arise at all. In the same manner orders | men, and two officers were lost, neither for the payment of money issued by the being able to swim. He held in his hand War Office were signed and counter- a copy of a letter written by Lieutenant signed; but in that case there must be Carr, who was in the vessel, and in which the approval of the Treasury. Then the he saidregulations of the Civil Departments varied from those of the Admiralty and the War Office, and the names of the officers who were charged with the responsibility of signing and countersigning were submitted for approval to the Treasury. Whether in all cases there were two, he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) did not know, but he thought it very possible that this might be the general rule, and he saw nothing unreasonable in the plan so devised. Undoubtedly these officers would draw upon the Paymaster General, and their drafts would have the effect of cheques upon the Paymaster General. Then, his hon. Friend asked who audited the accounts, and also asked what security there was against fraud, except the integrity of the drawers? Well, the Departments had their regulations upon this subject, and the principal security against fraud or negligence was the use of a counter signature. That might be described to be the system in which all our payments were regulated; and he believed that in the main it was a good system. It was obvious that in any system of checks there must be an end to it somewhere, and somebody there must be from whose default of duty the public must suffer. There must be a limit to the multiplication of checks; and it should be borne in mind that increased security was by no means in proportion to the number of persons discharging their duty, or seeing that it was discharged by others.

NAVY-LOSS OF THE "BOMBAY."

QUESTION.

MR. OWEN STANLEY said, in rising to put the Questions, of which he had given notice, to the Secretary of the Admiralty in connection with the loss of the Bombay, he must preface them by stating that that vessel left Monte Video for practice, and having sailed about fifteen miles, she placed one target for that purpose. About 3.30 the fire-bell rang, the mainmast fell at 4.15, and the foremast went at 5.5; the magazine exploded about 8.25, and ninety-two souls perished, not by fire, but by drowning, out of a crew of 620

lost his life that day; those who could not
"I am sure no man who could swim need have
were too stupified to help themselves. Though a
deal of gear was thrown overboard that would
have floated, many, many poor wretches (marines)
saw who could not swim jumping overboard,
boots, coats, and all. I saw all this from the
quarter deck netting. Had the breeze been as
strong as it was an hour before, half those saved
would have been lost. Want of powers of swim-
ming was the cause of their deaths. We had no
men in their beds; luckily all the sick were
saved, or rather saved themselves."
In the early part of the present year, he
might add, twenty cadets of the mer-
cantile marine were out sailing in the
river, when the boat was upset, and ten of
them were drowned. Under those cir-
cumstances, he wished to ask the Secretary
to the Admiralty, If there was any special
Report made to the Lords of the Admiralty
by the Admiral of the station as to the
loss of ninety-two Sailors and Marines
from the burning of Her Majesty's ship
Bombay off Monte Video, on the 14th of
last December; if he can state the number
of Marines and Sailors who were drowned
separately, and the length of time that
elapsed from the first breaking out of the
fire to the sinking of the ship; if there were
any patent Lifebelts on board; and, if so,
if they were used? If there is any order,
rule, or system in the Navy or the Marine
Corps under which the recruits or men
are taught to swim, and if the boys
in the service are instructed in the art
of swimming; and how many the crew of
Her Majesty's ship Bombay were on the
14th of December?

LORD CLARENCE PAGET, in reply. stated that the cadets on board the Worcester were not under the control of the Admiralty, and that the death from drowning of the ten boys at Erith, however much it was to be regretted, could not be laid at the door of that Department. In answer to the questions which had reference to the loss of the Bombay, he had to inform the hon. Gentleman that the number of those who perished on that occasion amounted in all to ninety-one, including two officers, forty-seven seamen, eight boys, and thirty-four marines. On board all our training ships distinct orders were issued by the Admiralty to the effect that all the boys should be taught to swim. Occasion

THE THAMES EMBANKMENT.

QUESTION.

MR. CAVE said, he wished to ask the President of the Board of Trade, Whether the Metropolitan Board of Works had complied with the requisition of the Board. of Trade, as suggested in the report of Messrs. Coode and Rawlinson, that they should draw larger quantities of material for the Thames Embankment from the bed of the river; and, if not, what course he proposed to take in the matter?

MR. MILNER GIBSON replied, that the Board of Trade had been in communication with the Metropolitan Board of Works on the subject, and the Board of Works passed a Resolution on Monday last, which he would read

"That so long as the material raised from the river opposite the embankment works continues to be, in the opinion of the engineer, suitable for the purposes of the embankment, the engineer be to the embankment works, except for the backing

instructed to allow no other material to come on

of the embankment wall, the cross dams, the material required for puddling, and other necessary purposes."

the public service. I have no doubt that
a great number of the Departments can
allow a half-holiday.

CLERICAL SUBSCRIPTION BILL (Lords).
[BILL 199.] SECOND READING.
Order for Second Reading read.

SIR GEORGE GREY: Sir, the object of this Bill is to give effect to the recommendations of the Royal Commission appointed at the beginning of 1864 to consider and revise the various forms of

subscription and declarations required to be taken by the clergy of the Established Church. This subject of Clerical Subscription is one that has recently occupied a good deal of public attention and occasioned much discussion. Motions have have been made in both Houses of Parliament on the matter. In the House of Lords two or three years ago a Bill was proposed, the object of which was to repeal so much of the Act of Uniformity as required a declaration to be made of unfeigned assent and consent to everything contained in the Book of Common Prayer. In 1863 my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone (Mr. Buxton) made a Motion of 2 more general character, asking the House to declare it expedient that the terms of clerical subscription should be relaxed. The Government met that Motion, not with a direct negative, but by the Previous Question, and that course, I think, was sanctioned by the general acquiescence of the House. They felt that in what was urged by my hon. Friend as to the number and complexity of the MENT OFFICES.-QUESTION. various forms of subscription required by MR. BUXTON said, he would beg to law from the clergy, there was considerask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whe-able force; they were not prepared to ther he is prepared to give an answer to the application made to him by a deputation which waited upon him some time since, with regard to affording the clerks in the several Government offices the opportunity of obtaining a half-holiday on Saturday afternoons ?

He had to-day received a private communication that the Metropolitan Board of Works were now acting on the spirit of that Resolution, and that the referees, to whom the question of the suitableness of the material was referred, had reported that the material dredged out of the river was, in the main, fit to be used in filling

in the embankment.

SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY IN GOVERN

VISCOUNT PALMERSTON: I think, Sir, the subject of that application is one which is very deserving of consideration. There may be some offices in which the whole of the Department could not be allowed to have a half-holiday. The Secretary to the Treasury is in communication with the officers of the different Departments in order to see how far a halfholiday on Saturday afternoons can be made consistent with the requirements of

say that no alteration should take place; but, at the same time, they felt it would be inexpedient for the House to make any general declaration that the forms of subscription should be relaxed without being prepared with a specific proposal as to the forms of subscription that ought to be substituted. They also felt that before any specific alteration was proposed it was desirable that the whole subject should be considered and fully inquired into by a Commission appointed by the Crown. In conformity with that opinion Her Majesty was advised to issue a Royal Commission to consider and revise the various forms of subscription and declaration to be made by the clergy of the Church of England and Ireland on their appointment, admission,

among us again, and I believe it is the intention of my hon. Friend to confirm my statement as to his entire concurrence in the report of the Commission. The Report, after setting forth the different forms of subscription and declarations now made by the clergy, and the laws under which these are required, points out some material differences existing between the subscription and declarations made by the clergy in England and those made by the clergy of the Irish branch of the Established Church. After having pointed out this, the first recommendation is that those distinctions should be removed, and that the same declarations which are required to be taken by the clergy of this country, should also be taken by the clergy of the Established Church in Ireland. Their next recommendation - the most important one, and, indeed, the main object of the Bill-is that on every occa sion on which a subscription or declaration is required to be made in England or Ireland, with reference to the Articles of Religion or the Book of Common Prayer, the existing subscriptions or declarations, having reference to the doctrines and liturgy of the Church, should be discontinued; and that the following declaration should be substituted for them

or induction to any benefice or office; and to report their opinion how far they might be altered consistently with due security for the declarant adherence of the clergy to the doctrines and ritual of the Church. The principle of subscription was not at all in question. It was assumed that the Church had a right to require from those who desired to enter the ranks of her clergy that they should publicly declare their general agreement with the doctrines of the Church and their readiness to conform to her ritual. The object of the Commission was to see how far those objections might be removed which were entertained to the great variety and complexity of the forms of subscription and declarations from time to time framed, and now by law required. In selecting the Members to constitute that Commission, it was the object of the Government that it should be so composed as to command the general confidence of members of the Established Church, and for that purpose they felt it desirable that it should be partly composed of clerical and partly of lay Members of the Church. They were also anxious that it should comprise Members -I will not say of different parties in the Church-but of the different phases of opinion that we know are entertained within the limits of the Church, by persons equally attached to her doctrines and formularies. And I am happy to believe that we succeeded in attaining that object. The four archbishops of the Established Church were placed on that Commission, together with several of its bishops and clergy, occupying different grades in the Church, and with them were associated twelve laymen, the Commission being presided over by the Archbishop of Canter- With reference to these last words, they bury. To the patience, care, time, and point to the power exercised by the Queen attention bestowed on this important sub-in Council of ordering special prayers for ject by the Commission we are indebted occasions of public thanksgiving or calafor the valuable report presented to Her mity, or such other like occasions. The Majesty, and by Her Majesty's commands other recommendations contained in the laid some time since on the table of this Report have reference to the oaths taken House. I am happy to say that the re- by the clergy. I need not go into them commendations of that report were unani in detail, but they refer to the time at mously agreed to by the Members of the which these oaths are to be taken, and the Commission-in fact the only name that substitution of a declaration in certain is not found among the signatures to the cases for these oaths. The main recomreport is that of my hon. Friend the Mem-mendation, substituting for the present ber for the University of Oxford (Sir William Heathcote), and I am informed that the only reason he did not sign was because he was absent from the country, and at the time suffering from severe indisposition. We are all happy to see him

"I, A. B., do solemnly make the following declaration. I assent to the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, and the Book of Common Prayer, and believe the doctrine of the United Church of the ordering of bishops, priests, and deacons. I England and Ireland as therein set forth to be agreeable to the Word of God, and in public prayer and administration of the Sacraments, I will use the form in the said book prescribed, and none other, except so far as shall be ordered by lawful authority."

system a general declaration of assent to the doctrines of the Church, and a willingness to conform to its ritual was not only unanimously agreed to by the Commission, but has also met with the general concur rence of other members of the Established

Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time."-(Sir George Grey.)

MR. WHITESIDE: Sir, I entirely agree with the right hon. Gentleman as to the value and utility of this Bill. I think that the right hon. Gentleman and the Government deserve the thanks of the House for the manner in which the Commission was constituted which was empowered to inquire into this very delicate and important subject. I have also personally to thank the right hon. Gentleman for the courteous manner in which he has considered the Amendments which I have proposed, and I am entirely content with the manner in which the right hon. Gentleman proposes to deal with them. To obtain simplicity and uniformity in the Church, and at the same time to make the Bill acceptable to the class of persons to whom the right hon. Gentleman referred is a great gain to the Church. The closing words of the Com. mission, to which the hon. Baronet has alluded, deserve the notice of the House. They are—

Church both clerical and lay, who had had different interpretations are placed by men the opportunity of giving consideration of great authority. These objections have to the subject. The Convocations both had a tendency to prevent the entrance of Canterbury and York have signified into the Church of men of the highest their concurrence in the most formal character and of the most undoubted atmanner in these recommendations, and tachment to the Church, and who were although there is no general assembly fitted to shed lustre upon the Establishof the Church in Ireland capable of ex-ment, and to discharge with the greatest pressing its concurrence in an equally for- advantage the high duties of its Ministers. mal manner, yet the Irish branch of the I move the second reading of the Bill. Established Church was fully represented on the Commission, the two Archbishops having signed the Report in common with the other Commissioners. The Bill also comes down to us with the unanimous concurrence of the House of Lords. There is a great weight of authority, therefore, in favour of this Bill, and I believe it is calculated to confer a great and essential benefit upon the Established Church. I will just allude to the notice of Amendments given by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for the University of Dublin (Mr. Whiteside). In the principle of those Amendments I entirely concur, and if they are adopted they will substantially restore the Bill to the form in which it was originally proposed by the Government. They will correct what I conceive to be a mistake which has been committed by the other House in regard to the old, obso. lete oath of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration required to be taken by the Act of William and Mary, instead of the consolidated oath of 21 & 22 of Vic toria, which is the oath taken by the clergy of the Church in Ireland, although it is not at present exacted from the clergy of the Church in England. If "These recommendations we now humbly offer that alteration should be made in the to your Majesty. To carry them into effect some Bill, and if it should be assented to by alterations must be made in the canons of the the other House of Parliament, it will be, Church, and some in the statutes of the realm. We trust that our proposals will be willingly acI think, an essential improvement. It cepted both by the Church and by the State." is most satisfactory to know that this Bill has met with such universal concur- These are judicious suggestions, because rence, and I will only state my confident they point to an alteration of the canons of belief that if these recommendations are the Church and the effect to be given to these adopted, the new form of declaration will alterations by the Legislature. How were essentially secure the object which we all the Articles of the Church originally prehave in view-namely, that there should pared and confirmed? How is that matter be a declared agreement on the part of stated in the Book of Common Prayer? It those who enter the Church with the doc- is recited that by the General Synod of trines of the Church, and an avowal of the Church, acting, no doubt, with the their intention to conform to the liturgy licence of the Crown, these Articles were and ritual of the Church. On the other recommended to the Crown and adopted hand, the adoption of these recommenda- by the Crown, and the declaration prefixed tions will remove objections of a serious to them in the Book of Common Prayer character, founded upon the variety of points to the Convocation of the Church subscriptions and declarations now re- as the proper tribunal to consider such quired, and the use of terms on which very questions, and says that whenever it is