Commons' Amendments (or mutilations, as his Lordship termed them) on the Charitable Trusts Bill, were agreed to. The Limited Liability Bill was read a third time, after a short discussion. On the question that "the bill do pass," a clause was added on the motion of Lord Stanley, giving the Board of Trade power to nominate auditors of the accounts of companies formed under the Bill.

(LORDS.) The language of the Solicitor-General in the Aug. Lower House respecting the judicial proceedings of their 13. Lordships' House, as a Court of Appeal, was sharply criticised and rebuked by Lord St. Leonards, Lord Campbell, and the Lord Chancellor. (COMMONS.) Explanations were offered by Lord Palmerston with respect to the prosecution of the war during the recess, in reply to Sir De Lacy Evans. The noble Lord was interrupted by the House being summoned to the

Aug.

14.

(LORDS.) Where the Royal assent having been given by Commission to the Exchequer Bills (7,000,000l.), Turkish Loan, Irish Crime and Outrage, Sale of Beer, Metropolitan Local Management, Limited Liability, Charitable Trust, Criminal Justice, Religious Worship, Dispatch of Business (Court of Chancery), and 65 other public and private bills, the Lord Chancellor read the Royal Speech, as follows:-"MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,-We are commanded by Her Majesty to release you from further attendance in Parliament, and, at the same time, to express the warm acknowledgments of Her Majesty for the zeal and assiduity with which you have applied yourselves to the discharge of your public duties during a long and laborious session.

"Her Majesty has seen with great satisfaction that, while you have occupied yourselves in providing means for the vigorous prosecution of the war, you have given your attention to many measures of great public utility. Her Majesty is convinced that you will share her satisfaction at finding that the progress of events has tended to cement more firmly that union which has so happily been established between her Government and that of her ally the Emperor of the French; and Her Majesty trusts that an alliance founded on a sense of the general interests of Europe, and consolidated by good faith, will long survive the events which have given rise to it, and will contribute to the permanent wellbeing and prosperity of the two great nations whom it has linked together in the bonds of honourable friendship.

"The accession of the King of Sardinia to the treaty between Her Majesty, the Emperor of the French, and the Sultan, has given additional importance and strength to such alliance, and the efficient force which his Sardinian Majesty has sent to the seat of war to co-operate with the allied armies will not fail to maintain the high reputation by which the army of Sardinia has ever been distinguished.

"Her Majesty has commanded us to thank you for having enabled her to avail herself, as far as has been required, of those patriotic offers of extended service which she has received from the militia of the United Kingdom, and for the means of reinforcing her brave army in the Crimea by an enlistment of volunteers from abroad.

"Her Majesty acknowledges with satisfaction the measure which you have adopted for giving effect to the convention by which, in conjunction with her ally the Emperor of the French, she has made arrangements for assisting the Sultan to provide the means which are necessary to enable him to maintain the efficiency of the Turkish army, which has so gallantly withstood the assaults of its enemies.

"Her Majesty, in giving her assent to the Bill which you presented

to her for the local management of the metropolis, trusts that the arrangements provided by that measure will lead to many improvements conducive to the convenience and health of this great city.

"The abolition of the duty on newspapers will tend to diffuse useful information among the poorer classes of Her Majesty's subjects.

"The principle of limited liability which you have judiciously applied to joint-stock associations will afford additional facilities for the employment of capital; and the improvements which you have made in the laws which regulate Friendly Societies will encourage habits of industry and thrift among the labouring classes of the community.

"Her Majesty trusts that the measures to which she has given her assent for improving the constitutions of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania, and for bestowing on the important and flourishing colonies of Tasmania extended powers of self-government, will assist the development of their great natural resources, and will promote the contentment and happiness of their inhabitants.

"Her Majesty commands us to say that she has been deeply gratified by the zeal for the success of Her Majesty's arms and by the sympathy for her soldiers and sailors manifested throughout her Indian and Colonial Empire, and Her Majesty acknowledges with great satisfaction the generous contributions which her subjects in India, and the legislatures and inhabitants of the colonies, have sent for the relief of the sufferers by the casualties of war.

"GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,-Her Majesty commands us to convey to you her cordial thanks for the readiness and zeal with which you have provided the necessary supplies for carrying on the war in which Her Majesty is engaged.

"Her Majesty laments the burthens and sacrifices which it has become necessary to impose upon her faithful people; but she acknowledges the wisdom with which you have alleviated the weight of those burthens by the mixed arrangements which you have made for providing those supplies.

"MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,-Her Majesty has commanded us to say that she has seen with sincere regret that the endeavours which, in conjunction with her ally, the Emperor of the French, she made at the recent conferences at Vienna to bring the war to a conclusion on conditions consistent with the honour of the allies, and with the future security of Europe, have proved ineffectual. But those endeavours

having failed, no other course is left to Her Majesty but to prosecute the war with all possible vigour; and Her Majesty, relying upon the support of Parliament, upon the manly spirit and patriotism of her people, upon the never-failing courage of her army and her navy, whose patience under suffering, and whose power of endurance Her Majesty has witnessed with admiration, upon the steadfast fidelity of her allies, and, above all, upon the justice of her cause, humbly puts her trust in the Almighty Disposer of events for such an issue of the great contest in which she is engaged, as may secure to Europe the blessings of a firm and lasting peace.

"On your return to your several counties you will have duties to perform little less important than those which belong to your attendance in Parliament.

"Her Majesty trusts that your powerful influence will be exerted for the welfare and happiness of her people, the promotion of which is the object of Her Majesty's constant care, and the anxious desire of her heart."

After which the Parliament was prorogued.

X.-PRIVATE BILLS OF THE SESSION OF PARLIAMENT,

1854-5.

[18 and 19 Victoria.]

I. Numerical Abstract of the Petitions and Private Bills for the Session

1854:

Petitions presented to the Commons and Bills brought from} 287

the Lords

Bills read a first time

Bills read a second time

Bills read a third time

Bills which received the Royal Assent

II. Comparative Classification of Bills for Ten Years:

Bills passed.

1346 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1852-3 1854 1854-3

The average number of Private Bills passed annually from 1846 to 1850 inclusive, was 253; the average number from 1851 to 1855 inclusive, has been 230.

III. Abstract of Petitions and Private Bills of the Session 1854-5 :-

The foregoing numbers are those given by the Private Bill Table issued by the House of Commons, but eight were subsequently withdrawn and made Public Acts: these were the Woolmer and Dean Forests Inclosure, joined into one Act; powers for the extension of the Treasury Buildings, the Incorporation of the borough of Brighton, Dublin Turnpike Roads, Huddersfield Burial-ground, Ledbury Prebend Appropriation, and Inverness Bridge. The following are the titles of the remaining 221 :—

I. AGRICULTURE.-The number of Inclosures effected under the General Inclosure Act was 46; only three were introduced as private bills, two were changed into one public act as noticed above, and one was not passed. The only Act for Drainage is not merely agricultural, but to some extent relates to navigation: it is for better enabling the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough of Wisbeach to raise and secure moneys payable by them to the Nene Valley Drainage and Navigation Improvement Commissioners; and for other purposes.

II. COMPANIES.-—To reincorporate Price's Patent Candle Company, and to extend its powers.

For better enabling the Medical, Invalid, and General Life Assurance Society to sue and be sued, and for other purposes with relation to the society.

To alter and amend the Lands Improvement Company's Act, 1853. To change the name of the National Loan Fund Life Assurance Society to the name of the International Life Assurance Society; and to enable the said society to sue and be sued in the name of the chairman or secretary or any one director of the said society; and to give additional powers to the said society.

To consolidate the capital stock of the Electric Telegraph Company and of the International Telegraph Company, and to grant further powers to the Electric Telegraph Company.

For incorporating the Colonial Life Assurance Company; for enabling the said company to sue and to be sued, to take and hold property; and for other purposes relating to the said company.

To incorporate the Royal Medical Benevolent College, and for other purposes.

For improving the Postal and Passenger Communication between England and Ireland, and for authorising arrangements between certain companies in England and Ireland in relation thereto; and for other purposes.

For facilitating the completion of the Westminster Improvements, and for the incorporation of the Westminster Land Company for a limited period for that purpose.

To repeal, alter, and amend some of the provisions of the Royal Conical Flour Mill Company's Act, 1854; to enable the company to raise a further sum of money; and for other purposes.

III. IMPROVEMENTS IN TOWNS AND DISTRICTS.-General Improvements. For paving, draining, cleansing, lighting, and otherwise improving the district of St. Mark, Surbiton, in the parish of Kingstonupon-Thames, in the county of Surrey; and for other purposes.

For enabling the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of the city of Manchester to make a new street from Manchester across the river Irwell into Salford; and authorising arrangements with the corporation of Salford in reference thereto; and for other purposes.

To extend the limits of the borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, and to provide for the better paving, lighting, draining, and otherwise improving the said borough; and for other purposes.

For establishing and maintaining an efficient system of police for the royal burgh of Renfrew, for improving the said burgh, and for other purposes in relation thereto.

For the improvement of the town of St. Helen's, and for other purposes.

To authorise improvements in the borough of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. For the improvement of the town of Newton-in-Mackerfield and neighbourhood in the county of Lancaster.

For the improvement of the town of Leek in the county of Stafford, for purchasing the market tolls, and for providing more commodious markets and cemeteries, and for better supplying the inhabitants with water; and for other purposes.

To amend the provisions of the West Bromwich Improvement Act, 1854, with relation to the prevention of smoke.

To extend the limits of the borough of Folkestone; to enable the corporation of the said borough to construct a market-house; to make certain new streets and other improvements; and to pave, light, drain, and otherwise improve the said borough; and for other purposes.

For the improvement of the borough of Shrewsbury, in the county of Salop.

To correct an oversight in the Hereford Improvement Act, 1854.

To facilitate the erection of one or more churches in the parishes of Tormoham and St. Mary Church, at or near the town of Torquay, in the county of Devon; and for other purposes.

For extending the times granted to the Westminster Improvement Commissioners by the Westminster Improvement Act, 1845, the Westminster Improvement Act, 1847, the Westminster Improvement Act, 1850, and the Westminster Improvement Act, 1853, for the compulsory purchase of lands and the completion of works; and for altering the corporate name of the Westminster Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Working Classes to the London and Westminster Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Working Classes; and for other purposes.

Water. To enable the Cambridge University and Town Waterworks Company to raise further money.

For granting further powers to the Folkestone Waterworks Company. To enable the Heywood Waterworks Company to extend their undertaking, and to increase their capital.

For enabling the Grand Junction Waterworks Company to raise further capital, and for other purposes.

For enabling the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company to raise additional capital, and for other purposes.

To enable the Chesterfield Waterworks and Gaslight Company to extend their undertaking; and for other purposes.

To enable the company of proprietors of the Birmingham Waterworks to construct new waterworks; and for other purposes.

To amend the Lancaster Waterworks and Gas Act, 1852, and to raise an additional sum of money for the purposes of the said Act; and for other purposes.

To authorise the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough of Oldham to construct additional waterworks; and for other purposes. For amending the several Acts relating to the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks, and for authorising deviations and the construction of works; and for other purposes.