The Sun. — London, England, 1865-10-18 00:00:00

The Oil. Regions of Pennsylvania. (krom the Times Correspondent.) OIL CITY, Oct. 1. It is little more than four years ago since I was last in this then almost unknown, but now world famous, oil region. In the comparatively brief in terval that has elapsed everything but the geogra phical conformation of the country, everything but its mountains and rivers, has been changed, and even these are now scarcely recognisable. The mountain tops have been shorn of their forest growth of ages, and in its stead rise cities. Wild, solitary creeks and river inlets, known only to en thusiastic sportsmen for their game and fish, are now roughly bridged, their shores lined with shanty wharves, their waters covered with every kind of nondescript craft that can be got to float, all laden with oil ; and the whole neighbourhood abounds with such evidences of wild, rough, eager, hurrying activity as literally can be seen in no other part of the world but in the new diggings and oil cities of P etrolia. Petrolia and its wealth have become a power in the State during the last three years, and every day increases its ride-spread influence—every day adds fresh instances to the long list of colossal fortunes realised in a week, either by the possessors of a few acres of poor farm land on whichoil has been found or by the fortunate speculator who has " struck ile" and parted with his 50th interest in a flowing well, for which he paid $ lOO , at a premium of $25,000. Every day, too, adds to the influence of Petrolia as new and more -valuable uses for the oil are hourly discovered, and the demand for it becomes more certain and more universal both in the States and Europe. It is, in fact, almost impossible to de scribe, and it would certainly be very difficult to exa ggerate, the extraordinary rise in the material prosperity of all around this region. I think lam speaking within the mark when I say that within a circuit of 30 miles round this Oil City there are more so-called cities and towns now existing than there were villages, or even farms, four years ago. Take one instance, Corry, four years ago, was a poor farm, where the thinly scratched soil of cold clay land yielded so little that the whole place, buildings and all, might easily have been purchased at $8 or $lO an acre. It was a mere halt ing place for sportsmen en route to shoot deer in the now manufacturing regions of Petrolia. I was at Corry the other night. It is a fine rough city of about 10,000 inhabitants. The Atlantic and Great Western Railway, which has opened it [up, has its great depot there, and has made it the central ex change of petroleum. It has nearly 20 banks, two newspapers, and the city is now building a large opera-house. The quotations made on the oil-ex change at Corry, whether of oil, gold, or breadstuffs, influence Wall-street, and have infinitely greater weight on the trade of the country than anything done at Philadelphia, or indeed throughout all Pennsylvania. Yet all this has been done within four years, and the site of a city which now trans acts business to the amount of £3,000,000 sterling annually, and where the land sells almost as dear as in Cheapside, could all have been bought four years ago for less than £5,000. But Corry is only one sample out of many. Its position as the arbiter and ruler of prices between the oil regions and New York and Europe gives it, of course, great import ance, though in reality the city is not larger than many others of Petrolia which are much younger. Rouseville, Plummer, Titusville, Franklin, are all the juniors of Corry by a couple of years, yet some of these are almost as important as Corry itself and nearly as large. The city from which I write can scarcely be counted as more than three years old, yet even after what I have seen of the sudden rise and sudden wealth of oildom, its extent, its squalid wealth and dirty evidences of incessant activity, its population, and its resources, all make it a pheno menon even in this land of hurried wonders. Oil City claims to dispute pre-eminence even with Corry, though I am told by Englishmen that its rise, its wealth, and business energy are, as it were, things of every-day occurrence compared with the new light which has risen further up the hills, the now universal beacon of attraction in the rush for speculation—Pithole City. It is only four months old. It is only four months since the first trees of the forest amid which it stands were felled ; yet a city, both in size and population, it is . admitted to be—a city which is now in influ ence and excitement second to none in all Petrolia. It matters not to state experiences of Cherry Run, Titusville, Cherry-tree Run, Oil Creek, Sugar Creek, Rouseville, or all the now for a time disregarded regions. Most of the wells in these last-named localities are pumping. At Pithole they are all flowing, and flowing at a rate which, even for Petrolia, is marvellous, and is making the people round about for miles wild in their desire and efforts to reach this new land of promise and performance. " New diggings" at California—a " new rush" in Australia, give no idea of the furor produced here by striking flowing wells in any ter ritory, no matter how unfavourably situate with re gard to means of transit, means of getting there, means of living, or means of shelter when there. Where oil is there is wealth, and with wealth comes rapidly the opportunity of indulging in all the rough backwoodsman's notions of luxury, such as dry clean beds and food and drink when he wants it, while he is making a fortune. Gold digging is a slow and not too sure a way to fortune. Here at the oil regions nothing is slow, and something is sure. It is a mere gamble—ss,ooo for a chance of a million. There are many blanks, but there are also many prizes ; and when the prizes come they are so out of all propor tion to the venture that it ceasesto be a wonder that people's heads are turned, and they risk their " bot tom dollar" in what may make them millionaires or paupers in a week. All that is written of the wildest manias of South Sea schemes, all that novelists have depicted of John Law's rule in France, falls utterly short of the fever of speculation in Petrolia. Reason ing is useless here. What can be said when you meet, as you do con stantly, one of a party of five or six hard working men who, knowi ng t h e country, banded together to sink for oil at a cost of less than £2,000, and struck a flowing well, w hi c h t h ey sold in. a week or so to a company for £250,000, receivin g a royalty half the oil it yielded, a n d which brings them in their thousands a day seven. days in the week, for a year, 18 months, or two years together? ' What can be said when you meet men who lost heart, or capital, or both, and parted with their interest in a sinking well for a horse and $lO to take them out of the unlucky region, and who, be fore they reached their homes, have heard that their venture had been a prize, and their $lOO interest had been sold for $50,000 ? Reasoning, in fact, is as much out of place here as would be provident societies or insurance companies. Every man knows that in these territories he has to carry his life and fortune in his hand. Till the latter is played out h e seldom leaves, and as long as the former lasts he ' almost sure to return and venture again. Yet it i, tive said that the worst part of the specula mania has died out ; that a better acquaintance with the nature of the oil regions, and the best methods of making thorn yield their trea sures, has taken the ventures out of the hands of mere specul a t ors into those of who conduct theirpublic companies, risks o ll better systems, and who so manage th a t if their profit s are very muc h smaller they are, at least, v It is claimed, in. fact, that e oil rauch more certain. ventures are being b reduced to the level of good paying co al and iron and d ds those ar mines. This, however, is t rue only as r who let the land in which oil is soug h t work . expected to be found. It is not the poor hard- g long n t g o farmers who sell. They have been bought out l in since (more than two or t hr ee months) at what them was the munificent price of $2O or $3O an acre, and the purchasers of these lots and farms never sell them. They are only leased in short terms of from three to seven years in lots of acres or half acres. The lessee is bound to put down one well in each lot, and one-half of its yield in oil goes to the ground landlord. This is what is called the system Which has done away with speculation— this is the regular matter-of fact business rule which is to put an end to ventures and keep out all but capitalists, for capitalists are very much venerated here. But what is the fact ? This time last year the whole of the land of Pithole City could have been purchased easily at $l5 an acre, farm buildings and all. A few speculators who trusted in its " surface indications" of stinking oil upon its muddy water-courses, and who humbly staked their little "pile" upon their acre or two of forest land, became a byword in Oil Creek, Cherry Run, and Titusville. This is not a year ago. Pit hole is now the oil capital of Petrolia, and $BO,OOO is the price of a half-acre freehold on poor lands which less than 12 months ago could have been got for $l5 an acre, with their fences and clearings. In the face of such facts as these—in the face of the wild fever and excitement around—in the face of the perpetual efforts made to induce me, a stranger, to advance only $lOO in a well belonging to the " Wild Cat Company," or the " Universal Fortune Company," when " they can't get enough barrels," " made $150,000 in a week," " big thing for the New Yorkers," &c.,—l am inclined to think that the oil fever has not yet died out, and never will as long as men can make great fortunes by buyi ng good oil wells cheap, or other men can make greater fortunes by selling bad oil wells dear. I have already made one effort to reach Pithole from this city, but was obliged to give up the at tempt, as the floods were out, roads had been washed away, bridges destroyed, and the fords, of course, rendered utterly impassable. Next time I hope to be more successful, and to be able to say as well what floods mean in Petrolia, where the only two great dangers to be dreaded are fire and flood, which both occasionally assert their rights of de struction in the most tremendous and appalling manner. Ad interim, however, there is plenty to be seen here. Oil City is about 600 miles from New York, in the most westerly portion of Pennsyl vania. It is reached by the New York and Erie as far as Salamanca. Thence the rest of the route is entirely by the Atlantic and Great Western—a railway almost every shilling of the stocks in which are held in England, and which from its oil business alone is rapidly becoming one of the most lucrative investments in this country. A branch line from Meadville strikes out from the main trunk of the Great Atlantic road and leads direct to this city, the very heart of oildom. The traffic on this branch line is so enormous and so incessant that oil freights by train are often as much as two months in arrear of the time fixed for their departure. Leaving Meadville the line keeps close alongside a branch of the Alle gheny, known as French Creek, so named from the many fights on it when General Du quesne, acting under advice from Montcalm, was trying to wrest this part of Pennsylvania from the English. The greater part of the still wild country was then held by the Sennaca Indians, and Sennaca oil, as petroleum was then called, was gathered and sold by them as an absolute specific for many diseases, especially rheumatism and consumption— ' charms which the oil possesses to this day, though its greater charm, against a more general evil—want of money—have just now cast its medicinal virtues I l rather into the shade. It is impossible to imagine a more picturesque country than the valley along which French Creek winds to Oil Creek. Your readers will easily appreciate its beautiful cha racter when I say that it closely resembles the valley of " Betws-y-Coed," through which tourists in North Wales ma :e their way from Conway to Snowdon. All, however, is utterly wild and uncul tivated, and only rarely and at long intervals are signs of life to be seen among the beautifully wooded hill and bluffs which shut in every turn of the valley. Here and there a patch of gaunt-looking trees, girded and left to die with their dry leafess-looking arms stark and white like skeletons of trees, show where a clearing hasbegun ; but this is all. Occa sionally comes a little patch of farm land with its trees overborne with heavy crops of fruit ; but gene rally trees, fruit, farmhouse, and everything have been removed from cleared land, and their place occu pied by the eternal derrick and steam-engine boring foroil. Even where little farms have not been taken, they are not the less deserted, for all who have health, strength, and money sufficient—which means all therural population of these districts—make their way to this great centre, and thence radiate to all parts of Petrolia, from Titusville and Cherry Run to Pithole. In the peculiar language of Oil City all the lands along French Creek are considered " dry territory," though one is at a loss to see why it should be so accounted, except comparatively and in the presence of the gigantic flowing wells at Pithole and Cherry Run. For the air round French Creek is unpleasantly redolent of the strong garlic-like pun gent smell of petroleum, the river itself is blotched all over with large, rough, irridiscent spots of float ing oil. The pools and ditches along its bank are covered thickly with its green, sparkling slime : the very mud is thick with it, like brown paint, and even the trees and brooks are greasy. Yet the fiat from the oil smellers and diviners has gone forth, and French Creek is " dry territory," which means that for the present adventurers had better try loca lities where flowing wells may be struck, which, as r at Pithole, are actually now giving their fortunate owners $20,000 a day, and are likely to continue doing so for some time—possibly for two or three years. The Oil Creek Railway branch stops some half a mile or so short of this city proper. The dis tance may seem trifling, but half a mile seems a good deal in this wild region, where the trains are not allowed to come further on in case of their fires or sparks exploding the petroleum gas which forms the atmosphere, or where, in fact, if all parties were ever so much inclined that the truck should advance, there is not yet room for it. All along the last few miles to Oil City the derricks have been becoming thicker and thicker ; the incessant walking beam which pumps the oil more and more active, the roads worse, and the painful scenes of overladen teams struggling through mud up to their shoulders more and more frequent. The smell of the gas, though at first not very unpleasant, soon gets painfully strong, and at last most decidedly nauseating. It is said here far and wide that the smell is good for weak lungs, which it certainly may be, though its effect on strong lungs for the first day or two is absolutely suffocating, and few can bear to remain long amid the white steam-like miasma of a flowing well. The train, as I have said, stops at little more than half a mile from Oil City proper. The station is a mere rough shanty, yet, rough as it is, it may be called almost a gilded saloon in comparison with its crowd of roughest and most muddy occupants. Mud in Petrolia is suffi ciently fluid to find its own level like water, and to that level to bring all in Oil City, man or beast. Mud and oil, one or the other, or both combined, reign supreme here. As you enter towards this city ' the mouth of the valley opens out a little as French Creek or Venango River turns wider into the delta which forms Oil Creek. In the cuttings of the rail way through the rock can be seen the petrified re mains of what were once dense forests of trees, with their stone stems projecting through the soft layers of shale. These trees of a bygone age lie as thick as they could well have fallen. The roughness of their bark, their annular and radiating lines are still to be seen and traced through the soil for 40 feet and more below what is now the surface of the earth. N o one however minds these things, or the most extraordi nary mineralogical or geological facts which are every day brought to light by the shafts of oil. No thing is wanted here but oil, and with the presence of that all questions are answered. This city, as a . place of four years' growth or less, is one of the most extraordinary works of Petrolia. In no other place in the world have I seen such evidence of apathy and energy, of sloth and industry, of wealth and squalor. Only the squalor, however, or what in England would be called such, is a superficial aspect which all wear. The whole population is ragged, muddy, and dirty ; but the whole popula tion is without an exception more or less thriving, and, as a general rule, more or less rich. No one lives in this sea of oily mud but those who are mak ing money fast, and all who live here know that the oldest tatters are good enough for the filth amid - which they dwell. Thus the two things come to be inseparable in the public mind—that all who live in oildom are ragged and dirty and all who live there rich. About the immutable truth of the first part of the proposition none who have ever been here can entertain the smallest dou b bt, andthe latter is not al together devoid of a general accuracy. You land from the cars in a perfect sea of mud—mud ofst n ic o h t depth, to b tenacity, and slipperin ess as I believe is found in any part of the w or ld. That at Balaclava, rEE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 18, IE6 E. was really nothing to it. It is always one or two, and often three, feet deep on what are called the roads. Occasionally the greasy monotony of slime is relieved by a string of rough boulders tossed into the mud as stepping-stones for those who want to cross, and by and by these come mingled with egg boxes, broken bottles and jars, refuse meat, and vegetables, sardine-tins, ashes, old bones, and gar bage, thrown from the saloons ; broken barrels, stumps of trees, waggons that have " gin out," pieces of machinery that have foundered on the way —the first tokens of Oil City proper. These indica tions of the town are as varied as they are intermit tent, for the real Oil City is only one long winding street on a mud flat between the river and the high, steep bluffs, and along this narrow strip depots, wharves, stores, hotels, eating saloons, whisky shops, and wells, each in their tarn, struggle for pre-eminence, without the smallest regard to the position or wants of others. Here is a whisky saloon, with men smoking and drinking, and next to it a pumping well, which fills the air with its in flammable gas, and on all the greasy boards round which "No smoking" is roughly chalked. Then comes a short interval of side walk where the lum ber-path, if not above the mud, is, at least, some what above the water and oil ; then, again, pump ing wells, with their tanks filled with petroleum, and beyond these men hewing and blasting away the cliffs to make room for houses over the dirty waste, or others running them up on piles above the creek, fastening walls and roofs and ceilings together with iron tie-rods, to enable the frail tene ments to withstand the dreadful and unequal strain of dangerous floods that arise so frequently. Then comes, between a group of oil wells and little creeks and pools of stagnant oil, a photographic shanty ; then barges moored in the mud alongside the high way, and called " eating saloons," where dirty bed cots are slung over dirtier tables, where the charge is d a day, and where not even the all-potent oil is taken in exchange for money, or rather green backs—for money, in the English acceptation of the term, seems to have vanished from the country since the war. Higher up than this, the different kinds of stores may be known at once by the samples of ragged clothing thrown into the side walk or the mud of the road outside them. No one here buys clothes while any he has got can hold together, and when he buys he simply attires himself in the stores—a coat at one place, boots at another, and so on, throwing out into the road the garments which he supersedes by better. The way of life has fallen into its roughest forms here, yet only as regards its outward seeming, for in all that relates to good order and the security of life and property one is as safe here as in Cheapside. The upper end of the long straggling street which constitutes the " city," and which ends at Oil Creek, is in its way almost indescribable. If, however, your readers can imagine how the dirtiest parts of Limehouse would look if mixed up with log shanties and the tall wooden buildings of improvised American cities, all before and behind the houses being interspersed with machinery and pumping oil-wells, the whole partly burnt, and all more or less damaged by floods, they will have some idea of the " surroundings" of Oil City. Add to this a teeming population on the side walks, wearing the best and stoutest of jack boots, but with nothing else of clothing that would be thought sufficiently decent for a scarecrow in Eng land ; fill up the roads with overladen horses striving to pull their waggons of oil through the sea of mud; cover the adjacent river with crowds of flat barges, all laden with oil ; and, above all, make oil predominant in what you eat or drink, feel or smell, and the everyday life of Oil City is before you. Once in the place, oil becomes as insepa rable from everything you touch, from clothes, meals, conversation, as the very atmosphere itself, which is, in fact, entirely made up of gas from the oil. Men think of nothing, certainly talk of nothing, and probably dream of nothing but oil ; and if there is nothing more nauseating than the gas from a flowing well it is the eternal clamour of " ile, ile, ile," as it is called here, of "surface indications," " good shows," " dry territories," " hundred-barrel wells," "thousand-barrel wells," " No. 970, a big thing," " No. 800, quite a strike," " 830 gi'n out," and so on, from early dawn, till the last of those in these rough hotels are asleep. I would not trust the impressions which I received on my first arrival here. They appear incredible, and most probably would have been entirely so to your readers. During the interval that has elapsed, then, since my first visit to this city I have made a long round through Petrolia, have visited its most famous wells, and seen its most curious cities—woo len cities of large extent, shanty cities having hotels and newspaper offices, banks, and rough theatres, yet the oldest built within four years—the youngest, and by no means the smallest, within the last four months. In a mere hurried letter of this kind I can, of course, make no attempt to describe the marvels that are to be seen on every side through this most extraordinary land. By next mail, however, I hope to continue my task, and lay before your readers some description of what few Englishmen have read of, and fewer still have seen—the old region of Petrolia. matches have been played betweeen the Ist of May and 30th of September of the present year. Other large open spaces are used for the drill and exercise of the troops stationed at Chelsea New Barracks, as also of various Volunteer corps. The district police are drilled here also. Portions are set apart for trap ball, rounders, and other games ; and when the cricket season terminates football is commenced, and is continued throughout the year. With the exception of a small space used by the Civil Service Club, the rest of these grounds are kept by the de partment of Woods and Forests. The lake is an artificial one, and is fed partly by the Thames and partly by a steam engine, fixed for the purpose of supplying the park with water for the lodges, drink ing fountains, roads, flower beds, urinals, &c. The depth of the water is too shallow for bathing, being only 24 ft. deep. A large bathing pond would be as fully appreciated in this locality as those at Vic toria-park are. The lake, however, is extensively used for boating, the boats being let on hire by Mr. Greaves of Chelsea. There is a gymnasium and playground in the south-eastern portion of the park, and on the ground adjacent to it Sunday and other schools are allowed to hold their annual treats,which, owing to the faci lity of access to the park, by both rail and water, are annually increasing in number. The subtropical garden, of some four acres in ex tent, did great credit throughout the summer to Mr. Gibson, who has himself travelled in the East on a botanical mission for and at the expense of the late Duke of Devonshire. The peninsula, comprising an area of 51 acres, was completed and opened to the public last June. It is laid out in the English landscape style, com bining a series of mounds with gentle slopes, be tween which are picturesque vistas. Nearly at its centre there is a reservoir, which is excavated be low the level of the neighbouring springs. The water from this self-supplied source is as clear as crystal : it is pumped into an elevated tank which holds 20,000 gallons, from which are laid service pipes for the supply of the park. During the last two years a horse ride has been formed about 40ft. wide. It commences at Chelsea bridge, is continued along the river frontage to near the West-lodge, and thence to the west-end of the south drive. This year it is being brought in the opposite direction to the east end of the same drive, and will be soon completed. It will probably be extended along the south side next year, and will then encircle the park. When it becomes better known, this will be cne of the most attractive rides within easy reach of the fashionable parts of Lon don. The advantage of river frontage possessed by Battersea-park alone is shown by the fact that up wards of 12,000 persons haVe landed at the park piers on each of several fine Sundays this year. The tolls on Chelsea and Battersea bridges are a great drawback to the enjoyment of this park, although it is frequented by many on the weekdays. But on Sundays, when the bridge is free, in fine weather 40,000 or 50,000 people have been in the park at one time during the last summer. The gra tuitous distribution of surplus bedding plants, autho rised by the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests, has been made here, as elsewhere, this autumn. Perhaps no greater improvements in the land scape gardening way have been made for many years on the northern bank of the Thames than those re cently carried out in Chelsea Hospital grounds, which were, until of late, nearly in the formation in which they were originally laid out. The embankment on the north side of the Thames, the construction of new approaches to the handsome suspension bridge at Chelsea, and other public improvements in this quarter rendered the entire reconstruction of these grounds necessary. The terraces on the south front, and, indeed, the whole surface in this part, had to be raised 4ift. ; and, on tha side nearest Chelsea-bridge, a depth of filling of from 10ft. to 24ft., was in volved. This having been effected, the grounds were inclosed with a substantial iron railing in front, and their superficial formation was completed in 1862. In carrying out these works some 100,000 cubic yards of various sorts of stuff were deposited by con tract, and the grounds thus made are equal to any of a like extent near London. The raising of the ground above-mentioned ren dered it necessary either to sacrifice or transplant an avenue of fine old pollard lime trees, planted in the centre of the grounds some 150 years ago. It was decided to attempt their removal, and this has been effected by powerful machines—four or Ave tons of earth being taken with each tree. They have been formed into two avenues, one on the eastern and the other on the western side of the grounds ; and so successfully has this been done that not a tree has been lost. These grounds are liberally adorned with flowering plants, and, being kept in good order, look very brilliant in summer. A portion of the grounds occupying the site on which Ranelagh-house formerly stood is devoted to the private use of the inmates of the hospital, and are kept in order by the Lords Commissioners. These have been recently reformed and laid out at their expense, in a style corresponding to that of the ad joining grounds. Here allotments are set apart for the pensioners, consisting of a square rod each ; and they are so successfully cultivated by some of these men that as much as £lO or £ll has been realised on one allotment. This is done chiefly by the culti vation of the musk plant, of which two and three crops are obtained in a season, and for which there is an easy sale to hawkers. From what we have succinctly and imperfectly described, it will be seen that, starting from the south side of Battersea-park, and passing between the well laid-out grounds of Chelsea Hospital and new Guards' barracks to the end of Lower Sloane street, the commencement of a grand road from Battersea to Hyde-park has been made. When, if ever, the connecting link, via Sloane-street, will be formed is another question. Kennington-park is of comparatively recent for mation, having been enclosed about 1851. The space it occupies was known as " Kennington common," which had become a thorough public nuisance, and a source of extreme annoyance to those who dwelt in its vicinity, who, when the park was projected, offered to subscribe £5,000 towards its formation. There are large vitriol works close at hand which do not promote the luxuriant growth of the trees and shrubs. They have, however, gradually, though slowly, improved of late. In laying out this little park, of 34 acres, an amalgamation of the plain geometrical and the English styles has been adopted, the latter having been completed about three years since. It is furnished with a gymnasium and a playground, which, in that populous neighbour hood, are in constant use. There is likewise a hand some drinking-fountain, presented by Mr. F. Slade, of Lambeth, and designed by Mr. Driver. It is con structed of polished granite, surmounted by a bronze casting, which represents Hagar and Ishmael at the well. There are two l arge grass enclosures in the centre of these grounds, in which a very good plan, and one worthy of adoption elsewhere, is pursued, to preserve the turf from utter destruction. Different portions of the park are closed and opened alter nately to the public. Were it not for this precaution there would not be a living blade of grass to be seen by the end of July ; every vestige of turf would be tramped to death. By permission of the First Com missioner of Works, these open spaces are used for the inspection of local volunteer corps and other purposes. The usual floral decorations are carried out during the season, which, considering the quan tity of smoke and deleterious fumes issuing from the adjoining chemical works, succeed as well as can be expected. The park is surrounded by a wrought iron fence, backed by a privet hedge. No metropo litan park is a greater boon to, or is more highly appreciated by, those who can enjoy its privileges than that of Kennington. The origin of Victoria-park was this. In the 4th and sth years of her present Majesty's reign an act was passed to enable the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to complete the sale of York-house, and to purchase with the proceeds a royal park. The Duke of Sutherland paid £72,000 for the remainder of the lease of that house, and this money was ap plied to the purchase of about 290 acres of land, situated in the parishes of St. John, Hackney ; St. Matthew, Bethnal-green ; and St. Mary, Stratford le-Bow, county of Middlesex. Nearly one-third of the acreage mentioned is taken for building ground; the rest is Victoria-park. Its site had been pre viously market gardens and brickfields. The orna mental lake is made over the rough brickfield, near to which stood Bishop Bonner's famous hall. The Park is bounded on the north side by Hackney ; on the south by Sir G. Duckett's Canal, running nearly east and west ; and on the west by the Regent's Canal. It is divided into two portions—the Orna mental or West Park. In the former there is an ornamental lake having about ten acres of surface, with three very pretty islands. Here boats are hired out at ls. per hour, and there are numbers of waterfowl of various kinds. On the south-west side of the lake there is a fine avenue of elm trees, with I a carriage drive and shady walks ; there is also an arcade here, furnished with seats. On the north west end of the lake there is a handsome walk called " The Vale," which is planted with choice trees, shrubs, and flowers. Close adjacent are the green houses and pits for raising and wintering the plants, but they look scarcely large enough for the purpose. In this portion of the Parr there are several separate flower-gardens, riband borders 300 yards long, and mixed flower-beds of considerable extent, filled with various plants. The East Park is used for games, and contains two bathing lakes, which are well supplied with water. These are much frequented, as many as 7,000 people having often bathed there in one morn ing. They are open from 4 to 8 o'clock a.m. Every means is taken to insure the safety of the bathers. Buoys are fixed, showing the depth of water; there is a boat with a man ready to aid if necsssary ; and the swimming -master, Woodbridge, is always in attendance. The extent of these two lakes is about six acres. At the extreme end of the park is the cricket ground, of 35 or 40 acres. Here 60 or 80 wickets are often pitched on Saturdays. The ground is rolled and mown with a machine. About one-third of the way through the park is the Victoria Drink ing -fountain, presented by Miss Burdett Coutts ; and, to add to the means afforded for public exer cise and recreation, there is a gymnasium, as there are also swings and merry-go-rounds. Victoria, of course called after her Majesty the Queen, is a very pretty park, and is admitted by all visitors to do credit to its original designer and its present super intendent, Mr. Merrett. The Parks of London. The minor parks, although as yet less known to the general public, are, if possible, more appreciated in their respective neighbourhoods than their senior rivals. Battersea and Kennington-parks, as well as the new grounds at Chelsea Hospital, are all under the management of Mr. Gibson, who had been pre viously for some years at Victoria-park, and before that at Chatsworth. The site of Battersea-park con sisted, prior to its formation, of small freeholds and " Lammas" land. In lieu of the latter, a Lammas hall has been erected in Battersea ; this serves as parochial offices, and also affords accommodation for concerts, scientific lectures, &c. The situation was very flat, and was occasionally overflowed by the Thames at spring tides. It was, therefore, necessarily intersected by open drains, such as are seen on the Fens, but which here served as sewers likewise. Dur ing the summer months the place used to be the habitual resort of gipsies. Gambling of every sort bade de fiance to the authorities, and, gradually increasing, became at last a public disgrace. The idea, there fore, of converting a hotbed of vice into a handsome park was well conceived. The unfavourable nature of the ground for the object proposed caused great opposition to be made to it, but eventually an Act of Parliament was passed and steps at once taken for its formation into a park in 1846. Before it was fit even to walk upon it was necessary to raise the entire surface. Fortunately, about this time the London Docks( Victoria) Extension was commenced. It was necessary to excavate and remove thence to a distance immense quantities of earth, which were gladly received at Battersea-fields ; and from this and other sources not less than 1,000,000 cubic yards of earth have been deposited on this site. This, of course, occupied several years, and the actual for mation of the park could not be commenced till 1856 ; the drives, walks, and ornamental lake were then laid out and formed ; the planting began in 1857, and was nearly completed in the following year. Up to this time the works were executed under Mr. Pennethorne, architect of the Office of Works, when the present superintendent was ap pointed to take charge of and complete the un finished works. Since then large quantities of earth have been deposited and formed into undulating mounds and banks, and several acres have been in this manner reclaimed along the banks of the river almost up to the Parliamentary limits. These depo sits of earth were well adapted to the growth of trees and shrubs, which consist of the choicest kinds of both, and have flourished luxuriantly. Due caution having been taken in their selection to reject such kinds as were known to dislike a smoky locality, the result is that this park containsone of the richest collections in or near London. About 200 acres are here appropriated to ornamental and recreative pur poses in some such proportion as follows, viz., grass surface, 100 acres ; water, 20 ; and shrubberies, plantations, drives, and walks, 80. About 34 acres have been specially prepared for cricket, embracing match grounds and practice ground for schools, as well as for the public gene rally. There is likewise a separate practice piece for clubs, about 120 of which have availed themselves of it this season. On the two match grounds 499 HEALTH OF LONDON. (From the Registrar-General's Weekly Report.) In the week that ended on Saturday, Oct. 14, the births registered in London and ten other large towns of the United Kingdom were 3,690 ; the deaths registered 2,79,5. The annual rate of mor tality was 26 per 1,000 persons living. In London the births of 1,007 boys and 980 girls, in all 1,987 children, were registered in the week. In the corresponding weeks of ten years 1855-64 the average number, corrected for increase of popu lation, was 1,909. The deaths registered in London during the week were 1,261. It was the 41st week of the year, and the average number of deaths for that week is, with a correction for increase of population, 1,179. The actual number exceeds the estimated number by 82. The mortality from diarrhoea, which was main tained with hardly any fluctuation during the six weeks subsequent to Saturday, the 26th of August, and which averaged 87 weekly during that period, showed last week a very decided decrease, the deaths from that complaint having been only 54. There were two deaths referred to " cholera" or " choleraic diarrhoea ;" one of these occurred to a child, the other was registered as follows :—" At 42, Jamaica-street, Mile-end Old-town, on the Bth of October, a watchman in the Docks, aged 75 years, choleraic diarrhoea." A porter to a chemist died from "inhalation of aquafortis ; bronchitis." The following six cases were registered in which accidents on the streets by horses and carriages were attended by fatal results:—On the 12th of October, the son of a French polisher, aged 2 years, run over by a cart ; died in Parker-street, St. Giles's. On the sth of October, a carman, aged 19 years, fell from a cart in Essex-road, Islington; died at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. On the 4th of October, a master coachinaker, aged 65 years, thrown out of a carriage ; died at 92, Westminster bridge-road. On the 10th of October, the wife of a carman, aged 42 years, fell from a ran ; died at Stagg-yard, Wandsworth-road. At Woolwich, on the 9th of October, a leather-seller, aged 46 years, fell from a cart ; died at Guy's Hos pital. On the 4th October, the son of a carter, aged 10 years, run over by a waggon ; died in Bel grave-place. The annual rate of mortality last week was 22 per 1,000 in London, 27 in Edinburgh, and 23 in Dublin; 36 in Liverpool, 33 in Manchester, 31 in Salford, 25 in Birmingham, 34 in Leeds, 21 in Bristol, 27 in Hull, and 33 in Glasgow. The rate in Vienna was 28 per 1,000 during the week ending the 30th ult., when the temperature was 3.9 deg. Fahrenheit lower than in the same week in London, where the rate was 21 per 1,000. In Liverpool the births in the week were 349, the deaths 329 ; in Manchester the births 220, the deaths 226 ; in Salford the births 68, the deaths 65 ; in Birmingham the births 200, the deaths 155 ; in Leeds the births 143, the deaths 145 ; in Bristol the births 100, the deaths 64 ; in Hull the births 58, the deaths 53 ; in Edinburgh the births 114, the deaths 91; in Glasgow the births 305, the deaths 268 ; and in Dublin the births 146, the deaths 138. There were 303 deaths in Vienna during the week ending the 80th ult. Southampton.—Among the population of that borough (estimated to the middle of the present year at 53,001) 40 deaths were registered during the week ending last Saturday ; of these 9 were referred to cholera. The annual rate of mortality during the week was 39 per 1,000 persons living. At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height of the barometer in the week was 26.356 in. The readings fell to 29.9 in. on Wednesday, and rose to 29.80 in. on Saturday. The mean tempera ture of the air in the week was 55.3 deg., which is 4 deg. above the average of the same week in 50 years (as determined by Mr. Glaisher). The mean temperature was more or less above the average on every day except Friday. The highest day temperature was 70.6 deg. on Sunday ; the.lowest night tempe rature was 39;4 deg. on Friday. The range in the week was 31.2 deg. The difference between the mean dew-point temperature and air tcuipulature waR 3.9 deg. The mean degree of humidity of the air was 87, complete saturation being represented by 100. On three days the humidity was above 90. The general directions of the wind were south-west and west. The rainfall was 0.89 in., nearly the whole of which amount fell on the first four days, and half of it on Monday. On that day rain at Manches ter amounted to 2.26 in. ; at Eccles, to 2.21 in. ; at Wakefield, to 1.59 in. At Birmingham, on Wed nesday, the rainfall was 1.27 in. ARE THEY AN INCIJMBRANCE ?—Fourteen hun dred coloured families have made application to the mili tary authorities at Fort Munroe to purchase land in Virginia, for the purpose of dwelling thereon and cultivat ing the same. They wish to purchase from or through the agency of the United States Government, feeling assured that by such a course their rights and titles will be re spected. They will pay cash.—Commonwealth. ADVERTISEMENT.} -Avoid medicines: they always aggra vate chronic complaints, but Du Barry's Delicious HealtL - Restoring Revalenta Arabica Food, which yields three times the nourishment of the best meat, saves fifty times its cost in other remedies, and invariably restores perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound lungs, healthy liver, pure blood, re freshing sleep, functional regularity, and energy to the most disordered or enfeebled. We extract a few out of 60,000 Cures : —Cure No. 58,216, or the Marchioness de Brehan, of seven years' liver complaint, wasiin; away, debility, nervousness, with a nervous palpitation all over, bad diges tion, constant sleeplessness, and the moat intolerable nervous agitation.—Cure No. 1,771. Lord Stuart de Decies, Lord Lieutenant of Waterford, of m any years ' dyspe psia.—No. 49,832. "Fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency. spasms, sickness, and vom iting.—Maria Jolly."—Cure No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, years' diseased lungs, spilti o n f g l' orrieY, Surrey, of thirty , blood, liver derange ment, and partial deafness. —Cure No. 47,121. Miss Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion, gatherings, low spirits, and nervous fancies.- Cure No 54, b16. The Rev. Jas. T. Campbell, l o akenham, Norfolk "of indiffestion and torpi dity of the liver, which had resiete i all medical treatment." In tins, 1 lb., 25. Id. ; 21b., 4s. 6d ; Sib., Its. ; t2lb., 225. ; 541 b. 400.—Barry Du Barry and Co., N 0.77, Regent-street, London; also Phillips, tea dealers, 8, King William-rtreet ; likewi , e at 61, Gracechurch-street ; 4, Cheapside ; 49, Bishopsgate strea Within ; 63, 150, and 298, Oxford-street ; 330, Strand ; 54 , Upper Baker-street ; 103, Tottenham-co urt-road . ; 96, . Upper-st, eet, Islington, N. ; Harvey , ll ; Close Brothers, 65, High-street ; and Stubbs, Queen's-terrace, John's •wcod, London ; and all respectable grocers and che mists.—Beware of spurious imitations. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. TIMES.—It is very much to be regretted that the American Government, having successfully brought to conclusion the great - war in which it has been engaged, and having decided on a policy with re gard to the South full of magnanimity and concilia tion, and calculated, if anything can, to heal the wounds left behind it by the late fearful struggle, should not have buried the hatchet altogether. On her west the Great Republic is still engaged in a fearful conflict with the Indians, and on the east her Minister is directed to stir up fresh elements of strife, and revive controversies which it can serve no good purpose to renew. Opinion has been divided in this country on the merits of the Ameri can quarrel ; but we are all unanimous in wishing every success to the new order of things, and in de siring to see the United States, since they are to form a single Confederacy, linked together in the bonds of sincere friendship and goodwill among each other, and living on the best of terms with the remainder of the world. had this country been ac tuated by a hundredth part of the animosity of which American papers continually accuse her, she would have taken a very different course from that which she has adopted. Instead of 'the consistent and dignified refusal of Parliament to discuss the Ame rican question, we should have had inflammatory debates, calculated to encourage one or, perhaps, both sides to a continuance of the conflict ; and it may well be that a very little of the spirit by which America pretends to believe that we were animated would have brought the Civil War to a termination exactly the contrary of that which has occurred. The South, at any rate, are bitterly disappointed in us ; they expected that our prejudices and our necessities would have induced us to come for ward to save them from the utter destruction of their existing system of industry. It is hard that when we have so entirely offended one party we should be so very far from pleasing the other. This, however, is the case, and we have only to examine what claim of justice America can throw over the correspondence on which she has en tered. The effect of that correspondence may be stated in very few words. Mr. Adams demands on the part of the United States indemnity for the in juries sustained by their commerce by the ravages of the Shenandoah, Alabama, and other Confede rate vessels fitted out in British harbours, and offers to refer the question to arbitration. Lord Russell refuses the claim, declines to refer the matter to arbitration, but offers to submit to a Commission any matter upon which the two Governments are agreed. The effect of this correspondence is, there fore, a distinct and final refusal on the part of the British Government to enter into the question of any compensation for these losses ; a declaration that they are not the fit subject for arbitration ; and an offer, which is of very little importance or significance, to refer to arbitration any matters of a similar kind upon which the two Governments may hereafter be agreed. It is difficult to say so of any thing in so complicated and wide a subject as inter national law, but we believe that such a claim as Mr. Adams has made, supported on such grounds as he puts forward, was never before preferred by one civilised Government to another. After all the attention we have been able to give the subject we find it next to impossible to discover what is the precise fault that the American Government has to find with us. First, it seems to be that we have become neutrals when we had no right to be neutrals at all ; and, secondly, that having become neutrals we did not adhere to the duties of neutrality. The only ground on which the first claim can be sup ported would be the assertion that there has been no war at all in America during the last four years, that no belligerent rights have ever existed, and consequently that we had no right by the law of nations to place ourselves in a position of impar tiality between the two contending parties. If there was a war there were neutrals, and neutrals cannot exist without a recognition of the belligerent rights of the two contending parties. The Minister of the United States feels this difficulty, and shrinks from an assertion so monstrously absurd as that no war has ever existed ; he only says that we were in too great a hurry to recognise these belligerent rights which, we must, it would seem, have recog nised sooner or later ; and on this ground he bases, in the first place, his claim for compensation. He affords, however, no answer to the statement that the North itself was beforehand with us in this matter, and by declaring the blockade proclaimed that very state of war which we only followed her in recognising. We think it results from his own letters that at some time or other during this gigan tic struggle England had the right to clothe herself with the character of a neutral. Mr. Adams does not dispute that she acted in good faith, and we maintain it would be utterly unheard-of and un exampled if we should be called upon to account for exercising a right we undoubtedly possessed in good faith and without any evil intention, at a moment displeasing to one of the parties whom it affected. That a nation became a neutral at the wrong time, and by so doing prejudicially affected the interest of one of the combatants, is a charge so entirely novel and unprecedented that we cannot help feeling sur prised that the American Minister should have been instructed to bring it forward. The next charge really seems to amount to this—that after we had avowed ourselves in the capacity of neutrals we en deavoured to sustain the character, and to maintain a position entirely impartial between both parties. Mr. Adams's charge against us seems to be, not that we violated our neutrality, but that we observed it only too faithfully. In this instance, as in the other, he fully and repeatedly admits our good faith ; he does not accuse our Government of making its avowed neutrality a cloak to conceal a real hostility ; but his charge is that, our municipal law being in a very imperfect state on the subject, we acted only so far as that law permitted us, and did not attempt during the war to amend it or make it more perfect ; that is to say, that, having undertaken to be neutral between North and South, we did not attempt during the war to reform that law in a sense advantageous to the North and disadvan tageous to the South. As well might the South accuse us that, having no la w w hi c h preven t e d -us from selling arms to the N or th, an d fi n di ng th a t liberty to the North very i n j ur i ous to the South, we did not in the course of the war enact such a law in order to prevent the armies of the North from being armed with weapons supplied by English manufac turers. The truth is, had we altered this law during the war we should have been notoriously and flagrantly guilty of that very breach of neutrality of which we are ac cuse d. W e regre t that English shipbuilders should for their own gain have em barked in a trade which has given our enemies on the other side o f th e Atl an ti c even the opportunity of raising an outcry against us ; but w e cannot admit that b reac h es o f n eutrality by individual subjects of the Queen entail liability on the Queen's Government, unless they have taken place with its permission or by its connivance. We regret ex ceedingly that the Government of America has thought fit to bring forward these claims, but we think there cannot be for a moment a doubt as to the answer they should receive. To yield to such demands would be to saddle neutrals in all future wars with new and undefined liabilities, against which no prudence and no good intentions can gua rantee them. If such demands as these are to be the ordinary results of the conclusion of a war between two powerful States, it will probably be thought better by those against whom they are sure to be made rather to take sides at once, and ally themselves to one party or the other, than to place themselves in a situation so humiliating as that which a neutral would henceforth fill. We cannot, of course, tell in what spirit the Government of the United States are disposed to receive the final and deliberate refusal of the British Government to en tertain in any shape the claims they put forward. We can only say, on our part, that we are Tao sure our Government may depend upon the support of the nation in maintaining the position it has taken up. If the American Government is deter• mined to seek a quarrel with us, as well this demand as any other. W e cannot h ave one on wh i ch our right is clearer and our position more unquestion able. If it is not, we shall have saved ourselves, by the firm stand we are now making, from a great degradation, and vindicated for the benefit of all mankind that neu t ra l position so seldom occupied by Great Brit a i n i n the wars of the past, and so often, we trust, to be hers in the wars of the future. POST.—We have become now so habituated to unfavourable intelligence from New Zealand that it is perhaps with a sense of relief that some will dis cover that this month's budget brings no worse tid ings than that there has been a quarrel between the Governor and the C o mmander -in-Chief, terminat ing in the resignation of the latter, and that some two or three English officers and about a dozen privates have lost their lives in the most recent ope rations undertaken against the insurgents. Of course we all know very we ll, notwithstanding the assurance given to the contrary a few months since, that the war in New Zealand is not over, and we must therefore reconcile ourselves as best we may to the lists of killed and wounded which now inva riably accompany our despatches from that colony. And even for serious differences of opinion between high officials, the experience of what passes in e tliemother country, at the best in the times, must nat ura ll y prepare us. But there is the history of th cir cumstances which led to the resignation of General Cameron not only much to occasion surpr i se, but also to induce very curious i reflections on th e nature and the object of the war in which we are now en gaged against the insurgent Maoris. That the go vernor of a colony should differ in opinion from the commander of the forces there stationed, in respect to the tactics to be employed in red uc i ng a savage race to submission, or in regard to the scale on which hostilities should be carried on, would be natural enough, but every one would expect that at least, in respect to the policy of the war, no possible diversity of opinion could exist. But, singularly enough, it is precisely upon this point that Sir George Grey and Sir Duncan Cameron have come to loggerheads; and if a few isolated scraps of cor respondence furnish an accurate index of the opinion entertained by the General in command, it must be confessed that his views on the subject of the re cent outbreak, and the circumstances which occa sioned it, differ widely from those advanced by the representatives of the New Zealand Government. The insurrections in New Zealand have, as the public are aware, invariably been occasioned by dis putes between the colonists and the natives in respect to the possession of land ; and the general idea entertained, or at least fostered in this country, is that the natives pertinaciously refuse to part with their lands, although the colonists offer them in ex change, either in money, flocks, or merchandise, a fair equivalent. Occasionally, however, events have occurred which induced persons to question the soundness of this notion, and members of the Home Government reluctantly admitted that the transfer of land from the aborigines to the settlers was not effected so equitably as was supposed, and that it not unfrequently happened that the owners of the soil found themselves stripped of their inheritance, without, however, receiving the purchase money. The mode of proceeding, as shown in some instances to have been adopted, was this :—The Colonial Go vernment, acting for the colonists, purchased, or affected to purchase, a tract of territory from per sons pretending to be the owners, and, having done so, proceeded to take possession. The rightful owners thereupon resisted the appropriation of their land, the adjoining tribes apprehensive of being the next victims, espoused their cause, and therefore an insurrection began. The next step of course was for the Colonial Government to demand the em ployment of the Imperial troops, in order to crush the rebellion and protect the settlers, and when the troops had been employed, and the unfortunate savages compelled to capitulate, the final step of all was to confiscate the property of the rebel tribes. Such, at all events, was the substance of charges advanced more than once against the Colonial Go vernment, and endorsed by persons resident in New Zealand, who had certainly no motives for mis represeniing the policy of the authorities. Now, it appears that in the month of January last, when General Cameron was on the point of opening the Wanganui campaign, he wrote a pri vate letter to the Governor, in which he stated that, from inquiries personally made, he had satisfied himself that the purchase of the block of land and subsequent dispossession of the owners, which had given rise to the revolt which he was then engaged in quelling, were conducted after the fashion which we have just noticed ; and after re ferring to the transaction as an " iniquitous job," and stating that the opposition offered by the natives was not to be wondered at, expressed an opinion that the home government should be made ac quainted with the " true nature of the business." In another of his letters he wrote—" What is it to Mr. Mantell, or any other colonial Minister; how • many British officers and soldiers we lose, in any ' operation they recommend, so long as :the policy they advobate is carried out." These letters *ere submitted by Sir G. Grey 'to his Ministers, who , thereupon advised the Governor to call' upon the - General to state the grounds'on which he had ar rived at his conclusions. Sir DUnc - an Cameron de clined doing so, but intimated his intention of com municating on the subject with the home Govern ment. On the 25th of April Mr. Cardwell wrote a despatch to Sir G. Grey, with the general substance of which we are not made acquainted, but in which he called the attention of the Governor to the dis crepancies which existed in the accounts severally forwarded by him and by the general in command to the Foreign-office;, but at the time of the receipt of this despatch in New Zealand General Cameron seems to have resigned. Now, into the merits of this dispute we are not in a position to enter ; but, without expressing an opinion whether General Cameron exceeded his duty in calling in question' the policy of the colonial Government, it certainly does seem that the discrepancies to which Mr. Card well called attention ought to be cleared up. It may be that a general officer ought to be nothing else' than a machine, and that it was entirely beyond his province to hazard opinions on the merits of the quarrel in which he was ordered to employ his troops. But, after all, it is not every man who can reduce himself to the condition of a mere auto maton ; and we doubt very much if in a war such as that waged in New Zealand, in which a Colonial Legislature decides on the use to be made of Im perial troops, it is desirable that the officer in com mand should be one. General Cameron distinctly and unequivocally charges the colonial Government with wantonly sacrificing British troops for their own selfish ends, and with driving the natives into revolt for the mere sake of crushing them and con fiscating their property. The ill-feeling which sub sists between General Cameron and Sir G. Grey is apparent on the face of the correspondence which has passed between them, but the cause of the final rupture is not a personal one. The colonial Govern ment profess now to be able to dispense with the assistance of the Imperial troops, and if they will henceforth suppress Maori revolts with their own militia, we shall have no reasons for prying too closely into the nature of their dealings with the natives. But as our troops have not yet left the colony, and as it is too much to hope that their co operation will not be again required, we certainly have a right to know whether the serious charges, advanced by Sir Duncan Cameron are or are not without foundation. COUNTRY MARKETS L IVERP 0 OL-T UESDAY. At this day's market there was a fair attendance of the town and country trade ; however, only a small business resulted. Wheat and flour biOught fully late rates. Oats and oatmeal mot with a slow sale, but maintained their value. The same remark applies to barley, beans, and peas. Indian corn neglected, and mixed American freely' offered at 25s 9d per 4801 b., without finding many buyers. BRISTOL-T UESDAT. At our market to-day there was about the usual attend ance. A little better business was doing in grinding bar ley at full prices. Nothing doing in wheat. Business in oats chiefly on contracts made to "arrive." MONMOUTHSHIRE —MONDAY. The fall of rain and the subsequent fine weather has had a favourable effect on the local markets, and the transac tions have beon larger than usual. Old wheat commands a full average sale at last week's rates. Foreign in limited request. The demand, has slightly increased for barley'. Oats firm and not heavy. Beans and peas, no alteration. The following are the average quotations :—Wheat, 2d to 5s 9d per bushel ; barley, 3s 3d to 3s 8d; oats, 2 0 id to 2s 7d. LEEDS-TUESDAY. -• There is a fair sh ow o f gra i n — this week. We hare had a fair consumptive demand for wheat to-day, and last week's prices supported for all good qualities. Fine barley is per qr. dearer. Oats and beans quite as well sold. The average_ prices for the week ending Oct. 16 were Wheat, 47s lid per qr. ;• - barley, 36s 31d ; and oats, 23s 3id. MARKET HARBOROUGH.-TUESDAY. . . Old white wheat, 46s to 50s ; new red. 42s to 47s per BO stone. Barley,. fine, 36s ; other kinds, 27s to 34s per (1 1. • Oats, new, 23s to 25s ; old, 27s to 31s per qr. Beans, old/ 40s to 425; new, 34s to 36s per qr. SHEFFIELD—TUESDAY. There was about an average attendance at this market , and a fair supply of samples. The trade, however, waa quiet in nearly all departments. The best samples of wheto were in moderate demand at slightly improved rates, other qualities neglected. Barley and other grain made late rates. ---- 1 18 6 s s 6 6d d to 2 1 0 7 5 s 0 61 do do l 5B d 3 6 8 I d Nl R ve e hw d it w ere h d eat, per l d o o ad of 3 imp. b d u o shels.. New white do do '7s Od 198 Od do do l7s Od 198 Od Beans Peas, per qr. Grinding barley, per qr 308 Od 32s od Malting barley, co 32s Od &Ss Od Oats, do 24s Od 283 Oct F10ur....1s 6d to 2 , Od per 141 b. ---. Births. BURY.—On the 14th inst., at 48, Rutland-gate, S.W., th e Viscountess Bury, of a son. KILCOURSLE.—On the 16th inst., at Ayot St. Lawrence Rectory, the Viscountess Kilcoursie, of a son and heir• SouTnEsx.---On the 13th inst., at Kinnaird Castle, th e Countess of Southesk, of a daughter. Marriages. HIVES—PIPER.—O n the 17th inst., at Brighton Willian s Hives, Es q ., o f N ewpor t Pagnel, Bucks, to Rosamund' the (laughter of Thomas Piper, Esq., of Woodford, Essex. ROBERTS—SHILLITOE.—On the 12th inst., at Hitching Herts, James Roberts, Esq., of Knipton, near Grantham' to Mary Fanny, eldest daughter of R. Rickman Shillitoof Esq. Deaths. COURTNEY.-011 the 16th inst., at Rose Cottage, Thon o Courtney, Esq., of Great St. Thomas Apostle, Queen' street, Cheapside, aged 76. lIoLMEs.—On the 16th inst., at his residence, Vine Cu ci tape, Now Hampton, John Francis Holmes, Esq., ag e 69. PERBIRA.--On the 15th inst., at 11, Park-crescent, Antony Pereira, Esq., aged 77. WEnn.—On the 15th inst., at 17, Mildmay-park, r• Webb, Esq., aged 66. It lIELAN.—On the 16th inst., at St. John's-wood, Lonal Sir Thomas Whel an , late of Elmville, Dublin, ag e 65. WHITMARSH.—On the 13th inst., at Eye, Essex, 11 031 Whitmarsh, Esq., solicitor, aged 55. 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