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 well-
known 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 verdict 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 sight-
seeing 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
POLITICS.

On the 30th of May Lord BROUGHAM called the attention
of the HOUSE OF LORDS to a matter of Privilege.
An article had appeared in the Globe and subsequently
in the Daily News, containing absurd mis-statements
respecting his conduct in the Earl of Lincoln's divorce
case. He had filed an affidavit with a view to a criminal
information against the Globe, but the proprietor
had since made a sufficient explanation and apology. In
regard to the Daily News, he should take till the next
day to consider whether he should move that the printer
be called to the bar. [On the following evening his
lordship took no notice of the subject.]

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 occasion
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 81 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