The Sun. — London, England, 1860-10-18 00:00:00

211:a 3 PRINCE'S VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. {From the Special Correspondent of the Times.) CINCINNATI, OHIO, SEPT. 30. I promised at the conclusion of my last letter to add a few words to what I then stated of prairie land , especially as to its agricultural values. The remarks made on one prairie in this respect apply With almost equal force to all the others in North America. There are, of course, many places where prairie land is of less value than in others, but this depreciation is solely due to such local causes as the ward of railway communication and the like, for the prairies themselves have the same high average of fertility throughout. The land round the station at Dwight was bought some 5 years ago for 90 cents (about 3s. 6d.) per acre. The price now in the vil lage itself is a little over 100 dols,, or £2l. Three miles from the village the best prairie land for farms is now worth about 6 dols., or 255. an acre. Six or eight miles out 100 acres may still be pur chased for 100 dols. The land thus obtainable is pure prairie ; that is to say, covered with long, rich grass, the very finest food in the world for cattle, and which, when cut and left to dry, gives ample fooder for the winter. The soil is so peculiarly light, dry, and fine—more resembling snuff than anything else I can compare it to—that the blade of the ploughshare has to be formed unusually deep and wide, so as to turn the earth back to a consi derable distance to form the furrow at all. In such a soil the labour of ploughing would be merely no minal but for the all-abounding weeds at the root of the grass, known as the " devil's shoestrings." In spite of its formidable name, the plant itself, as it ap pears above ground, is as meek-looking a little vege table as ever varied the monotony of long high grass. Beneath the soil, however, its roots spread far and wide, and are all, even to their minutest fibre, strong and tough as good thick catgut. To cut these the ploughshare has to be kept almost as sharp as a razor, and its edge to be carefully filed up afresh at the completion of each furrow. Once, however, that the furrow is complete and the corn sown, the settler has no further trouble till called to gather in or sell his bounteous crops. " Tickle the land with a hoe, and it laughs with a harvest," is true of the prairie, for though I am told that no land in the world so well repays manuring, still, no land in the world does so well without it. Thus all about Dwight on lands without manure the yield of Indian corn this year has been in some cases as high as 70 bushels an acre, averaging 50 bushels all round. The wheat has been far less successful, owing to the drought, though nowhere less than 22 bushels, and varying generally from 26 to 30 per acre, and in a few instances much higher. The settlement is still too young to have tried the effects of manure steadily, but Mr. Morgan, who has one of the best farms in the place, states from the small experiments he has already tried, that an average amount of manuring may be reckoned to yield at least double the present produce of the soil. For what are termed root crops - prairie land is considered the very finest ; and melons, pumpkins, gourds, and squashes sown between the ridges of Indian corn are so enor mously productive as to be of little more than nominal . value at Dwight or, indeed, any town or village which border these magnificent expanses of righ uncultivated pastures. Coal is everywhere abundant throughout the State of Illinois—so abun dant as that, even with the great demand for labour, it can be mined, brought to Chicago by canal, and sold wholesale at 9s. a ton, retail at from 1 ls. to 125., according to the season. It is, perhaps, also worth mentioning as a singular geological circumstance, that it is not very uncommon to find in the prairie grass smooth round copper boulders, weighing about a hundred weight, or more, solid pieces of pure, soft virgin copper. How they come there it is impossible even to conjecture, for though stray large stone boulders are met with here and there, there is, of course, nothing like rock in the whole district, either above or below the soil. Some 14 or 15 feet below the prairie there is one vast bed of the best kind of gravel, in which, of course, there is an inexhaustible supply of the purest water. With these few words on the general productiveness of prairie laud for agricultural readers, I may now revert to the Prince's tour. With his stay at Dwight I may say that his Royal Highness and all the suite were certainly to tho full as much delighted as with any visit they had made since they have landed on this continent, and I am sure it was with regret that the Royal party quitted the grand breezy expanse of soft rich meadows, and the kind hospitable gentlemen, Mr. Spencer and Mr. Morgan, who had done so much to make their stay as happy and as agreeable as they could desire. The Prince was certainly most fortunate in his visit, for, for the time of the year, he had almost universal sport ; he saw a prairie thunderstorm, a prairie fire of immense extent, and, above all, a prairie sunset. The latter took place in all its supernatural glory —a glory which can never be described or under stood by those who have not seen it—while the party were shooting quail the night before their de parture. As the sun neared the rich green horizon, it turned the whole ocean of meadow into a sheet of gold which seemed to blend with the great firma ment of reds and pinks—pale rosy orange hues, and solemn angry-looking crimson clouds above till not only the sky but all the land around was swathed in piles of colour as if the heavens were reflected from below, or as if the sinking sun shone through the very earth like mist, and turned it to a rainbow. The immensity of stillness which lay in the prairie then—a stillness as profound and vast as the green solitude itself, while not a breath stirred over the whole horison as the great transmutation went s lowly on, and the colours over the land turned from rosy to pink, from pink to orange, orange to red and crimson—darkening and darkening always as the tints ebbed out like a celestial tide leaving fragments of scarlet clouds over the heavens —the embers of the fire which had lit the prairie in a flame of glory. There was such a quiet unspeakable rich ness in this grand farewell of day—such a terrible redness about the sky at last that one could almost fancy some supernatural phenomenon had occurred, that the sun had gone for ever, and left a deep and gory wound across the darkening sky. Night was a relief compared to this dread, lurid fire in heaven — a fire which the clouds seemed to close in upon, and stifle out with difficulty—a fire which, like the paint ings of the sunset before the Deluge, left always an ominous anger in the heavens, even when the night was far advanced, and the prairie clothed in a blue mist that rose over it, like water. It was such a sunset as moved even the rural inhabitants of ' Dwight ; such a sunset as even the " oldest inhabi tant," who had been there some five years, had never seen before. The p r i nce left the prairies at o'clock in the morning. Some 10 or 12 people—quite a demon stration for the for place —cam e on to the platfo r m t o see him start ; prairie stations are pl aces w h ere nobody gets on taheness train,fo and where it wo u ld h e little short of madnes s laid r aoybody to get o ff . For a long distance the line all through prairie land, where the road is so straight that on a dark night with bright lights shining the train may be seen coming for more than an hour before it ar rives. Springfield, where " honest Abe Lincoln," the Republican candidate for the Presidency, re sides, was passed at noon. Little hats and white wooden cottages made up nearly the whol e of the rest of the panorama—huts which had been throw n up i n a f e w days wherever the settler chose to stop, and which the inhabitants were quite prepared to move at an hour's notice, or so whenever the °m a _ sion demanded. At last the train slowly emerged en iivv w hi i c d h e' fwOggYhaited was at Alton, on the ban k of a shallow river. The sid gray, rough, and desolate, with slimy, muddy banks, falling into rifts and chasms and unseemly gaps, where rain and forest drainings had oozed down for years. Here and there, scattered upon the slippy soil, were miserable wooden cabins, damp, comfortless, and dilapidated with their windows, thinly mended with stained sheets of paper, or clumps of dirty rags, with poor and sallow occu pants, all women busily engaged inside, while rough, stalwart, sunburnt men, with bronzed muscular throats, laid bare, with frouzy dark moustache and g r irrlbeards of a week's growth, lounged about out side, or sat an logs and spat around with a lethargic dulness. Tangled unsightly weeds abounded, and We getups of forest kings, long dead and gone, and a thin, irregular growth of dwarfish cotton-wool completed the aspect which this bank work of iature misused and falling to decay. Below a Level, greasy-looking shore sp rea d ou t, h a lf mu d, _ _ _ _ half sand, with ponderous white skeletons and trees, carcases which the stream had torn away from distant banks to leave them stranded here half- buried in the slime, with their gaunt bones striking up in ragged point s an d splinters, and draped with . _ sticky, lank, Offensive weeds, the garbage and off scourings of a mighty river. Carrion crows were busy here, and men as muddy as the banks them- selves were groping listlessly about, preparing stacks of rough-hewn logs of timber for the steamers which ply up and down and move the sluggish water into muddy foam. The stream itself was not very wide (about as wide as the Thames above Put ney-bridge), and on the opposite bank much like the Middlesex shore of our own stream at the same place. It was rich without being picturesque, rank and•overgrown with heavy timber and a thick un derwood of weeds, giving off a faint and not un- pleasant odour of faded flowers, which spoke of fever in every breath of the thick warm air. Above the stream continued its straight course, hemmed in with the same wild, dank ruins of vegetation, an d covered from point to point with - smooth, round, level bars of sand, with now and then bare; scrubby, sickly little trees upon their edges, all worn and faded in their foliage, less, as it seemed, with coming winter than their own inherent slow decay. Below the banks spread out in greater width, dotted here and there between swampy aits and spits of land, with sandbanks rising every where, forcing the muddy water aside in devious channels, some so shallow as scarcely enough to ripple over the oozy margin, some deep, where the yellow current flowed swiftly and curled back with , a kind of stagnant velocity from sharp, black-look- , ing stumps and snags—the real monsters of the deep of this great river, which, dark and silent, seem always waiting for their prey, that surely comes at last. On every side, seen in the cold, gray morning, there was a dim forlornness in the stream, a lonely, fast decaying savageness of nature, a faded ragged, wild, unwholesome aspect, which was al most mournful, which spoke of the sickness and long toil spent to bring even the half-civilisation around into the centre of this half-tamed wilderness. Wan sluggishness was in the trees, filled the warm air, and seemed to rest upon the crazy, wooden houses, to spread abroad over the slimy shores, and dwell upon the soft, flat banks of sand. The very river in its yellow, dull ripple and smooth, deep current seemed to speak of it, as crouched between its narrow banks, it crept lazily along, shorn of its energy and might, a mere river that had outlived the character of force and bulk of which I had heard so much, for this was the Mississippi. This was that great father of waters that drains a quar ter of the world, creeping slowly along between banks a world too wide—a dull, dilapidated, poor, half-shrunken, muddy stream. A few lean cows were wandering near its brink, as if they contem plated suicide ; there was a dead horse in the fore ground that had perhaps already committed it. More cattle struggling and splashing in and out of the rifts and weedy hollows of the banks, with here and there in the green distance a patch of Indian corn ; but beyond such traces all was wild, was de solate, unhealthy, and abandoned. Such was the great Mississippi at Alton, such was the lonely as• pect this mighty river bore when the Prince first saw it. Such at all times is the Mississippi in its wild state, where hardy, poor, unknowing settlers first strive to battle with its rank vegetation, and hand to hand not only fight the wilderness but the deadly fevers which lurk around the banks at every turn, which are borne in the warm thick air over the marshy land, and nestle close, like serpents, in little vales and nooks, that, clothed with a wild luxuriance of prairie flowers, seem so charming to the eye. Still, wretched and pestilential as was its aspect here, there was much that was suggestive in the weedy desert banks, even in the yellow waters of the stream itself, and a moment's thought enabled me to feel that even the:Mississippi at Alton was the great Mississippi still. Alton is some 1,200 miles from the month of this tremendous river, a river which is navigable for great steamboats for 800 miles yet above Alton. What more need be said or u sLreatui Uw hrlnfq f,nm.prse its waters for a length of more than 2,000 miles, that you pass in your steamer from the liners of New Orleans through the great cities of Western America up to the Falls of St. Anthony, the wildest of all the American outposts of civilisa tion ? Let the eye in imagination follow the course of this huge artery of commerce, passing through such cities as St. Louis, Memphis, Natchez, Vicks burgh, and a host of smaller though great and wealthy towns, bearing from each their harvest wealth and manufacturing products, till the weary length of stream expands at last above New Orleans, and from a group of wide and sedgy mouths pours its vast tribute of waters to the sea. Some few miles below Alton is the junction of the great stream of the Missouri and Mississippi, where the river widens out into a grand delta, and, forcing its way through those ever-shifting banks of sand which choke its mouth, the huge volume of the Missouri comes tumbling down. So constantly are these banks shifting, and so dangerous do they render the navigation, that few pilots know them well, and those who do are in such great request that, I am told, they can earn from 8,000 dols to 10,000 dols per year. It is in consequence of these sandbanks, too, that the Mississippi steamers are built to float in such a trifling depth of water, that it is said they can go anywhere where there is a heavy dew. The railway from Alton to St. Louis wound through a wild and rather marshy, though most fertile land, here and there overgrown with weeds and massive forests, and now and them luxu riant patches of Indian corn bending under the weight of their great golden ears. The train stops on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, in a wild, rough station, not good enough for a goods shed in England, though doing duty here as an important passenger depot. Like all else in America, espe cially in these western States, everything is con structed to meet an immediate pressing want, and this met in any way, however rough, there is no attempt to go beyond it for the present. There is a want of labour throughout the continent, and a want of time to carry out its own gigantic business, and thus everywhere you see a minimum of means ap plied to bring about a maximum of results, except in the case of an election for President, when this rule is exctly reversed. You see this paucity of means—this sudden effort to stay absolute demands in everything—in the single lines of rails, in the poor wooden stations, where, instead of havi ng 50 persons in charge, as in England, there are scarcely eve ; you see it in the very want of omnibuses to carry passengers' luggage, and in the consequent delay of trains. In all you find these small means expected to achieve great ends, excepting always in the matter of hotels, which are as much the admi ration of travellers as ours are their terror. St. Louis —at which the Prince arrived in the evening—is a fine and, for this western world, rather an old-looking city; that is to say, there are houses, and even whole streets, which have evi• dently been standing for the last 40 years. Viewed from the eastern bank of the Mississippi, with its long stone quay or houses, crowded at every part with those quaint summer-house-looking, frail,• danger ous, high-pressure river steamboats and its irregular rows of lofty red warehouses, it bears a strong though rather dirty likeness to Montreal from the St. Lawrence. This impression, however, is not a lasting one, for the streets are very unclean, and the inhabitants, though well-to-do enough, seem as a body to delight in dressing themselves as shabbily as possible ; and if it is true, as I certainly believe it, that the worst hats in the world are worn in America, so is it equally beyond a doubt that the worst hats in America are worn in St. Louis. Dingy, wretched negroes, too, form a considerable part of th e p opu l at i on of the city, or, I had better say, part of its live stock, for Missouri is a slave State, and though now, I am glad to believe, fast becoming Republican, yet the old leaven is still strong in many places. Slaves, however, aro fast decreasing there, for the climate is not favourable to the cultivation of the black. Accordingly, they are being traded off pretty fast, and hardly a leaves St. Louis for the South without con steamer THE SUN, LONDON THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 18, 1860. veying some 10 or 15 of these helpless creatures, who have previously been. publicly sold at the Court-house—sold from the very tribunal erected to mete out justice between man and man. A few years more and Missouri will scarcely have a slave left in it, while politically it must shortly be de clared a free State. In the South, on the contrary, the number of slaves increases yearly; there are already over 6,000,000, and the number in the course of some ten years more will probably be up wards of 7,500,000. It is not so much the increase of slaves as the deterioration of the whites from the intermixture of the races that is to be dreaded in the future. Already there are thousands and thousands of quadroons with all the ability of their white masters, and all the fire and ardent temperament o ;heir tropical origin, yet as much slaves and chattels as the darkest EthioPians. These are the slaves who will become dangerous men hereafter, who are cer- tain to be able and willing instruments for future John Browns. When the Prince landed at St Louis there was a mob of apparently the lowest o: the population, who thrust their heads into the car riage, and hung upon it like bees, so that it was not without considerable difficulty that it could be got through the crowd to the Barnum House, one of the finest hotels now in St. Louis. In the evening there were rival serenades from really good bands of music and from some execrable per formers on drums and fifes. Though very loudly called for, however, his Royal Highness declined to show himself, and lost nothing by his reserve, ex cept the opportunity of seeing more shabby hats at one time than he is ever likely to have the chance of seeing again. With the Americans the Prince is certainly getting very popular. They seem not to have been prepared for his being so utterly unassuming, and for the graceful kindly courtesy with which he acknowledges the least mark of attention. On the day after his arrival at St. Louis he visited the great cattle and agricultural show of that town. There were some 60,000 people in the grounds who received him with the utmost enthusiasm, and whose preconceived notions of the haughty tyranny of British aristocracy were sadly upset by observing the strict kind politeness with which he took off his hat and bowed in reply to those who bowed to him. This was an amount of condescension which the majority of the Americans never thought he would be guilty of, and his Royal Highness's courtesy won the good feeling of the crowd in a few minutes. After the fair the Royal party drove round the city, visiting even the old French quartier, where with customary gregariousness the descendants of the early French settlers still dwell by themselves. Though the general character of the country round St. Louis is fiat and tame, still a good view may be obtained from here over the city, with the broad and now deep and quick stream of the Mississippi, flowing grandly past till lost in the blue distance. On the whole, however, there was very little to see in this city, and the Prince quitted it early on the morning of the 28th. The distance from St. Louis to Cincinnati is rather over 300 miles—a twelve hours' journey, which it was arranged the Royal party should get through by starting at nine in the morning, so as to reach here in time for a late dinner or early supper, as they might choose. The road from St. Louis at first winds through thick under wood and the massive growth of trees that fringe the banks of the Mississippi—a wild tangled marshy jungle, impressive even from its silent slimy ruins of vegetation. Sometimes it crosses little brooks and muddy streams, trickling down with mournful slow ness to the great Father of Waters, though scarce seeming of themselves to have life enough even to reflect the light of day, which seems to smear over their current with a greasy brightness that is far from pleasant in its general effect. Once the line crosses a marsh on a round viaduct, and such a mi serable looking swamp as this I never saw. The ground is dull, thick, and watery, with hardly consistency enough to support the huge trees which lean about in massive disarray —sear, yellow, and weird-looking, with rent limbs peering starkly through thin foilage, and long, dishevelled tresses of foul weeds that had crawled there to rot and die drooping round in rags. Here nature seemed sick, squalid, and forlorn ; there was a faded poverty on trees, on bush, on the land, and slimy water which seemed to speak of the diseased and wasted forests that the swamp was slowly killing. Now and then a little Knoll 1,7%, 4,1,,../ebr, in wnien a few small bushes grew, and seemed to strive to keep their branches from the contaminat ing garbage gathering round, but these were rare, and took nothing from the general aspect of the flat, deadly monotony of this wild, rank spot. It was a comfort when this was past, and the train sped on to the prairie, with its fresh, clear breeze always blowing, and its rich grass rippling gently to the wind, and seeming to laugh and play in the clear, bright sun. Upwards of 100 miles of this prairie was crossed, and then the train came to a dead stop, for a goods train had taken advantage of the opportunity to get off the line some little dis tance ahead, and there was nothing for it but. to wait till it could be got on again. The delay was very annoying, but the Royal party took .it very quietly, and, as the car in which they travelled had been amply provisioned in case of such a stop, they were, on the whole, not badly off. It, however, made a considerable difference in the time of their arrival here, which happened at nearly 2 a.m. on the morn ing of the 29th, instead of at 9 o'clock the previous evening. The Burnet House, where his Royal Highness is staying in this city, is a fine specimen of an Ameri can hotel—that is to say, a handsomer, larger, and more imposing building externally than our Nation al Gallery, and capable of accommodating four times as many people as that obscure structure can con ceal pictures. Here the Prince has a set of apart ments reserved for himself and suite, and remains as private as he can under the circumstances. It is really a comfort to be rid of the State receptions of Canada, where one was obliged to sleep nightly in loyal hotels which illuminated every pane of glass in the house, and where, as a matter of course, you found your bedroom a perfect blaze of light from 80 or 100 sconces, or variegated lamps, and might consider yourself fortunate if there was not a huge transparency and gas star as well. Oh, those bed rooms, and the sleepless misery that one endured, looking at the rows of blinking, twinkling lights, where, of course, there were no curtains to the win dow, and one .ad to intrigue with caution into bed, to avoid attracting too much notice from the noisy, gaping crowd outside—where one woke each minute as the lamps or candles went slowly out, each one more offensively than the other, and where, in the intervals of fitful dozing, you were tormented with nightmares of Vaux hall, and of having been overcome and gone to sleep in some brilliant grotto of " the Royal pro perty!" Once the woodwork of my windows actu ally caught light from the heat of these fervent dis plays. At London, Upper Canada, after a month of such brilliant annoyance, when I had begun to shudder at the very sight of a candle, I had a bed made up for me at the post-office. It is a very fine building, though never meant to do duty as a sleeping apartment, inasmuch as my bed was fixed in the corner of a hall not much smaller than that at St. Martin's-le-Grand, with a little hedge of screen and mailbags round it to prevent my wandering from the place in the dark and losing my self utterly. It was not in human nature, how ever—certainly not in mine—to endure the blaze of light which the huge bedroom presented that evening, for as a Government establishment it was, of course, in a regular glow inside and out. The first glimpse of the flood of coloured lights which it poured down the streets satisfied me of my chances of sleeping there, as I had nothing for it but to walk about for .hours, till the conflagration had toned down sufficiently to make repose a possibility, With such experience it may easily be conceived how great is my relief to find that the American hotels do not illuminate when the Prince stays at them, and that I can consequently luxuriate in an utter darkness of bedroom whenever I am so inclined. There was an immense crowd under the fine portico of the Burnet House yesterday to see the Prince enter his carriage for a drive round the city, and in point of struggling, crushing disorder there was rather an unpleasant repetition of what had occurred at the St. Louis landing. As soon, however, as the carriage cleared the crowd it went on at a pace which made following it a matter I of impossibility, so that his Royal Highness and party were enabled to take their view of the city comparatively undisturbed, if rather hastily. Of the city and its appearance, however, I have now _ _ no time to write; indeed, owing to the failure of the trains, I must trust to sending this by hand. HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, OCT. 2. I am almost quite glad that I had not time on my first arrival in Cincinnati to record my impression of that proud city of the west, for it requires at least 24 abstractions for the visitor to free his mind from the greasy images al ways produced l'y the porcine element in its population which meet you at every turn, in every form, size, age, or colour in which pigs are capable of walking, rolling, or lying about the streets. Cincinnati will always be in my mind what it is in the minds of most Americans—a syno nyme for pigs—a synonyme which makes the Queen City far more generally known by the derisive nick name of Porkopolis than by its lordly Roman title. Pigs are to this city, in fact, what negroes are to Mobile, Charleston, or New Orleans. They pervade the whole place—the very gutters are congested with them, and a sort of dull monotony of pigs is visible everywhere. They come against you wher ever you turn, from huge, black, muddy, unsightly monsters down to little sucklings not much bigger than kittens, on which you inadvertently tread and stumble, amid shrill squeakings almost enough to blow you off your legs, and quite enough to alarm the neighbourhood, if it had not long ago got used to every possible variation of noise in which swine can convey their thrilling protests of resentment or alarm. They come down in muddy droves, skipping in uncouth merriment, relieving their minds and giving vent to their gaiety in the most dismal out pourings and interchange of shriekings, as if they were the swine" possessed" of old. Even the quietest grope about with hideous gruntings, as if something weighed upon their hearts, and will only consent to seek repose for their perturbed feelings by lying full length across the footways of arched hilly streets, which somehow irresistibly remind one of spareribs set on end and built upon. You don't object to these last orderly specimens of the Cincinnati staple, though rather in the way, to be sure—it is the tusky, fat, unwieldy monsters who complicate themselves with passing carts, and get entangled amid the wheels of drays, and who, as the retribu tion of cartwhips overtakes them, make the very heavens echo with their shrill-sustained lamentings. With the first sound denoting swinish tribulation and mishap whole troops of other pigs come running round the corners, adding their piercing mite to the general tocsin of alarm till a stranger, unacquainted with the obstinacy of character peculiar to the Cin cinnati pig, and his rapid transition from aggression to loud repentance, might imagine that the city had been taken by storm and an universal massacre was going forward. Nor are these failings, I regret to say, the only ones which render Cincinnati pigs an objectionable institution there. Their naturally aggressive habits have been developed to the utmost by the turmoils and, annoyances of a great city, and at the first start the visitor is apt to imagine that the bigger pigs are supported almost entirely on the ears of the little ones. The appalling outbreak of screams that ensue when a big pig lunches in this wise might be heard over half the town. When to these facts I add that the slaughter-houses are in the suburbs, and that some hundreds of pigs are daily killed there amid that terrific outcry with which a pig always meets his fate, I have pretty well given the elements of a state of things at Cin cinnati. Apart from these drawbacks the city it self is one of the finest, if not the finest, I have seen in the West. It is situate on a ridge of most pic turesque hills on the banks of the Ohio. The streets are wide and very hilly, which keeps them tolerably clean even in spite of the pigs. The houses are nearly all of red brick, and are fine and spacious structures, though nothing approaching in size to the gigantic blocks which have been built and are still building on every side at Chicago. It is not all gold that glitters, however, and I am told that Cincinnati is infinitely richer and more thriving than the newly risen and commercial capital of Illi nois. The latter, lam told, is rather of the kind that poets call the b ildcd inacor of far-reaching ruin," for am sorry to say, for the value of my first impres sions, that Chicago is stated to have rather consi derably overbuilt itself, and that per consequence a very large proportion of rue rising town is preii j deeply mortgaged. There are no symptoms of this in Cincinnati, which, on the contrary, has an air of quiet industry and solid wealth which is unmistake able, and which but that it is newer and has rather less smoke reminds one much of such towns as Leeds, where there is great wealth and business with but small delay. The private and exclusively quiet programme of visits arranged for his Royal Highness during his one day's stay at Cincinnati would, of course, have required rather more than a week to perform, so, as may be expected, it was not adhered to strictly. The Prince, therefore, contented himself with driving over the hills amid the suburban scenery of Cincinnati, and such scenery for rich, quiet, cul tivated beauty I have not yet seen in the West. WASHINGTON, OCT. 4. The Prince has arrived in this strange city, where streets of ill-built houses connect the most noble public buildings, and where one has to admire the city as a city always in the future tense. It will and must in history be one of the greatest capitals that the world has seen, but as yet it seems to want a deal of building, alterations, and improvements bfeore it can be a worthy legislative centre of this great empire. Another hour, however, must suffice for recording my impression of this great, strange, unequal city, for I have barely time now to do more than jot down a few incidents of the Prince's reception. That there was a great crowd at the station must of course be taken for granted, but it was well railed off, and no hustling, as with the mobs of Detroit and St. Louis, was allowed at any time. General Cass, Secretary of State, with Mr. James Buchanan and James Buchanan Henry, nephews of the President, were on the platform, and received his Royal High ness as he alighted from the train. There was a very brief pause while General Cass, on the part of the chief magistrate of the United States, cordially welcomed the Royal visitor to Washington, and a few introductions took place, but there was no cere mony or delay of any kind, and the party at once entered the President's carriages and drove to the White House. They arrived at the executive man sion soon after 4 o'clock. The President, as regal and as venerable in his appearance as any king who ever wore a crown, stood just inside the portal of the White House, and as the Prince stepped forward shook him by the hand with a cordiality of welcome that was unmistakeable. It was more a meeting between private friends and gentlemen than a really historical reception given by the chief of the greatest republic to the heir of the greatest monarchy in the world. The President led his guest at once to the Blue Drawing-room, where he introduced Miss Lane, his niece, and Mrs. Ellis, niece of the late Vice-President King. But beyond these few facts I know nothing, except that all the guests at the White House are staying there without for mality, and as any other party of distinguished travellers whom it might please the President to entertain. Only one exception is made to the general rule of affairs at the executive mansion, and that is that while the Prince stays there it is no longer an open house to all, but police are sta tioned round it, and none except those invited are allowed to enter. Many persons of the Royal suite who could not be accommodated at the Pre sident's mansion are staying with Lord Lyons. This morning his Royal Highness went over the Capitol and visited the Senate Chamber and Chamber of the Hall of Representatives, with some other of the magnificent public buildings here. Afterwards there was a levee, at which every body came that wanted, and to which many came that were not wanted, if one might judge from their extremely negligee costume. There were plenty of ladies there in bonnets and shaws, and some in dividuals who sauntered into the room with their hands in their pockets, and who otherwise conducted themselves in a way which, certainly, as far as I have seen, is not usual among the American gentle men who unfortunately do chew tobacco. The President did not remain in any special place, or take a prominent part in the reception at all, Like his chief guests, he was dressed in black, though not in full dress—a sort of male dem-toilette, which was quite sufficient for the occasion. People passed in, gazed at the Prince, bowed to him and the President, and then passed out. In fact, it seemed less a reception than a mixed deputation, from which ladies were not excltided. It was not a good time of the year in which to give such a levee, for Washington is almost empty now compared to what it generally is. There was a total absence of for mality or restriction either as to dress or persons of any kind, and yet as a rule there *as a quiet deco rum in manners, which, considering that all who chose to come might do so, would have done honour to any general assemblage in Europe. Here and there could be seen something very outre, and as I have intimated, even offensive ; but these were the rare exceptions as to conduct. The dresses of very many certainly showed an utter disregard of the ordinary usages of society on these occasions, but mere dress makes very little difference, and after all it must be remembered that it was early in the day. To-night there is another banquet at the White House, with a kind of soiree in the evening, to which only those go who receive cards. To-morrow the Prince visits Mount Vernon and the grave of Washington, and dines with Lord Lyons in the evening. THE VOLUNIEER MOVEMENT. THE ASIIBRIDGE VOLUNTEER RIFLE SHOOTING PRIZE. After the distribution of the prizes by Lady Marian Alford, on Friday last, the Volunteers marched to Ashbridge House, and sat down to a cold collation. The Earl of Brownlow presided. On the removal of the cloth, after the usual loyal toast had been drank, LordISIDNEY proposed the toast of "The Church." In doing so he observed that any man who had taken any interest in the Volunteer movement must have observed with pleasure the cordial support which the clergy had given to it. (Cheers.) In the county to which he belonged he was proud to say a clergyman held the commission of ensign. He felt confident that the clergy could not promote the in terestsof peace in a mor e e ffi c i en t d egree th an b y rendering assistance to that movement, which, he trusted, would become one of the permanent insti• tutions of the country. (Loud cheep.) The Rev. Lord COMPTON, in returning thanks, said there was a saying handed down to them from the old times of fierceness and war, "If you seek for peace prepare for war." They had found a better reading of that saying—" If you wish for peace prepare for defence." (Cheers.) Looking at it in that light he and his brother clergymen had the greatest satisfaction in giving the Volunteer move ment in every form their cordial support, some few of them by shouldering the rifle, and all of them by their.influence and exertions. (Cheers.) Sir A. P. COOPER proposed " the Army, the Navy, and the Rifle Corps." He said he had heard it affirmed, perhaps without any truth, that there was a great fear that the ardour and spirit which had been shown up to this period by the Volunteers and others would speedily decrease unless great prudence and caution were shown by those who were the leaders of the movement, and that there was a feeling on the part of some young Volunteers that, by merely entering the service and attending drill a few times, they would equal in drill and efficiency to the regular army—of men who for a long period have given their constant and undivided attention to the profession. (Cries of "No, no.") Admiral DRUMMOND, in returning thanks for the navy, said it had for a very long period been known as the strongest bulwark of England ; but on what had been known to them as the " wooden walls of old England," they were about to adopt a protec tion against the bullets of the enemy by sheathing these wooden walls with iron. Colonel KENNEDY, C. 8., returned thanks for the Army. He said that now the Volunteers had taken upon themselves the duties of soldiers, they of the Army were proud to welcome them as brothers-in arms. (Loud cheers.) No jealousy ever had existed, and it was certain it never could exist between the Army and the Volunteers of Great Britain. (Cheers.) He had had the honour of being the umpire in the rifle competition of that day, and, although he was perfectly satisfied with the day's shooting, he trusted they were not; that though they had shot well that day, on a future occasion they would shoot much better. No theory, nothing but actual practice, would enable them to do this. (Hear, hear.) He trusted that at the great rifle competition the Hertfordshire Volunteers would come to the front. (Loud cheers.) The Marquis of SALISBURY proposed, in highly eulogistic terms, the health of Lord Brownlow. The noble Lord having returned thanks, The Earl of CLARENDON proposed the health of Lady Marian Alford, and dwelt on the many public and private virtues manifested by her Ladyship. said,—" Just coming from abroad I speak know ingly when I say that the volunteer movement forms a great subject of conversation on the continent, that its progress is anxiously watched, and that it has increased the admiration for England which we all know she deserves, and which we desire she shall obtain among the nations of the world." (Loud cheers.) The CHAIRMAN acknowledged the toast on behalf of Lady Marian. The toast of the " Volunteers of England" was proposed by the Hon. Sir Frederick Lucien, and was acknowledged by Lord SPENCER, who said he felt that the Volun teers of England had become a permanent institu tion of the country, and that all the doubts which had been formerly expressed as to its stability might now be put one side. (Cheers.) He looked on the movement as an enormous increase to the strength and power of the country. The Volun teers were continually increasing in numbers, in discipline, and in the skill with which they used their weapons. But they must all remem ber that they were entirely dependent on the army and navy, and were not to act as an independen dent force, but as an auxiliary. They must look to the officers of the army as the instructors of the Volunteers. This movement did not interfere with the army. The Volunteer force consisted princi pally of those who belonged to the middle-classes of England, which had not hitherto contributed much to its military strength. He was very glad to see all classes join the movement, particularly the mechanic class ; but he thought we should be very careful not to interfere with the recruiting for the army. He considered it very important that the different classes should not be kept distinct, but that they should all meet and work together for the defence of our country. (Cheers.) Earl COWPER proposed the health of the success ful competitors, and in doing so said the perma nency of the Volunteer movement was the theme of every speech, and for it to be permafient it was ne cessary it should take deep root in the agricultural populations of the country and the small towns— (hear)—so that if, as might be the case, the more volatile populations of our large towns should leave the Volunteer force and take to something else they should still all be firing at their butts and drilling on their grounds. (Hear, hear.) Lord Spencer had alluded to a body of men from whom he hoped they might be able to draw largely for recruits—he meant those who depended for their sustenance upon the work of their hands ; but they must be particularly careful not to make the slightest diffe rence between those and themselves. They must give them exactly the same uniform. If these con ditions were complied with the Volunteer force would be very largely increased. (Cheers.) Mr. MOORE, of Watford, acknowledged the toast. The Hon. REGINALD CAPEL proposed " The Ladies of the County." The Rev. G. HASTINGS proposed " Our next merry meeting at Panshanger." The day's proceedings were closed by a gentle man proposing the health of Captain Parry Cust, and the acknowledgment of the toast by that gal lant officer. FIRST SURREY VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY CORPS. The volunteer movement has taken deep root in Surrey, but although tho county bristles with rifle corps, the above is the first company of volunteer artillery yet formed in it. When it received the sanction of the Lord Lieutenant, it was the 55th com pany in Great Britain, and though young, bids fair to rival in zeal and patriotic feeling its older com peers in other parts of the country. To the militant instincts of certain gentlemen in Lambeth is due the merit of starting the corps. The First Surrey Corps marched out on Saturday afternoon, from their drill ground at the Lambeth Institution, Lambeth-road, and their first collective appearance in public was highly creditable. Their uniform is that of the Royal Artillery, except that the facings are of silver in stead of gold. The corps is daily gaining in num bers, and the greatest harmony prevails amongst the chief promoters. In the much-vexed question of. the admission of artisans, instead of wasting time in the discussion of the principle whether the " bone and sinew" of the land should form part of their company, they have boldly thrown open their ranks to that sturdy class, and hare made such judicious arrangements as to the payment for uniform, sub scription, &e., that no respectable working man need have any scruple about enrolling himself. Artisan and tradesman will be dressed alike (a dif ference in the quality of the facings bei n g the only perceptible variation), •will drill together. and be mixed up indiscriminately on parade. A library containing upwards of 200 volumes has been clubbed together for the use of the men, so that the volunteer principle will be applied to reading as well as soldi er i ng . Thi s f ea t ure i n the affair is due to Mr. William Morton, who, with Mr. Great Rex and others, h ave b een l arge l y i ns t rumen tal in the movement on the Surrey side of the water. The Ist Surrey Volunteer Artillery Corps has made a n auspicious d e b u t. W oo l w i ch h as now t o doits work in furnishin g a fi e ld p i ece , an d th e f u rther question remains whether the company will be mounted. A rumou r h as b een i n circulation that amongst the offers of ground, in addition to the ex cellent drill-ground at the Lambeth Institution, was one from his Grace the Archbishop of Canter bury, who is disposed to allot a portion of Lambeth Palace-gardens for the purposes of drill. The brigade of artisans and others of the Roya National Rifles for the defence of the metropolis has been formed under the auspices of Lieutenant- General Sir De Lacy Evans, M.P., honorary colonel, and Sir John Shelley, M.P. It is hoped that a reliable force of 10,000 men will eventually be established on a permanent basis. A benevolent fund attached to the corps comprehends the follow ing objects :—The formation of a fund to assist members in obtaining their uniform. The grant of a weekly allowance to a volunteer of from £1 10s. to £4 during illness occasioned by accident in the discharge of military duty and while wholly dis abled from attending to business, and the payment of a minimum sum of £lOO at the death of a volun teer, in all cases without reference to the cause of death, and including death in action with a foreign enemy; or, at the option of the volunteer, the con version of such sum payable at death into an annuity of at least £3O to himself for the remainder of his life, after a continuous membership of 30 years. On Saturday last the Ist, 3d, and 4th companies of the sth Essex or Beacontree rifles marched out from head-quarters by way of Commercial-road to London. On the way they were joined by the 2d (London) company of the said corps, who formed in with them, and the whole commanded by Major G. R. Birt, proceeded to Royal Mint-street, *here the arms were deposited in the armoury of the London company,'and the men dismissed. Although the afternoon was most unfavourable and the road in a very bad state, there was an excellent muster, and the men marched with remarkable steadiness and precision. The Ist, or Duke of Manchester's Corps of Mounted Volunteers were inspected at Kimbolton Castle on Monday by the Earl of Sandwich, Lord- Lieutenant of the county of Huntingdon, and Col. M'Murdo, C. 8., Inspector-General of Volunteers. Notwithstanding a pouring rain, the corps mus tered strong, only fourteen effective members being absent. They at first fell is with cloaks, but as the weather showed a tendency to improve these were taken. off and rolled and strapped on to the saddles. The two-troops were formed as squadrons in rank entire; the first squadron led by Lieut. R. W. ,Ark wright, with Lieut. G. 0. Newton and Ensign F. Day as troop leaders. The second squadron was commanded by Capt. F. Polhill Turner, and the troops into which it was divided by Ensign Crew Alston and Mr, W. H. Baynes (sergeant), the whole under the command of the Duke of Manchester. When the Lord-Lieutenant and Colonel M'Murdo came on the ground they were received in the usual manner. The parade movements and sword exercise were then performed according to the cavalry regulations. The corps was then moved out into the more open part of the park in column of troops from the left. When they arrived on suitable ground they " formed line on the leading troop half right back." They advanced between two clumps of trees, and " changed front half right." They then advanced by threes from the right of squadrons ' formed line on the move, and charged, afterwards retiring by alternate squadrons at the suggestion of Colonel M'Murdo. When the line ,was re-formed it was again advanced. They were moved on to some better ground by the ad vance in column in troops from the left, passing through a gate by files from the left of troops. The troops were re-formed, and then wheeled into line. The " sword exercise" and " pursuing prac tise" were stow performed at the gallop, also at the request of Colonel M'Murdo, who rode among the men, the better to judge of their effi ciency. The corps then retired in column of troops from the right at the trot, and afterwards at the gallop, to the original parade ground, where they wheeled into line without halting or even slacken ing the pace. The whole of the movements were performed surprisingly well, considering the con stitution of the corps and the short time they have been formed, but the last movement was perfect. The troop distances, squadron interval, and the covering of the pivot files were found to have been maintained with mathematical exactitude, and the dressing had not to be altered. The line then ad yawed in review order, and having saluted were addressed by the Lord-Lieutenant, and afterwards by Col. M'Murdo, in terms extremely flattering to the corps, its officers, and its commander. Lunch Dare - onienclesrei: firfE4fea r t e nerdriN Ustie Volunteers of other corps in uniform on the ground were also invited to lunch. The Lewes (4th Sussex) Rifle Volunteers have been entertained by the Hon. H. B. W. Brand, M.P., at his mansion near Glynde. Various ma noeuvres were gone through very creditably, after which the beautiful gardens were visited and vari , ous amusements enjoyed. At 6 o'clock a sumptuous dinner was served in the banqueting-hall, covers being laid for about 110. The company included many of - the neighbouring gentry; among whom were Viscount Gage, Mr. R. W;Blencoe, Mr. J. Blencoe, M.P., &c. On Monday the five companies composing the Hallamshire Rifles, by invitation of Earl Fitzwil liam, Lord-Lieutenant of the West Riding of York shire, assembled at Wentworth-house for the pur pose of receiving a set of six beautiful cast-steel side-drums, manufactured by Messrs. Marriott, At kinson, and Co., of Fitzalan Works, Sheffield, the gift to the corps of Mr. C. Atkinson, the ex mayor of Sheffield. Lord and Lady De Manley, Mr. L. Thompson and Lady Mary Thompson, and others of •the nobility and gentry were present to witness the ceremony. The presentation was made by Lady Fitzwilliam, and briefly acknowledged by Major Overend. The corps afterwards performed come difficult evolutions with much precision. Earl Fitzwilliam complimented the corps on their effici ency, and exhorted them to stick well to their drill. The corps' afterwards partook of his lordship's hos pitality. A review of No. 1 battalion of Worcestershire Volunteers took place on the race ground at Wor cester on Monday, before Col. Knight, M.P. (the reviewing officer), Lord Lyttelton, and other officials. There were present a fair sprinkling of the public, notwithstanding that rain fell nearly all morning, and made the ground in a very sloppy condition ; among them were Earl Dudley, the Right Hon. Sir J. Pakington, M.P., Earl Beauchamp, and Lord Northwick. There were above 500 Volunteers, in cluding the No. 2 Worcester corps, the Kidder minster, Stourbridge, Pershore, Malvern, and other companies, and a detachment of the Queen's Own Worcestershire Yeomanry Cavalry, to which was deputed the duty of keeping the ground. The Volunteers went through various manoeuvres, march - ing in slow and quick time, forming squares, &c., and at the end of the review they were addressed by the reviewing officer in very complimentary terms. Lord Lyttelton (lord-lieutenant of the county, who appeared in his lieutenancy uniform), also addressed the men, who afterwards marched in detachments into the town, many of them departing by train between 5 and 6 o'clock. Most of the men had their railway expenses defrayed, and were regaled at Worcester at the expense of their officers, between whom and the men the best feeling appeared to prevail. The members of the 17th Kent (Tunbridge Wells) company of Volunteers have just completed course of rifle practice, at which two prizes, offered by the committee, of £lO and £5 for the best and second best shots, and another prize of £5, given by the captain of the company to the winner of the greatest number of points throughout the whole course of practice, were com peted for. There were three classes formed —the, first from 650 to 900 yards, the second from 350 to 600 y ards, and the third from 150 to 300 yards—each member in the course of instruction firing 60 rounds, 20 rounds in each of the three classes named. Private Robb took the highest prize offered by the committee, he having made 14 points in the first class, and 19 in the second ; and Sergeant Delves obtained the se cond prize offered by the committee, having made 9in the first and 15 points in the second class. Private Robb scored the greatest number through out the practice, viz., 64, but, as he was the winner of the committee's prize, he could not take the captain's prize also, and it was consequently awarded to Sergeant Simpson, who scored the next highest number, 51. [ADVERTISEMENT.] Pills and medicine invariably ag gravate and perpetuate diseases; their annoyance, dis appointment, and expense may be avoided by persons in indifferent health sending only their address to E S. Barry, Esq., 77, Regent-street, W., London, and they will receive gratis and free by post the " INvAraDs' OWN uxnx," or Natural Restorer, without medicine or ex p , nse, of perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound lungs, and refreshing sleep, to the most enfeebled, insuring the removal of indigestion (dyspepsia), constipation, liver complaints, nausea, epilepsy, paralysis, debility, nervousness, palpitation, cough, asthma, consumption, dropsy, flatulency, diarrhoea, dysentery, biliousness, fevers, sore throats, catarrhs, colds noises in the ears, rheumatism, gout, impurities, eruptions, hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, sleeplessness, acidity, PalPi tadon, heartburn headache, despondency, cramp s, 81)4"21' sinking, fits, rouchitis.— "VuuttestlonablY the mai." "id° to hoolth.'! THE EXPLOSION OF THE PLASTOON. With reference to the melancholy loss of the Imperial steam clipper Plastoon, by the explosion of her powder magazine, mentioned in my last, I am enabled to send you the following copy of a private letter from one of the survivors, Dr. Johan-. son, the surgeon of the ship, to a relative of his in this city:-- "On the 18th of August, about five n.m•, the squadron, consisting of the steamers Ryn'da, Novik, and Plastoon, on their return from the Pactific after an absence of nearly three years, arrived off the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, and were bo Ming along with a fresh breeze and rather high sea. We we re just abreast of the Island of Hoogland (not Heligoland, as incorrectly printed in our last num ber), and I was sitting in my ca bi n engag ed in put ting in order my papers a9d collections of plants and shells, which had cost me so much time, expense, and labour, when I heard a sharp explosion, which, how ever, did not sound louder to me than the usual re port of one of the ship's guns, and I at first took but little notice of the circumstance, under the impression that it was the commencement of a salute to some ship' of war or battery we might be passing. As, however, the report was not repeated, and recollecting that something was being done in the powder magazine, I scrambled upon deck, where I found everything in the greatest confuSion, the decks strewed with dead bOdies, and the ship in a sinking state. I jumped with several of the sea men into the barge between the masts, the fasten.- ings being hastily cut away, and scarcely had we. taken our places when the vessel went down with a heavy plunge. The foremast, as I learned after wards, was seen to shoot up like a rocket, but in the sinking of the ship our boat was ~repsized by com ing in contact with the shrouds and rigging of the mainmast, and we were all thrown into the wate r. When I again re ac h e d t h e sur f ace th e v ase! wasno longer visible, and the sea was covered with pieces of floating wreck, am ong Whi c h I no ticed several human heads bobbin g up an d d own w ith the waves. I managed to seize a la rge bl oc k b e l ong ing to one of the gun tackles, and then a bale of sail cloth than was floating near me, but the latter I was seen ob liged to abandon, as it began to sink as soon as saturated with the sea water; but luckily just then I caught hold of an oar, with which I managed , to support myself for some time. Hearing human cries near me, I looked round and perceived a boat upside down, to which were clinging ten poet' fellows. The next time the wave raised me high enough to obtain a sight of the boat there were only four left, all the others having perished. . Just as my strength was beginning to fail me I saw a boat approaching, on my hailing which a rope was thrown to me, with which I was hauled on board and saved, though in a very exhausted state; but I have to lament the loss of nine brother-officers and 86 of the seamen and marines.".—London and China Telegraph. ' COUNTRY MABEETS. SHEFFIELD—OcT. 16. ---- ---- At to-day's market the supply of wheat was larger than previously, but generally of very inferior quality. The best samples maintained late rates; inferior declined 6d to is per load. Beans scarce, and somewhat higher irs price. Best new oats at former quotations; inferior sorts rather lower. No change in flour. Red wheat, per load of 3 imperial bushels 24s Od to 26s Od White )7 $) 2ss Od to 28s Od New red ), 22e Od to 24s 6d New white „ ) t 24s Od to 26s Od Beans 7) /1 l9s 6d to 21 s 6 d Peas, per qr 48s Od to 52s Od Grinding barley, per qr Malting ditto, „ 3ss Od to 448 Od Oats 2ss Od to 30s Od 1) Millers' prices for flour-2s 4d, 2s 6d, and 2s 8d per 141 b. HULL—Ocr. 16. Trade to-day was very slow at is decline on last week's prices for English wheat. Nearly the whole of it was in. very bad condition. Good foreign old and dry iIOW wheat in request, and occasionally is per qr dearer. Malting barley scarce, and again higher, grinding qualities is up. and in good sale. Peas and beans steady. Wheat.... Old white....per qr 66s Od toe72s Od Old red New .white .. „ ... New red .. • • /, Dantzic, Konb , cc. old white 62s Od to 66s Od Dutch, Belgian, and French., 60s Od to 62s Od Baltic and Hamburg, red St.. Petersburg and Riga, old s2s Od to 558 Od Barley.... English malting 4OB Od to 4 4 .3 Od Grinding 34s Od to. 36s Od Saal and Oderbruck Holstein and Danish 3Bs Od to 408 Od Grinding. 32s Od to 34s Od Oats English, old Archangel and Riga, per at Os 14d to 144 d Friesland and Dutch 08144d to osl6d Swedish and Danish 081.4d to osl4icli Beans ....English, old, per qr 4Bs Od to 60s Ott New pigeon 448 Od to 468 Oct New tick Egyptian . 38s Od to 40s Od PPAR Foreign,breakers Tares .... Spring • — s Od to : 2 :3 Ira Indian Corn Linseed, feeding ... 52s Od to 54s Od crushing Linseed cakes (Hull) £lo 5 0 to £lO 10 0 Foreign BlO oto 9 0 0 Rape cakes 5lO oto 516 0 Bones 5 0 oto 5 5 0 NEWARK-OCT. 16. Business was rather animated, with a fair attendance. Wheat sold readily, at is to 2s advance on former terms. A moderate supply of barley, at full prices. The demand for oats was firm. Beans were well taken off at high rates. Peas steady at extreme 'rates. White wheat, new, 58s to 74s Barley, grinding 33s to 35s Red do. s , ts to 68s Oats, old, .. 3os to 36s Old white sBs to 74s New do 253 to 303 Red do. 54s to 68s Beans.. 52s to 549 Barley, malting.. . 38s to 44s Beans. new 48s to 503 Peas, ....L7s to 435. COAL MARE (rrioes of Coal per Ton at s. d. 1 :ET—Oar. 17. the close of the market.) Walls End. Davison's West Hart- 17 3 • ley .... Tan&ld Moor Butes ..14 0 Lambert's West Hart- s. d. Heugh Hall 20 6 Hetton .. 22 0 South Hetton 22 0 West Hetton ..20 6 Haswell 22 0 ' South Durham 19 6 Keiper Grange.... . :21 3 Keltoe Caradoc ley:. l7 0 Byass's Bebside West Hartley •....17 3 Wy lam l7 Holywell 17 6 Carway and Duffryn Malting ;, 22 ; sold, 22. Walls End, Whitworth lg 6 Ships at market THE MAILS. MAILS DUE. .. OA. 19 ___ Australia, Ceylon, and M aur itius (via South ampton) .. .. .. . (.. .. 80. via Marseilles) O c t. 13 . . Brazil and Cape Verds • • • • • • . Nov. 6. Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, &2. .. .. Oct . Bahamas and Havana (via New Y ork) .. .. Oct._. , Canada, &c. (via Galway) . .. .. .. Oct. 20. Cape of Good Hope, Bce• • • • • • • .. Nov. 2. .(v . ia M . ar . seille . s . ) Oct. g . e. China, Penang, and Singapore ( v ia S'ampton) Oct. 19. Do. c ( i l a ta S ), ou C t e h y a lo m n p , t & on c. ) (via Southampton) Oct. 19. India a al e ta ai r 1)0. , (via Marseilles) Oct. 13. India (Bombay), (via Southampton) .. .. Overdue. D o . (via Marseilles) .. .. Oct. 19. Lisbon •• - • • • • • • .. .. Oct. 11. C u ba and Mexico .. . • • • .. .. Oct. 15. Dia n a , Egypt, and Aden ( v i a Southampton) .. Overdue. Do- ' (via Marseilles) .. Oct. 13. Vigo, and Oporto United States, California,ie. :: :: ... Oct. °et. 1 1 7 1 : Western Coast of Africa , Madeira, Teneriffe .. Overdue. West Indies and PacificCarthagena, Cuba, &o. Oct. 16. BIRTHS. HOLLAND. —On the 15th inst., at Dumbletoil, Mrs. Holland, of a son. MILES. —On the 16th inst., at West-end, Hampstead, the wife of Wm. Henry Miles, Esq., of a son. TurriELL.--On the 16th inst., at Waltham House, Mrs. Joliffe Tuffnell, of a daughter. WilstiN.—On the 17th inst., at Sutton Court Lodge, Chis wick, the wife of Frederick Wigan, Esq., of a daughter. MARRIAGES. lIANMER—CAMPBELL. On tho 16th inst., at St. George% Hanover-square, Captain Francis Henry Harmer, of H.M.'s Bengal Army, to Mary Ann Catharine Camp be% the widow of the late Lieut.-Colonel Campbell, and daughter of the late Charles Gordon, Esq. ) o f P ones, N.B. ' • - • •—• WHEELEY—WEIGNT.—On the 16 th inst., at the p ar i s h church, Thuxton,- Norfolk, Charles Saunder s Wh ee l ey, Esq., barrister-at-law, Lincoln's-inn, to A nna Charlotte, the eldest daughter of the Rev. Henry Wright, rector of Thuxtoa. DEATHS. h, Richard Bald ing,of Wortham, Suffolk,-aged 62. ing, gent., lute inst..Pansugtonen, l and 19, Clarendon- BALDING.—On the 14th inst., at d N d Norwic h , • y, Mr. Geo. Collins, the 16th inst., at Blackheath, Edward C o ge L fit Lr gardens, s. Wharf —, Maids-hill. h , Esq., aged 77. ELLERSIIAW.—On the 15th inst., at Headingley-hill, near E A E G a L g E i e T t O o N n ; — E O s q n . , aged 74. itst., suddenly, at Lymington, .Lo John E t l h l e e r s 9 h ; a h w H an t s , Mr. Wm. H. Gunner, late Captain of the ship Grainger, aged 41. Gu L N e N e t MARSHALL.—On the 21st July last, at Sydney, Australia, Francis, son of Matthew Marshall, Ekq of the Bank of England, aged 3 6. ~ WINTLE.—On the 15th inst., in the Grey Friars, Glonees ter, James Wintle, Esq., formerly of Saint Bridge, near Gloucester, aged 90. LONDON : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG, of No. ll2, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Mice, No. 112 , Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy. in the county of Micidlogezi Thurality, Potcobsr 111, 1880