The Sun. — London, England, 1837-03-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JO RN A It would be unjust to deny that many of the opr:- nents of the new Poor-!aw arc worthy and humane We willinght make this adirussion, although we occasionally receive cotrrnun;cations from some of them who, while enlarging on Christian charity as the first of ditties, display very little of that charity towards those who (lifer from them in opinion. In consider ing the new Poor-law, we ere not to fix our attention exclusively on the partial inconveniences 'Attendant on so great a change in the habits of the country. When disease invades the human frame, the remedy to w hie!' recourse is bad inay often be very painful ; and when society is diseased, the cure cannot be effected without pain. The question which we should ask ourselves with regard to the Poor-law is not whether there may not be evils connected with the new law, but whether or not it will effect a great improvement in the condi tion of the labouring classes ? To dwell on inevitable inconveniences, when the good greatly outweighs the evil, is a proof of great weakness or something worse. Earl Fitzwilliatn took the co rrec t vi e w o f thi s c hange in the letter acknowledging a petition against the Poor Law (copied into yesterday's Chronicle), when, after stating that he had been upwards of a year en gaged very assiduously in the administration of the hew law, he declared " I can bear the most confident testimony to its beneficial tendency. I affirm this not merely with respect to the interest of the rate-payers, which I deem the least important consideration, hut more especially with respect to those of the labouring (-lasses, whose habits, characters, and comforts are of far more value in my estimation." A correspondent of an evening paper, strongly opposed to the new Poor Law, who complains " of the spirit in which the new Poor Law has been universally administered, and who contends that a one-sided view has been taken of the interests of the parties, and any plan which promised to benefit the landlords has been car ried through regardless of the habits, the prejudices, the feelings, and the sufferings of the poor," yet admits that the old system was fast hurrying the la bouring classes to a state of the utmost degradation and misery : 111C11. " I am - fully aware," he says, "of the mischiefs which were in operation under the misapplied old poor-law. I know that, by a scheme originally adopted to save their own pockets, the landed proprietors, by that retributive justice which appears inevitably to overtake the perpe trators of such frauds, were fast becoming merely trustees for a pauperised population. All beneficial interest in the rent of land was rapidly disappearing ; and this pressure upon rent produced the wonderful unanimity which occurred between Whigs and Tories on the passing of the Poor-law Amendment Act. Whilst I might have seen the whole of the landlords' interest in the soil con sumed by the poor without regret, had that been the only evil produced, I could not but mourn over the deteriora tion which that system was causing to the morality and happiness of the poor themselves. Vast as is the power of :the landowners, and grievous as are the evils which their selfish legislation has inflicted upon the rest of the community, I knew that their power and their oppres sions would be swept away whenever the people had courage and knowledge enough to assert their rights. But had their system depressed the physical condition of British labourers to an extent approximating to that of the Irish peasantry, and subjected them morally to a state of slavery, to both of which there was a rapidly increasing tendency, I should have felt all hope of national regenera tion had been indefinitely postponed. Entertaining such sentiments, I saw permanent good, with much of partial, but A hoped temporary, evil, in the new Poor-law." "It is not easy to conceive a state of things worse than what is here described. And yet this is the state of things from which the country has been rescued by the New Poor-law. The landholders and tithholders, but more especially the latter, have unquestionably been great `gaineis by the change in the law. The Rev. Thos. Sockett, Rector of Petworth, paid 366/. as poor-rates in 1832 on a yearly receipt for tithes of 600/. ; and in 1836, under the new law, he paid only 1201. for the same sum of 6001. The landholder does not, of course, gain in the same proportion. The rates on land were charged on a rent payable after al lowing for all burdens. Thus, for instance, 20s. in the pound poor-rates would swallow up the whole tithe, but on land without poor's rates worth 21. an acre, 20s. would be deducted by the tenant from the rent, leaving still 1/. to the landlord. Both land and tithe owners, however, have greatly benefitted ; but the labourer has benefitted still more. It is a great mistake to suppose that the reduction of the rate has been something taken from the labourers. It will be found when the evidence is analysed, that the labourers as a body have received more than for- merly, in consequence of their labour being more pro ductive. The roundsmen were burdensome to the owners and occupiers of the soil, but their labour was worth little. The labourer now receives the value of his labour, and the employer the value of his money. Men with large families no doubt received more under the allowance system than they do now, and this is no doubt felt by all labourers so circumstanced. But then against this evil must be placed the low wages paid to unmarried men, and married men without large families. In fact, the one description of labourers got more than the fair rate of wages, because the other got less than their fair share. The allowance-system makes one description of labourers contribute to maintain the families of the others. So long as the allowance-system continued, it was hopeless to think of improving the labourers. With independence, every thing is possible. The labourers, thrown upon their own resources, cannot escape from care and thought respecting their condition. Under the old law, they had the strongest of all temptations to be come careless and improvident. One of the conse quences of the new state of things will no doubt be the extension of benefit societies. So long as men had the parish to go to, they had no motive to enter into these societies. There has been on all sides a disposition to exaggerate the extent of pauperism in England under the old system. Though it pervaded a large portion of England, yet particular districts only were affected. How small a proportion to the whole sum expended on labour was the whole amount of money expended on the poor, both in country and toy , n. This is the best answer to those who contend that without rates in aid of wages the condition of the English labourers will sink to the level of the Irish peasant. How happens it that in Ireland itself wages in some counties are twice as high as in others ? Morning Chronicle. The division of last Thursday on Mr. Emerson Tennent's motion for the second reading of the " Bel fast Waterworks" Bill was a curiosity in House of Commons proceedings, and must be acknowledged as such, even by those gross tools of the Ministers who are capable of denying that there was in it something more than commonly atrocious. The Bill was a pri vate one, for serving two purposes, most essential to the inhabitants of Belfast, and interesting to the cause of charity. That important town has been hitherto sup plied with water by the use of certain funds vested in public works under the administration of a society, which is compelled by Act of Parliament to turn the profits to the maintenance of a Poor-house for the aged and infirm. Belfast having tripled in population since the first establishment of the aforesaid Society, it had become indispensable to enlarge the works, and with them the supply of water, from which would also arise of necessity a more extended relief to the poor. Such were the objects of the new Bill brought in by Mr. Emerson Tennent, some clauses of which expressly pro vided, that no springs or water should be taken with out lcaY, and without compensation to the owners. Now, it is difficult to imagine any measure more salu tary than this, or less objectionable on any ground of feeling, principle, or sound policy. It is further to be recollected, that private Bills, of which this is one, are seldom or never thrown out on the second reading. If specific objections be made to them, they are reserved for the Committee. Members, as a general rule, do not vote on private Bills, unless in some manner con nected with the subject of them ; or if Members not so connected do give their votes, they have generally during this Session supported the second readings. What then has happened in the present case ? Cap tain Pechell, Member for Brighton, in no degree ap pertaining to Belfast, but a sort of mungrel partisan of the Melbourne Ministry, moved the second reading of the Bill for " that day six months," on the alle gation that the Irish " Municipal Bill" would super sede the charitable society in its objects ; inferring, we presume, that the latter ought, therefore, to be sup pressed.. But we beg leave to ask of Captain Pechell, Ist, ..hat right exists in the framers of the Popish Corporation Bill to propose to Parliament the e:ttinc tion of a charitable society so constituted; the spolia tion of its property and vested rights, and the conse 'fluent i•obbety of the poor, whom it has hithe46 sip- • ilortecl ? 2d, How Captain Pech' , ::ll has made sure that • the Popish Cot-p - ration Bill will be car-lied, and thus th° htnieficent purposes of \lr. Emerson Ten ' nat's Bill be at all effected by any other means than those afforded by the Bill itself ? The Popish Corpo ration Bill may pass into an Act or Parliament abcut the same year of our Lord when Captain Pechell be comes First Lord of the Adiniralty - not an hour sooner. This, however, is not all. Lord Belfast, the value of whose regular votes for Ministers is un impaired by Any frequent efforts of that noble and en lightened Lord to illustrate his votes by his speeches, followed Captain Pechell in objecting to the " Wa ter.vorks Bill." Meaning to be both serious and civil, we shall say nothing about his Lordship's ar guments on this occasion, beyond that of his voting vigorously in favour of the Treasury bench, to whose oc cupants on public quest , ns (which the one alluded to was not) Mr. Emerson Tennent is opposed. But so it vas, that on a division where the minority for the second reading was 24, and the majority not more than 32, there weme enumerated among the latter no less than 12 officials of Downing-street, of whom two were Cabi net 'Ministers, viz., Lords John Russell, and Mor peth, Sir C. Adam, Lord Dahnenv, Robert Gordon, Sir G. Grey, Sir Alexander Leith Hay, the Lord Advocate, More O'Ferrall, Sir Henry Parnell,' Vernon Smith, E. J. Stanley. Is not this, we ask them, a flagrant vote ?—upon a Private Bill, brought in, to be sure, by a political adversary. Twelve of the Cabinet household troops break through the habi tual usages of the House of Commons, debar the Pro testant population of Belfast of the comfort of a liberal supply of water, deprive the aged and infirm poor of the advantages which they might have hoped to enjoy from an increase of the capital by the profits on which they were subsisted—involving at the same time in the frightful expenses of a defeated Act of Parliament, a ' Charitable Association, which had already laid out forty thousand pounds on objects exclusively profitable to others, and gaining no one conceivable good, but the achievement of a victory over the destitute paupers of a town, whose electors have sent to represent them in Parliament Gentlemen opposed to the Rump and O'Connell policy. This is unquestionably no less decorous and magnanimous, than huMane and honest. —Times. Since the illtimed, indecent, and infuriate demon stration made by the Bishops against the. Ministerial proposition to provide a substitute for Church -rates, the opposition to the continuace of that hated tax has every where become more active and determined. Pub lic feeling is roused into an indignant manifestation by the cheat which, under cover of fraudulently manufac tured petitions, was attempted to be practised on the Legislature, and those who were first to sign petitions in favour of the present system, under the lying and ridiculous assurance that an attemot was about to be made " to destroy and pull down the Church," are they who, on becoming acquainted with the real na ture of the measure proposed by the Government, are most anxious to support it, and to counteract the ef fects of the imposture practised upon them by exerting themselves in every fair and laudable way to promote the abolition of the rates, or rather, the substitution of a more just and appropriate provision for the wants of the Church. To witness the numerous abuses endeavoured to be screened under the sanction of the Church, one would suppose that the custom still existed of allowing the greatest criminals to be intact within its sanctuary. Wherever an evil is proposed to be redressed, however unconnected with the Church Establishment, the ad vocates of that evil immediately discover some plea to show that the removal of the abuse would compromise or endanger the safety of the Church. Thus, to esta blish a fair and free system of municipal government in Ireland—or to provide for the maintenance of the fabric of the Church out of any source but from the pockets of the Dissenters, is denounced as tending to the utter destruction not only of the Church Establishment, but even of the religion associated with it--nay, of Chris tianity itself ; so, that the Orange Corporations of Ire land—the tithe persecutions and murders in the same part of the kingdom—the plunder of the English Dissenters in the shape of Church-rates, are all hung upon the horns of the altar, nor should it excite surprise if the enormities thus accumulated on. such fragile supporters should precipitate the inevitable ca tastrophe. The Church has so many political male factions crowded into it for protection—so many false friends seeking shelter within its walls—that there is no small danger of the fabric itself being severely bat tered in the effort to get at the corruptions which are ensconced or said to be ensconced in it. The pro ceedings at the meeting of the inhabitants of Lambeth, held at the Horns Tavern last night, which will be found in another part of this journal, and to which we have much satisfaction to direct our readers' attention, furnish a perfect corroboration of our representation of the state of public opinion. But a further corro boration of our opinion is yet in store, which perhaps will render any subsequent exertion unnecessary. The necessity of this demonstration, however, rests on con tingencies.—Morning Advertiser. The Melbourne Ministers prepare two measures for the benefit of Ireland—a measure upon the subject of Irish tithes, and a measure upon the subject of Irish corporations. Now there are many and obvious reasons to induce them to give precedence in point of time to their mea sure upon the subject of Irish tithes. In the first place, the grievance which it professes to remedy is of the widest possible extent, and of the deepest possible malignity. Whatever may be the defects of the pre sent state of the Irish corporations, the institutions to which the blame is attributed exist only in some par ticular towns, and the evil alleged to result from them consisted of misappropriation of funds and abuse of patronage. But the mischief arising from the present state of the Irish Church ques tion is one which is spreading though every county, through every hamlet, through every cabin of the island, and the phenomena by which we trace its course are destruction of property, defiance of law, riot, bloodshed, murder. Again, upon the ne cessity of immediately settling the Irish Tithe ques tion all parties are agreed :—Sir Robert Peel as well as Lord John Russell, and Lord Lyndhurst as well as Lord Melbourne, are prepared to express a distinct and definite opinion upon the matter. But with re spect to the Irish Corporation question, the arguments of the opponents of the Ministerial scheme is ob viously rather for postponement than for rejection. The settlement of the Tithe question on principles which should secure the Establ:shed Protestant Church of Ireland against the rapacity of the agitators would undoubtedly - weaken the objections now justly en tertained against a Bill which night legalize in every borough town a forum for their agitation. :end, finally, the Tithe Question is the ques tion to which Lord Melbourne owes the seals he holds. The present Ministers are only Ministers because the House of Commons resolved that the Tithe Question must be settled in a particular manner, and that its settlement admitted of no de lay. If it is now to be settled in any other man ner, or if its settlement is now found to admit of any delay, it is time for the friends of Mr. O'Connell to give place to honester men. For these several reasons we should have supposed that the Government would have felt it to be both right and expedient to make their Irish Tithe Bill their first object. Diis aliter visunt ! We learned from the Morning Chronicle yesterday, that the Irish Municipal Corporation Bill is to be forwarded to the Lords imme diatelp after the holidays ; and we learned from Lord John Russell, some days ago, that it cer tainly was the intention of Government to intro duce a Bill on the subject of Irish Tithes after the Easter recess—but he could not say at what period. Seeking a reason for the adoption of this course by the Cabinet, we can find none but that which is suggested by a speech of Mr. O'Connell, to which frequent reference has been made—a speech in which that Learned Gentleman justified to his un learned countrymen his postponement of the Tithe question, his postponement of the Repeal question, and his postponement of a dozen other questions, each in its turn the one thing needful, by a strong profession of his faith, that, if he had but Corporation Reftnitt, tli~r rdst would Unavoidably follow. We imagine that the - same belief reCOnutiends the. Ministry a 111 pu,tpcine ti - 0; ii.b4tieii of the 'Protestant Church to the establishment of Popish Corporations, be cau.se they, like their master, regard the establish ment of Popish Corporations as inevitably leading to the abolition of the Protestant Church: The defen ders of the Protestant Church in the Upper House of Parliament will hilt be blind t 6 these Appearailees. Cho Will Asti a reason For the continued withholding of the Irish Tithe Bill by those Ministers who have hem for two sessions so unanimously agreed upon its - . principle and details. And seeing the present c rcum ,tances of Ireland unfit for the introduction of poFular municipal institutions—seeing also in the prevailing excitement upon the Tithe question one of the circum stances which most tend to create that unfitness— they will insist on the production of the Bill which is to set the Tithe question at Test before they sanction the enactment of a statute which would encourage and augment the excitement upon it.—Morning Post. At the commencement of the present Session ofPar liainent, Lord John Russell intimated, in very intel ligible terms, that it was the intention of the Adminis tration to which he belongs to resign, if they were unsuccessful in -carrying the Irish Municipal Bill in the House of Lords. • Whether this was intended as a threat, or a proclamation of defeat, or an indirectin vitation to a compromise upon other matters, which Ministers have heretofore put forward as vital ques tions, we do not undertake to determine ; but whatever the intention may have been, it seems to have failed in its effect. Neither Ministers, nor any other portion of the Parliament or the public, now expect that the Irish Municipal Bill will: pass the House of Lords. The interesting question, therefore, which is generally dis cussed in political coteries is this—will Ministers ad here to the determination announced at the opening of the Session ?—will the rejection of the Municipal Bill by the House of Lords lead to the resignation of the present Ministry ? If the men now in place were men of eminence in character, in talent, or in what is called political following, there would be no doubt about the matter, because such men would lose more by forfeit ing a pledge than they possibly could by exclusion from the Government. But the present men, except as Ministers, are nothihg ; and of this they themselves must long have been conscious. To them the sacrifice of office would be a sacrifice not only of emoluments which are convenient, of power which is agreeable, and of patronage which is both one and the other, but it would be a sacrifice of station as public men. To make a party by themselves would be ridiculous, be cause the number of their Parliamentary adherents is so small. They should, as they did before, join the Radicals in opposition, and after the experienc e which the Radicals have had, they would no longer suffer themselves to be led by Lord John Russell or Mr. Spring Rice. Were the present Ministers thrown into opposition, they could rank only as second or third rates in the House of Commons ; and in the other House as nothing at all. Lord John Russell, on account of his connections, and a kind of middling fluency, and artificial dignity; which he possesses as a Parliamentary speaker, might still command some im portance in the House of CommoUs ; but for the rest they would necessarily give place to those eminsnt Par liamentary heroes Mr. Roebuck and Sir Win. Moles worth. This being the state of the case, it may be easily conceived with what extreme reluctance the present Mi nisters contemplate a resignation, and how ready they will be to grasp at any excuse, or any expedient which may present itself, to relieve them from the pledge made at the opening of the session. On the other hand, we may be sure that it will not be pressed upon them by the Conservative opposition, who have so little temptation, and, as far as we can at present see, so little desire, to occupy the seats of the Ministers. If in their present position they can prevent injury from being done to the institutions of the country, they will not seek to change it for that of the Treasury benches. Their importance does not depend upon official station, nor are the personal advantages of office in the slightest degree a temptation to those on the Conservative side of the House of Commons, who in the event of a change would probably -become Ministers. - Of this also the present Administration must be conscious; and there will be the more inducement to them to seek some excuse for not fulfilling their pledge of resignation, as they know that though it may encounter a little sarcasm from Sir Robert Peel, and some expressions of haughty scorn from Lord Stanley, it will not be seriously taken up, or systematically exposed in Parliament. On these grounds, we doubt that the threatened resignation will take place, even should the House of Lords, according to the general expectation, throw out the Municipal Bill. It will, however be a mortifying case for the Mi nisters, even though they have the consolation of still being in office ;;and if another session should conclude, in which the Ministers of the Crown have been able to effect nothing beyond the ordinary details of busi ness, it will require all the philosophic indifference of Lords Melbourne and Palmerston, all the miniature declamation of Lord John Russell, and all the finesse of Mr. Spring Rice, to retire to the leisure of another autumn without stronger manifestations of public con tempt than even they would find it possible to endure with equanimity. Their present object seems to be to imbue the public mind in England with such impressions as will cause the rejection of the Irish Municipal Bill by the House of Lords to be received with popular disapprobation. They seem to think it not impossible to get up something like a popular excite ment in favour of the Bill. This, we think, is a forlorn hope ; and if Ministers be well advised, they will look for some other excuse for staving in than the desire of the British people to see tried in Ireland the experi ment of popular municipalities. We think they ought to give the people of England credit for more depth of observation than to suppose they allow themselves to be deceived by mere similarity of names. If we know that local government, constituted by popular election, is useful to us here, we also know why it is so. We know that freedom and independence on the part of the electors, and honesty and judgment on the part of the elected, are necessary to make our system a bene ficial one. We know also, from the speci:nens of elections of another kind, which take place in Ireland, how vain it would be to expect either independence or honesty in Irish municipal elections, while that country is in its present state. Our regret, therefore, wilt be, not that the Imperial Parliament has rejected a Bill for giving popular municipalities to Ireland, but that Ireland is kept in such a state of agitation as to render it impossible to grant these municipalities with a pro spect of advantage.—Morning Herald. An Address to the Archbishop of Canterbury is in the course of signature in this city and its vicinity, thanking his Grace for the firmness with which he has withstood the measure for the abolition of Church-rates.— Wilts Herald. It is a circumstance not unworthy of remark, that within the space of three months, fourteen persons have died at Swanagc, whose ages in the aggregate amount to 1069 years, averaging something more than 76 years each. The picture galleries of the Louvre at Paris are haunted by a gang of the most expert pickpockets, who daily levy large contributions upon all, but particularly the lady visi tors. It is said that some new discoveries have been made in the art of pocket emptying, whereby the facilities of conveying property from one party to another are greatly increased, and that it is as yet only known to a few select at Paris, and the practitioners in the London omnibuses. The inventor, a Frenchman, is actually debating with himself whether or not to take out a patent for his improvement. The cases of the alterations are said to be purely scientific and philosophical. For the present the practitioners have succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the police, but it is surely no small comfort to the losers to feel that they have been " drawn" by the most new, refined, and intellectual process I —French Paper. Albion t p i o o n n d o en t f an o f the ei ctrom Liv erpo ol agne tie engine accSomTpEaAnilers.—theAspCeocrizas invented in America by a letter in which the following passage occurs:—" If this is not the identical machine which will su persede the steam-engine, and give to man the same power and dominion over magnetism and electricity which he already possesses over steam, it may. at least, be a very important step towards the attainment of that stupendous object." Ma. (MON N ELL.—Then gentleman is popularly known by the designation of " the Great Agitator;" and per haps no single term is so happily descriptive of the general character of his public carreer. He may almost be regarded as the originator of a new mode of influencing the public mind with reference to political subjects. This method is termed Agitation—a word which would have been unintelli gible 'nalf-a-century ago, and which to the more timid and un thini*.ing of the present generation, conveys the idea of general ins`JeuritY and anarehy ; but which still designates the process to which we owe All the public improvement which the past t,qfaity years have witnessed. —Leicestershire Xercury, POST-OFFICE -ADDITIONAL M 'file following arc extracts frorii ihe seterith Report of le Commissioners appointetl to inqu'sc into the manage- went of th Post-Office department : DETENTION OF CORRESPONDENCE PASSING THROUGH LONDON, During our ititestigAtion respecting enei trActi; ,diir attC,ntion hitt been freritiently talied to the in doritenience , in filatiY dd6di afise§ freiti the dClay in the transmission of letters, and particularly to the detention for 14 hours of all correspondence passing through Lon don. We are now enabled to offer to your Lordships some suggestions by which this delay may be obviated to a considerable extent, without imposing any charge on the department much beyond what may be expected to be re ceived from the incre4sed revenue, which has generally been found to follow any additional facility of j o in unic tion afforded to the public. Sir H. Freeling has stated that in 1830 the attention of the postmaster-general was called to the applications which had been made, " with the object of inducing him to adopt measures to obviate the delay attaching to letters passing through London." We cannot ascertain that any decision was then come to, although it was represented that " the expense of re medying the evil would not be great, that it would be ex ceedingly palatable to the public, and that it might not, improbably, be attended with an increase to the revenue, from the additional facility afforded to correspondence." All the inconvenience which existed in 1830 still pre vails, and to such a degree, that an answer cannot be re ceived to a letter passing between two post towns on oppo site sides of London, even when the whole distance be tween the towns does not exceed twenty miles, until the fifth, or, by the intervention of Sunday, the sixth day after the letter is despatched. We directed an account to be kept for a week of the number of letters detained in passing through London. The whole amounted to 38,736, the postage charged on them being 1,3871. ss. 4d. We have appended another return, limited to towns within eighty miles of London, and for a similar period, by which it appears that the num ber of letters detained in transit, whose destination was within this circle was 22,549, of which 12,584 were for the respective towns named in the returns, and the re mainder (9,965) for the adjacent places within the delivery of the towns. A large proportion of this correspondence might be for warded by the day coaches, and reach its destination before the hour at which the mails are now despatched from London. • Having communicated with the Secretary and the di ferent officers of the department on the expediency of acce lerating the letters in transit in this manner, we do not hesitate to recommend to your lordships that the necessary arrangements should be made for despatching letters which arrive by the morning mails to every post town to which they can be conveyed by a stage-coach in time for delivery the same evenini. It appears, from the following extracts, from the evidence of two of the presidents of the inland de partment, that no practical difficulty will be experienced by this arrangement : " Mr. Johnson, Superintending President. " In the event of the Post-office undertaking to send let ters from London in the morning by some of the private stage coaches, do you conceive that such arrangement would entail much additional trouble and expense upon the Post-office ?—As far as regards the despatch of letters, if it were confined entirely to that, I think the expense would not be considerably increased ; but I do not speak with re gard to the expense of conveying. " Confining yourself, in the first instance, to the suppo sition that letters are not to be received in London for the purpose of being transmitted by morning mails, but simply to transmit those letters which would be in London for the evening mails—taking that limited view of the question, do you consider that much additional trouble would be oc casioned to your department of the Post Office in carrying that system into effect ?—I think it quite possible, if con veyances were provided, that the morning letters arriving from the country might be despatched without much addi tional assistance as regards the clerks of that department. They might be employed in despatching those letters im mediately after the departure of the letter-carriers. " Mr. Watts, President. " Do you think that the Post Office could, without any great inconvenience, afford means for despatching letters by the morning coaches ?—No doubt of it. " For instance, if a morning coach left London at half past ten o'clock, the letters that had come up that morning could go out by that. morning's coach ?—Certainly ; taking it for granted that our office is pretty clear of all London letters by nine o'clock, between that and ten, or half-past ten, all those letters could be prepared for sending. " As far as merely sending off the letters that had come from the country, it would not need any additional as sistance, because the letters are made up in the morning? —They must go through another operation, but it could be easily done." It is impossible to form an accurate estimate of the ex pense which will be incurred, or the additional revenue which will be derived, in consequence of the acceleration we propose. We believe that your Lordships would be diSposed to sanction some outlay, if the benefit were to be confined merely to that number of letters of which an esti mate has been made from the returns to which we have al ready referred. From the information which we have received relative to the conveyance of letters by stage coaches, in order to pre vent their detention in London, we think it likely that a material increase Kill take place, more particularly as the illegal means of conveyance is not generally resorted to with a view to defraud the revenue, but from necessity. We have been assured by different individual, that, with commercial and professional men, the amount of postage is always a secondary consideration, compared with the cer tainty and speed of conveyance. But were it otherwise, it appears that in most cases, the expense of sending letters by a coach is greater than the rate of postage for the same distance. Most of the mail-coach proprietors have day coaches at present ; and we think, therefore, that they would be in duced to take the morning bags at a very moderate expense, rather than run the chance of havinc , separate mails estab lished, which, if taken by other people, would produce op position to their business. By so doincr t they would profit beyond the actual emolument received from the Post-office, in consequence of that preference which passengers natu rally give to the coaches carrying mails, which are con sidere by the public more punctual. In Ireland advantage has already been taken, in several instances, of the established day-coaches, for the purpose of forwarding letters which arrive in Dublin in the morning, and would otherwise be liable to the same detention as now takes place in the General Post-office in London. Mr. Purcell, the principal mail-contractor, for a series of years conveyed the English mail from Dublin to Belfast without any charge, and with perfect security, although without the sanction of the Post-office. He has given a practical proof of the great accommodation which may be afforded to the public, and at a small expense to the Post office, by means of day coaches ; his evidence on this sub ject is important : (Extract from the evidence of Mr. Peter Purcell.) " Do you run other coaches besides mail coaches in Ire land ?—A great number. "Do any of those coaches carry mail-bags ? Only one of them. That is now paid for - by the Post-office. It is the Belfast day-mail. At the instance of merchants at Bel fast, I proposed to the Post-office to convey the mail-bag with the English letters at eight o'clock in the morning, on the arrival of the Holyhead pockets, for their convenience. I submitted it at the time to the Post-office. They would not recognise it in any shape. They would not even pay a guard, much less pay me any mileage. However, for the convenience of the people that I was so much connected with, and that had served me so much, I carried the mail for sixteen years for nothing, from Dublin to Belfast and back daily. " What difference, in point of time, did that alteration make to the inhabitants of Belfast ? They got the letters in the evening, instead of getting them the following morn ing ; and they got also the English papers, which was a very important advantage ; they got them at all the clubs an d public places at nine in the evening, instead of receiv ing them at ten the next morning. Do the mails all leave Dublin at the same time ? No, the majority leave at seven o'clock in the evening ; there is a mid-day mail to Cork, which starts at one o'clock in the day. o Is that the only one which does not leave Dublin at seven o'clock P—Now there is an established mail to Bel fast, and I am allowed 400/. a-year, within the last three or four years, for that coach, which leaves at eight o'clock in the morning ; it reaches at eight m the evening ; it is a heavy coach; and also a Kilkenny clay-mail, leaving Dublin at the same hour. Is it the practice in Ireland for the Post-office to send letters by any coach which is not a regular mail ?—This is the only instance in which it has been recognised. " Would it not be a great convenience to many parts of Ireland if letters were sent by some of those day-coaches, instead of waiting for the mails in the evening P—A very material advantage. " Would the expense be very great should think very little ; as far as I am concerned in the day-coaches I have, I should be very glad to afford the accommodation at a very small sum. Being a large contractor, it is no great object to me ; the responsibility is not very great. The day-mail by which I conveyed those letters for many years was done with perfect security ; there was not an instance of a loss, though the guards were my own servants, and paid by myself, not under the control of the Post-office. " Does it produce much inconvenience in the manage- tfient Of a 44y-coach by Occasioning delay ? No : rot worth - fegardlng: i •-- • In the case referred' to lry Mr: Purcell ; neither the cott;:ll nor any of the servants to whom the ttta.3ll were intrusted if ere the control of the Post-office. We arc of optitto'-; itkiwever : that when bags of letters are conveyed by day-coaches, flid:;• lhould be. placed'unde: - the care of a guard appointed and paid by file Peo,-office. The edditional expense will not be great ; it has been cal= culated that twentrtil guards will be required, and that the expense of each would be about 801. a-year. Ti;is caleithitidn is titade on the supposition that they are not to be allthttiti td reeeire any fee frpm .passengers. By employing guards, the publie will hate the same security for their correspondence as at present, rind there will be a check on the irregularities which might otherwise recur in the arrival and departure of the coaches. They wAI further enable the Post-office - to establish additional .com munications between the different towns through which the day.rttaila pass, by means of by. bags ; this will be pro ductive of some additional revenue. Tottg. The solicitor of the Post-office has given an opinion " that a stage-coach, conveying a bag of letters under the authority of the Postmaster-General, would be entitled to exemption from toll, unless a stipulation should be entered into at the time of any agreement that such exemption should not be claimed or exercised." We consider that it would be unfair to the turnpike trusts to take advantage of this exemption in cases where stage coaches, carrying a large number of passengers, are employed to carry bags of letters ; and, therefore, recom mend that the proprietors of such coaches shall be expressly prohibited from claiming any such exemption. DETENTION OF LETTERS ON SUNDAY. In addition to the delay of 14 hours , wh i c h daily occurs to letters passing through London, the whole correspondence in transit is once a week detained for as hours, in conse quence of bags not being forwarded on Sunday, although the coaches arrive at, and depart from, the Post-office as usual. We are not disposed to recommend any change which would interfere with the proper observance of Sunday in the metropolis, which we conceive would be the case if a general delivery of letters took place on that day. Since it is, however, necessary to despatch the coaches on Sunday evening, we cannot see any objection to their carrying the letters passing through London, and giving the commercial towns throughout the kingdom the advantage of receiving those letters a day earlier than they do at present. We requested the heads of the different departments at the Post-office to consider by what means this could best be effected, bearing in mind that we were desirous to avoid, as much as possible, imposing any duties in addition to those which, under the existing arrangements, are required from the Post-office clerks on Sunday. Mr. Louis has submitted a plan by which be proposes to forward the whole of the correspondence by the mails on Sunday without passing through London at all, and at an expense of about 400/. a-year. His proposition is " that, at the end of every line of road nearest London, a post should be despatched, making a sort of circle round London ; starting, for instance, from Romford, and going as far as Hounslow, passing, by that means, through Epping, Waltham-cross, Barnet, Edge ware, and Southall ; a post also to start from Shooter's hill, through Bromley, Croydon, and Kingston, to Hounslow ; then an interchange of letters to take place, and the posts return to the places from whence they start." There are, however, some objections to Mr. Louis's plan ; the foreign correspondence would be left out, unless some other arrangements were made for its transmission, and also it is obvious, that although no labour would be imposed on the officers of the department in London, the whole of the post-offices round the metropolis would have additional duties to perform. There is now a regular attendance in the foreign department of the Post-office on Sunday, and pro bably the more convenient plan of forwarding the letters will be to allow the attendance of a few additional clerks, who will be able to sort and prepare for transmission by the evening mails, all the foreign and other correspondence which may be brought into London on Sunday morning. The recommendations which we have made to your Lordships have reference solely to expediting letters pass ing through London. We shall have afterwards to con. sider whether the means adopted to effect this object may not be extended and rendered availaible for giving to the metropolis the benefit of two communications daily with the populous towns throughout the kingdom. We wish, however, to defer our report on this subject, until we shall have had an opportunity of miemining into the arrangement of the inland and twopenny-post departments, with a view to ascertain what increase will be required in the esta blishment to provide for the additional duties which a se cond arrival and despatch of letters will occasion. DAY-MAIL TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. Although we are not yet prepared to express our opinion with respect to a general despatch of day-mails from London, we have very fully considered the proposal which has been made for establishing a day-mail to Edin bugh and Glasgow, which would likewise have conveyed letters for Liverpool, Manchester, and all other towns on that line of road The attention of the officers of the post office having been called to this subject, we subjoin an extract from the evidence of Colonel Maberly, stating the conclusion he had come to : (Extract from the evidence of Colonel Maberly.) " You have hitherto spoken upon the subject of day coaches ; have you turned yeur attention at all to the ques tion, whether it would be desirable to establish day-mails to any part of the kingdom ?—I was induced, in conse quence of the evidence given before the Commissioners by Mr. Wallace, to turn my attention to the practicability of a day-mail to Edinburgh and Glasgow ; end I requested Mr. Louis, who was despatched to Scotland to look into the question of the acceleration of the Scotch mails ge nerally to turn his attention to this subject while he was on the spot. Mr. Louis has given me a long re port upon the subject, in which he comes to the conclu sion—in which I think 1 he is perfectly correct—that, though a day-mail would be perfectly practicable, yet as it could not be established before April, as we could not get rid of the existing contracts before that time, and the rail road would be coming into operation between Birmingham and Liverpool and Manchester, it would not be worth while to establish a day-mail in April, when the railroad is coming into operation in the autumn (the surveyor of the district reports to me that he understands, instead of being com pleted in the autumn, it will be in operation in July). You would have given additional facilities to all the towns be -tween London and Edinburgh, and London and Glasgow, which facilities you would have in almost all to limit, in many instances to withdraw, three months afterwards, to the great dissatisfaction of all those places, which we find generally complain of any great alteration in the circulation of their letters, unless the benefit is so evident that it re moves all possibility of complaint. By a time-bill which I have made out, I find that a mail starting from London at one o'clock in the afternoon would arrive in Edinburgh at 21 minutes past six A.M., and at Glasgow at 25 minutes pas six, A.m., the third day, by the route of Carlisle, taking the speed to be ten miles an hour. I took the departure at one o'clock, as affording two clear hours for correspon dence after the hours of business opening in London on the Exchange ; those hours being at ten, and it being necessary for the purpose of sorting that an hour at least should be given, leaves two clear hours for writing after the commencement of business ; which I looked upon as so gr - eat an advantage to the merchant and the man of business, that it seemed to me, upon the whole, that one o'clock would be about the best hour at which a day-mail could be started. The arrival, therefore, of the mails at Glasgow and Edinburgh would be twenty-five minutes past six, and twenty-one minutes past six, respectively. This mail would have been in addition very convenient ; inas much as it would have conveyed the correspondence to Manchester at half-past seven the second morning; from whence, of course, it might have been speedily conveyed to Liverpool by the railroad ; thus giving Manchester and Liverpool nearly the same accommodation as Edinburgh and Glasgow. It should be understoed that my idea was, that from Carlisle there should be a branch mail, branching off from the Edinburgh mail to Glasgow. Such was the conclusion to which I was disposed to come, and which, in all probability, I should have recommended to the consi deration of the Postmaster-General, had it not been that I had reason to believe the railroad would be completed at such an early period. To satisfy myself of the little use there would be in establishing a day-mail after the railroad should be completed, I caused a calculation to be made of the probable time of arrival in Edinburgh and Glasgow of the mail, when conveyed partly by coach and partly by the railroad (taking its state to be such as, from the reports I have received of its progress, I may fairly assume it will be next summer), and I found that conveying the mail by coach to Coventry, and from thence taking it on the rail road to Preston, and thence taking it by coach the re mainder of the distance to Edinburgh and Glasgow, I can get an arrival at Glasgow of the mail which starts at eight o'clock at night, at 40 minutes past seven in the morning, and of the Edinburgh mail at ten minutes past eight in the morn ing; thus making not quite two hours' difference between the arrival of the day-mail which started at one o'clock, and the arrival of the evening-mail which started at eight, and which would convey the correspondence partly by coach and partly by railroad. In estimating the speed of the railroad, I calculated it at twenty miles per hour. , 4 With reference to the mail which would, according to your supposition, leave London in the day-time, could not you equally avail yourself of the facilities of the rail road ?—That would entirely depend upon a point which as yet is not aseertaiiied—whether railroads can be tra velled on by night. It may be accomplished by gas-lights, and strong lights for short distances, and I believe is so, but it is very questionable whether such a system could be made available for long distances. The mail starting at one o'clock of the day would get down to Coventry at a quarter past ten at night ; consequently, unless the engine could travel, the letters would have to wait at C6ventry till it was light next morning, and the advantage of the day mail would be in a great measure lost by the delay of six or seven hours at Coventry. The mail, starting from London nt eight o'c!ock in the evening, as at present, would get d own td cei , yentry. at ten miles an hour, at about a quarter 1 60. five o'clock in the morning, thus enabling it to be con y, rd along the railroad without the least delay, and at an hoti.-, in ell probability, when, for the purposes cf general communication between . places, trains would be running. Thus, the evening mail would have the advantage of the railroad, while the day mail, upon the supposition that engines cannot be used at night on railroads, would be exclud , d." Assuming that it . mty 1 , practicable, at so early a period to )nvey •: , ,bi - elt leave London at eight o'clock at night to it'Ainhorgh and Glasgow in about 36 hours, we must concur with Colonel Maberly's opinion, that it would he inexpedient to alter the post communication at present. On no lighter grounds, however, should we have hesitated to recommend strongly to your Lordships to sanction this establishment of a mail which would have afforded so great an accommodation to the metropolis of Scotland, and three of the most important commercial towns in the kingdom. CONSOLIDATION OF THE ACTS RELATING TO THE rosv OFFICE DEPARTMENT. We have bad frequent occasion to observe the incon venience which is occasioned by the multiplicity of statutes which relate to the revenue and management of the Post office department. On communicating with Mr. Peacock, the solicitor, on this subject, we found that he had already been engaged in preparing Bills, with a view to the consoli datio❑ of the whole of the existing Acts of Parliament, amounting to 141. We requested him to complete the work which he had undertaken, and he has now prepared four Bills :—The first, a Bill to repeal all the Acts, and parts of Acts, relating to the Post-office ; the second, a Bill for the general management and regulation of the Post office ; the third, a Bill to regulate the privilege of fratk ing ; and the fourth, a Bill to consolidate the criminal laws relating to the Post-office. We conceive that it would be expedient to propose this consolidation to Parliament, and to introduce the Bills which have been prepared by Mr. Peacock for that purpose. DUNCANNON, H. LABOUCHERE, SEYMOUR. Office of Woods, Feb. 1. SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. ENTERED INWARDS AT THE CUSTOM-HOUSE, MARCH 27. The Calpe, Loughton, from Malaga; Giraffe, Strannack, Rotterdam; Erasmus, Fellack, Rotterdam; Lebra, Enydmaii, Amsterdam ; Elphinstone, Teremlin, Hobart Town; Cara tares, Oliver, Ceylon. ENTERED OUTWARDS. The Eliza, Follett, for St. John's, Newfoundland; Julie, Faillant, Calais; Ranger, Bertram, Cape of Good Hope; Gonst George, Haacks, Stettin; Maas, Blake, Rotterdam; Argyle, Sandys, Madras ; Grondstadt, Johnson, Bergen. CLEARED OUTWARDS WITH CARGO. The Ocean, Fell, for Tobago; Charles, Hutchings, New. foundland ; Calypso, Mason, Quebec; Argus, Schully, New York; Ann, Tossa, Genoa. CLEARED OUTWARDS IN BALLAST. The Marmion, Hopper, for Quebec; Ethelbert, Moon, Bathurst; Sophia Maria, Heirth, Norway; Watson, Frosts Riga ; Frederick, Rode, Elsineur ; Elizabeth, Norwick, Que bec ; Edward, Thompson, Quebec; Tobago, Hauuescballt Quebec. ARRIVALS AT LIVERPOOL, MARCH 26. The Ralph, Nicholas, from Mobile ; Despatch, Carter, HS' lifax ; Secret, Gates, St. Michael's; Jeffer Johanna, Holker, Leer ; Wilkem, Fritzem, Embden ; Vrou Maria, Aden, Embden ; Catherine, Bran, Embden ; Egedius, Ostend; Nestor, Honduras ; Mary Howland, Weare, St. John's, Brunswick ; Florence, Natchez ; Cassander, Greg, New Or leans ; Bornas, Taylor, New Orleans ; Arab, Marshall, New Orleans ; Queen Adelaide, Barstow, New Orleans • Livonia, Egypt ; Bridgetown, Sinall, St. John's , New Brunswick Christian, Lucht, Embden ; Alice, Calcutta ; Sally, Corse, Youghall ; Harbura, Grieves, Tralee ; Erin, Bates, Dundalk. TELEGRAPHED. Off Holyhead, inward bound, the Aberfoil, from Demerara; the Brenda, from St. Domingo ; the: Isabella, from Bombay. Off Holyhead, outward bound, the Litherland for Barbadoes. DREADFUL HURRICANE AT MADRAS. The' following particulars are extracted from the Madras Conservative of November 1 : " On Saturday morning Mr. A. Taylor, the Astronomer , from having observed the barometer to be unsteady, appre hended the approach of bad weather, but, unwilling to create unnecessary alarm, did not send the warning to the master at tendant till the afternoon. At four P. m. the following n ote was received by tho master attendant, and immediately put in circulation among the commanders of ships:— "' My Dear Dalrymple—The barometer has been uwiteadi since yesterday, and has fallen rapidly during the last four hours. I think it is very probable we shall have high wind to night. " Yours very sincerely, " Madras, Oct. 29, 1836. " T. G. TAYLOR.' " The first signal to the shipping was hoisted at 4, lb r. M. : " The weather is suspicious—prepare to cut or slip.' " The moment the signal was made his Majesty's ship An.. dromache struck top gallant yards and masts. The master attendant hating despatched a copy of Mr. Taylor's letter to the First Lieutenant, the ship immediately got under weig'h, and was putting to sea as Captain Chads got on board. The other ships in the roads were the French ship Eliza, America ship Star, English ship John William Dare, brig Agar, and Government schooner Recovery. The schooner and John William Dare got under weigh shortly after the Andromach e. " At midnight the weather looked very threatening, The th e surf had risen rapidly, and every indication of a gale . master attendant made the night signal to cut or slip, accom panied by guns from the fort fired at short intervals. Shortly. after midnight the French ship . Eliza and brig Agar slippe n and went to sea. At daylight it was blowing fresh in sq uells from the N.N. W., with a heavy sea in the roads. The Arne' sican ship Star still at anchor. " The signal to slip was hoisted. Two guns fired at inter vals from daylight to 11 A.M. when the Star slipped, and ren out to sea in a heavy squall from the N.W. From 11 A. M. Al' fear for the shipping in the roads had ceased, and the gale con" Culled to increase till 5 P. M., when it blew a hurricane fro m the northward. " The effects of the hurricane on shore were tremendous. The stoutest trees were torn up root and branch. Not a go den or house that we have heard of escaped damage. T he best gardens in Madras are completely destroyed. The young plants of the Horticultural Society we regret to hear have s°' tamed irreparable injury. The whole line of beach was reti e dercd impassable for carriages ; several panes of glass in. 4'j lighthouse were broken, and the light of course extinguish e s during the night. The topmast of the flagstaff, which fo rs unaccountable reason was not struck, was snapped short ou the mainmast itself was not injured. Up to last night the sn; perintendent of police had intimation of ten liTes having bee lost. We trust this may be the outside of the fatal n umber . The houses in Black Town suffered greatly, as was to be pected." SILVER CANDLESTICKS' from Five Guineas to Six Guineas per pair. An elegant and ext el)- sive variety of Silver Candlesticks of new and tasteful patterns. i va rying rying, from nine to ten inches in height, may be selected from at tl / 41 „, above price, at T. COX SAVORY'S, Working Silver a nd G°' smith, 47, Cornhill, London. P lat ' Pamphlet, with Drawings, Lists of Prices of Plated Goods, Watches, Clocks, &e., may be had gratis, or will w forwarded in answer to a post-paid application. wit BIRTHS. On the 23d inst., at Hersham Lodge, Surrey, Mrs. Ga rr - Monk, of a daughter. T hter' On the 24th inst., the wife of J. Romilly , Esq., of a danf. , On the 23d inst., Mrs. Dickenson, of Jeffery-'s -street,-street, Ke ntilv. town, of a daughter. te" On the 18th inst., the lady of T. C. L. Meyer , Esq ., of Ches s place, Kennington, of a daughter, which survived only four days. On the 21st inst., at Springfield, Isle of Wight, the lady of Car thin 0. St. John, 21st Madras Light Infantry, of a son. AI/ 1 ' On tlw 25th inst., in Upper Wimpole - street ., the wife of J. • ligan, Esq., of twinS. On the 26th inst., in Berkeley-square, the lady of P. jun., Esq., of a son. T ARRIE. 8 0 On the 2.3 d inst., at Clem m e is Da ne s, William Napier •R i e .r , 01 , Esq., of Aldermanbury, to Maryanne, eldest daug hter of ' t he Waugh, Esq., of Essex-street, Strand, and grand-daughter of late A. Waugh, D.D. On the 9th inst., at St. Mary's, Kingston, near Portsmoull,t W. Brittain, Esq., youngest son of the late Captain John Royal Marines, to Harriett Euphemia, eldest daught er of CaptaiP W. Thorne, late Ist Garrison Battalion. DIED. On the 23(1 inst., Geo. Evans Bruce, Esq., of Wilton-creice°t' aged 80. On the 16th inst , at Bristol, Elizabeth, relict o f the late NV' Pocock, aged 69. ea On the 22d inst., Mr. Thos. Danks, of Hatton-garden, ag h twa ri, On the 23d inst., Horatio, second son of the late W. Hatton-garde Esq., of the Inner Temple, aged 35. r. P ‘ On the 25th inst., Septimus, elder of the twin sons of inn, i ice B. Sanders, of Hart-street, Bloomsbury-square, and Ne w licitor, aged 11 months. On the 25th inst., in Leicester-square, Mrs. Mary g-e,, 11 _„• JI On the 24th inst., at Maida-hill West, Mr. Georg e Edward-street, Portman-square, aged 68. FOP On the 19th inst., aged 79, ' Mr. Thomas Lloyd , of the 0 11, Tavern, Bullring, Birmingham. Ba( O r i n. i , t to l h l f e ec2 l a2 6 m, t i h 7ns i y i s l ot s .o. t ,d . :at a a t uteh l- d .: e d B i l2 t v i . b burgh, General Sir Writ' • 11 1 W i krielcles °r" ilderness, third son of Captain T. Martin, R.N , aglieedigla9tem, ojnothlrils!' ine, oife On the 20th inst., at I3udleigh Salterton, Devon, Ca r°l "' of the Rev. Wm. Knight, Rector of Steenton, Hants' es On the 25th inst., in Bedford-square v , aged 87, Sir Jamconarpon rough, late one of the Justices of his Majesty's Court of Pleas. .., o re • On the 15th inst ,at Dresden, Major-Gen. Sir Lorenzo ;" 9 it. K. C. H. and C. B. „A 8 On the 12th inst., at Newport, Isle of Wight, Richard Bassett, banker. t On the 25th inst., a t Eltham, Alexander Robert, the no of Captain Thackcr. London: Printed and Published by 111URDO YOUN'r 00 10 112, Strand, at The Sux Office , No. 11n, Strand, in of Aliddlotex...-juesday,Alarek 28, 1837. 1 -LI