The Sun. — London, England, 1866-02-19 00:00:00

AMERICA. ARRIVAL OF THE JAVA. QUEENSTOWN, Sunday. The royal mail steamship Java, from New York on the 7th inst., arrived here at 3.30 p.m. to-day with 300 passengers and £363,200 in specie. She landed 105 sacks of mails and nine passengers, and proceeded for Liverpool at 4 p.m. All well. The Java experienced severe north-easterly gales throughout the passage. NEW YORK, Feb. 7 (9 a.m.) The New York press universally express extreme satisfaction at the Emperor Napoleon's announce ment of preparations for the withdrawal of the French troops from Mexico, which they regard as an augury of peace between France and the United States. In the Senate Mr. Sumner has delivered a speech against the constitutional amendment making the total number of the population the basis of repre, sentation, excepting those deprived of the suffrage on account of their colour. He considered a simple act of Congress would better effect the desired object, and submitted a substitute declaring al distinctions on account of colour abolished in the late rebellious States. Mr. Sumner also reported a bill from the Committee on Foreign Relations authorising the appointment of a Minister to Dominica. The House of Representatives have passed a bill extending the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau as amended by the Committee on Freedmen's Affairs, and confining its operations to those States in which the privilege of Habeas Corpus remained suspended on Feb. 1 of this year. The bill was passed by 136 against 33 votes. The Military Committee have voted to report a bill creating the grade of general in the Federal army. A political movement is reported to be on foot in Washington to inaugurate a new political party comprising the Union Democrats and the Conser vative Republicans, to support the President's policy as opposed to the Radical Republicans. At San Domingo Mr. Seward had an interview with President Baez, at which he stated unofficially that the United States had been ready to recognise the Dominican Republic since 1861. At that time, however, Dominicafiad, by the choice of her people, become a possession of Spain, and the United States would not intervene in Dominica or any other country to establish republican institutions by force. If a Dominican Minister were now sent to Washington he would be recognised. General Weitzel was mustered out of the United States service on the 31st ult. The Spanish Consul, accompanied by one of Mejia's officers, left Matamoras on the 31st ult. for the city of Mexico on important business. Despatches from the Rio Grande, published by the Havana Diario de la Marina, assert positively that Bagdad was seized, sacked, and defended by Fede ral coloured troops, led by Federal officers, some of whose names it publishes. The Supreme Court has re-affirmed the decision of the lower courts in the case of the seizure of champagne at San Francisco for under-valuation. This settles all similar cases, involving a large amount of money to French wine merchants. New Orleans despatches report that there are 40,000 destitute persons in Alabama, who will re quire an expenditure of £2,000,000 yearly to relieve their necessities. The Fenian alarm has abated at Toronto. Sweeney is said not be in Canada. O'Mahony's bonds are reported to be selling freely throughout the United States. The Palestine and Virginia have arrived out. The President, it is said, has deferred issuing the formal proclamation declaring the restoration of the Union until the opinions of Generals Grant, Sherman, Meade, Thomas, Sheridan, Sickles, and others could bo obtained relative to tho submission of the Southern States to the Constitu• tional authorities. Copies of the preliminary report on the Treaty of Reci procity with Great Britain, to regulate trade between the United States and the Provinces of British North America, prepared by E. If. Derby, at the request of the Secretary of the Treasury, were on January 29 laid on the desks of the members of Congress. The report includes a bill pro posing to continue the present Treaty one year from the 17th of March next, provided the duties and taxes on cer- tain enumerated articles shall be repealed by Canada, the internal tax on certain other articles be raised, her free ports on Lakes Huron and Superior be discontinued, with some other advantages to be secured to the United States. The Fenians appear to be carrying on their internecine war with unabated vigour. Colonel Roberts has issued a reply to the attack of Mr. 11. D. Killian, the O'Mahony treasurer, upon the Roberts' Senate, in which he denies the several allegations of the aforesaid Killian, and makes a searching review of that gentleman's management of his financial responsibilities. Taking up the report of the committee appointed to examine Mr. Killian's accounts, Mr. Roberts declares from it that out of $70,000 received for the Fenian cause between the 30th of October and the 6th of January, not less than $60,000 has been expended for the benefit of the 011ahony Government, leaving but $lO,OOO to be used in achieving the liberation of Ireland, and on this text Mr. Roberts proceeds to comment in a manner which must be rather unpleasant to the feelings of Mr. Killian. On the 23d ult. United States Marshal Murray of New York proceeded lon board the propeller Meteor, a steamer of 1,400 tons burden, and seized the vessel, it being charged by.an affidavit of Mr. Podestat, an attache of the Spanish Legation, that the vessel was fitted out as a Chilian priva teer, destined to destroy Spanish commerce on the high seas. The Meteor, which was to have sailed for Panama, is in charge of a Deputy Marshal. A formal libel has been filed against her by United States District Attorney Daniel Dickinson. During the year 1865 about 125,000,000 letters passed through the Post-office of the city of New York. The amount of postage on both letters and papers was $1,721,579 40c. ; amount received for box rents, $67,786 75c. ; expenses of office, $359,791 71c. ; profit to Govern ment over expenses, $1,503,174 22c. General Terry, commanding Department of Virginia, has issued a general order forbidding any magistrate or other person to attempt to carry out the vagrant law recently passed by the Virginia Legislature, on the ground that it is unjust in its application to the freedmen, compelling them, under penalty of punishment as criminals, to labour for wages established by combination of employers. Its ultimate effect being to reduce them to a condition of servitude worse than that from which they have been emancipated. The court-martial in Savannah has acquitted and ordered the release of the rebel General Mercer, who has been on trial for some days on charge of causing the shooting of national soldiers who had enlisted in the rebel ranks to avoid starving to death, and who had deserted from the rebels and been recaptured by them. The Governor of South Carolina has addressed a letter to the President, strongly urging the transfer of all the lands now in possession of negroes to the late owners of said lands. he rariel:3l"ational Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company ": 11-1 g Congress for an amendment to their charter, making their different banks depositories for such fund; as are held by Treasury officers on behalf of the freedmen. Thus far the" in 2 P s any has met with the most gratifying success, over various branch have been wneitchedra 0,000 having been deposited with the banks by the freedmen, of which $50,000 :n for the purchase of homesteads, and for other on all d eposita s : 6 r , / , p e urposes. rive per cent. is allowed offices, the pr i nnipai n o Company has now fifteen branch For the fiscal year ': 3 laa bi ng j l e o n c e at 3 ed o, in New York. branch mints of the United States coiinge6dsi t3h2e, 8 31 19 i , n 2 t 48 an 6 d 4 in gold, silver, and copper. ust published b e t ween In the official correspond ence i Generals Weitzel and meilan the Bagdad affair, the rm foer states that ho sent 300 men a n act of human i ty , witho ut partiality that place purel y as to either o f th e con tending parties. y Advices from the Northern Pacific coast report ce d e nted falls of snow and severe weather. unpre cedented snow n o Scott Mountain is from twelve to fifteen feet deep, and no - mail over that ro ute has been received for twelve days. The telegraph lines were broken at many points, and i n Washington Territory it_was nearly destroyed. Secretary Seward and son were at their posts at the State Department on January 29. They are looking physically improved by their voyage. They came to Washington direct from Hava,nnah. At the latter place they were treated with distinguished courtesy by the Spanish officials. A brother of General Grant, formerly his partner in business, is in Washi n g ton, and submitting to con siderable lionising at the hands of the military and civic authorities. General Sherman visited both Houses of Con gress on January 29, while they were in session, and re ceived an enthusiastic reception. In the House of Repre sentatives three cheers forhimwere proposed by a member, and heartily given both on the floor and in the g alleries, accompanied te of assemblage, the swinging of hats, and the wa vin g of handkerchief s.fir . A. T . Stewart has caused the arrest of Messrs. G. W. Matsell and W. McKellar, editors and pro prietors of the National Police Gazette, on a charge of libel, in that they had in an issue of their sheet held him up to reprobation and ignominy as having involved himself in a disreputable intimacy with a profligate French actress. On the examination the Gazette editors denied that the article complained of referred to Mr. Stewart. The case is yet before the court. Hiram Powers, the American sculptor, is now engaged, at his famous studio in Florence, in modelling an ideal bust, which promises to be one of his most brilliant efforts. lie has selected for his subject " Clytie." The benefit to " Stonewall " Jackson's widow in Richmond netted her over two thousand dollars. Hon. John Sherman has been re-elected United States Senator from Ohio. William Gillmore Simms is making a collection of the leading war poems written in the South during the rebellion. The marriage of Mrs. Steaphen A. Douglas and Brevet Brigadier General Williams took place on the even ing of the 23d January, at nine o'clock, at the residence of the bride in Washington. The ceremony was per formed by Rev. Father Lynch, of the Catholic Church. There were present on the occasion General Grant and lady, Secretary Stanton and lady, General Fry and lady, General Kelton, A. A. G. U. S. A. ; Colonel Chalfin, and several other intimate friends of the bride and bride groom. The Lafayette (Ind.) Journal says that John A. Wilstach, Esq., of that city, will visit Europe, and be pre sented at the great Paris Exhibition, under a commission from Governor Baker, empowering him to act as a com missioner for the encouragement of emigration to Indiana, and to take such steps, both in the United States and Europe, as he may deem advisable for the purpose. Col. John S. Mosby, the rebel guerilla, who was arrested at his home in Fanquier, a few days since, by military authority, and taken to Washington and impri soned, is charged with having hanged two Federal soldiers in the Valley during the war, in retaliation for the murder of some of his men. Mr. Frank Moore, the historian of the late Ame rican war, is engaged upon a new work, " Women of the War: their Heroism and Self-sacrifice." Bayard Taylor is writing a new novel, which has for the hero an American tourist. Mrs. Bigelow, wife of the American Minister in Paris, is seriously ill. The French papers describe the modest ménage of the Republican Representative with much admiration for its Spartan simplicity. Our journalist found Mr. Bigelow cooking his own ham and eggs, without any attendant to wait on him, and appears to think that these I domestic incidents are fit subjects of public curiosity. The Vera Cruz correspondent of the New York Herald, writing under date of January 6th, says:—" Gen. Jubal Early arrived here a few days ago, accompanied by several Confederates. It is understood that he will leave to-day for the City of Mexico. He has dyed his hair and beard black. He rode all the way through the Southern States from his place of concealment in Western Vir- ginia." Mr. Wendell Phillips delivered a lecture in Springfield, Mass., lately, on the labour reform question, in which he advocated the eight-hour movement. He said that he expected to live to see such a progress made in machinery that four hours will accomplish the work of eight under present conditions. It is currently reported among military men, says the Washington National Intelligencer, that Lieut.-General Grant will visit Europe during the present season, and will remain there several months. Forty-three major-generals and one hundred and forty-one brigadier-generals remain at present in the service of the United States, but twenty-one of the former and one hundred and two of the latter have been ordered to be mustered out. The Washington correspondent of the Philadel phia Press says that, as the impression prevailed to some extent that nearly or quite all the distinguished person ages who were active rebels have been pardoned, it is proper to state that nearly twelve hundred applications are now upon the President's table, most of which have been there for several months. Seven hundred of them fall under the $20,000 clause. The remainder are classi fied as follows : Members of rebel Congress, 86 ; ex United States army officers, 132; rebel generals, 127; prominent rebel civil officers, 32 ; ex officers of the United States navy, 116. A Cincinnati merchant, on a trip down the Mis sissippi river, writes home that the outcry about the dis organisation of labour, and the unwillingness of the negro to work, is caused by cotton planters and speculators, who want to frighten others away from the business in order to augment their own profits. Nevertheless, Northern men are rushing in, and there will be a great cotton crop this year. A Virginian clergyman writes to the Post Office Department asking for a mail contract. He states that he does not know that ho can take the oath of allegiance, for he has prayed in the pulpit during the war for the success of the Southern cause; but as the prayers were never answered, he is of opinion that no aid and comfort were ever given, and therefore he remains a loyal citizen. The Louisville Courier says that the Homestead of Henry Clay—the Ashland estate, consisting of three hun dred and twenty-five acres—was sold a few weeks ago by Mrs. James B. Clay to John B. IlJwman, Regent of the Kentucky University, for $90,000. It is the design of the purchaser to transform it into the Agricultural College of Kentucky. Possession . will be giVen immediately. New Orleans, after the Ist of March, is to be lighted by three thousand petroleum lamps. The charges of the gas company are considered excessive. Oil has been struck near Decatur, Alabama, only fifteen feet below the surface. The San Francisco directory, published on the Ist of January, contains nearly 45,000 names, by which the population is estimated at 120,000. The number of build ings in the city and county is 15,518, viz. ; of wood, 12,268 ; of brick, 3,250. Many of the buildings erected during the last year werevery costly, and of great architectural beauty. There are 1,729 liquor saloons, 386 attorneys, 248 physi cians, 56 drug stores, and 54t hotels and boarding houses. The failure of the Columbian Marine Insurance Company, one of the oldest of the joint stock marine in- surance institutions of New York, is announced. Its liabilities are estimated to reach six million dollars; but Mr. Phelps, the agent of the company, says that the assets will be sufficient to meet all these and leave a handsome surplus. It was found necessary to close up the concern in consequence of recent very heavy losses. Its payment on account of rebel piratical depredations alone, it is said, aggregating over a million dollars. Colonel Whittlesey, Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for North Carolina, reports that the negroes generally of that State have made contracts for the year and are labouring industriously ; that the holi days passed without any insurrectionary demonstration on their part, and that their minds have become disabused of the erroneous impressions that Government intends to distribute lands among them. COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE. NEW YORK, Feb. 7 (Morning). Money easy—Gold, 1391. Exchange on Lon don, 1511 ; on Paris, 5.73. Stocks dull—New York Centrals, 86i ; Illinois, 115 ; Erie, 76i ; Five-twenty Bonds, 1031. Cotton steady—Mid dling Upland, 48. Flour dull. Wheat quiet. Corn declining. Provisions slightly firmer. Sugar steady. Coffee quiet. Molasses quiet. Petroleum dull— Crude, 31i ; refined, 50. NEW ORLEANS, Feb. s.—Cotton dull, 48. The customs duties in gold for the month of January, at the port of New York, reached the large sum of $12,469,865, and judging by the reported import entries at Boston, the additional sum of about $2,250,000 has probably been re ceived at that port. And at all the ports close on to seventeen millions. The Secretary of the Treasury, it will be remembered, estimated, for only $100,000,000, from Ist October last to June 30th next, being for the last nine months of the current fiscal year, or an average of only $10,110,000 per month. For the four months of this term, the deposits for customs at tho New York office have been, in Oct em ber 511,064,409 Novber December 8,378,335 January Total for four months Add for other ports at least f4,000,000 Total, $14,012,802 per month, or $56,051,210 I 14 , The average of the nine months will be nearer $15,000,000 per month, without some great shock to trade not now anticipated. The whole customs revenue for the fiscal year we estimate at $180,000,000. • • The price of gold to-day is 1391 to 140 per cent. The California steamer arrived this morning and delivered $953,288 in gold and silver bars and coin, for which there is at present no export demand, owing to the falling rates of exchange. We learn that cotton bills on England, with shipping documents attached, have been dono in New Orleans as low as 1(4 to 104} per cent., and similar bills drawn in this market have been done as low as 1051 to 106} per cent. Standard bankers, who buy these and other merchant and Southern bank bills, are drawing at 1081 per cent. The trade of the past week was active in the line of import entries and export clearances. Tho amount of foreign merchandise upon which customs duties were paid is larger than the value of the new entries ; the stock in bond being reduced in preparation for the spring trade. The Customs reach $3,226,040, which would imply that about $6,500,000 goods had been placed on the market. The exports of produce reach nearly five millions. The export of bullion continues limited to the gold and silver bars recently received from California. The foreign ex changes, even with interest advanced to 8 per cent. in London, continue below the point at which it would cost us to ship American gold coin. The price of gold advanced 1 per cent. during the week on the expectation of higher exchange and the large daily demand to pay in for cus toms. The figure is yet below 140 per cent., and the belief that the Government will come in as a seller again should the price advance much above that point, represses active speculation in the gold room. The import entries for the past week, including the dry goods return, amount to $4,629,628, as against the total entries of $2,965,177 same week last year. The export clearances of domestic produce amount to $4,860,386 against $6,333,663 same week last year. The export of specie amounts to $656,812 against $997,136 same week last year. The customs for the week are $3,226,040. The receipts of cotton, coastwise and by railroad, are 22,801 bales. The number of emigrant passengers arrived during the week, 3,498. New York city contributes nearly one-fifth of the entire income of the national treasury from internal revenue. Last year the internal revenue receipts of the Government in this city were $37,156,412, against $18,242,773 in 1864, and $7,911,105 in 1863 ; showing an enormous increase, due, in part, to the amended law, but chiefly to the vastly increased efficiency of the collection system, and the thoroughness with which the law is now enforced by the revenue agents, collectors, assessors, &c., under the vigi lant supervision of the chief of the Internal Revenue Bureau. The total amount of internal revenue collected in New York since the formal inauguration of the system (Oct., 1862), is $64,222,056, of which amount $37,156,412 were collected in the single calendar year of 1865. In the cur rent year it is confidently anticipated that the revenue of the Government from this city alone will approximate fifty million dollars, or equal to considerably over a sixth of the aggregate income of the national treasury from this source, throughout the country, as estimated by Secre tary IPCulloch, in his last annual report. On Wall-street the rate of money to the brokers on call was 6 per cent. as the rule, with exceptions at 5 per cent. on Government collateral. There is a demand for prime merchant paper at 7 per cent. There is a general good feeling among money lenders, both private and corporate, and confidence is improving as to the prospects of the spring trade. The preparations making by importers and jobbers, and by the domestic commission houses, continue on a liberal scale. To-day the customs duties on foreign goods passing into the market amount to $656,000. The total at this port in January will be in the close neigh bourhood of twelve millions. COTTON—Is in good demand at buoyant prices. Mid dlings, 48c to 50c per lb. Sales and resales since our last 4,100 bales. The receipts at this port during the current week have been 22,801 bales, making 76,473 bales since Jan. 1, 1866, 'and 519,836 bales since the commencement of the current Cotton year, September 1, 1865. The exports from the port since Tuesday last have been 2,313 bales:; since January 1, 1866 43,081 bales ; and since Septem ber 1, 1865, 223,153 bales. The week's operations in this market Messrs. Cornwall and Jeroga notice thus :—" Our market for the week has been dull and heavy, with a decided decline from the prices of last week. The advices received on Saturday by the Nova Scotia and Asia, from Liverpool, being unexpectedly un favourable, shook the faith of holders and operators in cotton, and prices at once ruled in favour of buyers. Fur ther unfavourable advices received on Thursday by the Hibernia had the effect still more to depress the market, buyers demanding a concession of two to three cents per pound, which holders are hardly prepared to grant. There is, however, a good amount of cotton offering, and an in creasing disposition on the part of holders to realise, the faith in future high prices growing decidedly weaker. The transactions are confined almost exclu sively to exporters and speculators, the demand from spinners being very light. DRY GOODS.—The Dry Goods Exchange report to-day is as follows :—Jobbers' prices : brown sheetings—Atlantic A, 31c; Atlantic D, 28c; Atlantic E, 25c; Great Falls M, 25c ; Great Falls S, 23c. Bleached sheetings—Wamsutta, 45c ; James 36-inch, 31ic ; James 33-inch, 27c ; James 31-inch, 25c; Greene Manufacturing Co., 25c; Canoe, 19c. Prints—Merrimack W, 25c ; Merrimack D, 24c ; Sprague, 221 c; Hamilton, 221 c ; Arnold, 191 c. Delaines—Hamil ton Woollen Company, 29c ; Hamilton Manufacturing Company, 25c. Ginghams—Lancaster, 29c; Glasgow, 27c. Cambrics—Washington, 23c ; Maaville. '22c. Se lecias —lndian Orchard, 321 c ; Lonsdale, 321 c ; Corset Jeans—Naumkeag, 33c. ; Naumkeag Satteen, 361 c. Can ton Flannels—Naumkeag, 35c; Nashua, 30c. Ticks— Methuen A A, 621 c; Hamilton, 55c; Hamilton D, 471 c. Stripes—Whittendon A, 40c; Whittendon 88, 30c. De nims —York, 52c ; New York, 40c. Hoop Skirts—Brad_ ley's Duplex Eliptic, 20 to 50 hoops, 87ic to $1 05c; Em press Trail, sl2se ; Meyers' I X Lin good inquiryat former prices. The following despatches were received at the Dry Goods Exchange to-day :—St. Louis—Trade is rather quiet ; buyers all afraid of the present high prices. - - Louisville—Goods in better demand ; trade improved. Cincinnati— Market unchanged ; demand' light ; there are no movements of any consequence. Chicago—Nothing new to report ; trade fair for the season ; stocks generally well assorted. WooL—Has been rather less sought after since our last. Tho finer grades have not been freely offered and have been firm. Inferior and common qualities have been pressed for sale, and have been heavy in price. We quote domestic thus :—New York, Michigan, and Indiana Fleece—Saxony Fleece, 64c to 63c; three-quarters and full-blood Merino fleece, 60c to 65c ; half-blood fleece, 60c to 62e ; native and quarter-blood fleece, 50c to 53c ; common fleece, 45c. to 48c. Ohio, Pennsyl vania, and Virginia- Choice selected Saxony fleece, 75c to 78c ; Saxony fleece, 70c to 75c ; three-quarter and full blood Merino fleece, 65c to 70c; half-blood' fleece, 62c, to 65c ; native and quarter-blood fleece, 52c. to 55c. ; com mon fleece, 48c. to 50c; tub washed, 60c. to 66c. Wiscon sin, lowa, Vermont, and Illinois—Three-quarter and full blood Merino fleece, 55c to 60c ; half-blood fleece, 54c. to 58c; native and quarter-blood fleece, 50c to 52c per lb. Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee—Washed fleece, 50c to 60c ; unwashed fleece, 35c to 40c ; Canada fleece, 55c. to 72c per lb. Putted Wool—New York City extra pulled, 60c to 65c ; New York City super pulled, 55c to 60c ; New York City No. 1 pulled, 35c to 40c ; lambs, 45c to 50c; Western pulled, 45c to ;. - ',sc; choice country picklock pulled, 70c to 75c ; Country extra pulled, 62c to 67c ; Country super pulled, 58c to 63c ; country No. 1 pulled, 35c to 45c ; Canada pulled, 40c to 65c per lb. California—California unwashed fleeces, in grades, 25c to 42c; California washed pulled, 40c to 57c ; California common washed pulled, 20c to 32c.; California Fall Clip, in grades, 22c to 40c per lb. Ittcm— Is quiet at former prices. We are indebted to Messrs. Eugene O'Sullivan and Co. for the following statement of the stock of rice on hand February 1, 1866: 23,004 bags cleaned East India rice, against 25,432 Ihigs cleaned East India, 13,190 bags uncleaned East India, and 17,086 mats uncleaned East India the same time last year. SUGARS—Are quiet at former rates. Sales since our last 340 hhds., including Cuba, &c., part at from 11c to 121 c per lb. We quote—Fair to good grocers' at 1110 to 120 ; do. do. refining, at 1010 to 111 c per lb. Reduced sugars are inactive. We quote-14c to 171 c per lb. TALLOW.—SaIes to-day reach 104,000 lbs., at 121 c to 12ic, and 27,500 lbs. Grease at 12c to 121 c per lb. WHlSKY—Continues quite nominal, at $2 25 to $2 26 per gallon. (From Messrs. E. F. Satterthwaite and Co.'s:Weekly Circular, February 14.) The "Asia" brought our usual advices from New York to the 30th January. They report a fair demand for Govern ment securities, with but few offering ; notwithstanding which, however, 5.20 and 10.40 Bonds show a slight de cline from the previous week, partly owing to the receipt of advices of lower prices on this side ; the older descrip tions of Government Bonds, however, exhibit an advance of about $l. In Railroad Stocks the market was uncertain and fluctuating, being chiefly in the hands of professional operators. On the week we note a decline of $4 in Illinois and Erie; $1 in Hudson River and Michigan Central; while New York Central has improved $1 on the announce ment of the dividend of three per cent. The lower quota tions of most shares did not appear to induce general buy ing, the continued falling off in the weekly traffics of the Western lines, owing to the non-transmission of cereals and provisions deterring investors from coming forward. In State Stocks there has been more activity, but the latest quotations indicate a fall in Virginian Sixes of $5 and in North Carolina of $3. Money was abundant on good securities at 6 per cent. Gold has been up to 1401, closing 140. The Report of the Special Commission appointed to en quire into the revenue system had been published ; it is most elaborate in its details, and the views expressed are said to meet with the concurrence of Mr. McCulloch, the Secretary of the Treasury. Via " Crookhaven" we have received the following quo tations, being to the 3rd inst : United States 5.20's lO3 I Erie Common 771 Illinois Central ll5 I Gold 140 i DIVIDENDS. Long Island 5 p. ct., free of tax, payable Feb. 26, New York Central 3 do. do. do. do. 20. Numerous inquiries have been made of us as to the de cision of Chief Justice Chase, that foreign holders of American securities would bo entitled to exemption from United States Income tax. We applied to our correspon dents in New York for information on the subject, and have received the following reply : " The decision in regard to the exemption of Foreign Stock and Bondholders from United States Income Tax is by no means final, but is liable to appeal, reversion, and reaffirmation before it becomes established law." ERRATUM.—In our circular of the 31st ultimo, we gave the official returns of the amount of gold received for customs, and paid for interest since the Ist July last. The receipts amounted to $70,159,033, and the payments to $27,927,673. By a typographical oversight, the first figure was omitted, so that the surplus will ba about forty-two, instead of sixty-two million dollars. In the London market for American securities during the past week United States 5.20 Bonds have been well sustained, the closing quotation-67i to i , showing a slight advance, but both Illinois and Erie Shares, on considerable provincial sales, have given way, the former, after having been sold down to 741, have reacted to 741 to 751. Eries were at one time as low as 51, but from this point have improved to 521 to I. Nearly all the securities of the Atlantic and Great THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 19, 1860. Western have given way during the week on the pressure for money. An extraordinary feature of the past monthhas been the advance in the price of the Grand Trunk of Canada stock, and the decline in the Bonds of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroads. We have been curious to see whether these movements can have been based on that which mainly constitutes the value of a railroad property; viz., traffic receipts—and we find that the Grand Trunk has taken during the month of December last $543,195 on 1,377 miles, or $394 per mile, which at $7 to the pound is $56 ; whilst the Atlantic and Great Western has taken for same month $600,262 on 490 miles, or $1,225 per mile, which, at same exchange, is $175, thus showing an advan tage in receipts per mile in favour of the Atlantic and Great Western of £175 against £56. Surely, in the face of such facts as these, if the Grand Trunk is in so hopeful a state that its stock has rapidly risen from £2O to £4B, there ought to be entertained every feeling of en couragement by holders of Atlantic and Great Western securities, as their road has taken more than three times the amount per mile during the last month's traffic, for which we have returns. OFFICIAL TRANSACTIONS FOR THE WEEK.— United States 6 per Cent. 5.20 Bonds, 1882: Thursday, 67} } ; Friday, 671 I ; Saturday, 671 ; Monday, 671 61 7} 17; Tuesday, 66171 8 ; Wednesday, 671 ; Virginian 6 per Cent. Dollar Bonds : Thursday, 411; Friday, 40/ ; Saturday, 411 ; Mon day, —; Tuesday, —; Wednesday, 412. Atlan. and Gt. Westn (N. Y. Sect.) 2nd Mrt. Bds. 1881: Saturday, 741 ; Atlan. and Gt. Westn. (Penns. Sect.) Ist Mrt. Bds. 1877 : Thursday, 77.64; Wednesday, ; Atlan. and Gt. Westn. Consolidated Bonds :—Monday, 781 x c.; Erie Shares, $lOO, all paid : Thursday, 53.24 x. c. ; Friday, 521 x. e. ; Saturday, 524 1 x c ; Monday, 511 x c ; Tuesday, 514 50111 xc; Wednesday, 521 4 x c; Erie Shares, 6 per Cent. Convertible Bonds : Thursday, 761; Friday, 76i; Saturday, 76 f; Monday, 761 ; Tuesday, 761 ; Illinois Central Shares, all paid : Thursday, 748 I; Friday, zit 1; Monday, 741 1; Wednesday, 741 5 ; Marietta and Cincin. Rail 7 per Cent.:Bonds, 1891: Wed nesday, 68.70 x c ; Pennyslvania Second Mortgage Sterling Bonds, 1875: Friday, 361 Naval and Military intelligence. Her Majesty's turret-ship Prince Albert was on Saturday undocked at Woolwich, and was taken down to the moorings at Greenhithe to adjust her compasses, for Plymouth. Before leaving the dock she was inspected by Prince Arthur, accompanied by Major Elphinstone. The Prince Albert's com plement consists of one captain, two lieutenants, one master, one paymaster, one surgeon, one clerk, one midshipman, two gunners, one boatswain, one carpenter, one chief engineer, one engineer, and two assistants, two sergeants and 25 privates Royal Ma- rine Artillery—total, all told, 185, including seamen. The Royal Alfred, 18, partially ironcased ship, of 4,045 tons and 800 horse power, steamed out of Portsmouth harbour on Saturday morning, under the command of Captain H. Caldwell, C. 8., com manding her Majesty's ship Asia and the Steam Reserve at Portsmouth, on her light-draught trial of speed over the measured mile course in Stokes Bay. Messrs. Ward and Murdoch conducted the trial on the part of the Admiralty, and Mr. Herbert Maudslay, with Mr. Warrener, represented the makers of the ship's machinery—Messrs. Maudslay, Field, and Sons. Six runs were made with full- boiler power, the result being as undermentioned. The wind was from N.N.W., at a force of two dur ing the full-power runs, and a force of three during the half-power runs, the sea being quite smooth. The ship is not yet rigged, nor has she any stores or any part of her armament on board, having nothing at present, in fact, inside her hull but her engines and boilers with sufficient coal in her bunkers for the day's trial. Under these conditions the ship, on entering upon her first mile, drew 22ft 10in of water aft, and 19ft forward. The runs with full- boiler power, with the tide, gave the following re sults :-Ist run—Speedof ship, 13.186 knots; steam pressure, 21.51 b ; vacuum, 21in ; revolutions of en gines, 61. 2d run—Speed, 13.284 knots ; steam pressure, 17.51 b ; vacuum, 22in ; revolutions, 61. 3d run—Speed, 13.749 knots ; steam pressure, 20.51 b ; vacuum, 21 in ; revolutions, 61.5. The runs against the tide gave the following results :-Ist run —Speed, 12.857 knots ; steam pressure, 211 b ; vacuum, 22in ; revolutions, 6F5. 2d run—Speed, 12.543 knots; steam pressure, 21.51 b; vacuum. 21in ; revolutions, 61. 3d run—Speed, 12.371 knots ; steam pressure, 211 b ; vacuum, 21in ; revo lutions, 61.5. The mean speed of the ship at full power was 13166 knots. The runs with half-boiler power, with the tide, gave:-Ist run—Speed,l2.73l; pressure, 221 b ; vacuum, 22in ; revolutions of en gines, 48. 2d run—Speed, 10.055 ; pressure, 221 b; vacuum, 22in ; revolutions, 48. Against the tide -Ist run—Speed, 9.9022 ; pressure, 21.51 b ; vacuum, 22in ; revolutions, 48. 2d run—Speed, 8.955 ; pressure, 21.51 b ; vacuum, 22in ; revolutions, 48. The mean speed of the ship with half-boiler power was 10.191 knots. In the circles to port and to starboard, with full-boiler power, the ship moving round to port, the folowing were the results : Time occupied in getting up helm, lmin 35sec ; men at wheel, 11 ; turns of the wheel, 3.5 ; angle of the rudder, 22 deg. ; half-circle male in 2min 57sec ; full circle made in smin 9sec. The revolutions of engines before going on circle were.6l ; afterwards, 59. The ship moving round to starboard gave the following results :—Time occupied in getting up helm, Imin 15sec ; men at wheel, 11 ; turns of the wheel, 3 ; angle of the rudder, 20 deg ; half circle made in 2min 57sec; full circle ditto, smin 30sec ; revolutions of engines before going in the circle, 61 ; afterwards, 58. The trial was thoroughly satisfactory, The speed of the ship was half a knot in excess of what had been anticipated, and the machinery could not be excelled in the regularity and smoothness of its working. The engines are by Maudslay, Field, and Son, and are of the ordi nary Maudslay two cylinder description, such as are on board her Majesty's turret-ship Royal Sove reign and other vessels in her Majesty's navy. They are of 850-horse power, nominal, and have cylinders of 85 inches diameter and 4 feet stroke. They drive a Griffith's screw, fitted with the Maudslay shifting blades, set on Saturday at a pitch of 27 feet 6 inches, the screw's dia meter being 19 feet 2k inches, and the lengTh of the blades four feet. The last improvements of Maudslay and Field's marine engines have been supplied by the firm in the three-throw cylinder form to her Majesty's ships Octavia and Lord War den, and in the two throw cylinder form to her Majesty's ship Prince Consort and Agincourt, the latter vessel at present being the swiftest vessel of war under steam in the world. In The Sun of the 3d ult. was given a detailed description of the Royal Alfred, with the too conversions she had under gone prior to final completion in her present form. A very brief description of the ship, her armour, and her armament is therefore all that is necessary to give here. The Royal Alfred is a wooden frigate, 273 ft. long between perpendiculars, and is partially plated with Sheffield manufactured armour plates of 4 and 6 inches thickness, supplied from the rolling-mills of John Brown and Company (limited), of the Atlas Steel and Iron Works, and of Charles Cammell and Company (limited), of the Cyclops Steel and Iron Works. The disposition of this armour is as follows :-1. A band entirely round the ship at the water-line, Gin. in thickness amid ships, and 4iin. in thickness at the ends. 2. The curve of the bows and stern covered with 4fin. plates from the water-line belt upwards to the beams supporting the upper deck. 3. 100 ft. of each side of the ship amidships plated with 6in. plates, ex tending upwards from the water-line belt to the upper deck beams, with athwartship bulkheads of 4fin. plates built up across the ship's gun-deck at each end of the 100 ft. of 6in. plating. This central disposition of the ship's armour, therefore, forms an armour-enclosed box, the sides of which are piercdd with ten gunports, five on each side, which have been specially constructed and fitted for work ing ten 12i-ton gunsas broadside guns. The ports necessarily occupy a large combined area, but each port is strengthened by a wrought-iron elliptical shaped port plate, le; in on the wooden planking at the back of the Gin. plates, which makes the thick ness of protecting irm round the edge of each port 10in. There is, th ere f ore , a s will be seen from the foregoing description of the disposition of the armour, a space both forward and aft of the central Gin. armour-plating without armour at all above the water-line belt, ab ou t 30ft. aft and 70ft. forward, or about 100 ft. in length on each side of the ship. The explanation 01 this partial plating of the ship's sides is, that the kip was originally intended to be plated entirely over her outside with 4iin. plates, but when it was sthsequently determined to increase the weight of the ship's guns and concentrate them in a central battery, it then became necessary to leave certain portions of the ship's side forward and aft of this battery without armour and materially increase the thickness of the plating covering this battery--in other words, to add the weight of pro tecting iron taken from forward and aft to the centre plating. The armament of the ship is thus arranged : Main deck—ln the central battery, 10 9-inch muzzle-loading wrought-iron rifled 121-ton guns, on broadside carriages and slides ; outside of the central battery four 7-inch muzzle-loading wrought iron rifled 61 ton guns, on broadside car riages and. slides. Upper deck—Four 7-inch guns as on main deck ; total armament, 18 guns. She will also carry as boat and field guns two 20- pounder breach-loading Armstrongs, one 9-pounder breech-loading Armstrong for boat service ; one 12- pounder breech-loading Armstrong gun for field service, and one 6-pounder brass smooth-bore gun for short practice. The Royal Alfred, like all other wooden frigates plated with iron, is necessarily weak throughout her frame, and this was very evident on Saturday in the vibration of the ship, especially below, when she was under full steam. The Brigadier-General commanding the third brigade of Infantry, at Aldershott, has received orders to hold the 92d Gordon Highlanders in readi ness to proceed to Ireland about the Ist of March. The first head-quarters' division of the7lst High land Light Infantry, under Col. Hope, left Edin burgh Castle on Saturday and embarked at Granton, in the General Steam Navigation Company's steam ship Stork, for London en route for Aldershott. The division consisted of 13 officers and 325 men, with 40 women and 60 children. The second division will leave on Wednesday. The 71st will be replaced at Edinburgh by the 72d Highlanders, just arrived from India, a small detachment of which has already arrived, and the remainder are expected imme diately. The 75th Regiment, quartered at Gosport, is under orders to proceed immediately to Ireland. A party of volunteers from different depots left the camp at Colchester on Saturday, en route for Woolwich, to join the Military Store Staff Corps, now being organised at that station. The 54th Regiment having embarked for England from Bengal and the 70th Regiment being about to be recalled from New Zealand, it is expected that the depots of these regiments (now attached to the 4th depot bat talion) will be ordered from Colchester in the spring. The following appointments were made on Satur day at the Admiralty :—Sub-Lieut. Frederick G. Dundas and Sub-Lieut. Henry A. Street to the Wivern ; Robert L. Groome, midshipman, to the Gladiator ; Henry B. Warren, midshipman, to the Favourite; and William T. Wilson, surgeon, to the Duke of Wellington. The Habeas Corpus Suspension (Ireland) Bill. The following is the text of the bill brought in by Sir George Grey on Saturday. It is called a Bill to Empower the Lord Lieutenant or other Chief GovernOr or Governors of Ireland to apprehend and detain until the Ist day o‘ September, 1866, such persons as he or they shall suspect of conspir ing against her Majesty's person and Government : " Whereas a treasonable conspiracy now unfor tunately exists in Ireland : Therefore, for the better preseriation of her Majesty's most sacred person, and for securing the peace, the laws, and liberties of this kingdom, be it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and con sent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : " 1. That all and every person and persons, who is, are, or shall be within prison within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Ireland at or on the day on which this act shall receive her Majesty's royal assent, or after, by warrant of her Majesty's Most. Honourable Privy Council of Ireland, signed by six of the said Privy Council, for high treason or treason-felony or treasonable practices, or suspicion of high treason or treason-felony or treasonable practices, or by warrant signed by the Lord Lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being, or his or their chief secretary, for such causes as aforesaid, may be detained in safe custody without bail or mainprize until the first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and that no judge et austice of the peace shall bail or try any such person or persons so committed without order from her said Majesty's Privy Council until the said first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding. " 2. In cases where any person or persons have been before the passing of this act, or shall be dur ing the time this act, shall continue in force, arrested, committed, or detained in custody by force of a warrant or warrants of her Majesty's Most Hon. Privy Council of Ireland, signed by six of the said Privy Council, for high treason or treason -felony or treasonable practices, or suspicion of high treason or treason-felony or treasonable practices, or by war rant or warrants signed by the Lord Lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being, or his or their chief secretary, for such causes as afcresaid, it shall and may be lawful for any person or persons to whom such warrant or warrants have been or shall be directed to detain such person or persons so arrested or committed in his or their custody in any place whatever within I Ireland, and that such person or persons to whom such warrant or warrants have been or shall be directed shall be deemed and taken to be to all in tents and purposes lawfully authorised to detain in safe custody, and to be the lawful gaolers and keepers of such persons so arrested, committed, or detained, and that such place or places where such .persons so arrested, committed, or detained are or shall be de tained in custody shall be deemed and taken to all intents and purposes to be lawful prisons and gaols for the detention and safe custody of such person and persons respectively ; and that it shall and may be lawful to and for the Lord Lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being, by warrant signed by him or them, or for the chief secretary of such Lord Lieutenant or other chief governor or governors, by warrant signed by such chief secretary, or for her Majesty's Privy Council of Ireland, by warrant signed by six of the Privy Council, from time to time, as occasion shall be, to change the person or persons by whom and the place in which such person er persons so arrested, com mitted, or detained shall be detained in safe custody. " 3. Provided always that copies of such warrants respectively shall be transmitted to the Clerk of the Crown in and for the county of the city of Dublin, and shall be filed by him in the public office of the Pleas of the Crown in the city of Dublin." Fourteen vessels arrived in one day recently at Savannah, a circumstance which the papers of that city consider a striking evidence of returning prosperity. Northern citizens in Savannah, on account of the social exclusion under which they are labouring, have organised a select club, and are giving a series of national assemblies at Farmers' Hall. ADVERTISEMENT.). -Avoid medicines: they always aggra vate chronic complaints, but Du Barry's Delicious Health- Restoring nevalenta Arabica Food, which yields three times the nourishment of the best meat, eaves 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, wasting away, debility, nervousness, with a nervous palpitation all over, bad diges tion, constant sleeplessness, and the most intolerable nervous agitation.—Cure No. 1.771. Lora Stuart de Decics. Lord Lieutenant of Waterford. of many years' dyspepsia.—No. 49,832. "Fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness, and vomiting.—Maria Jolly."—Cure No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derange ment, and partial deafness.--Cure No. 47,121. Miss Elizabeth jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion, gatherings, to s Spirits, and nervous fancies.—Cure No. 54,816. The Rev. Jas T. Campbell, Fakenhain, Norfolk, "of indigestion and torpi dity of the liver, which had restate I all medical treatment.' in tins, 11b, 2s 9d; 21b, 4s 6.1; 51b, lls ; 121 b, '22s; 241 b, 48s.—Barry Du Barry and Co., No. 77, Regent-street, London; also Phillips, tea dealers, 8, King Wiliam-street; likewise at 61, Gracechurch-street ; 4, Cheapside ; 49, Bishopsgate street Within ; 63, 150, and 298, Oxford-street ; 330, Strand ; 54, Upper Baker-street; 103, Tottenham-court-road; 96, Upper-street, Islington, N.; Harvey, Notting-hill; Close Brothers, 65, High-street ; and Stubbs, Queen's-terrace, St. John's-wood, London ; and all respectable grocers and che mists.—Beware of spurious Imitations. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOITRNALE 4. - THE " LONDON REVIEW" AS TO WHETHER THE MINISTRY CAN STAND.—Threatened men, it is said, live long, but the proverb is one of questionable authority. What is true of men is true of ministries. The revised and corrected new edition of the Rus- sell-Gladstone Administration may possibly find favour with Parliament and the public, and that favour may continue for mapysessions. But the reverse may also happen ; and if it cannot be pre dicted with confidence, at least it is certain that present indications tend that way. For the last week or so several independent Liberal journals, in deed nearly all the leading organs of the party, ex cept those which receive their inspiration imme diately from official quarters, have expressed them selves in such a manner as to show their growing sense of the insecurity of the Government's position, and the possibility of its defeat and disruption at almost any moment. It is not exactly in the changes which have recently taken place in the composition of the Cabinet, and the distribution of public offices that any reason for alarm is seen. It was not too soon for Sir Charles Wood to consider himself spec tatum satin; and it is probable that the Montgo- merys, and Prinseps, and Eastwicks of the Indian Council will find Lord de Grey more ready to profit by the fruits of their experience than his predecessor was. It is a time also of comparative quiet in India, and there will be perhaps more safety in the deci sions of a multitude of counsellors than in the overhearing influence of one mastering (not master) mind. The Liberals see with satisfaction a career affording many chances of distinction opened to Mr. Stansfeld ; and if he can contrive to give less prominence to his affection for the Head Centre of the proto-Fenians of Italy, and will not allow himself to be ruffled by impertinent questions from lively young spirits of the Opposition, touching the existence of Thugs or the exports of pale ale, there is no reason why the strong-winged water-fowl of Fulham should not breast with confidence the swell ing tide of the Ganges. The great Parliamentary power of the house of Devonshire has a sort of right to be represented in the Cabinet, and Lord Harting ton will be even more useful at the War Depart ment as Secretary of State than he has been as Under-Secretary. That haw-haw nonchalance which Guardsmen consider the perfection of manner is possessed by his lordship in an eminent degree, and, combined with the authority of his very high rank and personal position, will be found most effective, not only in repressing the explosions of bumptious colonels in the Commons, but also in resisting and restraining the encroachments of the Horse Guards. Lord Hartington is a good man of business, and, if he can bring the economical talent of the noble Duke, his father, to bear upon the army estimates, the country will certainly have reason to feel in debted to him. It is not so much, then, the men in the Government, considered as administrators, that any one objects to (except the malcontents who grudge them their places) ; but rather the hazy and hesitating policy by which their promised measures, and more especially the Reform Bill, appear to be characterised. Even in the matter of the Cattle Plague their councils have been marked by much indecision, and some of Mr. Lowe's strictures were not undeserved. No doubt the question of Reform is a difficult one to deal with. The so-called Libe ral party consists of many very different sections of opinion. The interval is wide indeed between Mr. Lowe at one end and Mr. Bright at the other. It must be remembered that it was by " Liberal" votes Mr. Baines's Borough Franchise Bill was defeated just before the dissolution of the last Parliament. It is evident that Reform was made a hustings-cry at the last election by many men who used it (to borrow Mr. Gathorne Hardy's elegant simile) as a costermonger uses the carrot by which he draws on his donkey. When the majority of 70 or 80, which the electors gave the Liberal party, is analysed, and the grain separated from the chaff, the number of sincere and thorough-going Re formers will not be found very considerable. The spirit of Palmerston was still in the ascendant at the late election, and many honourable members hoped, no douht, that his mesmeric passes would be found, for a time at least, as potent as ever. They were pledged to a " well-devised"—a " well-considered" —measure of Reform. Just so ; a measure, for in stance, that it would take one or two sessions to " devise," and two or three other sessions to " con sider." If by the end of that time some sort of a bill passed, at any rate they would not have bought their seats too dear. But Lord Palmerston died, and Lord Russell took his place. Mr. Bright's thunder was heard again at Birmingham and Roch dale, and his " beloved disciple," Mr. W. E. Fors ter, with the breath of the democracy of Bradford still hot upon him, was made Under-Secretary for the Colonies. It seemed likely that " extreme" opinions were going to prevail in the councils of the Government, and the " moderate" section of the party took the alarm. Hitherto, however, as far as the truth has been permitted to appear, Lord Rus sell still bids for Mr. Bright's support. The borough franchise is to be reduced to a £6 standard ; so much seems certain. But whether this standard is to be fixed by rating or rental seems still undetermined, though upon that it depends whether the measure in this respect is to be a real improvement or a per fect delusion. It is perfectly well understood that the members of the new Parliament in general are in no hurry to be sent back to their constituents. Many of them have paid some thousands of pounds for the privilege of a seat in the House, and the richest men do not like to be too often called upon to repeat that process. This introduction of a Re form Bill in the very beginning of a new Parliament —an article, too, really made to " shave" and not " sell" —is anything but pleasant to them. Still more o o t re uncomfortable is it when Mr. Bouverie (of course with the most innocent intentions) pro tests against a mere lowering of th e f ranc hi se , exposes . with incontrovertible rea son i ng th e g l ar i ng anomalies in the distribution of representatives, and denounces beforehand as an imposition and a mistake any Reform Bill that does not address itself to this important branch of the question. Members grow more and more uneasy, vote the whole business a nuisance, and, the question seem ing to present the alternative whether they are to turn out of office a Government in which none of themselves are likely for a lon g w hil e t o fi n d pl aces , or magnanimously submit in a short time to the loss of their seats i in Parliament, th e i ns ti nc t o f self preservation s naturally uppermost. It need not therefore occasion much surprise if the Govern ment find themselves one of these days in such a minority, no matter on what question, as to make them decline to keep office any lo ng e r . If such an issue is inevitable we must b e p re p are d t o re sign ourselves to it. It will not be without its advantages. The leaven of Whig insincerity has too long and too largely corrupted the lump of Liberalism, and it is only in opposition that a wholesome and permanent corrective can be ap plied. There are men in the Government whose earnest desire is to extend the privileges of the Constitution to the mass of their countrymen, and to deny to no class or creed the rights due to them as citizens of the same commonwealth. There are others who have the names of Reform and Progress on their lips, but in their hearts the narrowest oligarchical exclusiveness, and a con tempt for the people they have so long duped and cheated. Let them take in heed in time lest the donkey, baulked of the carrot, should snap off the hand that holds it. In opposition the whole party should take counsel together, purify its aims, and define its views. Great questions await and press for solution—questions which ought to have been and would have been adjusted long ago, if the men who had made use of them as party cries, to snatch an advantage from their political opponents, had not, the thoment that end was gained, recalled their pledges in indecent haste, and belied their recent declarations. It is one and-thirty years since Sir Robert Peel was turned out of office on the Appropriation Clause, and though the party that displaced him has been in power for the greater part of that time, the ques tion of the Irish Establishment has never been raised by them, except with the evident intention of marking some theoretical distinction between themselves and the Tories, which has been found to have no existence in fact. The same thing is true, to a great extent, of the Reform question, and we do not expect to find it settled until the conviction of that truth sinks deeply and rests im movably in the minds of the people. TlMES.—After a period of peace and progress extending over no less than 18 years, we are startled once more from our dream of better times by another suspension, with every circumstance of urgency and haste, of the Habeas Corpus Act for Ireland. It seems hardly possible to believe, when we look at the tranquillity and contentment which pervade every part of Great Britain, that in a coun try only 60 miles distant from our shores, and which has almost completed the seventh century of its connexion with us, it has been found absolutely necessary by a Government and a Parliament equally reluctant to suspend one of the most elementary guarantees for freedom. The debate which preceded the passing of the bill was full of curious incidents. The question mainly relating to Ireland, its discussion might not im properly have been left, in the first instance at least, to the Irish members. But this was not the case. Mr. Bright had apparently prepared a speech on the condition of Ireland, and took the opportunity to deliver it with some slight attempt to connect it with the subject before the House. Eloquent as it was, it was entirely inappropriate. Instead of can vassing the justice or wisdom of the proposed infrac tion of the Constitution, he declaimed loudly aga inst the ill-treatment of Ireland, and summoned Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli to confer on a subject worthy of the highest statesmanship—a legislative remedy for Irish evils. How far the causes which urged the Fenians to conspire against the Govern ment can be identified with legislative neglect we are not informed, for Mr. Bright did not explain what the real objects of the Fenians are, nor what are those Irish grievances which it is in the power of Parliament to redress. Mr. Bright was followed by Mr. Roebuck, who, with more than usual ani mation and ability, sought to prove that Ireland. had no cause of grievance, because the evils under which she was alleged to suffer are all participated in by England, which finds them no evils at all. After a somewhat similar speech from Mr. Hors man, the debate fell, as it ought to have done much sooner, into the hands of Irish members. The most remarkable of their speeches was that of Sir John Gray, one of the companions in imprisonment of O'Connell, who boldly stated, from knowledge of the case acquired in legal proceedings between himself and the Fenian leaders, that the ob jects of the conspiracy were twofold—life and pro perty. Mr. Gladstone wound up the debate in a speech of rather inconvenient length, full of his characteristic merits and defects, interspersing sen tences adorned by great felicity of thought and ex pression with much that was commonplace and ob scure. Though more-than usually brilliant, we cannot regard this debate as altogether adequate to the occasion which called it forth. The English members usurped too large a share of it, and the Irish members, when it fell into their hands, con ducted it with little vigour or originality. COUNTRY MARKETS. , NORWICH—SATURDAY. The supply of wheat was tolerably good at this market to-day, and with a fair demand the trade ruled from 6d to is per qr. above last week's rates. There was a fair quan tity of barley offering, and the best malting descriptions still maintained late rates : .grinding sorts brisk and prices supported. Little passing in other articles. - -• • White wheat (weighing 641 b), 50s to 54s ; old red ditto (weighing 651 b), 48s to 50s ; new red ditto (weighing 601 b to 631 b), 42s to 47s ; best malting barley weighing 521 b to 531 b), 84s to 36s ; runs ditto (weighing 511 b to 521 b), 32s to 34s ; distilling ditto (weighing 501 b to 521 b), 25s to 27s ; oats, 24s to 26s ; beans, 67s to 39s ; peas (maple), 36s to 38s per qr. Flour, 33s per sack. NOT T INGHAM-SATURDAY. Trade was firm and extreme rates paid. Supply of bar ley limited, and there was a firm inquiry at prices rather in favour of the seller. Oats fair supply, and full prices were obtained. Beans made quite recent terms. Old white wheat, 57s to 60s ; old red, 50s to 53s ; nosc white, 57s to 58s ; new red, 46s to 50s per 36 stone. Oats, old, 30s to 358; new, 26s to 30s per 24 stone. Beans, old, 50s to 52s ; new, 43s to 47s per 38 stone. YORK-SATURDAY. Our corn market to-day was moderately supplied with wheat, and the attendance was about as usual. Fine sorts were held at top prices, secondary kinds dull at late rates. The demand for oats was firm, and made fully late prices• Beans sold at extreme rates. New white wheat, 46s to Us ; new red, 45s to 48s per 36 stone. Barley, for malting, 36s to 40s. per qr. ; grinding* 30s to 32s per 30 stone. Oats, new, 24s to 28s per 24 stone. Beans, new, 40s to 42s per 38 stone. LEICESTER- SATURDAY. We had a fair show of wheat at our corn market to-dal for the time of the year. A tolerable inquiry was experl" enced, and good conditioned samples were the turn higher. A good demand for barley at about is per qr. advance for finest sorts. Oats scarce, and fair inquiry at late priceS Few beans showing, and prices as high as last week. New white wheat, 50s to 52s ; new red, 44s to 48s ; old white, 55s to 56s ; old red, bOs to 52s per 36 stone. Bar" ley, for malting, 36s to 38s per qr.; grinding, 27s to 3 0 1 per 30 stone. Oats, old, 30s to 34s ; new, 24s to 29s per 21 stone. Beans, old, 49s to 51s ; new, 42s to 44s per 38 stone. Foreign Mail Packet List MAILS DUE. Australia and New Zealand, via Southampton Mar. 21 Ditto, via Marseilles Mar. 16 Brazil and Cape Verds. by British packet Mar. 6. Ditto, by French packet Feb. V. Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena Mar. 24. ~, China, Penang. and Singapore, via Soul hampton Mar. 5• Ditto, via Marseilles Feb. 2 7 Falkland Islands Gibraltar, via Southampton India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton.... Mar. 5 Ditto, via Marseilles India (Bombay), via Southampton. Feb. 2 8 . Ditto, via Marseilles . Feb. 2 2 Mauritius, via Southampton Ditto, via Marseil,e3. m at 10. Newfoundland Portugal Ditto, by private ship to Lisbon.. ... United States and British North America, by Bri tish packet ... Feb. 22 Ditto, by United States packet, via Southamp- ton Ditto, via C.3rk . •• Ditto, by Canadian packet, via Londonderry.. Feb. 23. West Coast of Africa. Madeira, and Teneriffe Mar. i 2 West Indies and Pacific (except Bahamas, Cuba, and Mexico F.b. 28 Cuba and Mexico Feb. 28. Bahamas, via New Y ork. Mar. 8. Bermuda, ditto Mar. .4 THE SH ENANDOAH CASE. --The Times, in ite editorial columns of Monday last, says it be true, or anything like true, that seven officers , twenty-three petty officers, twenty-six seamen/ twelve firemen, and ten marines of th e Shenandoah were British subjects, and if it be further true that before they were mustered 1 1 Captain Paynter they were advised by Captail l a Waddell to call themselves Southerners, and: Captain Paynter thereupon declared himself " satisfied," then we must admit that a British officer has winked at a very transparent fraud, and that our laws have been cheated in a manner which (le' wands inquiry. The Times adds that it observ e° with great satisfaction that Lord Clarendon pledges the Government to prosecute under th e Foreign Enlistment Act any British subject Nvh ° can be identified as having served on board the Shenandoah, and against whom the testimony °f Temple may be confirmed ; and although in 11 0 reply of the 24th of January, Mr. Adams 0° 1:li t to decline this proposition, we cannot think O a an adequate reason for taking no further st e P o ' The conduct of the authorities a t Alelbour i l i ought, moreover, to be strictly investigated . ,sfa such gross breaches of our neutrality as are h u : n alleged have really been committed, and s hould F . , unpunished, either our laws must be in they have not been properly enforced. Both (l ne ,4 tions should be faced boldly. The possibility amending our Foreign Enlistment Act ought to 7 entertained by our own Legislature mortu p) . °P. t l e d and without awaiting the action of the 7 0 31 00 States' Government. The means whereby existing provisions have been again defeated Ov al , to be ascertained by the Government, a n d proeee th ' e ings taken against the guilty, without awaiting IP fault, 00: action of the Legislature. A RICH YOUNG STATE.—At a dinner giv e li ,„:. Judge Turner, of Nevada, a few days since, at De'—fg nico's in New York, the Judge said :—" That ill flVe Y es Nevada has secured thirty-five thousand population, tillers six millions of wealth, and seven daily papers, b building nine cities and the finest roads in the world. '- spoke of her wealth, and mentioned, as a significant c spoke the fact that out of Virginia city goes de/13'de%, a ton of silver bullion. He added that in Nevada ae the gold-fields of California is a demand for labour plc capital unprecedented in the world's history ; the P e lor of the East can nowhere else find such opportunities ro , i n vestment as here ; but the same prudence an d eareistoiji quired as in buying property here, and t his is e used." Births. O l t ASSHETON.—On the 16th inst., the wife of Ralph ."--11 Esq., of a son. , ffg HINE. —On the 16th inst., at Netherbury, Dorset, P. Hine, of a daughter. io rrhi to ' KERB. — On the 14th inst., at Montagu Ho use, Lady Victoria Kerr, of a daughter. Marriages. rz ALLARDICE—PYCROFT.—On the 4th ult., at St. - 63° 70 Cathedral, Madras, Captain J. M'Dermid A lla h. P 9 Regt., to Catherine Mary, eldest daughte r of T..` Esq., Madras C.S. gart li t LoCKHART—PADDON.—On the 15th lust ., at Stun - - k at, Hitchin, Charles, the eldest son of Charles Lock the tu , Dunstable, to Sarah Sophia, second daug hter of George Mangles Padden, of Hitchin. Deaths. A Pig' ''. ATKINSON.— On the 14th inst., at 75, `Grand Pars- e, „loot ton, John Atkinson, Esq., late of 15, Abe btirell London, aged 57. Pa Cawnolt.—On the 16th inst., at 3, Tilney-street, lane, the Dowager Countess of Cawdor. Dean, r " 941 DEAN.— On the 15th inst. , at Surbiton, John late H.E.1.C.5., aged 84. f G refl Goocx.—On the 14th inst., Watson Gooch, Escl'? Yarmouth. SEMPLE.—On the 14th inst., at 5, Clarendon-P.3c Edina e ' hill, Mr. Alex. Semple, aged Bg. e t . „ StmrsoN.—On the 15th inst., at 52, Queen -s ' r- ir burgh, Jessie, eldest daughter of professor Simpson, aged 17. otter/ 8t : Wurrinr.—On the 15th inst , at Ridgivay I ,ieut• Mary, Devon, Clement *Will" Whitby', l ate Col. 17th Regt., aged 90. lam AN London : Printed and Pubiished by WIL LA- 11 l' No• of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Tull Svri 0 10 r ' 0 - 01 itY "- Strand, in the . Precinct of the SiLvoY • in th e Middleaes.—Monday, February 19,1866•