The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-22 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 22, 1856. the inhabitants of the metropolis should be required to enter into that extra expenditure. When the plan was suomitted to him he should submit it to the opinion of one or two of the most eminent engineers. Sir B. Hall then read a letter from Captain Burstall, who, after experiment with the tides, suggested that the outfall should not be made nearer London than at or opposite to Rainham Creek. Sir Benjamin Hall expressed himself satis fied with th►s outfall, and begged the board speedily to decide on the capacity of this reservoirs. THE SOCIETY OF ARTS hold its first evening meeting on Wednesday. Colonel Sykes delivered an eloquent add►ess on the occasion. The meeting was very fully attended. TWO WOMEN AND A CHILD WERE DROWNED in Duckett's Canal, Hackney, on Monday evening during the fog. A DEPUTATION OF HOUSEHOLDERS FROM PAD DINGTON waited on Sir George Grey at the Home office on Tuesday to request, on account of the exten sion of burglaries, an increase of the police force in Pa dington. Sir George Grey promised to give immediate attentien to the subject. THE CHRISTMAS CATTLE SHow of the Smithfield Club for 1851$ is appointad to take place at the Baker-street Bazaar on the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th of December. The Birmingham Show will this year take place before the metropolitan. AN AMUSING SCENE occurred at St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, last Sunday. Soon after service com menced the fog became so thick that lights were necessary. Mr. Westerton, the notoriously zealous churchwarden, ordered the beadle to light the gas burners in the chancel. This was done. The Rev. Mr. Liddell then ordered the bea Ila to light the candles on the altar. This was done ; whereupon Mr. Westerton, we are told, " felt himself called upon to act," and, watching his opportunity, while Mr. Liddell was on his knees chanting the Litany, he ( Mr. Westerton), who appears to have been paying more attention to his principles than his prayers, slipped out of his pew, and, with keen eye and stealthy step, ascended the chancel, entered the vestry, took down the extinguisher, and, coming out, crept up to the altar, slily put out the candles, and then returned to his pew with a strong sense of self satisfaction at having vindicated the principles of Protestantism. But his self glorification was shortly to be as easily put out as the candles. No sooner was the Litany concluded than Mr. Liddell, followed by one of his curates, darted into the vestry, an I quickly reappearing with a lighted candle, took ih ! large candles down off the altar and deliberately re-lighted them. Mr. Westerton looked on and —then meekly joined in the hymn. THE ANNUAL GERMAN FAIR has this year been opened at the Portland Gallery, opposite the Poly• technic, instead of at the Portland Bazaar. The display of Christmas trees, bon-bons, and toys is unusually brilliant. A MAGNIFICENT NEW ORGAN has been erected at Lincoln's-inn Chapel, through the liberality of the benchers. About eight months have been occu pied in its construction. It was used for the first time on Sunday, when the organist showed its full powers by pla3ing, long and intricate pieces before and after morning and afternoon services. Indeed, he found it difficult to " play out" the con gregation in the afternoon, more than fifty persons persisting in remaining in the chapel to listen to his management of this powerful instrument. Vice- Chancellor Stuart and Lord Justice Knight-Bruce were present at the services on Sunday. THE FIRST COURT OF ALDERMEN in the present mayorality was held on Tuesday. The Lord Mayor, upon taking his seat, in a few words expressed his most ardent desire so to comport himself as at ail times to give satisfaction not only to the court but to the citizens of London at large : I trust (said his lordship) that the business of the court will invariably be conducted with regularity and decorum, and I fully rely upon your cordial support and cooperation to aid me in the discharge of the duties of my office. Sir Peter Laurie then proposed a vote of thanks to the late Lord Mayor•. The motion was seconded by Alderman Farebrother, and after an eloquent address delivered by Alderman Wire, the motion was put and unanimously carried. TEE REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S RETURNS for the week show an increased mortality. The deaths have risen from 1,006 in the preceding week to 1,090. This rate is, however, still below the average. 1,555 births were registered. Vrotsintial. THE EARL OF ALBEMARLE, at the Shropham Agricultural Association meeting held last week, al luded to the subject of benefit clubs, and the efforts he had made early in the year to place the question before the labouring public upon a sound basis. The noble earl said : Save and except the sacred cause of education, by far the most important object w hi c h can occupy the attention THE PRESS. of us all is the endeavour to impart more safe and sound principles upon the subject of the people's investments and upon the subject of benefit clubs. It is a subject in which, of course, the labourer is particularly concerned. Upon the good or bad selection of benefit clubs depends his weal or woe ; and it is not merely the labourer's, but the farmer's and the 'ratepayer's question. Mr. Tidd Pratt stated at the anniversary of a benefit club at which he was present that from documents which, as Uovernment Re gistrar, he had in his possession, he believed benefit clubs saved the poor-rates '2,000,0001. a year, but even that enor mous deduction from the rates is perfectly insignificant if compared with what would be produced by a perfectly scientific principle introduced and circulated among the labouring classes of this country. Mr. Neison, the most distinguished actuary, upon this subject has stated—and his statement is backed by such authorities that a carefu l perusal of his works would leave no doubt upon your minds—that nearly the whole of the poverty which fills our workhouse with our labouring population, would be prevented if a proper system of benefit clubs were introduced. The noble lord defended the position he had assumed with respect to the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows Society. He considered that society to embrace the most objectionable principles of all the worst benefit clubs in the country. He held in his hand letters from eminent authorities on the subject, whose opinion was entirely in his favour so far as regarded the inadequacy of the Manchester society's rates; that very morning he had received three letters from distinguished actuaries. These letters he should place in the hands of the provincial press. They all approved one point which he had stated, viz., that the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows cannot fulfil its obligations at its present rate of contributions : One of these letters is in my hand, but I am not going to inflict you with more than five words upon the subject, merely to show the result of calculations which will be very evident to you all, as to the insufficiency of the rates of contributions of this society. There are certain benefits proposed by the society. Those benefits, as you are all probably imam, are 108. per week during sickness, 101. for the funeral expenses of a man, and 51. for the funeral expenses of his wife. The Manchester Unity undertakes to provide those allowances for an annual contribution of 11. 7s. Id., but according to scientific tables, deduced from data furnished by the Manchester Unity itself, the charges are 11. 18s.; and therefore every member of the Manchester Unity subscribes 10s. Ild. short of the obliga tions. There is not a man here who is not sufficiently ac quainted with business to know that such a society cannct go on without a certain reform. I hope that the society is not in an irretrievable position ; but I feel confident that the discussion which I have produced by the appearance of my remarks in the metropolitan and provincial press, will produce beneficial results to the poor man. M. Kosstru, on 'the occasion of the last of his series of three lectures at the Free-trade Hall, Man• chester, on Saturday evening, observed that he de sired to correct a misconception of his views as regarded British foreign policy : He was an advocate of the principle of non-intervention. It had never occurred to his heart to expect or to desire that Great Britain should fight the battles of freedom on the Continent—that it should take upon itself to act the part of the knight•errant for European liberty. What he wished was to see the great principle of non-intervention protected by such great powers as the British empire. He had drawn his opinion with regard to the foreign policy of Great Britain f-om the experience recorded in the brightest page of the history of that policy. He referred to the time of Canning, who professed these principles : That every nation had the exclusive right to select its own form or government, and to regulate its own domestic affairs ; that no foreign power on earth was entitled to interfere with that right, or to control it; and that Great Britain, desiring to see this right respected in regard to the weak as in regard to the strong, was equally prepared to recognise republics as to recognise monarchs. To fight the battles of their freedom was the business of the nations themselves. and the issue likewise was theirs ; but he desired to see England acting on the principle of non intervention, as in the time of Canning; and the more so, because this view was in British history tested by prac tical experience. In the case of the emancipation of the Spanish American colonies, and in that of Portugal, Canning declared to France, then the executioner of the Holy Alliance, that if she interfered against liberty, then England would interfere for nonintervention. And did this declaration in either case involve England in a war? On the contrary, war was prevented ; the uplifted arm of the united despotisms of Europe went down before Can ning's words, and the sacred principle of non-intervention. The subject of his lecture on this occasion was the Austrian Concordat, which, so for as he knew, was the first instance in history when a temporal sovereign was seen submitting to, even courting, such an infliction, without the shadow of any com pulsion or any plausible pretext. Having described the provisions of the Concordat, M. Kossuth said ho now came to the inquiry how it was that the present Emperor of Austria had now voluntarily abdicated his power in favour of the Pope, and in favour of such a I'ope as Pio IX., whom history had proved to be r wiling better than an untuned harp in the hands of malignity : The strange fact was very easily explained, for we had but to remember the secret treaty of Verona, dated 22nd of Noveitioer, 1822, concluded between the Russian Czar, 1111 the Catholic Emperor of Austria. the Catholic King of France, and the Protestant King of Prussia, from which treaty he begged to quote the third article• It was as follows: Convinced that the principles of religion contribute most powerfuly to maintain nations in that state of passive obedience which they owe to their princes, the high contracting parties declare that it is their intention to sustain in their respective dominions such measures as the clergy may Adopt for the strengthening of their interests, intimately associated, as these are, with the authority of princes. The high contracting parties offer, in addition, their common thanks to the Pope for all that he has already done for them, and for his continued cooperation with their views to effect the submission of nations. It was nothing less than a conspiracy between priest• craft and kingcraft for the subjugation of the nations. In the other article of the same treaty the contracting parties pledged themselves to each other to exert all their efforts to annihilate representative Government wherever it may exist, and to adopt all measures proper for the suppres- sion of the liberty of the press throughout Europe, as well as in their own dominions. After dwelling upon the effects of the Concordat in Hungary, and the great power it gave the Catholic clergy over the schools, as already seen, the lecturer said, if ho were asked what was all this to England he would reply, as Oliver Cromwell did two hundred years ago— Look how the house of Austria is prepared to destroy the whole Protestant establishment in Hungary ! You may say this is a long way off; you may say, what is it to us? but I tell you it concerns all your religions and all the best interests in England. And, verily, the time may come when many will say that ho who said this was not only a great captain and an eminent statesman, but something of a prophet likewise. And it was a sad fact that in Europe now the number of Protestants was actually smaller in proportion to the whole population than it was some centuries ago. This fact told volumes that everything was not with Protestantism RS it ought to be; the world wanted a new Luther and a new Reformation. At the conclusion of his lecture M. Kossuth said before they parted he had one duty yet, as a patriot, to perform. After the sympathy which had been expressed throughout England for Hungary be had the deep mortification to learn that the British Go vernment was about to complete a new alliance with " the murderer of Hungarian and Italian liberty ". It was scarcely possible to enter on such a subject with- out using expressions which it would be unbecoming to him as a stringer to employ. He would only ask in what light would Great Britain appear if, after all the expres sions of sympathy he had referred to, she were to enter into such an alliance? The CHAIRMAN (Dr. Vaughan) said, after the ap peal which had just been made to them it was pro posed to offer a resolution before the meeting separated. Mr. FILDr.s, town councillor, sere came forward and moved the following resolution : That this meeting cordially sympathise with Louis Kossuth in his continued protest against the usurpation by the Austrian Government of the constitutional rights of Hungary. and views with detestation the conduct of Austria towards Hungary, Italy, and I'oland, and repudiates any further alliance on the part of this country in relation to the affairs of foreign States with a power which stands pre eminent in Europe for acts of betrayal to those who trust her, and for hostility to freedom wherever her in• fluence is felt. The motion was seconded by Mr. RAWSON and received with cheers. The CHAIRMkN said the motion did not deprecate the peaceful relations between this country and Austria, but all " further " relations that would en tangle us in her possible bad deeds. The motion was carried unanimously, and the meeting separated. THE HIGH-PRESSURE BOILER OF A STEAM-TUG 012 the Mersey exploded last Saturday morning, upon the moment of easing the engines from full speed. The vessel was not injured, but the two engineers were severely scalded and the fireman was killed. At the inquest Mr. Ross, the Board of Trade engi neer appointed to examine the machinery of the steamships at that port, explained that the boiler was cylindrical, and was supported in the middle by Galloway's tubes. The water-gauge had become scaled with sediment from the salt water, the water was prevented by this sediment from reaching the metal, which became red hot, collapsed, and the explosion occurred:— I attribute the cause of the explosion (said Mr. Ross in evidence) to the collapsing of the sides of the flue of the port boiler: and I believe the Galloway tubes gave way from the pressure of the flue. I found two of the tubes broken off about half way down. I attribute the collapsing of the flue to the scales or sediment having collected on the side of the flue, thereby preventing the water getting to the plate, which became red hot. The sediment in the narrow place I have spoken of would have the effect of keeping the water off the plate. When the water is kept from the plate the plate soon becomes very hot, and the pressure of the steam may then force the plate in. In further reply to the coroner, Mr. Ross said :-- These boilers of Galloway have not been long introduced into use on board steamers, though they have been used on land with fresh water for a considerable ti me . Th e nat.- rowneu of the space I alluded to is a great objection to