NARRATIVE OF PARLIAMENT AND POLITICS.

On Friday, April 27, the Earl of ALBEMARLE
presented a petition and moved for returns respecting the
Trade in Russian Goods Carried on through Prussia,
and inquired the intentions of the government on the
subject of the blockade of the enemy's ports. Expressing
his conviction that a commercial attack upon Russia,
accomplished by means of a rigorous blockade, would
prove more effectual than all the efforts of our armies,
he denounced the negligence which had been apparent
last year in this respect, and exhorted the ministry to
more stringent operations in the ensuing campaign.
Means should also be taken to stop the land transit
trade carried on so largely through the Prussian territory,
whose existence rendered the maritime blockade
altogether abortive.—Lord STANLEY of Alderley
repeated the explanations already more than once given to
account for the lenity of last year's blockade. In the
present year he stated that the Black Sea ports
belonging to Russia were already blockaded, as those in
the Baltic would be so soon as the navigation was open.
With respect to the general commerce of Russia, he
read returns showing that she had nearly lost half her
export trade, and asserted that she had been seriously
crippled in every branch of her resources.

On Monday, April 30, in reply to Lord Vivian,
respecting Cavalry Reinforcements to the Crimea, Lord
HARDINGE said he had had a consultation with the
Duke of Cambridge, who agreed with him that, instead
of sending out separate squadrons of each of the
regiments serving, it would be better to send out the
two regiments, the 1st Dragoon Guards and the 6th
Dragoons. The force of cavalry in the East at present
consisted of 1,300 effective men, and they would be
reinforced by about 750 troops, and also by the two
regiments coming from India, one of which had already
arrived—the amount of which would be about 1000 men
rank and file. Thus there would be in the Crimea
upwards of 3000 effective cavalry, exclusive of the two
regiments he had referred to, if they would be required,
and they would be required without doubt. The
number of recruits now ready was at least 1000 men,
and we had at least 1,500 horses between five and six
years old.

On Thursday, May 3, the Earl of ELLENBOROUGH
called attention to the notification in the Gazette, that
it was her Majesty's pleasure to give the Officers of the
Indian Army the same rank and precedence as the
officers of her Majesty's army in every other part of the
world. Although this order, if it referred to the military
position of the officers generally, must be a matter
of great gratification to the Indian army, he was afraid
on the other hand it would tend to disappoint the hopes
of those officers, as they entertained a reasonable
expectation that her Majesty's ministers would have gone
further, by giving them the same brevet rank as the
officers of her Majesty's army. He then alluded to the
memorandum, dated the 30th April, relating to the
enlistment for the army, and asked whether her
Majesty's government had any intention of giving the
same amount of bounty as had been offered under a
former arrangement.—Lord PANMURE said that the
memorandum went no further in its spirit or letter than
to confer upon the officers of the Indian army a social
position which, though hitherto generally recognised,
was involved in some doubt and uncertainty. He
would, however, take that opportunity of saying it was
his opinion that the services and distinctions of the
Indian army had been sometimes very unfairly put
forward in such a way as to throw into the shade the
services of her Majesty's army. He did not think that
there ought to be any distinction made between the two
services in respect to officers of equal merit. In respect
to the question as to the bounty to be given to those
enlisting under the order of the 30th April, it was not
the intention at present of the government to increase
that bounty. As long as the wants of the army were
being supplied, he thought it his duty to economise the
public money as much as possible. If, however, it were
deemed necessary to offer a greater bounty, as a further
inducement for the enlistment of recruits, the government
would, of course, be prepared to consider the
propriety of proposing such increase.

The Earl of CLARENDON made a statement respecting
the Late Negotiations at Vienna. He mentioned, as a
proof of the spirit in which they were carried on, and
the desire of the governments of France and England to
do nothing that should offend either the honour or
dignity of Russia, that it was a fact that the plenipotentiaries
of Russia had been invited themselves to take
the initiative, and to propose the measures which they
thought would best carry out the principle of the third
basis of negotiation, to which they had already given
their assent. The Russian plenipotentiaries acknowledged
the spirit which had induced this course; but
they announced that they were left without instructions,
and that it was necessary for them to apply to St.
Petersburg for instructions. In the meantime the
allied powers declined to alter the order, in which the
four points were originally placed, and refused to discuss
the fourth point, upon which it was possible some
concessions would be made, until the third point was
disposed of. When the conference was again called
together to receive the answer which had arrived from
St. Petersburg, the Russian plenipotentiaries announced
that they had no proposal whatever to make, and the
allied plenipotentiaries then submitted to them a scheme
which he thought Russia, without any hurt to her
dignity, but with very much addition to her honour as
a first–rate power, might have accepted, if she had been
inclined to prove to the world that her policy was as
pacific as she had always affirmed it to be. The
Russian plenipotentiaries, however, rejected these
propositions, and the conferences were therefore suspended.
Proposals had since been made by the Russian government,
but not of a character to promote or accomplish
the objects contemplated by the third basis of
negotiations. Lord Clarendon concluded by saying: "You
will find in the protocols to be laid upon the table, not
simply the record of a conclusion which has been
arrived at, but a report of the discussions which took
place, and of the feelings that were expressed by the
representatives of each power. I think you may consider
the statement I have made to be either satisfactory or
conclusive—conclusive I mean as to what has actually
taken place—unless I am able to inform you of the
course which Austria intends to take hereafter; and it
is on this particular point I hope that that prudence
may be observed, which, I think, the circumstances of
the case really demand. My reason for saying this is
that at the conclusion of the conferences, or when they