The Sun. — London, England, 1862-12-19 00:00:00

R. JOHN BRIGHT, M.P., AT RIR. MINGBAIt. BIRSITINTGHAM, THURSDAY NIGHT. This evening the members for Birmingham ad dressed tteir constituents at the Town Hall, which was densely crowded. The Mayor was in the chair, Both hon. members, on entering the room, were lou.dly cheered. The MAYOR opened the proceedings by calling 'upon Mr. Scholefield to address the meeting, which he aid in a speech that was merely directed to the wur in the United States. lie stated that his de cided conviction was that the Government was bound immediately to recognise the Southern States, a sentiment which created very considerable uproar, in which it was impossible to tell whether the cheers or the groans or hisses preponderated. He was not for either intervention or mediation, because the former meant war and the latter failure. But he contended that it would be consistent with all our policy in past years to acknowledge the South as an independent Power. He quoted the opinion of eminent authorities on international law to show that no easus belli could arise from such a recogni tion. Mr. BRIG/1T on rising was received with loud cheers. He said—My hon. friend began his address by referring to two great questions that must afflict the heart of every man in the country—the calamity which has fallen upon the county from which I come, and the strife which is astonishing ties world on the other side of the Atlantic. I shall not enter into detail with regard to that calamity, because you have already held meetings, I believe, in this town. Many details have been published, contributions of a generous character have been made, and if I am rightly informed, your artisans are doing their duty with regard to the unfortunate condition of the population among which I live. (Hear.) But of this I may state in a sentence, that the greatest, probably the most prosperous manufacturing industry that this Country or the world has ever seen, has been suddenly and unex pectedly stricken by a blw which has not been unforseen or unforetold, (Hear) Ne ar l y fi ve hundred thousand persons, men, women, and children, are at this moment saved from the utmost extreme of famine, and not a few from death, by the controbu- Lions which they are receiving from all parts of the count* y, (Cheers.) I will not attempt here an elaborate eulogy of the generosity of the givers, nor . will I endeavour to point out the patience and gra titude of those who suffer and receive. But I be lieve that the Conduct of the country, with regard to this great misfortune, is such as does honour to all classes and to every section of the people. (Cheers.) Some have remarked that there is perfect order where there has been so much anxiety and Buffering. I believe there is scarcely a thoughtful man in Lancashire who will not admit that one great cause of the patience and good conduct of the people, besides the fact that they know so much is being done for them, is to be found in the extensive information which they possess, and which has of late years, and now more than ever, been commu nicated to them through the instrumentality of the untaxed Press. Noble lords have spoken, and pub lic men have taken upon themselves to tell the peo ple of Lancashire that nobody has been to blame, and, in point of fact, if it had not been for a family quarrel in that dreadful Republic everything would have gone on perfectly smooth, and not a word would have been said to anybody. (Hear, hear.) I should like to examine whether this be true or not. If you read the papers you will find that, whatever may be the chance of again receiving a supply of cotton from America, the hopes of the whole coun try are direc:ted to India. New, the Government of India is not one of to-day. It is a Govern ment that has lasted as long as the Govern ment of the United States, and has had many insurrections and secessions, not one of which was recognised either by England or France. A Government of India has existed, and in some parts of that country cotton is the staple pro duce of the land ; but there has been a sort of piratical joint-stock company—beginning with Lord Clive and ending, as I hope, with Lord Dal housie —governing that country ; and I undertake to say that it was not in' nature to say that there was not such improvement as to have given you a fair ouppl 7 of eottuu. Up to 1814 the whole trade of India was the monopoly of the East India Com pany ; they did whatever they pleased in the terri tories under their rule, What did Mr. Ricardo, a member of the Council of India, report in 1812? Why, that the whole cotton trade of the district was taken away, without leaving any portion to the free disposal of the ryots, who were not suffered to know what they should get for the cotton until it was re moved from the country coastways to Bombay ; and there the Company's servants fixed the price from 10 to 30 per cent, under the market price of those districts not under the Company's rule. For three years before the monopoly of the Company ceased, the brokers' returns at Liverpool showed that only 17,000 bales were received ; but three years after wards, owing entirely to the great increase in price We received no less than 551,000 bales, during Which period the United States only sent 611,000 bale s . In 1818 our imports from India actually ex ceeded what were received from the United States. Soon after that, in 1832, another member of the Council, Mr, Warden, gave evidence that the taxes levied on the Surat cotton was 50 rupees per candy, leaving the grower only three farthings per pound. In 1847 I moved for a committee on this subject, because I saw that the growth of cotton in India was strangled. Under the circumstances what won der was it that people in the condition in which the people of India were could not produce cotton, and what wonder is it that it should be had ? That it was had I may illustrate by this anecdote. At a prayer meeting of the Methodist Connection, not a dozen miles from where I live, a minister was deep in supplication, and among other things he asked for was a supply of cotton for the district, when some man, with a deep sense, no doubt, of - what he suffered, uttered, Oh, yes ; oh, yes ; bat not Surat. (Laughter.) The committee for which I moved sat during the session of 1848. The evidence was very extensive, complete, and entirely con demnatory of the whole system of the Indian Go vernment with regard to the laud and agricultural produce ; but notwithstanding that, you have had very little result on which you can calculate up to the present time. In 1850, as nothing more was done, I thought it was time to take another step, and gave notice of a motion that a Royal Commission should proceed to India to inquire into the obstacles which prevent the increased growth of cotton in India, and to report on any circumstances which might injuriously affect the industrial condition of the native pepulation, being cultivators of the soil, within the presidencies of Madras and Bombay. I asked Lord John Russell, who was then Prime Minister, to grant the commission, and he said he would communicate with Lord Dalhousie, out as it was then Ju ne h e cou ld not h ear f rom L ord Dal h"le b efore the close of the session. He said that Sir J. li b house, then Pre s id en t o f th e I n di a B oar d, WaS much t‘gtillafit it. Th e mat t er came b e f ore t h e house, and was Opposed by the President of the India Board. had seen Sir Robert Peel only ten days before his death, and endeavoured to gain his support. He cordiall and rene,ined in the y oi u4 , : luring my speech; a pproved but of the prop os iti on , Nor , en he found that the :tn T ent would not con - sent to it he left his seat, e r nights afterwards b e explained to me why he ias4 l eft the house— the ;h e Government did not agree to the motion, an d that his own position being so d e laate with re gard to them and to his own poli c y h rev,. , Was anx ious that nothing should induce lain, except pressure, to oppose them on any great mat under house, and therefore the proposal ter in the * VP, that support whi c h, h a d it been did no t recel h ive no doubt would hav e enabled otherWiqe, a o boacleg. But to sh ow you li, sor t o f men tha t it to 81".1"t in reference to the peon- Sir John Hobhou se sta t e,t, liar appearance of the time to wh made ave referred, that tie hon. gentleman had not out his case, for he found that the i m portation of cotton from all countries showed an immense i ncrease during the past three years. Why, we know that the impor tation of cotton has shown an increase every three years for the past fifty years; but it was because that increase was almost entirely from one source, and that a source of extreme peril, that I asked for the inquiry for which I moved. (Cheers.) But he said he had a letter—and be shook it in his hand at me —from the secretary of the Commercial Associa tion at Manchester, in which they dee red by spe cial resolution that my proposition w s not neces sary, and that my inquiry would do no harm, and that they were abundantly satisfied with everything that these lords at Leadenhall-street were doing. This, he said, was a complete answer to the hon. gentleman who brought forward the motion. Though discouraged I was not baffled. I went down to the Chamber of Commerce at Manchester, and it was determined by the Chamber, acting with Mr. Bazley or Mr. Ashworth, to have a commission of inquiry. £2,000 pounds were subscribed, and Mr. Mackie, the author of one of the best books ever written by an Englishman on the Western World, went out to India and made a most interesting report. Mr. Mackie, however., did not live to reach home, but succumbed to the climate, and died on his passage home from Bombay. A friend of Mr. Mackie's, now no longer living, undertook the editorship, and Mr. Mackie's description of the state of India was published, which was valuable to every one interested in Indian affairs. In 1853 came the renewal of the East India Company's charter, which I strenuously opposed, because I was unwilling that the govern ment of that countryshould be handed over for another twenty years to a company which had entirely vio lated every duty which belonged to it, of which one was the duty of collecting. taxes. In 1857 came the mutiny. What did our rulers do P Sir C. Wood, in 1853, made a speech five hours long bolstering up the government of the East India Company, but the Government, on the opening of the session of 1858, brought in a bill to abolish that Company and do exactly what I put in 1853. But of course, as in everything else, nothing was done till there came an overwhelming calamity, by which the most obtuse and perverse were driven from their position. In the discussion of the India Bill I made a speech on Indian affairs which I believe went to the root of the matter, and which was a protest against the governing of 150,0( 1 0,000 of people of very different nations and languages by a little coterie of rulers at Calcutta. I proposed that the country should be divided into four independent presidencies of equal rank; that there should be a council for each, and each of which should be responsible to a Secretary of State in this country ; and I am of opinion that if such a government had been established, and there were in each presidency a first-class English man, with a staff whose business it should be to determine what public works should be carried on —some by Government, and some by private com panies —ten years of such judicious labours and work. would have worked an entire revolution in the condition of India, and if it had been done when I first began to move in the matter you might have had at this moment any quantity of cotton what ever which the looms of Lancashire may require. I am afraid that some of my friends and some of my opponents will say it is very egotistical of me to enter into these details ; but after doing so, I think at least that I am guiltless of the great calamity which has befallen Lancashire. I have been asked fifty times during twelve months, " Why do you not come out and say some thing in this time of our great need P" I tell you that 100 years of crime against the negro in Ame rica, and 100 years of crime against the docile natives of our Indian empire are not to be washed away by the repentance and the suffering of an hour. I be lieve that the cotton in the United States at this present moment is much less than the people here imagine, and that what there is of it is in no condi tion to be forwarded. It is far more than probable that there never will be again that American crop of cotton grown by slave labour. I am undertaking the office of a prophet ; but, looking back at what has taken place, and judging according to the limited vision which is given to mortals, the probabilities are that there will never be another crop of any avail for manufacture produced from slave labour in the United States, I believe we can form no adequate conception of the disorganisation that prevails throughout a great portion of the Southern States, It is of course natural to the state of war which exists in that region. We may be asked what are the other sources of supply beyond India. There is the colony of Queensland. Many enthusiastic persons say that cotton may be grown worth 3s. a-pound. True enough, but where labour is probably 108 a day I am not sure you are likely to get a large supply of that material we so much want at a rate so cheap that we may be likely to use it. Africa is now being pointed to by many friends of mine; but that is a land of savages, its climate is so inimical to Europeans that I should not encourage the idea that any great hope can be received from that continent. Egypt will send us 30,000 or 40,000 bales more than last year ; and, with the high prices, Syria will no doubt increase its produce. But I hold there is no country at present from which you can derive any large sup ply except you get it from dependencies in India. If there be no more cotton to be grown in America for our supply, we shall require nearly six millions additional bales supplied from other sources. It has taken the United States twenty years, from 1840 to 1860, to increase its growth of cotton from two millions of bales to four millions. How long will it take any other country, without the capital or advantages of America, to give us five million or six million additional hales P There is one stimulus, the only one 1 know of; and although I have not recommended it to the Government, and know not precisely the sacrifice it would entail, yet I shall mention it, and I do so on the authority of a gentle man thoroughly acquainted with Indian agriculture himself, and his fathers being landowners and culti vators in India for sixty years; and he says there is but one mode by which you can stimulate the growth of cotton iv India. He says if the Govern ment would declare that for five years they would exempt all land from the land tax which during that time should grow cotton, there would be a more extraordinary increase in the growth of that article than has ever been seen with regard to any branch of agriculture in the world. (Cheers.) I believe the stimulus would be enormous. The loss of revenue would ba something, but the deliverance to the industry of Lancashire, if it succeeded, would be:speedy and perhaps complete. (Cheers.) Short of this, I look on the prosperity of Lancashire as most remote. I believe this misfortune will entail ruin on the whole working population, that it will gradually engulf the small traders and those pos spssieg the least capital, and it may for years— I don't say it will—make the whole factory pro perty of Lancashire almost entirely worthless. This is a most dismal look out for mony persons in this country. But it comes from the utter neglect of our opportunities and our duties which has dis tinguished the Government in India. (Hear, hear.) Before sitting down I shall refer to the sad tragedy I which is passing before our eyes in America. My hon. friend has referred this tome, and although I would rather not have to express my vari ance with him, I am happy to say that this great question does not depend on the opinion of any man in Birmingham, or in England, or in Europe. My friend endeavoured to avoid committing himself to direct sympathy with the South. (Hear, hear.) He takes a political view of the question, dealing with it as he would have dealt with the republic of a colony of Spain or Portugal revolting in South America, or Greece revolting from Turkey. I should like to state here what I once stated to a very eminent American. He asked me to give him an idea of the courseof public opinion in this coun try from the moment we first heard of the secession of the cotton States. I traced it in this way, and I ask you, is it a fair description ? I said that at first people were here generally against the South, which nobody thought had any cause for breaking up the integrity of that great nation. People said, they ha ve a G overnment which is mild and not in ""Y degree oppress i ve. They have not what some • people l ove very created and living great much, and what some dislike—a costly Tnonareby. T great army, eo hey have not an aristocracy on patronage; they have no no suffering millions to be discontented and tonavy, been said against government.endeavour to overthrow the (sheers,) g o vernment s in this country and All of which things have in Europe hundreds of the Washington government viii ; s in our own hearing ; therefore they said should these men revolt P But for a moment seemed paralysed. It had no arm.. e t no navy, every , body round it was a traitor—it was apparently helpless. The government was transferred from President Buchanan to President Lincoln; men in this country thought that such was the unprepared state of the North, such the appearance of every - thing, that there would, be no war, and they con gratulated themselves that after all there would be a peaceable separation, and the disaster of great strife and the mischief to our trade might be avoided. (Hear, hear.) They thought that the North would acquiesce in the rending of the republic, and that there would be no war. They were told by certain public writers in this country that the contest was entirely hopeless, which they had been told lately by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. But happily the Chancellor of the Exchequer, though be can decide to a penny what shall be the rate of a tax in England, cannot decide what sh a ll b e t h e fate of a continent. (Cheers.) It was asked, " Why should the North continue a hopeless contest at the cost of so much blood and treasure, and disturbance of the commeree of the whole world ?" It was much better that the North, instead of carrying on a war which must end in their own discomfiture, should relinquish the con test, and the feeling therefore was that people were rather glad that the South should have successes, by which the war would be the more easily put an end to. (Hear, hear.) My opinion is, that if we judge of a foreign nation by the circumstances in which we find it, we ought to apply it to our own principles. My hon. friend has referred to the affair of the Trent. I was not present, but I read the report of a meeting that was held here on the subject, at which the feeling of the majority seemed favourable to the policy of the Government in making a great manifestation of force. With re gard to the policy of the United States now, what I say is, that when you thought an American cap tain acting under the orders of his Government, which he had not, had taken two men, most offen sive, injurious, and hostile to his country, from an English merchant ship—on that ground you thought you were justified in going to war with the Republic of North America. Then, I say, you ought not to be very nice in judging what America should do in circumstances much more onerous than those. (Cheers.) Take the rock of Gibraltar —the rock of Gibraltar was obtained by this country when we were not professedly at war with Spain, and was kept contrary to all moral codes. (A Voice—No, no.) No doubt the gentleman is much better acquainted with his tory than I, but 1 would suggest to him that it is very likely we have read two different histories. But I will assume that Gibraltar came into posses sion of England by regular and acknowledged war fare. Suppose at this moment the English Govern ment heard that Spain was equipping an expedition by land and sea for the purpose of retaking that fortress or rock—it is not the slightest advantage to any Englishmen living, except those who have pos sessions and are living there—every English Go vernment knows the en& Several English Govern ments have been anxious to give it up. I wish this Government would send my friend Mr. Cobden to Madrid, with an offer that Gibraltar should be ceded to Spain, as being of no use to this country, and as only embittering the relations of the two countries, as one of the most distinguished officers of the Go vernment once told me it does. I believe if Mr. Cobden went there for that purpose, we might have a commercial treaty with Spain, that would admit every commodity of English manufacture at a duty of not more than 10 per cent. ; but do you not think that if you heard that Spain was about to muster her fleets and legions and endeavour to take it, the English Government would not band all the power of its empire to resist it ? Yes. Then, I say, that two years ago, President Lincoln, being fairly and honestly elected, when the Southern leaders met at Montgomery, in Alabama, on March 6th, and autho rised the raising of 100,000 men, and when on the 15th April they attacked Fort Sumter, which was not a fort of Carolina, but of the Union—on all the principles on which the English Government have ever acted, President Lincoln was justified in call ing out 75,000 men, which was his first call, for the purpose of maintaining the integrity of that Union which was the main purpose of the oath he had taken at his election. (Cheers.) I will not go into a long argument on this question. It is in the hands, not of my hon. friend, nor of Lord Pal merston, nor of President Lincoln, but in the hands of the Supreme Ruler, who is bringing about one of those great transitions in history, which men often will not regard when it is passing be fore them, but which they look on with astonishment and awe years after they have taken place. (Cheers.) I will content myself with asking one or two ques tions. 1 will not discuss the question whether he is working merely for the Constitution or merely for the abolition of slavery. Before you come to a ques tion of sympathy with the South, or recognition of the South, or mediation or intervention, you should consider what are the aims of the Southern States. Surely the United States Government is a Govern ment at amity with this country. Its Minister is in London—a man noble by family, as you know in America his father and grandfather had held the office of President of the Republic. You have your Minister just returned to Washington. Is it hypo crisy ? Are you, because you can cavil at certain things which the North has done, eagerly to throw the influence of your opinion into the movement which is to dismember that great Republic ? Is there a man here who doubts that the object of the war on the part of the South is to maintain the bondage of 4,000,000 of human beings P (Cheers.) That is only a small part of it, because their further object is to perpetuate for ever that bondage over countless millions. I could quote documents till 12 o'clock, in proof of what I say, if I found any man who so desired it. The object of this war is, that white men on that continent may lord it over count less millions of blacks, made black by the very hands that made us white. Their object is that they should have a power to breed negroes, to work negroes, to lash negroes, to sell negroes, to deny them the commonest ties of families—to break their hearts by separating them at their pleasure, and to close their mental eyes from a glimpse of that knowledge which separates us from the brutes ; for by their law it is criminal and penal to teach negroes to read—to seal from their hearts the book of our re ligion—to make chattels and things of men, women, and children. I wish to ask whether this is to.be the foundation of a new slave empire, and whether it its intended, on this audacious and infernal basis, England's new ally is to be built up ? (Hear, and No.) It has been said that Greece was recog nised. Greece was not recognised till after it had fought Turkey for six years. The Republics of South America were not recognised, some of them, till they had fought the mother country I think for a score of years. France did not recognise the United States of America till five years after the beginning of the war of independence, and it was received as a declaration of peace, and why should we be so eager to become the ally of this great con spiracy against human nature ? I should have no great objection to recognise a country or to be at amity with a country merely because of the exis tence of slavery, because it would be monstrous that we should object to trade with a country, or have political relations with it merely because it happened to have within its borders the institution of slavery ; but in this case it is a new State, which intends to set itself up on the sole basis of slavery, and slavery is, it is blasphemously said, to be its chief corner-stone. We have urged that there are Ministers of State who are in favour of the North —that there are members of the aristocracy who are terrified at the shadow of the Great Republic— that there are rich men in our great commercial exchanges deprived, it may be, of their riches, and living within the atmosphere of the privileged classes—th et there are the conductors of the public Press, who would barter the, rights of millions of their fellow-creatures that they might bask in the smiles of the great; but we know what we know, that there are Ministers of State who do not wish that this insurrection should break up the American Union ; that there are members of the aristocracy who are not afraid of the shadow of that Republic that there are rich men not deprived of their riches and that there are public writers of eminence and honour who will not barter human rights for the patronage of the great ; but most of all I believe, and lam sure it is true—in Lancashire, where the working men have seen themselves going down from prosperity to ruin, from independence to a subsistence on charity, I believe—l say that I believe that the unenfranchised, but not hopeless, millions of this country, will never sympathise with a revolt which is intended to destroy the liberty of a continent, and to build on its ruins k mighty fabric of human bondage. (Cheers.) But, gentlemen who differ from me, when speaking in private on this matter, generally end by saying that the Republic is too great and too powerful. But if we were at New York or Boston, and speaking of England instead of A merica, and if any one were to say that England has grown too big—not her 31,000,000 at home, but her 150,000,000 in Asia, nobody knows how many millions in nearly every other part of the globe—what would be our feeling? Surely an American may fairly say that he has not covered the ocean with fleets of force, or left the bones of his citizens to bleach on the turf of a hundred European battle-fields. He could say a thousand times more fairly than we could say it of his coun try, that England was large and powerful, and it had been thought perilous for nations that she should be so great. (Cheers.) But every declaration of this kind, whether fro .0 an Englishman who professes to be strictly English, or an American strictly Ameri can—whether an Englishman says here, in a bold, arrogant strain that " Britannia rules the waves"— (laughter)—or an American of manifest destiny says all creation must, at least, look up to the stars and stripes—or Frenchmen or French colonists, who think their eagles having overrun Europe once have a right surely to repeat the experiment—l say, all these ideas and all this language is to be condemned. (Cheers.) It is not truly patriotic, it is not natural, and it is not moral. If any man wishes the republic to be severed on that ground, in my opinion he is only doing what tends to keep alive jealousies which, to his mind, will never die, and if they do not die wars must necessarily be eternal. (Hear.) I shall perhaps be told that the North don't like us, does any one believe the South does P When the South was in power, and it has been in power the last 50 years, hostility towards this country was che rished and stimulated to the utmost degree by some of those very men who are now the leaders of the insurrection. (Cheers.) Take the case of the Alabama. The Government were informed of the character of that vessel, but such were the delays occasioned by the want of vigilance on the part of the officials, that although a telegraphic message was sent to Liverpool to order that the vessel should be arrested, she had sailed an hour or two before the message arrived there. She has never been in a Confederate port. They have not got any ports. She hoists the English flag when she wants to come alongside of a ship. She sets the ship on fire at night, and seeing another ship bearing down to rescue the unfortunate people who are exposed to the combined horrors of fire and shipwreck, she seizes that also'and burns it. (Cries of " Shame.") If we were citizens of New York, I think it would require a little more calmness than is shown in this country on foreign questions to look at all that as if it were a matter with which we had no concern. (Cheers.) People do not know in America what we know of pubic opinion here. There are men in this country, and men in our Cabinet, who are as great friends of freedom and as much resolved against slavery as I am. I know, for a certainty, that there are men in the highest aristocracy who hold the same opinion that I do on the subject; but they do not know in America what is the opinion of the great body of the working classes of England. There has been every effort that money and malice could make to stimulate among the suffering people of Lancashire an opinion in favour of the Slave States; but they have not been able to get it. I admire the people for their fidelity to their princi ples and to freedom; and I say that the conduct they have taken ought to weigh in the minds of the people of America against miles of leading articles written in the London papers by men who would barter every human right that they might serve the party with whom they are associated. How comes it that on the continent of Europe there is neither a Liberal newspaper nor a Liberal politician who has ever thought of saying one word against this , portentous and monstrous shape that now asks to be received into the family of creation ? Take the great and liberal statesman, Count Cavour—take Garibaldi, than whom there is no more generous and disinterested lover of freedom. Ask that patriotic Hungarian to whose marvellous eloquence you once listened in this hall—ask Victor Hugo, the poet of freedom, the exponent of the yearnings of all mankind for better times—ask any man in Europe who opens his lips for freedom, or dips his pen in ink for that holy cause—ask him, and he will have no difficulty in telling you on which side your sympathies should lie. (Cheers.) I maintain, after all that is said, that the people do not err. We know, and the workman knows, that in the last 15 years 2,600,000 men, women, and children have left the United Kingdom for America, where they have found a home in the free States, and every man of them is in a position of much higher comfort and prospects than he would have been had he remained in this country. As one of her poets has justly said— _ "For her free latch-string never was drawn Against the poorest child of Adam's skin." There are now 6,000,000 of grown men subjects of the free States excluded by the Constitution of their country from the franchise. There is a free Church, a free school, a free land, a free vote, a free career for the child of the humblest parent of the land of countrymen who work for their living. Remember that there will be one wild shriek that will startle all humankind if that American Republic is over thrown. Slavery has been the one huge foul blot on its fame; it is odious outrage against human right and divine law. The pride and passion of man would not permit its extinction ; but that was no more stupendous means for bringing about the aboli tion of slavery than the suicide the South has com mitted. Ido not believe that any man here thinks the cause of the North hopeless, or the restoration of the Union impossible; and although the Chan eellor of the Exchequer made use of an equivocal expression three months ago on that point, he has been ever since trying to make people understand what he meant. He believes the state of the North hopeless. He is welcome to that opinion. Ido not hold it, but I blame men who are eager to admit into the family of nations a State which offers itself based upon a principle which I will undertake to say is more odious and blasphemous than has ever before been dreamt of in any Christian or pagan, civilised or savage times. The principle is, that in any country forty times as large as Eng land slavery shall for ever be perpetuated. I can not believe that such a fate will befal a land so fair. I cannot believe that civilisation in its journey with the sun will sink into endless night to gratify the ambition of the leaders of this revolt, who seek to wade through slavery to a throne, and shut the gates of mercy on mankind. I have another and far brighter vision before my face. It may be but a vision. But I will still cherish it. I see one vast confederation stretching from the North in one un broken line to the glowing South, and from the wild billows of the Atlantic to the calmer waters of the Pacific main. I see one people, one law, one language, and one faith, over all that wide conti nent—the home of freedom and the refuge for the oppressed of every race, every faith, and every clime. The hon. gentleman resumed his seat amidst loud cheering. UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.—A poll for the election of Honorary President of the Associated Societies of Edinburgh University took place on Tuesday evening. The votes recorded were as follows :—For the Lord Advo cate, 115; for the Very Rev. Doan Ramsay, 100 ; for the Rev. Charles Kingsley, 81. The Lord Advocate, being highest on the poll, was elected. The office has been held successively by Sir 'E. B. Lytton, Sir John APNeill, and Professor Aytoun. [ ADVERT ISEMENT.] . HoIIow a y' s Pills—Enfeebled Ex istence.—This medicine embraces every attribute required in a general and domestic remedy ; it overturns the foun dations of disease laid by defective food and impure air. In obstructions or congestions of the liver, lungs, bowels, or any other organ, these Pills are especially serviceable and eminently successful. They should be kept in readi ness in every family, as they are a medicine without a fault for young persons and those of feeble constitutions. They never cause pain or irritate the most sensitive nerves or most tender bowels. Holloway's Pills are the ;best known purifiers of the blood and the best promoters of absorption and secretion, which remove all poisonous end obnoxioug pgrtiolos from both solids ead sniac IMPORTANT GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN BOSS-SHIRE. The Rev. G. Campbell, of Tarbet, has recently detected evidence sufficient to convince some of the leading geologists in London that zeptiies existed while the sandstones of Portmahomack were being deposited. This is not only an interesting fact in itself but has a special value from its bearing on the questio vexata—the far-famed geological puzzle— the age of the Elginshire reptiliferous beds at Spy nie, Findrassie, Lossiemouth, and Masonhaughs quarry, near Burghead. Paleontologists, or com parative anatomists, stoutly argued for a much more recent date, supposing that these beds, from their fossils, could not be older than the Tries, or New Red Sandstone; while the field geologists, almost to a man, could not separate them from the under lying strata, which were on all hands acknowledged to belong to the Old Red formation. In Elgin shire the point of actual contact is covered by thick drift. It is believed, however, that no such obstacle to the stratigraphical reading of the rocks exists in the promontory of Tarbatness, but that a continued section of conformable strata is to be seen from Portmahomack, round by the light house, Geanies, &c., on to Shand wick and the north Suter of Cromarty, where the scales of Devonian (or Old Red) fish have been found. If the Portma homack beds shall be found to be thus linked on to the rocks at Nigg, another geological demurrer will be put in to the Darwinian theory ; for the Teler peton, the Stagonolepis, and the Hyperodapedon, which, in Elginshire lie in equivalent beds to the footprint-bearing rocks of Roashire are as highly organised as the crocodiles of the Nile, and show as little signs of having been in a state of transmuta tion or development. Equally important discoveries, we understand, have lately been made by the Rev. Mr. Campbell's neighbour and scientific coadjutor, the Rev. Mr. Joass, of Edderton, demonstrating that reptiles lived during the deposition of the Old Red Sandstone rocks of Easter Ross, and that it is utterly out of the question to assign to them the mote modern age of the Trias or New Red, or Mezasoic series.—lnverness Courier. LAW IN7ELLIGENCE, Dec. 18. COURT OF EXCHEQUER. (Sittings at Nisi Prins at Guildhall, before the Lord Chief Baron and a Common Jury.) SIMMONS V. BRETON-CASE OF ALLEGED INSANITY The trial was resumed at the sitting of the Gout this morning. Several other witnesses were called to prove fur ther acts of alleged insanity by the defendant. Among other eccentricities deposed to were running about in the public highway without his shoes, emptying three bottles of champagne into a pail, and stirring it up with a mop to make punch, and boasting that he was the owner of gold mines. Mr. Norton, defendant's solicitor, said the defen dant was much better, and more manageable sober than when he had had some drink, and that on one occasion he asked witness to take care of him, as he sometimes did not know what he was about. The defendant's property amounted to between £3,000 and £4,000, and it was burdened with a mortgage for £2,500. When he drew the cheque for £2,000 in favour of the plaintiff in May last he' had from £5OO to £6OO to his account at the London and Westminster Bank. Mr. Gastrin, a solicitor, who had formerly acted for the defendant, deposed to an interview at which the plaintiff said that if Mr. Breton did not wish to purchase Highfield House at Crawley, .he should have no objection to let him off. Mr. Gates, grocer, Crawley, said in May, :862, de fendant owed him £9, and sent him a blank cheque with permission to fill it up for any amount he liked. He afterwards burnt in the face of the defendant, and told him if he paid him he must do so properly. Once he ordered two sides of bacon and two chests of tea, but as he thought the order unreasonable he did not attend to it. Mr. Scholefield, the resident medical superinten dent at the Camberwell Lunatic Asylum, said that when defendant was admitted on the 28th of May, 1862, he was of unsound mind. He got better, and when he was discharged on the 22d July he was fit to be entrusted to the care of his friends. Though recovered he required care. Cross examined—There was, at all events, tem porary alteration of the structure of the brain. He was in a state of semi inebriation when admitted, but he presented the true symptoms of a maniacal patient, and they remained after the intoxication passed away. Very likely his state might have been produced by excessive drinking. That was said to be the exciting cause. It frequently happened that a person became mad after excessive drinking, but sane as soon as he abstained from drinking. There was nothing to show that he would ❑ot become of sane mind if kept from drink. Another witness, named Gates, a builder, at Crawley, said he saw the defendant, when dressed i❑ Magenta shi:t and cricket cap, jump into a ditch after some ducks, and catch one. Cross-examined—He was fond of cricket. Witness thought defendant did this act rather as a spree. This was the conclusion of the evidence for the defence. Mr. Collier then addressed the jury for plaintiff, and submitted that the defendant knew perfectly well what he was about when he gave the cheque. The learned Judge having summed up, The Jury almost immediately returned a verdict for the defendant. They stated that in their opinion the defendant was not of sound mind when he en tered into the contract and signed the cheque; that plaintiff had sufficient notice of that fact, and that the contract was not made bona _fide on the part of the plaintiff. COURT OF DIVORCE. (Before Sir C. Cresswell and a Special Jury.) TURNER v. TURNER AND WEDGWOOD. Mr. Sergeant Shee and Dr. Tristram were coun sel for the petitioner, Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., and Mr. Bushley, for the co-respondent. In this case Mr. James Turner, a medical practi tioner in extensive practice, and who resides at No. 31, Lower Phillimore-place, Kensington, prayed for a dissolution of marriage on the ground of his wife's adultery with the co-respondent, Mr. Robt. Eger ton Wedgwood. The respondent denied the charge, but the co-respondent entered no appearance. Last July the respondent brought a suit for judicial separation on the ground of cruelty, to which he answered and pleaded adultery on her part; but the jury found that neither of the issues raised had been proved, and the Court accordingly dismissed the petition. The parties first became acquainted in 1846, when the petitioner attended the lady, who had to undergo an amputation of the foot some time previous, and who was some years older, and they were married on the 25th March, 1847. Prior to the marriage the petitioner discovered that the lady had an illegimate child, who is about 20 years old, and lived in the house of the petitioner after the marriage. _ _ Mr. Sergeant Shee, in stating the case, said that the parties lived very happily together, and the ac quaintance between Mrs. Turner and Mr. Wedg wood commenced in 1860. After that the criminal intercourse took place, and was continued until the following year; but the suspicions of the husband were not excited until a letter fell into his hands in the handwriting of Mr. Wedgwood to Mrs. Turner. He spoke to his wife, to whom he was tenderly at tached, on the subject, and from her explanation he was for the time satisfied, and they continued to live together harmoniously until he discovered that she had pawned some of his plate. After that dis covery he removed the remainder of his plate to his banker's, and during his absence she left her home and took lodgings in Little Ryder-street. Since that time the parties had never lived together. Sarah Beaney (examined by ]Jr. Tristram)—l have been a housemaid at Mr. Turner's from Aug., 1860, to the present time. My husband is also a coachman in his service, I first saw Mr. Wedgwood at a ball given by Mr. Turner at his house, Lower Phillimore-place, Kensington. That was in Dec., 1860. Mrs. Turner was acqua i nte d w i th Mr. Ter rent, who had a boarding-house in Argyll-road, where Mr. Wedgwood was staying, and he intro duced that gentleman to Mrs. Turner. Mr. Wedg wood called frequently afterwards, generally by himself. Ho came after 1 o'clock in the day, and sometimes remained an hour. He and Mrs. Turner used to ride and drive out together. I remember Mrs. Turner leaving home about the end of 1 4 ', binary or the beginning of March, 1860. She said she was going to Windsor, and on her return told us that she had been to see Mrs. Tyrrell and her pug dogs. (Laughter.) After her return Mr. Wedgwood used to call three or four times a day, and latterly he came in by the back way without ringing. I re member on the Bth of March Mrs. Turner and Mr. Wedgwood went out together. It was Mr. Turner's birthday, and she presented him with a nosegay as a present, which she said she bought for him. I went with a message to Mrs. Turner, at Mr. Ter rent's, and found her in Mr. Wedgwood's bedroom, he being in bed at the time. Mr. Turner used to go Out between 10 and 11 in the morning, and re turn at 3 o'clock, and go out again at 4 o'clock. I remember when there was an execution at Mr. Ter rent'a that Ur. Wedgwood came with hia flu/2412,re' to the house, which annoyed Mr. Turner. Mrs. Turner used to go into Mr. Wedgwood's bedroom when he was in bed. I have seen them kiss each other. Saw Mr. Wedgwood go to the case, and heard Mrs. Turner say there was only one trinket left. I saw a Mrs. Pether give Mrs. Turner some letters from Mr. Wedgwood, which she said had been directed to her place because she did not wish the doctor to see them. I remember Mrs. Turner sending me to Lord Audiey's, in Philli more place, for some letters, and I brought her a packet of them. Mrs. Turner looked through them, and said there wag not one she wanted, and that Mr. Wedgwood was going to direct to Lord Audley and put her name underneath. I recollect Mrs. Turner going to Bog nor in 1861, but forget the month, and she said that she was going to see Mrs. Rowley and other per sons there. On her return she told me that a friend of Mrs. Rowley's slept at the same hotel where she was staying, and that his name was O'Byrne. Ile was in the neat bedroom to hers, and Mr. Wedg wood remained up all night in her bedroom for fear Mr. O'Byrne should go into the room. I was pre sent at Mr& Turner's on Oct. 2, 1861, when Mrs. Turner left the house. Mr. Turner discovered that day that the greater part of the plate had been re moved by Mrs. Turner, and he packed up the re maining valuables in a plate chest, and carried them away in a cab. Before he left he looked over Mrs. Turner's writing desk, and then gave it to her back. Cross-examined by Mr. Hawkins---I said nothing about Mr. O'Byrne at the previous trial, nor did I mention anything about the letters at Lord Audley's. Mrs. Turner was very fond of pug dogs, and there we two in the house, named Pug and Joe, male and female, who had had pups. (A laugh.) Mrs. Tyrrell keeps pup dogs. Mrs. Turner told me that she had been at a dog show at Cirencester, but take did not Pug and Joe. (Laughter.) Mr. Wedgwood and Mr. Turner ap peared to be en friendly terms. Mrs. Turner used to be visited by a French count and other gentle men, who went into her bedroom. 'Mrs. Turner said with respect to the former gentleman that it was the practice in France for gentlemen to visit ladies in their bedrooms. Mr. Wedgwood used to drink a great quantity of beer and wine, and he said he was always thirsty. (Laughter.) She had seen him the worse for what he had taken. James Beaney, examined by Sergeant Shee—l am the husband of the last witness and a coachman in the service of Mr. Turner. I remember in March, 1861, driving Mrs. Turner and Mr. Wedgwood in a private Hansom cab to Richmond town, and Mrs. Turner desiring me to call for them at the Star and Garter at 7 o'clock. I went at the hour named, but had to wait, as the landlord told me they had not done dinner. I remember also driving her out in the brougham, and taking up Mr. Wedgwood at Char ing-cross. I drove them to Covent-garden, and we returned through Hyde Park. (Here the witness said that he was induced to look into the brougham, and he saw Mrs. Turner sitting on Mr. Wedgwood's knee with her face towards the front windows of the brougham and her back to him. He saw that Mr. Wedgwood was smothered in her clothes.) I looked into the brougham a few minutes afterwards and saw Mrs. Turner sitting in her place. I drove them afterwards on the Acton-road, and Mr. Wedg- wood told me to stop at a quiet public-house, and accordingly I stopped at the King's Head at Acton. They were shown into a private room upstairs, and they remained about an hour and a half. When they came downstairs both appeared very much flushed. I heard Mrs. Turner address Mr. Wedgwood as Robert, Bobby, Baby, and by his surname: She ordered me on more than one occasion to call a cab and desire the driver to remain 200 yards from the house, as she did not wish the doctor to know where she was going, and I heard her on one occasion tell the driver to go to Mr. Wedgwood's lodgings at Brompton. On another occasion I drove her to the Pimlico Station, she telling me she was going to Bognor. Three or four gentlemen, including Mr. Wedgwood, met her at the station. The witness was cross-examined, but there was nothing material elicited. Mr. Wm. Tower Smith said that he was a sur geon in partnership with Mr. Turner. He recol lected Mr. Wedgwood coming to the house in 1860. The first time he saw him and Mrs. Turner were sitting in the conservatory, and he saw her beckon to some one, and then Mr. Wedgwood came up the steps. In answer to Mr. Turner, Mr. Wedgwood said he would have some sherry and soda water. On another occasion witness was in the dining room with Mrs. Turner and Mr. Wedgwood. Mrs. Turner said to him how badly his hair was parted, and asked why his wife did not attend to it. She added that she always combed " Baby's." She took a comb out of her pocket, and combed Mr. Wedgwood's hair. By Mr. Hawkins—Mr. Wedgwood took the combing of his hair very patiently. Ann Barch said that in March, 1861, she was chambermaid at the King's Head Hotel, Cirences ter, and remembered a lady and gentleman coming there that month. (She identified a photograph as a likeness of Mr. Wedgwood.) They required and had two bedrooms near each other. Mrs. Turner said Mr Wedgwood was her nephew. They came on Saturday and remained till the Monday even ing. Both the beds appeared to have been used, and she saw nothing that excited any suspicion of impropriety between the parties. Mary Ann Wain said that she was the chamber maid at the York House Hotel, Bognor, and remem bered Mrs. Turner coming to the hotel with another lady, a maid, and three or four gentlemen, of whom Mr. Wedgwood was one. She noticed two pillows in Mrs. Turner's bed, and that two persons had slept in the bed. She also noticed marks on the linen. The parties were nearly a week at the hotel. Sarah Hart, a young girl, 11 years of age, was next . examined, and gave her evidence very clehly. She said that she was the daughter of a police-con stable at Brentford, and that she had been on a visit at Mrs. Turner's last year. She knew Mr. Wedg wood, and saw Mrs. Turner sitting outside his bed when he was in bed. She saw her kiss him once. She saw Mr. Wedgwood in Mrs. Turner's bedroom, and be was curling his hair. (Laughter.) On one occasion Mrs. Turner told her to sit on the stairs outside the bedroom, and let her know if Mr. Turner came out of the surgery. Mrs. Turner told her that she would turn Mr. Turner away and marry Mr. Wedgwood. She reminded her of this afterwards, and Mrs. Turner laughed and said she would put it in her Look. Alfred Richards said he was landlord of the house, 6, Little Ryder-street, St. James's, and in October, 1861, he let apartments to Mrs. Turner. She was visited by a gentleman, who at first went by the name of Thompson, and afterwards of Wedgwood. She was also visited by ladies and gentlemen, mostly by the latter. Mrs. Turner remained at his house ten weeks. Thomas Dale, landlord of the King's Head Hotel, at Cirencester, corroberated the evidence of the witness Barch, as to Mr. Wedgwood and Mrs. Tur ner having been at his hotel in March, 1862. Mr. William Curtis, brother-in-law of Mrs. Tur ner, identified her handwriting. Mr. Francis Edward Woodward, of the firm of Reid, Robinson, and Wood ward, shorthand-writers, Chancery-lane, proved to have taken shorthand notes of Mrs. Turner's examination at the previous trial last July. Certain portions of the cross-examination of the lady, as well as extracts from her diary, were then read. It appeared that she admitted that she had the father of her illegitimate child staying at her husband's:house. She went to the theatre with Mr. Wedgwood on one occasion. She denied that she was ever out with him in the dark alone. She went two or three times to Cremorne with Mr. Wedgwood and some others, and they remained until the enter tainment was concluded. She said that she had been in Mr. Wedgwood's bedroom about a dozen times, but she had never kissed him in bed. She might have kissed him, but not a dozen times. She called him sometimes " Baby," and sometimes Robert and Wedgwood. She received six letters through Mrs. Pettier and Wedgwood. (Here one of the letters was read, in which the writer addressed Mrs. Tur ner in affectionate terms, acknowledged to the re ceipt of some articles forwarded by her, promised to send his photograph, and asked her to write to him the following Sunday, and signed himself " Your loving Bobby.") From other extracts it appeared that the name of Baby occurred very often in the diary as well as the name of Wedgwood. The letter in question had fallen into the hands of her husband, who never accused her of any criminal in tercourse with Mr. Wedgwood, but he complained of there being too much familiarity between them. Formal proof of the marriage was then given, which closed the petitioner's case, and no evidence was called on the part of the respondent. Mr. Sergeant Shee summed up briefly. Mr. Hawkins replied, and commented on the ab sence of any person residing at Mr. Terrent's and other persons who could have given more satisfac tory evidence than that adduced. He contended that the statement of the coachman Beaney as to what he alleged to have witnessed in the brougham was too improbable to be entitled to any credit. The learned Judge summed up, and remarked upon the fact developed in the evidence, that Mrs. Turner, instead of going to Windsor, was at Ciren cester with the co-respondent, and also to the ad mission of Mrs. Turner that Mr. Wedgwood spent an entire night in her bedroom, nominally for the prevention of any intrusion by Mr. O'Byrne. He drew particular attention to the style and con tents of the letter of the co-respondent which had been put in in evidence. The jury immediately found a verdict that the of e s a t d s u a l g t adultery, thest nd t c h o e_ c re o s u p r o t n in dz e t t h h a e d ru b le ee n n ie g i,uw il ittyh o reoponcliatt, THE WRECK OF THE COLOMBO. The following brief particulars respecting this event are from the Friend of India, of Nov, 27th he following telegram was received in Bombay on Tuesday evening, the 25th inst. :—" The Peninsular and Oriental CompanY e steamer Colombo struck on north end o;: Minicoy Island on the morning of the 19th inst. Passengers a nd crew all saved. Mails partially saved. Ship become a total wreck. Peed. Mails sengers all well. Send assistance immediately. " telegram reached Bombay about seven p.n.'., and was shortly afterwards confirmed by another. FOrtAnately n !he there were seven of the company's vessels lying' i harbour at the time, and Captain Black with a pm Ise' worthy promptness at once issued instructions for t ,,-13 of them to be at once prepared for sea. The Ottawa and the Azoff were the vessels selected to proceed to the scene of the disaster ; the former left yesterday even ing, and will take on the mails and passengers to Suet; the latter leaves this day, and on her arrival will stay bY the wreck to render assistance. As an instance of the energy and zeal displayed by the company's employes in an emer gency of this kind, it may be mentioned that unde r ordi nary circumstances it would probably have taken three or four days to prepare the Ottawa for sea. She had neither coal, provisions, nor water, on board. Her boilers, more over, were out of order, and required nearly 150 new tubes. Notwithstanding all this she was full equipped and ready for sea in less than 16 hours from the first order being Bi/ ea. The following description of the Island of Minicoy is takea from Horsburgh's Directory : " Minicoy or Malicoy will' (the centre) in lat. 8 deg. 17 min. N., long. 73 deg. 7 E., is about six-and-a-half miles in length and hal f 1 ", mile in breadth, extending in the form of a crescent' from N.E. to S.W. with the concave side to tl ‘ ° ,, N,W., where a circular coral reef projects about Or,e:, miles, and is joined to the extremes of the islan d on reef near the west point of the island. There i s an isle'' with trees on it, and at the north end of the island there If° a passage through the reef, with two fathoms—the deepest' water, through which the boats and small vessels pass ; h ut. it is narrow and intricate. When the boats are within the reef, the water is deeper, 2t and 3 fathoms over a bottom of hard coral, but chains would be necessary to secure a vessel were there any swell. This island is very popul ous, and the natives are hospitable ; it is well-planted with cocoa -nut trees, and may be seen from the deck of a large ship about 3i or 4 leagues." It is doubtless on the coral reef mentioned that the vessel struck. As to how the accident occurred we have no means of ascertaiPing at present. She a rrive at Galle on the 16th instant aril left again after the usual detention. The Azeff, which arthit.'d here on the 21st, er perienced very thick weather off G;311:e, but little wind with it. "We had no observation," said ail officer of that ves sel, "for five days, and only knew f..h,lt we were in our course by passing the Malta." The Coto, mho, in all pr.e•ill bability, was similarly overtaken, terminetog, unhapp for her, in a result as disastrous as it was tolleeked-f°r. Divers were sent in the Ottawa, and Capt. Black; the e l . pany's superintendent, we believe, proceeds i n the Az! The unfortunate steamer is a hopeless wreck, 11.- 1v132 : parted midships, and her loss adds another to the lOnc, list of casualties this great company have suffered, the ful l particulars of which it will doubtless be some time ere sr° receive. The Bernice and the Victoria, Indian navy steamers, were both placed at the disposal of the Peninsw lar and Oriental Company by Government, but their ser vices were not required. COUNTRY MA _it - ILL:a: 6: ~. MANCHESTER—DEC. 18. This morning at our market there was ra ther bett. e , sale for Englishwheat, at the currencies of last week, il; American advanced 2d to 3d per 1001bs, with a modern demand. Flour still moved off slowly, but no chL'inge oa Wci)e' place in price. Oats and oatmeal only a limi ted Indian corn and English beans as before. BIRMINGHAM—DEo. 18. A 40 9 English wheat was sold at 54s to 60 s for white, to to 56s per 36 stone for red. Barley, new malting, 42s per qr ; grinding, 26s to 30 s Oats, old, 265 to ov per 30 stone; Irish, 22s to 255. Beans, 41s to 4 4 s per (11.' Peas, 40s to 48s per 36 stone. PLYMOUTH—DEc. 16. The corn market very dull, and purchases of wheat cci fined to retail sales. Malting barley active ; grinding due; —'White, 56s to 60s; red, 54s to 56 s per qr; Dantzic/ (" 4 , to Ns; American, 51s to 55s ; Spanish, —s to —$ ; sian, —s to —s. Barley at previous rates -34 s to 3 8 s„„ 1 " - a qr for malting ; grinding, 27s to 288 ; oats, 23s to 27 8 "" • beans, —s to —s; flour, 38s to 41s Od. EDINBURGH GRAIN—DEC. 17. A good supply of farmers' wheat to-day, which brought fully the prices of this day week. The bus iness trans' acted again showed a slight improvement. Wheat on the top 4s Od down ..... " average Os Z d , % Pa o Barley on the top la Od down .average le Oats on the top 2s 6d up average Os au g'°- Beans on the top is down.... average 3s 2d _ Total Supply and Sales. Wheat ... 629 qrs Sold 418 qrs 8ar1ey........1913 qrs Sold 1332 qrs Oats Beans 4l qrs Sold 26 qrs • 4 s s Od ; Flour sells as follows :—Whites, 45 s Od ; extr as, superfine, 41s Od ; fine, 39s Od. CORK—DEC. 17. BE d The following were the quotations this morning wheat, 16s Od to 23s 6d ; white, 22s Od to 27s Od, barley, tv Od to 15s Od ; oats, 7s Od to 14s Od. ; new here, —s -8 Od. DERBY SMITHFIELD—Dm 16. Beet 6d to 61d Veal 7d to Ti ct i Mutton .. - Pork ' Lamb —4l to —d Rough fat, 4 s Od per goo Hides, 3d to 41d; calf skins, 5d to 6d. FOREIGN MAIL PACKET LIST. MAILS DUE. n a A ite . .ralis and Mauritius, via Southampton. ...... ---e ' -,. 19' _ via Marseilles ......... De c * 4, Brazil and Cape Verde, by British pact et...... Jarl' 2 , Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena.. J ail ; 19. China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton.P e- ...... via Marseilles ..•D ee ' 4 9 310 1 ' ' Falkland Islands Gibraltar, via Southampton India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton. •„n e „ c ' ...-.. via Marseilles • Deg, 0 , India (Bombay), via Southampton .......... • • -v e '' V. . Dec. , via. Marseilles Portugal.... ...... . • Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton . ......... .. -17 ' t 1 ene e. :- • -1' 9. : li via Marseilles ........ m 4. JO' Newfoundland • • Oporto and Vigo ~ U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet... • -` - ' ° " (1, ‘ by U.S. packet.. • • 19 , pe e. by Canadian packet., ri. 10. W.C. of Africa, M- adeira, and Teneriffe .......... " 18. Dee . 0 Bahamas, via New York pee. "-. Mexico.. All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, j Dee. - California, and British Columbia.. THE ALLEGED CAPTURE OF THE STEAII/fr, THISTLE.—The owners of this vessel have received tbe '°l3 lowing despatch, dated Admiralty, Dec. 17 :—" Ge ntle : ll n e l); —ln reply to your letter of the 16th inst. re questing ", be informed whether any intelligence has been received st. Admiralty which would lead to the belief that the Vll 1313.,164 merchant steamer Thistle had been seized by the ,1031- States vessel of war Tuscarora, after quitting Madeira, ity commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Adra__ iti Ve to acquaint you that H.M.S. Leopard did not coratatu P ,i e d with the Thistle after that merchant vessel had been I)° sr - h e by the Tuscarora's boat's crew; but the captain of the Leopard was informed by the commanding officer 0f t he Tuscarora that he had not found any reason to detain Thistle, and he had allowed her to proceed immediately I am, gentlemen, your most obedient servant, v" ROMAINE," - v er.ls." DIED OF OVERWORK—A SEWING MAGA.- id This Sewing Machine was alive, and died because it c , ire not compete with other sewing machines that didn't r et i t ler feeding, nor clothing, and could live rent free. 111: r. -.- words, this sewing machine was a poor shirt - r ile Punch. BI BitocE.—On the 17th inst., at 43, Queen's• gardens, park, the wife of Alan Cameron Bruce, of a son' 0' CRAWFORD,— On the 14th inst., at Preston, ne ar 00 of t l tester, the wife of Lieutenant-Colonel A. Crawto r son. terrace, WOODWARD.—On the 18th inst., at 6, Titchfield-o-sq., Regent's-park, the wife of Lionel M. Woodward' of a daughter. MARRIAGES. obar ° ' CRESER—SCHEREE.—On the 18th inst at St. w .e r. re ser, Westbourne-park, Alfred, third son a Captai n ,", e late R.N., to Georgina, second surviving daughter of G. F. Scherer, Esq. a n- DIx—DANIELL.—On the 18th inst., at St. Georgo t 7 Wta. over square, John Dix, E sq ., t o Eli za widow ° Daniell, Esq., both of Cothnto New-road,i Bristol. BRAY.—On the 16th inst DL ,a lf residence, Tulkotp A t , /fail ed Preston, Lancasl • 64. tire, J osep h Bray, r, ..., Esq. , So liCito ''. i BURGES -n n ea' .—On the 16th inst. at his residence, 71 '-', e-13 of street, , St. J aine _, as s, Robert Sidney Burges, -Dsq" I yd s, and Austinf • nars, aged 38. -g e hlia, ECHLIN —On the 16th inst. at Enniskillen, Hy* -- Esq., J.P., agerl 64. ' H .1 eetd ANKEY.—On the 18th inst at 52, Cumberlanu-etr ~ a ge Hyde k PhT - par , i tp, sou of F. A. Hankey, Esq., three days. 8C 1.1 OwEN.—On the 17th inst., su ddenly, T. E. Owen, ..-' of Dovor Court, Southsoa, Mayor of Portsmouth üb. . _, la WEALS.—On the 18th inst., Mr. John Neale' pliasP,T*.. of High Holborn, and 19, Canterbury -villas, M vaLe. Lad - WATHEN.—On the 17th inst., at his residence, 12, ,_ broke-square, Notting-hill, John Beardmore Wane° Esq., aged 51. ______.----_----- I V LONDON: Printed and Published by JOIIN CHAPL . ' 9 of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Till: Sv/v thee;Offic No. 11 2; Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in onntY Mgictiereex,—Friday, December 1564 e THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY t 4: VE NI WI-, DECEMBER 19, 1862: tl