The Sun. — London, England, 1869-01-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF III: PUBLIC JOURNALS. -- a• -- The Times, in discussing the course pursued by the Middlesex magistrates respecting the admission of Roman Catholic priests to the gaols under their charge, observes that the substantial question is as clear as possible, though it was scarcely raised in the debate. Is it des' rable that all prisoners should receive religious instruc tion ? The very terms of the resolution adopted by the magistrates confess that it is. If so, it ought to be provided for them, and its provision is a mere matter of gaol management, as much as the appointment of a governor. But prisoners can never receive instruction with advantage from ministers of a persuasion to which they do not belong, and law, therefore, with the assent, though perhaps reluctant assent, of the Middlesex magistrates themselves, relieves prisoners from the necessity of receiving the visits of the chaplain and substitutes the visits of the priest. What, then, is the difference between the services performed by the two ministers, and why should they be differently treated in respect of remunera tion ? The justices argue as if the services of the priest were rendered to the prisoners. But the services '.)f both ministers are designed for the benefit of the community. The gaol itself was not built, as one gentleman ludicrously expressed it, that prisoners "should turn their crime iuto profit," but for the protection of society. Prisons are agencies for punishment and for reformation, and the work of the chap lain and the priest is to forward the reformation of the criminal for the good of the community. The whole population is benefited if the priest succeeds in reforming a prisoner's character, and common justice requires that the whole population should pay for it. If the justices were to say that the priest does more harm than good, or that his presence is at best a fanciful luxury, their conduct would be explicable; but few men have the hardihood in these days to avow such a degree of folly and bigotry. For the sake of their own credit the magistrates must admit that the services of the priest are beneficial to the convict ; and if so they are beneficial to the ratepayers, and the rate payers ought to pay. The question, in truth, is so clear and simple that we are driven to conclude that these repeated refusals to do common justice are really due to relics of bigotry and intolerance. That is the only inter pretation, at all events, which the public will put upon them ; and if these gentlemen have the cause of Pro testantism at heart, they should reflect that to persist in their present course is to inflict on it a very serious injury. The Post makes some remarks upon the remission of the capital sentence upon the convict Bisgrove, and con siders the course thus pursued to have been a mistaken one. The legitimate tendency of such an exemption is to tempt and encourage other Bisgroves. In short, there seems to be a systematic tendency—no matter what party or what individual is in office—to catch at the slightest pretext for exempting the murderer from the penalty of his crime, and thereby endangering the life of every mem ber of the community. From Bisgrove to Townley, not to go any further back in our criminal history, a long series of these miscarriages of justice exists upon record to bear out the conclusions we have stated. There is, of course, a cause for this, and it is not far to seek or difficult to find. While the manners and forms of thought and feeling of the classes concerned in making and administering the laws have been, and are, growing daily milder and more and more humane, the instincts and habits of the criminal classes have remained as savage, ferocious, and bloodthirsty as before—if, indeed, they have not rather deteriorated. The consequence is, that the mildness of punishment, or, which is the same thing in this case, the tendency to remit punishment, has gradually increased, and is increasing, while crime itself has shewn no tendency to decrease in the same proportion. Thus, in cases of murder of peculiar atrocity it is usual to hear it pleaded on behalf of the murderer, and to secure his immunity, that this very atrocity itself is a reason, not that the law should take its course, not that he should he made an example of, but that he is a fit and proper object for mercy, on the ground that he is not responsible for his actions, and ought to escape. The Standard commends the good sense of the Reform League in contemplating its extinction as a body. The reason they give is a wise one, for they declare that it is no longer desirable to perpetuate a state of chronic political agitation. There is very little reason to doubt that this has hitherto been the main function of the League. It has been a disturbing power, and, more than all, it has been the means of setting class against class. It has not merely given the force of concentration to a certain kind of opinions and convictions, but it has uniformly sought to array one section of the people against all the others. It has acted upon the assumption that the working men were oppressed and held down by the classes above them ; and such strength as it possessed was derived from the animosities which it thus engendered and fostered. Its uniform policy was to per suade the labouring people that they were down-trodden by the aristocracy and the wealthy and trading coin munities, and to encourage them to adopt an attitude of menace in order to extort what were called their " rights." Well pleased as we are to see the League 'disposed to abandon its functions, and Mr. Beales pre paring to adjust his mantle on the eve of retiring into private life, we cannot admit that the retrospect they invite is altogether calculated to justify the experi ment which has been in progress since 186 G. It has been a failure in every respect, except that it has given scope for the energies of a knot of trading politicians, who have brought discredit upon the cause they were permitted to advocate. Mr. Beales and his colleagues must know per fectly well that if history records the deeds of the League the chief among them will be the wrecking of Hyde Park, and that if it signalises the names of its heroes, Bradlaugh and Finlen will occupy a foremost place in its Walhalla. The Daily News says that London has a nightmare, and its name is Leicester-square. There is no exorcising this grisly Ephialtes. Every now and then the sufferer groans a little under his burden, but the burden is never lightened, and no amount of familiarity is found to mitigate the horror. Leicester-square is at once unassailable and beyond help. Wits satirise it ; caricaturists burlesque it ; practical jokers turn its venerable statue into ridicule ; moralists preach against it, and the press denounces it. Never theless, like other abuses, it keeps the uneven tenour of its way. London is in a state of physical revolution through out its length and breadth, yet nothing disturbs the weedy serenity of Leicester-square. London does not love its nightmare, yet any attempt to remove it is certain to be discouraged. Only the other day Mr. O'Beirne, M.P., sug gested to the Metropolitan Board of Works that the vacant ground in the centre of the square should be built on, but the board expressed their disapproval of the scheme, and a communication was sent to the honourable gentleman to the effect that they would do all in their power to prevent the open space from being covered. Certainly in this overcrowded city it is not good policy to block up any of our breathing places, and the dense neighbourhoods sur rounding this particular spot render it especially undesir able that the ground, however unlovely in its present condition, should be given up to bricks and mortar. But cannot something be done to render it more sightly ? Are trees an impossibility? Would flowers refuse to bloom beneath the shadow of that ghastly statue ? Or must the statue for ever remain to add to the terrors of this unblest enclosure? The Telegraph thinks that "mob violence" is the besetting sin of Irish elections, and that therefore the decision of Judge Keogh on the Drogheda case will hive a moral weight. The Irish are too apt to think that election time is a sort of saturnalia, and the leniency of committees has encouraged this feeling too much. It may be thought that, as time passes, the useful effect produced by the decisions of the new tribunal will be obviated by the craftier organisation of bribery and intimidation, the con cealment of agency, and greater subtlety in the process of corruption or violence. But Judge Keogh has laid it clown that treating and violence would invalidate an election, even if the agency could not be traced to auy of the candidates. As a corollary to this opinion, it seemed very necessary that the judges should order an instant prosecution of the parties actually found guilty of treating, violence, or the indirect encouragement of either practice ; if the offence is not punished, we may have a new dodge—treating and vio lence got up expressly by the min rity, to iuvalidate the election of the man who represents the majority. It is now clear that Mr. Disraeli's Act of last session is the basis of an admirable election law. We must abolish the foolish, degrading farce of a public nomination, with all the yelling and shouting by a mob miscalled an audience of electors. We must make the hiring of solicitors, can vassers, and committee-rooms-all indirect forms of cor ruption—entirely illegal. We must shut up the public houses on the polling-day. We must throw all the expenses of the contest on the county or borough, with a provision that any candidate' polling less than one-fourth of the whole body of electors is to pay all the costs, thus deterring men from fruitless and vexatious opposition. The Star remarks that there is Fomething appalling in the idea of undertaking a journey in a cab which has just conveyed a patient who lies been smitten with the small pox or with some deadly fever. When, in spite of all precautions, disease :-grit;,, down man or woman, submis sion becomes a duty, and Heaven in its wisdom generally provides a solace for the sitiTerer. But it is difficult to be resigned to the consequences of the gross carelessness of others. it is impossible to acquit, tlio,e who knewingly tre a public conveyance f..r purpeee of criminal responsibility. Ti are lanind to think of the danger to which they expose innocent persons, and to devise some means of removing the patient which will not jeopardise the public safety. This is an imperative duty on their part ; but, unfortunately, there are in every community individuals who are devoid of forethought, who consult only their own convenience, and who, so long as they escape a present evil, care not what misery they inflict upon others. We hope that the committee of the Hospital Carriage Fund will persevere with their good work. During a season when cabs arc necessarily in great request—when thousands of little children and delicate ladies, as well as more robust persons, are attending evening parties or visiting the theatres, there is no danger that the general public will either be indifferent to " the propagation of disease by public vehicles," or slow to cc-operate with 1)r. Jeafferson and his colleagues in any well-considered attempts to suppress a zreat social nuisance. FLECTION PETITIONS. The Court of Common Pleas resumed the hearing of thi arguments on the rules granted in connection with election petitions yesterday, the judges present being Lord Chief Justice Bovilt and Justices Byles, Keating, and Montagu Mr. Henry James—who with Mr. Mellish, Q.C., appeared in support of the rule granted on the petition presented against the return of Messrs. Clay and Norwood for the borough of Kingston-upon-Hull, (the decision upon which will govern numerous other cases)—resumed the address which he had only just com menced when the court rose on the previous day. The learned counsel was about to argue that it was not by consent that Mr. Justice Willes, at chambers, made the order by which the recognisance entered into for the costs of the petition was amended, when the Lord Chief Justice intimated that the court was satisfied that There was nothing done at chambers which precluded the matter being brought before their lordships by either side. Mr. James, in the course of a long and elaborate argument, insisted that under the old practice there was no power, except in the case of death, to amend the recognisances, which had to be certified by the examiner; and passing on to examine the provisions of the new Act, urged upon the court that the surety of a person who was himself a party to a petition, was in reality no additional security for the costs of the petition. It was clear that the master under the present Act had less power than had the examiner under the old Act, and the amendment of sureties was one for the consideration of the court alone. In the present case Mr. James contended that as the peti tioners were security for themselves there had been no id recognisance, or, in other words, that the terms of the Act, "sufficiency of security," had not been complied with. As to the question whether £l,OOO constituted a sufficient security, it was argued that it was reasonable in every way that when there were two members objected to in a joint petition there should be separate recognisances. At the conclusion of the learned counsel's address, the court having consulted for a few moments, the Lord Chief Justice said they would be glad to hear any remarks which learned counsel who had to argue cases similar to that of Hull might wish to urge without going to the particular facts of their cases. His lordship was adding an observation as to the difficulties which the court felt upon the subject at issue, when he was stopped by a gesture from Mr. Montague Smith, and merely re marked that the court had experienced great assistance from the arguments of the counsel engaged. It was then arranged by the bar that Mr. Manisty, Q.C., who was retained in the Penryn, the Bridgwater, and the Beverley petitions when the question raised was the recognisance siinvliciter, should address the court in support of the point that the deposit of 21,000 as a test of the bona fides was sufficient, no matter how many respon dents there might be. S'r Patrick Colquhoun, .Q.C., instructed in the matter of the Southampton p tition, added a few observations on the same point, as did Mr. Serjeant O'Brien, who appeared in the Oldham case. Mr. Price, Q.C., who had obtained the rule to set aside the order of Mr. Justice 'Willes in the Bewdley case, briefly controverted the observations of Mr. Manisty as to the sufficiency of £l,OOO where there were two respondents. Mr. O'Malley, Q.C., instructed in the Preston case, also replied to Mr. Manisty's observations. Mr. Iluddleston, Q.C., instructed in the Cambridge case, supported the view that £l,OOO constituted a sufficient security. An inquiry from the Lord Chief Justice whether any other learned gentleman desired to be heard, caused half a dozen gentlemen behind the bar to spring to their feet and struggle for possession of the car of the courE. These were eventually heard, though it was felt that the subject under consideration was really exhausted. In delivering judgment, the Lord Chief Justice said the question at issue was one of considerable difficulty, and he was by no means certain that he had been able to fathom the meaning of the Legislature in the Act of Parliament referring to election petitions. In considering the question whether a deposit of more than £l,oooshould be made where there were two respondents united in one petition, it was necessary to examine the practice which had prevailed ander the old Act. This his lordship did, and then passed on to notice that if it had been intended to make so important a change as was suggested in the amount to be deposited as security in petitions under the new Act, some express statement of that alteration would, it might be supposed, be found in the provisions of the Act itself. Such, however, was not the case. The clause of the Act of Parliament which said that a petition against two members might, for the purposes of the Act, be taken as a petition against each of them, was very obscure and difficult of interpretation. The point, however, which the court was at that time called upon to decide was, whether the Legislature ji that a joint petition was to be considered as a separate petition against each respondent in the sense that a double security was required. In his (the Lord Chief Jus tice's) opinion, this was not the intention of the Legislature. If in this view the court was wrong, and the Legislature thought further provision for costs should be made, Par liament could interfere. On this the court need not express opinion, but looking at old practice and the construction of the Act, he (the Lord Chief Justice) was of opinion that one deposit of £l,OOO only was required in a petition, no matter how many respondents there were. The order of Mr. Justice Willes, in the case of the Hull and the other petitions occupying the same position, was therefore right. The other judges concurred in this judgment, although two of them expressed their doubts. BEWDLEY. —At Bewdley several witnesses were exa mined in support of the pe'itioner's case, their evidence relating principally to treating at public-houses. Two ladies stated that they remonstrated with drunken women at the Wileatsheaf, a Conservative house, and one of the witness's, a sister-in-law of one of Sir if. Glass's committee, said she complained of the drinking to the son of Sir Richard's agent, Mr. Pardoe. The inquiry was again adjourned. LIMERICK.—The hearing of witnesses in the Limerick petition case has been continued. Some excitement was occasioned by Mr. Heron calling the attention of Baron Fitzgerald to the assaults which had been made on the witnesses by the mob. His lordship appealed to the mayor to make proper arrangements to keep a passage clear for the witnesses. It was afterwards found necessary to remove one witness to a place of safety, as he appeared particularly obnoxious to the mob. The cost of the Parliamentary contest at Sheffield was more than £10,280, the expenses uf Mr. Price, the Con servative candidate, being greatly in exctss of those of the two gentlemen returned. Mr. Mundella, one Gf the success ful candidates, has the least bill, £1,603 ; that of Messrs. Hadfield and Roebuck being £1,283, and that of Mr. Price £4,397. Mr. Ernest Jones, at a public meeting held in Man chester yesterdayodverting to the coming contest said if Mr. Milner Gibson succeeded in the ballot, and agreed after such success to stand for Manchester though he saw be had been invited to stand for Norwich, one of the first votes recorded for him, if it came to a poll, should be recorded by himself, and he trusted that his friends would do him the honour in that re spect of following his example. He frankly and candidly said that he trusted it would be in his favour, and when the decision was once given they should stand by it or fall, and support the victor, whoever he might be. A case of foigii:g the relief tickets of the United Operative Bricklayers' Society has been partly investigated, at Wakefield. Thy prisonerswerc John Dempsey, bricklayer and Thos. Maddon, labourer. The society iss, t ramp certifi cates, which entitle the holder to ls.4d. in each t nvn he may visit. Dempsey was formerly a member of , society, Lut by some means he Lad got possession of a certificate bearing the name of Wm. Thompson. The prisoner Madden, on pre senting it at the Wakefield house of call, was given into cue twly, the forgery having been instantly detected, and Dempsey was apprehended immediately afterwards. Madden said Dempsey gave him the certificate, and Dempsey said ho had got it at Birkenhead. lie also sail that it was no uncom mon thing for a man who bad obtained work to give his certificate to any "mate" whom he might meet on the road. The prisoner was remanded. DISCOVERY OF ANOTIIER DIAMOND AT TUE CAFE.— We are happy in being able to announce that another diamond has reached Cape Town from the neot bourhood of the Orange River. It is described as by far the most beautiful of the gems which have yet been found. Although a small one, weighing only four carats, it has been valued :a; a high figure. Several con flicting reports are in circulation as to the place at which it was found. Our own correspondent at Colesberg, in communicating the fact, says :—" Mr. O'Reilly says he had it from a Kafir, who. said that he picked it up on the banks of the Hart River. If this is true, it is important, as pointing towards the spot from which the diamonds that have been found' have probably descended." It is to be regretted that hitherto no syste• matic inspection of the country by a competent authority has been undertaken, although the fact of so!many valuable stones being found is indisputable. Most of the diamonds which have been discovered up to the present time have been purchased by his Excellency the Governor, and Mr. Wollaston, who goes to England by the present mail steamer, has received his Excellency's permission to exhibit .them to nterer4ed persons. -7-Care, 42y/us. FOREIGN NOTES. IRE ALABAMA CLAIMS. With regard to England's recognition of the South as a belligerent, the Star believes that a definite arrangement has been made. The question is not to be made one of the points of reference, but there will be nothing to prevent its being advanced as an element of the United States' case in proving our liability to the Alabama claims. "As the whole of the correspondence is referred, the point is sure to be taken and discussed." The Star doubts whether the declaration of the Paris Con ference respecting the fitting out of hostile ships in neutral ports does not involve the Alabama claims, and whether it would not be better to admit this at once. Certainly not. The Paris Conference applied the prin ciples of international law only to the deeds of Greece. It is notorious that the Greek Government did openly support the fitting out of blockade-runners. Nobody, except a few gentlemen of the Butler type, ever com plained that the English Government had clone this ; the charge against us is simply that the negligence of the Ministry in dealing with the .Alabama and other cruisers renders us liable for their depredations. . • .... • .. T I' SUN, LONDON EIIIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 22, 1869. 5 -trenwndons " grinding," entered' the & - , service, are constrained to spend their time and brains on copying letters all their lives. They begin on £lOO a year; they get £lO added each year to their salary, and promotion not rewarding their efforts, they ultimately reach £3OO. This £3OO a year is paid to an educated gentleman to do work which ought to be done for £lOO, both the public and its servants being wronged by the system. The remedy proposed by " Public Servant" is to divide the service into two departments, those who are expected to do copying and such like work forming the one, and those who work with their brains the other. Certainly this plan—which is supported by Mr. Mill and Sir Charles Trevelyan—is more equitable than the present want of system. DM BAINES, M.P., ON ART. Leeds is a favoured town in respect of art. Not only is it notable as having had an excellent exhibi tion some time back, but its school is thriving and appreciated. When it is remembered that " the northern towns have long been caricatured as wanting everything in the way of culture and refinement, the progress Leeds has made will be appreciated. Mr. Baines, M.P., spoke at the School of Art annual meeting, held on Wednesday. Con gratulating Leeds on the position it had attained, he added : " In Germany there was a saying that every child who could speak ought to be ableto sing, and that every child who could read ought to be able to draw ; and he thought if we could act upon this principle in Eritain we should do an immense amount of good. We would be able. to teach young people in such a way as would render them infinitely more likely in after years to come forward as advanced pupils into our schools of art and much more highly qualified for bringing about general improvement in the taste of the community." THE LATE MEMBER FOR LAMBETH. " William Roupell, Esq., M.P." who was in 1862 sentenced to imprisonment for life for forgery, has had a comparatively short imprisonment. His health seems to have suffered from his confinement, so he is released on ticket of leave. Probably Mr. Baron Bramwell would remonstrate against such a-release ; and it is certainly only in these latter days that such a plea would be answered by release. But the once member for Lambeth is hardly likely to trouble the police again, and, taken altogether, his life is not such as would lead any other man to commit his " mistake " because he came out of prison at the end of six years instead of dying there. MR. DODDS, M.P. It is not often that successful candidates get their election expenses paid. That generosity on the part of electors is, always excepting Mr. Bright's case, usually reserved for the defeated competitor. Mr. Dodds, the member for the new borough of Stockton on-Tees, has not only won the seat, but had a present of C.:1,1W presented to him to cover his expenses; expenses which he declares were occasioned by " frivolous and vexatious opposition." As his oppo nent polled only 867 to his own 2,470, there seems so me ground for this charge. Lord Ernest Vane Tempest will not have even the small satisfaction of thinking that he made his rival pay for his victory. TIIE DOCTRINAL SUIT. The suit brought by Mr. Sheppard, of Erome, against Mr. Bennett, the vicar of that place, has advanced another stage. It will be remembered that Mr. Bennett wrote an article in the third series of " The Church and the World," the High Church men's Essays and Reviews, in which article he stated the doctrine of the Real Presence in the broadest and most unmistakeable language. One expression, indeed, he has been induced by his friends to recall. This book being published in London, the Church Association,with Mr. Sheppard for their nomi nee, instituted proceedings at Westminster, in order to compel the Bishop of London to issue a commission of inquiry by way of ascertaining if there were prima facie ground for indicting Mr. Bennett for heresy. The commission, which may be said to have acted the part of a grand jury, found that there was, and their report has been forwarded to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, in whose diocese Mr. Bennett is. Lord Auckland will by letters of request at once transfer the case to the Court of Arches, and it will sooner or later come on for hearing before Sir Robert Phillimore. So tir, we believe, Mr. Bennett has taken no active steps in the suit, and as he has 1;,,oly so vehemently denounced the jurisdiction of t:Ce Privy Council—to which Court of Final Appeal the promoters of the suit will surely, if necessary, to carry it --in matters of ritual, he is scarcely likely to recognise the jurisdiction of that court in matters of doctrine. Important as the case of Martin v. Mackonochie has proved, and intense as is the excitement to which it has given rise, the case of Sheppard v. Bennett involves far more important issues. TURKEY A,ND GREECE. There was no meeting of the Ambassadors on Sunday, as announced by the official journals of Paris. The last meeting took place on Wednesday afternoon. It was merely for the purpose of receiving the signature of Djemil Pasha to the protocol. The Liberte says the affirmative reply of the Porte to the Turkish Ambassador's request for instructions was accompanied by several reserves and restrktions, which, howel er, did not hamper the work of the plenipotentiaries. M. Walewski, according to this journal, is to start for Athens on Friday. Sir C. E. Trevelyan writes to the Times• in support of the case of Greece. He quotes despatches from Prince Leopold, sent to the Duke of Wellington and Lord Aber deen in 1830, in which possession of Crete is insisted upon as the only means of giving security to the new Greek State. Sir C. E. Trevelyan points to the chronic state of unsettlement caused by the wrongs of Crete as the justification of this forecast. The best way, he argues, to keep Russia at a distance is not to oppose the natural and reasonable development of the Eastern Christian populations. To this the Times answers, that the Porte would not obtain one hour of peace by the cession of Crete, that the means by which Greece seeks to carry out her views are altogether unjustifiable, and lastly, that she is in league, if not in alliance, with Russia, the military power to be guarded against. A blue-book has recently been published at Athens containing despatches relative to this difficulty with Turkey. The interest of these documents is chiefly retro spective ; but one point is noticeable—the bitterness with which the Greek Minister at Constantinople speaks of the attitude of the French Ambassador, and the warmth with which he praises the Russian representative. The Intlepe7zdance Edge is inclined to take a gloomy view of the prospects of the Ottoman Empire. There is some talk of another conspiracy in Constantinople, several arrests having been made, and the peace of the empire is menaced on the Persian frontier. With the remembrance of the last conspiracy still fresh, it will be well to put little faith in the bare report of a second ; but the Persian affair seems more serious. The difficulty has arisen through some violation of territory; but whatever may be the cause, the effect has been the rapid concentration of Persian troops in the neighbonrhood of Erzeroum. The Etendard believes that even if peace be assured it will be difficolt to reconcile Turkey and Greece, after the mea sures taken against Greek subjects in the Ottoman dominions. SPAIN. Later calculations give the proportion of Monarchists returned to the Cortes as 223 ; the Republicans, 75 ; Abso lutists, 15 ; and doubtful, 10. The total of these figures does not,howe v er,make up the whole number tobe returned, so that the relative position of parties may still be altered somewhat. But it is now beyond doubt that the Monarch• ists have gained a decisive majority, suffiAent, with unity, to decide all matters of importance. The question is, will this unity be always maintained? The Standard is apprehensive. " The great majority in the Constituent Cortes will be pledged to the continuance of the monarchy. All we fear is that their union will go no further. The Monarchical party proper, which desires to see Spain ruled by a constitutional king, has coalesced with a Democratic party, which differs only from the Republicans in that it prefers to have a dummy called a king at the head of affairs to a reality called a president. The coalition ha 3 won the victory ; but what if a contest should arise for supremacy, that is to say, as to the prerogatives of the new sovereign, within its bosom, and the Democrats call the Republicans to their aid ?:' In truth, the Monarchists include three parties instead of two, so that the small Republican minority is equal to any of these three sections, and with the aid of auy one, in aiblition to the doubtful deputies, would become a ma jority. - - Tile Republicans, according to the correspondent of the Constitutionnel, carried the elections for the most part in the towns where they won in the municipal contests. These, in fact, aro all the more important towns of Spain, except Madrid, including Cadiz, Valentia, Seville, Badajos, Gerona, Valladolid, Malaga, Saragossa, and Barcelona. Ali the writers agree that the mode of election was thoroughly impartial. ITALY. The correspondent of the Daily News relates a duet between a deputy and a commendatore. They fought et barriere, being placed at a distance of thirty paces, each having the right to advance ten paces, and to discharge their pistols either on arriving at the extremity of the intermediate space 'or at any point of the ten paces which they had respectively to traverse. The combat lasted about an hour, the pistols being loaded six times. The seconds thought this enough. "An hour of intrepidity before the mouth of a hostile pistol, re-loaded six times, is a thing to do honour to any gentleman ;" and hence the firing was to cease. The amount of honour to be derived from the hour of intrepidity depends altogether upon the character of the weapons and the charge put in them. As one went off before aim was taken, and as another did not go off at all, there is some doubt on this point. But if the remaining ten charges were " good," the amount of intre pidity compressed into the hour was really remarkable, and would have done honour to any gentlemen—in any other situation. A great part of the Italian soldiers who are on furlough have been recalled. This measure, however, has no belli cose significance. All the infantry have been armed with breechloaders, and the object of this recall is to give the entire army fifteen days' practice of the new weapon, which, by the way, is only a temporary one. It is a con verted rifle, and will shortly be given to the National Guard, whilst the regular troops will be armed with the Albini or Remington breechloader. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. FINALITY. The Reform League has at last come to the con clusion that further agitation on the manhood suf frage question is needless. The League undoubtedly did a great deal towards the settlement—such as is—of Reform ; but of late it has committed a series of blunders. Not one of its members, though pro vided with funds from the public, was returned at the election ; its discussions, though carried on regu larly, have become dry and dreary ; and the mistake made by its Council—though not in its " official" capacity—in the matter of Mr. Johnson's banquet disgusted even the Daily News. On Wednesday notice was given of the intention of the Council to submit a resolution to the League, setting forth that. though manhood suffrage is the only satisfactory basis of the franchise, yet, considering the advisability of ending an injurious agitation, the League will be satisfied with an extended lodger franchise, the repeal of the ratepaying clauses, the Ballot, and a better redistribution of seats. When this has been obtained the League will be happy to terminate its own existence. THE NATIONAL TAXATION. Professor Leone Levi has giveu us his views respecting Mr. Baxter's tre atise on the national taxation. Professor Levi says that his own calcula tions respecting the inr.ornes of the several cl .T!C3 agree in the main with the figures of Mr. Ba: - _ - tr:, although they differ from them in detail. The Pro fessor thinks, however, that Mr. Baxter has ranked the respective incomes of the threo classes of the community each a stage too high ; and that having thus taken too high an estimate of the incomes, he necessarily assumes a proportionally high expenditure. The work ing classes consume much more tea, sugar, and bread than those above them, - while Mr. Baxter allows them a very unfair share of the taxes on spirits. Unfortunately, the working classes con tribute a very (large proportion of their incomes to the State through the taxes on spirits, and thus, through their own fault, they really pay heavily in proportion to their means. Professor Levi asks what is the cause of the increase of pauperism and crime throughout the country ; and he answers, that it is not that the working classes earn little, and not that they are overtaxed, but that they are given to an excessive consumption of spirits. Let them be but sober, he emphatic Ally adds, and they need pay very little to the revenue. CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. The great cry of reduction and rearrangement which has gone forth from the Government offices has induced ‘C A Public Servant" to put forth a plan for the reform of the Civil Service. His complaint is tlp,t venttemen of good education who have after THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT. The Duke of Beaufort is said to be seriously unwell. He has appeared several times of late in the hunting-field; nevertheless he is suffering so much from weakness that his friends are seriously uneasy about him. his Grace is comparatively a young man, being forty-five on February lst. He suc ceeded to the dukedom in 18:53, and his eldest son, the Marquis of Worcester, came of age last year, and was talked of as a candidate for North Wilts. No doubt youthful modesty prevented the lad from entering the councils of the nation so soon after leaving the schoolroom. ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE. Newspaper readers are so often told commonplace stories, under the head of " romances," that the word inquest held very l a t e ly i n London has to a great extent lostits original meaning. But the record of an reads more like the summary of the plot which some sensational novelist had worked out than real life. The body which caused the inquiry was that of a w h e n very much y ounger , h a d loved young woman. Th e ta le told was something as follows :—She, a Frenchman, and was engaged to be married to him. But, from some cause or another which did not come out in evidence, the marriage never took place, and the girl became the wife of another man. The Frenchman disappears for a time from the story; the married life of the heroine is happy, and for eight years she forgets—or, at least, never mentions—her former lover. At the end of that time, however, the two fall together again in a public-house. The Frenchman is talking with another woman, b ut he leaves her for his " old. flame." She beco mes much a gitated when she dis caoplearsrenwthly uneasyo he is ' and anxand for days i after the meeting is ous. By and bye the husband finds them to g ether. He can't " stand " th e impudence of the 1 renchman, and he strikes him. The Frenchman, who has been ill for some time, is made worse by the blow, and shortly afterwards the news of his death reaches th e hith er to happy cou pl e . When the wife heard of it she became " like one mad." The husband, however, thinking it best, takes no notice of his wif e ' s con d uc t, un til he discovers her taking poison. The discovery cal - no too late. " Physicians were in vain," and she died. The last scene in this strange drama is the taproom of a tavern, where a coroner's jury find a verdict of temporary insanity. INSPECTION OF PUBLIC VEHICLES. Dr. Jeaffreson furnishes an important communica tion on the subject of the propagation of disease by public vehicles. Ile ref ers to the notice that was issued last June by the committe e o f th e " Hospital Carriage Fund." In this the public are informed that seven " ambulances " have been established and placed in various stations for the removal of a fever or smallpox patient to or from any of the hospitals. The authorities of the Smallpox Hospital were the only ones who refused to accept or further the use of a smallpox ambulance: The Act of Parliament prohibiting the use of street cabs for the conveyance of those suffering from infectious diseases is, in Dr. Jeaffreson's opinion, a dead letter, and he does not wish it to be otherwise until a suffi cient number of ambulances have been established, and until the public know how and where to obtain them. To put the prohibition in force now would increase the existing danger of infection by inter fering with the removal of patients from the houses of uninfected inhabitants, or from where their stay would be injurious to themselve COFFEE AS IN PARIS. —It has frequently been attempted, by various inventions, to enable the Londoners to brew cafe noir as in Paris, but every effort has hitherto failed, owing to the complicated and dangerous methods put forward. however, the groat desideratum has been at last accomplished by Messrs. Mayer and Son, of Paris, who have opened a depot in Fleet-street for the sale of their new coffee machine, which produces the Pari sian luxury in the very best manner. The new machine is undoubtedly efficient, it is very elegant in appearance, moderato in price, and, above all, so simple, that even a girl of twelve years of age can by its aid produce cafe, noir. To the lovers of coff,e the machine of the Mesrs. Mayer will be a great treasure, and no doubt it will soon be in general use in all the large establishments at the West end of the town. The depot of Messrs. Mayer will be found well worthy of a visit, as the articles there displayed are not confined to the coffee machine. There is a remark ably clever arrangement, in the shape of a foot warmer, which ran be used either in a church or a railway carriage, and so portable that it can be carried in the pocket, not being wuell larger than an octavo volume. The heat is produced by a small lamp, so constructed that it cannot by any nv:ans become disarranged. Those having a taste for effervescing drinks will find a very pretty little instrument by which they can be made and consumed at pleasure, time not deteriorating the sparkling liquid when once produced. Messrs. Mayer's establish meat will be found very interesting, and those desirous only of inspecting the useful articles introduced to them by the patentees will be certain to be received with true Parisian politeness. I)UNvILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re commended by the medical profession in preference to French Brandy. Supplied in casks and cases for home use or exports tion. Quotations on application to Messrs. Dunville and Co., Belfast; cc 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand, London W.C . ---(Ad vertisement.] METROPOLITAN GOSSlP—Thursday. The political stagnation continues, and in the absence of facts we are compelled to put up with fictions and rumours. It is a fiction, for instance, and one which shews great faculties of invention, that there is a split in the Cabinet. Cabinets always " split " during the cold weather ; but so soon as Parliament meets they generally (not always, as General Peel, Lord Salisbury, and Lord Carnarvon could testify) re-unite without a sign of fracture. In the present instance, the time-honoured rumour is • more than usually absurd, for rarely has there been an Administration so thoroughly homogeneous as the present. Very little has leaked out yet respecting one of the two great subjects of Mr. Glad stone's programme—the Irish question—though there is said to be some degree of trepidation among the extreme Radicals lest the Government scheme should be less drastic than they anticipated. As regards the other part of the programme economy there can be no doubt about the earnestness of the Government. Every day brings some fresh proof of it. It is not merely the underlings who are affected. It is not only dockyardsmen and clerks in the public offices who are feeling the new broom, though it is rumoured that the War Office will have a taste of it before long. The abolition of the post filled by the late Mr. James Disraeli testified to the thorough ness of the new regime, for thereby Ministers renounced a piece of preferment with which they might easily have rewarded a steadfast or confirmed a wavering supporter. This self-denial is confirmed by the fact announced to-day, that Mr. Childers does not intend to fill up the governorship of Greenwich Hos pital vacant by the death of Sir J. Gordon, and will thereby save the country £3,000 a year. Simul taneously with this announcement, a circular is issued by Mr. William Rathbone Greg, Controller of the Stationery Department, and not unknown to readers of the Pall Mall Gazette, exhorting the clerks to be more economical in the use of stationery. There is room, indeed, for such economy, and not only in quills (to which Mr. Greg's circular refers). Why should the nation be called upon to provide paper for all the Govern ment clerks when they wish to write private letters or tales for the magazines ? I have known an instance in which an official of the lower ranks has supplied his daughter - living in service with office writing paper ad It is thought probable that the Queen will open Parlia ment in person, and will make a public entry under the Victoria Tower, instead of entering privately as of late years. In that case it is to be hoped that she will wear her robes, instead of merely sitting on them. Before then another child will be added to the list of royal grand children. The confinement of the Princess Helena is expected daily. More than once Mr. Maguire has prepared the way for important legislation in Ireland. Last year it was his motion on the state of Ireland which forced Lord Nrayo to announce the Government policy with regard to the Church. He has already given notice that he will call attention to the state of the property held in Ireland by certain London companies, and he will thus open the question of land tenure. He is now making a tour of county Derry, in order to get the necessary information. The Temperance party in Parliament mean to make another move this session. Sir Wilfrid Lawson will pro bably introduce his Permissive Bill in March, and it is hoped that the first reading will not be opposed. It is calculated that there are about 120 M.P.'s who have more or less pledged themselves to support the principle of the bill—that the licensing of drink-shops is a matter for the decision of the ratepayers. It is expected that a much larger number than this will remain neutral, for the question has gained much ground lately, especially now that the Reform Bill has greatly reduced the influence of the publicans. The unseating of Mr. Whitworth, at Drogheda, has deprived the Alliance of one of its most ardent supporters in Parliament. It is all but certain that before Parliament meets Mr. Milner Gibson will have found a seat. At the present time he is spoken of for two co nstituencies—Manchester, where Mr. Birley is about to be unseated by reason of belonging to a firm which has a Government con tract ; and Norwich, where Sir Henry Stracey has been unseated for bribery. Mr. Gibson re presented Manchester for sixteen years, and has therefore some sort of claim upon the seat. But Mr. Ernest Jones, too, has a claim, since it was he who lost the third seat in November through the operation of the minority clause. To-morrow and Saturday an experi ment will be tried, which will have a great effect in decid ing the revived Ballot .question. The electors of Man chester will be asked to declare by Ballot which of the two shall be the Liberal candidate. Manchester is generally foremost in giving practical effect to new ideas. Supposing Mr. Gibson is not chosen by his old constituents, he is pretty nearly safe to be returned for Norwich. He is a resident of the eastern counties, and, though lie is known best as one of the Manchester school, is neither by education nor in appearance a Manchester man. He is the son of an officer in the army ; he was educated at Cambridge, and he has all his life been a country gentleman, having his seat near Saxmundham, in Suffolk. He is, moreover, one of the most elaborate dressers in London, in that respect resembling another well-known but now deceased Radical, Tom Duncombe. Mr. Gibson is a good-looking man, though now in his 62nd year, and if somewhat of a fainéant Minister, has done good service as a private member. Mr. Bruce has now fully exculpated himself in all fair minds with respect to his reprieve of the convict Bisgrove. No one now doubts that the Queen's preroga tive was rightly used in this instance. The case is very different from-one which happened some years ago, in which a very distinguished colleague of Mr. Bruce's bore a leading part. A murderer had been condemned to death. The distinguished Minister (then a comparatively unknown man), being greatly averse to capital punishment, exerted himself successfully to obtain a mitigation of the sentence, and the murderer was transported to Australia. Years passed, and one day the distinguished Minister, still, however, a private member of Parliament, was travelling, and fell into conversation with a fellow passenger on the subject of death penalty. He related the case in which he had played so active a part, and asserted his satisfaction at the course which be had taken. " Yes," replied his companion, "and that man afterwards committed three murders in Australia." Pro found silence ensued, which was not interrupted until the end of the journey. London is to be scandalised very shortly by a trial involving the reputation of the heir to a peerage. I alluded to this case in a former letter, and I now learn that the scandal, which was then the talk of private circles, will soon b e p u bli c p ro p er ty. The person i n question has already appeared in a by no means envi able position, and ought to have been prosecuted by the Crown, but has escaped, out of regard to his father, I pre sume. To that father this son has been a life-long reproach. Years ago, when the first heard that the second was about to be married, he wrote to the lady and told her that he felt bound to warn her of the character of his son ; and, in doing so, he used words too strong to be repeated. The warning had no effect, the marriage took place, and for a time the prodigal seemed to have reformed himself. But certain circumstances which took place four years ago shewed that the reformation was but a sham one. Since then father and son have been estranged. The latest act of this prospective peer has been to forge his brother's name to bills amounting to £-1,000. When the first of these came to the knowledge of the person whose name had been used, he nobly accepted the responsibility rather than expose his family to fresh disgrace. It was soon found that there would be no limit to the drain upon his generosity ; so when, as th e y w ill s hortly do, the ho lders of the bills sue him, the whole transaction will be revealed. Meanwhile the criminal has taken to flight, thinking banishment in the North is better than residence in an English gaol. The courts at Westminster are likely to witness two remark a bl e actions for libel. One is the case of Edmunds v. Greenwood. It will be remembered that when some four years ago the " Edmunds scandal," as it was called, came to light, involving Lord Westbury and one of his sons, Messrs. Hindmarch and Greenwood were appointed to investigate the charge made against Mr. Edmunds, that he had embezzled certain sums which he had received in his post at the Patent Office. A report very damaging to Mr. Edmunds was drawn up, and he was deprived of his office. Latterly he has succeeded in proving, before one of the judges, that he was to a great extent, if not entirely, innocent of the offence imputed to him, and as he owed his deprivation to the adverse report, he has instituted proceedings for libel against Mr. Greenwood, one of the authors of it. Probably, Mr. Greenwood will plead that his communication was privileged. In the other case the plaintiff has a similar name to the first plaintiff's. He is Dr. Edmonds, of Fitzroy-square, who has brought an action against another London physician, Dr. Snow Beck. Dr. Edmonds is one of the physicians at the Lying-in Hospital, Endell-street, and has introduced several changes there. Amongst others he has replaced the old-fashioned nurses by members of the Female Medical College, and he has also discontinued the use of alcoholic stimulants in ordinary cases. These changes have been vnnarl; ably successful, for not a single case of death had occurred in the hospital a few days ago, and I believe none has occurred since. But reformers must always count upon having enemies, and Dr. Edmonds has found his among the old nurse s and the supporters of alcoholic treatment. A certain Dr. Snow Beck has carried his hostility' so far that he has accused Dr. Edmonds of having caused the death of one of his patients. The facts are as follows :—A poor woman, a patient in the hospital, got over her confinement very well, but was suffering from rapid consumption. Dr. Edmonds advisei that she should be sent to a consumption hospital, and accordingly she was removed to her own home. The night after her arrival there she felt so ill that she sent for a medical man; who, on seeing her, declared that there was nothing the matter with her, and scolded the patient for having sent for him. However, she died the next day, and her death is charged against Dr. Edmonds. In his own vindication he has brought the action against' Dr. Beck, who a week or two ago was brought up before the magistrates on the charge of assaulting Dr. Edmonds, a charge which was fully sustained. In music and the drama there is not jnuch to say. The pantomimes are still running, and there are nightly roars of laughter at ridiculous postures on the part of the men, and primval costumes on the part of the women.—Mr. Robertson has produced a " new " play at the Prince of Wales's Theatre, which he calls " School," but which some impertinent spectator has the audacity to say he saw years ago in Germany, when it was called "Aschenbriidel," and said to be written by Robert Benedix. The Welsh clergyman's daughter, Miss Edith Wynne, who has returned from her wanderjahre in Italy, sang most charmingly last night at Mr. Boosey's ballad concert in St. James's Hall ; so, too, did Madame Lemmens-Sherrington. But surely Madame Sainton-Dolby would consult her musical repu tation best by retiring. Mr. Buchanan begins his readings from his own poetry on Monday. In literary news there are one or two events which will interest your reader. The authoress of the "Girl of the Period" articles in the Saturday Review is at last discovered to be Mrs. Linton, the wife of our finest wood engraver, and the joint producer, with her husband, of illustrated books on the Lakes and on the New Forest. Another lady writer, Miss Harriet Martineau, is, I am sorry to say, in such bad health that she could not revise the reprint volume of biographic sketches which she has just brought out. She is now in her 67th year. The long looked-for diary of the late Henry Crabbe Robinson is to be published in the spring by Macmillan. It is edited by Dr. Sadler. Mr. Lecky, the young and very successful author of the "History of Rationalism," has in the press a " History of European Morals, from Augustus to Charlemagne." Sir John Taylor Coleridge has expanded his brief memoir of Keble, which appeared in the Guardian, into a volume of 600 pages—not bad work for a man in his 79th year. The publishers of it, Messrs. Parker, announce a volume of poems by Keble, which will be sure to have many readers. Mr. Hotten promises the letters of Mary Lamb, sister of Charles Lamb. Mr. W. R. Greg, whose name has already appeared in this letter, has written a very remarkable iittle book of thirty pages, entitled " Truth versus Edification," intended as a reply to Mr. Matthew Arnold's strictures on Bishop Colenso. Another new magazine, the West End, is announced, Messrs. Arthur A'Beckett, the editor, and Matthew Morgan, the artist, have bought the copyright of the Tomahawk " for a good round sum in thousands "—a long price, considering how lamentably the publication has fallen off lately. One of the tournaments in connection with the British Chess Association will terminate this week. The first and second prizes in the handicap lie between Messrs. Steinitz and Wisker. Should no accident decide otherwise, the German professional, who is undoubtedly the finest player in Europe, will take the first prize, and the Hull amateur the second. We have had queer weather here to-day. A bright morning ; a dense fog, which in ten minutes brought us midnight darkness, which lasted for an hour, and then cleared again. THE CHINESE MISSION IN EUROPE. The letters received at Washington from Mr. BURLINGAME'S Embassy accounted for the previous inaction and spoke hopefully of future success. The late Ministry had received the mission most cour teously, but as dissolution hung over it the Ambas sailor from China thought it useless to fret its last moments with business which could lead to no prac- tical result. - Indeed, his Excellency ANSON BURLIN GAME, withoutbeing accused of any time-serving pro pensities, very naturally strove more to get his hand on the pulse of the coming men than to listen to the dying speeches and confessions of the expiring Tory Cabinet. The result has justified his Excel lency, for he got through his business with Yankee expedition when he knew with whom to deal. The late British episode in China will con vince the EMPEROR'S Government at Peking of the value of this mission. It is amusing to see the trap into which poor Consul MEDIIURST has fallen, a full, true, and particular account of which is to be found in the Times of last Monday. At the moment Lord CLARENDON was conceding Mr. BURLINGAME'S just !demands, Mr. MEDITURST was enforcing his diplomatic notions on the man darins of Nanking, under the guns of her MA JESTY'S fleet, commanded by Admiral KEPPEL. The correspondent draws a pitiable account of the Viceroy, TSENG, and his successor elect, MA, on learning the unalterable determination of the Bri tish to take the Chinese gunboat Tung-Che, as a material guarantee for the fulfilment of the stipula tions Mr. MEDHURST had thrust on the mandarins, literally, at the point of the bayonet. Poor TSENG had arranged to proceed in his gunboat towards the seat of his new government, escorted by a pro cession of mandarins, and high festival was to be held in the steamer, then decorated for the occa sion. This had to be foregone, and he had to drain to the bitterest dregs the cup of his humiliation. "TSENG turned in his agony to the subordinate con sular officers of the party, and begged them to in tercede with their chief. But Mr. MEDHURST was firm ; he knew too well the hollowness of Chinese promises, and the value of making some show of power for the benefit of the people; and TSENG was told thatif the Tung-che were not quietly given up she would be taken." After detailing the measures taken by the British Consul to humiliate the Chinese and obtain reparation for the injuries done by the mob of Yang-chow, the correspondent adds—" Great credit is due to Mr. MEDHURST for the ability and energy. he has shown throughout the whole negotia tions, and to Sir RUTIIERFORD ALCOCK for the wise and vigorous support he has lent to the for mer's actions. It is fortunate that the Shanghai Consulate was so well filled at the emergency." Now, we have no fault to find with Mr. MEDHURST for his conduct in this affair, but, on the contrary, think he deserves credit for the energy and deter mination with which he performed a disagree able duty. What we condemn is the system which erects the accuser into both judge and exe cutioner, which is simply a proclamation of ruling in China by the strong arm, while we endeavour to enforce on the Chinese, the propriety, the morality of adhering to the terms of treaties thus made. The day for such action as that taken by Mr. MED HURST has now passed away—let us hope for ever — as far as China is concerned ; for while these trans actions were progressing the principle was recog nized by the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs that complaints should not be settled by the arbi trary acts of Consuls, and men-of-war, directed against the local authorities, but be referred to the supreme Government at Peking, and no hostile action was to be taken unless sanctioned by her MAJESTY'S Ministers. The Times condemned the course adopted by Mr. MEDHURST, and, what is un usual with it, refused to be guided by the light of its correspondent. It received Mr. Buitusomm's mission by casting every difficulty in his way it could arouse in British prejudices ; but Mr. BUR LINGAME has been successful, and the Times now endorses that success with its approval—a charac teristic peculiarity which shows how qualified it is to represent the average JOHN BULL. We are not concerned, however, with the opinions of the Times, except, in so far as they are supposed to reflect those of the nation ; but we are concerned with the prin ciple secured, upon which we heartily congratulate the Ambassador from China. It must be a source of no small gratification to him that he was enabled to overcome the machinations of those he sketched as the East Indian planters, the opium smugglers, slaveowners, and others of that genus who consistently oppose all progress, and manage to muster so strongly in London when th sort of work has to be done. Mr. BURLINGAMF: be lieves in a frank, fair statement of his case, without any diplomatic double-dealing or chicanery ; taking the firm ground of equal justice to all. There is one subject, however, which should not be over looked, now that the Yang-chow affair has been settled and that the Chinese mission has left Lon don. The injustice of humiliating TSENG and MA at Nanking for the acts of a Yang-chow mob will leave its sting behind, and make enemies of two powerful officials which may bear fruit hereafter The reception given to. the Embassy in where some ill-advised papery--the Standard for instance—likened the mission to a troop of Chiner jugglers, has produced an effect sure to react int Peking. It was the more marked, as the contras was immediate between the hospitable welcon3e t, London' ten dered in America, which has, we believe, been O A lowedby a reception little less distinguished tll inFan°rance'_ Common prudence might have sugges ted course, while courtesy prompted a kindl ier greetliflga to strangers who had broken through the crust °. thousand years' seclusion, to get into conipa nicati° with the outer world.-4-ing/o-American Times. THE LATE MR. JOHN DICKINSON' iss ued We of the present day, with our newsP a P era t daily by the hundred thousand, can form but a b ill idea of w bat was the state of the paper m• this ture, now so important a branch of industryrnineuteble, country, even at so late a period as the com pa per heli l b g e meat of the present century. Instead of reeled off in webs many feet in width, and at t . a rate sometimes of upwards of a mile in the hour d i e length, each sheet had at that time to be 113 % 0 separately on a mould by hand, and b ad then, re be subjected to various subsequent proces ses hel e o it was in a state fit for use. To obtain an iln ifcr st and continuous supply for any purpose was °lie d a matter of impossibility, and the necessitibe, applying machinery to this manufacture was h a t: t . ginning to be felt, while the success which ha d s ir tended its introduction into the spinning and we v a e ; ing industries gave encouragement of success. ' l , the whole change from a system of manufacture : 1i most medi:eval in its rudeness was comprised witlit, ted the lifetime and was in great measure effe° the exertions and ingenuity of the gentleman wh°s „a name we have placed at the head of this article, a" who was buried on Monday last at Kens al-gre o e° : John Dickinson, eldest son of Capt. T. D iekh's , - ,,:a R.N., was born on the 29th of March, 178 2, T he had therefore nearly completed his 78th yea r at l time of his decease. His father, of a north coa family, was himself the son of a naval caPt :l; and his mother came of an old French flu:n il /ca. Cosses, of Brissac, though her immediate an,lct tors had been driven by the revocation of the I'o., of Nautes to settle in this country , ' It is Pra bable that, as has been the case in many other 1 0 3 stances, it was to this infusion of French bi ;j e , that much of the inventive faculty to wh ich w o Dickinson owed his subsdquent s uccess nta in due. The intimacy subsisting between ` - ' 3 ' a t Dickinson's family and Andrew Straha c ' his that time the Kin g 's printer, iniluen ce i d a nd future career as connected with the B u PP IY f his manufacture of paper. On the expirat ion 0- r° ak, indentures he commenced business in Walb l ' and shortly after joined Mr. Charles citier.. man, brother of the late Mr. Longman , °f Fa ae, noster-row, and for some time M.P. for maidatoljtv and carried on business with him, and subs e T i li e je with his nephew in the premises in the Old a t the , It was not, however, until the year 1806 tiT:ciefi• I first patent " for manufacturing paper of an 11 n i e r, nite length" was taken out by Henry Fournripa. and this was soon followed by Mr. Dick inson 's f o r tent of June 30, 1807, for rnachin er c o ar cutting and planing paper thus w hich drinier's patent for the paper macbinet "oo still bears his name, was taken out i n the "gr. year ; and it was about this time that anty tn Dickinson cemenced his career as a pa per 0 1 ear facturer by the purchase of Apsley - rn ill i ° toe Hemel Hempsted, to which in the coursed two four other mills in Hertfordshire were add::Abet:a of them constructed, and the water power is created under his own superintendence. I',i'slar 1807, before the commencement of the re n 'i r idge campaign, that he invented a new cannon c ar m - o ilea paper, made by mixing together linen and Ws. ; lo• rags in certain proportions, so that after th e sion it was prevented from retaining spa rks 0 tar ° In 1809 he patented machinery for themanti ° coo' of paper by means of an ingeniously coa st cylinder of brass, covered with wire gauz e and cr h ick meted with an air-pump, a form of machin e li t ho still remains in use. 'This was followed by patents for the manufacture of finely-faced c c) P A r for plate paper by a sort of veneering process, at a machine to cut cards, both of which we re led cessful inventions, and the former especially tea itt , much to increase his reputation. In 1826 t i ,, ° . e act 4 vented the process of introducing coloured 00, into the body of paper at the instant of its t llti 4 facture which was again improved on in ° 18 3 ' tie d preservative against forgery will have b een n wd by holders of Exchequer bills, and many a ti h s w ere remember it in the stamped envelopes whic'f thy issued by Government after the adoption 0 0 of penny postage system, in the intro d Oti° jd which Mr. Dickenson had taken great intere e " e ' r or 1832 we find him again patenting a k art ta two strainer for cleaning pulp from impurities, att fat/ years later applying magnets for the roil:O val° OP' portions of iron that may h a pp en to be ill tike P and thus preventing ironmould in the Pe'P e , l :; o rci re :, sides these, he t o ok ou t o th er p a tents fo r '7, te tory ments, more or less important, in the Ma riti. iii re of paper, almost up to the period of his fi n ; a e f oa t° tiring from business in 1857. Such is a h r r k ieoe ll i . line of the principal inventions of gr. P i Le .0°,7 in connection with the manufacture , he must be regarded as one of the foonne'reaor of which he was for many years th e f i n ed wised chief. But his,energies were not CO n fr ieo u ; manufacturing and mechanical details • h i° ,loo ah ship with the principal publishers of l'e n- br ettre Edinburgh was intimate and lasting, an d ; - a eisl ie n i him in contact with most of the dis t :tad 'd authors of his day. He was a member 01 'F o ll° 4 ' a the learned societies, and was inlB4selen te l:,teat of the Royal Society, to which he conini n , - e r f r og' 1851, some observations on the supply a W a i p aclo ilt the chalk stratum in the neighbourhood 0f t hoP .fg efi containing much valuable information as W ile l ec i colation of water through chalk. In his la a ere' h t i I ho took much interest in astronomy , ah t i., o o; if an observatory at his country house, . 6 -" A - bai o " B l.' of which he had been at once architect a lw the ge ° : As a magistrate he took an active part i° ',I be ° ; ral concerns of the county. He was a li be La Oi le d factor to numerous charitable institutionol peed cially to hospitals, and was for many 9, e3r n - d, the registrars of the Royal Literary .r tt- r f, a v ,cl mental and bodily activity was extraorain!, be fr o in the words of one of his oldest friends, t illi o f thoroughly lived out his life, and lead f ° , ll er oP i d d and means to crowd into the short j uv e de $ l ll business more kindly and generous e ry in e " would make the staple of many ordina' nc l to [ADVERTISEMENT.] —Holloway's Ointment coot' Scurvy, Skin Diseases.—These unsightlYice-wit:e :4 the source of much annoyance to thousanus•fiiducv:trel ting the mind they irritate the nerves, and P": n d 1 ; - 1)0"cl tinuous slow fever, disordered sto;nach, nights. For this state Holloway's Ointment 11- 00 0fje ' "0 Cures Ointments bel° It l n f t obe an immediate and certain reinedy. the disease will cease. Under the influenc o f t •de proved medicaments the blood regains its Plir'-ao;ooii'g resumes its healthy functions ; the tong el ii er/40° : ‘,0, tainted breath departs;_ and the languor sn'„„ preesion disappear. No corrupt humours ts c' i : o'o'o 0 the purifying principle of these remarit tu ctele' 0 0 which expel all morbid matter from tile ePloci likewise correct all irregularities of the liver, digestion. ves."-7 intes. _ -....-- r 4 eo f Births. ,014 of BEAUMONT-On tho 19th inst., at Irnb ain ' l4' l'4 Bourne, the wife of Henry F. Beauto°l3t' eo .°' daughter. SeS MoTT-On the 20th inst., at 3, Cambridge-Pjalllter. park, the wife of Albert Mott, Esq., of ti. ' l.l- 0' ef t Marriages. , h 1 01) to P f BLAINE -1110 GER -On the 20th •nst 5 t I:3'' ' -' Ci°l)6lll‘e f Bla no, Esq.. of Kilburn, London,' to 3131.5r 5q./ /36 Frances, only daughter of George bfogeri .I° l ls' Bath. # t st ; o 1‘,.0 LITTLEJOHN- BRUCE-On the 20th ins.. , hp' i1e13,-° wood, Alexander Littlejohn, Esq., °f , -2 - : e '. change, to Mary, second - daughter of v --j. Esq. 9 1' "deo Deaths. coo, iie, BRADSHAW- On the 19th lust ,at Lolvt her ,sol l CLl°waY' John Bradshaw, Esq.., a ged 8 2 . P" 'MITE -On the 14th ult. at Hurreepore7 ear 44. 5, , Major Mark Edward Currie, 8.R.A. , f'g e Akil9,- O' 0 ___ --- Pf - - ----- - , A O go t' London : Printed and Pablished by Vin l " l ", -- 00 0 ',10 06 of No. 112, Strand, Printer, st Oftg SOP to ...- Strand, in the Precinct of the WO, ill Iliddleam-Friday, January 22, UM