The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-24 00:00:00

spondent at Glsuigow, who signs himself " Darien," containing some interesting statistical information, which its length precludes us from giving in extenso, but the result of it is that the revenue of England would now be 290 millions if it had increased in the same proportion as that of Scotland since the union in 1707. With this fact before him, our correspon dent fully admits the i►enefits which Scotland de rived from the union, but complains that in future she is to be deprived of the pleasure of knowing how much she contributes to the aggregate revenue of the United Kingdom. "We are to be kept in the " dark as to the share Scotland contributes to the " imperial revenue, the customs and post-office " being now given in eumulo with those of England." This change, no doubt, has been introduced to save • expense, and we cannot think this grievance a great one, because, if for any real purpose it should be desirable to ascertain the fiscal progress of Scotland, a motion for a return to the House of Commons would always accomplish that object. Hut there is another point which we certainly cannot call a Scottish grievance, for the Scotch do not complain of it, and may, perhaps, view our allusion to it as arising rather front an assumption of superiority on the part of England than from a regard to their interests. It is, however, for the common interest of the realm that we call attention to the anomalous position of such of the Scottish peers as are not amongst the sixteen representatives. Neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, shut out from the (louse of Lords, not eligible for the !louse of (commens, the Scotch peer without a seat in Parliament is under disabilities from which commoners are exempt. 'there is a nobleman now in this inactive position whose presence in the national councils would at this moment be hailed with acclamations of delight. We nseatt the gallant L►rd I )i•stesNAl.l). Ile may, perhaps, no more, from age, repeat the daring deeds of his early youth, but in the Senate his wisdom; would be as useful as his calculated temerity once was on the sea, and, per Laps, his presence might awaken something of the spirit of the old days, and serve to remind us that if now we have au ABERDEEN we once had a !'ITT, if now we have a DesnAs we once had a NELson, and that in those days we were wont to hear of the English fleet, but then it was at Aboukir, Trafalgar, and Copenhagen. It is not our intention to propose remedy for this evil at present i —several will readily suggest themselves to the mind,—but we hope our Scotch Mends will take it into their considerat . , for certainly it is a strange state of things that th.. Scotch peers should enjoy fewer facilities for be. coining members ()film legislative body dims either the peers of England or of Ireland : it is a system which rs unjust , not to Scotland only, but to the realm at large, often depriving it in critical periods of the services of eminent men, as it does now in the ease of Lord Dustiosim.o. &IMF. Ktatistiem of the British h'a'le have just been compiled, wlileh show that tat less than:ti,lMNl,ll. tl of till's an suntialir raised, the endue of which at the pit's mouth falls little, if at all, a 16.611 of tot militia's sterling, intil lit the plaeot of eotimittiption. expenses of transpoit mill other charges, proluil.lr not less Own '2O,IIOII,IINNIL The capital employed in the tnule rxeceds 10,11011,414111/. A 6.11441111 iron fur utters of ;11'31 Itrilain rolls 10,100,4100 tuns Of 0/111?4, HMI 7,000,01111 tolls of ironstone. in tinier to produce 1,4144.inin tolls of of the %slue of IijOWSINIS of $OO,l/ 1 0/. For the supply of the metropidis slime 3.111111,15N1 tons of coals are required f.ir iminufae• tnlimj sad domestic purposes; coasting vessels in iM. II topwards of 11,3110,4101 i t o es to various tapi r in the nittel Kingdom, awl :1,3:60,101141 tons woe cmsorieil to hireign e tries and the Whist' possessions. About 1111,41110 persons are vonstiatilly einpli.yeil in extracting the coal from the mines, and in some of the loather', counties there are more persons at Sulk under the ground than upon its surface. The extent .if the coal arras in the British Islands is 1'2,110 1 1 square tidies. mid the Minna' produce :1;.0110,11011 tons : of Belgium. ':51) miles, animal produce, 5,110 1 4.414 1 0 tons: of Fromm, 2.11110 tttilea, n 1111 l itil positive, ,1511.1NN1 tons ; of the l' lined States, I 1:1,114 NI mil e s, I 1111 l prodime, 4 , IMMI , INNI toms; of Prio.sia, 2.1,0 ii miles, animal produce, :1,:itN1,010 tuns: of Moan, 4.4100 miles. animal produce, taus; 1,1 British North America, animal produce not kn o ws. Taking the British 1114hOOIS tubule. and dividing. them into ilistHets. we Mid the supp4osed wiorkable area as folhisa in acres :—Niiiiiiiiiiiis•r land / m i l 1,4 WWI ; '11111114.1•11Mtl, Wt.:41110011nd. and West !tiding. 09.1 1 M/ 11.1Oli•Ofthire, Flintshire, and North Staffordshire, to:01,4.INI: Shrolopaiitt. toad %Von...MeV %hire, 19,9:51); Smith Statroril•iiire. 11:0104); Weil% iel4iirt. and Leisittershire, 441,1101 I; B.sinersetshire and iloucester• 1117,500; South \\*ales, 11011,1100 ; Seottioli vo i d. f ie ld s , 1.0-0,4100. 116411 ei later, 10,0. s naught, t!IN 1 . 000 ; Leinster. 140. 000 : Munster, 1,000.111 N). Our rxports, which in 1840 amounted to 1,6011,000 tons, valu e d M :411,41041., hod inerea , isi in Illt4l to :1,:411,B110 tons, of the %slim of I, M4,4MNN. In ISII our exports to Prance Were 01,300 tons; to polla r d, 173,48 tolls; to Prussia. 16.21 1 4) tuns; and to Cosssio. 77,142 tuna. 11l its.l4l they woe to Fraiire 02 0 511 tuns; to Holland, 1:\11,94:1 tons; to Prussia. Illil,tc2a tons; 51161 to Russia. 1.3.1.15 s tons. A NIA ( . 41MF'1' 11111 inst. by Mr. Kllliskerfites. of the Gottingen Obttenntory, on the bonier of the Ctoutstellation l'ou-seus, ovar the fuut of Audrumetla.. 4 • 1 •1111. THE PRESS. SCOTTISH BIGHTS MEETING. ANovicit national demonstration on behalf of the "lights and Grievances of Scotland" came off on the 17th instant. The place of meeting was Glas gow, where more than 3,000 persona congregated in the City-hall, at the summons of the Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, under the presi dency of 31r. Watson, senior bailie of the city. Among the speakers at this gathering, besides the chairman, were the Earl of Eglinton, Professor Ayioun, Mr. ltaillie Cochrane, and Sir Archibald Alison. The "rights" they vindicated for their nation were, of course, precisely the same as had formed the topics of discussion at the late meeting in Edinburgh ; but were urged with many additional arguments, accompanied by the complaint from more than one hand that their opponents had encountered them with ridicule instead of logic. Lord EL:LIN TON declared " there never was a nat hood movement based more entirely on justice, in which demands were Inure muderute, and in which such demands were made more temperately. ( (leers. 1 The object which we have in view, strapped on the one hand of aspersions which have been cast on it, a►al on the other perhaps of a little tea► zealous advoeary— the object which we have iu view is to preserve for Scot land her national rights, so 1111' as these are consistent with a united Iniperial Legislature and with constitutional government. ( boo/ Arcot.) If• then• be one thing out which 1 as an individual have studied to be explicit—if there Ile one thing on which every man with whom I an► associated has been decided, it is in expressing our deter mination to preserve in all its integrity the union between Englund and Scotland, und not to be parties to the sowing of dissension ls•tween the people of the two countries. (!G•era•ed cheers.) hut our opplakents will not take us at our word; they either will not read what we do say—(llear, levr)--or they refuse wilfully to believe what we assert.•' After recapitulating the items wherein redress was sought and justice demanded—the special Secretary of State for Scotland, the increase in the number of Scottish representatives, the maintenance of public buildings, the expenditure upon public works, the change in the heraldic emblazonments m which the arms of Scotland were disparagingly placed—the noble earl traced the grievances of his country to the great fact that she was treated as a province : " We are told that wear' a province, and that we havens) right to nationality. We are not a prvince. (Loud cheers,. ) It may suit them to say so fur waist of argument ; yet it is true that we have a separate established chute!, lone sepa rate laws, and a court of session. (Cheers. ► Rut, it is asked, what is this nationality the want of which we coot plain ? What, is nationality? It is patriotism. And what is patriotism ? The most noble sentiment by which the human heart is animated. The theme of the poet, the dream of youth, the admiration of mature years, the foun statism of all tat basal greatness. (Great cheering.) It is the love of the husband for the wife, the parent for the child, and with the world something holier and more en illsisling still. It may slumber, but it never dies ; and are we alone to be &cried for los ing this old country of Isms? Lssm/ cheers.) We love our English brethren, and are proud to be associated with them in all empire over which the sun never sets ; hut we are Seotehmen still. The feeling of patriotism which has raised itself in Scotland may at first have been scouted as absurd and ephemeral. It may have blast been given utterance to by men of no po- Mica! eminence or hereditary rank ; it may laws. been looked coldly on by those who were regarded as the heredi tary and selected guardians of the liberties and interests of Scotland : but it is as reality which will die away, and which must be attended to. I, (1/err's.) Believe me it is no small matter which has collected such meetings as we have seen here and in Edinburgh ; it is no small matter which has brought together thousands of every c lass and Hitlessl feeling determined resolutely, but temperately and constitutionally, to dennmil that whit+ is their due. (Urea/ desering. 1 And depend upon it, if we preserve that paw detut ion of language whielahltbehdilletrrilit'd the speeehes eentiv delivered in Edinburgh, stud which ehanieterised the excellent speech which you have !ward !ran► your chairman to night, and will, I trust, pervade the rest, it shall not be long ere we obtain that justice which 1 ladieve the igno ranee and thoughtlessness of our rulers, more than any bad feeling on the part of our English brethren, hitherto have deprived us of. (('heers.) " Professor Avrot'N repeated anti enforced the com plaint of the unfairness with which their previous remonstrances had been treated •' I was very anxious to know what our opponents might hart. to say in answer to the p o ints which were then so thoroughly and ably diseussed—what excuse or vindication they were prepared to offer for the notorious neglect of our kcal interests and institutions—for theimperfert and ano• malons motile of the nowitioety applied in the administra tion o u r affairs—for the imulequate representation which prevents the Voile of Scotland trout haring ita due weight within the walls of the Muse of Commons. ((/tren:.) Hare they done so? Hare they attempted by argument to show that our complaints are groundless. or that our requirements are itnjust ? Not at all. In. stead of mg lit they hare had recounte to the old and clumsy weapons of misrepresentation. (Hear, hear.) Some of them. presuming, I must snppose, upon the igtottunce of awir audience, have represented us as hostile tit the maintenance of the Union. and AS animated by a spirit of dislike to England and the English a more pre. posterous charge than this it it utterly impossible to oat. erne. Why, instead of 'objecting to the tenor of the arti cles of the Union, we are here expressly to demand the Ad lihutut and übbervanee (Athena in letter and in sriiit." SATURDAY, Mr. Rum': CocnatNE, touching on the same point, remarked that a single grievance had been selected for the pasquinades of antagonists, and es. pecially of the Times. Ile drew the inference that the rest were unassailable. Opponents ridiculed their claim to quarter the Scottish lion more ad vantageously in the royal flag of Scotland. Out of so long a list this was picked and used exclusively as a topic for jocularity. It was a confession that the remaining points were more serious and irre fragable. Mr. Cochrane proceeded to refute another counter allegation : '• (Inc remark has been made so fallacious and pre posterous that I must call your attention to it. There is no injustice done to Scotland, because Scotchmen are suc cessful. If ever there was an observation worthy of Ireland that is one. The Prime Minister, they say, is a Scotchman; the Governor-General of India, the Governor• t;eneral of Canada, the Lord Privy Seal, and so on. Well, what does that prove? I will tell you what it proves. That a country which can produce eminent melt, who, by their own intellect, and in spite of all obstacles, can achieve so much, is not a country to be treated with contumely and injustice. (Cheers.) It is not because men are Scotchmen that they are successful, but because they belong to a nation of which Horace Walpole has well remarked, If there be any one country more than another that is endowed with a high intellectual position, I should be disposed to give the preference to Scotland.' And when England admits that a Scotchman, in ethics tion, in conduct, in success, is so superior to an English man, 1 say that it is wrong to make that an excuse fur national injustice, because some win in a nice in which they are so heavily weighed. (Loud eheera.)" the meeting separated after three hearty cheers for Lord Eglinton. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY. THE reformation of juvenile onenders has formed the subject of some important proceedings at Bir mingham during the past week, 'When Sir John Pakington, Lord Lyttelton, Lord Calthorpe, the Earl of Denbigh, the Bishop of Worcester, Sir H. I'eel, M.P., and Lord Leigh, having formed a committee, summoned in the first place a conference, which met on Tuesday morning. At this conference the subjects for discussion, resolutions to be proposed, and general course of pruceedings were arranged for the public meeting that was appointed for the same evening. This conference was, however, the successor of a former meeting, held as long since as Dec. 10, 1451, upon the subject of " legislative amendments in the national treatment of morally-destitute and criminal children." During the intervening years the matter owl not been allowed to drop. Many inquiries had been instituted ; much information obtained respect ing the national treatment of juvenile delinquents at home and abroad; and considerable progress Meted in ripening the public mind for an extensive re formation of the criminal law in this respect, as well as towards establishing the practical principles on which such reform should be framed. The purpose that had been indicated at the previous conferences in 1451, and the steps that had since been taken towards carrying it into effect, were briefly recapitu • lated by Sir JOHN PAKINOTON in his address as pre• silent of the present conference : " A number of gentlemen who had devoted their time and attention to this interesting subject at that time agreed to a series of practical resolutions, laying down the course which, in their judgment, it was desirable to take. lie had always felt that our neglect of this important sub .le'e'r was a stain Noon the reputation of this country, and he considered that it became the duty of the Legislature to take up the matter. He conferred with friends whose opinions agreed with his own, and they came to the unanimous conclusion that, all-imponiatot as the subject was, it was one which at that time was not very widely or generally understood, and that public feeling was hardly ripe for legislation. They felt, therefore, that to introduce any measure into Parliament, or to call upon the Govern , ment to legislate on the subject, would at that moment be premature, and that the best and most useful practical course to take would be to seek to enlarge the amount if public information on the question, and to put the country, the Government, and Parliament in a better position tier legislation by means of inquiries conducted through the agency of a parliamentary select committee. This had been done, and the committee had taken evidence during two successive sessions of Parliament, and had circulated a report embodying their opinions in twenty-five reso lutions which were now before the public. The con ceit-slice of P 451 passed five important resolutions. The first declared that the present treatment of juvenile mind. inns was unsatisfactory : the second acknowledged the ne cessity of reformatory sehouls ; the third called for an extended action of the committee of Privy Council for the establishment of industrial schools ; the fourth expressed a desire for legislative enactments for the establishment of reformatory schools for children guilty of minor ottiloces ; and the tifth declared the necessity of penal establislometots for the reformation of juvenile comicted criminals. Now, it must be satisfactory to know that the committee of the House of Commons arrived at the same results tos tin t conference. (Hear. /wan) Mt the resolutions of that committee went further, and touched upon points nhich were not refrrred to by the conference 41841. Among other things, they referred to this most important point, which he itopt4l would not be lost sight of in their proweed hog that day—namely, that it was not intended Toy those who advocated legishitiou ou this sulleot thereby to rc•