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He said that every town in the country had to pay the expense of its own cleansing. The demand came with a bad grace from London, which enjoyed the advantage of a large influx of visitors from all parts of the king. dom. Mr. Duncombe answered that as parliament and the State contributed to increase the nuisance, they ought therefore to contribute to the purification of the river. Sir George Lewis took an objection in point of form to the resolution as not being preceded by a recommendation from the Crown. The Speaker, however, held it to be regular. Mr. Disraeli expressed his hope that the motion would be withdrawn. The Government intended within a few days to bring in a Bill for effecting the purification of the Thames. The motion was then negatived.

On the 15th of July Mr. Disraeli fulfilled his undertaking to introduce a Bill to authorize the cleansing of the Thames. He said that after much deliberation the Government had come to the conclusion that the work must be met by local resources. But the Metropolitan Board of Works had not hitherto had power adequate to the discharge of the duties imposed upon it. The unlimited rating power of the Board was of no use, because a rate existed only for a year, and no one would make considerable advances upon that security. Now they had given the subject of drainage great attention, and they did not shrink from the responsibility of effecting the object they had at heart. The estimate of the cost of the drainage works was 3,000,000l. The Government proposed to enable the Board to levy

a special rate of 3d. in the pound for forty years. This would yield 140,000l. a year, and not only pay for the works, but furnish a sinking fund to liquidate the advances. The Government proposed to guarantee the advances up to 3,000,000l., at a rate of interest not exceeding 4 per cent. Perfect freedom would be granted to the Board as regarded the construction of the works, and the whole were to be finished in five years and a half.

A somewhat desultory discussion upon the merits of the scheme then took place. Mr. W. Williams and Mr. Ayrton expressed approbation. Mr. Byng and Mr. John Locke took some objections. Sir Benjamin Hall hoped the Bill would provide adequate safeguards against the reflux of the sewage. Lord John Manners said the Bill would enable London to get rid, at its own expense, of an acknowledged nuisance, in a manner entirely consistent with the old Anglo-Saxon principles of self-government. Other members expressed themselves favourably towards the plan. Mr. Disraeli made some additional statements. He said that the Government had provided that the Metropolitan Board of Works should not create a nuisance in any quarter; that the result should be attained by the system of intercepting sewers; and that provision should be made for such temporary and permanent works of deodorization as the metropolis had a right to require. The Board would have the power of issuing bonds and debentures, which would become a popular security.

The Bill was then read a third time, and passing through its

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'Her Majesty is happy to believe that her relations with Foreign Powers are such as to enable Her Majesty to look with confidence to the preservation of general peace.

"Her Majesty trusts that the labours of the Plenipotentiaries now sitting in Conference at Paris may lead to a satisfactory solution of the various questions which have been referred to them. "The efforts, the gallantry, and devotedness displayed in India by Her Majesty's forces and those of the East India Company have been above all praise; and Her Majesty hopes that those efforts have already been so far crowned with success that the formidable revolt which has raged throughout a large portion of her Indian possessions may now, under the

blessing of Almighty God, be speedily suppressed, and peace be restored to those important provinces.

"In this hope Her Majesty has given her willing assent to the Act which you have passed for transferring to her direct authority the government of her Indian dominions; and Her Majesty hopes to be enabled so to discharge the high functions which she has assumed as, by a just and impartial administration of the law, to secure its advantages alike to her subjects of every race and creed; and, by promoting their welfare, to establish and strengthen her empire in India.

"Gentlemen of the House of Com

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"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"The sanitary condition of the metropolis must always be a subject of deep interest to Her Majesty, and Her Majesty has readily sanctioned the Act which you have passed for the purification of that noble river, the present state of which is little creditable to a great country, and seriously prejudicial to the health and comfort of the inhabitants of the metropolis.

"Her Majesty has also willingly assented to an Act whereby

greater facilities are given for the acquisition by towns and districts of such powers as may be requisite for promoting works of local improvement, and thus extending more widely the advantages of municipal self-government.

"Her Majesty trusts that the Act which you have passed for the future government of the Scotch Universities will be found highly advantageous to those venerable institutions, and will greatly promote and extend a system of sound, moral and religious education in Scotland.

"The Transfer of Land Bill which extends the powers hitherto exercised by the Encumbered Estates Commissioners, and facilitates the acquisition of an indefeasible title by purchasers of land in Ireland, cannot fail to be highly beneficial to the landed proprietors, and to advance the prosperity of that part of Her Majesty's dominions.

"The Act to which Her Majesty has assented for the establishment of the colony of British Columbia was urgently required in consequence of the recent discoveries of gold in that district; but Her Majesty hopes that this new colony on the Pacific may be but one step in the career of steady progress by which

Her Majesty's dominions in North America may ultimately be peopled, in an unbroken chain, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by a loyal and industrious population of subjects of the British Crown.

"Her Majesty thankfully acknowledges the diligence and perseverance which have enabled you, in a comparatively short time, to pass these and other measures of inferior but not insignificant importance.

"Many of you, in returning to your respective counties, have extensive influence to exercise, and duties to perform, of hardly less value to the community than those from the labours of which you are about to be released; and Her Majesty entertains a confident assurance that, under the guidance of Providence, that influence will be so employed, and those duties so performed, as to redound to your own honour, and to promote the general welfare and the happiness of a loyal and contented people."

The Clerk at the table having read the Commission of Prorogation,

The Lord Chancellor, in Her Majesty's name, formally declared Parliament to stand prorogued to Tuesday, the 19th of October 1858.

CHAPTER IX.

FRANCE-Attempt to assassinate the Emperor of the French-Trial and Condemnation of the Conspirators—Addresses from the Army to the Emperor on his Escape-Address of the Senate-Opening of the French Chambers and Speech of the Emperor-Message from the Emperor respecting the establishment of a Council of Regency-Convention signed by the Conference at Paris respecting the Danubian Principalities Articles of the Convention-Circular addressed by Count Walewski to French Agents at Foreign Courts.

PRUSSIA-Marriage of Prince Frederick William to the Princess Royal of England-Speech of Baron Von Monteuffel at the close of the Session of the Chambers-The Crown Prince assumes the functions of Regent-His speech to the Chambers-Their unanimous vote-Change of Ministry.

FRANCE

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A desperate attempt was made on the evening of the 14th of January to assassinate the Emperor of the French as he was proceeding with the Empress in a carriage to the Opera in Paris. While the carriage containing their Majesties was going along the Rue Lepelletier in which the Opera House stands, three successive explosions were heard, which extinguished the gaslights, and left the street in total darkness. This was soon found to have been occasioned by shells of a pearshaped form filled with some terribly explosive substance, which had been thrown under or in the direction of the carriage, and the fragments of which flew in all directions and inflicted fatal injuries on several of the bystanders. Neither the Emperor nor the Empress was touched, but General Roguet, aide-de-camp in waiting, who was sitting in the car

riage, was wounded in the head, and the carriage itself was much shattered. Several of the soldiers in attendance were struck, and two of them mortally wounded. Their Majesties, however, did not turn back, but entered the Opera House, where they were received with the warmest enthusiasm, and on their return to the Tuileries the streets were illuminated, and they were loudly cheered by the populace. Some arrests immediately took place, and it was soon discovered that the plot for assassinating the Emperor had been concocted by an Italian refugee named Orsini, who had in the previous year escaped from the fortress of Mantua, where he was confined as a State prisoner by the Austrian Government, and that his associates in the diabolical attempt were three other conspirators named Rudio, Pierri, and Gomez. All four had been present in the

Rue Lepelletier, and, with the exception of Pierri, were armed with the deadly shells which had been manufactured by Orsini's orders in England, from which country they had set out on their nefarious enterprise, and as the Emperor's carriage approached the Opera House several of these had been thrown on the ground and burst; their construction being such as to ensure explosion on coming into sharp contact with any hard substance. The assassins were tried, and Orsini, Pierri, and Rudio were condemned to death, and Gomez to the galleys for life. Rudio's life was, however, ultimately spared, and he had to undergo the same punishment as Gomez, while Orsini and Pierri were executed on the 12th of March.

Addresses of congratulation on his escape were sent to the Emperor from all parts of France, and some of those that came from the army were published in the Moniteur, the official organ of the French Government, and from the tone in which they alluded to England, where the shells had been manufactured, and where Orsini and his companions had been staying previously to the diabolical attempt, they gave great offence here, and contributed not a little to the state of public feeling which led to the rejection of the Conspiracy to Murder Bill brought forward by the Palmerston Ministry, an account of which will be found in another part of this volume. We will quote one or two of these addresses as a sample of the language used by the military;

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cover with their protection, under the name of hospitality, conspirators and assassins who exceed those who have gone before them in all that is odious."

"This odious and cowardly attempt has filled our hearts with indignation and wrath against those who become the accomplices of these sanguinary anarchists by giving them an asylum."

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Those wild beasts who at periodical epochs quit a foreign soil to inundate the streets of your capital with blood, inspire us with no other feeling than that of disgust; and if your Majesty wants soldiers to get at these men, even in the recesses of their den, we humbly beseech you to choose the 82nd Regiment as part of the advanced guard of that army."

In the address of the Senate, foreign Governments were distinctly called upon to make the laws more stringent against the acts and designs of political refugees. "The revolutionary spirit," said the President, "having been driven from France, has settled down abroad, and has become cosmopolite. It is from foreign strongholds erected against Europe, situated in the centre of Europe, that fanatical hired assassins are sent with fire and steel against the Prince who bears on his powerful arm the buckler of European order; execrable conspirators, whose policy is assassination, and who even assault gentle women, unaware that some of them have the hearts of heroes! But how comes it that, as these implacable Revolutionists trample all the duties of hospitality under foot, and are united in their mad plans of de

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