The Express. — London, England, 1853-03-24 00:00:00

iht exproo. TO C01000;PON DENTE. re ad &titles ;f l- • ita;Capreta* toataiatar !tr raw ' , salt(' .....,arttr." ea 'magmas/ dewy Tuasday sad Fr.day • :abt, la dm. for t.-t. A Ivo Lamont Wended for TM Lapels.," La it a itwrjait papa, mu.: to at the tallma 111,, lisararlwareat. by Two Waxle on lad day at pabidatlaa. MON WATER AT LONDON BRIDON. tin Dar—llownliir. 11. Sit.. Aftersocc. le. 30m. to.unisew—lieraiag. 2a. I 1a......„ Affierw4 21..140. LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 24. Tintas i only one way in which the Indian .ques tion can be satisfactorily dealt with ; and that to the way first proposed in the columns of the Daily News months ago, and now supported by all those who earnestly desire tho welfare of our empire in the East. The plan is, to pass a Continuanee Act for one, two, or three years. Such an Act is all that the Legislature or the public is ripe for. It can serves. good purpose to dispute about where the fault lies but it is certain that the term at which the Charter Act for the Government of India fell to be renewed— the only time at which it was possible to legislate comprehensively and systematically for the future government of Anglo-India, has come upon us, and found us as unprepared as if the very day and moment of its advent had not been certainly known beforehand. The twin corporations which rule India—the Directors and the Board of Control in resuscitations of the two kings of Brent ford in the "Rehearsal," sitting in one chair, smell ing at one rose—are of course inexcusable. They have either been idly neglecting their duty, or dis honestly keeping quirt in the hope of smuggling through some jobbing office measure. But the gentle English public is scarcely less to blame than they are. The House of Commons has ab sorbed the far greater part of the real authority of the State ; the general public has successfully asserted the right and power to control the House of Commons. The home public of Eng land are the real wielders of the destinies of India. Whore the power is, there of right and necessity must be the responsibility. The general public of England, and every man in it who can give a vote for a member of Parliament, or speak a word thet can influence the opinion of others, is more or less re sponsible for the future good government of our Indian dominions; yet how many ten-pounders have ever troubled their heads about India ? How many of those whom the Reform Act of 1831 made the real rulers of England have taken the trouble to qualify them for the discharge of the duty they owe to this Important and interesting dependency ? At the eleventh—we might almost say at the twelfth—hour, however, the English public seems to he awakening to a sense of what it owes to India. As sociations in London, and meetings in Manchester, are symphathetie of a desire to make up fee lost time. It is not, perhaps, the most creditable of po siti3ns for a nation to place itself in, that of asking for more thus to keen how it can best. set about a task it ought sow to be Weeny performing i but the most honest way is boldly to incur the ridisule, if any is to arias, tether than to act unadvisedly, or to connive at injustice in others. Whatever taunts may be uttered, the English people will, it is to he hoped, cling fast to the resolve not to allow Ministers to hurry any crude, narrow, or half under stood measure for the government of Anglo-India that may have been got up by mutual concessions of the India House and the Board of Control, through Parliament this session, but compel them to rest sa tiated with a brief prolongation of the powers of the actual government in order to gain time for matured and well-informed legislation. The necessary time having been gained, the great, the unvarying aim of those who mho upon them to direct and guide public opinion on this important question ought to be to avoid on the one hand any under-estimate of the magnitude, complexity, and difficulty of the task they have undertaken ; on the other, all passionate sad imaginative exaggerations of the faults and short-comings of past Angle-Indian Governments. British India certainly is not, and never has been, governed in a manner that this country has any right to be proud of. It is so palliation of this to say that India is at least as well governed under the British sceptre as it ever has been. If not governed as well as it can be, this country which has usurped its government cannot stand innocent is the eye of reason and humanity. But, admitting this truth to its full extent, we must still proclaim our eonviction that India has gained on the whole by falling under British sovereignty. India, it is said, is poor ; it imports not one twenty-fifth part of our British produce and manufactures that North America and the %Vest Indies do ; its peasantry, and the bulk of its population, are wretchedly poor. Granted, but this was the case even to a greater extent before India became ours. A foolish idea still prevails that India was rich when invaded by NUM Sion, because he found immense treasures at Delhi. He found there all the wealth that the k tg rn Govement had extorted from its subjects, them destitute. Delhi had drained India ink, tie invader plundered Delhi; India has never boom so thoroughly lacked under English sway. Again, our police and judicial establishments in India airs wretchedly inefficient and cor rupt. Bat not more corrupt than under the thousand petty Governments that arose fungus like on the ruins of the Mogul Empire, and which have, one after *nether, been absorbed into our dominions ;, not more inefficient than the ephemeral domination of Princes vexed and harasesd by suc cessive swarms of predatory Affghans, Mahrattu, Pindarees, and so forth, with all the anseropidou adventurers, European and other, in their pay. The truth is, that though ninety-nine Indians in the hundred are little better off than ri t=, and though 44 eourts •an " • ca a is , the siiper and 22 11 B 4 se that India has weaved under des t, the new branches of industry that have root there, and the new ideas that have been dialed, have prepared it for social and civil reform, of dek at any farmer period it would have beets weinesegithis. It is not alone that the of res strong and paramount ghss a power capable of carrying re forms into est; the old saheb prejudices of Data born Assn shaken, ingliel his andossalated hero sad there; the English nessantile eased that honesty is the best policy, WHIM regvaler accounts are indispensable to Wes* erindaor, ha bre' preached, if it has not always been practised. These are the substructures upon which it must be sought to raise a bitter form of Government for India. The first and dominant evil from which India has lobe relieved is the pedantry of its aureate Govern ment. The English conquered Indiaby emancipat ing themselves from the older pedantry of England. The CLIVU and WARBILN lIASTINOS set at aught English conventional rules of civil policy and strategy, and the Company confirmed their conquests by introducing a counting-house precision and accu racy into all departments of public business, especially of finance. But with time an Anglo-Indian pedantry has grown up, worse, if pos sible, than oar old English pedantry. The Government of India hes become a mere system of l i book keeping sad letter-writing. Everything must I be put on paper, and while numberless functionaries I are scribbling business falls into arrest. Years elapse before the reports and despatches relative to any one piece of business can be completed, and in the meantime the business itself is at a stand. To make all this worse and worse we have the mischievous system of double government. Again public business has become a monopoly in the hands of a narrow and not the most competent claw. A comparatively few Europeans engross all the principal charges, and begin to enjoy place and precedence before their years or their knowledge of the country qualifies them for their discharge. Mean while the influence and talents of the native aristo cracy of birth and property, and the intelligent half caste class, are allowed to vegetate and run to seed unused, and bitter feelings of disaffection be cause of this neglect allowed to spring up in the breasts of these closers. The neglected and despised natives too naturally adopt a low standard of honour and integrity in their feelings from b e i ng h a ll recon ciled by custom to the supercilious trectment of the governing race. It is by • dispassionate, calm review of the actual condition of Indian society, and by cautious but &ar eas action upon the results of this review, that fr THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING.- , MARCH 24, 1853. good government is to be conferred upon India. And upon our success in solving this prishlawt#e pends the permanence of our Indian Empire. Is too late to a,k whether it was wise or go acquire that Empire; it has become an i rt of our system, and to lop it off, thou i 1, re lieve us of some iscumbrances, wo tail dangerous weakness. To secure time for proper reform is the first thing needful, and that is to be bad by renewing the charter only for a short period —sonic one or two years, or ar most three years. Tur. Hindoos considered the decimal system of notation as too perfect to have been invented by man, sad they accordingly assigned to it a divine origin. Aalsrortz believed that it had its founda tion in some general law of nature. A comparison of this system with that in use amongst the Creeks and Romans tells us at once how it was that these nations made such trifling programs in arithmetic, while in all other sciences the former nation at least paseseded with gigantic strides. Nevertheless, we are so very chary of using this precious discovery, that we abandon its aid directly we meddle with calculations in anything but abstract numbers. Directly we connect numbers with weights, measures, or value, we discard as much as we are able the instrument of calcula tion that has Leen an useful hitherto, and wilfully complicate our reckonings with fragments of all pos sible systems of notation. Thus the merest tyro in figures knows that in the figure 3333, designating a number of similar things, as counters, the digit in the first place to the right stands for three counters, that in the second stands for thirty, or ten times three; that in the third for three hundred, or one hundred times three; that in the fourth for three thousand, or one thousand times three; in short, that each number increases to ten times its value by being removed one place to the left. If he were to be asked to explain the relations of the same numbers 3333 to each other considered as representatives of a sum of money, in our present Nystrom of coinage, he would be obliged to call in the aid of his instructor, who would te.l him that the regular gradations of value, according to ct'te ion, were now gone; that supposing the ez digit to the right represented farthings, then seskoning to the left, the first place to the left repre sented a denomination (pence) four times as large as hidings, that the second place to the left repre listed a denomination (shillings) twelve times as large as penes, that the third represented a denomination (pounds) twenty times es great as shillings. In short, that you would have to multiply the digits in these three places by three different numbers —4, 12, and 20 before you could tell what they represented in terms of another denomination. In operating upon the same number, 3333, in the weight employed when gold or silver is weighed, we should have to employ three other multipliers, 24, 20, and 12. It butter were the substance whose weight were in question, the multipliers for the four numbers would again differ, being 16, 16, and 28. And so we might go on through our whole system of weights and mea sures, the fundamental anomaly of which is, that the ascending denominations differ from each other by a variable ratio, which also is different from that which obtains in our notation. The true principle to be adopted is not only to regulate our coinage and weights and measures, so that each denomination shall be the same number of times the value of the preceding denomination, but that this number shall be that which is used in our system of notation—ten. The adoption of this principle throughout our whole system of weights and measures is at present not to be thought of. There is, however, no objection, and there can be scarcely any difficulty, in making a com mencement with the coinage. This must necessarily precede all other reforms, and, according to the re port of the Commissioners for the Restoration of ' Standards of Weights and Measures, 21st December, 1841, would be the most likely means of effecting them. " In our opinion," say the Commissioners, " no single change which it is in the power of a govern ment to effect in our monetary system would be felt by all classes as equally beneficial with this, when the temporal inconvenience attending the change had passed away." After recommending the adop tion of changes similar to those we have urged, the Commissioners conclude this part of their report by saying, " We do not feel ourselves at liberty further to eater into this subject, but we have felt it a duty imperative on us to advert to it, because no circum stance would contribute so much to introduce the decimal scale in weights and measures, as the esta blishment of a decimal coinage. " This was written twelve years ago, and preceded a body of evidence on the anomalous nature of our weights and measures, which might have raised a doubt in the minds of intelligent foreigners whether the nation which could restrain a universal protest against such absurdities. could have much claim to be considered as thoroughly civilised. Since that time the point of the wedge has been driven in a little way by the introdocnon of the florin, ten of which make a pound. This is the first step in the descending scale of division from a sovereign. We only want one more coin, the tenth of a florin, of the value of twopence and two-fifths, and our system will be nearly perfect, as the farthing will be so nearly the value of the tenth pert of this new coin, that the difference will be scarcely . perceptible in actual exchanges. When new farthings are coined they can be made exactly of the value of one-thou sandth of a pound. But we meet have the one new coin; value twopence and two-fifthe. Without it our system of coinage will not be uniform with our system of notation. If we reckon by pounds, florins, and farthings, then one of our multipliers will be 10 while the other is 100. An unskilled arithmetician would then probably write 333 for three pounds, three florins, and three farthings, instead of 3303. It may be said that there is no reason why we should legislate with a view to the conveoiesee of the igno rant ; but is the present case, the clever themselves will receive the benefit of the simplification • and it is the duty of a Government, whenever it is Possible, to frame all its enactments in such a manner that " those who run may read." The name of the new coin and of the one imme diately below it, which will afterwards come in the place of farthings, is a matter of trifling importance. We are a loyal people, and are always willing to fall back upon our Sovereigns to furnish= with names, and a VicroaLt or an ALBERT would sound as euphoni ously as a CAIOLUB or a JACOBUS. The Wag, how ever, to what we want. The name, which we are told does not interfere with the perfume of flowers, will have no effect upon the value or the utility of our coins. What we contend for, what the whole mercantile community is interested in obtaining, is, a system of coinage in which the steps shall precisely correspond with those of our system of notation, and this as introductory to a system of weights and measures constructed upon a like plan. Until we obtain this, we shall be behind every civilised country in Europe and America. DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT CHAPEL.-A most Interesting discovery of a beautiful vestige of Gothic &veil mature, in excellent preservation, has been made beneath the bouts at the eoath•esst corner of Leadenhall-etreet, and directly opposite Aldgate pump. The arches and vaults on the Mamma( have been hitherto weed SI a store house for wood acd other materials, but the extreme beauty of the architecture, particularly the sculpture and groking, led to an investigation. After the most diligent research it was ascertained to be the remains of a chapel dedicated to St. Michael, and is described by old histo rians as " neat A:dgate." It appears to be of very great antiquity, having been built by Norman, Prior of St. Ea therm' of the Holy Trinity, in the reign of Henry and his Queen Matilda of Boulogne, about the year 1108, and is new nearly 750 years old. The chapel oonsis•a of pillars sod arches; its length from north to south is 48 feet, and its breadth from east to west 16 feet. The walla are etsastructral with oblong blacks of ciTilit,;inica;tothesseof Rochester Castle; the arches are of stone, the keys of which ere beautifully sculptured with knots and other de noes. and exhibit at a glance the skilful masonry of our' ancestries. The chapel has been filled with soil and rubbish near.y is the c►pitals eit the pillars. From the ground to the crown of the arches is 10 feet, and, allowing the shafts to be buried 16 feet, gives a height of 28 feet to the interior of the building. The iron hinges and casements are still attach,J to the walls, from which circumstance it is con jectured that the structure orixinally 'told on the surface, nu; that in subsequent years the ground outiode was raised gradually until at last the relic of past ages was comiiletely buried. At the riuthern extremity there is an appearance of an arched passage in the direction of Bt. Katherine's Duke, the site of which the priory of St. Katharine for med" nectipeJ. The feregnivg descriotion is necessarily brief, but a visit to the spot w naid amply repay the anti query, or ether persons interested in the study of the re mains of past ages. • 4 FRANCE. ♦VARI4, w . trunATEvsnato. r ai4g3r6ag eor publishes a clefs of the Minister of litiett i teior, intend to faci & to the tiapsPort of *a( Frew& °duce fti the Exhibition at Dublin. They will carried free, both going and returning, between Havre and Dublin. The Musiteur announces that the order to set sail was only transtaitted from Paris to the fleet on Saturday evening, that it did not arrive at Toulon until Sunday morning, and that 36 hours after wards the fleet ins at sea. A further advance has been realised to-day in Rentee, both for cash and the account. The Three per Cents., for cash, have improved 25c., and the Four-and a-Half per Cents. 45c. For the account the Three per Cents. are 15c., and the Four-and-a- Half per Cents. 30c. higher. Bank Stock, however, experienced a decline of 10 francs. At the close of the Bourse the quotations were—For cash, Three per Cents., 79f. 25c.; do. Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 103 f. 10c.; for the account,Three per Cents., 79f. 20c.; do. Four and-a-Half, 102 f. 90c.; Bank Stock, 2,660 f. The following quotations have been received to day by telegraph :—Vienna Metallique Five per Cents., 931 ; Loan, 1831, 107/; Lombardo-Venetian, 991 ; Bank, 1,395. Frankfort : Loan , Five per Cent., 97 ; ditto Four-and-a-Half per Cent., 78 ; ' ditto Three per Cents., 521 ; Lots, 2.106., 1381; Bank, 1,530 ; Spanish Three per Cents., 431 • Bel gian Four-and-a-Half per Cents , 991. Berlin : Loose, Four•and-a-Half per Cent., 1021; Bank, 1061. Antwerp: Loan, Five per Cent., 1852, 100; ditto Four-and-a-Half per Cent. Consolidated, 1852, 98 ; ditto Two-and-a-Half per Cent., 1844, 561 ; E. prov. Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 991 ; Spanish Deferred, 231 ; ditto 'three per Cents. Interior, 42 5-16 ; Aut. Metall., 831. Brussels : L oan, Four-and-a-Half per Cent, Consolidated, 1852, 991 ; ditto Three per Cent., 1838, 741 • bpanish Deferred, 23) ; Bank National, 1,738 ; ' Bank Belgium, 9. PARIS, TUESDAY Evairtio. An article in the Presse, headed " La Pais Affermie," containing the rather startling suggestion, considering its title, that the wa y . to extinguish the last and only real danger of war in Europe would be for France and England to destroy the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, has excited a good deal of atten tion. This article, although by another hand, is a sentinuation of the one by M. Emile de Oirardin, congratulating Europe upon an Anglo-French alli twee, to which I directed your attention on Sunday. It is signed by M. Victor Monpurgo, a Greek, who has passed many years in 'larkey, and is well acquainted with the political state of that country. He complains that the government journal, the Pays, makes far too light of the question, and main tains that the constant agitation kept up by Russian emissaries in all the provinces of the Ottoman Em pire is something far more serious than a " momen tary difficulty"—far mare dangerous to the peace of Europe than a " diplomatic incident." It is time that England and France should look the matter in the face, and no longer content themselves with half measures. M. Moupurgo thus remarks upon the immense importance of the pretensions now set up by Russia: • Let it be well understood„ tiro- right of protection claimed by the Ramer of Russia over the Christians and the Greek religion in the Bast is worse than the dismemberment of several provisoes, enforced en Orefield of battle after a bloody victory. This proteetsease is nothing less than the right granted to Russia to interfere continually in the in ternal Wass of Turkey ; it is a perpetual menace of war ; it is the annihilation of an empire ; it is the annexation o f all Teary in Europe to the met dominions of Russia ; it It Nicholas Emperor at Constantinople—the thing, Isla only the imam On the dsy that Russia shall dispose of the Dar demean OM will be the absolute ialitress of the Mediter ranean, and, entrenched in this position, as in an imprrg nahae Seetrew, Ow will dictate kiws to Europe. Today it ie time to prevent this. To-in mow it may be tou late. M. Moopurgo, after giving a sketch of the en croaching policy of Rums expresses a belief that the hour has come for France and England finally to put a stop to it. " One must be blind , he says, " not to see that Russia in destroying the moral dignity of ' the Ottoman government does but foreshadow her material destruction, and that unless an impassable i barrier to Russian ambition be now erected, the day is not distant when the Muscovite eagle will float on the towers of Constantinople." The Patric says t--" We are assured that the French squadron at Toulon having completed all its preparations will leave to-morrow for Salamine." The squadron, which is commanded by Vice-Admiral Lassusse, is composed of the Ville de Paris, 120 guns, bearing the admiral's flag ; Valmy, 120 ; Monte bed% 120 ; Henri IV., 100 ; Bayard, 90 ; Jupiter, 86 ; Napoleon (aorew), 90; and Charlemagne (screw), 90 ; Mogador, steam-frigate of 650-horse power ; Magellan, 450; Sane, 450 ; and Caton, steanvoor. vette, 260. On arriving at the Levant , Admiral de Lassusse will be reinforced by the division under Rear-Admiral Romain Desfoss&, composed of the Gomer, assn-frigate of 450-horse power ; the Chap tal, corvette, 220 ; Heron, 200 ; Narval, 160 ; and the Seatinelle, 120. The Russian Black Sea fleet stationed at Sebasto pol is composed of 13 sail of the line, viz. :—Varna, 120; Douce Apotres, 120; Rostilar, 120; Sviateslar, 120; Selafond, 120; Trois-Swiatyteli, 120; Sultan Mahmoud, 84 ; Troia-Isrorchow, 84; Uriel, 84 ; Ja gondib, 84; Chabry, 84 ; Czeslen, 84; and Siliatria, 84. Eight frigates, of 60 guns each, the Agatapol, Midia, Yovarna, Brailow, - Flora, Misibria, Lizopol, and Bard. Six corvettes, Oreste, 37; Andromaque, 34; Perono, 34; Gylote, 24; Iphigenie, 24; and Calypso, 18, with some brigs and smaller vessels. The Turkish fleet consists of four line of battle ships, six frigates, eight brigs and oorvettea, sad six steam ers of different sizes. It is notified that the list of invitations for the ball, which is to be offered by the Legislative body to their Imperial Majesties on the 28th, being defini tively closed _by the commission, no new application can be attended to. It is also intimated that as all the public functionaries are to be in uniform, the other persons invited are requested, if possible, to be in court dress. M. hier do rEcluse has appealed to the Senate M. the guardians of theconstituuon, spinet hisearpnl don by M. Billaolt from the Corps Legislatif on amount of his having refused the oath. M. Visconti, the architect, has received orders to prepare the interior of the done of the Invalides for the inauguration of the Emperor's tomb, which will take place on the 6th of May, the anniversary of his death. The Council of State has proposed some amend ments in the bill for altering the law relative to To-morrow which the government declines to accede to. To-morrow there will be a debate on the subject, of coarse with closed doors, in which M. Rancho will support the measure as proposed by the government. wAnst his former colleague in the ministry, M. &Wier, who will advocate the ameadmente. An excellent charitable institution is about to be formed under the patronage of the Empress. It is calculated that 30,000 infants born in Paris are an neatly sent into the country, 20, 30, and 30 miles from Paris, to be nursed. Stern necessity compels a vast proportion of the mothers of these children to confide them to nurses of whom they know positively nothing, except this, that they must make a profit out of a miserably small monthly payment. The natural consequence of this state of things is the death, in numbers far exceeding the average, of its tants thus removed far from the parent's eye. It is now intended to form six large establishments in the banlieue of Paris. where children may be received to be nursed and weaned, and where they may at all times be visited by their mothers. The Abbe Ray mond is to be the director of these establishments, which, should they succeed, will be an admirable supplement to the Creches, which have done so much good. The section of rural economy of the Academy of Sciences presented the following list of candidates for the post of corresponding member vacant by the death of M. Pavia:-1)r. Lindley, of London, re• commended by section, and on the second line and ex era according to alphabetical order, M. Hatse burg, of Berlin, M. Canino Itidulfi, of Florence, and M. Villeroy, of itittershoff (Bavaria). Dr. Lindley was yesterday elected unanimously by 43 votes. A telegraphic despatch from Hyeres received jrester day announces that the health of the Minister of , War continues to improve. The Duke of Padua, Governor of the Invalides, died this morning. THE BREAKDOWN OF TILE AVSTRALIAN.—The Van Diemen's Law! portion of the mail, disembarked from the steamer Ault!. ili.tn, was placed on [wird the sailing ship Coromandel, at Sosthampton, yeatirday. GERMANY. The King of Wertsmberg has issued an order for the dissolution of the Bunthensehaft, an association of students at the University of Tubingen. The ground of the ender is said to be that the un►ons had a political character, and are dangerous to the public peace. The loan of five million thalers lately concluded by the Prussian finance minister appears to be nothisg more than the issue of the remainder of the 21 millions contracted for in 1819 ostensibly for the Eastern railway. SPAIN. On the 16th the committee of the Senate, char to examine the bill relative to railways, and which is composed of tho Duke de Sotomayor, the Count de Towemarin, and MM. Infante, Collantes, Conchs, Canter°, and Lopez de Oordora, assembled at the residence of the duke. The report will be presented 'at an early sitting of the Senate, but which will not probably take place until after the Easter holidays. As soon as the Chamber of Deputies shall have been definitively constituted, the ministry will bring for ward its project of organic reform, which consists, it is said, of the revision of the electoral law, a new organisation of the Senate, and a reform in the regu lations of the Chamber of Deputies. A communica tion of the 18th, received by express, states that the Chamber of Deputies is definitively constituted. M. Martinez de la Rosa has been re-elected President. Two of the vice-presidents have not been re-elected, although they were supported by the ministry. The secretaries have been confirmed in their functions. ITALY. On tho 15th, the Commandant of Leghorn sen tenced Omero Mengozzi, a scrivener, aged 26; Fer dinand Mugagnini, a cabinetmaker, aged 43 ; and Francis Parri, a carpenter, 46 years of age, to six, four, sad two weeks' imprisonment, in irons, for having had in their possession printed works and manuscripts of a subversive nature. The Parlament° mentions that the refugees sent mt of Genoa for political reasons were nine in num ber, and that 12 were arrested for other motives. The exact number of those expelled from Turin,' Vercelli, and Alexandria was not known, but not more than one-fourth of them had been compromised in the recent revolt. Tile journal Maga was seized on the 17th in its o ffi ce, and wherever it was exposed for sale, for publishing insulting articles against the princes and chiefs of foreign governments. MILAN, MAR= 17. Three per.ons, convicted of having taken part in the movement of the 6th of February. have been execused. Five others, convicted of robbery, had been also condemned to death. Three had suffered; the sentence of the others had been commuted into 10 years' imprisonment. NEW MATERIALS FROM WESTERN AFRICA. The Manchester Guardian says :—We have been favoured by Mr. Thomas Clegg, of this town, with samples of two new materials for tentise manufacture, which have been recently received from the south-west 'tout of Africa, and which, if they can be furnished in sufficient quantity, and at a moderate price, will probably become important articles of trade with that country. The ant of these is a fibrous substance sent by a miesionary at Abbeokuta, as " red cotton." It is not produced in the neighbourhood of that place, but is brought thither from the Hawse country to the northward in considerable quantities; and the people who bring it state that the deep red colour which it bears is natural; but the writer of the letter adds that the chief at Abbeokuta " thihks they lie." The scepticism of the chief is undoubtedly well founded. The material, which is not cotton at all but an entirely new species of silk, is unquestionably dyed—probably with &Menet root, which we believe is abundant in Africa. If sent in its natural state it would undoubtedly prove a very useful material for the wit-to silk spinners. The letter does not contain any in formation as to the price which this material bears in Africa ; bat, as it is stated to be produced in great abun dance, it seems probable that the price will be moderate. The other material to which we have referred is a new and somewhat peculiar description of wool, stated to be brought from Quitta, a town on the coast to the westward of Abbeokuta ; bat as the *limas, of the *oast mus t b e v er y nu tavourable for the production of wool, we think it is pro bably brought from some of the mountainous regions in the interior of the continent. Like the dyed silk, it was seat to this country as a sample of eirton, and with it was some yarn, purporting to be spas from it. That, however, is anquestionably an error, ea the yarn is made from cotton. The wool seems of tolerably line quality, of a pals buff colour, apparently natural, and is worth, we are told, about Is. 34. per pound. If it can be obtained in quantity, it will prove a very aceeptaMe boon to the woollen manufacturers of this country, whose supplies of raw material have lat terly proved very insufficient. The followings extracted from the private letter of a young artist, who left England for Australia lut summer : " The Tent, near Melbourne, Dec. 9, 1852. " My dear • • • ,—I write to you at last from this aide of the world, and from one of the strangest places imagina ble. • • • • " A stranger landing on the jetty (about two miles from Melbourne) stares when the boatmen demands half a we reign for rowing him from his chip, for which service a consideration of sixpence is considered saltiest at Graves end. Yon wade through sand along a road to the city, cut through the fern, mad spangled with beautiful flowers. Yon meet men behaired in completely that you can scarcely distin guish the country in the man. Idiot look, speak, end act like savages, and even mono) will not purchase civility. The external appearance rarely betrays the man, and only when he speaks can you detect the gentleman. Officers here tarn waggoners. A lieutenant in the East India serene is in the polite, and a captain stands in a store and sells contraband spirits. Money may be made by handfals, and the greatest contempt is ezpremed for diver. Copper is. never given In change, and very rarely demanded. The taxa mutest articles bf food are selling at exorbitant prices, 111 h various combinations of the trades. 1 3, hen a man OMNI here to try his fortune, he must aateiace every comfort. No house or lodging can be ob tained, sad the daily influx of emigrants renders the prises continually higher for the moat miserable ONISMIDOIthhh• People Bleep six in a room, or even more, upenetraw gene rally, and pay five and eight shillings foe t h e privilege. Fortunately we had one tent to pitch union as we arrived, sad thus we live encamped with some thonsaads of others near the city. " Although the sir is warm and clear, the ebaegeeof wea ther, and extremes of heat and cold, are more uncertain than in England. The cold wind from the south often ceases in ea instaat, and the hot, even scorching north land-brene comes as quickly galloping aver the country.. This wind is described by the authors of certain guide books to the eolo sits, to which I have a pinned my faith, as being ex ceedingly light sad balmy, although hot. The truth is, that this infernal wind brings clouds of winged creatures and giant eats, with volumes of sand and dust, completely (as wee the cue yesterday) obscuring the whole city. The country, in floe, is a very splendid one, bet, at pre sent, little suited for' a pleasant residence, and I am sure that two or three years will be the extreme limit of my sojourn in it. THE TOWN or VITTORIA AFTER THE BATTLE.— We looked into the stores and found little left, and then passed through the town, at the further aide of which we stopped at a very curious scene. The French so little expected the result, that all their carriages were caught, and stopped at this plaoe—three of King Joseph's, those of the generals, itc.; the paymaster and his chest, the coca real; hundreds of tumbrils, the wives of the generals, all flying in confusion; several carriages upset, the horses and mules removed from them, the women still in their car riages, and the Spaniards (a few soldiers, but principally DISCOVERY OF Two CHILDREN IN • JAR.—Yee. the common people) beginning to break open and plunder terday Mr. Baker held an inquest at the King and Quits everything, assisted by a few of our soldiers. Upon the Tavern, Three Colt-street, Limehouse, on view of the whole our people, I fear, got but little of the plunder, ex. bodies of two newly-born male and female children, found cept by seising and selling a few mules. The seats of the under the following extraordinary circumstances: John carriages were broken with great atones and ransacked, Haggis, of No. 2, Adam's.place, Limehouse, stated that on and in several gold, silver, and plate were found in *bun- the morning of Saturday last, about nine o'clock, while daces. I took a ease of map., part of Lopes' provincial standing on the towing path near the Britannia-bridge, ON. and a horse-cloth, which I bought of a Portuguese col- Limehouse, he had his attention directed to an earthenware 'dies as a memorial, but would not meddle with the rest, as jar, which was Ii isting on the surface of the water. Wit not being correct. Maps, books, &c., were thrown aside ; ness got it on shore and found that it was tied round the brandy, etc., drunk.—Larpeties Private Jou•nal. top with brown paper and cord, which be took of, FATAL ACCIDENT TO A CLEROYNAN.—LODDON, and, to his great astonishment, he discovered the dead Nouruhz., MAxcu 22 —Much regret has been caused in bodies of two small children. The jar was similar to those this part of the county by the death of the Bev. W. Beau- used for pirkling, and was marked on the side with the champ, the respected rector of Chedgrave, near here, and figure " '2." The bodies were quite naked, and there did son of Sir W. Beauchamp Proctor, Bart., of Laughley Park. nut appear to be any marks of violence on them. The jar In the course of Saturday morning, the rev. gentleman was and coati nts were subsequently handed to the constable of driving towards Norwich iu his gig. He had just reached the district, who had them conveyed in a shell to the dead that part of the road near the Crown Point Tavern, wh e re house at Linieliouee Church. Mr. William Spiukr, surgeon, there is a slight descent, about half a mils from Trowse- I Vittoria-place, Commercial-road-east, said that he had bridge, when the horse suddenly became restive, and dashed examined the lt'dies, which had apineently been placed in off seta furious rate. In endeavouring to st •ti the animal . ' , pima, es the > kin of both was much hardened. The!e did the deceased clergyman pulled him on one side of the road, • not seem to set one hint, and were not at maturity. It and the wheel mounting a heap of stones, the shaft br o k e , ! was po s sible for teem to have been born alive, but he did and the unfortunate gentleman was thrown nut, and falling not heft ve they were. There were no marks of mutilation on his headdie was killed upon the spot. Medical was in- and toe bo:lies could not hare been long in the jar. The stoutly called, hut all quince was gone of saving Mr. Beau.. jury returned a verdict of '• Found dead in a jar floating in champ's life. Ills remains were conveyed to ti c neighbour. the River Lea ; bat how or by what means they came there ing inn, and an bluest was held by the district coroner, they had no evidence to show." when a verdict of .4 Accidental death " was recorded. THE PF.NINsULAR MAIL will be made up in the The reverend gentleman has left a numerous family to General Piet-office, on the morning of the 23th inst., in lament his loss. consequence of the 27th falling on a Sunday. ' WAGES IN AUSTRALIA. A . Blue Book jmit iesuatigives like following official return shoring the wages, pries', &e , earrent in Mel bourne, during the month of October, 1852. Occupation. How paid. From To Bakers per week £4 10 0 .. 6 0 0 Blacksmiths (Foundries) „ 310 0 •. 60 0 ..._.. Besigtaken (Journey men) Wellington boots per pair 2 0 0 .. Ditto, comma ditto 1 6 0 .. Bootmeken per Ls 100 .. 110 0 Boiler-makers per week 4 10 0 .. Boatmen per diets 1 0 0 .. Brass-founders per week 410 0 .. 6 0 0 Brickmakers per 1,000 10 0 0 .. Bricklayers per diem 016 0 .. 1 0(0 Butchers,withrations, per week 4 0 0 .. 5 0 0 Bullock drivers, with rations per annum 69 0 0 .. 80 0 0 Cabinet-makers per week 4 0 0 .. 5 0 0 Csipeaters Jobwork per diem 5 0 0 .. 7 0 0 Coachmakers per week 500 .. 510 0 ICompositors per 1,000 0 1 9 .. 0 2 6 Coopers per week 4 0 0 .. 4 4 0 Cooks, with rations per month 6 0 0 .. 810 0 Coach-smiths per week 6 0 0 .. 610 0 Engineers Farriers per lan 100 .. Firemen (stsamers) per month 15 0 0 .. Fitters (iron) per week , 312 0 .. 6 0 0 Gardeners Glaziers per diem 015 0 .. 1 0 0 Grooms, with perqui sites per week 2 10 0 .. Gunsmiths ii 4 4 0 .. 6 0 0 Harness-makers House servants: Male par annum 45 0 0 .. 60 0 0 Fatted* Girls Boys -- _ .. .._ _ a-keepers - Mut-- . Labourers per diem 0100 .. 012 0 Laundresses, with ra tions and lodging —par annum 25 0 0 .. 35 0 0 Lightermen per week 3 0 0 .. Masons per diem 016 0 .. 013 0 Messengers per week 1 0 0 .. 3 0 0 Millers per diem 1 0 0 •• Moulders per week 410 0 .. 6 0 0 "- Pt 115 0 .. 210 0 Ostlers at hotels, with perquisites per month 10 0 0 .. Overseers of sheep with rations, &c. per annum 80 0 0 .. 120 0 0 Overseers, farmers', with rations, &c. ' , 60 0 0 .. 120 0 0 Painters Paatrycooks with board and lodging per week 3 0 0 .. 4 0 0 Ploughmen. with board and lodging ' , 1 0 0 .. 1 5 0 Pluterers Porters per week 310 0 .. Printers Quarrymen Saddlers Sailors to England • Coastwise per month 12 0 0 .. Sailmakers per week 4 0 0 .. 5 0 0 Salesmen ' 3 0 0 .. 4 0 0 Sawyers per 'lOO ft. 100 .. Shearers, with rations per score 0 4 0 .. 0 5 0 Shepherds (single) per annum 35 0 0 .. 45 0 0 Ship Joiners Shipwrights Staten per square 016 0 .. 018 0 Stock-keepers, with board and lodging per annum 60 0 0 .. 70 0 0 Storemen Tailors (journeymen) per hour 0 1 0 .. 0 1 3 '• 1 rowsers per pair 012 0 .. 015 0 tt Dress coat each 116 0 .. 2 6 0 Pt Shooting coat „ 110 0 .. 115 0 „ Waistcoat ,, 012 0 .. 015 0 Tanners Tinplate workers Turners Upholsterers per diem 1 0 0 .. 1 6 0 Waiters (at hotels), with perquisite.. Warehousemen 3 0 0 .. 310 0 .1 Watchmakers Wharfingors . Wheelwnd hts Whitaansiths PRICES AT THE DIGGINGS. Rubble stone, blue, per 15 cwt., 5.. ; bricks, per 1,000, 151. ; lime, per bag, 10.. ; hard wood scantling, per 100 feet, 21. 61. ; stringy bark, per 100 feet, 21. Ss. ; Sydney cedar, per 100 feet, SI. to 61. in board. ; red deal., 9 by 3, per foot, Is. 6d. ; red deals, 11 by 3, per foot, 1.. 9d. ; shingles, per 1,000, 11. 10s. to 21. ; slates (duchess), per 1,000, 101. to 121. ; lathes, per 1.000, 11 Si.; men'. stout shoes, per pair, 11. to 11. 6.. ' women ' s shoes, per pair, 15s. to II. ; W e lli ng t on boots (imported), p.m pair, 21. to 31.; Wellington boots (made to order), per pair, 31. 10s. to 41. ; inside cotton shirts, each, 6s. to 6a. ; inside flannel shirts, each, 6.. to 6..; regatta shirts, each, 4s. to 6.. ; check shirt., each, 3.. 6d. to 45.; moleskin trousers per pair, 9s. to 125.; fustian trousers per pair, 6.. 6d. to 7s. 61. ; duck trousers per pair, 4.. fnl. ; cloth, according to quality, per yard, 11. 10s. to 2.. 10s. ; waistcoats (cloth), each, 15s. to 11. ; waistcoat., light fancy, each, 8.. 61. to 10.. ; coats, superior cloth, each, 31. to 71. ; coats, shepherd's, each, 11. 5.. ; cotton handkerchiefs, each, ls. ; silk handkerchiefs, each, 6.. ; prints for gowns, dress, 6.. to 9s. ; socks, cotton, per pair, Is. ; stockings, cotton, per pair, 2..; stockings, worsted, per pair, 3..; blankets, per pair, U. to 21. 10.. ; rugs, each, 7s. 61. ; mat tresses, hair, each,2l.to 31.105.; sheeting, calico, per yard.,ls.; hay, per to o, 161. to 201. ; oats, per bushel, 10s. to Ils.; straw (wheaten), per load, 31. 12s. to 41.; bran, per bushel, Is. 6d. to 25.; maiae, per bushel, 6s. to Bs. ; wood, horse load, 21. 10a. to 31. ; wood, bullock-load, 31. 10s. to 41. 45.; coals (English), per ton, 61. to 61. • coals (New South Wales), per ton, 61. to 61. Bakers: bread, per 41b. loaf, 2.. 6d.; biscuits, per lb., 6d. to 10d. ; flour, per ton, 401. to 441. Butchers: beef, per lb., sd. toed.; mutton, per lb., sd. to 64.; perk, per lb., Is.; veal, per lb., 6d. to Bd.; be ef sausages, per lb. 6d.; pork images, per lb., Is. to 6d.; confectionary-sod a water, per dozen, 3.. ; lemonade, per dozen, 3a. ; grocery tea (family), per lb., 2.. to 3. ; tea (ration), per lb., ls. 6d. to 2..• sugar (family), per lb., 3d. to 4d. ; s ugar (ration), per l b ., 2id. to 214 . ; sugar (loaf), per lb., 6d. ,• coffee, per lb., Is. 6d. ; rice, per lb., 3d. to sd. • cheese (English), per lb., 25.; cheese ( colon ial), per lb., le. 4d. to Is. 6d. ; bacon, per lb., Is. 64. to Is. 94.; ham (English), per lb., 2..; ham (colonial), per lb., le. Bd. to 2..; malt, per lb., lid., per cwt., Bs. 6d. ; pickles, per dozen, 15s. • soap, per lb., 4id.; candles (tallow), per lb., Bd. to id.. ; candles (sperm), per lb., 2 5. ; butter, fresh, per lb., 2s. 6d. to 2s. 9d. • butt's., salt, per lb., 2a. 6d. ; eggs, per dozen, to 30. • fowls, per pair, 14.. to ltr; ducks, per pelt, 16e.; p otatoes, per lb., lid. ' • ditto, per cwt., 18s. to 11. 6s. ; cabbages, each, 10d. to 15.24.; cauli flowers, sack, 10d. to Is. 24_, • turnips, per bunch, 2d. to 3d.; earrots, per bunch, 21. to 3d. • apples, per lb., 1.. to Is. 6d.; horse,, 1 1 8 1 TY draft, slab, 4 51. to 701. ; ditto light, each, 361. to 601. ; ditto good saddle, each. 261. to 401. ; fat cattle, each, 81. to Pl.; working bullocks, pair, 351. to 451. • fat mettle's, each, 1 3s. to 15.. ; store sheep, each, 10s. to 'l2s. ; negrohead, per lb., la. 91. to 2..94. in bond; cavendish, per lb., Is. 9d. tote. 6d. in bond ; cigars, per bundle, 116 d. to 2..; wines-port per dozen, 11.65. to 21. 5..; sherry par dozen, 11. 10s. to 21. ; brandy per gallon, 14.. to 17s. in bond ; gin, English, per dosen, 17s. toll. Is. in bond ; whiskey per gal lon, 6.. to 7.. 6d. in bond ; rum per galas, 61. to fie. 6d. in bond; honied ale per dozen, 15s. to 175.; bottled porter per dozen, lbs. to 175.; beer, draught, per hhd., none on hand ; porter, draught, per hhd., none on hand ; water per load, 4s. to 7s. • bullock•dray, e ac h 401. to 601. ; horse-dray, • each 361. to 601. ; dray hansom, the set, 71. to 101. ; saddles, English, each 61. to 71. • saddles, Coloaial, each 71. 10e. to , 81.; spring carte, each 301. to 401. MISCILIANIOUS CliAlolllll. Advertisements, from 60 to 100 per cent. advisee on last return. Cartage. in town, 21. 10s. per day, 6s. to Is. per load; to the gold fields, 1001. to 1201. per ton. Hotel thaws, (bed and board), 21. 10s. to 71. per week. Lighter agt, from the Bay, 11. to 11. be. per ton. Livery stables : keep of a horse, 1455. per day, U. 5.. per week ; hire of hone, U. per day; hire of horse and gig, 21. per day ; hire of carriage and pair, 61. to 81. per day. Rents (private houses): house of 2 rooms, 21. 10s. to 31. per week, and very scarce ; house of 4 rooms. 31. to 41. 10e. per week, and scarcely to be obtained at any price; 2-storied brick houses, 6 and 8 rooms, per annum, 3001. to 6001., according to locality. Shoeing • hone, 11. the set. Towage on the river, 11. to 11. ss. Washing, 9s. to 12s. per dozen, Ba. to 10a. per day, with rations. FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE, :THEBES. Fes. S. I arrived here a day or two ago from Nubia. On my way up from Cairo, I passed, near Minieh, a large boat, laden with wheelbarrows, planks, & e . I fancied that the Pacha might be going to construct a railway, in conoexiun with his sugar manufactory and other works at Minieh. But I was wrong ; the barrows, &c., were for Thebes. The Pasha, it seems, has engaged a French gentleman, M. Ataunier, to excavate about all the temples in Egypt, and has given him a carte blanche to employ as many men as he considers necessary, and to take the temples successi'ely in any way he may deem best. He has commenced at Luxor. Already several portions of the magnificent temple there have been cleared out, and the excavators have just uncovered to their bases two fine Corinthian columns, which stood on either side of a Roman altar. The walls of the church—for the i chamber had evidently been used as a church--are I covered with paintings, in good preservation, of the Evangelists, the Apostles, Sze. On breaking otf the plaster the walls exhibit the usual Egyptian hiero glyphics, with any account of which I need not trouble you. The men employed are impressed, each village being required to supply its quota. Sixty men are at work at one time. They are required to labour fifteen days successively, without any pay or rations whatever. They are then released, and 60 ,others take their places. The excavations are being made for the Pacha, who, praiseworthily I think, wishes to form an Egyptian museum in Egypt. Nothing, however, has yet turned up but a statue in black granite or basalt, of a priest and his wife. The hieroglyphics have been touched up by M. Maunier. I should have pre ferred their having been left as they were found. It is amusing to see the poor fellahs (fellaheen) handle the barrows. Never using any thing in the tilling of the ground but an adze to loosen and their bare hands to turn over or re. move the soil; accustomed to nothing in the removing of rubbish but a basket on their heads; and having the most unconquerable prijadice against the introduction of any machinery whatever; it may be readily conceived what a painful task the barrow is to them, and how awkward they feel when harnessed to the handles. Their arms are as stiff as lamp-poets, and they waddle like ducks. Besides which, the barrows are not one-sixth filled ; but M. Mauuier assured me that the men could not manage more. I remember that one of the English engi neers at work on the railway near Cairo told me that the men would not wheel the barrows, but absolutely preferred carrying both barrows and rub bish on their heads. Three thousand ran away in ono day. M. Meunier calculates that it will take him at least ten years to excavate this district alone. On visiting the tombs of the kings in the Valley of Beban-el-Molook, I felt altogether unnerved to see the unpardonable mutilations that are constantly being perpetrated. Since I was last (two years ago) in Belzoni', tomb (No. 17), the beautif u lly painted coatings of entire columns have been chiselled oft; and that too in the rudest manner. Not a chamber, not a cornice, scarcely a wall, has escaped. The floors are covered with fragments. A few years more and, if the same amount of destruction shall go on, the finest tomb in Egypt will be no more, but will have been transmogrified into a com mon cave. When Mehemet Ali was some years since remonstrated with for pulling down temples to build cotton factories, he replied, " You Franks complain of me for destroyitg temples, and yet there is not ono of you who visits Egypt but does the same." How severe and yet how just the remark. When at Assouan, I found the place full of sol diers. They were going, 800 strong, to Cartoon, in Southern Nubia, as the people had refused to pay any more taxes to the Pacha. Until conquered by Ibrahim Pacha, the Nubians were an independent people, having no prime ruler, and acknowledging allegiance to no one. They were conquered. Mehe met Ali made them pay a tax of ninety piastres for every shakeyiah, or water-wheel, used for irrigation, and subsequently raised it to three hundred. As a shakeyiah will only irrigate four feddans (feddaeen) of land, and as there is, in addition to the shakeyiah tax, a tax of a piastre on every date palm tree, the total tax amounts to upwards of 20s. an English acre. This, for a rocky country like Nubia, is far too much, especially when it is considered that, in days of yore, every Nubian was his own freeholder. The result is that the country is fast depopulating. Whole villages are deserted, and the desert on both sides the river, meeting with no resistance from man, is in cluding large tracts of rich soil within its grasp. This is my third visit to Egypt. Each time I have closely observed the condition of the people, and I can assert, without fear of contradiction, that the state of all below Assonan is infinitely more pros perous than it was six years ago, in Mehemet Ali's time. While the Nubians never taste wheaten bread, but live almost entirely on eggs, milk, vege tables, and dates, with occasional doura cakes, the &nabs (fellaheen) of Egypt have their wheat and barley, and are able to live in comparative luxury. Though their land is far more fertile than that of Nubia, and though the desert steals not upon them its deadly marches, yet they are not taxed so heavily as the Nubians are. They are nehree to the great markets both for home consumption and far ex portation ; they have their boats, their mer chants, their camels, and their horses; and, notwithstanding that they are not free, are greatly better off than were thousands of labourers in England prior to the repeal of the corn laws. The bow is, however, quite tight enough. One strain more, and it would snap; while, were it only in a small degree relaxed, it would assume an elasticity which would ultimately tend to the increased wel fare of the people, and to the enriching of the Pacha's treasury. That the Pacha wishes the prosperity of the country I firmly believe; and I need give no other proof of this than that he if everywhere having the old canals for irrigation deepened and reopened. It is rumoured here that when the railway from Alexandria to Cairo is completed, the Pacha purposes having one constructed from Thebes, or Resell, to Koseayr ; thus opening a communication with the Red See. But I fancy people only report es they would wish it to be. SEIZURE OF A PORTUGUESE SLAVER BY THE DOMINICAN GOVERNMENT. SANTO DOMINGO, Fat. 20. Some short time since the Portuguese schooner Ceres, a well-known slaver, and companion of the Venus, presented herself at Curacao. Her true na ture was immediately suspected ; but the local go vernment, in spite of existing treaties, satisfied itself with warning her off. She proceeded now to Porto Plata, the northern seaport of the Dominican repub lic, with intentions to await there a new equipment from Trinidad de Cuba. However, the authorities of that small place acted with most praiseworthy zeal and energy. As soon as she was suspected General Pelletier, the Commandant of Arms, visited her, and, his suspicions being confirmed, she was laid under an embargo, although one of the Spanish mercantile houses established there endeavoured to facilitate the vessel's escape during night. The su preme government of the republic, having received information of these circumstances, despatched one of their men of war to Porto Plata, and conveyed the I Ceres to the city of Santo Domiogo, where the master and his crew were arraigned before the Su preme Court, and found guilty of having been en gaged in the traffic of slaves, declared piracy by the laws of the republic. The captain, who calls him self Tomassini, has been sentenced, with his mate and pilot, to two years' primon, and the mat of the crew to one year. The vessel is claimed by the Dominican government as a prize. The proceedings of the court, which arc volumi nous, have been published, and it is much to be regretted that Senor Jose Maria Pando, commercial agent of the Spanish government at Curacao, occupies such a questionable place in these proceedings. Among the rums, a letter from that functionary was found, informing Senor Augustin Ginebre, mer chant at Porto Plain, " that the Ceres proceeded to Porto Plata, with the object of awaiting orders from the owners in Trinidad de Cuba, and that mean while Senor Giuebra was to make the requisite ad vances." The Dominican government deserve grett praise for the decibion with which they have acted in this difficult and delicate questisn which the government at Curacao, much to the regret of philanthropists,