The Express. — London, England, 1847-11-27 00:00:00

hat the abetradist of the railway funds must have contracted the fleades NOMA of the amintry. He did not suppose q rieslimenta would any. that the floating capital of do sozoloy mom employed nobly in carrying on the ordinary opoodono of ogehoilion OM. =erne, and that lb. surplus NOM soro omplopoil la *car further development, in bugling, mid la tan omeregoks of those permanent works, including railways, which uhlstelill so mach contributed to the national progress. But If Se floating capital was too rapidly contracted, pressure mut arise os those who had formerly enjoyed its general eiroula tioa. But this formed no muse of objection to railways. He was fez from entertaining such views ; for there was as person in the house who entertained • higher opinion of benefits which they had created, and were creating, for lb* country, than he did ; but floating capital was tanned over from time to time, and consequently employed la roproder tion ; whereas the money sunk in the construction of porno. neat works, whether docks or railways, however ultimately beneficial it might be, was necessarily lost for some time, ex cept in ao far as regarded the annual interest He did not think that in saying that during the time of esmotrwedem there would be a pressure on floating capital, he abroad be asserting anything which by common consent would not be recognised and admitted. To illustrate this by a familiar example umpires a farmer to have a certain capita!, say 10,0001., employed in labour and other expends attendant ea hie farm. It' that farmer abstract from that capital, for other purposes however ultimately useful, there must be a pressure felt in the discharge of his preview obligations. The same would apply to a manufacturer who should abstract any part of the capital of his trade for other purposes, however ultimately beneficial they might be. And what was true of the individual farmer or manufac turer was equally so as to the whole community. This pro cess of converting the floating capital of the country into fixed capital in this way having been going on for some time, and latterly to a very considerable extent, the ordinary com merce and trade of the country had naturally been crippled and pinched in their operations. Thus, while the railways were demanding and absorbing • large proportion of the floating capital, the commercial world was unable to obtain the amount necessary for carrying on its ordinary transac tions, and the consequence was that the capital of the country was unequal to the !remand, and the rate of interest rose in proportion. Upon this part of the subject he could not do better, to exp.am his meaning, than quote the word: of a very able paper, the Economist of last Saturday. (Hear, hear, from Lord 0. !Sentinel.) Of course it was open to the nod; lord to differ from the conclusions of the writer. Lad G. BENTINCK—The article answers itself. (Hear) The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—It was aided by the writs, is the Eseetaisiief thet— a{ vosid be a meet daft art Imbsenve comes:bon, were it Cillste be made. Worm dr word of demons la 1641, when eet Waal ms throe..ad-0 Jar per cad., and at So est dreeet, when Y k tree 7le few eat Sea • rade show that • lop pr im ,ro l e if b t i :o arra midi roe &pm* for 11.11111moid poem% Ire surto at th e ham per; bee fa Or ormiloro Sum km 8.4,9; dot it easoley brim Sends See set wSo arse enormous deb to des of ; de 11114mido ark Illreadoo miaow the dm arm* ie. illesemt Ur WS of oder emilley Where, and are wird, =AS to mho rhoodo or womb of lido of loam oell Sot sm arm Is *me diploid of the meanswYi same bawdy et Ms So oral, is oorm mire of the raw derdedor of So mead of Me eounti7. This, he thought, was a most accurate statement of the ope ration that had now been going on for acme time, and more especially during the last two years—and the ammo of in formation to which he had access proved beyond a doubt that the proms bad been going on to an extent that few were aware of, and was one of the main causes that had led to the distress which the commercial world had bees enffering under. That this was inevitably the effect of ouch a diver. don of the floating capital of the country was no new opinion formed after the commercial pressure had occurred. Mr. Porter, in 1845, when he was connected with the Board of Trade, represented to the then government that the demand for capital for the railway companies was increasing so fast, that he feared it would abstract from com mercial purposes so large en amount of the means relied upon for carrying on the operations of commerce as must produce considerable commercial pressure and die tram. (Hear.) This opinion was the more valuable, as having been given • year and a half before the pressure occurred. He would now state, from the official documents in his possession, the extent to which the absorption of capi tal in railways bad been carried, premising, however, that as refer:led the accounts of the railway companies, owing to the various amalgamations, extensions of capital, and other causes, it was impossible te arrive Many minutely accurate statement of railway expenditure. He did not, therefore, pledge himself to within one or two millions; but he believed the accountsaccounts he was about to refer to were, en near as could be arrived at, the actual amount which had been expended The first statement was one that had been drawn up by Mr. Porter, and contained an amount of the some authorised to be raised, going bath to the year 1826, previous to which the raising of only about one-and.a.h&Lf millions for the purposes of railways had been sanctioned by parliament. Aocording to this statement, the total amount authorised to be raised from the year 1826 to 1835, was 19,000,0001. 11,1836 and 1837, the early part of the fi rst year being a period of cornmeral prosperity, parliament sanctioned bill, involving an outlay of 36 millions. The distress which occurred about that time induced a disinclination to apply for railway bills, conse quently the expenditure authorised luring the next six years was comparatively . small. In 1844 and 1845 parlia ment authorised the Tatung of 74 millions for railway pur poses. (Hear, bear.) And under the influence of the mania—for he could give it no other name--for railways that prevailed in the autumn of 1845, 800 plans were submitted to the railway board for railways, bills for which were to be brought forward in the session of 1846, and the amount of expenditure sanctioned in that ses sion wee not less than 132 millions sterling. The total amount of unite' authorised to be raised under the railway bills which passed from the year 1826 to 1846 was 286,000,0001. The amount authorised under the bills of last session was 38,000,0001. The returns he had quoted represented the amounts parliament had authorised to be raised ; he did not mean to say that these sums had been actually expended. His noble friend (Lord G. Bentiack) had stated the other evening that the money which was spent in the purchase of land could not be said to be withdrawn from the capital of the country, but was merely a transfer of mosey from one party to another, and the same might be said as to the sums paid for parld. mentag expenses, which was also money merely transferred from one man's pocket to another. Taking Mr. Porter's calculation that one-fifth of the whole capita went in these two items, there would remain up to the end of 1845, 145 millions as the amount authorised to be raised foe the pur pose of being abscised in the construction of railways. He would next refer to a statement prepared by the railway board of the amount of capital authorised to be raised by the railway bill, from 1840 to the present time : In 1640 the amount was £4,000,000 In 1611 0,300,000 In 1012 In 1643 4,300.000 in 1644 10.000,0 0 314001);(100 124,000,000 In 1847 These were the same authorised to be expended in purchase of land, parliamentary expenses, and the construe. tion of works. His noble friend k Lerd G. Hendrick) stated pretty accurately, the other night, the amount that had been expended since RHO, but the conclusion he drew would, if adopted, lead the hoses into s gross error as to the actual amount annually absorbed. His noble friend divided the sum total by the whole number of years, the result of which showed en average annual expenditure of 124 millions. But this by no means gave a correct view of the cam (Hear.) It would be seen, by the official account, that while the ab sorption of capital for railway purposes had gone on but to a comparatively small extent during the earlier yews in cluded in the noble lord's estimate, and, consequently, bad weighed but lightly on the commercial interests, daring the later years it had inoressed to an enormous amount, and bad, therefore, borne heavily on the trade and commerce of the country. The estimate he was about to read had been prepened by the railway board—end was an account, so far as it osoli be ascertained, of the actual expenditure in the Smooths of railways in each year, respectively : Ia 1061 the smelt wee In 1061 1 ,900,000 Is 11143 4,433,000 la M 164 La 1848 fin* ball-mar sexed balt-year 10,080,000 14,100,000 In 1841 OM halt•year mecnd half-year 36,485,000 And to carry it on, the amount expendedduring the first half of the 'Resent year, 1847, was 26,700,000!.. His noble friend said the other night that the total amount expended during the five years to 1846 was 60,000,0001. The Board of Trade made it 65,000,0001. ; but that included the purchase of land and parliamentary expenses, on amount of which, if one-fifth was deducted, the amount would stand at 62,000,0001., which, as to the total expenditure, very nearly agreed with the estimate of the noble lord, though there was a considerable difference from the noble lord's statement as to the suns spent in each year. And with regard to the last 18 months, from January, 1846, to the middle of last summer, it would be sem that according to the calculation of the railway board, the total amount expended was no lees than 62,000,0001. ; and on referring to the half yearly ac counts of the several railway companies, he found that they made itexeeed that amount by some one or two hundred thousand pounds. This would show that the calculations of the railway board were not excessive. It appeared, then, that while the demand for capital for railways foi • long time was not excessive, and consequently was comparatively un felt, from the commencement of the year 1846 it had become so heavy and had increased in so extraordinary a manner as to occasion serious evils. With regard to the last half of the present year the demand had certainly decreased to a very considerable extent, but Mat ' was in consequence of the great difficulty experienced in eh• Mining money. (Hear, hear.) But supposing the expo& tun had continued through the year at the same rata thee It had tone on during the first six months, the amount absorbed in railways foe 1847 would have been 84,000,0001. Is IW, taking it at the same proportion, under bills already prig, it would be 70,000,0001. ; in 1849, 47,000,0001. • anil 1860, 10,000,000/. The pressure consequent upon lie heavy and continuous drain had, as was well known, been felt severely in various parts of the country, and be thought the home would concur with him that if it were provided that the money yet to be expended in the construction of these railway works—works highly useful is themselves, no doubt —could he spread over a greater number of years, it would be of great advantage to the country. (Cheers from both *Moo) It was true that applications had been made to t from various quarters, which would indicate a a Rata straw - " that he peNdl shadd bad lea ukr4,=lll ble, and upon the best consideration they had been enabled to gire to the subject they had come to the opinion that the objections 'phut compelling the stoppage of all railway works were so great as to far more than counter baleen, any benefit that could arise. (Hear, hear.) The meeense, therefore, which he should have to propose to the would not be compulsory. (Cheers.) When he con siders& the number of eantrects in program; the employ. Mot of Lbws agemient upon them ; the engagements wheat bed boss eyed into with various manufacturers for articles seesessey he he mimpletion of those contracts ; and the mamba of workmen employed in the manufacture of such @Mho who would Is soddenly deprived of the means cf &thiamin by*. of the works, he concluded that it would be most injadfelwY to attempt any compulsory in terferers. (Hear.) T u object, therefore, of the hill he was Mad to introduce win to give to the railways in course of construction an tummies of time for the purchase of land and the construction of their work.. At present the power as to the ;purchase of laud sad the construction of works, if not completed within a certain time named in each com pany's act, ceased. Every company was also required to raise a certain part of its capital within a stated thite. The government thought it would be wise, under .desks a s s t cumstances, to relea•e them from these provides'. was another class of railways, which it might be nerewary to make some provision for. With regard to those railways I which were in course of construetion he proposed to do no more than to relieve them from the necessity of purchasing the land and completing their weeks within the time speeC. fled. The only parties who could possibly ho injured by this arrangement would be the landowners, and for any injury they might suffer he proposed to give them compensation. dr. 11U DSON.—How are the &mutes to be ascertained ? The CHANCELLOR :of the EXCHEQUER.—The damage* would be assessed in precisely the same way as damage with septet to land was 'messed at present. Then, with regard to those railways whose works had not yet eom. menced, as to these he proposed a much stronger mea sure, but still a voluntary one. (Hear, hear.) He proposed to give further time to them for the purchase of land, and to enact that the directors of such companies should not be empowered to commence the works without the consent of a certain proportion of the shareholders, to whom, as being the parties most interested, he proposed to give a more effective power than they now possessed over the directors in this respect. (Hear.) He would now state the object he bad in view in proposing the committee of which he had given notice. With regard to the kills stand ing over from last session, as well as those which might be introduced in the present, he proposed to appoint a com mittee, and to suggest to such committee some such step as this—that all such bills should be referred to a committee of the house, or to the railway board, to consider and deter mine which of them should be allowed to go on. It was ob vious that there were many bills—such, for instance, as in. volved merely deviations or extensions, and would require no large amount of capital, which it might be desirable should be allowed to proceed • but he thought parliament would exercise a sound discretion if it determined that no railway bill should pass in the present session which involved any large outlay of capital. (Hear, hear.) They had all, he thought, to take some blame to themselves for the large number of hats they had allowed to pass in previous years. He did not throw the blame altogether on the railway companies, for he thought parliament had been equally to blame. (Hear, hear.) But perhaps in previous years it would have been no easy matter to persuade the house to impose some check on the course of railway specu lation. A committee was appointed in 18a, at the instance of the right hon. baronet (Sir R. Peel), to inquire into the subject, but though the government took up the subject, to impose any efficient check was found to be so difficult, if not impossible, that the attempt was abandoned. After he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) bad been appointed tooffice, several friends waited upon him, and urged him to adopt some measure to check the progress of rail way bills through parliament. But he did not at that time see how that object was to be carried out. He now believed opinion on this subject was materially changed, even among the railway companies themselves, and so far from anticipating from them any opposition to his pre position, he expected to receive from many of them the most cordial support. (Hear, hear.) He had in hi . various com munications with the ch airmen of most of the principal lines on all occasions been most anxious to co-operate with the go vernment in checking, as for as possible, auy undue demand of capital for the construction of new does, and in the course he was now about to take be hoped be should receive their cordial and unanimous support. (Chime.) A bill had recently passed to facilitate the dissolution of railway corn. ponies whose acts had not been obtained ; and he had been applied to to propose a similar mea sure as to companies whose works had not commenced. But to this he did not see his way clear. There was a great difference between companies not formed and those whose bills had pasted, and who had, in consequence, entered into engagements with landowners and others, and be was not prepared to say that it would be advisable to bring in a mea sure to release from the obligations into which they had en tered, companies so situated, without the consent of all parties. (Hear, hear.) This, however, might be a subject for the coneideratioa of the committee. Mr. DIVETT—What will be the extension of time ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER thought that Irma point that bad better he considered by the com mittee. The doubt in his mind was, whether it ought to be two or throe years beyond the time limited by the com panies' acts as that within which the land should be pur chased and the works constructed. In like manner as to the proportion of shareholders whose consent should be ob tained, whether two-thirds or three-fourths, that also he wished to leave to the committee. These were his general views ; and the bill he now asked leave to bring in had for its objects the extension of time for the purchase of land and the completion of the works of those railways which had obtained the sanction of the legislature, and also for the prohibition for a limited time upon the directors of those railways whose works were not commenced from commen cing the same until the consent of a given proportion of the shareholders had been previously obtained. The question having been put, Cal. SIBTHORP did not rise to oppose the motion, but to pretest against railways generally as a gross violation of the rights of private property. He should like to know what compensation could be given to a man for depriving him of his land by main force ? Mr. E. ELLICE said he had already on former occasions unsuccessfully endeavoured to press his views of this subject upon the government, namely, that most serious evils arose out of the power conferred on those enormous corporations of borrowing money to the extent of one-third of their capital subscribed, and that some limitation ought to be put to that powi r. He told the government of the right hon. baronet that they could not arrest the 'peculation and competition then going on in railways without some such measure, but his advice was unheeded, as it was subsequently by the government of his own friends. The consequence was that the trader who had not such convertible security to offer as railway companies, was obliged to sell at whatever he could get to meet his liabilities, while those companies paid their debts with bonds bearing only 5 per cent. He thought, therefore, that that power had been, and continued to be, one of the greatest evils affecting the country. Another point of objection which the government had I hitherto overlooked, but which it wee not yet too late to coon eider, was the amount of dividend. He did not mean to say that 10 per cent. profit was unressonably high, or more than the public would willingly consent to pay ; bat In stances had been brought before that house where the profits amounted, not to 10, but 100 per cent. He did not complain of the parties who acquired those profits, bind the tomes- I meet. who, by their sanction of those schemes, encouraged men to invest and speculate is others. He made them tow remarks in justification of his own views as expressed am former occasion, and not in opposition to the motion of his right lon. Mond, as ha admitted that the measure he was introducing wee almost he only one it was competent for him to prows. Ho evidently could not adopt the compd. mey greesesom ft scold be unjust to say to men to whom they led akewly panted .stain powers, that, for the public 1111•11WSINII. they should be totally withdrawn, and their mularteklap Mopped. But he did think it was the ditty at the government to limit those powers so as not to interfere with the ordinary commercial transactions of the public. Mr. HUDSON could understand the monition of the honourable and gallant colonel to railways, ea he had bees consistent from the beginning, but the honourable mend= for Coventry, although opposed to the railway interest gene rally, contrived by his influence to get that house to 1110Ctila an aboard scheme between Coventry and Soudan. (Laughter.) He (Mr. Hudson) denied that the power granted to railways of borrowing mousy had contributed to the oomnaercial distress, or acted injuriously on the country. He would not stop to consider whether that power was too extensive. If the house should be of opinion that it was, he i admitted that it was a fair subject for inquiry. But this he could say, that none of the large companies with which Ihe was connected, had exercised that power to its limita—very fax from it. The right honoura ble gentleman the member for ' Coventry seemed to think that the only party to consider was the borrower • but what was the poor man of small capital to do with hie few hundred pounds, if the borrower werels be restricted? The right hon. gentleman would have him benefit trade by lending it to the manufacturer of Manchester or other trader, the v parties who wen most affected by the panic. (How, hear.) ry U. thought railways a far safer and equally legitimate investment. And, if the government removed it, the Ear lish capitalist, whether large or small, would soon find the means of investing it elsewhere. A large amount of English capital had already been haunted in continental railways; and no lees a sum in the present year than, he bad heard, 2,500,0001. (Hear, hear.) Capital must flow somewhere; and he thought it a great blessing that it flowed where it did. (Mnoh laughter.) He admitted that great Imes- Tenience had resulted from so many lines being passed by that house at the same time , and is the very first speech he addressed to that house, he told theta that a certain amount of distress must follow the contemporaneous construction of railways and the free impor tation of corn, as the latter necessarily withdraw the gold which should go to pay for the railways. It should not be forgotten that every article that entered into the construe tion of railways was of British manufacture or predates ,• sad that they must therefore add greatly to the comfort and OW. ployment of the labourer and artisan. When the right hem gentleman called upon the government to limit their pewees, to be imminent, he should also demand that a check shouM be pat upon the Liverpool merchant, to prevent his import. ing more than a certain quantity of cotton, and that the foreign merchant should be probihited from drawing acceptances upon this country beyond a certain amount All the operations of railways contributed by . nendint the money in the country to benefit the labour er an relieve the poor-rate. The public were much wiser and more die. eriininating than the hon. member for Coventry knighted, -4 would only lend where they had a chance of a return. could not help thinking, therefore, that all this opposition hostility to railway undertakings was founded upoa a taken notion. It was a very remarkable fact that while Chancellor of the Exchequer securities were at a die t,ruilway @amities wen at t premium. (Laughter.) 10....--, quo that he now pro- MA:Mating I _MIT gam ita arrived in town he and would c J. Resell) had He could nc — .wed, in net pa atop by w i ne compulsory and boeti li t: 4.",* "Capital in wHways, upon mistaken nc MM w... war it gm rarr st Ow .3 72 dep r ,ue" the __C h ! n .c el • 9,,, u tit io r s b. IWO{ acov l aQ 99112 t, 11 " lal fr .". - - THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 27, 1847. When the Bank Charter Act came Os be discussed, be should be curious to knew what was the position of the Bank of Ragland en the Saturday preceding the WWI of the letter from the Treasury; for on that day he had his pocket. fall of Exchequer Bills, and could not 000Tett them Into cask at any price, although the Chancellor of the Exchequer mid that good houses found no difficulty in raising money. If ao, the Exchequer was not amongst the number, for their bills on the day in question were not negotiable. (Laughter.) Unless the house altered the Bank Charter Act under which such • state of things could happen, they would not, in his humble opinion, be doing their duty.. Leave was then given to brow in the hill. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then moved the committee on railway bills of this session, and stated thatit would be applicable as well to suspended as new bills. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE. Sir J. PAKINOTON rose to bring forward the motion of which he bad given notice—that, until the Christmas holi days, orders of the day shall on every day take precedence of notices of motion.. He said he had not the slightest Maar Lion of interfering with those motions of which notice lml been given, and he brought forward his motion without any previous communication with the government. If the house agreed to it be thought it would tend to promote its con venience, and was • deviation from the general practice which was exceedingly desirable. It was not likely that there could be any notices of motion by independent members which might not be proposed next year without inconvenience, and even lithe high crimes and misdemeanors of the noble lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs would bear postponing, he hoped the house would agree to the motion. Mr. O. BANKES said the motion was one of great ins =, and certainly of • very singular nature. (Hear, lie could not but think that his hon. friend would not object at least to postpone it until next week. Many members were now abroad, and he thought such a propos& tion ought not to be brought forward but in a full house. He was prepared to give a decided negative to such an ex traordinary motion, which at the outset of the session threw the whole businees of the house into the hands of the go vernment. As to the notices which had been given, it hap pened that he had one in the paper which would not admit at melnemminent, because it related to an appoint ment vvrha lid not yet been made, but which might be made in a dly or twe—he meant the presidency of the poor. Mer won. He had asked the other day if that ap pointment bad been made, and was answered in the nega tive. MG Mr. Bankes) intended propose that instead of 4e a ds. to • new t the Lord Privy Seal should hold the office, he ha at present nothing to do. The two secretaries might remain, and by this means 2,0001. a year could be saved. He should certainly meet the motion with a direct negative. Mr. HUME strongly objected to the motion, as tending to prevent members from offering any suggestions to the go vernment, and to render null and void the object of her Ma fogey's telling parliament together—namely, to give their _„ and assisiance to the government. Mr. BROTHERTON said that from the apparent unani mity with which on a former evening a suggestion of his, that the government should be allowed to carry on the business for which parliament was brought together, had been met, he should have thought the motion would have been agreed to. If hon. members treated this as the beginning of the session, and prevented government from passing the measures for which they had met, let it be so. He could only regret that they had been brought together to sit till Christmas without doing anything. Mr. SWART did not see any valid reason for this propo sition, and he should certainly not assent to it. Lord J. RUSSELL agreed with the hon. member for Salford that this motion should not be carried without the full meat of the house. lithe house thought, for the sake of public convenience, to make ends an alteration, it was com petent to them to do so. An order had been made, on Wed- 1 nesday, that notices of motions should have precedence on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and it was not desirable theta different arrangement should be made. Perhaps, the Ira. baronet, after what had passed, would think it best to with draw his motion, and not to divide upon it. But as the question had been raised especially by the hon. member for Salford, he would put it to hon. members not to press for ward their motions on days when the orders of the day might be proceeded with. The house would see the public convenience of finishing the business before the house before Christmas ; for to be obliged on the 24th of next month to adjourn only for a week would probably be a great inconve nience to some members. (" Hear, hear," and a laugh.) Sir J. PAKINOTON then withdrew his motion. THE RAJAH OF SATTARA. Mr. HUME, in moving for certain papers relating to the ease of the Rajah of Sattara pressed on the government the justice and propriety of giving that unfortunate prince an opportunity of having a trial, and urged that the character of England and the house required th.it that justice should be I done him. He begged to ask the government whether, after the publicity of Major Carpenter's declaration of his belief of the ex-Rajah of Sattara's undoubted innocence of the charges brought against him, any measures have been adopted by the Board of Control to allow the ex-rajah to prove hie inno cence, which he is able and ready to do, if an opportunity is afforded him, as stated in the papers before parliament, viz., Parliamentary Paper, No. 711, of session 1847, page 6, para graph 4 ? Mr. EWART seconded the motion, and expressed his firm conviction of the perfect innocence of the dethroned *eh. Mr. G. C. LEWIS regretted that the absence from the present parliament of the right hon. baronet the President of the Board of Control should have thrown upon him (Mr. Lewis) the duty of addressing the house on the present occasion. He had not had a seat in the last puliament, and the recency of his appointment to the India Board had pre vented him from making himself thoroughly acquainted witk the details of this case. This cause would prevent him from entering upon its full discussion en the present occasion, and he trusted that the house for these reasons would not consider that he treated it with disrespect if he confined himself to the question asked and to the motion made. He must, however, enter his protest against the de claration of the innocence of the rajah, and deny that Major Carpenter had the practical means of obtaining information of what had passed at Benares, when he was stationed up wards of 1,000 miles up the country. The despatch of Major Carpenter was in the bands of Sir John Hobhouse, and he had the authority of that right hon. baronet now to state that it was a document which had made no alteration in his views, as expressed when he last addressed the house on this question. The answer, therefore, he (Mr. Lewis) had to give to the question put by the hon. member for Montrose was, that no step had been taken by the government in con sequence of the publicity given to that despatch, and that the mere circumstance of its publication had not had any influ ence upon the decision at which the government:had arrived. There was no objection to the production of the papers moved for, but he understood they were contained in the return already on the table. If that, however, should not turn out to be the case they should be produced. With I respect to the letter addre ssed by the ex.rajah to Sir Henry Hardinge, it was not yet 'n the pociesaion of the India-house. A despatch had, however, been sent out for it by the Mail of the 2nd October last, and u noon as it was received from India it should be laid on the table. Mr. G. THOMPSON supported the motion, and went at some length into the merits of the case, which, for the last seven years he had made his peculiar study. He had also in India made personal inquiries, and by the kind per mission of the Indian government, had the benefit of personal communication with the dethroned monarch. From these circumstances, he hesitated not to declare his firm conviction of the accuracy and justice of Major Carpenter's opinion—the innocence of the rajsh ex pressed in the despatch moved for. The dethronement of the rajah was the result of a conspiracy hatched in Bombay, and without requiring a commission to go out to India, he (Mr. G. Thompson) was prepared to prove before a com mittee of the house that every document produced to condemn the rajah was a forgery and fabrication; that every witness against him was perjured ; he could show how much they got for what they said, and by whom they were hired. Under these circumstances, he should support the hon. mem ber for Montrose in his efforts to obtain a select committee, and he trusted the house would speedily accede to such a propo,itiou, and he was sure the committee would, by their report, decide the case in favour of the Rajah of Setters. (Hear, hear.) Sir J. W. HOGG said that when so broad and sweeping a charge u that of conspiracy had been made against every individual, native and European, whose duty had compelled them to deal with this matter, he must beg the house to bear in mind that at the time of the dethronement Sir Rol*. Grant was the Governor of Bombay, and that distinguished man, and every member of his council, agreed, and Mao tautly came to the same conclusion as to the rajah's Two successive governors of Bombay, with their two mow I sive councils, had come to the same opinion ; so, also, bed the Governor-Onseral, Lord Auckland. To the same Ile& Mon the Court of Directors had come, and three eamiesive India boards joined in the same decision. Looking et the positloa tithes. different authorities, and their moans of ehWsg itheordion, their opinions were entitled to at Meet equal weight with those of Major Carpenter, without any disparagement to that officer. The matter had also bola discussed over and over again during the last seven years, and this house had invariably refused to disturb the decision of the responsible authorities. The East India directors had been perfectly astonished at the communication read to the court of proprietors by the _ _ _ lean. tanner for the Tower Hamlets, aisebHlTbag dia'aaa k . rare agents had made certain propoundng's the vein to in him to acknowledge his guilt- laintly • dleggatch was sent out, making in - ny whether I nd Mean. had ,nes authorised any mai eumminlita as sigma lir Ma jor Carpenter ; and it tamed *seller sr huh beirtese had ever been sanctioned by the pwassocS, lir neWs duty err to watch over the rajah, al miss lie emolierunt u Iltde Irksome as possible ; mai sees he the tow open an et inee f :Caon the rajah's cue ? lb knew as 11111•111114 Om naan from the reading oldie Blue Ink Anna Sir Hudson Lowe have expostalated win*, eS the day en the cruelty of keeping Napoleon ea SW rock of Bt. Helens, or a gaoler interred* sent us behalf of a prisoner. But Major Carpenter, when qw tioned as to these overtures, declared—" the tone, the 'Odl e the meaning of the alleged conversations thus minutely rte. corded are so utterly at variance with the numerous consul tations I have held with the rajah, on the general state of his affairs, that I must at once pronounce the poster part of the conversations stated to have passed between him and me, in September last, purely imaginary, and to deeare that the propositions therein detailed were never then, or at any other period, directly or indirectly made by me to the rajah of Setters, either on my own responsibil i ty or on the autho rity of the governor-general." (Hear.) Could the English language &ninth terms to give a more unqualified d eni al ? Battle iovernor-general (Lord Hardinge), on receiving this communication, accepted the denial, and censured the con duct of Major Carpenter in expressing opinions on the rajah's case as highly unbecoming. (" Hear, hear," from Kr. Thompson.) Was this 4 subject for duisire cheers t What was to be thought of the soundness of judgment, or the sense of duty of a man, whatever his motives , who ea tend into conversations wit h the person over whom he was placed in charge, and took upon himself to express opinions on his guilt and innocence, and on the nature of the evidence against him ? In answer to the goveruor-general's repri mand, the major excused himself, admitted that under ordi nary circumstances he aught to have no concern with the affairs of the dethroned prises, but alleging the peculiarity of the case. There was no peculiarity at all ; and tee major had not been able to show that any new futtad arisen. Originally, this Rajah of Batten had been taken by the Indian government almost out of the dungeon, his father and grandfather having been in captivity ; the income of his petty principality was but 100,0001., and the government I still allowed him 10,0001. a year. Mr. ANSTEY expressed his sympathy for the condition of the inhabitants of India under the government of a com pany whose chairman hesitated not to express sentiments so much at variance with humanity. The hon. baronet was I not borne out in his statements by the documents he had read ; for Major Carpenter had given a most natural expla nation of the inaccuracies in the statement referred to. There war no real contradiction between the rajah's statement and that of Major Carpenter, who gave the result of several conversations with the rajah. Of the two, the rajah was more likely to be accurate, having reduced the matter to writing at the time. In the situation the major held, he wee under a peculiar obligation, being net only an ambassador of the Indian government, but also counsellor to the imprisoned prince. Mr. WAHLEY thought the hon. baronet (Sir J. Hogg) had spoken in a way which made him believe that the Rajah of Statue was an innocent man, and he did not think that the hon. baronet could put his hand on his heart and say that he was guilty. It was true the rajah had had a gaoler, but he had not had a jury. On the contrary, it was now well known that he had been treated as a guilty man, and most grievously punished, but had never yet been heard in his own defence, and had not even seen the evidence which had been adduced against him. As to Major Carpenter, he could only say that he had not violated any confidence or failed to perform any duty which had been committed to him. He could only add that he was sorry to see the ex- poor-law commissioner (Mr. Lewis) occupying the 'illation which he did that night. He was very glad, however, that there was no board of guardian at Benue+, for, if there were, the unfortunate rajah would, doubtless, be dieted on pints of gruel and 18 ounces of bread in the 24 hours. (A laugh.) Ile hoped, however, that the hon. gentleman would alter his opinion and come to the conclusion that the rajah was an injured man, and ought to obtain juitice. (Hear, hear.) The motion war then agreed to, and the house adjourned at nine o'clock. Zht pprtgg. The mails foe New South Wales, Pen Diemen'. Land, and New 'emend will be made up on the evening of th e 30th November. The Wait India MS; including Bermuda, N•11•Ill, IL Roudurs., New °dean., Vera Cruz, Tampico, and Porto Rloo, and excluding there for Madeira, Jamie!, Garth...ens, manta Martha, Chagrin, Panama, Wee Cast of South America, and St. Juen-de- Niceregua, will be made up on the morning of the Pod December. The overland mail. for Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, th e lonian islands. Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Hong-Kong, and China, vie Southampton, will be made op on the morning of the 3rd December. The mails for British North America, Berme* and the United eaten, will be made up on the evening of the 3rd December. The mall. for the Brazil., the Barer Plate, Monte Video, Permian. own, Bald; Madeira, and Buenos Ayres, will be tender up on at evening of the 4th December. • The mails for Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar will be made up on the morning of the 7th December. The overland ekeed eves Plarsellles, to the Mediterranean, feypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Long, ke., will be made up cm tht evening of the 7th December. TO CORILTAPONDE74TS. Ad/mist...tuts totaoded 'or Th. Ewer, - Lobar abeam{ mot. Nowt b. at tbd office, 10. Illoovorlo woo. by Toro oclock oo Ur dos of 'Jib:ebbs. 111011 WATIR AT LONDON ■RIDGE. Tr* DAT— blemb% & aka prt 4; rearannaa. 26 re. rat I. To-Ilosart Maras& II mi. par ; Ararres. 14 W. pant 6. LONDON. SATURDAY. NO V. 27. AFTER an interval of suspense, which was begin ning to be somewhat creditable to the discretion of our eccentric morning contemporary ho has again relapsed into a desperate mood of didactic melancholy, and most gloomy foreboding of the future. The very dog matical expositor to whom the Times is in the habit of committing the compilation of its City intelligence signalised his labours of yesterday by the most ex traordinary instance of voluminous digression from his usual, and evidently his most appropriate, duties of routine observation, that he has yet achieved. It may be possible, bat we imagine it would not be easy, to fully understand the intensity of alarm and astonish ment with which the diurnal students of the vicissitudes of stocks and markets beheld themselves confronted with nearly half a page of lugubrious disquisition and terrifying prophecy. Nor was there relief to be found in a single accessary accompaniment. From first to last, the whole composition is a homily of the most disconsolate and hopeless kind, and it is difficult to say how any man of common intelligence can entertain so monstrous a belief, or how, if he does entertain it, he should take so mach pains to exacerbate by con tagious fear a calamity which, according to his own statement, nothing can avert. Resting upon his own intrinsic merits, this very ponderous correspondent of the Times might safely be left to teach the bottom under the weight of his own dulness; but unluckily the adventitious circumstances connected with his appearance may give an import ance to his opinions in some quarters, which it is de sirable to fix at its proper level. He professes to justify his alarm upon two grounds— first, that the balance of trade, which has been " ad verse" during the last twelve months, will continue to be adverse; and secondly, that the excess of imports over exports will be such that we shall have to export 7,000,0001. of treasure. Now, it is not true that the balance of payments has been adverse for the last twelve months, unless an adverse balance of payments is indicated by a strong influx of the precious metals, such es has been in operation since the month of September, from at least four different points of the compass. But, passing over that inaccuracy, what is the texture of the rest of his argument? He says that, so far, we have imported more food, more cattle, more coffee, and so on, while we have added nothing to the volume of our exports. Very well, but that is only half the story. It is true that we have imported more of some commo dities, bat it is also true that we have imported I less of others. We very much doubt whether there has been so much an increase as a re-distribution of the extent of our imports, and whether in point offset we have taken more in the aggregate or whether we have not maintained the same total in a different way. We have leetreht more corn of America, and less of the products of the peninsula and the west and centre of Europe. We have taken less of the ordinary articles of commerce afforded by the Levant, and more of the cereal supplies of which it happened to be the entrepot, and the same fact might be illustrated by other examples. We demur therefore to the first proposition. But neither is it true that while our imports have increased, our exports have decreased. The very reverse is the fact. The exports of British goods during the first nine months of 1847 are as near as possible the same in value as in 1846, and the exports of colonial ' produce from the United Kingdom during the same period are very mach larger than in the correspond ing term of 1846, and is many instances greater than in 1845. We refer more particularly to coffee, rice, silk, spices, spirits, sager, tea, and tobacco. The writer in the Vmes says, we have starved our manufactures to pamper our appetites—that we have spent in riotous living the money which ought to have purchased cotton, flax, hemp, and wool. But is he quite clear, that our stocks of these raw materials are reduced to a low point at the present moment, be cause we have not had the means to obtain them ; or, because they were not to be obtained upon Prudent conditions ? Was it poverty or discretion which pre vented the Manchester merchant from filling his ware honee with American cotton at Bd. per lb., when in three months he might in all pro bability (and such has proved to be the fact) buy it for half the money ? With very few exception', the same observation applies to all the other e l e m en t s of manufacture, which this incautious pleader cites as instances of demented insolvency. If he will discover for ni any former period of high-priced raw mate rials, uncertain markets, disturbed credit, and the probability of large future supplies, and can clearly prove that merchants selected that particular junc ture to set no bounds to the avidity of their pur chases, his argument mar, perhaps, attain to the legative merit of respectability. But we cannot comprehend, how we can have im tedall this extra food, exported no extra oommo s, and have persisted in the luxuries of diet and clothing during the last twelve months without having fairly reached the brink of ruin. We must be allowed to say that the slowness of comprehension of the commercial writer in the Times is the cir cumstance which will cause the least surprise. But mawillehrLperwmiet have exported s e ug xpor get ed tha ts t e if s at e of q f nan ewe ti r ty ra o w f finished fabrics, we have done so by a process of self denial. We provided meals, but we did not provide the usual relays of new wardrobe to the people of Ire land, or to oar own poorer alum The penalty, for which this somewhat flinty personage raises his voice to its highest pitch, has, in point of fact, been paid. The whole community have been saving in extra expenditure the increased cost of their daily bread. And if the railway outlay, as concerns the great body of the people, has enabled them to exercise this eco nomy upon wages, it has been an almost unmixed good; because it is quite certain that in the presence of so extreme a dearth the alternative was amply be tween such a source of employment and a resort to the poor-rates ; and of the two, we leave the Times to say whether railway labourers or the pauperised peasantry across the channel is the species of poverty more to be desired. The conceptions of this extraordinary critic on the subject of the circulation and the Bank, are quite in unison with the rest of his belief. He is most positively certain that prices rise and fall with the amount of the " circulation," and that so long as the Bank remains as it is, it is highly probable that panics will assume a certainty of recurrence as regular as that of the seasons. Now, on the first point, we beg to say, that he cannot point out any six leading articles of commerce, the prices of which during the last twelve months have varied in accordance with the variations in the quantity of the outstanding circulation. That, at all events, is a plain and tangible reply. In the second place, we are utterly unable to conjecture the grounds of his ani mosity against the Bank, if, after all and in defiance of all, the circulation is the grand secret. We pre sume that the most conspicuous, if not the moat dis tinguished, adherent of the act of 1814 is fully aware of the impassable barrier which it places between the branch of issue and the department of banking. The directors have no more power over the circula tion than over the character of the weather ; and the Times knows it. With what decency of pretext, then, can it accuse of mismanagement a body of men who, upon its own hypothesis, are as helpless for gond or for evil, as the table round which they congregate? THE rumour in Paris—where everything of im portance soon transpires is, that England and France are going to be once more the best of friends, that ministerial rivalries are to be forgotten, diplo matic trickery passed over, and even the great act of royal jockeying at Madrid excused as a venial and unimportant sin. The very Bourse has caught the whisper, that the Duke De BROGLIE has restored the entente cordiale, and speculators, both monied and political, are equally busied in the task of building chateaux en Eepagne. Whatever be the absolute truth or immediate cause of this—whether it is owingto Lord PALMERSTON being tired out, or Louts PHILIPPE having had a compunction that to leave England a decided foe to his dynasty was not the best legacy he could leave to an infant grandson, or whether Queen ISABELLA is in a way which promises to Five a direct heir to the throne of Spain, certain it appears that a change, and a very sudden one, has come over inter national relations within the last fortnight, and a commencement has been made for putting an end to that diplomatic antagonism between France and Eng land which has for us led to eo few satisfactory results. Rejoiced as we are at such prospects, it is impossi ble not to experience some misgivings as to the price to be paid, and the sacrifices made, to the renewal of the Anglo-French alliance. The most desirable of all results, the very eutlusnasia of French and English rivalry, would be the total abstinence of both from further interference, leaving the courts of Madrid and Athens and the political world of Berne and Lucerne to carry on their own struggles, un abetted, unprovoked, and even unattended to. But, we fear, this is not to be hoped for. The French will be for making the good better, ever synonimous with making bad worse; and we are to sit by, and either allow them thus to meddle, or, which is worse, approve of their doing so. Such an entente cordiale or alliance of sympathy between French and English courts would certainly lead to a schism between the English government and its liberal supporters at home, who are most anxious in deed for amity with France, but who are not prepared fo sacrifice to that country the liberties and in dependence of either Switzerland or the peninsula. We will do Lord PALMERSTON the justice to say, that his treatment of Swiss politics seems hitherto to have been adroit, liberal, and successful. Without going the length of identifying England with the extravagance of the Bernese, our representative has preserved a friendly and respectful attitude, very different from the fretful, sophistical, and illiberal conduct of the French envoy, who has urged the Sowlerbund to resistance, tried to arm them for the fray, and acted as a spy and a foe in the very camp and capital of the government, to which he was accredited. The last act of this French envoy has been to assert that he was sent to each of the cantons and not to the con federation, which is pretty much the same as if the French ambassador in the United States were to assert that he was accredited to the states of Maine and Texas, not to the executive at Washington; and that he had therefore a right to plot and intrigue with any state against the President and his government. We can imagine the answer of Mr. POLK or General JACKSON to a French envoy who should put forth those arguments, which M. Bois LE Cohere had the insolence to employ towards M. Oenezeseee. The English government has avoided these follies, and has assumed that fasts milieu of moderate liberalism, which LOUIS PHILIPPE in the frenzy of his declining years has altogether abandoned. By keeping this attitude in Switzerland, Lord PALMER STON has succeeded in adjourning that intervention for which France and Austria were clamorous, at least until the liberal government and Diet have had fall opportunity for putting forth their strength and humbling their enemies. The French and Austrians, who so long incited Lucerne and Friburg to resistance, were reduced to recommend these parties and towns to submit. An armed intervention, undertaken at first to uphold the Jesuits and the Sonderbund in their resistance to the majority of the Diet, would have been the annihilation of the republican government. An intervention undertaken later to restore the Sonderbund to independence and the Jesuits to supremacy, after they had been crushed by the superior and legitimate force of the Diet, would be equally subversive of any principle, on which a sys tem of government could be carried on in Switzer land. But an intervention, and merely a diplomatic one, which should restore peace, and maintain the existence and just superiority of the Diet, whilst it prevented the Swiss executive from abasing its victory, or making use of its advantages to overwhelm and destroy the foundations of cantonal independence—such au interrention as this, maturely , weighed and considered by the protestant powers of England and Prussia, as well as by the catholic ones of France and Austria—such an amicable and fair intervention as this, if it restored peace, suspended hostilities, and brought about the establishment of a practical and wise federal constitution, might prove, what such interventions seldom are, a blessing and a regeneration to Switzerland. But this depends altogether on the spirit which presides over this destined congress. If England join such an assembly of the representatives of despotic courts, previously agreeing to be bound by the rule of their majority, and aware that in the asser tion of great liberal principles, and especially that of Swiss freedom and independence, the English envoy is to be alone in the minority, then it will be merely the congress of Verona played over again, from which issued the edict for over coming and treading down Spanish liberties, England's influence being reduced to a vain and soli tary protest. A good understanding with France is the moat desirable of results ; but let it be obtained by no sacrifice of principle. We tally .join with the member for Mid&ux in deprecating the repetition, with respect to Switzerland, of that policy pursued towards Portugal last year, of which policy the state of things in Lisbon now offers the miserable and disgraceful result. WHEN proceeding, in conformity with the recom mendation in the royal speech, to revise the navigation laws, parliament will do wel to remember that timid and paltry tampering with systems of national policy only does mischief. The evil effects of the navigation laws do not arise from incidental details, but are the necessary consequence of the system. It is sot by modifying, but by abrogating, the navigation laws that the injury they do our commerce is to be re paired. The truth is, that, even though the principle upon which the navigation laws proceed were less erorneous than it is, they are inapplicable and out of place in the existing circumstances and policy of Great Britain. The navigation laws were, from the beginning, merely part of a great system of cola nial and general commercial policy , v — Thl e l7 -- `, • en other respects has been abandoned, or i s i n the co in % of being abandoned. When the nav4ation laws - w e framed, the legislature was impressed w ith t h e that the general commerce of the country en t iT e rendered more prosperous—the c•untry itself ew e wealthy and powerful—by each department of iod ise trial enterprise consenting to waive a part of d .• natural liberty in favour of the rest. Gee s li t ; another, almost all other restrictions upon or in fn r . of other branches of industry have been relisqai r h e d. the community will not, and ought not, t o cobs ti the perpetuation of those which relate to ship after the others, which, by compensating, hal ack i alleviated their pressure, are gone. It is pedantry to trace the history of the nevi laws—for any practical purpose—beyond the er a d the Commonwealth. The statute of CHARLES IL it merely a reprint of the legislation of Caomweit and the long parliament. It was the natural mistak e 01 , the first English government, which, feeling it ie l f part of the people, legislated in the smite of th e people against the exclusive assumptions of a co te t. Ile parliamentary party was strong in its eh & racter of antagonist to the prelates of e ls school of LAUD, but still stronger in h e character of antagonist to the trading monop t , lies 'of the court. The courtiers of that day lo o w upon the mercantile class much in the ew e way that some capitalists within the memory of ra re now living looked upon the operative class —se trious drudges who ought to be encouraged by I hr y, log them a portion of the fruits of their toil, bet sh e were bound by their allegiance to surrender th e greater part of them for the enjoyment of the hie t the nobles, and their retainers. Monopolies were th; legal instruments employed to squeeze the moiste r , from the poor sponges. A monopoly o f wines was granted to this courtier, end me , nopolies of plantations to others. The holden of these monopolies farmed them out to inter. ligent and enterprising members of the industrid class, or associated such parties with themselves in the management of them. Against this system of courtly plunder the strenuous efforts of the first fee s parliament of England were directed. It fought for the great principle that the fruits of industry we re the just and exclusive right of the industrious on. munity. But the instinctive sense of justice awakened by the peculiar relation of the industrial classes all powerful in parliament to the court, could not emanci pate them from misconceptions, the pressure of which was not practically felt. The want of faith in the power of the selfish instincts implanted in every ; e h. vidual to keep in check those of his neighbours—the want of an adequate perception of necessity of fan power of his earnings as an allurement to each indi vidual to exert himself to the utmost—led the state& men of the Commonwealth into the same mistakes which have bewildered most political theorists, f rom PLATO down to ROBERT OWEN, and which hue always appeared so plausible to the unreflecting sad the indolent. After emancipating the commerce of the country from the exactions of the court, they bona down the individuals engaged in it to pay tribute to an imaginary public. And with regard to foreign communities, they conceived the impracticable idea of adopting towards them the same extortionate policy against which themselves had rebelled when en forced by the English court. The navigation law was the result of these miscon. ceptions. It was the colonial code of Great Britain. Parliament, having wrested the colonies from the King and courtiers, conceived the idea of adminie tering them so as to make their trade a substitute for the trade of all other countries, and to try an arbi trary and artificial arrangement to distribute its ad vantages equally among all classes of the English community. To this end a monopoly of the mother. country's products was established in the colonie, and a corresponding monopoly of colonial produce is the markets of the mother-country. And, to con. plete the work, a monopoly of the carrying trade wu attempted to be established in the shipping interest of England. The theory of this system, plausible at first, eve though indefensible when clearly examined, we, never carried into effect. It was, in fact, unworkable. Previous to the American war of independence, the trade of the North American provinces was the most flourishing and advancing of all we ear. vied on ; but that was because the universel smuggling from Georgia to Nova Scotia rendered the navigation law a dead letter. One after another, all the characteristic features of the Long Parliament', commercial policy have been obliterated, except that which presses most heavily upon the industrious producers both at home and in the colonies—the re strictions which bind them to employ exclusively, however imperfectly the service may be performed, or at whatever excess of cost, the native oceanic carriers of Great Britain. The producers at home are now loud in their complaints against the mo nopoly enjoyed by the shipping interest, sad the producers in the colonies still louder. This might have been expected, for many years ago a leading member of the West India interest, a stout advocate of restriction and protection, told the minister and parliament of his day that the monopoly enjoyed by colonial produce in the markets of the mothercoantry, and the monopoly enjoyed by the imperial shipping interests, were correlative parts of one bargain. The former are gone, or going, and the latter must follow. We cannot remain where we are. Either the old colonial monopolies must be re-enacted, or the shipping monopoly must follow them. We cannot revert to a system which was only perpetuated by incessaat connivances at infractions of it. The pre sent generation has indeed been confirmed in the faith that colonial markets are the most profitable; but that for this very reason they may be most safely exposed to general competition. And the further in ference necessarily follows, that if our home traders are to concede no exclusive privileges to the colonies, no class of home traders have any right to exact ex clusive privileges at their expense. At all times, the best way to deal with any proved nuisance is to abolish it at once. Gradual processes and half-measures are only concessions to ignorant or interested opposition, or the price paid for the main tenance of other nuisances. In the present case there is no complication of interests to plead for delay; as question of revenue le involved in the proposal to ab rogate the navigation laws ; as a means of supplying the royal navy with seamen, they are known to be a dead letter, and the fresh impetus their removal would give to trade would at once increase instead of diminish the employment of ships already bent Nor is the question one that will admit of math de lay. The home merchants and manufacturers might submit to parliament, and bear the preemie cedilla laws formoatelidtellpee dependencies ?ft ; , bat not l a t t ure h o einhabi ropeuird, tante of our remote the navigation laws will henceforth be in the colonies as they were in New Englan d the revolution, if indeed they do not produce the ewe results as the colonial stamp act and tea duty of famous memory. The best course for the ausilute of the navigation laws is obvious—to follow the example of the Anti Corn-Law League, and demand their total, immediate, and unconditional repeal. ONE of the most recent freaks of a board of Irish guardians is too well calculated for the amazement and amusement of the world to be passed over with out notice. Our readers will remember that the Earl of CLARENDON suggested to the Irish AgneolOore l Society the propnety of sending lecturers into the rural districts for the puree of instruct ing farmers in the rotation of crops, &c., but more especially in the preparations made for tillers before the setting in of the winter's Ergots ; which are, es practical men know of the highest importance to the cultivator, but which, being little understood, are very imperfectly practised in Ireland. The noble men and gentlemen composing the agricultural society eagerladopted the proposal . The example LIEUTENANT'S of the LORD liberal donation was 101- lowed by some of the principal Irish proprietors, and the services of some of the best practical agricul -1 turista in the empire, as lecturers, were secured. Mr. Smvorr, one of the gentlemen thus engaged, visited the district of Killarney, in the county of Kerry, and sought the aid of the board of guardians to assist him in carrying out the designs of the Agricultural Society. Had he been a collector sent to claim the payment of out-standing debts, his appearance could not have produced greater excite ment among the guardians of the Killarney team. Mr. SHINE LALOR, a magistrate of the county, wu quite indignant that any connexion whatever should be supposed between the ignorance of the cultivator and the productiveness of the soil. In his peculiar eco nomy, money and idleness were represented u fir preferable to inatraction and work, Ignorance -,d. -~--: ,- ---