . We had picked a quarrel with the Chinese in a manner which would cause all the world to
cry shame on us . 1 he papers laid before the House gave only a garbled account of the affair , and contained trumpery complaints against the Chinese . Letters had been received from Sir John Davis , testifying to the civility and inoffensive habits of the Chinese ; while , on the other hand , the demeanour of Englishmen in foreign countries is too often haughty , violent , and selfish . He ( Mr . Cobden ) admitted our right to enter Canton , but thought it would be dangerous , the Cantonese being fierce , ungovernable , and hostile to the English . Sir John ~ Bo wring had frequently acted in opposition to the principles of international law , and even to tlie express instructions of his Government , during the Foreign Secretaryships of Lords Grey , MalmesDury , and Granville . Our quarrel was " a dirty" one , and he , believed the American Government was opposed to it . —Mr . MiLNEK Gibson seconded the motion .
Mr . Labouchere , in opposing the motion , accused Mr . Cobden of libelling the character of English merchants ; asserted that the conduct of the Chinese had become intolerable ; denied that Sir John Bowring had acted in contravention of the orders of Lord Grey when that nobleman was in power ; and maintained that the lorcha -was English . —The contrary view was upheld by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton , who said that , since the treaty of Nankin , the regulations of the Government of Hong-Kong could not confer English privileges on the lorcha . —Mr . Lloyd Davies opposed the motion , which was also resisted by Sir John Ramsden , Mr . Gregson , and Mr . Lowe , the last of whom observed that the question was not merely one of legality , but of animus , and that the Chinese animus was clearly bad .
Ore the other side , Admiral Herbert ( who > had served in China ) was of opinion that the proceedings of the English were inconsiderate , and that , even if any offence had been committed , the punishment had been immeasurably excessive . —Sir Ekskink Perky believed that the motion was founded in truth ; and Lord John Russell said that the hostilities ought not to have been entered on without a reference to the Homo Government . A grave' responsibility rested upon Ministers for sanctioning the course taken by Sir John Bowring and Sir Michael Seymour . The Government ought to say what are the demands which they have made on the Chinese authorities ; and the House of Commons should declare that it will be no party to so great a prostitution of England ' s power as had takon place at Canton . Much had been said about the prestige of this country ; but he had no wish to see it maintained apart from character , honour , and reputation .
On the motion of Mr . Warren , the debate was adjourned to Friday . Previous to tho debate , some questions wore asked of Government ; among others , one on tho subject of
DECIMAL COINAGE . In answer to Mr . Beamish , tho Chanoeh :.. ou of the Exciucqukr said the commission to inquire into the expediency of adopting tho decimal coinage was dated October , 1855 , and tho commissioners had held eighteen sittings . He had been in communication with tho commissioners ' , and he had received in writing a statement bearing on tho subject of their proceedings . They proposed to make a preliminary report to the Crown on the evidence they had obtained . He could not say , howover , when this report might bo expected .
THIS MURRAIN . In answer to Mr . Stakkokd , Mr . Lowk said his attention had lieon called to tho reports of disease , amongst cattle in Central Europe , and ho had communicated with tho l ' oreign-office , in order that information might bo obtained from consuls on the subject . He bud also communicated with the Customs to prevent disouacd cattle from boing landed , and tho landing of a calf from
that , in point of fact , tho license had not expired , it being a rule in such matters that , irrespective of any given date , tho license is considered in . force for tho entire period of the vessol ' s voyage to and from its port . )—Tho Government was also defended by tho Earl of Albkmaulk , who said that , it tho Arrow was a lorcha , it was clearly not a Chinese vesaol , for tho Chinese possess no bucU vessels , and nro forbidden , to have thorn . The lorcha is a privileged class of vessel , which was introduced by tho Portugne 3 o and adopted by tho English for convenience' eako . Ho was one of those wlio considered that this collision with Canton was inevitable . Howovor , ho was opposed to any attempt to establish regular diplomatic relations with China , such attempts having
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STATE OF TRADE . The trade of the manufacturing towns during ««> ending last Saturday exhibited ™ alter £ AtT Chester , the-progress of . business would be saSS ^ but for the uncertainty caused by the W nil ^ cotton . At Birmingham , the iron market ifwf / tamed , and there is fair employment in all the ot ^ manufactures of the town . The Nottingha ^ reptrjf scribes continued animation both in hosiery ami l . In the woollen districts there has been increased actiS at firm , prices , and in the Irish linen markets the tJ . dency has been towards a decline .- — Times The general business of the port of London during « ,-same week was small . The number of vessels rented inwards was 81 , bring 47 less than in theprw taKSS and the number cleared outward was 93 , including 10 in ballast , showing a decrease of 13 . Idem .
The Board of Trade have issued an account of the Customs duties received during the past year as com pared with the two preceding years . In every one of the thirteen principal articles an increase is exhibited It ia to be noticed that the sum raised from all articles beyond the thirteen specified is only 544 , 940 / ., and the public will be surprised to learn that , according to a return lately obtained by Mr . Ewart , ; there are still 139 descriptions of goods held liable to duty which severally yield to the revenue a less amount than 10 , 000 ? . Out of these 139 there are 31 which do not bring in so much as 202 . each . From the figures for 1855 , it appears that ammunition , essence of spruce , manna croup , and perfumed powder , contributed 11 . each to the national exchequer . —Idem .
There have been some failures among the Greek houses in the City—viz ., Messrs . FrangLuadi and Sons , with liabilities , principally on acceptances , for 80 , O 00 £ , and assets which show an apparent surplus ; Messrs Vuros Brothers ; . and Messrs . P . Sinanides and Co . The liabilities in the two last cases are not supposed to be heavy . Mr . J . Basilio , a Greek merchant of Manchester , has also suspended , as well as Fustana and Co ., of Liverpool , wiih liabilities estimated at 60 , 0007 .
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THE GREAT COLLIERY EXPLOSION . The proprietors of the Lundhill pit held a meeting on the morning of Friday week , at which several persons from the surrounding districts interested in collieries attended by invitation , to consult on the best means to pursue for extinguishing the fire which had resulted from the explosion . Mr . Coe , Mr . Webster , of the WombwcU Main Colliery , Mr . Maddison , of the Holland and Elsecar pits , and some others , had gone to the bottom of one of the shafts , to investigate the state of the mine ; and Mr . Webster gave to the meeting the subjoined account of the results of this perilous undertaking-:
—" On getting to the bottom of the shaft , they found that the lower portion of the slides and l ) roadgates were entirely blown up and destroyed , and on proceeding further they found the coal around the furnace was in a complete state of ignition . Tho coal and woodwork in the upcast shaft had taken fire , and the flames were raging furiously . He could compare it to nothing but to a stream of molten metal being poured down the shaft . They proceeded about two hundred or two hundred and fifty yards along the south level , and found the whole of the furnace down , and the coal on fire . They proceeded up the levels and broadgates as far as they dared
to venture , until they came in contact with tho foul air , and were obliged to retreat . They returned to the shaft , and then made an examination of the north levels , along which they proceeded for a distance of four hundred yards , up to the fourth broadgate . During the investigation they found many dead bodies , and tho men who accompanied them brought the remains to the shaft . One man was found dead close to the bottom of the shaft ; further on they found ten bodies in a mass . Not far from the furnace it was supposed that a large , number of bodies wwo lying , as tho men generally congregated near tho fire at dinner time . The furnace was blown
down , and the stables ( containing six horses ) were on fire . When they got near the upcast shaft they saw immense musses of coal and rock falling down . The shaft was like a furnace . Tho difturenco in tho state of the lire when he entered tho f > it and wliim lie left it was very great . They were in the pit abov « two hours . The stoppages and brattices between the two shafts were complutoly blown away , and , therefore , except in tho level , tho pit was dead—i . e ., full of bad air . They lie
would have succeeded in putting up stoppages , but ( lire increased to such an extent that they wero obliged to retreiif . They wore ho plncori ihnt if tlmy h »< l " ^ retreated th « y would have been excluded from the nir aud Hiifl'ocated , because the air was ' backing' direct from one . shaft to tho other . Ho , Mr . Con , and Mr . Mnrfilison ascended the shaft and held a consultation ; but tlicir companions aaciirted in haste , saying that , it whs im |>« 9-Hiblu for any 0110 to remain down any longer . Of coume they then considered it their duty to acquaint tlio owners
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196 ¦ ' THE LEADER , ; [ No . 362 , Sattjbdav — — = ——* - ^——^^^ B 1 $
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1857, page 196, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2182/page/4/
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