read a third time and passed. The Indemnity Bill and the
Stock-in-Trade Bill were read a second time. The house went
into committee on the Criminal Justice Bill, and passed a
few clauses of the measure. The Bills of Exchange and
Promissory Notes Bill went through committee.

The first meeting of the Administrative Reform
Association was held on Wednesday evening the 13th
instant, in Drury Lane Theatre, which was crowded in
every part. On the stage were the Earls of Milltown
and Lindsay, and the following members of parliament:
Messrs. F. H. F. Berkeley, Bell, Oliveira, W. Michell,
Miall, F. French, Pellatt, R. Swift, Bowyer, Maguire,
Jackson, Follett, Currie, Layard, Lindsay, Tite, Otway,
C. H. Russell, Alcock, G. Dundas; Sir C. Napier, Sir
C. Shakerley, Capt. Eastwick, Messrs. Gassiott, Leaf,
Nicholry, Travers, Ingram, Thackeray, Edwin James,
and many others. Mr. Morley occupied the chair, and
opened the proceedings. The principal speaker was
Mr. Layard, who was received with loud and repeated
bursts of cheering. He said there was a very general
and deep-seated conviction abroad, that the country
was most grievously misgoverned. That conviction was
not limited to a few, nor had it been hastily arrived at;
but, on the contrary, it was very deep-seated, and the
movement which was the consequence of it, like most
movements which had taken place in the country, was
essentially a movement organised and carried on by
those who, above all others, represented the intelligence,
wealth, and enterprise of England. If he were called
upon to divide England into two parties as connected
with this movement, he should say that on one side
were all the men of common sense, of respectability and
wealth, who by their perseverance and industry hoped
to raise a name for themselves and to do good to the
public service; while on the other, there was a small
party who claimed to themselves the monopoly of
government, and who lived, grew fat, and vegetated upon
those corruptions and evils which the association were
determined, if possible, to remove. However dangerous
agitation might be in general, there was a time when
agitation was necessary in order to correct a greater
evil than agitation itself could produce, and that time
had now arrived. The association felt, that while in
this great country, during a long period of comparatively
entire peace, all that concerned the private relations
and enterprises of the country had made a progress
unexampled in its history; that while national monuments,
such as had never been equalled in the greatest
empires of the world had arisen around us, and while
everything was moving and doing, the government of
the country alone stood still. They had, therefore,
thought it better to come forward now and give an
impetus and movement to this feeling, rather than to
remain any longer listless and regardless of it. He
could not but think that the present war, putting aside
all political objects, would lead to many beneficial results,
one of which was undoubtedly the establishment of the
Administrative Reform Association. If the war had
not taken place we should have slumbered too long.
But, putting aside all political considerations as to the
justice and necessity of the war, he thought all persons
would be agreed that, as we were engaged in war, that
war ought to be carried on in a manner consistent with
the honour and dignity of the country. Of the
misgovernment of the country the labours of the Sebastopol
Committee afforded ample evidence, the three blue
books which they had issued, recording the ignorance,
indifference, and obstinacy of a government such as he
would defy the whole history of the world to produce.
They cast the greatest shame upon the people and upon
the system, though fortunately there was one redeeming
point, inasmuch as they showed instances of heroic
suffering, of patient endurance, and of virtue that had
never been equalled. Who could read without emotion
the evidence of such witnesses as Messrs. Stafford,
Osborne, and Macdonald? Their testimony proved the
utter ignorance and incompetence of the government
officials, and showed that the most intense sufferings had
been borne by the troops with patient endurance, and
with but one gleam of hope. And whence did that ray
of hope come? It came from the midnight lamp of
that heroic woman who, as had been well described, was
nightly to be seen passing alone along miles of agony
and suffering. Whence, also, had come the small comforts
which had been supplied to relieve the condition
of the troops? They came from funds supplied by
private benevolence and administered by a great organ
of public opinion. A woman self-devoted, and a man
who had never seen war or gone into sickness, and who
was selected only for his intelligence, these were the
people who scattered hope and comfort, which all the
great appliances of the country, which had cost millions
of taxation, were totally unable to effect. What lesson
were they taught by this? Why, that almost every
improvement which had taken place had come from
private suggestion, and that almost every substantial
alleviation of suffering had originated in public charity.
Mr. Layard proceeded to speak of the object of the
association, which was the reform of the three great
branches of the public service—the army and navy, the
diplomatic and the civil services: on each of these heads
he commented at some length; and concluded by
saying, that what he wished to see was a new party in
the House of Commons, not representing a class, but
representing the feelings and opinion of the people of
the country, and relying for support not upon family
connections, but upon the people.—Mr. Lindsay, M.P.,
was the next speaker, and said he was desirous of laying
before the meeting some plain facts with which he had
been lately made acquainted. About six weeks ago he
was asked by Sir Lacy De Evans if the scarcity of
shipping was still as great as it had been? His reply was,
that shipping might be found to any amount; when
Sir Lacy De Evans said his statement was very strange,
because for more than a month he had been desirous of
sending out 3,000 horses to his division in the Crimea,
and he had been told that it was impossible to find ships
to carry them out. He (Mr. Lindsay) made inquiries
into the matter, and subsequently addressed a letter to
Sir De Lacy Evans, stating that some time ago a friend
of his had written to Lord Panmure, offering to supply
in twenty-four hours a magnificent fleet of the finest
ships in the world, capable of carrying out 2,200 horses,
at the low rate of sixteen or seventeen shillings per ton
registered tonnage. The answer received was the usual
one—that the offer would be considered. Some time
afterwards another offer was made to the government to
find a fleet capable of taking out 2,660 horses, and yet
he (Mr. Lindsay) understood that to this day the larger
portion of the horses referred to by Sir De Lacy Evans
had not gone out. Mr. Lindsay then adduced several
parallel cases having reference to the mismanagement
of affairs at the Transport Board, and said that he had
moved for returns to be made with respect to the
transport service; and although the government had taken
five months to make them, yet there were so many
errors in them—even wilful errors lie was afraid—that
if a clerk of his had made one-tenth part of them, he
would have dismissed him, and he would not rest until
the men who had made the errors in these returns were
dismissed. Mr. Tite, Mr. Otway, and Sir C. Napier,
afterwards briefly addressed the meeting, and the
proceedings terminated, no resolutions having been
proposed, according to the arrangement originally agreed
upon.

Much attention has been excited by Prince Albert's
Remarks on the State of Public Affairs, delivered at the
annual dinner of the Trinity Corporation on the 9th
inst. His Royal Highness proposed the health of her
Majesty's ministers in the following terms:—"If there
was ever a time at which her Majesty's government, by
whomsoever conducted, required the support,—ay, not
the support alone, but the confidence, goodwill, and
sympathy of their fellow-countrymen, it is surely the present.
It is not the way to success in war, to support it, however
ardently and enthusiastically, and at the same time to
tie down and weaken the hands of those who have to
conduct it. We are engaged with a mighty enemy, who
is using against us all those wonderful powers which
have sprung up under the generating influence of our
liberty and our civilisation. You find him with all that
force which unity of purpose and action, impenetrable
secresy, and uncontrolled despotic power, have given,
while we have to meet him under a state of things