The Sun. — London, England, 1859-03-21 00:00:00

INAUGU.R. MONUMENT. (From the Carlisle ,Toutnal.) In the presence of an assembly of the inhabitants of Carlisle and Cumberland so vast as to suggest comparisons with the gatherings during the crisis of the great reform agitation, the Mayor of Carlisle, on Wednesday, unveiled the statue of the late James Steel, which has been erected in the Market place. Ten days ago the statue was safely raised to its position on the pedestal, but, in accordance with custom, it remained shrouded from the public gaze until the ceremony of inauguration had be en per formed. That having been done on W e d nesday, with the most admirable good taste and effect, the uncovered monument now graces the principal square of this city, and forms a very remarkable addition to the public ornaments, not of Carlisle only, but of the kingdom. The history of the man, whose memory . his fel low-cititizens and friends have thus highly ho noured, is a familiar one in this northern county. There are few inhabitants of Cumberland who have not not heard the story of the struggles of his youth, the victory he gained in his manhood, and the honours and influence which were accorded to him before he was cut off while yet the vigour and activity of his spirit and intellect were undiminished. Born in 1797, in a rank of life which made it al most a matter of ambition to aspire to the position of printer's apprentice, he.found himself at the age of 12, after having for a short while assisted his fa ther at the loom, employed in that capacity in the office of the Carlisle Chronicle, a journal which had but a temporary existence in this city. When it was discontinued, he was transferred to the office of the Journal, the newspaper to which his future exertions were destined to give new power and usefulness. Here his intelligence attracted the attention of the then proprietor and editor, Mr. Jollie and Dr. Ire land, and he came to be employed in assisting in the local reporting, which at that time was very diffe rent from the same branch of newspaper work in these days. Mr. Steel used to relate that his first essay in this department was in attending a nota ble pugilistic encounter, where he caught a severe cold that laid him up for many months. The period of his illness and progress to recovery was not un employed. He found out the sweet uses of adver sity, and in the study of the best English authors cultivated a national good taste and improved abilities that were of a high order. The foundation of the knowledge that in future guided him, and the upright principle and public spirit by which he was through life animated, was no doubt laid at this time, and encouraged by the . example and advice of honest and virtuous parents. He returned to his profession with fresh energy and inspired with a determination to seek an honourable career,--and it was probably in great measure owing to the ex perience and habits thus early acquired, that he was afterwards not more distinguished by his talents than by his conscientious, sedulous, and laborious discharge of every kind of duty. In 1829, having completed his apprenticeship and been partly initi ated in the literary work of a newspaper, he en gaged himself as printer and publisher of the Whitehaven Gazette. The editor of that journal was very thankful for any assistance in his own particular labours from the fresh pen of Mr. Steel, and the real duties of the editorial chair were for a number of years chiefly performed by the ostensible printer and publisher. While here Mr. Steel married—forming a connection which issued in a numerous family and gave him domestic sympathy, comfort, and happiness for life. In 1826 he was invited to become editor of the Kendal Chronicl e , and that post he h e ld f or two years. The energy of his character, the vigour of his pen, and the ardency of his sympathy for the popular cause and for all the movements towards civil and reli gious freedom then swaying the nation, had here scope for development, and became widely recog nised. He bore no small part in the great election contests between Mr. Brougham and the Lowther domination, and his name came to be known through. out the north of England. At this time the Carlisle Journal was in want of a mind such as arty, to guide its course, t o a id t h e e eof Cumber and to retain th e suppo re an were both dead. land. Mr. Jollie ae." 'continuedfooting on friendly Mr. Steel,„liwisy-- a u the proprietor, offered his ser with, nd be was gladly installed in the editorial c~iair. Here he exerted himself unceasingly and effectively for the promotion of Liberal principles, and for the breaking up of the system of political exclusiveness and corruption which had become intolerable to the country. The time was then out of joint, and in setting it right no one aided more strenuously than the editor of the Journal. Carlisle, in great measure through his exertions and those of a warm band of friends, took a prominent position in urging on the cause of Reform. It is difficult now-a-days to realise to the mind the excitement that then existed; the nation preparing itself to throw off the effete yoke, and the rulers marking every one who distinguished himself on the popular side, and watching for op portunities to pounce upon him. The local his tories of the Reform struggle have yet to be fully written, and when that for Carlisle comes to be recorded, the name of James Steel will be a prominent one. Meetings, at which grave ques tions were deliberated, were held at five or six o'clock in the morning ; injudicious ardour had to be restrained, and the flame of agitation bad at the same time to be kept at the proper point. To the labours of such men throughout England it is owing that the country had Reform instead of Revolution. Then came the struggle for Municipal Reform, and the breaking up of the old close cor porations. To the carrying of this measure Carlisle contributed its aid, and one of the principal direc tors of the local movement was the subject of this notice. At last the citizens were endowed with the management of their own affairs, and among the first to whom they entrusted them was Mr. Steel. In the course of 1831 Mr. Steel had been admitted to a share in the property'of the Journal, and on the 17th of September, 1836, the day which witnessed the reduction of the stamp duty, the newspaper became his sole property. From that time he took position as one of the foremost citizens. In the great election struggle for East Cumberland in 1837, it was acknowledged that Mr. Steel and the Journal were the real antagonists that de feated Sir James Graham and his newly-ac quired Tory allies. His able management of the election and his stern consistency - of prin ciple were acknowledged by the people of East Cumberland presenting him with the site of a house in Carlisle, on which he erected his future dwelling place. He was elected Mayor in 1845 and again in 1846, and he was an Alderman at his death, having been a member of the Council ever since its reform. In all the works for the benefit of the municipality he bore an active part, and to their elaboration and carrying out he brought an eminently practical mind. He brought more— he brought a high character for thorough honesty and public spirit, a reputation for sagacity and foresight, that almost disarmed opposition, and made discordant elements work together in har mony. It was this that made him truly honoured in the latter part of his so life. The public looked upon him as the impecrosnorio n of integrity, and entertained profound He neveren t c t e in the soundness of his judgment. t empted to make his presurnptuousla will law, or o act the autocrat ; but to his consideration ever y was b submitted, t h y e planspirit and almost all, knowing which he was actuated and the clearness of his bis intellect, accepted and al tea upon readily the eiviebo d opinion. While thus exerting himself in which is at once deliberative and executive, he yac tively participated in all the other movements for the good of the city and for the promotion of edu cation. At his death he was Vice-President of the Mechanics' Institute, and he had lent a helping hand to many of the lesser reading-room s . As , a journalist his characteristics were akin to those by which he was otherwise distinguished in the eyes of the public. Fearlessness, force, clear ness and quickness of apprehension, kept him ready-armed for any emergency. No stain was ever cast upon his honesty or his honour, and in public matters his sole motive was the highest public principle. He was jealous of anything that had even the appearance of corruption, and chal lenged it wherever he thought he detected it. He did not always escape unscathed in purse by the encounters into which he was led, but so plain was the bona fides with which he acted, and the nature of the objects which he sought, that all attacks upon him passed harmlessly. In the time at which he be gan life men's passions ran higher upon public subjects I than now and there was a degree of acrimony in pub lic journalism that has happily been greatly modi fied but Mr. Steel, although an unsparing, was ac knowledged to be a generous foe. His genial nature made him loved in private : and few men have had more or warmer friends. Throughout life he had been a martyr to a singular internal disorder that baffled the best medi ca l s kill , • and, a f ter a period of severe suffering, to this enemy he yielded his life in his 55th year. His death took place on the 16th o f December, 1851. Hi s funeral was the most largely attended, perhaps, of any that ever occurred in Car lisle;—and at their next meeting his feis l llow•coun cillors record e d th e i r d eep sorrow for his and transmitted thei r con d o l ence t o his Widow, A month afte r hi s d eat h a pu bli c meeting wa s h e ld in the Town Hall to deliberate about raising a memo rial in his honour. The speakers were the late M r. John Dixon. Mr. P. H. Howard, Mr. G. G. Mounsey, Mr. James Ross,. and others, and an influential cot e _ mittee was appointed to collect subscriptions. Money poured in, and at first, amongst several proposals, opinion preponderated in favour of " a monumental bya Olock-to wer ,i n some public fountain, surmounted. place within the city." A resolution to that effect was indeed adopted by the subscribers ' but imme diately afte rwar d s it was f e l t t h at the form of the testimonial would be hardly suitable. It was there fore held in abeyance, and when the Town Council, in the end of 1852, granted a site in the market place, the precise form of the memorial was not put before them. It was not, indeed, until June, 1856, that a conviction which hadb2sn growing in favour of a statue found expression in a resolution to rescind the former decision, and to embody the respect and reverence of the friends of the deceased in a marble effigy of himself. Application was made to Mr. Woodington, the well known and able sculptor, and he, having in s p ec t e d th e s it e , at once expressed his opinion that "the whole kingdom could not furnish a better." He thought it would be a . protection as well as an ornament, and the commission was given to him. His execution of it needs no eulogist to any one who has seen the grave and stately, graceful yet commanding figure which is now so prominent a feature in Carlisle market place. There is a marked likeness in the features, the squareness of the head, the boldly-projecting nose, and the strongly-drawn lines of the mouth being at once recognisable, while over the whole is spread the pleasing idealism of art. To-day we pre sent our readers with an engraving from a photo graph of the statue, and it will be seen that the head is slightly bent, in a somewhat characteristic atti tude, that one hand holds a scroll, while the other is slightly raised as if to arrest attention to his words. The drapery of the figure is a long coat, secured by a single button over the breast, while on the rest of the person modern costume is admirably har monised with those artistic notions that forbid the representation of ordinary clothing. The figure measures nine feet, is formed of perfect Sicilian marble, and stands upon a pedestal of eleven feet. The pedestal is of grey granite, and consists of a Doric column upon a massive base, with a low pillar at each of the four corners. Upon the column is the inscription— TAMES STEEL, MAYOR, 1845-1846. The site is truly a noble one. From the end of Eden-bridge, up the winding and irregular ap proach formed by Itickergate and Scotch-street, the gleam of the white marble is caught by any one entering the city. From each of the four streets that terminate in the Market-place —English-street, Castle-street, Fisher-street, and Scotch-street--the monument naturally attracts the observer, and among the somewhat plailibuildinzs by which it is surrounded it forms an object that the eye rests upon with pleasure. There is nothing but satis faction now felt as to the shape which this memo rial to a distinguished citizen has taken. It chal lenges every one's attention, and forcibiy recalls the career which it is intended to commemorate. In this way, if men try to read aright the moral which the majestic figure in ever-during marble constantly preaches, it may surely be as useful to the present and to future generations —as well cal culated to incite to honour and virtue—as if the subscribers had built something that to vulgar eyes would be a memorial of more material and present utility. THE INAUGURATION. A few minutes before twelve o'clock on Wednes day the Mayor (R. Ferguson, Esq.) and Corporation, and the subscribers to the statue assembled in the Town Hall. The attendance there was numerous and most inflaential. It was impossible and might be invidious to attempt to give any list of names ; suffice it to say that the outer hall was crowded with the most influential of our citizens, as well as with representatives of the gentry, yeomanry, and farmers of the county. Precisely at twelve o'clock the committee and members of the Mechanics',iln stitute, followed by deputations froal u gr by.the literary societies of the town k OE4lg-bearers arrived military band, and a n irall. The procession was in front of , tbptarre‘a- and moved towards the statue im 2Stliowing order : The Band. Corporation Flag. St. George's Flag. The ace and Sword Bearers. The Mayor and Corporation. The Committee of Management and the Sons of Mr. Steel. The Vice-President, Committee and Memb ers of the Mechanics' Institute. Deputations from the other Literary Societies of Carlisle in 1 1 order of seniority. General body of Subscribers t o the Statue, and Friends of Mr. Steel. As the procession moved towards the Cross, the band struck up the Masonic march, which was specially composed for the celebration of the Burns centenary at Dumfries. Meanwhile an immense crowd had congregated around the statue, the causeways were covered with spectators on every side, and every window which overlooked the site was occupied with groups of ladies. Altogether It was estimated that the num ber of persons present was at least 8,000 or 10,000. A staff of police-officers, under the direction of Mr. Chief Constable Bent, was in attendance, and maintained an open space in front of the statue until the approach of the procession, when the gentlemen constituting it took up their position within the circle, amidst loud acclamations. The music and cheering have ceased, The MAYOR ascended the base of the pedestal and said—Fellow citizens, this is no every-day cere mony at which we are now assisting ; it is no corn- , mon honour which is being paid to the memory of a fellow citizen. We may ask the question now, as it will be asked in days to come, when strangers shall pass through this busy market place and look on this noble work of art, why is the statue of Jas. Steel placed here ? Is it as a memorial to a well known leader of a political party ? I say at once on no party ground would a statue have the right to stand here in the market place of all the citizens. Is it a memorial of the affectionate remembrance of the many and the warm friends who surrounded him in his lifetime ? Again, I say on no private ground has a statue a right to stand here. (Hear) The memorials of private friendship are appropriate in the house appointed for the dead, but not in the busy haunts of the living. (Hear, hear.) There must be something of a deeper significance in the act which places the statue here—here, looking on one side towards the place where in his early days he wrought as a printer's boy, and on the other side looking to the hall where in after time he sat as chief magistrate upon the bench--here ofall place s , where men most do congregate— i n the very heart of the city's life. (Cheers.) I have said there must be no party ground. Ido not say there must be no political ground. It would indeed be difficult to do honour to James Steel and forget that he was a journalist. But in his character of journalist there are features on which all may unite to give honour and respect. If there be one point more than another on which men of all parties have agreed it is this, that for the proud position which this nation occupies among the nations it is in no small degree indebted to the freedom of her press—(applause) —and no man more than James Steel, through a long political life, at a time when many were but spelling the lesson they now know so well by heart, no man more faithfully or more unflinchingly maintained the independence of the press. (Hear, hear.) I may go a step further in this direction without passing that line which I should be the last to trespass upon, and I may say that as one of the earliest, one of the ablest, and one of the most consistent advocates of great measures which the whole nation has now adopted and ap proved—l say in so far as those measures are there by removed from party ground, for the share which he took in their accomplishment we have a right to pay public honour to his memory. (Applause.) I I have said that on private grounds this memorial would be misplaced here. But we cannot separate the citizen from the man, and naturally and inevi tably the esteem which is felt for his private kindli ness and integrity will mingle with the honour paid to his independence as a journalist and long useful on the ness as a citizen. (Hear.) But the main ground I rassi ng lll la e b in e o u i r take it is this, and this it is to which the one word suffering sal f po a int i s o — ur t n h a a h t .s t t h s through u o g a r h o e a r l! the dur ihuag bodily from which for long years of his life he was never free,. he nevertheless found time, and the spirit was gagbiTento.h a i a m sis e t n i e n rg o e a t r i r e y a i l n l . y g to ou t pio objects having for them aim the material improve ment of the town, or the moral and mental improve ment of the townsmen. (H e ar, hear, and cheers.) Therefore it is that those who b ear ()wee in this city are assembled on this occasion. Therefore it is which c • that the societies cherish his to oin in the h memory are gathered aroun d j onour which is to be paid him. Therefore on these many grounds it is that this statue stands here an ornament to the d town, a memorial of a valuable citize n , an a last ing example to others, now, and in d a y s to come. (Loud cheers.) The cords which held the covering of the statue were then draw n , an d as the cloth fell the M ayor said—" I declare thi s s t a t ue duly inaugur ated." At the same moment a loud cheer burst from the large assembly, and was p ro t rac t e d f or s ome time. The band then played an air, after which Mr. CRACKANTRORPE said—Mr. Mayor and gentlemen, as the Mayor has called upon me to address a few words to this assembly, I venture to take my place on this pedestal. As one of the subscribers to this testimonial to our late lamented friend Mr. Steel, 'presume I have had the honour of receiving an invitation to assist at this ceremony. And, gentlemen, although at first I might hesitate about accepting that invitation, fearing that I might be looked upon as an intruder, remembering that this scheme of a testimonial originated with the citizentoo f Carlisle, and ------ their instrumentality —I say, feeling that, I hesi tated whether I ought to be here. But remember ing, gentlemen, the great services which our friend rendered to the county of Cumberland at large, I should have thought myself wanting in due respect to his memory—(hear, hear)—and would have been guilty of ingratitude and forgetfulness if I had not personally appeared here to-day to assist in this ceremony. (Cheers.) I am glad to think, my friends, that it will not be necessary for me to enter into any details of the services rendered by the late Mr. Steel, not only to this city in which he was elected Mayor, but to the county, inasmuch as they have been enumerated already by your ex cellent and worthy Mayor in language which I could not aspire to. (Hear, hear.) But I will ven ture to say so much, that if independence of action, if liberality of principle, if the advocacy of all popu lar rights—(hear, hear)—if the enlightenment of the people, if the exposure of all abuses—(hear, hear)—and, if above all, the anxious support of all measures which might be useful and beneficial, whether they were social or political—if these have any claim on the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, then do I say that James Steel was fully and pre eminently entitled to our gratitude. (Loud cheers.) And I am glad to think, gentlemen, his services have not been forgottten by his contemporaries. The statue which has just now been inaugurated by the Mayor is a proof of the feelings of affection and gratitude whichyou feel and have felt towards him. And I think, gentlemen, I may venture to say that it is a proudfeature in the character of Englishmen that they recognise the conscientious discharge of duty in the man, be his station and his position of life what it may—(cheers)—whether he be born in a po sition where it was necessary by honest industy, by great ardour, and by persevering exertions to raise himselfto eminence, or whether he be born to the po sition of one of the hereditary aristocracy of the land— ; whether in fact by the election of his fellow-citizens he has been placed in the honourable position of Mayor of this town, or whether he had been nomi nated by the Crown as Lord Lieutenant of the county—and whether he be born a printer or a peer. (Cheers.) Sir, these are my feelings, and I am glad to think that they are shared by the citi zens of Carlisle—and not only the citizens of Carlisle, but the inhabitants of Cumberland. I will just add one word. It is possible that during Mr. Steel's lifetime, from the political principles which he espoused, from the scourge which he applied to the correction of abuses, f rom the desire to dissipate antiquated prejudices, some feelings may have arisen in the minds and breasts of some of his contempo raries which might have induced them not to look on him altogether with feelings of gratitude. He however has now passed away from among us—the hand of death has cut hiii off in the midst of a use ful and laborious life, and nothing now remains to us but to cherish the memory of his virtues. (Hear.) Lord Bacon has said that "Death openeth the gate to a good name and it extinguisheth envy." (Cheers.) Aye, and I am sure I cannot have a stronger proof of it than I have at this moment before me. I see his opponent in the press, Mr.. Perring—if he will allow me to call him so, my friend Mr. Perring (Mr. Perring took off his'hat and bowed)—who is willing to come here to-day to assist at this cere mony, and I am sure, therefore, that I cannot have a stronger proof that all feelings of annoyance or of bitterness, if they ever did exist, have passed away. (Hear.) I can only congratulate you, the citizens of Carlisle—and I will ven t ure t o sa y th a t on behalf of the county of Cumberland I congratulate you—that you have raised a testimonial of merit so worthy as the statue that has this day been in" gurated. (Loud cheers.) 1 call arrived during Mr. HOWARD, of Corby, henZp 'l,^ ,„ u ascended the . step Mr. CrackanthornQ'R 'l .- : -.. .. 1. and said— r. Mayor and friends, of the pede .....4 i_. , e seen asked by your committee to say u, few words on this occasion, and to unite in offering this tribute of admiration to the active citi zen to whose merits my friend Mr. Crackanthorpe has borne such able and eloquent witness. Mr. Mayor, though the life of Mr. Steel did not number so many years as have fallen to the lot of some, he passed through a very long career of public utility. (Cheers.) My revered father frequently admired and witnessed the consistent liberality of his course. (Hear, hear.) Of his exertions in the passing of the great Reform Bill, which has been now ad mitted as a benefit by all classes and parties, ample evidence ha s b een shown. (Hear, hear.) In that measure which had f or its object to widen the entrance to the Corporation he took a decided and an active part. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, when it was a question of extending the benefits of the post-office--when an active citizen devised a means of uniformity of postage by which the public at large could be benefitted—with that ready inspira tion of genius, Mr. Steel saw at once the benefits that would arise from that measure, he saw the feasibility of the plan, and he advocated it with that tenacity of purpose which belonged to his character. (Hear hear.) Gentl emen , you h ave seen that when this town was in want of a necessary supply of that element of life, water, nobody took in that obje c t a more successful part. (Hear, hear.) He did not spend hie time or wawto Lio .Lic.l.slco ..... duly in disquisitions on the abstract rights of man, but when the Health of Towns Bill had been passed he was elected by his fellow citizens and by. the members of the Corporation to preside over the carrying out of that measure—(hear, hear)—and in the frequent collisions which necessarily took place between the claims of property on the one hand and the claims of public health and convenience on the other, he displayed that tact and perseverance, and that power of mastering details which formed so prominent a part of his gifted mind. (Hear, hear.) It has been said we ought not to have erected a statue, but to have resorted to some monument of more every day usefulness. But, Mr. Mayor and gentlemen, a statue speaks at once not only to the citizens of Carlisle, not only to the inhabitants of Cumberland, but to the stranger. (Hear, hear.) It combines the support of art with public gratitude. The stranger who visits this town with the wonder -1 ful power of steam, the stranger who comes from Dumfries or Newcastle, at once sees a monument of public gratitude to a worthy citizen. (Cheers.) It is therefore right that we should pay to Mr. Steel this unselfish tribute of applause. Mr. Mayor and gen tlemen, you have, as Mr. Crackanthorpe observes, erected a monument to one who filled the highest post which it is in the power of the Crown to confer on a subject—to a nobleman who combined benevo lence with high rank and endowments. You have raised a monument to one whe witk applause sat in Parliament and presided on the bench —my late friend Major Aglionby. (Hear, hear.) You have now erected this beautiful and stately monument to one who by the innate power of his mind and strength of his genius overcame the obstacles to ad vancement which existed in his early youth—set at nought the distracting pains of bodily disease-- (hear, hear)—overcame all physical obstacles, and earned for himself a reputation which I trust will be as enduring as this statue which commemorates his memory ; and I trust he will long be remem bered by you and your children as a benefactor to Carlisle, and the advocate of the liberties of the people and of the liberties of mankind. (Cheers.) Mr. DAVIDSON, Vice-President of the Mechanics' Institute, said—Though proud of being permitted to take part in this interesting ceremony, I cannot but feel that the right man is not in the right place ; for, had circumstances permitted our excel lent president, Mr. Ferguson, to take his appro priate place at the head of the Carlisle Mechanics' Institute, the duties which now unfortunately de volve upon me would have been much more ably performed. (Applause.) It would be out of place for me to refer to the late Mr. Steel as a journalist, as a politician, or as a magistrate, even if these qua lifications had not been eloquently remarked upon by previous speakers. I will therefore speak of him only as the enlightened friend and the indefatigable labourer in the great and glorious work of social and intellectual progress. (Hear.) And to his honour be it said that while he was manfully fighting the battle for himself and raising - himself step by step to a posi tion of eminence and influence, he, like a sound hearted man as he was, never forgot to help forward with all his might his humbler fellow-citizens, and, indeed, all that came within his influence. (Cheers.) The CarlisleMechanics' Institute was first established in 1824, just one year after the great London Insti tution was founded by the late Dr. Birkbeck and Lord Brougham. (Hear, hear.) It fell into abey ance for a year or two, but in 1832 or 1833 was re established mainly through the exertions of its present president and the late Mr. Steel, who was thereupon elected vice-president, and, from that time, year after year, until his death, was he re elected to that office by the members, who thus showed their appreciation of his great services. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Steel felt a deep interest, I need hardly say, in this and all similar institutions. 114 was the consistent and zealous friend of all kindred societies, whether working men's reading rooms or by whatever name they were called. Now, some literary men are very bad men of business—they are prone .to l aunch forth crude theories that few methentactaen James out to who was a thorough to any practical result.. tia t. pra N e ot e so l man, aitTelea first-rate man of business, even to the minutest details. the fact that Mr. Mechanics' business. Im a , ~ allstliad the privilege of doing in .the No one who sat with him on the t itchuel athave( Institute for six years, could be blind to in lt t e it e ut l:a ,o s st anon one o admirable fitsm ai nmpai pillars a r o s f the Mechanics' r_s s ,y bat in the death of Mr. Steel of suepomponirtitteelnidnepedar, membersu eo:r g re e p n e e a ra te ll d y , , and honour to Mr. Steel, Pride, and feel that occa sions had to deplore his loss. .) I may add, that the members of the Institute look upon th . n e o n t tonwliythdohnoeneasnt o h n a u s m but a great Carlisleno ble in honour to itself in thus commemorating bears to the subject of Reform. The proletaires of France are its Republicans and revolutionists. The freeholders are the conservators of peace, law, and order. Their savings form the Rentes—the public funds hold their recognisances for allegiance to the State. The extension of the franchise in our counties to all tenants paying a rental of £lO, virtually gives the preponderance of power into the hands of the landless, and places the tenantry far in ascendancy above the landholders. To what is that owing but to the laws of primogeniture and entail ? Had land been subjected to the same laws of distribution as personalty, would we ever have seen the spectacle, in a nation of twenty-seven millions of people, of twenty-six millions six h un d re d and fifty thou sand of them having no property in the soil whereon they are born, and the whole freehold of the acreage of these islands being concentrated in the tenure of three hundred and fifty thousand people ? Is it safe in any community to have a nation of Lacklands ? If you attach political rights to property, and also to persons, is it wise to divorce the property from the persons —to range the elec tors on the one side, and the land on the other ? It is high time that statesmen, if they mean to trans fer the issues of power from its present holders, should prepare the basis of a peaceable and orderly constituency, giving securities to society for their patriotism and loyalty in the possession of the land whose tenure is identified with the stability of the State, and the well-affected temper of its subjects. We go on encouraging the Tritons of capital to add field to field, and house to house ; we d r i ve our middle classe s from the land into the great towns ; we run small farms into greater; we enclose every common ; we buy up every bit of land the poor can be prevailed upon to sell ; heir and heiress come together, and join two huge estates in the tenure of the son and heir, so that no freeholds are left for the residue of the population ; whole counties are cleared in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands that red deer may range undisturbed, that turnips, wurtzel, and sheep may yield more profit than human beings, and bullocks may replace the expa triated Celt who hangs his harp on the willows and murmurs " Lochaber no more ! ' in Canada or at the Cape. We hurry all the younger children out of their country homes ; we " make a solitude and call it peace." The time is rapidly hastening to the consumma tion when the large-acred proprietors will find their , only safety to lie in surrounding themselves with sturdy yeomen and intelligent freeholders; when it will be seen how dangerous it is to have only the very rich and the very poor, a few great squires and a mass of dependants with out property of their own. This forced congestion of population to great centres has already borne its fruits ; there alone it has been that the discontent and restless activity of the proletairiat have threatened the subversion of public order again and again. In the cities it is too much the tendency to concentrate trade and manufac tures in masses—a few employers, and all the rest mere dependent receivers of wages, the middle orders of traders being crushed out of • the field. The same process goes OR in the counties in reference to land and farmers. Estates are becoming mere manufactories of food, arranged between vast owners and huge occupiers. It remains to be seen whether the handfuls of squires and great tenants can hold their own against the ten-pound occupiers in the villages. A well-ordered society should be made up of insensible gradations, all running into each other. Any policy which classifies and sepa rates them—which divides their interests —which is suggestive of alienated sympathies, or defines a line of demarcation between class and order, is cer tain to array the majority against the few. At a time when agriculture has risen into a science, and as much food can be raised on one acre as formerly grew on five—when high farming makes more pro fit on a few acres, skilfully cultivated, than on a whole parish left to weeds and rushes—when, in fact, the area of the soil has been practically quad rupled by agricultural improvements —the excuse for this policy of land monopoly becomes daily less. To lay the foundation of an intelligent, indepen dent, and orderly county constituency, it is neces sary to begin by a repeal of the law of primogeni ture. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE. the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, damages £2O, and the learned judge certified for a special jury. HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONE, March 19. (Before Mr. Justice Wightman.) William Hills, Joseph Bills, and Alfred Burr surrendered to take their trial upon a charge of stealing 12 gallons of stout, the property of Messrs. Truman, Hanbury, and Co., the brewers. The prisoners were all found guilty, and Wil liam Hills was sentenced to be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for eight months, and the other two prisoners for six months each. Mr. George Philip Richardson, who has for several years filled the office of surveyor of the highways for the Sevenoaks district, surrendered to take his trial on an indictment which charged him with having obtained a large quantity of broken stones and gravel, the property of the late Dowager Countess of Amherst, by false pretences. There was also a second 'ndictment against the prisoner charging him with larcency in stealing materials of the same description, the property of the trustees. Mr. G. Denman and Mr. Digby conducted the prosecution on behalf of the trustees of the roads; Sergeant Ballantine and Mr. Poland were counsel for the prisoner. The first indictment that was proceeded with was the charge of obtaining a quantity of stones and gravel by means of false pretences, and it appeared from the opening statement of the learned counsel for the prosecution that the prisoner had unlimited authority to order any quantity of materials that he considered necessary for the repair of the roads, and that he was in the habit of obtaining them from quarry called the White Quarry, and also from one called the High Cross Quarry. The custom ap peared to be for the prisoner to send an order for a certain quantity of stone or gravel, and the account was sent in at regular periods to the trustees, and the allegation against the prisoner was that he had ordered larger quantities of the materials than were required for the purposes of the roads, and that he sold the excess to other parties on his private ac count and retained the money, the trustees having to pay, of course, for the whole amount that had been supplied. Sergeant Ballantine, upon these facts, submitted that the charge of false pretences clearly could not be made out, as the prisoner had full authority to order any quantity of materials that he pleased, and no false pretence whatever was made use of by him to obtain possession of the property. Mr. Justice Wightman, after hearing Mr. Den man in suppo r t o f the indictment, expressed his opinion that, upon the facts stated, a charge of ob taining the property by false pretences could not be supported. The jury .therefore returned a verdict of not guilty. The prisoner was then arraigned upon the second indictment, which charged him with larceny in stealing a quantity of gravel and broken stone, the property of the trustees. The same learned counsel were engaged for the piosecution'and the defence. The circumstances under which the charge was preferred were pretty similar to those relating to the former case, and the allegations on the part of the prosecution appeared to be, that from the year 1856 down to the year 1858 the prisoner had been in the habit of obtaining larger quantities of mate rials from the White Quarry than were required for the purposes of the roads, and that he applied the excess to his private use. A gentleman named Sperling, a magistrate for the county, and also one of the trustees of the roads of which prisoner was the surveyor, proved that in the beginning of the year 1857 he employed the prisoner to purchase a quantity of broken stones and gravel for him, and he did so, and sent in a bill in his own name for the amount, which he paid him, and it ap peared that the trustees afterwards paid for them in their account. It transpired in the course of the case that this prisoner's father had filled the same office as himself for more than 30 years, and that the prisoner bore a high character, and it was also admitted that in many of the instances the excess of the materials had been charged to the pri soner as being for his private use. It also appeared that Mr. Carnell, the solicitor and clerk to the trustees, had some conversation with the prisoner in reference to the transactions complained of, when he admitted that all the'stone he had ordered had not been used for the roads, and that the amount of such stone and other materials was about £l5O, and he considered he was indebted to the trustee's for that sum ; he paid £53 17s. on account of the sup posed deficiency, and Mr. Carnell gave him a receipt for the money on account. It likewise appeared that these charges had been investigated by the magistrates of the district, and that they were dis missed by them. Sergeant Ballantine made a most earnest and eloquent appeal to the jury on behalf of the prisoner, who, he said, had borne a high and unblemished character down to the period of these transactions. T--Tp 41 - 4. avidence.had altogether failed in establishing anything like a felonious intention on the part of the prisoner, and that the utmost that had been proved was that stones and gravel which ought to have been paid for by the prisoner had, by mistake, been charged to the trustees ; and he put it to the jury whether Mr. Carnell, who was a solicitor, and of course w e ll acquainted with the l aw , wou ld have treated the matter as a debt if he thought that the transaction contained any of the ingredients of a felony. Mr. Justice Wightman having summed up, the jury immediately returned a verdict finding the prisoner not guilty, and his lordship ordered him to be immediately discharged. TIO. OF 'HE STEEL THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING,- MARCH 21, 1859. his memory ; and in doing so has nobly declared that here at least the reproach contained in the old proverb does not apply---" that a prophet has no honour in his own country." (Hear, hear.) More over, this noble statue will act as a lasting incite ment to young men among our citizens here who are, like Mr. Steel, fighti ng th e b att l e o f li fe. May not every young man, however humble his present and the right aim, as h e passes to hi s m i dday meal. position, if struggling. upwards w ith th e r i g ht m i n d look up to this noble statue and. take courage ? (Loud cheers.) This concluded the ceremony. The band now played the national anthem, after which the pro cession was re-formed and returned to the Town hall. The friends of the late Mr. Steel afterwards proceeded to the Coffeehouse, where they partocck of wine and cake. The "Memory of James Steel" was proposed by the Mayor and drank in solemn silence by the company upstanding, and after the health of the Mayor had been proposed by Mr. Elliot and duly honoured, the company separated. PRIMOGENITURE AND REFORM, (From the Dispatch.) The first principle of the law ought to be the equality of subjects before it. From all allegiance is equally claimed—to all justice is equally due. It may be in strict pursuance of that principle that it should be recognised as the right of every man to do what he likes with his own, or to do what is even morally . questionable, because liberty of choice is his social right ; but wherever the law itself is called in as the arbiter, wherever the State itself speaks as the aggregate of the moral sense of the nation, there should the utterance be truth and jus tice without fear or favour, there should it demon • strate to all its subjects that it is " too fond of the right to adopt the expedient." What is an elder son to this State more than a younger ? Is not a girl its subject as well as a boy ? Why, then, should the public law be made the tool of a class, and an instrument of disinheritism ? There is not a country in Europe that retains our law of pri mogeniture. Entail , : are sennted in the jurispru dence of every kingdom out o f England. The lean ing of our law has been uniformly against them, and they have bean retained in our courts only by the compulsion of our legislators. Nay, the very principle of family preferences is condemned by our own policy, except in one direction. Should aßoths child leave his millions in the funds, the eldest son, in case of intestacy, takes no more than his youngest daughter. Should the owner of riches "beyond the fancy of human avarice" die a bachelor, the legion of his next in kin would all participate alike. But because a man by accident has happened to invest his money in land in place of Consols, to add field to field and house to house where another preferred five per cent. in railways, or 20 in bank shares, it pleases our wiseacres to hold that he should leave his younger children destitute, and to make a golden calf of the fool of the family. We are told, indeed, that the squire may make a will. We are asked why the man who wants to leave all to his eldest son should be forced to sign a testamentary deed, in place of requiring him who is for an equal division to do so ? It were easy to retort the question, " What's sauce f or th e goose i s sauce for the gander." But to our apprehension the distinction is very plain. If a man wants to disinherit his children, let the act be his own, not that l before th e l aw i s th e p latterfor all its subject s . Th e ain o f g . State., foie latter Tr.;- g Lears of society should be made to do their own dirty work. The man who, in the language of Scripture, seeks "to turn him away from his own flesh," should not be suffered to cheat his conscience out of the sense of its duties and responsibilities, by getting society to become the scapegoat of his whimsical partialities and capricious dislikes. Let the law force a freeholder to make a will if he de sires to rob his children, and how seldom will even' a rogue make a will ? There are tens of thousands of ignorant men in this country who have no conception whatever of the operation of the law in reference to succession. There are very many who are too indolent and too procrastinating to make a will, who even grudge the mere expense, but who would never voluntarily by positive act give their whole realty to one child. Their property passes to the heir by sheer default; they either do not know the effect of the law, or they are too lazy to obviate its inequalities by any decision of their own. The true policy of the State in this regard is very clear. If it is to make a will where its subjects make none, it should be that which a wise and good man would make for himself. We have an order of nobility—an order of g en t r y— a t err i tor i al aris tocracy. 'lt is considered by our statesmen (?) to be highly politic to encourage the accumulation of great estates—to discountenance division of land as much as possible. Well, bas the State a right -to adopt such a system in defiance of the cries of nature, and the dictates of equal justice ? Is it wise for a State any more than for an individual to do evil that good may come ? Can a publicist legitimately take up the position that what is morally wrong may be politically rignt ; mat it ever can ne tne true policy of a nation to do that as an aggregated corporation which is opposed to the plain obliga tions of its individual subjects ? If it be wise, in the proper acceptation of that term, for a State to encourage its subjects to disinherit their children, then clearly it is the duty of those subjects to do it themselves. Has any f a th er of a family a right to say :—" The ruin of my daughters is for the advan tage of the country, therefore let them be ruined ?" Did society exist before the family ? Is not the family the first community, the very elementary principle of society itself? Is there any responsi bility in the world paramount to that which a man owes to those whom he himself has called into being, and for whose happiness to the extent of his ability he is plainly accountable? When the ques tion is plainly put before the reason and the unso phisticated conscience of the husband and the father, there is no hesitation in the answer. When a parent is asked to leave his girls in beggary, that England may sustain its order of Peers, the most conserva tive of us begin to think that the cost of sacrifice is far beyond the return. A Minister now in office has indeed propounded the sentiment— " Let laws and learning, trade and commerce die, But spare us still our old nobility." Lord John Manners himself is ashamed of. the sen timent, but it reigns with all its original spirit in the minds of the defenders of the policy of primo geniture. We have argued the question of the morality and justice of the law as opposed to its policy, but in truth they are not antagonistic—they cannot 136 in opposition. All truth is harmonious ; there is nothing contradictory in justice ; nothing ail be expedient which is not right. A knave is but a fool with a circumbendibus. Honesty is the best policy. When we would know what is wise, the conscience has given us a short cut to it. Our instincts were given us, our moral intuitions, to be the substitutes for reason and for wisdom. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings has God perfected his praise; because the dictates of their pure and innocent moral impulses lead to the very conclusions which worldly wisdom and philosophy also arrive at by painful elaboration and anxious deduction. The State policy of primogeniture is as unsound as its morality is questionable. We have never advocated the compulsory subdi vision of land or realty. If the owner, by deed, directs it to be cumulated, let him. In a country such as This, no stimulus is required to the tendency to accumulation. Where fortunes of a plum are common, and millionaires may be counted by the dozen, there will always b e l arge estates in suffi cient number for any purposes of the maintenance of a territorial aristocracy. So long as these estates are wisely held by the prudent, the virtuous, by social benefactors, they will remain in the family. But land is not a mere benefice. God's earth is a solemn trust committed to the holder for the good of all. Whenever, therefore, the proprietor becomes unworthy—whenever he misuses his property to the prejudice of the community—it naturally passes from him into more frugal and intelligent hands, unless the order of Providence be thwarted by the folly of man, in adopting the. policy of primogeni ture. Guizot dates the progress of England from the period of the division and sale of the Church lands among the people. Family pfide and the law of primogeniture ruined Ireland ruined the very persons sought to be benefited by the policy. The Encumbered Estates Courts, which are really a device for ridding the country of the evils of the law of intestacy —which have thrown huge properties in subdivided parcels, upon the market = which have dispersed the accumulations of ages, and practically repealed the law of primo geniture —are the very source and centre of the regeneration of Ireland. They have encouraged a resident yeomanry in the room of lordly absentees or spendthrift outlaws and refugee heirs ; they have called small capitalists to colonise the soil and to form a resident middle class ; they have, in a word, converted Ireland from turbulent discontent and squalid misery to reverence for the law, social order, and high material prosperity. It is no hazardous pre: diction to prophesy that, in a few years, the Pope's brass band will have as little place in Ireland as in Exeter, and that a constituency will spring into being whose intelligence and independence will render them the safest depositories of political power that true statesmanship could desire. Do these facts suggest to the reader the political moral we would apply to them ? It is not our pur pose at this time to discuss the question of the comparative merits of large or small holdings. We reserve for a calmer time the consideration of the philosophy of the economics of the subject. What in this connection it is important to keep in view is the relation Which the theory of primogeniture MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—DERBY, March 19. CROWN COURT. (Before Mr. Justice Erle.) Samuel Saunders was charged/with shooting, on Nov. 13,'at Job Ashton, with intent to kill him. Mr. Adam s con d ucte d the prosecution ; Mr. Flood defended the prisoner. Job Ashton, a keeper, was out with Lynam, another keeper, about 5 p.m on Saturday, Novem ber the 13th, in some land of Mr. Hurt, his mas ter, when he saw two men on Mr. Hurt's land carrying guns. The keepers had neither guns nor dogs, but they followed Saunders and his com panion by the side of the turnpike-road, when the prisoner, who was only two yards in advance of thorn tnrnoa remnr i ~-,a "4. A oh_ ton's legs. Ashton started on one side and was not struck by any shot, although the gun was loaded, as appeared by many shots having penetrated the ground. Mr. Flood addressed the jury, and the learned judge having summed up, they returnee a verdict of not guilty. Hong Kong, a Chinese, described as a sailor, stood charged with the manslaughter of William Camomile. Mr. O'Brien conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Flowers defended the prisoner. No jury de nzedietate lingua being desired by the prisoner's counsel, Mr. O'Brien stated the case and called witnesses, who proved the following facts :—A man named Collins and his wife had met the prisoner in York, and the three travelled in company, making money b,y the prisoner's singing, up to February 25. They came to Chesterfield, and were going very peaceably through the streets. Hong Kong singing as usual when the deceased, a young blacksmith, who was intoxicated and happened to be among those around him, struck the prisoner, took him by the hair of his head, and pulled him about. Both the prisoner and the deceased then took off their coats, and a fight began, which lasted some two minutes. More than one of the bystanders endeavoured to persuade the deceased man to forbear teasing, and when there was a pause in the fight tried to pull him away. The deceased swore that he would knock the prisoner's head off, and on this some one in the crowd said to the prisoner,- " If I was you, I'd murder him." Upon that the prisoner took from a bag a knife which the day before he had borrowed from Collins, ran at the deceased, and inflicted a wound upon the side of his abdomen, from which the bowels protruded, and from the effects of which he died, Mr. Flowers addressed the jury for the prisoner, contending that he was, as it would seem, under apprehension that his own life was in danger, and that the blow was necessary for his self-defence. The learned judge having summed up, The jury returned a verdict of guilty. Sentence was deferred until Monday morning. Mr. Sergeant Hayes sat this afternoon in the grand jury room, and tried prisoners. NISI PRIUS COURT. (Before Lord Campbell and a Special Jury.) WELCH V. BRITTLEBANK. This was an action for assault, in which Mr. Macaulay and Mr. O'Brien appeared for the plain tiff; and Mr. Mellor and Mr. Bell for the defen dant. The plaintiff was a young man, and an attorney and magistrate's clerk at Ashbourne, and the de fendant was an attorney at the same place. The plaintiff proved that on the 31st of January last he had taken a small quantity of wine with a friend of his, Mr. Fox, and on plaintiff's way home defen dant asked him to go to the Crown Inn, at Ash bourne, which he did, and there be found a Mr. Archer with the defendant, and a conversation then arose relative to a letter Archer had received from the secretary of the North Staffordshire Railway, charging Archer with having travelled with an improper ticket. The plaintiff advised that Archer should pay the additional fare, but the defendant thought otherwise. Archer was the client of the defendant. The plaintiff stated that the defendant then 'said he would have nothing more to do with the case, and that he would hand th e case over to plaintiff. Plaintiff said he• did not wish to inter fere, and there was no occasion for the defendant to be piqued. Defendant said he was not. Plaintiff said, " Well, if you are not, your conduct is like hat of an insane person." Defendant went out o the room and returned, and then placed himself before the plaintiff and said, " You called me a liar." Plaintiff said he never did. Defendant said the plaintiff was a liar. The defendant then struck the plaintiff two blows on the head, which caused blood to flow from one of his ears. Defendant also kicked and stamped on plaintiff's hat. It appeared that the plaintiff was perfectly sober from the evidence of several witnesses who were called, who saw him on the night in question fter the assault. On the part of the de fendant he was called with other witnesses; and proved that they were at the Crown, and that words ensued between the plaintiff and the defen dant, and that the plaintiff called the defendant a liar, whereupon the defendant said, "If you call me a liar, you must take the consequences. That the defendant went out of the room, and on his return the plaintiff still persisted in calling him a liar, when the defentant struck him as charged by the plaintiff. . The learned judge haying summed up the case WESTERN CIRCUIT.—EXETER, March 19. NISI PRIUS COURT. :Before Mr. Justice Crowder and a Special Jury.) GILLIIAM V. NEWTON. Mr. Montague Smith and Mr. Coleridge Were for the plaintiff, and Mr. Collier, Mr. Kingdon, and Mr. Turner for the defendant. This was an issue directed by the Court of Chan cery to try whether a will purporting to have been made by Mrs. Elizabeth Newton on the 7th of January, 1857, was the last will and testament of Mrs Newton. The plaintiff was the nephew of Mrs. Newton, and the defendant, John Newton, was her husband. It appeared that Mrs. Newton married the defendant in 1829. She had some property which was settled on her, but she reserved to herself the power of disposing of it by will, and she immediately afterwards made her will, dated in August, 1829, by which she devised the whole of her property to her husband, the defendant. It seemed, however, that the marriage was an un happy oue. They raised a sum of money on mort gage and built an inn, which they kept, and the husband took to drinking and profligate company, and this led to misery and ruin, and the husband was obliged to take the benefit of the Insolvent Act. According to the plaintiff's case the wife determined to make another will, declaring that her husband should not spend all her money, but that her own family should have it. A Mr, Par rott, of Totness had been Mrs. Newton's solicitor, and in the month of January, 1857, her husband having gone to Exeter for two or three days to at tend on a jury, Mrs. Newton sent for Mr. Parrott and told him she wished to make a new will and gave him instructions to prepare one, desiring him to bring it the next day, so that she might execute it before her husband's return from Exeter. Mr. Parrott having taken the instructions went home and prepared the will, and the next day he took it to Mrs. Newton. There then arose a question about witnesses to the will, as she did not wish any one in the house to know anything about it, as she feared her husband. She suggested that Mrs. Par rott should be a witness, but as she was ill her sis ter, Miss Rowland, was brought for that purpose. Mrs. Newton was an illiterate woman and could not write her name, Mr. Parrott told her to make a cross, but she said she had crosses enough through life and she would not make one, but would make a mark like her mother did, and she accordingly put the letter A, and the witnesses put their names to the attestation. By the will she gave a small part of the property to her husband, the defendant, but the greater part to her nephew, the plaintiff, and to her niece and other relatives. After the execution of the will she desired Mr. Parrot to take the will home with him, saying that if she had it in her house her husband would destroy it. Mr. Par rott accordingly took it home. Mrs. Newton was soon afterwards taken ill. She told her husband not to have her will read till after the funeral, as if he did he would kick her coffin out of doors. She died on the 20th of March, 1857. The funeral took place on the 25th of March, and after that Mr. Parrott told Newton of the will. Newton became much excited, and at last he pulled off his coat, put himself in a fighting attitude, and drove Mr. Par rott out of the house. Subsequently to this a will was produced by the defendant, by which the whole of the property was given to the d e f e ndant. This will was dated two days before the death of Mrs. Newton. The question was, which of these wills was a genuine one, the defendant's case being that this last was genuine. Many witnesses were examined on both sides, the defendant and the witnesses to the last will swearing most positively as to its execution. On the plaintiff's side the witnesses swore tliat the de fendant was always drunk, and lived on bad terms with his wife, while many persons were called by the defendant, and swore that he never most happily and that the husband and wife lived most happily together. After hearing the defendant's evidence, jury said they Were The prepared to giye their • verdict, if they might do so, without hearing th speeches of counsel and the judge's sumuligg up. The learn e d counse l h aving consulteciergether, agreed to the suggestion. The jury then gave a verdict for the plaintiff, thus establishing the will of the 7th of January, 1857. RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE. The railway proceedings of the week have not been of great importance. At a meeti ng o f the Caledonian the dividend declared was at the pro posed rate of 4 per cent. per annum. There has been a decrease in the net traffic of the past six months compared with the corresponding period of the previous year of £8,921, arising from a falling off of between .£16,000 and £17,000 in the goods and passengers, minerals allowing a considerable increase. The expenditure on capital account has been £33,799, of which £27,460 was for sidings, additional station accommodation, &c., £3,339 for plant, and £3,000 for calls on the Biggar and Broughton shares. The directors have failed to effect an arrangement with regard to the competing Hawick schemes. The shareholders of the South- Western have confirmed the agreements for work ing the Wimbledon and Epsom and Portsmouth lines. A proposal to purchase the Epsom and Leatherhead, either for £50,000 in cash, or a 4 per cent. preference stock, or £40,000 in a 5 per cent. preference stock, has also been approved. At a meeting of the Londonderry and Enniskillen divi dends were. declared on the preferential capital only. There has been a small increase in the re ceipts of the past half-year, and a slight s Viminution in the expenditure. In the current' half-year the augmentation in the revenue was said to have amounted to £6O a week. The substitution of coal for coke in working the engines has been attended with satisfactory results, The report of the Scottish North-Eastern states the net revenue for the half year ending in January at £50,683, of which the Aberdeen portion amounts to £35,478, and the Scot tish Midland t o £15 ,205. The proposed lease of the Dundee and Arbroath has been abandoned. A dis tribution is recommended at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum on the Scottish Midland stock, with dividends on the preference capital only of the Aberdeen. At a meeting of the East Anglian it was announced that the receipts during the past half-year were £25,017 against £25,906 in 1857, the decrease being caused by the depression in the grain trade and by the mildness of the winter reducing the consump tion of coal. An increase has taken place in the traffic of the present year. The usual dividends were declared on the A and B preference stocks, and at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum on the C. The Newcastle and Carlisle have made a distribution of 3 per cent. for the half-year ending in December, making a total for the year of 5-Z-. A diminution of £13,933 took place in the gross receipts of 1858 from the depression of trade and the substitution of coal for coke in working locomotives. The expendi ture on capital account has been £2ll only, for land purchased several years back. The projected amal gamation with the North-Eastern was carried on a division. At the final meeting of the Chester and Holyhead it was announced that the balance of re cepts was £29,560, and that the dividends and ar rears amounted to £30,778, leaving a deficiency of £1,218, to be supplied by the London and North- ' Western, in which the undertaking is now merged. The directors of the Lancaster and Preston Junc tion propoSe to divide £2 1 ls. ld. per sharp out of the net revenue of £36,227. The North Yorkshire and Cleveland have declared a dividend at the rate of 24 per cent. COUNTRY MA.RIEBTB. CHELMSFOB The supply of wheat to-da was heavy, and sales could, Wheat, white 42s to 46s red 38s to 41s Barley 34s to 41s Chevalier 37s to 45s Grinding 27s to 33s Malt 70s to 73s Chevalier 72s to 738 Oats 25s to 35s :D-MARCH 19. DUBLIN —MARCH 18. No alteration to-day in the price from Tuesday could be made in either wheat, barley, flour, oats, or beans. s d. €l. Wheat, white.. 22 6t o 2 5 6 Do., new ..... 1. 1 6 s. to 13 0 Do., red ..... .216t 0 2 3 0, Bore Barley ....... 11 otol7 0 Oatmeal l2 6t014 0 Oats .... 11 otol3 0 Bakers' flour .. 13 otol7 6 Do., black.... 10 6to 11 0 Indian corn .. 28 oto3o 0 lIISPERING IN ST. PAUL'S.--At last week's ordinary meeting of the Royal Institute of Architects, Mr. Parris, who renovated the painting in the dome of St Paul's, said he had remarked from his experience of that Cathedral, that he could be heard distinctly at the distance of 220 feet, when he was immediately under the eye of the dome. Any person standing on a particular part of the pavement below, at a right angle, or nearly at a right angle from where his voice would strike the roof, could hear even a whisper with the greatest distinctness ; in fact, he had often held con versations in that way. He believed Mr. Penrose had like wise tried the experiment. As he moved to a different part of the dome, the person below would have to move to a dif ferent positien, but in the same angle; when this became too great the voice was lost. He had often tried the experi ment, and found that the reverberations i n th e d ome were always repeated 32 times, exactly corresponding with the points of the compass. It was the same at the Colosseum (London), where he had tried it with the flute, voice, and every means. He had tried experiments in the same way in St. Paul's, upon the level of the organ, and above and beneath it, and he found invariably that the sound was always best heard at the point opposite to where the voice had struck. It was precisely the same with the voice ascending and descending ; in fact, his attention had been called to the matter by hearing a man below ask another fora sixpence; he exclaimed, "Take care, he is giving you a bad one;" and the man immediately turned round, surprised as to where the voice could be coming from.— _Budder. BIRTHS. BROWN.—On the 18th inst., at the Grammar School, Need ham Market, the wife of the Rev. James Brown, of a daughter. CAInucHAEL.—On the 18th inst., at Edinburgh, Lady Gibson Carmichael, of a son. 3 IARTYN.—On the 17th inst., the wife of Chas. J. Martyn, Esq., of Palgrave Priory, Suffolk, of a daughter. POWELL.—On the 18th E inst., the wife of T. W . P owell, sq., of Blackheath, of a daughter. MARRIAGES CROFTS—GRIFFITIIB.—On the 18th inst., at Haverstock Chapel, Hampstead, the Rev. H. Crofts, D.D., of Hud dersfield, to Julia, niece of Joseph Griffins, Esq., late of Beckenham, Kent, HASLEHAM—GREENWAY.—On the 17th inst., at Lee Church, Kent, Alfred, eldest son of Mr. Horatio Hasle ham, of Clerkenwell-green, to Sarah, youngest daughter of William Alexander Greenway, Esq., of Florence-road, New-cross. DEATHS. ALMOND. On the 14th inst., at Fairlie Lodge, Torquay, tth© Rev. G eorge Almond, formerly incumbent of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Glasgow, aged 78. B ARRETT.--On th e 17th inst., Sarah, wife of Robt. Barrett, Esq., of Cambridge, aged 73. Borr.—.on the 17th inst., at Coton Hall, Staffordshire, the wife of John Bott, Esq., and daughter of the late Major Arden, of Longcrofts Hall, in the same county. P ARWELL.—On the 16th inst., at Exeter, the Rev. Arthur Farwell, rector of Stokefleming, Devon, aged 56. GOOSE. —On the 18th inst., at Croydon, John Goose, Esq., solicitor, aged 50. HEPBURN.—On the 17th inst., at his residence, 14, POWiS square, Brighton, George Hepburn, Esq., late of Ches ham, Bucks. LANZA.—On the 12th inst., Sig. Gesualdo Lanza, aged 80. LONDON : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, No. 112, Strand, in the * Precinct of the Savoy, in th e county o f Aliddleoex i Itgra 21, 1859, ERPOO—MARCH 19. To-day the re L are lV rumoured L sales of French what, but they require corroboration. —MAnon 18. To-day there was a sma YORK II show of wheat, and a good de mand. White samples realised 408 to 45s ; red, 36s to 40s ; barley of superior quality made lower rates, malting of the best description sell ing a t 34 s t o 3 6s per 30 stone; grinding, 28s to 30s Od In oats there was very little change, prices ranging from 20s to 22s per 24 stone. Beans scarce and at high rates, namely, 40s to 44s per 38 stone. -IVlArtar 1. • There was a smaII OXFORD supply of wheat to-day, for which full prices were obtained. White ruled 43s to 46s per qr. ; red, 39s to 448. It is reported that the late sharp frosty nights has had a tendency to injure the young plant in this district. There was a short supply of barley, and little busi ness doing. In other articles trade dull. Ly was moderate ; the demand scarcely be effected. Peas, Partridge 44s to 46s White 41s to 43s Boiling 42s to 48s Dun 44s to 46s Beans, Tick 3Bs to 40s Harrow Ticks 38s to 42s Mazagan 368 to 39s IT OTT 0 lIAM 7.1.6..eax . There was a t o l era bl e quantity of wheat lo on offer to-day, and prices for all descriptions were about is higher. -Bar ley a limited show, and sales flat at about last week's rates. Beans were in scare supply, and prices easy. Oats a fair sale,at late rates. White wheat, new, 44s to 50 s Red do 37s to 42s Old white 42s to 48s Red do. 37s to 42s Barley, malting 38s to 45 s Super. flour, 33s to 36s ; fi ' Barley, grinding 28s to 303 Oats, old, .. 3os to 34s New do 268 to 304 Beans.. 48s to 52s Peas ......... —s to .--3 to, —s to 30s per 20 stone. NORWICH—MARcH 19. At this corn market there was a moderate supply of wheat, which was in good condition, and sold better at is over the rates of last week. Barley was in small supply, and fine samples were unaltered. There was not much doing in oats, and prices were without change. Beans rather scarce and dear. LE ICE STER—MitucH 19. We continue to be fairly supplied with wheat ; there is no great activity in the trade, still a fair business passing at about previous rates. Fine barley fully as dear. Beans in limited demand. Oats and other articles as before. Wheat 3Bs to 42s I Oats.. 32s to 34s White do .. 42s to 44s I Beans sos to 523 Barley ... 38s to 43s I Beans, new —s to --3 Fine flour, 30s j S econ d s, 28s j Thirds, 26s per sack. moT WIT Co: Stall musi 10, 0: L' LAN Th the S., Th Gene merit sever T' went mate: feetic The( playa and : 9;cl M. P Thur Ec SHE ( 245. p Dozer Impo blish( Dow HE per G HE Stroll Dozes Pae la. pe paid. Cot Gray' V' TRA' liciou cent. Rass the T King Bents Head HER 15s. Pater Basin Must Reme AND 200 pi sists and so di be ha of th mant Sin Pont John inns, 7 Di lieve T 1 tart' Co Trea the ] Mid , him his 1 soli plan DOM on I Diet