NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 104, 19 October 1858, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

{From the Liverpool Daily Post, July 3.) ' The India Bill occupied the Commons the whole of yesterday, both at the morning and evening sitting. Impatient to get through it, the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed that the House should sit to-day ; and, if the clauses were not then got through, to proceed with them on Monday at noon. The sensible effect of the Thames water caused a simultaneous objection to this proposal ; and Mr. Disraeli, who never persists in anything unpleasant, gave way; therefore, the House does not meet until 4 o'clock on Monday. Several attempts at amendments were made in the committee on the India Bill, but without any flattering result: for, as there is a total absence of party tactics, members vote as if at random, but always giving Lord Stanley a majority. In the Upper House the Duke of Somerset moved the second reading of the Church-rates Abolition Bill. The Earl of Derby moved, as an amendment, that the Bill be read a second time that day three months, which was carried by a majority of ■• 151—the numbers being for the second reading 36 ; against it 187. The strength of a popular cause is, to a great extent, derived from unreasoning opposition to it. The tithes in Ireland were doomed when the Ministers set their faces against any alteration; and Lord Derby's , success last night, in throwing out the Church Rate Abolition Bill, secures its success next session, in all probability. Agitation has now got food to thrive, on, and the means of general annoyance is pointed out in the Westminster Review just published. Referring to the society for "the Liberation of Religion from State Patronage," the writer says:—"Their advice is, to apply to their office in Sergeant's Inn, for counsel and aid (gratuitous) in impugning and resisting a church-rate. They have issued the useful little manuals namedin our heading, by means of which any ratepayer may learn how to proceed, and may perceive that it is scarcely possible to lay and levy a rate where the parishioners think proper to use the existing law for resisting it. Such resistance is now a social duty : and it is a policy which must obtain speedy success. The ratepayers should endeavor to confine any rate which they cannot prevent to proper legal objects, —the repair of the church (except the chancel), the fencing and decent.order of the churchyard, one bell, sacramental bread and wine, books for the pulpit, washing the priest's surplice, and sweeping the church. It is 'only by consent of a majority in vestry that paymentsforornaments and comforts—the organist's salary, a peal of bells, carpets and cushions, a warming apparatus, &c, can be legalised; and there are objects which can by no means be made legal, though poor ratepayers are charged with them every day—such as visitation feasts, churchwardens' dinners, making a road, or augmenting clerical salaries. Let an eye be kept on all those items;. and also on the minute book, whether the entries are legal in all particulars, —which it appears they seldom are. ' Let the chairman be kept in order, or the rate refused if he makes any deviation from the legal course : and let no recusant put up with any transgression of their jurisdiction by the magistrates in petty sessions, any more than by the minister in the chair in vestry." The advice of the association has, it seems, been already acted upon. The Review adds:— " Our statesmen cannot have attended to the matter of late, or Lord Derby would not have exposed his ignorance as he did to the deputation in April, when he inquired whether any gentleman had ever thought of a method of providing a fund in the w,ay which had actually been a main one of Mr. Packe's bill of two years before ; and Lord John Russell would not go on lamenting to the last moment that the Reformers would listen.to no compromise, no plan of levying the same tax under another name. Mr. Bright was the faithful spokesman of a good many Churchmen as well as enlightened Dissenters, when he informed Lord John Russell and and some hal£dozen authors of compromises that the intention of the people is to get

rid of the tax altogether, as essentially intolerable. Whether the churches shall be kept in repair by funds obtained from church property, or by the voluntary contributions of those who use the edifices, is the real question for the church to consider. The rate is doomed; and to struggle to preserve it is simply loss of prestige, and labor in vain." There has been a Ministerial crisis in Spain, but no one was surprised to hear it. Faction predominates in the capital: and the Queen, as if playing at government, bestows her confidence on one party to-day, and on another to-morrow. Not long since O'Donnell was displaced, if not disgraced, but he is again in the ascendant; and taught by-the past, for he has had large experience in Cabinet intrigues, he may contrive to retain power for a longer period than he has ever done previously. Vigour, however, does not appear to appertain to any of the Spanish statesmen; for although they get great credit for energy, the results of energy are never apparent. We have two arrivals—one from the Brazils and one from the West Indies. Something like a Ministerial crisis was apprehended at Rie; but as there is a constitutional government to fall back upon, the change may possibly be for the better. Some commercial difficulties have arisen in the Brazils; but it is believed that they will be overcome, for' the houses affected are of long standing, of reputed wealth and of great respectability. Things appear to be quiet on the River Plate, and the yellow fever has totally disappeared. The news from the West Indies is entirely of a favorable character. Trade was good; the sugar crops throughout the islands abundant; Trinidad was flourishing, and coal had lately been discovered there. Labor was much required in Demerara, but the market was. fairly supported. We learn from Mexico that at Tampico the rebels had been defeated, and the communication was free. We have also a mail from the Cape of Good Hope. It is likewise of a most favorable character. The colony was flourishing and quiet. The first batch of emigrants by the Gipsy Bride had arrived in good health, and gave great satisfaction. Dr. Livingstone was received with enthusiasm, was treated to a dinner, was. presented with an address, and—something better —800 guineas. Five transports with horses had been despatched to India. We record to-day several serious disasters —a railway accident, and the explosion of a locomotive. Locally," there was a very interesting exhibition yesterday at the parade ground, Birchfield. The Liverpool police, under Major Greig, were inspected, by Colonel Woodford. Several officials and military gentlemen were on the ground, and, we believe, none of them had ever seen a finer body of men. They did great honor to the town, and great credit to the Head Constable and the officers under him. As yet, we have no intelligence of the arrival of the Agamemnon at Yalentia. It is mentioned as a curious fact in the news from Paris, that a Russian frigate has arrived in the Adriatic, and put herself under the direction of the commander of the French squadron. At a meeting of the London Dock Company to-day, the Chairman stated, with reference to the late fire, that the damage done to the Company's property did not j exceed £12,000, and that the amount was fully covered by insurance, while the value of goods and property stowed in their premises, destroyed or damaged by fire, amounted only to-between £50,000 and £60,000. At a meeting of the London Dock Company, held to-day, a dividend of £2 10s. per cent, for the half year was declared, and the report was unanimously adopted. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company have .received a telegram from Naples, stating that the steamer Panther, with the Bombay mails, arrived at Marseilles, at midnight on Thursday. The mails left for London at 10 o'clock this (Friday) morning. Yesterday afternoon the brigs Ocean, of Shoreham, and the Lustre, of Shields, which got jammed in -the entrance lock of the East India Dock, at Blackwall, were raised and towed out into the river, clear of the lock. Owing to their peculiar build, and the firm manner in which they were fixed, most extraordinary means had to be taken-in floating them. The brigs have the appearance of wrecks, and lie on the shore below the entrance. The mishap will involve a serious loss to the Company. The Times, in another leader, says there is reason to believe that Parliament will be prorogued before the end of the present month. L The Times compliments Lord Derby-for his conduct on the Oaths Bill, and says :— Exactly as the duke would have done in the same state of affairs, Lord Derby has postponed his own great aversion to the measure passed in the Lords, and all'the feelings that prompted him to an obstinate resistance.. He has sat down and deliberately estimated the public interest in the question. The evil- of standing out for ever is obvious. The concession declared, the word given, and the transaction agreed on, it is remarkable how quickly it was completed, and how little was said against it at this last closing scene of this very long controversy. The Times has much pleasure in announcing that the Turkish government has made ample satisfaction for the outrage on Mr. Fonblanque, the Consul-General, at Belgrade. The regiment to which the soldier who made the attack on Mr. Fonblanque belonged, has been withdrawn. The soldier and his officers have been sent to Constantinople for trial. The Pacha has personally expressed the regret of the 3?orte to the Consul, and salutes have been fired in honor of the British flag. •■■■

A female has been appointed a .clerk(in the New York Post-office to attend the window at which ladies.apply for letters.