a large increase of British shipping compared with the returns of three years ago, and in particular a greatly
augmented supply of ships of the highest amount of tonnage resulting from the unabated enterprise even
of the very shipowners who had instructed Lord Stanley to complain. Smithfield market has received its
finishing stroke in the House of Commons, and six months further grace has been at the same time very
needlassly conceded to the corporation for the purpose of making up its mind whether or not it will undertake
the management of the new market. A commission of inquiry has been instituted for the purpose of
ascertaining whether the electors of St. Albans take bribes, which, by the mere force of precedent, may
probably lead to a commission of inquiry next session into the truth of Doctor Cullen's averment as to the
earth's movement and the moon's diameter. Every body has been running away from service on the
income-tax committee as from an unclean thing; and Mr. Disraeli is going to try to make all the fiscal
arrangements of the free-trade government as temporary as the income-tax, if he can but get enough of the
free-trading majority to help him, as on more than one occasion he has been able to do.

NARRATIVE OF PARLIAMENT AND
POLITICS'.

In the House or Lords, on Monday, the 2d of June,
Lord Lyndhurst referred to Lord John Russell's
notice in the other house of his intention to move for
leave to bring in a bill to improve the Administration
of Justice in the Court of Chancery, and described the
satisfactory working of Sir John Romilly's act for amending
the proceedings of the Court of Chancery in Ireland.
That measure substituted summary proceedings by
petition for the ordinary proceedings by bill and answer;
and it had given the greatest satisfaction to plaintiffs,
to defendants, and to the court. Under such
circumstances, he invited the Lord Chancellor to consider these
results in connection with the measure intended to be
introduced by the noble lord at the head of the government.
—The LORD CHANCELLOR complained of being
embarrassed by Lord Lyndhurst's statements, and
intimated that the house should be cautious in adopting
them. At the same time he was glad his attention had
been called to the subject, and he would make inquiries
into it.—Lord LYNDHURST then asked the Lord
Chancellor whether it was intended to pass over the labours
of the criminal law commission, or to what extent their
recommendations were likely to be adopted?—The LORD
CHANCELLOR said he had heard nothing upon the
subject, and he had no reason to believe it was the intention
of the government to renew the commission.—Lord
WHARNCLIFFE moved for papers relating to Public
Works and Internal Improvements in India.—A debate
took place, in which Lord Broughton, the Earl of
Ellenborough, and the Earl of Harrowby took part, at the
end of which the motion was agreed to.—The Earl of
CARLISLE, in reply to a question, stated that the subject
of the removal of the celebrated Obelisk at Alexandria,
"Cleopatra's Needle," presented to George IV. by the
late Pacha of Egypt, was under the consideration of
government.

On Tuesday, June 3, the Marriages (India) Bill
passed through committee pro formâ. Several
amendments were made, and the bill was ordered to be
reprinted.—On the motion of Lord BROUGHAM, the
County Courts Extension (No. 2) Bill was read the
second time. It was explained that the object of the
measure is to invest county courts with jurisdiction in
bankruptcy.

On Friday, June 6, Lord CAMPBELL, in answer to
a question from Lord Brougham, expressed regret that
the commissioners appointed to revise the rules of
practice and pleadings in the Courts of Common Law, had
not yet presented a report. Before any attempt could
be made at improvement, the report of those learned
persons ought to be received, and he trusted its
presentation would not be further delayed.

The Earl of CARLISLE, in reply to a question from
Lord Monteagle, who wished to know why the practice
of Intramural Interment was continued, stated that the
Board of Health were still in communication with the
cemetery companies on the subject, and that the
negotiations involved financial operations of considerable
magnitude.

The house then adjourned for Whitsuntide.

On Tuesday, June 17, Lord STANLEY presented a
petition from the Shipowners' Association of Liverpool,
complaining of the injurious effects that had followed the
Repeal of the Navigation Laws. In advocating the
opinions expressed by the petitioners, he detailed a
variety of incidents, and traced the course of commercial
intercourse in various quarters of the world, to show
that our merchants were subjected to unequal competition,
our relaxations being met almost everywhere by
hostile tariffs, and our vessels in some places prohibited
from engaging in the most profitable branches of trade.
He remarked that the remedy lay ready-made in the
hands of the privy council, who were empowered under
the act to reimpose duties on vessels belonging to states
that had refused reciprocity, and that protection he
considered it was now time to apply.—Earl GRANVILLE
questioned the accuracy of the statements on both sides
set forth in the petition. The shipowners, he believed,
had not prospered through the navigation laws, and
were not injured by their removal. Authentic returns
showed that the business was extending, the tonnage of
vessels employed in our commerce having increased,
and proofs were given on every side that the distress
complained of was, at all events, exceptional. He
observed that Lord Stanley himself had abstained from
following up his speech by any substantive motion, and
had declined to afford any prospect to the shipowners
that the repeal of the navigation laws could ever be
reversed.—Lord HARDWICKE maintained that the proof
of prosperity deduced from the increase in our shipping
was illusory, since that of other countries had increased
in larger proportion. He contended at much length on
the justice and necessity of obtaining reciprocity from
other countries or enacting it on our own parts.—
Earl GREY believed that the shipowners were sufficiently
good men of business not to persevere in a losing trade,
and therefore saw in the increase of ship-building and
employment an irrefragable proof that the trade was
not in so bad a way as the petition affirmed. We had
already obtained reciprocity from several foreign
countries, and among others from the United States, though
he admitted that the position and wealth of California
gave the Americans many natural advantages over us
in certain directions. As regarded France and Spain,
which still retained their differential duties, he was
convinced that any attempt to retaliate would inflict an
injury on our own trade.—After some brief remarks
from Lord COLCHESTER, the petition was ordered to lie
on the table.

On Thursday, June 19, a conversation took place
respecting the Registration of Assurances Bill, in which
Lords Brougham and Campbell mentioned a pamphlet
by Mr. Hazlitt on that subject in terms of great eulogy.

On Tuesday, the 21th, Lord REDESDALE announced
his intention, on an early day, of moving an address to
the Queen, ' praying her Majesty to reassemble the
Houses of Convocation.

Lord ELLENBOROUGH detailed the circumstances that
had attended the intercourse of the Hindoo merchant,
Jotee Pershaud, and the Indian government. The
treatment experienced by that gentleman was, he
contended, unjust and arbitrary. The company, instead of
paying their debts, had laid a criminal charge against
their creditor. Observing in somewhat strong terms
upon the conduct of the authorities in India throughout
the whole course of the affair, the noble lord concluded
by moving for the production of certain papers connected
with the subject.—Lord BROUGHTON defended the East
India Company, by giving a widely different version of
the circumstances in question, and contended that the
facts, which he derived from the best authorities, fully