for conflagrations to read acts of parliament by) seem to be at all aware, on these occasions, that owners of
steamships are bound, by a recent act, to transmit to the Board of Trade yearly certificates from approved
surveyors of their sufficiency and good condition; or were thus induced to take any notice of the startling
fact elicited in this particular case, that the required certificate had been actually signed, with a perfect
knowledge on the part of the surveyor that the machinery whose safety it guaranteed was in a notoriously
unsafe condition. Unhappily the subject cannot be left without one more example, horrible enough to force
inquiry, if not to compel redress. By the Bristol steamboat explosion mentioned in our last Narrative,
some score of people have been killed, and another score mutilated and dismembered; so that investigation
has been unavoidable: and its result shows that surveyors, under the act for the safety of steamboat travel,
will not scruple to certify the soundness of boilers that are well known to be cracked, that have had their
cracks stopped by "a barrow-full" of dirt suitable to the purpose, that are deposed to have had a look as
if made of old iron, and not to have been "safe to trust a cat with," It is surely, then, high time for the
Board of Trade to declare, either that due precautions in these matters are really unattainable, or that
such an example shall be made as is likely to enforce their observance.

NARRATIVE OF PARLIAMENT AND
POLITICS.

On Monday the 29th of July in the HOUSE OF LORDS, the
Royal Assent was given by Commission to a great
number of Bills.

On Tuesday the 30th, the Marquis of LANSDOWNE
moved an address in answer to her Majesty's message
respecting the appropriation of Marlborough House to
the Prince of Wales; explaining, that while it was
necessary to secure that mansion as a future residence
for the Prince, it would be appropriated in the meantime
for the exhibition of the Vernon pictures. The
address was agreed to.—On the motion of the same noble
lord, a resolution was agreed to expressing the concurrence
of the House in the suggestion of the Committee,
recommending a reform in the Fees of the officers of the
House.

On Thursday the 1st of August, in answer to questions
from the Earl of ST. GERMANS, respecting pay and
promotion in the Money Order department of the Post Office,
—the Marquis of CLANRICARDE, Postmaster-General,
said that the situation of the clerks had been lately
improved in regard to pay and leave of absence; and
though he thought they should be still better paid, he
could hold out no hope of any immediate change.

Lord BROUGHAM, on Friday the 2nd, brought forward
the subject of the Civil List. He contended that all
savings on that head should accrue to the nation and
not to the royal privy purse; as it was not the genius of
the Constitution that the Sovereign should have means
of a private character, but that he should be dependent
on Parliament; and intimated that early next session
he would make a motion relative to the amount of
savings in the Civil List since 1838.—The Marquis of
LANSDOWNE said he should have the greatest objection
to such a motion. It would be the greatest evil and
indecorum to be examining such details in Parliament,
as much as it would be to be examining into the
personal expenditure of any private gentleman.—The Duke
of WELLINGTON held that Parliament is precluded by
law from such inquiries.—Lord MONTEAGLE concurred
in these opinions, and deprecated such questions and
conversation in the House.—Lord BROUGHAM rejoined
with great bitterness. According to Lord Monteagle
the Crown might dispense with as many officers as it
pleased, and save their salaries; and yet Parliament
have no alternative but to vote the gross amount of all
the salaries, as if they continued to be paid as heretofore.
But then it was said, that the inquiry which he suggested
would be indelicate. Oh! his old Whig friends were
mightily changed since they had tasted the sweets of
office and basked in the smiles of the Court. Why,
when he was in the House of Commons he made motions
for inquiry into the revenues of the Crown for which his
friends who now displayed such extreme sensitiveness
voted without a word of objection.—The Marquis of
BREADALBANE made a short speech; at the end of which
he said he considered Lord Brougham had "entitled"
himself to the censure of the House and of the public.
—Lord BROUGHAM, who was talking earnestly with the
Lord Chancellor, on hearing the word "censure,"
turned abruptly, and, pointing to the Marquis, exclaimed,
"Is he moving a vote of censure?"—The Marquis of
BREADALBANE: "No: but I say you have entitled
yourself to the censure of the House and the public."—Lord
BROUGHAM in very hurried accents and with vehemence
—"Oh! I have no fear of this House or the public."
He then ran out of the House amid much laughter.
In the same evening Lord BROUGHAM made an attack
on the Attorney-General for his refusal to sign the
application for an injunction against proceeding with the
Buildiing in Hyde Park, and concluded with a sarcasm
against the House for its deference to royalty, which
created some sensation. "When I lately brought
forward the subject," he said, "dead silence there was
within your lordships' walls—dead silence there was
within the walls of the House of Commons; showing
most painfully that absolute prostration of the
understanding which takes place, even in the minds of the
bravest, when the word 'Prince' is mentioned in this
country."

On Monday the 5th, a petition presented by Lord
TALBOT gave rise to some conversation on the subject of
Steam Communication with Australia, in the course of
which Earl GREY said that the Government were fully
sensible of the advantages of such communication; but
that up to the present time objections had been raised
by the East India Company to one of the proposed
routes, though he hoped the time was not far distant
when these objections would be removed.

On the consideration of the Commons' amendments
on the County Courts Bill, Lord BROUGHAM and Lord
REDESDALE objected to the clause which gave power to
take possession of town-halls for the purpose of the
County Courts. The house divided on this clause, when
it was carried by 13 to 11.

The alterations made on the Parliamentary Voters
(Ireland) Bill by both houses, were brought under
consideration by the Marquis of LANDSDOWNE, who advised
the house to accept the modification of the franchise by
the Commons, and to concede the restoration of the
registry clauses.—Lord STANLEY advised the Peers to
stand by their own amendments, and attacked the
Romish priesthood in Mayo for their conduct in the late
election. He moved, in particular, that the house should
insist on the £15 franchise. The house divided:
content, present 62, proxies 53—115; non-content, present
56, proxies 70—126. Majority in favour of the £12
franchise 11. Lord STANLEY made some sarcastic remarks
on the resort of ministers to proxies when they are
outnumbered by present peers, and advised the Earl of
Desart not to divide the house on the question of the
Commons' registration amendment. The Marquis of
Lansdowne retorted Lord Stanley's sarcasms; the Earl
of Desart unwillingly withdrew his opposition to the
registration clause, and the whole of the Commons'
amendments were ultimately agreed to.

On Thursday the 8th, the Marquis of LANSDOWNE
moved the adoption of the Commons' amendments on
the Ecclesiastical Commission Bill. The Archbishop of
CANTERBURY moved an amendment in the 13th clause,
as amended by the Commons, which was negatived on a
division by 37 to 22.

On Friday the 9th, the greater part of the sitting was
occupied by a long and miscellaneous speech from Lord
BROUGHAM, in which he discussed the proceedings of
the commissioners appointed to prepare a digest of the
criminal law, the recent report of the select committee