received by me, or by any person on my account or for my benefit; that my said brother James was put into possession of the said premises in 1810, and continued to be sole beneficial owner thereof until his death in December, 1833; that from his death until the present time the whole rents of the said premises have, by my direction, been applied towards the payment of his debts and liabilities; that the money borrowed in 1811 on the security of the said premises was borrowed by my said brother James solely for his own use, and was wholly received and wholly enjoyed by him; that the legal estate in the said premises being still in me, I was a necessary party to the said mortgage deed, which I executed in 1811, and which I have never seen, from that day to this, nor heard of, till October last; that I have been informed there was some transfer of the said mortgage in 1827; I say that I was never told of any such transaction at the time; that I never received nor dealt with any part of the money, and that I never executed any such transfer; and further say that no claim has ever been made to my knowledge for interest upon any such debt, and that I did not know and did not believe that at the time of my said brother's death in 1833 such mortgage still existed, and therefore that I from my brother's death until the present time directed all the rents of the said premises to be applied in relief of different liabilities affecting my said brother's estates; that the first time I heard of any claim was in a letter from James Leman, solicitor of the said Edmunds, some time in October last, in which he stated that the said 'Edmunds's funds were exhausted, and that he had nothing left but a mortgage for 5,000l. upon the Brougham property,' or words to that effect. And I further say, that well knowing there was no such mortgage upon the Brougham property, I directed my brother William Brougham to write to the said Leman, that I knew of no such debt, and that I owed no such sum; that late in the same month of October the mortgage deed of 1811 upon the said Howes Farm was found, as I have been informed, in the muniment room at Brougham, but I was not there, and I never saw and never since have seen the said deed. And I further say, that after I had left England I was informed that the question of the validity of the

said mortgage was to be referred to Lord Cranworth. And I further say, I have been informed and believe that the said Edmunds has stated upon oath that I was kept in ignorance of such reference. Now I say that such statement is absolutely false, for I was not only informed of such intended reference at the time, but I afterwards sent to the said Lord Cranworth in December last from Cannes a paper signed by me, in which I stated that I submitted in all respects to his arbitration and award. And I further say, that acting under the firm conviction and belief that I owed no such debt, and that the claim so made against me by the said Leman on behalf of the said Edmunds in respect of a debt of 5,000l. alleged to be secured on the Brougham property was as regards me an unjust claim, I directed my said brother William to resist and oppose the same by every means in his power, and to urge upon the said Lord Cranworth, that inasmuch as no interest had ever been demanded of or paid by me or by my order, or with my knowledge, privity, or consent, in respect of any such debt, that such liability, if it ever existed, ought not now to be pressed against me, and I believe that my said brother did accordingly resist such claim on my behalf. And I further say, that if, as I have been informed and believe, my said brother ever offered to take upon himself such debt, such offer was purely voluntary on his part, and having been made without my knowledge or consent could in no way render me liable for any such debt. And I further say, that the said premises are now liable to the claims of certain creditors of my said brother James to an amount largely exceeding the value thereof, so that if the said claim for 5,000l. were extinguished by the money which I am informed and believe is secured on the said Edmunds's death by a policy for 3,000l., or in any other manner, the said premises would become at once available to satisfy the claims of the said creditors, but would confer no benefit upon me or upon any member of my family. And I further say, that neither I nor any existing member of my family have ever benefited or ever can, under any possible circumstances, benefit by any payments that have ever been made by the said Edmunds in respect of the said debt or otherwise. And I further say, I have been informed

and believe that the said Edmunds has stated upon oath that Alfred Montgomery, Commissioner of the Board of Inland Revenue, told him that I had said to him, the said Montgomery, that I had given him the said Edmunds the said Patent Office on the understanding that the proceeds were to be applied for the benefit of his brothers and sisters. Now I say that such statement, whether made by the said Edmunds or by the said Montgomery, is false, for I say that I did not give the said Edmunds the said Patent Office upon the understanding that it was to be for the benefit of his brothers and sisters, or upon or coupled with that or with any other condition or understanding whatever. And I further say, that I never said, either to the said Montgomery or to any other person, that I had so given the said office, and I say that such statement is altogether untrue, whether made by the said Montgomery, but which I entirely disbelieve, or invented by the said Edmunds. And I further say, that when the said Patent Office became vacant by the death of William Henry Scott I had full power and absolute right to have given it to any member of my own family, as Lord Northington and as Lord Eldon had done, the former to his daughter in her marriage settlement, the latter to his son William Henry Scott,-and that if I had followed the example of my predecessors in office some member of my family would have enjoyed for his life a sinecure of nearly 4,000l. a year, but so far from having the desire to unduly enrich my family at the expense of the public I voluntarily abolished the said sinecure, replacing it by the said office of 4007. a year, which I gave to the said Edmunds. And lastly I say, that from November, 1830, to November, 1884, the said Edmunds enjoyed by my gift the two offices of purse-bearer and secretary to the Commissioners of the Peace, and that such offices, while I held the Great Seal, were paid by fees, and averaged together a sum exceeding 1,100l. a year, although they were afterwards, as I believe in Lord Cottenham's time, reduced in amount, and paid by fixed annual sums. And I further say, that when the said Edmunds lost the said offices by the change of Government in 1834 I had obtained for him from Lord Melbourne the clerkship of the Crown, at that time 600l., but afterwards

raised to 1,000l. a year, and which office, in 1848, he the said Edmunds exchanged for the clerkship in the House of Lords, the salary of which was 1,5001. a year, and that he thereby gained 500l., and not 300l. a year, as I am informed he has sworn before the Committee. And I further say, that shortly afterwards the said Edmunds obtained an additional 6001. a year as clerk to the Commissioners of Patents, and that he added to his already large income a further sum of not less than 300l. a year from discounts upon patent stamps.

"Sworn this twenty-second day of April 1865, before the British Vice-Consul

at Cannes in France.

THE LATE MR. COBDEN. Despatch from M. Drouyn de Lhuys to the Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne.

On the 18 April, 1865, the Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne communicated to Earl Russell the following despatch of M. Drouyn de Lhuys, dated the 8 April, 1865, with reference to the late Mr. Cobden :

"A few days since, while the Prime Minister of her Britannic Majesty was bearing brilliant testimony in the House of Commons to the memory of Richard Cobden, a speaker belonging to the Government of the Emperor expressed the regrets which the death of this illustrious man called forth in France, and the legislative body identified themselves with this homage by a common impulse.

"A manifestation so honourable to the two nations, and to the person whose loss England

deplores, will not have escaped your attention; and you will perhaps already have had occasion to communicate thereupon with the ministers of the Queen. Nevertheless, I desire, Prince, to place you in a position to express to them officially the mournful and truly national sympathy which the death, as lamented as premature, of Richard Cobden has excited on this side of the Channel.

"That indefatigable promoter of liberty in the domain of commerce and manufactures was not only the living proof of what merit, perseverance, and labour can effect; one of the most perfect examples of those men who, having their origin in the most humble ranks of society, raise themselves to the highest rank in public esteem through their own worth and their personal services; finally, one of the rarest examples of the solid qualities inherent in the English character: he is, above all, in our eyes, the representative of those sentiments and those cosmopolite principles before which national boundaries and rivalries disappear. While essentially of his country, he was still more of his time: he comprehended what mutual relations could effect in our day for the prosperity of nationalities. Cobden was, if the expression be allowed, an international' man.

"There are intelligences and aptitudes which are only given to those who, in the outset of their career, have experienced the embarrassments and the difficulties of life, who have had to contend against the necessities of a position somewhat less than humble. Richard Cobden had been brought up in this trying, but strengthening school. He thence acquired, as the best preparation for a knowledge of political economy, the gift of sympathy with the sufferings of the laborious classes in the midst of whom he had lived; he the better understood their wretchedness from having shared it with them; and, in feeling the need of alleviating it, he was naturally led to seek the means of doing so--firstly, in the abolition of the corn laws in England; then in the suppression and lowering of the barriers which various laws had raised between peoples. Certainly Cobden did not create any of the principles of industrial and commercial liberty. They had been professed and propagated before him by eminent theorists in England and France. But his glory is to have followed up the practical appli

cation of them, beyond as well as within, with an ardour and devotedness unparalleled.

"Exempt from national prejudices, as from those of education and caste, Richard Cobden brought to the pursuit of reforms which he judged useful to his country and profitable to humanity a disinterestedness and a sincerity which one cannot but honour, even whilst one is obliged to admit that all his views were not equally practicable.

"For ourselves, we cannot forget the considerable part which he took in the change of opinions which prepared, and in the negotiations which led to, the Treaty of Commerce now existing between France and England. This important act, the good results of which experience has already consecrated, and the liberal provisions of which are from day to day adopted by other powers of Europe, will have for effect not only the development of the material interests between England and France, but it will also assist powerfully in strengthening their friendly relations. This was the double object of Richard Cobden. He loved and understood France better than any other person, and considered as one of the greatest interests of his country and humanity the maintenance of peaceful relations between the two nations which, according to the expression recently used by a member of the English Cabinet, march at the head of the world.

"You will have the goodness, Prince, to acquaint the prime minister and the principal secretary of state of her Britannic Majesty with the sentiments expressed in this despatch, and which they will receive, I doubt not, in the same spirit which has dictated them."

LOAN FUND BOARD OF IRELAND.

Twenty-seventh Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Loan Fund Board of Ireland for the year 1864.

The number of loan funds in existence in 1864, on the board's register, was ninety-eight, being six less than in the preceding year. The circulation of loan funds throughout the country connected with the board in 1864, amounted to 636,3317.; it fell short of that of the preceding year by 56,6201.—a striking result, to

be attributed to the continued unfavourable circumstances of the country in the past year. The capital of loan funds actually working in 1864, amounted to 167,6607.; it fell short of that of 1863 by the sum of 5,1847. The number of loans made in 1864 was 147,816; it fell short of that of 1863 by 7,251. The number of notes sold by the board in 1864, at 1d. each, was 145,700; and fell short of the number sold in 1868 by 15,500. The produce of the sale of notes in 1864 was 6077. 1s. 8d.; showing a decrease, compared with that of 1863, of 647. 11s. 8d. The number of debentures sold in 1864, by the board, at 1s. each, was 161; the produce of the sale of which was 81. 1s. There was a decrease in the number sold in 1864, as compared with that of 1863, of twenty-five, and in the produce of the sale of 11. 5s.

The gross profits derived by local societies from discounts, fines, sale of application papers and cards, in 1864, amounted to 18,1721. 4s. 3d.; they fell short of the amount derived from the same sources in 1863 by 9621. 1s. 4d. The amount of fines (one of the above-named items) in 1864 was 3,605l. 3s. 4d.; there was a decrease of fines in that year, as compared with the same item in 1863, of 8431. 128. 8d. The amount of surplus profits applied to charitable or useful purposes in the several localities of loan funds, in 1864, was 1,8237. 148., showing a decrease of such grants, in that year, as compared with that of 1863, of 2511. 5s. 2d.

The board's income in 1864, derived from ordinary sources of revenue, was as follows:

Sale of notes, debentures, and cards, 6151. 6s. 6d. ; interest on funds invested in Government stock, 135l. 8s. 11d.; total amount, 7501. 15s. 5d. The ordinary income of 1864 fell short of that of the preceding year by the sum of 647. 17s. The total of board's receipts from all sources in 1864, was:-Ordinary income from sale of notes, debentures, and cards, and from dividends on stock, 750l. 15s. 5d.; interest on loan to Aghada loan fund, 4s.; payment of seventh instalment of Aghada loan, 107.; relodgment by Waterford King Street loan fund, 21. 8s. 6d. ; total amount, 763l. 7s. 11d.

The board's expenditure in 1864 was 8621. 15s.; it fell short of that of 1863 by

136l. 15s. 3d. The board's expenditure in 1864 exceeded the income from all sources, of that year, by the sum of 991. 7s. 1d. -a result to be ascribed mainly to the decrease of sale of notes. It is to be observed that in 1859 there was an increase in the board's income from sale of notes and debentures, over that of the preceding year.

Since that period to the present there has been a continued decrease.

In the year 1860 the decrease amounted to 381. 38. 8d.; in 1861 to 761. 16s. 9d.; in 1862 to 531. 5s. 6d.; in 1863 to 381. 4s. 11d.; and in 1864 to 65l. 14s. 5d.

In preceding reports, the board have expressed their opinion that some improvement in the present machinery of the local management of loan funds, and in the existing legislative control over the institution, was required, with a view to the more adequate protection of the savings of the industrious poor, and the promotion of the main objects of the institution, and are still of opinion the necessity for such improvement exists.

SUBSCRIPTIONS REQUIRED OF THE CLERGY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Report of her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the Subscriptions, Declarations, and Oaths required to be made and taken by the Clergy of the United Church of England and Ireland.

A ROYAL Commission under date 8th February, 1864, was issued to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop of York, Archbishop of Armagh, Archbishop of Dublin, Earl Stanhope, Earl of Harrowby, K.G., Bishop of London, Bishop of Winchester, Bishop of St. David's, Bishop of Oxford, Lord Lyttelton, Baron Cranworth, Baron Ebury, Edward Pleydell Bouverie, M.P., Dr. Lushington, Spencer Horatio Walpole, M.P., Joseph Napier, Sir John Taylor Coleridge, Sir William Heathcote, Charles Buxton, Dr. Milman, Dean of St. Paul's, Dr. Goodwin, Dean of Ely, Rev. John Sandford, Archdeacon of Coventry, Dr. William Jacobson, Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, Dr. Jeremie, Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, Rev.

Henry Venn, and Rev. William Gibson Humphry, to consider and revise the various forms of subscriptions and declarations required to be made by the clergy of the United Church of England and Ireland, on ordination or on appointment, admission or induction to any ecclesiastical dignity, benefice, curacy, lectureship, or office, and to report their opinion how far they may be altered and simplified consistently with due security for the declared agreement of the clergy, with the doctrines of the Church, and their conformity to its ritual.

On the 13th day of May of the same year the object of the Commission was enlarged, the Commissioners being instructed also to consider the various oaths required to be taken by the clergy of the United Church of England and Ireland, on ordination or on appointment, admission, or induction to any ecclesiastical dignity, benefice, curacy, lectureship, or office, and to report their opinion as to the expediency of altering or dispensing with the said oaths, or any of them, for the future.

On the 9th February, 1865, the Commissioners reported as follows:

"I. Your Majesty having been pleased to issue commissions authorizing and appointing us to consider and revise the various forms of subscription and declaration required to be made by the clergy of the United Church of England and Ireland on ordination, or on appointment, admission, or induction to any ecclesiastical dignity, benefice, curacy, lectureship, or office, and to report our opinion how far they may be altered and simplified consistently with due security for the declared agreement of the clergy with the doctrines of the Church, and their conformity to its ritual;' and also to consider the various oaths required to be taken by the clergy of the United Church of England and Ireland on ordination, or on appointment, admission, or induction to any ecclesiastical dignity, benefice, curacy, lectureship, or office, and to report our opinion as to the expediency of altering or dispensing with the said oaths, or any of them, for the future;' we, your Majesty's Commissioners, in execution of the duties thus entrusted to us, have considered the existing forms of subscription and declaration, with a view to reducing their number and simplifying their character; and for that purpose we have reviewed the various

circumstances which from time to time led to their adoption, and we have had regard to the altered circumstances of our own times. We have also considered whether it is possible.to remove from those forms any expressions which have been by some deemed objectionable, and yet to preserve their just force as safeguards for the agreement of the clergy with the doctrine of the Church, and for conformity to its ritual.

"We have further considered whether any of the oaths now appointed to be taken can with safety be altered or dispensed with.

"We have not thought it necessary to avail ourselves of the power granted to us by your Majesty's commissions of taking evidence on the subjects submitted to our consideration, since we have not found, in the course of our investigations, any points which appeared to us to require such a proceeding for their elucidation or settlement.

"II. The subscriptions, declarations, and oaths now required from the clergy of the United Church of England and Ireland (excluding the declarations embodied in the questions and answers in the ordination services, which do not appear to come within the scope of our inquiry) are as follows:

66

"ENGLAND.

"ON ORDINATION AS DEACON OR PRIEST.

Every person ordained deacon or priest is required:-1. To subscribe to the articles of religion as enjoined by the statute of Elizabeth. 13 Eliz. c. 12. s. 5. 2. To subscribe to the three articles of the 36th canon, relating to:a. The Royal Supremacy. b. The Book of Common Prayer. c. The Thirty-nine Articles. 3. To take the oath of allegiance and the oath of supremacy.-1 Eliz. c. 1., and 1 Will. & Mar. c. 8.

"ON BEING LICENSED TO A STIPENDIARY CURACY.

"Every person licensed to a stipendiary cu racy is required:-1. 2. and 3. To make the subscriptions and take the oaths required on ordination as above mentioned. 4. To make and subscribe a declaration as to the stipend to be received.-1 & 2 Vict. c. 106. s. 81. 5. To take the oath of canonical obedience. 6. To subscribe to a declaration of conformity to the