fastnesses for the movement of regular troops with the
utmost rapidity. I have recommended to the noble earl
opposite that that course should he adopted, and I
believe that he has ordered it to be adopted. The only
fault that I find with Sir Harry Smith is, that he has
not adopted it."

On Friday the 6th, Earl GREY, in reply to questions
from the Earl of Malmesbury, respecting the Caffre
War, admitted that a practice had prevailed somewhat
extensively of sending out gunpowder from this country
to the Cape, where it had been purchased by the Caffres;
but, on mature consideration, it had been deemed best
to endeavour to arrest the traffic when it approached the
colony, rather than attempt to check it from this country.
An ordinance had been passed (but too late) by the
legislative council at the Cape for intercepting the trade
there; and the commodore on the African station had
despatched one of the vessels under his command to
prevent gunpowder from being landed on the west
coast of Africa. There would be no difficulty in
interrupting the traffic. It was to him quite incomprehensible, knowing the strong laws in existence at the
Cape against the sale of gunpowder to the Caffres,
that this trade had been allowed to go on so long. The
commodore reported that the trade was now stopped;
but during the last few months several hundred tons of
powder had been landed along the western coast.—In
reply to a further question, Earl GREY added that the
instructions he had given extended to the prevention of
the trade in arms as well as gunpowder intended for the
enemy.—The Marquis of LONDONDERRY inquired
whether the selection of General Cathcart to succeed Sir
H. Smith in the command at the Cape had been approved
at the Horse Guards?—Earl GREY replied that it was
with the unanimous consent of his colleagues that he
had advised her Majesty to relieve Sir H. Smith, and
that he had consulted the Duke of Wellington as to the
appointment of the officer who had succeeded him.

On Monday, the 9th, the LORD CHANCELLOR moved
the second reading of the Common Procedure Amendment
Bill, and explained at considerable length the
alterations and improvements contemplated by the
measure.—Lord LYNDHURST did not object to the
second reading of the bill; but he could not understand,
as the machinery of the county courts bad worked so
well, why the same machinery should not be applied to
the superior courts in all cases not exceeding two or
three hundred pounds.—Lord BROUGHAM thought the
best course would be to read the bill at once a second
time. He also agreed in the suggestion of Lord
Lyndhurst as to the application of the county court machinery
to the superior courts.

On Tuesday, the 10th, the Earl of RODEN drew the
attention of the house to the recent Outrages in a part
of Ireland. Their lordships (he said) could have no
conception of the reign of terror established in those
districts. He asked whether her Majesty's government
was acquainted with the extent of the distressing
circumstances which he had just mentioned, and whether
it was prepared to propose to the legislature any
measures to meet the evils which existed, as the common
law had been proved incompetent to meet them, and as
a special commission, for the first time in Ireland, had
failed of its object.—The Marquis of LANSDOWNE
assured Lord Roden that the attention of the government
had been directed to these outrages from their
very commencement. No time had been lost in
despatching to the districts in which they occurred an
extra number of the police force, and afterwards a
special commission, presided over by one of the ablest
judges in the land. That that commission had been a
total failure he was not, however, prepared to admit.
It had been only unsuccessful, and now fresh measures
were being prepared, from which he anticipated a
happier result. Should these new measures be also
unsuccessful, it would then be proper to submit
extraordinary measures to parliament, but he trusted for the
present that the government would not be needlessly
pressed on the matter.

On Thursday, the 12th, Lord FlTZWILLIAM brought
forward the Case of Mr. Mather, who had been
subjected to gross outrage at the hands of Austrian officers
at Florence, and asked whether the statements
published in the newspapers were correct, and if so what
course the government had thought fit to pursue with
regard to the matter.—Lord GRANVILLE replied that
the statements which had been published respecting the
outrage on Mr. Mather were substantially correct, though
there was a slight discrepancy between Mr. Mather's
version of the affair and that made by the Austrian
officers. As Mr. Mather, who seemed to have acted
with a very proper feeling on the occasion, had appealed
to the Tuscan tribunals, before which the matter was
still pending, the information which he (Lord Granville)
could afford the house was necessarily imperfect. As
far, however, as he himself was concerned in his capacity
as foreign minister, he had endeavoured to act with
calmness and firmness, and he had no doubt that both
the Tuscan and Austrian governments would not refuse
ample reparation; and that they would act up to the
principle, that when a nation was clearly in the wrong
it ought not to be too proud to say so. For his own
part, he was not ashamed, but proud to say, that, acting
on that principle, the very first day alter entering his
present office he had made an apology to the United
States for an unjustifiable act committed by a naval
officer.

On Friday, the 13th, the Earl of MALMESBURY
renewed the discussion upon the subject of the
Exportation of Gunpowder to the Cape and its Sale to the
Caffres, and moved for returns upon the subject.—Earl
Grey repeated the explanations already given, and the
returns were ordered after a few observations from Lord
Monteagle and the Earl of Ellenborough.

On Monday, the 16th, the Marquis of LANSDOWNE,
in answer to questions by the Earl of Ellenborough
respecting East India Affairs, said, that it was his
intention on an early day to move for a select committee
on the East Indian charter. Touching the expedition
to Rangoon, he observed that it was sent in consequence
of a report from Colonel Beaumont of two cases in
which merchants had been accused of murder for the
purposes of extortion. The King of Ava, on being
informed of the circumstances, had at once removed the
governor, and sent two officers to inquire into the
amount of compensation due to the injured parties, nor
was there any reason to doubt that this just course
would be persevered in.

The Duke of MONTROSE called the attention of the
house to the condition in which the vessel, the Megœra,
had been sent to sea with troops for the Cape. After
some explanatory statements by the Earl of Minto,
which were objected to by Lord Colchester and the Earl
of Ellenborough, returns were ordered, to show the
capacities of the Megœra, and the number of troops and
quantity of stores shipped in her.

On Tuesday, the 17th, Lord CLANCARTY presented
himself to take, instead of the oath of Supremacy
administered to Protestants, which he could not
conscientiously take, the Oath prescribed for Roman
Catholics, which he conceives to be unobjectionable,
provided he might legally do so as a member of the
reformed part of the Catholic Church established by
law in this land.—Lord CAMPBELL, the LORD
CHANCELLOR, and Lord BROUGHAM having expressed their
opinion that the proposal could not be entertained, the
Earl of CLANCARTY stated his willingness to take it
secundum sensum imponentis, if the house would give
an authoritative exposition of it.—Lord CAMPBELL and
Lord BROUGHAM thought an authoritative exposition
of the oath could only be given by bill.—In answer
to the Duke of WELLINGTON, the Earl of CLANCARTY
stated that he had never been sworn in the present
Parliament, on which the Noble Duke observed that
his addressing the house at all was most irregular.—
Lord CAMPBELL gave it as his opinion that all the oath
intended was to deny the legal power of the Pope.—
The Earl of WICKLOW said the oath required to be
taken with a mental reservation, and there was no
clause in it, as in the abjuration oath, to prevent its
being so taken.—The LORD CHANCELLOR agreed in the
opinion expressed by Lord Campbell.—The Earl of
Clancarty then withdrew.

The Earl of Roden, in moving for certain returns
relating to the Disturbances in Ireland, referred to a
series of resolutions adopted by the magistrates of the