The Sun. — London, England, 1869-11-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, The Times knows not by whom a second edition of the Quarterly has been called for, but cannot think it was by those for whom the article on the Past and Future of Con servative Policy is written. They who propose to follow the writer to the shrine of his regrets should deck them selves not only in the symbols of mourning, but also in the quaint emblems worn by hermits and other recluses, by pilgrims and such as had abandoned all the hopes that seek their fulfilment in this vale of tears. What he writes is simply a very geed and very eloquent theme on the incon veniences, the evils, the failures, and the disgraces of bidding for power and support ; a practice universal, immemorial, and unavoidable, if a man happens to wantpower and support. At the death of Lord Palmerston the political current had been pent up for some years by a truce convenient to all parties. There was a good deal to be done, and there were plenty of men to do it. Why are the Conservatives not to bid, if only to have the most temporary command of the position, to give their fol lowers some official education, and, to reap such harvest of patronage as fortune might fling to them ? The writer of the article makes no mention of the immense legal patron age secured by a sudden gleam of sunshine. Is it not something to shew the other side that Conservatives can attain that power, can even form a tolerable Ministry, and are even possible administrators ? Above all, is there any reason to be sure that, had the Conservatives steed wholly aside, the Whigs would have dealt more wisely and more tenderly with Parliamentary Reform and the Irish Church ,than the Conservatives did with the former, and themselves with the latter under circumstances created by Conservative strategy? The writer is simply blind to the fact that, whether in or out of Parliament, there are .many who will not listen to such advice for a moment, and who see no reason in either public policy or private Interests why they should not fight for power, for their opinions, and for the origination of future politics, just as much as Mr. Gladstone or any other statesman. The par liamentary and public arena is open to them, as it has been to their ancestors. They will not pay much heed to the tender dissuasives of the Quarterly Review. They have no objection whatever to the institutions of rank and pro perty, but they want their share of them. The _Daily News observes that the fact that all over Ire land the tenants, as a rule, make the permanent improve ments, which in England are executed by the landlord, shews that security of tenure is the unwritten, though frequently violated, law of the country. The practice could never have originated unless the understanding had prevailed, and it proves clearly that the original relations of landlord and tenant were, in a certain degree, those of joint ownership. It is idle, if this be so, to talk of the price paid for the good-will of the land as black-mail levied upon the incomer. He purchases a valuable right, which as a mere tenant-at-will he would not have—the alternative of secure occupancy, or of• compensation in case of retirement or disturbance. In other words, he buys the conditions which alone can make him an energetic and prosperous farmer. It is absurd to contend that the alleged rarity of evictions proves that the tenant has no cause to feel alarm. Assassinations are even rarer than evictions ; for almost every attempt at assassination implies a previous eviction, while every eviction does not entail an attempt at assassination. This reasoning has, however, very little effect upon landlords ; and a weaker argu meat from probabilities is even less likely to encourage tenants. There is as little force, either, in the argument that the incoming occupier sacrifices in the purchase of the good-will of the farm the capital which he needs for its cultivation. It would be just as reasonable to say that the man who buys a house sacrifices the money which he spends in furnishing it. In Ireland, where the farms are small, security for the results of labour will soon create capital. One fact is patent, and that is, that Irish agriculture prospers in those districts, in Ulster and out of it, where good landlords act upon the understanding of, which tenant right is the expression. The remedy which is needed against bad landlords, or the chances of bad landlords, is to give to this understanding the form of law. The Standard thinks that the disaffected party in Ireland have reached, somewhat earlier than we could fairly have expected, the stage at which all Irish agitations seem destined to arrive, if they only last long enough, and at which they are pretty sure to break down—we mean the stage of intestine. quarrel, not less fierce than the feud which both sections wage with government and social order, law, and property. Smith O'Brien and his physical-force friends thus destroyed whatever chance O'Connell's Repeal agitation might have had of be coming seriously dangerous, by diverting the strength of the more ,timid, if not more rational, advocates of moral coercion from an attack on the Government to struggle with their fellow malcontents. A similar catas trophe now appears to threaten the tenant-right agitators. isto doubt the Fenians are wise in their generation, as well as consistent with themselves. It would not suit them that the attention of the Irish peasant should be diverted from the grand hope of an Irish Republic, and the glorious, if somewhat remote,-prospect of a general and avowed confiscation, to the selfish and practical purpose of appropriating, through the agency of a Liberal Land Bill, a portion of his landlord's estate. The only incident in the quarrel which is not altogether satisfac tory is the tame submission of Mr. Synan and the pro moters of the Limerick meeting : a submission not exactly in accordance with the usual temper of Irishmen or of moral-force sedition-mongers. On another opportunity they will, no doubt, be ready for the assailants. If so, we can only hope that the police will not depart from that principle of non-interference which has been so straitly enjoined upon them by the present Government ; that they will display the same respect for liberty of thought and action that they have shewn in the case of Hyde Park meetings and Dublin processions ; and that the Irish will not be furnished with another, and that a most offensive, sentimental grievance, by the wanton interference of the minions of Saxon tyranny with the national ceremony of a free fight. The Post calls attention to the fact that the working men of Birmingham have discovered a way of spending their Saturday evenings upon which they and their families are to be congratulated. Instead of resorting to the public house to discuss strong drinks and dissipate their earnings, they are devoting themselves to the discussion of the policy of Free Trade, as to which, it appears, they hold conflicting opinions. In all the discussions which have been held upon this question foreigners seem to have been regarded as our only customers. It has been quite over looked that we sometimes buy from ourselves, and that one cause of the distress complained of may be that we are not such good customers to ourselves as we used to be. This is easily explained by the fact that we are not so well off as we were. Our poverty, however, has been exhibited more in the• deterioration of our wearing apparel than in our abstinence from intoxicating liquors. One of the working men who spoke at la3t Saturday's meeting pointed out that, while on an average every man, woman, and child in the country spend 4s. 7d. per head on cotton goods, they spend £3 Bs. 7d. on drink. This alone goes a good way towards explaining the exist ing distress ; but he suggested another reason for it, and candidly told his fellow-working men that it was in a great measure their own doing. He warned them that every strike for wages sot foreigners at work with greater diligence and perseverance; that Lord Stanleysaid the other day that working men shared the vice of living beyond their means with every class in the community. That is true. But in no class is it developed in so ruinous a way as amongst working men. Others spend it in costly surroundings, and in sumptuous entertainments. The working man spends it almost universally on drink ; and then, when distress comes, he has nothing to fall back upon but to abuse the Constitution or Fre Trade., or what not, and to lay the blame of his miseries on any one but himself, to whom they are principally due. The Herald observes that the concourse of Prince 3 and crowned heads at Conatantinople, on the very eve of that great event for the East, the opening of the Suez Canal, which promises to all Europe an easier approach to farther Asia, Ia of great political significance, as showing that fourteen years after that Crimean war, in which the very existence of the Turkish power was at stake, the Padishah, the ruler of Mohammedans, is universally respected and recognised as a power in the world. Tha Empress of the French was the first to partake of his hcspitality, to sit at his table, to talk with his Sultanas in the harem, to mixwith the pleasure-seeking crowd in the Vale of Sweet Waters. The Prince of Prussia is there now; the Duke of Aosta, son of the King of Italy, is flitting with his following of steamers through the Golden Horn ; and the Emperor of Austria, too, is coining in person. This meeting at the Court of the Grand Turk of the illustrious antagonists of 18G6 is in itself a circumstance of more than ordinary interest. The prc. , rniscd meeting of sovereigns and princes on the Isthmus cf Sucz has a significance quite apart from all consideratiens of this canal as a commercial enterprise. It is a general approximation, a universal shaking of ham's, a pledge of amity givep. and received by all the nations of the earth. It is a sort of congress superior in its way to former congresses, at Vienna and Paris, which gave their law to Europe. We are glad to hear it stated, on what we trust is good authority, that the Emperor of Austria intends to use his personal influence in prevailing upon the Sultan to 1 re-id.) in persol at the inauguration of tho Suez Canal. When the Padishah shakes hands with the Khedive in the presence of the European Areopagua met in friendship on the Isthmus we shall look forward to a long and happy period of peace in ,the East, and for the ever-growing riche esg a,nci prosperity \LOth of Turkey. p i cgiggyrt. The following letter, which adds a little to what is already known of the great explorer, has been received at the New York Herald bureau, in London : "Zanzibar, Sept. 9. "Dear Sir—Mr. Henry 31. Stanley addressed a letter, dated London, March 8, 1869, to my cousin, who is United States Consul at this place, asking him to send you any news he might obtain regarding Dr. Divingstone ; but he informs me that under the consular regulations he is not allowed to correspond with anyone on matters of impor tance, except through the Department of State. Now, therefore, I, instead of him, have the pleasure to inform you that yesterday letters were received here by the British Consul from Dr. Livingstone, dated August 8, 1868 ; and, though I have not seen them, I learn from one who has that at the time of writing the Doctor was in good health; that for a year previous he had been exploring a section of country to the south of the Tanganyaka Lake, which con tained many small lakes, which he claims to be the true sources of the Nile ; that he had heard - that two sets of supplies had reached Ujiji from Zanzibar for his use, but that he had not yet been there for them ; that . he would ask that a furthcr supply might be sent there —and among the articles he wished were included Nautical Almanacks for the years 1869 and 1870—which looks as though he purposed remaining in the country yet a long time. He gave no hint as to his intentions for the future, or when he might be expected to come out; and his letters, written en scraps of paper begged from the Arabs who brought them to the coast, are said to be very meagre in regard to news.—Trusting this may prove of interest, I am, dear sir, &c., " JOHN F. WEBB." THE .ABYSSINIA OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. The New York papers give an account of the researches made by Professor Powell in his exploration of the mys terious regions of the Western Colorado. The district through which the Colorado runs is compared to the lofty plateau of Abyssinia, with its deep gorges and torrents. But while the table lands of Abyssinia are comparatively fruitful, the Colorado country is wild and sterile, and Pro fessor Powell has been unable to discover any valuable mineral deposits. He found nothing but successive layers of lime and sandstone, of various colours, with occasional granite. He passed along the course of the river for nine hundred miles, and through all the distance its channel was a narrow chasm cut down into the table land some two or three thousand feet, the chasm, with precipi tous walls on both sides, deepening in the descent of the torrent to its outlet in the lower plains of Arizona, where it becomes navigable to the Gulf for small steamers. All the tributaries of this strange river, and their branches on both sides, have cut for themselves, in the abrasions of thousands of years, similar chasms to that of the main stream, so that the whole country thus drained is cut up . into a labyrinth of abysses, impassable, except in occasional slopes or depres sions, to the traveller or the trapper. The Colorado passes through ten degrees of latitude in its passage from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. The scenery is described as wild and wonderful. Hitherto the district traversed by the Professor has been avoided by explorers on account of its impracticability. The inhabited and mining districts lie far to the east, but it is thought pro bable that hereafter the now desolate Colorado and its tributary torrents may be turned to good acoount for manufacturing purposes, though for many years they are only likely to attract the adventurous tourist or the scientific explorer. SCENE IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. After the usual service at St. Paul's Cathedralon Tuesday morning the Rev. Canon Gregory requested the sing ing men and boys to stay before they took off their surplices, as he had a communication to make to them "in as public a manner as possible." The rev, gentle man, standing inside the railings which divide the vestry rooms of the choir from the body of the cathedral, while the congregation gathered round the out side, then addressed the members of the choir. After pointing out, in distinct and emphatic language, that the morning services at the Cathedral were becoming a public scandal and the talk of the town, on account of the general want of heart and dig nity, and from the lax attendance of many concerned, the speaker went on to declare that it was becoming a grave question as to whether these services had not better be discontinued. " Only three gentlemen of the choir here this morning, and two yesterday ; it is really too bad," said the rev. gentleman. One of the choir then in terrupted the Canon with a remark that the Dean and Chapter really paid them such a small stipend that they should starve unless they "looked up" other engage ments, which remark led to something exceedingly like an altercation between the Canon and the chorister. "The service of God and the public convenience," said the former, " are above the convenience of the individual, and this is not the place to discuss the question of pay." The rev. speaker concluded by requesting that Mr. Cowell, the organist, would attend him in the vestry, after having announced to the choir, but apparently at the congregation—who seemed greatly surprised at the whole scene—that arrangements would be made to suit the convenience of the public by having the hour of service altered. LAW .AND POLICE. THE IMPERIAL LAND COMPANY OF AlAnsmumEs.—Mr. Glasse, Q.C., moved before Vice-Chancellor Malins, for an order for substituted service in the matter of the Imperial Land Company of Marseilles. The motion was for leave to serve the solicitors of Messrs. Harvey Lewis, M.P., and Mr. Henshaw, on the ground that those gentlemen could not be served personally. There was an affidavit that Ur. Lewis, when last heard from by his solicitors, was in Venice. The Vice-Chancellor said it was a clear case for substituted service, the parties having been in communica-. tiou with their solicitors. A similar motion against the National Bank stood over. Three motions against Mr. Albert Grant and Mr. Valiance, for payment of £70,000 in all, were allowed by the Vice-Chancellor to stand over till the 18th. Mr. Grant's counsel observed that each pro ceeding was a chancery suit, the evidence extending to 1,000 folios in each. Mr. Glasse remarked that the object of the suit was to recover more than half a million of hard cash - which had found its way into the pockets of officers and directors, but not into the books. TILE PRUDENTIAL ASSURANCE.-All application was mad e to Vice-Chancellor Malins for an injunction to restrain Mr. Joseph Bentley, of Paternoster-row, from publishing any more numbers of his pamphlet containing statements respecting the solvency of different insurance companies. Mr. Bentley said he had stopped the publication, and the matter stood over for a few days. THE ALBERT AssuummE.—Vice-Chancellor Stuart has made an order for a receiver of the assets of the Albert Assurance Company. DETAINING ARMS.-At Marlborough-street a search war rant was applied for against Mr. Payne, of Dover-street, Piccadilly, formerly commanding officer of the 4th Mid dlesex Artillery. He had refused to give up sixty carbines and three swords entrusted to him. Mr. Knox granted the warrant, saying the matter was an important one. Mr. Brnal Osborne has been making a speech to the electors of Waterford in favour of the denominational system of education. The great “ diamond," weighing seven ounces found at Armidale, New South Wales, turns out to be a piece of poor crystal quartz, very much water worn. Tm LORD MAYOR ELECT.—An adjourned meet ing of Devonshire and Exeter men was held on Tuesday at . Messrs. liaise, Trustram, and Co.'s offices, at which Mr. E. B. Stephens, A.R.A., again occupied the chair. Sir John Bowling and many other influential gentlemen con nected with Exeter and the neighbourhood were present, and a sub-committee was appointed to make the necessary arrangements. It is understood that the address will be presented by Sir J. D. Coleridge, if his public engagements permit. A GRAND DRAMA.—A writer in the Salut Public of Lyons, who has just arrived from London, says that in a small theatre there he witnessed the representation of a melodrama entitled " Tropmann ; or The Human Tiger." All the details of the crime are faithfully reproduced. The audience is present at the assassination of the six victims. The comic business devolves on the gendarme Ferrand. The pursuit of Tropmann by this representative of autho rity agreeably recalls that which Victorien Sardou has dramatized in the " Pommes du Voisin." The last act represents the Court of Assizes. Tropmann is on the bench of the accused. The jury is about to deliver the verdict. All of a sudden a noise is heard, a door opens, and there appears—Kinck, senior. Tableau. THE NEW ZEALAND MEDAL AT LAST.—There seems a probability of the early issue of the long-delayed medal for services in New Zealand. The riband has just been exhibited at the orderly-room of the Ist Battalion 12th (East Suffolk) Regiment at Aldershot. The riband has blue fringe and a red stripe down the centre. The 12th Regiment took part in most of the engagements in New Zealand from 1860 to 1866. The following regiments and corps are entitled to the medal :-Ist Battalion 12th Regi ment, 2nd Battalion 14th Regiment, 2nd Battalion 18th Regiment, 40th, 43rd, 60th, b7th, 65th, 68th, 70th, and detachments .. of Royal Artillery, Commissariat staff Qiithi. It44ll.Eniii4ool, 4 . 114 IliigtorY Ts4act_.rithei,7 mu, S!JN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 3, 1869. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. ments in case or an Increase or rent, -as wen as demand for possession of the farm. This would act as a check upon undue demands for rent. The tenant would always rather pay a reasonable increase than give up his farm, whilst the landlord will hesitate before he asks an exorbitant price, knowing that he will have to indemnify the tenant in case of capricious increase. Air. Allen and Mr. Sheriff Hutton, trace moaern robberies by young men, embezzlements, &c., to the Saturday half-holiday. And this is the way they work out cause and effect : lloliday, in itself a luxury, gives opportunity for indulging in other luxuries. • Other luxuries cost money. Salaries, formerly sufficient, are when "other luxuries" are wanted, found inadequate. Means of increasing these salaries are looked for, and found in embezzlement. The Saturday half-holiday, therefore, leads to embezzlement. That this may be a road along which some travel is not to be denied • but how many ? The question is, whether the evil is so great in the Saturday half-holiday that it is necessary to sacrifice the good. A POPULAR ERROR. (From the Anglo-American Times.) No. IL The question of the preservation in its integrity of the Union, is one even from its financial aspect of deep interest to Europeans. It is probable that Mr. Bo UTIVELL may fund a certain portion of the na tional debt in long-dated bonds at a lower interest, and regarding, as settled, the disposition of the people to pay, still one other question is ever present to the mind of the European investor —" Suppose the United States should split asunder ?" Mr. BOUTWELL can not know as we do, how deeply engrafted this sup position is in the European, or at least in the Eng lish mind, yet it is, as we last week said, a popular error. We then showed that nature, instead of favouring a disruption, favoured unity—that the configuration of the country rendered a division so arbitrary, so artificial, so wholly the work of man, placing a stumbling-block in his own way, that it would appear almost as ridiculous as would an in dividual rushing into the flood of the Mississippi to turn its course. While we admitted the folly of man kind, we maintained that the tendency of an intelli gent people will surely in a general way be to wards the benefit of the community, and will revolt against such an outrage on nature as that involved in disruption. We asserted that there is no historical parallel by which men can forecast the future of America, for no other nation ever attained to a great sway in the world except by the sword. The history of the rase and progress of a powerful people has been a history of successful battles, the conquest and rule of alien communities; no comparison can Le sub stituted between such, and a nation whose motto, is, that the greatest progress is in peace, holding to the established principle, of the absolute equality of each citizen embraced within the Republic. The one Empire is the agglomeration of repugnant parts forc ibly annexed and ruled by coercion ; the other is the spread of an homogeneous people over the waste places of a continent, and the peculiarity of the American Government is the equal weight given to all, whether new or old, whether the freshly natu ralized citizen of to-day or the descendant of a President, whether one of the original Thirteen Colo nies or the State of Nevada. At the same time we admitted that vice, folly, ambition, greed, jealousy, might generate conflicting interests, to eventu ate in disruption. But we maintain that the ten dency of an enlightened community, as we be fore observed, is, on the whole, towards the gene ral good, and as each citizen of the Republic cannot fail to foresee so clearly the injurious ac tion of disruption upon himself and his family individually it would be next to impossible to create that state of things which would induce the ma jority to sanction it. He must have but little imagination who cannot picture the injury a split in the Union must inevitably work to the citizens of the Republic. A foreign nation along a border will of necessity be an evil of the greatest magnitude. In a country geographically so formed as is the United States that evil would be materially in creased. Hostile armies, hostile tariffs, jealousy, obstacles to the interchange of commodities, the escape of criminals, the stirring up of sedition, the impediments to free travel and settlement, and the enormously increased expenditure to bear the double burden of Governments, most of it incurred as in Eu rope, to be armed against the neighbouring commu nity are but a few of the conspicuous home evils. The foreign ones are, in a lower flag, a citizenship of less account, the intrigue within America of other nations ; alliances against each other, a diminished immigration, and conflicting efforts to turn that tile. Slight though these be in comparison with the home evils, they strike Americans on a sensitive point. Their aspiration is gone—the one grand ob i ject which has been the string on which they have harped, which th e world sneeringly calls spread-eagle ism, but, with them, is a deep and enduring thought, almost a passion. That Southern slaveowners would have split the Union to preserve their domestic in stitution is an historic fact which rather strengthens than weakens our argument, for we have through out admitted what vice, &c., may do. And how was it met ? By a rise of the great majority, who never really faltered in their frightful task to defeat the nefarious design. Those who suppose the North ever did falter know little of American sentiment. And why were these citizens thus resolute ? Simply for the reasons we have already given, which they all clearly foresaw. Why did the South choose such a path ? Because its citizens were not only demo ralized, but almost stnpified by slavery. Having made this wooden idol the god of their idolatry they fell down in blind ignorance to do it homage and to obey its behests. But could such a state of things again arise ? No—clearly not. It was America's im portation of the remnant of feudalism, derived from an age gone by for ever, almost every vestige of its follies, being now cleared away from that Continent. Not only is the Republic outside any historical parallel, but its citizens are unlike and placed in cir cumstances wholly dissimilar to those of every other people. America is essentially a new country, with waste land everywhere. Spread over it are cities, vil lages, and peopled tracts, and, like the rivers flow ing in all directions lined by willows and clumps of green trees, so run the railroads connecting the Con tinent, with habitations and growing towns along the iron ways. These citizens are more nomade than fixed in habitation; throughout there is a perpetual going to and fro, a mass surging from the east west ward; a recoil of wealth and intelligence eastward to the great cities. There never was a community whose parts were less knit to a locality and whose as pirations were so wide and national in extent. Now what does this mean ? In one word, it is the Union against State, county, or city ; and we desire our English reader to take hold of this fact and analyze it to comprehend the full force of the argument. Does he not see that disruption must be born of local feelings ; that such prejudices must be gene rated by a continued residence on the spot ; indeed they can only be effectually implanted in the mind by the residence of generations. The South was the most ignorant and least travelled portion of the Union ; it repelled instead of encouraged the inter communication, and its prejudice became such that it lynched, rode on rails or ducked in mill ponds, the man who taught a doctrine opposed to its great Fetish. In its senseless worship it endeavoured to surround its frontiers with a wall of brass, and local feelings were of course generated, as well as an ignorance which led that brave but ill-advised community to imagine that they could beat off Northern power by the force of arms. Now that the wooden idol has been burnt up, and that the people have not only warmed themselves over the embers, but seen what a hollow, stupid thing itiwas, there is no desire or need for the wall of brass, and intercommunication may soon be as general over the South as elsewhere throughout the Union. This scattering and intermingling of the people as they penetrate into the wilds make them homogeneous ; even though the stream of immigration be from many sources, it commingles, producing a distinct type having all in common which knits a nation together, and we may search in vain throughout the globe for a place where so general atone pre vails with fewer local prejudices and stronger con tinental aspirations. There may be, as Europeans maintain, causes for disruption, but when cast into the balance they are found to have but little weight. There is a jealousy against the preponderating power of the New England States in the Senate, that disproportion as regards both population and extent, which, with tb growth of the great States daily becomes more marked. There is the dispute as to the site of thr4 National Capital ; the necessity for a revision in 'she boundary lines of somo States ; the danger of the national intelligence being swamped by the er i llting( d immigration of ignorant foreigners ELECTION NEWS. Mr. Kay Shuttleworth will stand for Hastings in the Liberal interest, in the place of Mr. F. North. The deceased gentleman was a near connection of Mr. Kay Shuttleworth, and there is reason, the Tele graph says, to think that the Liberal party will unani mously accept the candidature of the latter. He contested North-East Lancashire last year, but was beaten by Messrs. Holt and Starkie after a very close *un. For Southwark there is some prospect of a general Liberal scramble. Mr. Labouchere has issued an address, in which he states that his political opi nions have undergone no change, save in respect of an increased belief in the security of the ballot. It is remarkable that most Ballot pledges are in the form of "an increased belief." Though the Ballot is next time to have so many more votes than it ever had before, there are few new converts. They have been only strengthened in their convictions. There are now six Liberal candidates for this borough—Labouchere, Gibson, Hodgson, Allen, Lycett (Sir Francis), and Odger. If a Conservative he not returned it will not be the fault of tho Liberals; but as the election cannot take place, it is understood, before the meeting of Parliament, there will be time for " the elimination of the cripples." Mr. Odger is to be the working man's candidate instead of Mr. Allen. Lord William hay was chosen at a meeting at Earlston as the Liberal candidate for Berwickshire. POLITICS AT BERWICK. Viscount Bury, member for Berwick-on-Tweed, has been shedding a little extra-parliamentary light on his borough. Considering that this nobleman is a professed supporter of Mr. Gladstone, and was Treasurer of the Queen's Household from June 1859 to May 1806, his speech must be regarded somewhat in the light of a rebellion. Lord Bury declares in favour of a national, and not a denominational system of educa tion. He thinks the people of Ireland are shocking the sympathies of Englishmen. The Land Bill must be moderate. But in the matter of colonial policy the member for Berwick is wholly at issue with the Government. He condemns Earl Granville's refusal to allow the New Zealand colonists the use of troops. He demands more sympathetic treatment. Alluding to a circular that has been sent out convening a meeting of the representatives of the Colonies in London, Lord Bury said that in some recent corres pondence Lord Granville had communicated to him a despatch which had been addressed to the colonial Governments, advising them not to send delegates to the proposed Conference. It was more than pro bable that various colonial governors would take the cue given by Lori Granville, and prevail upon the representative Governments not to send delegates to the Congress, as originally proposed. Lord flury is in favour of combining the colonies in a federal union;due regard being had to the wants and feelings of each, MESSRS. REED AND HOLMES. The members for Hackney, who are stumping their large borough with remarkable zeal, have delivered the third account of their experience in the salubrious neighbourhood of Bethnal Green. Here the two M.P.'s were somewhat severely chaffed and assailed by some very awkward questions. One or two note worthy pledges were, however, given m the course of the evening. Mr. Holmes declared himself in favour of compulsory education. He supported the Prussian system, which forbids the employment of children under 12 years of age, and the employment of children under 16 years of age without a certificate that they can read and write. Mr. Holmes seems to think that these provisions will be embodied in the 'Govern ment measure. He is in favour of equalising the poor rates. Mr. Reed declares his intention of voting f or the disestablishment of the Church in Wales. LEGAL CHANGES. The Times appeared a morni g or two back with a "feeler," suggesting the suppression of one of the Lord-Justiceships of Chancery Appeal. The death of Sir Charles Selwyn had placed the appointment open ; one Lord Justice was enough ; £6,000 a year might be saved by making him do all the work. The Times proposal is now (according to the London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian) to be acted upon. Mr. Gladstone has—after offering the post to Lord Westbury and Sir Bounden Palmer, and being refused in each case —determined on leaving it vacant. The Mastership of the Rolls in Irela n d is yet unfilled, and rumour says that Mr. Sullivan, the Attorney-General, insists on being appointed to it. If this be true, the specu lations run as to whether the Solicitor-Generalship would fall to Mr. Serjeant Dowse or Sir Colman O'Loghlen, the. present Judge-Advocate. THE ISLE OF WIGHT. A has been expected that Sir John Simeon, M.P. for . the Isle of Wight, would be raised to the Peerage and appointed to a colonial governorship ; and that another constituency would be added to the long list of those requiring representatives. It appears, how ever, that Sir John is not to be made a peer. The extensive preparations for a contest on the part of the Conservatives will, therefore, have been in vain. Probably Mr. Gladstone is too busy to confer dignities. The Saturday Review put forth the ingenious hypothesis that when the Premier was at llawarden he rambled about the mountains on fine days, stayed at home and made a bishop when it was showery, and in rainy weather gave himself up to an idle day and made a baronet. But even if the proper weather for peer manufacture sets in, the right hon. gentleman has more important work on his hands now. PENIANS INTERRUPTING A TENANT-RIGHT MEETING. The agitators for the release of the Fenian prisoners are attempting to carry out their threats. They demand the freedom of the prisoners before they will condescend to notice any reforms. Not only so, but they intend to prevent anyone else asking for that which they themselves do not care to have. It is said to be their intention to prevent all tenant-right meetings until Mr. Gladstone relents. This policy was acted upon at Limerick on Monday. The High Sheriff, the son of Mr. Smith O'Brien, had called a meeting to consider the land question. Shortly before the hour at which tho chair was to be taken an oromnised mob came into the square where the platform was erected; destroyed it—that is to say, the platform— hustled the gentlemen who were to have taken part in the meeting out of the square, and so conducted themselves that it was determined to abandon the ori ginal design. Some "violent scenes occurred," the Times says; but serious breach of the peace took place. An energetic clergyman, after striking out straight from the shoulder, was quieted by a blow on the eye; and some policemen, who thought it their duty to resist, were injured ; but the excitement cooled as suddenly as it had been raised. AN M.P.'S TRAVELS. Times must be very bad indeed just now, other wise Mr. Bernard Samuelson, M.P., would hardly be allowed six columns of the Daily Naas in which to relate his Irish experiences. This gentleman, who represents Banbury, is one of the many members of Parliament who have been over to Ireland to study land matters. He bas returned full of wisdom and knowledge. Formerly, Mr. Samuelson, though an advanced Liberal, thought that with religious uality Ireland might compensation for i m p rovemen t s i n land Ireland might safely be left to develop her prosperity. Now he is convinced that the bitterness of past wrongs and the oppression which the relations between landlord and tenant still admit of will require very substantial legislative enactments. The demand for security of tenure is heartily supported, he says, by independent men of the tenant class who abstain froth active agi tation, and who by long leases or otherwise are them selves safe. By the most moderate of the Roman Catholic clergy the demand is regarded as mere jus tice. Many of the leading land agents would be glad if it were adopted, and they affirm that it exists by custom on all properties which are administered - with justice. More than this, Mr. Samuelson freely concedes that in the great majority of cases no oppression is practised by . landlords towards their tenants. "But the exceptions are sufficiently numerous to justify the demand for security, and I am quite certain that unless it be granted we may as well abstain from all legislation in reference to the land of Ireland." Beyond these ordinary phases of the question, the member for Banbury makes one or two noteworthy remarks. It is a mistake, he affirms to regard Ireland as a country chiefly fitted for pasturage; the greater part of the soil is capable of growing crops, not, indeed, wheat to any great extent, but oats, barley, and particularly root crops. It is equally a mistake to affirm that small farms are unprosperous ; the rule is, that holdings of twelve or thirteen acres furnish a much better living than could be got by an English agricultural labourer. It is worthy of note, too, that the land, as a whole, is not too highly rented. "A new generation of prudent and solvent tenants would, as a rule, gladly give a fair sum for the good-will of the existing holders." The remedy, Mr. Samuelson thinks, lies in converting into law the custom of the country—of legalising the Ulster tenant right. The projects for converting the landlords into annuitants by grantinc , fixity of tenure are needless and unjust. On the best estates it is a custom that farms are inherited by preference ; the property of the occupier in permanent improvements being admitted, the tenant's interest to a de sirable successor is sanctioned ; the rent is altered only when the value of produce changes materially. If the owner wishes to resume the whole or part of a farm, ho makes fair compensation to the tenant. These customs form the tenant-right of Ulster, and they exist more or less in other parts of the country. Give them the force of law, and all is done that need be done. The member for Banbury holds that the improve- MR. RYLE ON A REFORM OP THE EPISCOPACY. A long letter appears in the Record, from the Rev. J. C. Ryle, on Church Reform. Mr. Ryle introduces his subject at great length, by an argument that the Church of England is in danger—from Rome, Dissent, Infidelity, internal dissension, internal indif ference, and the political drift towards disestablish ment. To avert this danger he would reform the episcopate. His propomls (to name them shortly) are as follows :—An increase in the number of dioceses, each county to have its bishop and some counties to be divided ; the withdrawal of the bishops—except five of them—from the House of Lords; a decrease in the power of the prelate, he being given a council which he should be bound to consult ; a reduction in the episcopal salary to £2,ooo—that sum being increased by £l,OOO in the case of the five Parliamentary bishops; and a reform in the manner of appointment. This last-named change, Mr. Ryle thinks, is absolutely recessary. The committee of 1041 recommended a plan which has Mr. Ryle's full rpproval. "Upon every death or other void ance of a bishopric, the King to grant a come to all the clergy of the whole diocese, they to present three of the presbytery, and the King to choose and nominate whom he pleasoth of them." WOMEN VOTERS. The municipal elections this year are interesting as the first occasion on which women have exercised their newly-acquired privilege of voting. At some places a respectable number of ladies put in an ap pearance. At Guildford the gentler sex went mostly on the Conservative side. Generally speaking the conductof the newly-enfranchised was unimpeachable, but in one of the Liverpool wards the spectacle was not altogether reassuring. Here the ladies divided their affections between the Liberals and the Tories, and received many delicate attentions from both sides. Unfortunately, several were intoxicated, and others, it is affirmed, received bribes, not merely of liquor, but of a more substantial character. Says one reporter: "It is decidedly un pleasant—and not at all likely to enhance the respect with which ladies are regarded—to see bare-headed, bare-armed, and debauched looking women being driven about in cabs, and pointed to and jeered at by the crowd as voters." The ladies of this ward ap pear, on the whole, to have been decidedly bad samples. At more than one place the women united in favour of a candidate and secured him a position at the head of the poll. THE- MARSEILLES LAND COMPANY. Mr. Mowatt, chairman of the Cr3dit Fonder, writes explaining the course adopted by that com pany respecting the Marseilles Land scandal. The directors of the Crtdit Fonder do not desire the removal of tho present liquidators of the Marseilles Company, because the latter intend to do their duty in recovering moneys improperly taken from that company—but, on the contrary, because they neither will perform that obvious duty, nor can do so, from the relation in which they stand to the wrongdoers. The liquidators have no bond fide claims, Mr. Mowatt says, against the CrOdit Foncier. The action of the latter company to obtain the removal of the liquidators was not the result of the so-called " discovery," for, in fact, it was a notice convening the meeting of the shareholders, with the object of the removal, "that had the marvellous effect of eliciting the declaration of the said discovery" : I say advisedly the declaration that thby have made this discovery; because of discovery there was really none, the facts of the case being as well known to the liquidators, or some of them, years ago as they are now. The Marseilles Company was put in liquidation in September, 1867, and yet the liquidators have, during all this time, taken no step nor given any sign of their desire to obtain redress in the scandalous matter under consideration. BRIBERY BY COMMISSION. For the last day or two the Times has been pub lishing a correspondence on a subject as delicate as it is important —the practice more or less prevalent of engineers taking commissions from contractors. A contractor offers money for getting his contract accepted, or, again, for getting work inferior to the contract passed as satisfactory .by the inspector or superintendent. An engineer or other adviser of a company whose duty it is to recommend te n d ers f or m ateri als or workmanship, receives a gratuity, under the name of a " Commis sion," for the service his recommendation expresses. Thus the supervision designed to protect proprietors and shareholders is perverted to their loss. Bad work is made to pass for good, and good work costs more than its proper price. Where the outlay is great the loss is prodigious. A tender for thousands of tons of iron, or any other material, may be greatly above the mark without attracting notice. That the practice extensively prevails there can be little doubt. It is complained of in connection with the Indian railways. A correspondent recently stated that railway engineers set themselves against im provements, because they disturbed their existing system of contracts. The Metropolitan Board of 'Works has been engaged in investigating frauds—for such they are—of this description. Mr. llawkshaw, the eminent engineer, on behalf of his profession, indig nantly disclaims the charge; but the Times points out ono person cannot answer for the doings of his brethren, and, that the system is so generally recognised that it is regarded as a matter of course. "We have been assured that in an infinity of cases nothing is to be done without these fees, and that, in fact, a large proportion of public and private business is,thus depraved." The practice is bribery and cheating, however regular and common it may be. SMALL FARMS. Mr. J a mes Howard, M.P. for Bedford, has read a paper at the Farmers' Club on the system of small proprietorships so universal on the Continent. Ho behoves that they work unsatisfactorily. Comparing the system of small farms in Europe with the Eng lish method of agriculture, Mr. Howard describes the latter as restorative, the former as exhaustive. The picture he draws of the condition of the peasantry who own these small plots is very gloomy indeed. A. French farm of ten acres will maintain a large family, but its members will do twice the work of an English peasant, and live far harder. This is all very well ; but those who ought to know some thing about French agriculture tell a very different tale. M. Ldonce de Lavergne says:—"That portion of our soil which is most subdivided is not the worst cultivated. Quite the contrary, I can affirm that as a general rule the small farms are twice as produc tivein fact, if we had no small produce would sensibly diminish." The Enquete Agricola confirms this farms, a s, s o the ur others, agriou a li nd, oi ur view. Which is most likely to be correct ? THE BYRON CONTROVERSY. When the Byron controversy was first raised a great deal was expected from l)r. Lushington, and much capital was made by one side in the discussion out of his silence. To him L a d y B yron h a d con fid e d her secret; from him she had o bt a i ne d an o pinion which justified her in the eyes of the world in separating from her husband. Dr. Lushington, though frequently appealed to, keeps the sternest, strictest silence on the point. The Post tells us that this reserve on the part of the eminent lawyer "is in no respect attributable to his age or state of health, his intellect being remarkably clear and vigorous for his age ; nor does ho shun allu sions to the topic, although he declines to state whether Lady Byron did or did not make the specific charge in question." The learned doctor probably holds that a lawyer's secret is like a priest's—it has the sanctity of the confessional. THE CLERICAL COMPLAINT OP TIM CONGREGATIONS. The clergymen of London, instead of being criti cised this season in the columns of the Tunes, instead of having their sermons pulled to pieces, and their general conduct questioned, are taking courage to themselves denounce the laity. The pews have to bear the fire of scolding in the press instead of the pulpit. This p rocee di ng is slightly unfair perhaps, seeing that the minister gets the people every week, and says unto them that which seemeth fit in his own eyes, and they are not able to utter one word in roly. The clerics, however, have a word to sai over and above their " weekly ministrations." Ard their complaint is that the church-going publicts parsimonious ; it does not care to pay seat rents. It comes inside church doors , Sunday after Sunda, hears sermon following sermon in a good, comfort a b o sea t with a " fine view of the preacher ; " but it doss not care to pay up for what it obtains. And so fin salaries of the clergymen aro low. Might we suggest to those who have found this, the expediency of abolishing the " rent " alto gether P People wh, do not care to pay a regular tax would yet put )37 money voluntarily week by week. They will /it be compelled; they have no objection to offer of tieir own free will. The rent is an easer of the conscince, too. It is not what might be given; but it reprsents something bestowed. THE SATUIDAY HALF-HOLIDAY. The ex-Lord Mar of London—Mr. Alderman Allen, who was so unpopu l ar —and some of his brethren holding °flee in the " great metropolis," are dissatisfied with be results of the Saturday half holiday. What the:: expected from it is not clear. They live, however in the "heart of. business," and their compla4s should be taken into consideration. So ang as they were negative —such for instance a that having a few hours to spare once a week did not lead young men immediately to renew() all questionable practices, And induce them to bcome models of virtue at once, —the gliarm apint cloing could_ easily -the ta Navi . tvioi-er..they argiiibre Serio in an increasing magnitude ; of the handle unscrupu lous, dishonest and unpatriotic politicians make of them to attain to power and secure plunder ; and, more dangerous still, the strife between contending interests most marked in the case of manufactures and agriculture, which is broadly said to give one inte rest to the grain, cotton, and sugar-growing States, and another to the smaller, but wealthier communi ties of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. Recognizing all these, we can see no question which has the remotest chance of growing into such vital importance. But one, in any degree, raises the interests of a section against those of another sec tion, and in each but a narrow majority favours the interest it considers its own, in opposition to that of its neighbour. This question of Free Trade versus Protection, growing out of what most political eco nomists pronounce to be bad fiscal laws, is the real true ground-work for the prediction, and our readers can take it for what it is worth. The others are absolutely out of the pale of discussion in connec tion with such an important issue, though we enu merate them to show that they have not been over looked. We hold au opinion the exact reverse of that generally entertained on this 6d,., on another point of this subject. The popular belief is that the United States will break when its weight is in creased beyond the snapping point. Our impression is that every expiring year since the declaration of Independence lessens the risks of the rupture. First, because the facilities of transport, both for person and thought, have almost swept away the local pre judices generated by distance and difficulty of com munication ; and changed the former weakness of the central and the power through isolation of the sectional governments; next the poverty which in duced citizens to resist any burden imposed by the Federal Government, which they could neither see nor feel ; and then the want of hardening into a nation nothing but age will give, which makes widespread communities know that they are but limbs, branches, or leaves of a great tree, and to regard with pride and satisfaction the noble and growing trunk. In former days they had but the symbol of unity in the Flag ; the bond of connection in the War of Independence, and the history it furnished. Now American nationality is the great fact and experi ment of the world ; its wealth is immense, its com munication comparatively perfect, and its system of intelligence, supplying thought and subjects which all the inhabitants discuss simultaneously over the whole continent, unequalled. Instead of the danger being in the future, is was in the past ; and we feel assured that those who make a study of America, and accurately estimate the circumstances, will come to the same conclusion. This article has ex ceeded our limits, or we would endeavour to sum marise so as to condense within one or two sen tences, our reasons for concluding that from what ever aspect it is regarded, in our own words of last week, there is nothing in the future more impro bable than a split in the United States. AJIERICAN PRESS. The New York Times thus writes of New York : " We are getting used to so many strange developments in the art of trickery and imposture that nothing ought to surprise us. We see men who in most other States of this Union would undoubtedly have been driven from con tact with decent society, even if they had not long ago been invited to take their place in a felon's dock, here taking up prominent positions as ' colossal speculators.' It is held as nothing against them that they have brought ruin to hundreds of homes. People a-Imire their smart ness' and enterprise just tho same. If we want to study another .phase of life, which we may fairly call a revival of our own invention, we have only to watch the manner in which Judges are bought and sold, like sheep at a fair, or brass chains on a huckster's tray. A man who has large dealings in stocks thinks his establishment incomplete until ho owns a Judge or two. For practical purposes a sign might as well be stuck up outside some of the Courts, setting forth plainly that justice is to be sold at an alarm ing sacrifice, and that no ready money will bo refused. The scales of the goddess are only used to weigh the gold which both parties bring to bribe her with. 'We are get ting used to all this, and to a reign of shams and imposition generally. A railroad, especially if it happens to be called the Erie Railway, is made a means of plundering the un wary passengers and everybody who goes near it. The shareholders are not entitled to much sympathy. People who play with sharp instruments must expect to be cut." The New York Tribune is not slow to recognise the enterprise of a Metropolitan brother, as the fol lowing remark shows : "The Star beat all the other papers yesterday in its elec tion returns from Nebraska. It gave the result (by tele graph) of the vote for Members of the Legislature one year in advance of the election, which is not to take place until October, 1870. It is gratifying to be assured by the Star that the Radicals have achieved a substantial success,' and secured a majority of 34 on joint ballot. The Star is the same enterprising journal which received (by Atlantic cable) a summary of the remarks of the London Athentewn on the Byron scandal two weeks before tbo Athenteum made any remarks. Such gratifying evidences of energy and watchfulness on the part of the smaller journals deserve the highest commendation, especially when wo reflect what a serious tax the cost of these special telegrams must be upon their necessarily limited resources." Commissioner Delano's speech at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on the 25th Sept., is thus summa rised by the Springfield Republican : " Taking the article of whisky, which paid taxes on only 6,709,546 gallons for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, ho declared that for the year ending Juno 30, 1869, with Grant's Administration in office but four months of it, taxes were paid on 62,009,331 gallons. The revenue receipts of the first six months of 1869, January to June inclusive, exceeded those of the similar period of 1868 by more than $21,000,000, reckoning the taxes on spi rits, tobacco, fermented liquors, gross receipts, sales, incomes, and banks alone. The gain from the tax on spirits was $15,286,000, and this though the tax was only 50 cents a gallon, against $2 the year be fore. There were also a gain of nearly a million dollars on the single article of stamps on legal instruments. There was a small loss on special taxes, on legacies and suc cessions, also a " loss" of $242,000 on the salaries of officers, which Mr. Delano explains by saying, "We don't have as many officers now drawing salaries, and that is one of the things General Grant intends to do—while he collects the tax he also intends to reduce the expenses of the Govern ment." If the two dollar tax had been collected in 1868, as Mr. Delano says it should have been, upon seventy-five million gallons of whisky, that revenue alonesavould have yielded $150,000,00 0 , whereas it did in reality yield only $14,000,000. But the showing for the three months ending with October lis better yet. Last year, under Johnson, the receipts from internal revenue, for July, August, and September, were, in round numbers, less than $39,000,000. This year for the same quarter, including only half of Sep tember, the receipts have been $43,800,000, and for the whole quarter the commissioner says they will bo $49,000,000, or ten millions in excess of the same quarter last year. Such a gain is not to be expected every quarter, but Mr. Delano asserts that the revenue of the Govern ment may easily be increased over past receipts $25,000,000 per annum, and also declares his belief that the expenses of the Government can easily be decreased that amount, thus gaining $50,000,000 a year for the reduction of the debt, with the revenue laws unchanged. These laws, un changed, but executed, Mr. Delano thinks, will produce a revenue of $175,000,000 this fiscal year, and $180,000,000 thereafter. Truly, as the New York Times observes, these figures of arithmetic will outweigh with sensible people all the figures of rhetoric with which General Grant's de tractors are expert." Under the head of " Funny Fellows," the New York Citizen and Round 7 able thus describes a judge :-••••• " Judge Barnard is about as droll a scallawag as can be found on the bench or off. He does not care, and never did care, what he does, or what the public thinks of him. He is governed by an original, peculiar, and measurably correct rule, to the effect that the people cannot remember anything for more than a year. He feels entirely free to help his friends and punish his enemies' according to his peculiar notion of a judge's duty, and in spite of the opinion of his intimate associate, John B. Haskins, 'that there are sonic eases in which this will not answer,' until the last year of his term ; then he has to be careful, for fear of not being re-elected. The shortness of the people's memory is his reliance for total impunity in relation to any of his irregularities, and to this he trusts implicitly, and has here tofore trusted correctly. He is not celebrated as a lawyer, but stands by his friends, and ho carries ingeniousness to a pitch wihich is as amusing as it is creditable. He never denies the schemes that he is helping along in a judicial capacity, and which his friends have arranged for him. Ile will tell about them to any one who cares to listen, and considers them capital jokes. They are often exceedingly amusing, in spite of their want of certain other qualities. One of his last stories related to the Fisk suit against the Pacific Railroad. He stated how Fisk, when asked whether p a l i t e h d e his legal proceedings were not very expensive, allensi ayvde,rei Not at all. Judge Barnard fights for me State courts, and I have only to hire a l aw y er or t wo for the United States courts during the evening.' I'his joke seemed to afford him infinite amusement, which he desired to share with all hisacquoafinitiaisnfcreise.ndAs,letongteerthtaeirn,inhge cha racter. droll and, if you are ono He has certainly the two high qualities of frank ness and fidelity largely developed, if ho is somewhat re gardless of judicial prop ieties." ItTISEMENT. I —Holloway's Pills and Oi n t ment. col- Ap Convulsions, Fits, and Epilepsy.—These attacks, common to all ages cannot be regul a t e d w i t h out intellectall sess' or a lif ° e n . Epilepsy especially requ i res danger a g t e o s and prompt treatment, as it springs from a scrofulous state or from some unnatural pressure of the brain, which can only with certainty be removed in an early stage. For curing this terrible class of disease Holloway's remedies have held an enviable notoriety for more than a quarter of a century. The ointment should be rubbed twice daily over the stomach and spine as perseveringly as salt is rnbbed into meat. At the same time Holloway's pills should be freely taken in doses to act energetically on the bowels AMERICAN POLICIES IN 711 E EURO' PEAN SOCIETI'. The Wall-street Journal, in referring to the 31 3- plication to wind up the European Assurance S ° ' ciety, reproduces the City Article of the Times wit h some severe comments of its own on British Life Assurance Companies. It appears that the Society succeeded to the business of the British Commer cial and British Nation Life Insurance Compan ies ' having an office at 65, Wall-street, New York, bnG the depositors will be saved from loss by the e n ' hanced value of the Securities, now amounting W $234,689, in charge of the Insurance Department 5t Albany. It adds, however, that no later than l ast spring the company in London vainly attempted to withdraw a portion. The Hon. William Barn es ' the Superintendent at Albany, would not allow th y '' and in a letter to the editor, dated Oct. 7, th at gentleman gives these particulars : " Yours of the sth inst. is received. In answer, th e British Commercial Life Insurance Company of Lond° ° ' England, commenced business in this country about year ISIB, and on the pass age of th e A c t requiring a de ; posit of $lOO,OOO, for the pr o tection of policy-holders ' a this country, the deposit was made. Tho situation ati_ affairs of this company were such (so far as infortna tioD could bo obtained) as to be unsatisfactory to the Superi 3 o tendeut, and on the 29th of June, 1861, I revoked ~ Power of Attorney authorising the company to collect We interest on its deposit, and since that period the inte re 6 s , has been collected by the Department and compoan de n so that now the deposit is doubled. Soon after the re cation of the Power of Attorney the company was , gamated' with the British Nation Life Insurance O c ' ti a l , pany, and the British Nation subsequently `amalgam a t e with the European Insurance Society. The Ani eric ,, 3 l., Policies in force on the 3d day of May, 1869, were Its t low :--397 in number, insuring $1,097,575 ; Premium, $38,052.38; Loans, $25,718.54, and some tions. Their policies have been valued by this DeP' r o ment, according to the American Experience Table, at per cent. interest, and the net values are as follow, P e 31, 1869 : Policies 8146,8 95 I! Additions 11,040 0 Total If the lives are ordinary lives, this sum with the fo l ve premiums ought to carry the policies to maturity have on deposit as follow : „ s p Principal Deposit. Amount. Credit at POO Buffalo City 7s stock coup 550,000 $50,00!", 00 U. S. 6s stock coupon 15,000 15,°v 0 0 0 " " registered Interest Deposit 1 4 0 0 0 , 0 1 0 00 0 U. S. Os coupon " registered 70 6 ° L) Aggregate 5104,400 $201,4 64 Add loans 25 , 7_„. .18 --.-- 31 $227, 189 The premium on tho United States stock AO 00 should be added—say 230 9 Making total assets about Net value of Policies 5157,937 17 Outstanding claims—say 15,000 00 172 1 9° 3 11 Apparent surplus in the U. S. 561 ,75 0 , You will see, therefore, that the business in this ° o il , $10403,,060;,40 080°00 try is entirely safe, unless the policies cover a class ° ,.600 ferior lives ; of course, th e prem i ums on American must bo paid for on account of the American busineOitt We may add that an application was hear d to a New York Court, and a receiver appoint look after the compa n y's aff a i rs i n Alien Anglo-American 7 imes. • A very bold scheme has been devised by W. W. Vanderbilt to build steamships of novel all: e tg. creased dimensions to contend against the present ea Mr. Vanderbilt's plan is not unlike that so long ti r g,,,ps' Mr. Silver, claiming to secure a larger ca rrying 7, i t e city, greater speed, a lessened draught of water, Wi t ' h oo creased safety to life and freight. The dimensions of •0 0 vessels aro to be as follows: -Length on water 11 ° ° ' n ao.i feet; length over all, 515 do.; breadth of beam, 6v 6, breadth over all, 93 do. ; depth of hold, 32 do. ; 00 0 8,000 tons ; freight capacity, 3,300 do. ; coal capaci t Y'A:io6 do.; weight of hull and outfit, 4,000 do.; 1 013 ; 3 0 draught, 2 feet 2 inehes ; two engines, with boiler s, " 01 0' &c., 2,000 tons ; draught of water, 12 feet 8 inel le ! ; ,; 15 sengers and cargo, 2,000 tons; draught of load h il lfor feet G inches. Cabin accommodation is to bo provid 6 o pal 250 first-class and 1,000 second-class passengers. fire apparatus will be fitted, as well as the means f or ing or unloading the ship in eight hours. These Y e ' will have two vertical beam engines of 110-inch c ylic ol3 de , and 12-foot stroke each, and so arranged as to be 6 ' 3 % 0 13 ahead of the other, 90 feet apart, and to have two W i l e e 4 , on each side. Each engine to have a separate set of b° ,,,i n e. and to have a water-tight partition between each Ob . o f An amusing meeting was held at Waslaing t°l3 bet, the Woman Franchise Association on the 10th Oct%ief presided over by Mrs. Griffin. Mr. Freeman was thclocod orator, and he is described as saying He was °P h ' od o to women prating about their sufferings from the of men ; ho was opposed to such expressions to ° t ool' husbands taskmasters, and wives slaves ; be dfd u : i t that women looked much like slaves, as they passe"„fied' Pennsylvania-avenue, decked in fine dress and je'' From the very fact of women wearing such jewellery, he would judge that men were the slaves'the amount they had to furnish for the purchase °f s a nd U sti things. It had been asked if a woman was a citizerilood by referring to Webster's Dictionary it would h e te d cot she was not." This was scarcely the talk cal cul'l oo l i the meeting, which, luckily for Mr. Freeman, wagt attended; but more luckily still was it for Mr. Br ° at eee Mormon elder, who had the coolness there to reeeni alli tlJe the women who advocated freedom, and e s P e d l t i g, - females (as he called them) present at the Ineeoo- emigrate to Utah, where they would be enrolled il l Wog' muuity in which women had everything their ° /I ,,,eier ° Wo are naively told that the Mormon Elder's their ttr not well received; but we are as much astonishe° od' hearing given to Mr. Brown as at his Lionimpuden° to to ing on such a platform to make such a proPe si be 134 women of Washington, with Mrs. Griffin, toe, fu the THE NEW SECRETARY OF WAR.--Major-;tea William M. Belknap, of Keokuk, lowa, was a P P°I to 06 the 13th inst. Secretary of War in successi ou Colo' late Gen. Rawlins, and in relief of Gen. Shert°lll?;b mander-in-Chief, then holding the post ad ne er :h i e fr ° ' was strongly recommended by the latter, wh°sl,ber ( 0 , 11. sident directed to write to, and ascertain Wil e " v ivg Belknap would accept the appointment, and f 4 3 , 1, sse, 4 cepted, he was expected shortly from lowa w o g be' r, charge of the Department. General BelknaP fotl3eo in 1831 in the city of Hudson, New York. 111.5;0; Gon. Belknap, served in the war of 1812, eut er ( " ) - f big 0, ranks as a volunteer, but retiring as an offictulr grade, ono of the few retained in the service aftru'o On the death of his father young Belknap moved f to 0610 son to lowa with the family. He was attaining w hen position in the State when the war broke ent2,,tii entered the army early in 1861 as Major of the Volunteers. Ho was promoted Lieut.-ColoneVl3, 6410:13 Provost-Marshal of the Fifteenth Army CorP9lot, w h t3o try at Shiloh, where he commanded the regfru e lfter le d ho again joined for the attack on Vicksburg. a 03! l, 11 0 fall of the fortress he was made Brigadier-Genora 6 pas ha the lowa brigade in the Atlantic campaign, t al ff re h , 1 ,0 every affair till Sherman reached Savannah, , i a of to came Major-General, and was posted to the couira t ' r - o losle r . Fifteenth Army Corps, leading it through the Ct rig odf e o f Bentonville. He then refused the commission of l ieo tor General in the regular army, and was made C 0 1 00 Internal Revenue of the First lowa Distr i l'a rea li ! p g selected to deliver the annual address at the i e .; g lo o of the army of Tennessee, terms of the President, as well as of Sherman.,d. l;e is Logan, and Rawlins. Not long ago he ma r like in which he spok e $o t 9 said to be like Rawlins in temperament, but 1113 ' ith oe e t physical frame, being a fine, handsome fellow., W oo o 0 constitution. Although distinguished as ~ t he 0 , 1 ' 4 . he was unknown to politics, and his elevation 1 6' 0 ,, SP:d net created as much surprise as annoyance.eiuotiont:d man declares him to be a gentleman of high c a ' re, ,tor; cultivation, great in ability and sterling in c h ,. osce r 4 sl he prophesies that the country will before letZ e Gee' his value. He was a warm friend of the re' Rawlins. udthi if ° e/1 0t A Cincinnati reporter went to intervi cif ° it va i f sident Johnson on the Senatcrial qUeStiOnt • bird ho 6 d ho got for hie trouble :—" As a general har s ought to marry while young. You see, w hen re fif o 00, old our tastes and habits become fixed, and ~ ,, , , r s; 'Atie, e o li! to change to suit another. I believe, like ' c t t he P; matrimony ought to be encouraged. Bu t 3 fortu e ,..,;c oe day a young man who has not inherited a ro , t re'.' one who must rely upon his own efforts that he gets, will find difficulties in the way' Wife of BIRTHS. the SIMONDS—On the Ist inst, at Abbot's Bar i lter. W. Barrow Simonds, Esq., li•P•7 of Willi Clag ata 13°°1 TowsE -On the 2d inst a th e wife of Towse, Esq., of Fishmongers' Hall, a a se de , t S fj e ot, .111Al?RIAGES . nn h Ult., A yi r 0 COULTER- ITOLLINSITEAD- On the 30t h to 3 6110 g Surrey, William Coultersq. liensigtsq., widow of the late Henryy B. tiollinshette, , f i l o; I 0 ' Scarr, Lancashire. gichae pct. , g Muds -Homrs --On the 30th ul t., at St' wi n ol io lice, Thomas, youngest son of Davl ot a ro b° A. Clapham, to Annie, eldest daug hter Erg., of Lower Sydenham. el D E A TB S . Col° 3 ALLEN—On the Ist inst., at Clapham , - 1 -• 1 ri ltre Allen, Bengal S.C., aged 46 . ~h late ° CANNON—On the Ist inst., Mrs. Cannon, 91 4 Hells, aged 83. Pull PULLEN-0n the Ist inst. , John Stevens t vg, 80, Fore-street, Cripplegate, aged 61. „ T O° . 6 61 , LIA I4 "11' London: Printed and Published by WM__ s o .l-.,pek of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SuN Ow!! of in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the C O w! ! Wealosl9 l , li9TeMber 3, 1808. 1)