On Tuesday Lord Cardwell presented to the House of Lords
a petition from the general body of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers of the three denominations residing in London and Westminster, praying for the immediate and unconditiOnal with-
drawal of the Admiralty instructions in relation to fugitive slaves ; and Lord Cardwell urged that the instructions referred to should be withdrawn, pending the Report of the Royal Commission, since these Admiralty instructions certainly would not in any way facilitate the work of the Commissioners, who are not directed to find a policy, but the means of better carrying out the generous anti-slavery policy commended in the Speech from -the Throne. Lord Cairns made a speech very Conservative in its legal doctrine and very Liberal in its general doctrine, defending the law of the last Circular, but professing a strong desire to get that law amended, and even to adopt the policy of giving fair notice to all Slave Powers that our ships will never surrender a slave who seeks the protection of our flag, whether in territorial waters or out of them. Lord Selborne commented on the curious blending of fire and water in Lord Cairns's speech, anti-slavery sentiment and pro-slavery law ; and Lord Derby carefully extinguished the former, and added to the latter, in a speech that savoured strongly of the author of the first Circular. After a reply from Lord Coleridge, the petition was ordered to lie on the table; and the subject dropped, but the -different attitude assumed by Lord Cairns and Lord Derby pro- voked, and will continue to provoke, remark. It was an occasion -on which Lord Derby was expected to wear the white sheet, but he wore a wet blanket instead, and used it very effectively on Lord Cairns.
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