The Sun. — London, England, 1870-04-14 00:00:00

TIM GOVERNMENT AND TUE MONEY MARKET. The Chancellor of the Exchequer's rejoicing about the three millions of stock which he so safely and secretly put upon the market is considered out of place by the fi nancial community. Mr. Lowe, in his Budget speech, claim ed credit for placing a portion of the money required for the telegraphs with such remarkable skill that "none of the papers were aware of what was going on." The Ttmes holds both that secret operations of the kind are not creditable, and that this particular job was not managed so secretly as the Chancellor of the Exchequer fondly imagines. There was a marked effect upon the funds, and week after week surmises were expressed that some operation of the kind was going on. While all other classes of securities were improving in price, Consols showed continued heavi ness, and there is reason to believe th a t thi s heavi ness, . influence to its exception a l ch a r ac t er , an d th e peculiar which mystery always exerts, was more potent than any that would have resulted from an open announcement of the Government require ments." Moreover, it is never deemed desirable that Government should exercise the power of acting by occult processes on any of the markets. THE BATE OF DISCOUNT. Most persons are prepared with some opinion as to what money is, but few, perhaps, would be able to give a definite opinion as to the cause of variations in the rate of discount. Mr. Bonamy Price, Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University, has been attempting to enlighten the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce on that sub je et. In the first part of his address Mr. Price pointed out the function of money as a tool to convey property. In the second he did not deny that an inflow of gold in England was often accompanied by ease in the loan market, but he denied the relation of cause and effect between these two phenomena. The stringent and most lasting out-flows of gold, he contended, usually sprang from the failure of the harvest; the nation was impoverished by this unreplaced consumption expended on tillage, and a poor country necessarily generated a poor fund for lending . Mercantile men should, he submitted, calculate the pros pects of the harvest not only in England but over the world, rather than be diverted by un founded notions as to the action of currency on discount. He would have them, he said, reflect whether an excess of the public wealth was not expended in costly creations such as railways or machinery; and further, to take into account the influence of ignorance and preju dice, and the enactment of protective tariffs and similar contrivances for the diminution of capital. it was in chess regions, he argued, that commercial storms were generated. THE EDUCATION BILL. Mr. T. D Acland will make an attempt to settle the religious difficulty when Parliament meets again. He intends moving amendments which will give local boards the option of founding secular or religious schools, but if they decide for the latter, they must frame regulations to the satisfaction of the Education Department. He will also propcse to give all ratepayers and parents of scholars unrestrained right of entry to the school on condi tion of not interfering at the time with the instruc tion, and would confer a right of appeal to the EducationDepartment,which would have the powerof interference, even to the extent of dismissing the master, if needful. IRISH SCHOOLS. The condition of the schoolmaster is a subject which it is imperative should not be lost sight of in any scheme of education for Ireland. In the report of the Irish National Education Commissioners some light is thrown upon the widespread dissatisfaction with their condition which prevails among the national school teachers, and has given rise to the agitation they are carrying on at present for increased allowances from the State. In a great number of instances, Mr. Paterson, the head inspector, says teachers in Ireland receive no fees from their pupils, though tire allowances from the Education Board are calculated on the supposition that such fees are received. A more fruitful cause of discontent, says Mr. Fitz gerald, another inspector, is the want of dwelling-houses. Very few schools through out the country have dwellings connected with them, - while in numberless poor districts the duty of providing a school house is improperly devolved upon the teacher. These are amon g the west fruitful catues of discontent among the Irish national school teachers, and the well being of future generations in that country demands the earnest consideration of the Government in behalf of this ill-paid body. THE EASTER MONDAY REVIEW. On the eve of the Easter Monday review Colonel Wright has, in drawing up the regulations, given the - public an opportunity of ascertaining his opinion of " the general bearing of the force on public occasions." lle thinks that the snapping of caps for the purpose of clearing the rifle is unsoldierly, and as the rifle ought to ba clean—ergo it is unnecessary, and must be discountenanced. The Colonel laments the absence of "soldier-like bearing on parade, and intelligence in manoeuvring in the field," and in fact, from the whole tenour of his com munication, there is but little doubt that he is of the same opinion as many persons— that the Volunteers are on their trial. One sugges tion, if carried out, would certainly lessen the fears of the relatives of our amateur soldiers who take part in the reviews, and that is with reference to the pre vention of accidents. On that point Colonel Wright says " that officers and non-commissioned officers in charge of opposing parties should use their influence with their respective detachments to keep them such a distance apart as may prevent their firing into each other." In commenting on this communication, a contemporary, after regretting that the "stupid" march past should be preserved, states "if the object of a review like that of Easter Monday is to give any idea of the conditions of actual warfare, the proper course would be to start the invading forcs from some point between Newhaven and Rotting dean, and the defending force from Brighton, so as to let them feel their way towards each other." RAPIDITY IN TELEGRAPHING. An excellent illustration of the completeness of the view telegraphic system with India was given on the Budget night. At twenty-five minutes past eleven a summary of Mr. Lowe's statement was transmitted to Bombay by the British Indian Submarine Telegraph Company, and was published in the Bombay papers on the succeeding morning. Experiments tried at the London office of the company before several members of the Indian Council gave some interesting results. Communications were sent to Teheran, in Persia, a distance of 3,700 miles, and answers were received in thirty seconds. A message was sent to Calcutta, and received in twenty-eight minutes. THE COLLISION IN THE CHANNEL. The decision of the court which inquired into the circumstances attending the late fatal collision in the journals which seem s t o give satisfaction to all the which have commented on it, and they endorse the words of the judgment, that "the Normandy was solely to blame." • The Daily News, applying the rule of common sense, equally av ail a bl e a fl oa t an d asho re , to these circumstances, says the court could not hesitate to acquit the trading steamer of all blame and to fix the sole and whole responsi bility upon the u nhappy Nor man d y. If a four horse coach, tear ing along at twelve miles an hour in a fog, is run down by a wa ggon , j ogg i ng along at a walk, it is surely not the waggon that can be pronounced responsible. The Standard d es i r i ng t o speak with all tendernes s of the captain who perished at his post, and whose gallant bearinc , prese n ce in the been °" every 'inc h of death proves him to hav ea sailor," says "it is neverthel ess impossible to refrai n from an expression of surprise at incaution, the not to say the recklessness with w hi ch the ill-fated ves sel was navigated in the presence of one of the commonest of ocean perils." TILE CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF SHIPS. Accordiuir to a previous arrangement, the Institu ti)n of Naval Architects to the Board of Trade have drawn up a report which has been presented to the Il3use of Commons respecting the construction, equipment, and freeboard of ships. Their opinion is that no general rule can be laid down for regulating the proportioLs of a vessel; lu.t that the construction of the load-water line, of every ship should be appended to every ee. 3 ign, or measures should be taken that this infer• illation be recorded on the ship's papers. As to the minimum height of freeboard, various figures aro given to meat the requirements of ships of ditrerent dimensions, and an opinion is expressed that the proportion of freeboard should increase with the length. Important views are expressed as to the construction of compartments, and the Institute thinks " that no iron passenger ship is well constructed unless her compartments be so proportioned that she would float safely were any ono of them to fill with water, or be placed in free communication with the sea:' After Meiling . Of_ the __dttirebilitY _ THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 'l4, 1870. dent ventilation, the report deals with hatchways, side scuttles, openings to the sea, pumps, &c., and on the important point of Stowage urges as a necessity that the loading of a ship should always be done under the immediate and personal super vision of the captain. Ships are often so stored that the weights being too low, cause them to roll so rapidly and with such violent motions as to carry away the spars and in other insta nces so hi g h th a t th e s!iip is liable to turn over. Both these faults in stowage may be remedied. Th e p resen t ru l es o f th e Board of Trade regarding lifeboats and tackle are commended, but a suggestion is thrown out that every boat should be fitted with sufficient water-tight compartments to float her. The system of proportion inf, anchors and cables by Lloyd's is satisfactory ; but as the proof test can alone_ establish the excel lence of the cable, the reputation of the maker must be relied on. The foregoing and other suggestions of minor importance are comprised in the report, w:lieh will doubtless be useful to a large portion of the trading community. • • %armed by a rew of the faithful peopie,'ne•nas curno... to bay and died in harness. His case much resembles that of Theodore. But romantic as was the Abyssinian expedition, it pales in tragic interest before the matchlessly strange events of the Paraguayan war. This contest, which commenced in March 1865, has been prolonged during five years by the devotion and bravery of the Paraguayans. No tyranny of which Lopez was capable, nor any defeats inflicted by the allies, could shake their attachment. Starvation, nakedness, and disease were cheerfully borne for his sake. The Paraguayans fought with the rudest of weapons, and regularly fired back the shot which came from the allied camp; and yet the most scientific appliances,' and a vastly superior army, could succeed in conquering them only by the slowest degrees. Nothing in the history even of religious wars is more remarkable than the utter indifference with which the followers of Lopez faced death ; and when the supply of men ran short the women ,armel themselves, and made good the vacanciea: AMERICAN INTER- OCEANIC SHIP CANALS. (From the Anglo-American Times.) On March 16, Colonel Julius W. ADAMS read the report of the committee appointed Feb. 16 by the American Society of Civil Engineers on Ameri can Inter-Oceanic Ship Canals. There are periods in the world's history when the minds of men are directed to certain projects all bending simulta neously in the same direction, and the present mania seems to tend towards connecting ocean routes by grand canals. Africa has been severed from Asia by joining the waters of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Soon there will be a passage from the Gulf of Lepanto into the Archipelago, and other projects of a similar character are con templated in Europe, but these are only a "step forward in the physical improvement of the earth's surface ; and have, it may be, served its most valu able purpose, in reviving the interest of the world in a still more potential movement in commercial geopraphy." The theorem of the report is '• The waters of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean have been united by a ship canal across the isthmus of Suez ; those of the Altantic and Pacific may, and must be, united by way of the narrow lands which connect the great divisions of the New World." It is not in the interests of the Old World, except col laterally, but in those of the New, that the work is required. It is not France or England that is push ing forward to the greatest of all enterprises, but the Republic, moved by common, sense as well as patriotism, to explore and select the location with a special reference to the necessities of Ameri can commerce, and the requirements of American political safety and convenience. Happily, however, for the world, what is beneficial to one nation in a great degree is sure to be beneficial to all others if in a lesser degree; and where a stupendous work strikes at any particular interest, the injury is an exception, and in facilitating the traffic of the world merely supersedes an obsolete system of carriage as rail roads did stage coaches, or as the telegraph does the carrier-pigeon. COLUMBUS died in the belief that he had reached the Eastern shores of Asia, other wise he might have been the first to design the con struction of an artificial strait to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific. To CORTEZ belongs the honour, as he urged the project on the attention of CHARLES V. So confident was this cear-sighte I Spaniard that through the Isthmus would be the future high road connecting Europe with Asia that he planted thereon it his personal hopes anaprivate fortune, all Ws estates being selected in the Valley of Oaxaca and near Tehuantepec ; from them he de rived his title, and to this day they are called the CORTEZ es'ates or the Marquisanas. Between the selection of a route across the Isthmus of Suez and the Isthmus of Panama there io this great difference, that in the former, nature had traced out the line of the canal, a locitlity familiar to science for ages; but, in the latter, the choice spreads along a range extending 1,500 miles, pre senting not only problems to task the utmost re sources of scientific engineering, but questions of State which affect the future interests of all the great n arititne Powers of the wort 1. The lines suggtated, and more or less explored or surveyed, number twenty-six. Of these, all but the Tehuantepec are below the peninsula of Yucatan, and would directly connect the two oceans ; while the Tehuantepec, the most northerly, would join the Pacific with the Gulf of Mexico. All these routes narrow themselves into-1, Tehuantepec ;2, Honduras ;3, Nicara gua ; 4, Panama ; 5, Darien, including Atrato. Of these the Committee consider the first and the last ; the one representing a canal with locks, the other a " thourough cut." In discussing: he con struc. ion of a ship canal at Darien, the report as setts that it can neither be a canal witnout locks, nor can it be a "thourough cut ;" for though the two oceans have the same mean level, the tide in the Pacific at Panama rises from 18 to 20 feet higher than on the Atlantic shore, rendering the resort to locks absolutely necessary. Nor is there a particle of authentic information showing a "thourough cut" to be practicable ; while much evidence exists proving that a tunnel miles in length is a necessity. The construction of so gigantic a work woul I at the outset be confronted by a deadly climate, render ing it costly in treasure and life at first, and mili tating against its usefulness for ever after. Ob stacles would be encountered in the periodical floods ; and capital would not be contributed to wards an enterprise from which no dividends could be expected, however useful to the commerce of the world. Mr. TRAUTWINE, whose knowledge of the lo cality, acquired while he was employed as a civil engineer on the Panama Railroad, puts the minimum cost of the canal along the best line at $325,000m0. On neither coast are there good natural harbours, fuel, provisions, nor ship materials. The great objection of the United States to the Isthmus of Darien Canal is, however, political, as it is not only out of the ordinary channels of trade, but would be difficult to protect in case of war. The Report then turns to the Tehuantepec route : "Just north of the great peninsula of Yucatan, the strip of elevated land which unites the continents of North and South America is once more contracted within compara tively narrow limits. This is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, lying wholly within the domain of the Republic of Mexico. The direction of the coast line on either sea is so nearly east and west that the shortest line across the Isthmus — which would be about 135 miles in length—must be drawn almost due north and south. Both on the Pacific and on the Gulf of Mexico the outline of the coast is broken and irregular, and indented here and there with bays and the mouths of considerable rivers. The interior, as elsewhere on the American 'narrow land,' is traversed by those ranges of cordilleras' which seem to form the backbone of the New World. While there are, however, a number of peaks of very respectable altitude, the mountains are generally scattered, and the table lands have no very for midable elevation, while in a southerly direction from the mouth of the Goatzacoalcos river, on the Gulf, there exists a remarkable natural depression or hollow, extending through, with some irregularities, to the Pacific slope, forming a very available sort of ' pass,' and which has been made use of from the earliest days for purposes of transit from coast to coast." _ . Cowin marched his mPn through it, conveying the material for the ships he constructed on the Pacific, and it was here he planned the ship canal and Roman road ; and when the Spanish Government long after entertained the prokct, it was there to unite the two oceans. Mexico expler:d it in 1842, and the Report strongly favoured the fe :sibiity of the project ; and twice the depression in the tnoun ta'n range has been carefully surveyed for railway construction. The proposed Inter-Oceanic transit line would be 15G miles long, of which 50 would 1:), artificial, and the remainder improvements on the River Goatzacoalcos on the Atlantic side and two large lagoons on the Pacific coas'. A canal ad mitting vessels of twenty feet draft, wit't a rail• way as an auxiliary, would accommodate three fourths of the commerce of the globe, as ships of a greater draught could be lightened and re loadel, while a deeper canal would involve only a greater money outlay. The cost in time and mo ney would be less than a third that of the Darien design. The mouth of the Goatzacoalcos offers a safe and capacious harbour, with a bar having 18 ft. over it at low water, capable, too, of being deepened at a moderate cost, and the two lagoons could be uti lised so as to shelter the largest vessels. The mate of Tehuantepec is salubrious, the soil fertile, and supplies of all kinds abundant, or could readily be procured and maintained. We need scarcely allude to the enormous advantage that the constructing of the canal so as to connect the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific, would confer_ on the United States, merely mentioning by way of conveying to our readers a notion of the fact, that alto igh it New Orleans and San Francisco would be brought nearer by more than 2,500 miles than if the canal were cut out across the Darien. Another effort is being made by the Washington Government thoroughly to explore the Darien route, and it is probable that the paper read by Col. ADAMS, and other informa tion which must be in the hands of the Govern ment, will induce it to investigate the statments made, and determine by a careful survey the ad visability and practicability of a canal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; indeed, a movement en the subject has already been maie in the Senate., THE LINE AND STAFF CONTROVERSY. The difficulty of adjusing the rank of non-com batant officers with combatant officers has been experienced alike in the American as in the British Navy. As regards the former, a controversy has long raged, puzzling both the Executive and Con gress. The Navy is essentially a despotic service, and, as such, has all the prejudices, the immobil:ty, and aversion to change, as well as the exclusiveness of high Toryism. A commander of a frigate is a sove reign, perhaps exercising the most - , thorough and complete rule that is exercised on earth. From the combatant officers, or the executive officers, or the iMe officers as they are termed, the commander must be selected, and should he die or become incapaci tated while abroad, the executive officer next in rank assumes the command, the rule being that only that class of officer can command. Of any encroach ment on this executive power the Navy officers of the line have been peculiarly jealous, a jealousy quite as discernible in the British Navy as in the American. To complete a man-of-war, it is neces sary to have engineers, surgeons, chaplains, pay masters, and others of the class which make up what are termed Staff officers, the tern- nt of the ser vice ; and the dispute which has now been carried on in the American Navy is equitably to adjust the rank of these with that of the combatant officers of the ship. For months the Naval Committees of both Houses have been considering the subject, and several bils have been presented to Congress ; but as yet no conclusive arrangement has been de vised. Settlements have been attempted, but overthrown, and even what had been effected in favour of the Staff has, it was assert ed, been prac tically set ad !e by the line. The latter argue that there are no real Staff officers in the Navy, terming them " non-combatants," although they are killed in battle, and are equally table to the dangers of the seas ; and " Civil officers,"though tried byNaval tribunals under naval law. But finding these terms are not applicable, " auxiliaries" has been substi tuted. During the controversy, into which bitter ness has been infused by the trial of Dr. Green acd others, General Sherman was applied to as to the practice in the ArMy, and a letter of his to Vice-Admiral Porter, whe is a strenuous upholder of the line officer, has lately been publ shed. The General says that all Army Staff officers have actual rank, holding commissions as Generals, Co lonels, Majors, Captains, &c., which fix their pay, allowances, precedence, and privileges generally; but the Sixty-Second Article of War establishes that he who is to command, is the officer highest in rank of the line present, unless otherwise specially directed by the President. * So long as a line officer is those no matter haw junior his rank, he must c minand, and he is held responsible, whether be lips s it or not, though there may be surgsoris, quar termasters,p ym asters on the spot bearing far higher commissions. In other re spews the Staff officers have the full advantage of th it r in.., and General Sl,eienan adds that the Army sys em works well iu practice. Now this is precisely th • systein of the British Army, which is also found to work well in practice. ller Majesty may not actually sign corem'ssions as Generals, Colonel:, &c., for Staff officers as does the President of the United States, but the re!ative rank is clearly defined, and marked by badges or distinguishing ornaments on the uniform precisely as with the line; so that a sentinel knows when the officer passes, whether line or Staff, if he has to present arms, carry arms, or turn out a guard. The power given to medical officers in the British Army is consider able, and co estan , ly overrides that of the command ing officer. If, for instance, a regiment be quartered in Ind'a, and its Colonel proposes to commence a course of drill, musketry instruction, or other practice, he would countermand the order if officially informed by the surgeon of the regiment that it mightlend to injure the health of the soldiers, and such interference frequently happens, bringing the two into collision, in which the surgeon generally comes off victorious. But in the Army, command ing officers are not such despots as in the Navy, where they cannot endure any one passing between the wind and their nobility. The demaed of the Staff officers of the U. S. Navy is to be placed on the same footing as their brethren in the Army; and it is probab'e Congress will comply with the request, the more so as the bad repute into which the service gets, as regard its Staff, deters applicants, and the result is seen in 54 vacancies among the medical officers, whose entire number is only 200, with very few properly qualified candidates offering, while there are 200 applicants for vacancies in the Medi cal Staff of the Army. The experience in this respect of the American Navy is precisely that of the British Navy; they made the service unpopular, and found it out by the class and number of the candidates who presented themselves for vacancies. One curious incident of this controversy is the denial by Admiral Farragut of a letter on the sub ject which bore his signature, and was furnished to Congress as genuine by Paymaster T. H. Looker. It appears to be almost certain that, notwithstand ing the Admiral's denial, the letter is genuine, and that, having lately been very ill, and much shaken, he had simply forgotten that lie had not only signed it, but bad personally given it to Mr. Looker, the author of the letter, which he had got the Admiral to endorse it. A staggering case of defalcation, on the part of a Government officer, holding a responsible post in the Revenue Dept., has startled, even frightened, New York. J.F.Bailey, after the failure of the charge of corrupt practices against Mr. Fulle:ton, Mr. Cook, and others, mysteriously disappeared, and it then transpired that as Collector of the Thirty Second Internal Revenue District ho had to a large amount defrauded the nation. Mr Bailey's character was considered to be above suspicion. Indeed he had earned for himself the reputation of being the most zea lous revenue officer in the service, the terror of whisky thieves, and the breaker-up of fraudulent rings. So in cessant had been his prosecutions of illicit distillers,so un wearying was his energy and vigilance in the pursuit, that about two years ago a cheque was signed conveying to him $250,000 if he would but resign his post. When Mr. Raymond died a new bond had to be drawn up, which was signed by gentlemen of such position as George Opdyke, Henry Clews, Thomas C. Durant, George Douglas, and John R. Dilleber as sureties, and these names were ac cepted by the Government. What has happened? we have waited for the mail of the 26th March to learn, but we re gret to siy it has not arrived while we write(noon,Friday). All positively stated was, that Mr. Bailey had disappeared. that his books had been examined by Collector Pleasanton and other officers sent especially from Washington, that District Attorney Pierrepont is reported to have sail that the defalcations discovered up to that time had reached the Sum of 120,030 dollars ; that Colonel White ley, chief of the Secret Service Police, had male an afiblavit against C. S. Childs and Frederick Low, as well as B:iiley, for conspiring to r b the Government, setting the sum at $lOO,OOO, and that Mr. Chills had been rrested, he being Deputy Collector of the District, without whose connivance the frauds could not have been perpe trated. Childs admits that be knew of the irregularities, and puts the " steahmrs" at $lOO,OOO. The roar of delight with which those Bailey had systematically persecuted greeted the expose sounded unpleasantly to the community. Everyname and crime that could be imagined was fastened on the absconding Bailey. He was a thorough-paced scoun drel, a double-barrelled villain, a sham and a fraud, and the number of the "I told you so" men is large, while many incredible ruinoues were floating through Now York as well as Washington. „ BRITANNIA” ON JOURNALISM. While a leading-article-writer in the Times was remarking that a member of the House of Com mons scarcely dares to call his soul his own, and contrasting that assembly in this respect unfa vourably with the House of Lords, a critic in Britannia was discussing the leader writer as a per son held "in shere and absolute servitude." Iu the opinion of the magazine set ibe the newspaper press is about as free or natural as the machinery of a manufactory is free or natural, and the party-jour nalist works neither more nor less naturally than does the piston or the screw. It seems a surprising thing adds this critic, but it is lit-rally true that out of about a dozen newspapers which are daily pub!ished in London there is only one in which there is the slightest pretension to public honesty —the Pall-Mall Gazette. We must do him, however the jus ice to state that he alludes par ticularly to the " party journalism," which he says, rather than journalism, is the curse of the day. The writer contrasts unfavourably English jour nalism with French, and asserting servility to to the basis of the occupation, he proceeds to show who they are who pursue it as a calling : " Men with clear business-like heads, some little power of fancy, considerable readiness of expression, general shrewdness ; men devoid of all liberal education, wholly self-taught so far as their teaching goes, sprung from the flex Romuli and the residue of our population ; men who know absolutely nothing by experience of our infinitely many-sided English life, of no social training, of no gener ous impulses ; men who are to modern literature what the paid sophists were to Greek philosophy, ready to advocate any side, to espouse any cause, if a sufficient sumis offered them—renegades by nature, whom it is necessary only , to bribe to cause them to desert their sworn allegi ance, and who, if a Radical newspaper offers them a few shillings more wages than their Conservative employer, will trample the blue under their feet, and rush to the orange standard without a moment's compunction—these be thy gods, 0 Israel! Of this kind are the men who presume to instruct the public every morning in the co lumns of their respective prints. Think you That this gang of scribblers who electrify the reader each morning with theirthrilling Tory sentiment, who cling to the Throne and the altar, the Queen and the COnstitution, the old families and the old laws, the sacred torch of learning, and the holy fire of religion ; think you that the eloquence of these, has the ring of sincerity, that the writers them selves hold the creed that they profess? Why should they hold it? What is there that should make them Con servative? Is it their birth?—but they would have a difficult matter to refer their pedigree to a grandfather. Is it their stake in the existing scheme of English society ? —but English society they kuow not. Is it their educa tion, their early associations, their inbred sentiments?— but of education they have received nothing ; associations and sentiments are things they are not capable of enter taining. Is it their enthusiasm for the religious faith and life of England ?—but in their ordinary conversation they make it their fashion to sneer at what is sacred, and to pert etrate ribald jests at the expense of all that is holy. N o ; —it is none of these things which make ;them the sworn defenders of the Constitution; they scent profit ; and they follow that track and none other.' Though our critic be not complimentary, it is well to hear all opinions. He starts with the charge that the journalist receives his cue in all matters, gee at or small, from the leader of the party who condescends to despatch missives from Grosvenor gate to Fleet-street, or from Carlton House-terrace to a certain square adjacent to Ludgate-hill.* From the strict directions of the inspired editor the journalist is not permitted to stir one inch, and if he acts in a moment of impulsive independent origina lity, the bit of sentiment he ventures to insert will be remorselessly eliminated" and a good thing, too, if the sentiment be of that spurious character to be expected from the men above described. What the limes asserts is that the House of Commons is kept by its political leaders in trammels so strict that no member can call his soul his own ; what Britannia asserts and notably of the Times is that the party journals are as strictly trammelled by these same leaders with this difference, that the newspaper men are a vile gang of tools. If both be true, the United Kingdom is as enslaved a country as any military despotism, though the fetters be not so apparent or as galling. And who are the despots? Why, Messrs. Gladstone and Disraeli, at the head of the Liberal and the Conserva tive caucases ! We always thought that these gen tlemen were eminent, able, and respectable mem bers of society ; but until we saw the article in Britannia we had no idea that they were so greet, or the press so little. A gentleman, says Britannia, once recommended a young man, in whoea ebitibieti he believed, to a very popular daily paper (the Telegraph, we suppose), on the ground that his protege was conspicuous for strong t'.inking. " Str n,g thinking !" exclaimed the j urn listic speculator, with disgus ; "what we want is strong w.i:ing." To what does all this point ? Who do such charges hit but the public? and if Britannia could e-tablish the article as fact, then Britannia's children stand self-con letnned. The newspaper press is venal ; it is written only for the sordid mo tive of a money gain ; it is the mere tool of a few men who acquire political power ; and as it finds that it lays to be the contemptible thing it is, it naturally takes to the paying course ; that is the style of thing the people buy. If truth were honestly written, nobody would purchase, and the journal would die. Honesty, then, must kill a party news paper, because the public will not support a journal so conducted ; and if an editor desires his paper to succeed, he must get together a staff of low-born, ill-bred, ill-educated men, unacquainted with so ciety, but ready to obey the editor's every bid ding. That these illiterate outcasts, raked out of the purlieus, do hit by some extraordinary intuition the public sentiment may be seen by those favoured mortals who are admitted into English society. If these poor wretches got inside a Club door, if they ever put their legs under a gentleman's mahogany, or chatted in a lady's drawing-room, they would find society pervaded with the emanations from their pens, though every bit of sentiment be eli minated. They would hear men coolly reproduce their arguments as original ; they would see women melted to tears at their touching pictures, or fired with indignation at the wrong they bad dragged to light. Curious state of society this, 0 Britannia ! Perhaps you had better look a little deeper into it, and see if there be not something that has escaped your observation, or, perhaps, it might be as well, now that you have reviewed the motives actuating the leading-article writers, that you should turn back and review your own. Some write for pay, some for an idea, some for spite ; but this is certain, that a free people may be judged by the tone of their press. It it be sen sual, servile, venal, ignorant, and unenterprising, the more that is learnt of the general characteris tics of the people, the more clearly will the inquirer see bow the press is inspired ; and a man who con demns the British Press, as the writer in Bri tannia has done, simply condemns his country men, if -he be an Englishman. That a great journal should require the close supervision of one mind is self-evident, otherwise it must be come a curiosity of incongruity. It is just as necessary, if it is to be made effective, that it should advance in line, as that a battalion should so ad vance ; and those who take to journalism as a call ing must comply with the requirements of the paper, or leave it if they cannot. They have no more right to expect permission to run loosely about than have soldiers on the march, or lawyers in a court, or clergymen in conducting a service. All these accept pay while working under guiding rules—not as their own imagination may dictate; and we fail to see wherein lies the sin of journalists in permitting themselves to be trammelled by the organ which they serve. We quote this curious article in Britannia as a proof that journalism in England is very far from having reached the place in public estimation which it ought to hold ; while on the other side the Atlantic it has been elevated above the position to which it has the right to aspire. At the same time the leading journals of England exercise a much greater influence on Eng land than do the leading journals of America on the United States. Thus while the organs in the old country are the more powerful the journalists in the new country hold a far higher position, and a very curious fact this is, but not difficult to account for. England is a land of precedent and old stereotyped ideas, the newspaper press is comparatively new, and having supplied a public want it has achieved a public position. But the writers are unknown, and have never been recog nized in the history of the country. They are an innovation and are so regarded, while all itmova tians are s'ighted and (Us iked by the Tory senti- merit of the country. The peode accept the paper as an abstract thing, and ne:ther know n r want o know anything of those who make it ; no more, indeed, than tl.e paper-makers or the tyi e setters. In A nie.ie 1, they had no such preju lice to contend againe, and a more inquiring mind to satisfy, so paptr mak_r and compo..itor, es well as the jour nalist, take a place in public. estimation ; the men becom'ng of as much interest as their work. Anglo-American 7iines. * Wha the writer means is from Mr. Disraeli to the Standard, and from Mr. Gladstone to the Times. TRAMWAYS. Mr. G. F. Curzon testifies that after an, experience of five months the people of Liverpool are de cidedly in favour of the new locomotion, and this notwithstanding the omnibus monopolists have reduced their fares, and placed on the line of streets through which the tramways pass a superior class of vehicle to that hitherto enjoyed by omnibus riders. But instead of driving off other passenger-carrying vehicles from the streets, the tramways have been the means of increasing their number, for, competi tion having induced lower fares, thousands of people ride short distances now who never rode bef#re. The tramway cars become a sort of first-clasi omnibus, and are supported by people who can afford - an extra penny, whilst the poorer class ride in the ordinary vehicles. • THE CULTIVATION OF SUGAR-BEET. A letter from the Hon. L. Agar-Ellis, M.P., to an Irish contemporary, refers to the cultivation of the sugar-beet in an interesting manner. The hon. member having had some seed sent him last spring, had it sown in different localities in the county of Kilkenny, and the roots, when grown, were sent for the purpose of analysis to Professor Voelcker. The result of the experiments establishes the fact that sugar-beet can be grown -in the county of a quality which will. remunerate the manufacturer. It is calculated that a propor tion of 8.5 of crystallisabhi sugar will pay, and in some instances comprised within the range of the experiments there was a yield of 10.91 and of 8.91 Mr. Ellis observes that to make the-crop . worth growing the present sugar refiners of Ireland must put up machinery for converting" it, or, different districts must erect the necessary works. 'The cli math of the south-east of Ireland is,suitable for the growth of such a crop. At Mountmellick some years ago the manufacture of beet-root sugar was attempted; but from some unexplainable cause it failed. NOSE MANUFACTURE. The case of Mr. O'Connor, of King's County, whose nose was cut off some weeks ago by a band of ruffians, excited attention even in a land of outrages by its exceptional atrocity. The sequel of the story, however, is very different from the beginning. Mr. O'Connor's mutilation has led to one of the greatest surgical feats ever accomplished. A new nose, fashioned out of his own flesh, has been fitted upon him with admirable success. An incision was made it the forehead, and a portion of the living flesh skilfully drawn down, fashioned into the proper form whilst still warm and plastic, and fitted to the itumn of the mutilated feature, the skin being artistically drawn over the scar. Mr. O'Connor will to but slightly disfigured. His friends say that the new nose looks better than the old one. CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS. / The increasing success of these examinations is )roved by the numbers, as far as they go, shewn on the report of the Syndicate. The total number )xamined. in December last was 2,077, being an increase of over fifty per cent. on the number five rears nu, and of -sixteen -per cent, on last year. Et is a fact worth noticing that for the last five years the percentage of senior boys who have " passed in honours " has been without exception very con siderably greater than that of junior boys, while of the senior girls, with the exception of one evidently exceptional year, the average of " passed in honours" has been decidedly less than that of the junior girls. Rally of the faults in the examination are specified. Candidates write long rigmarole answers; the train- tug of girls in arithmetic is unscientific and unsuc .•esyful; punctuation is bad with girls and worse with boys. In geography there appears a general deficiency. In English history the list of aatues are written without a mistake, but with no intelligent apprehension of their point and bearing. The fact that the Syndicate points out these "faults" is the surest guarantee that they will be overcome.- TO INTENDING EMIGRANTS. The Mayor of Montreal cautions emigrants against tastily seeking a new home in Canada. Emigrants are undoubtedly wanted in that colony; but it un fortunately happens that large numbers of poor people arrive in the seaports without any means to proceed further, and in the case of foreigners many are utterly unable to understand a word of the language. During the past two years, such importations have been -very numerous: The emigrant agent had no funds, the authorities, whose duty it was to deal with the matter, seemed deaf to all appeal, and had it not been for the benevolent exertions of private individuals many of these poor creatures might have perished from want and disease. If emigrants would succeed in Canada they must possess means, not only of finding their way across the Atlantic, but also of reaching their final destina tion. CIVILISATION IN SOUTH AFRICA. The Natal Mercury, speaking of the civilising processes going on in South Africa, asks whether it can be accepted as proved that civilisation, in the common acceptance of the phrase, is beneficial to savage races. The Natal Mercury seems to think not. It points out the fact that under the wasting influences of civilisation the Red Indians, the Maories, and the Tasmanians are fast disappearing. from the muster roll of mankind. Go vernment has tried the forcing process, but has it succeeded ? True the natives have learnt to use the cotton fabrics and blanketing of the white man, to consume several articles of European food, such as treacle, salt, and meal, have learnt to shoot and drive, while in service among the whites they have acquired aptitudes for work which would have astonished their most primitive fathers. But it is a melan choly fact, says our colonial contemporary, that among other requirements which may be looked upon as the out-growth of civilisation a spirit of greater insolence and independence must be numbered. Under all the circumstances the Natal Mercury thinks the best way to insure the peaceful advancement or social acquirements of the natives is to govern them firmly and justly, and to encourage their political disintegration as a people. THE NEW EGYPTIAN LOAN. The Pall 3fall Gazette has an article on the new Egyptian Loan. But the other day, it says, Egyptian stockholders were scandalised and alarmed at the prospect of such a thing, congratulating themselves on the action of the Sultan in his novel character of financial jurist, and on the prospect of the enforce ment of the strongest provisions that limited the borrowing proclivities of the Khedive. How anyone, it adds, acquainted with Egypt should have entertained the fond delusion that that country and its ruler were to live henceforth on their respective incomes, it is difficult to explain. Among potentates, the article observes, the Khedive occupies an exceptional, and in some respects a very enviable position. Like his predecessors, the Pharoahs, he is not only the Prince, but the possessor of Egypt. Technically and Practically his rights of property may be said to be unlimited. He is actually in occupation of an enor mous area of the best land of his kingdom, is a sugar planter, a cotton-grower, grows hemp, and tobacco, and is continually making, experiments in acclimatising new productions. With such a pro perty he is in a position to borrow on hi s o wn account. The Pasha presents himself as a borrower in a private capacity, and wrainst such the PO .hall Gazelle thinks the Sultan powerless. PRESIDENT LOPEZ. The end of the war in South America Las fre quently ben announced ; time after time has Lopez E'er ea utLr and irretrievable defeat, and has yet sp.un- , up apin with fre,h life ; but if the lat,-stitkm of intellig(.ne be correct, there can be no that the ei,d has come at la t. The sole origin and support of the war, Lopez himself, has metwith death fighting at the head of his last hand ful oh troops. '1 he dictator, however atrocious may be his had qualities, has fought it out to the last. lie lost Humalta, Asuncion, and numerous less important stations in which he entrenched himself one by one, and zst.length, after wandering about the mountains, at- MONETARY REPORTS-YESTERDAY Firmness has been the feature of the Sto'ck Exchang to-day. Owing to the fine weather, the favourable agri cultural prospects, and the plentiful supply of money, Consols have been steady, and per cent. better For money the quotation has been 94, 94k, and for the May account 94 3-16 to 94 5-16. Reduced and New Three per Cents, 92k, 92g. Indian Five per Cents have beer. done at 113, 1131, and India Bonds at 20s. to 255. prem Bank Stock has marked 231 to 233. Exchequer Bills pal to ss. prem. The movements in the market for English railway stocks have been less important. The tone, however, has con tinned good, and the quotations have been well main• tained. Great Northern Aat one time marked 1261, but the improvement was subsequently lost. Indian railway stocks have been firm in value with a moderate inquiry. Canadian shares have been quiet. In foreign shares the business doing has been only moderate, and Lombards have been rather weaker at 17i. The market for foreign bonds has been steady, and the movements have been favourable. Argentine (1868) have risen ; Brazilian (1865) 2 ; Peruvian (1865) ; Russian Nicolas Railway, ; Turkish (1858) ; ditto, (1865) j; and Dutch certificates, 1 per cent. American securities have been firm. The Five-Twenty Bonds have risen I. In Bank shares the business doing has been unimpor tant, and prices have been without alteration. Telegraph shares have been in fair request, and the quotations have ruled firm. Anglo-American have risen 1; Falmouth, Gibraltar, and Malta, i f ; but Marseilles and Algiers have fallen Hooper's Telegraph Works have been firm, and better. Telegraph Construction and Silver's Indiarubber have been unaltered. In miscellaneous securities the transactions have been limited, but the quotations have been maintained. The suspension has been announced of Messrs. M`Ewan woollen manufacturers, of Creiff, with liabilities amount ing to £20,000. The Bonny has arrived from the West Coast of Africa, with £2,000. The West Indian steam packet Shannon has brought £121,500; and the Rhein has arrived with £22,300, from New York. The report of the Bahia Gas Company has been issued. The available balance is £3,423195. 61, and the directors recommend the distribution of 10 per cent. on the pre ference, and 3 per cent. on the ordinary shares, leaving a balance of £173 19s. 6d. to be carried forward. The re serve fmid now stands at £456 7s. Bd. The meeting of the company will take place on April 26. The bullion operations at the Bank of England to-day consisted of the receipt of £20,000 only. The directors of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Com pany have declared a dividend of £2 per share. The traffic receipts of the Midland Railway Company chew an increase of £5,246 as compared with last year, and the London and North-Western an increase of £,6,709t MARKETS-YESTERDAY. LONDON CORN EXCHANGE, WEDNESDAY.—At Mark-lane to-day the show of English wheat, although only moderate, has been quite equal to the demand. In both red and white produce sales have progressed slowly, at about late rates. With foreign wheat the market has been fairly supplied. The business doing has been only moderate, at the rates previously current. Moderate supplies of barley have been on the stands. The trade has been quiet, at late quotations. Malt has sold slowly, on former terms. Oats, the show of which has been moderate, have changed steadily, at previous quotations. Beans and peas have beeninactive. Flout. has sold slowly. LONDON TRADE REPORT, WEDNESDAY.—Tanow has ruled steady, at 455. spot ; and 465. last three months. Petroleum dull, at is . Bd. Linseed oil flat, at 325. 6d. London,32s. to 325. 3d. Hull. Rape, 40s. to 425. 3d. Straits tin is dearer, at £l3O cost. Chili copper, £66 15s. to £67 for bars. BOROUGH HOP MARKET, WEDNESDAY.—In the hop market there has been a continuance of quietness. The business doing has been very moderate, and the quotations have beon almost nominal. Mid and East Kents, £7 to £l2 125.; wealth!, £6 to £8 ; Sussex, £5 12s. to £6 125.; Bavarians, £6 6s. to £9 ; French, £5 to £0 ; Americans, £4 ss. to £0 ; yearlings, £1 108. to £3 per cwt. METROPOLITAN MEAT MARKET,WEDNE6DAY.—Themarket has been moderately supplied with meat. The trade has been quiet, at about late rates :—Beef from 2s. Bd. to 4s. 4d. I mutton, 2s. 10d. to 4s. Bd. ; lamb, 6s. Bd. to 7s. 4d. ; veal, 4s. Bd. to ss. ; and pork, 4s. 2d. to &s. 4d. per 81bs., by th• carcase. LONDON CiffircrA.r. zw2utKET, WEDNESDAY.—Sugar has Tu - leu nat, annd the advance noticed yesterday has been practi. tally lost. A small quantity of Mauritius - has changed hands, the buyer getting the whole benefit of the duty, except about 6d. The coffee sales have gone flatly, and values have been on the decline: -The tea sales have closed steadily, at previous rates. Rice , -dull. Fine Bengabsaltpetre, 245. 6d. to 255. LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET, WEDNEsnAr. —The market closed quietly. Sales, 10,000 bales, of which 2,000 were on speculation. LIVERPOOL COPPER MARKET, WEDNESDAY.—Market firm, bars, 664 to 67 ; ores, 13. ST. PETERSBURG, APRIL 12.—Tallow, on the spot, 56}, 3 roubles, 581 ; clean hemp, JUne, 38k. HAMBURG, APRIL 12.—Speltcr, 2,500 spring, 121. Wheat — April-May, 103 1 ; June-July, 110. Rye—April-May, 79 ; May- June, 79 ; June-July, 80. Rape oil, spot, 29i ; May, 20} ; October, 27i. BERLIN, APRIL 11.—Wheat, April-May, 59 ; May-June, 59. Rape oil, current month, 141 ; September-December, 13'02. Spirits, April-May, 15k ; August-September, 1512. AMSTERDAM, APRIL 11.—Rape oil, spot, 46k ; May-June, 46k ; autumn, 43k. Linseed oil, spot, 35; spring, 35 ; autumn, 31/. Petroleum, 25k. Banca tin, 76}. ANTWERP, Aran, 11.—Petroleum, spot, 52 ; September, 55, paid sellers. PARIS, APRIL 12.—Rape oil, current month, 134'50 ; Septem ber, 1081.5. HAVANA, APRIL 11.—No. 12 sugar, 13 ; Muscovado, 71. A strange affair is reportod from Melton Abbas, in Dorset.. A young woman, on making tea for a family named Vatcher, put into the water a lump of lime. The Affair was discovered, and the water has been handed over to an analytical chemist. A Toronto telegram says that very little alarm or excitement has been occasioned in Canada by the threatened Fenian raid. Nevertheless, several militia regiments on the eastern frontier have been placed under arms, and have received orders to be ready for immediate service. The inhabitants of Wandsworth and Clapham are getting up an organisation to resist Earl Spencer's inva sion of their commons. Mr. Henry Peek, M.P., has come to the rescue with an offer of £l,OOO, if four equal sums are subscribed by June next, to fight the Earl on behalf of the public. The underwriters interested in the missing steamer City of Boston have arranged to settle with the assurred connected with that unfortunate vessel, being convinces that she never will be heard of again. One or two of the marine insurance companies have already settled on her as a total loss._ The Registrar-General for Scotland points out that, while there was an excessive numb er o f d eat h s f rom scarlet fever in Dundee last year. " all the other epidemia diseases had a mortality greatly below their average " only two deaths, for instance, occurring from measles. It seems now to be an ascertained fact that when any en• disease is particularly fatal there is a decrease in the fatality of other diseases. LAD y EhnsEMENT.,FAvoid Medicines—they always aggravate chronic complaints; but Du Barry's delicious health-restoring Revalenta Arabica Food, which yields three times the nourish mentof the best meat, saves 50 times its cost in other remedies, and invariably restores perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound lungs, healthy liver, pure blood, refreshing sleep, functional re gularity, ane energy to the most disordered or enfeebled. We ex tract a few out of the 68,000 cures:—" The Pope's health restored by Dn Birry's Food. Cure No. 68,413. "Rome, July 21, 1866. —The health of the Holy Father is excellent, especially since, abandoning all other remedies, he has confined himself entirely to Du Barry's Revalenta Arabica Food, of which he consumes a plateful at every meal. It has produced a surprisingly bene ficial effect on his health, and his Holiness cannot praise this excel lent food too highly.—From the "Gazette du Midi," July 25. Cure No. 58,216, of the Marchioness de Brehan, of seven years' liver complaint, wasting away, debility, nervousness, with a nervous palpitation all over, bad digestion, constant sleeplessness, and the most intolerable nervous agitation.." Cure No. 1,771; Lord Stuart de Decies, Lord-Lieutenant of Waterford, of many years' dyspepsia. No 49,832: "Fifty years' indescribable agopy from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness, and vomiting.—Maris. Jolly." Cure No. 46,270: Mr. James Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, of 30 years diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness. Important Caution.—Beware of the many unsavoury and more than sloppy imitations to which, without authority, Baron Liebig's name is most audaciously attached. I: In tins, at Is Ilb 2s 9d; 2 lb 46 tid; 51b 118.; 121 b 225; 24 lbs 4 s.—Also Du BARRY'S REVALRNTA A RAMA CHOOOLATg POWDER is packed in tin canisters: for 12 cups at 2s, for 24 cups at 3s 6d, for 48 cups at6s, for 2eB cups at 30s, for 576 cups at 55s —being about one penny per cup. The 30s and 55s tins ore sent free of carriage in England on receipt of Post Office Order.- - BARRY DU BARRY and Co., No. 77, Regent-street, London; and all Grocers and Chemists. BIRTHS. ARNOLD - On tho 11th inst., at Forest-hill, Mrs. Joseph 0. • Arnold, of a daughter. MURRAY - On tho 12th inst., at Folkestone, the Hon. Mts. Monto]ieu Murray, of a sort.' MARRIAGES. BAUMANN —PFUNGST —On the 12th inst., at Islington, Bon jamin, eldest son of Alfred Baumann, Esq., of Holland park, K3liSiDgtol 3 , .to Mary Aimee, only daughter of T . 1 )* Pfungst, Esq., of Highbury Grange Nottroi.x--THOMAS-01 the 11th just, at Eryboline, Ttr. W. Norfolk, of Appleton Farm, to Sarah Jane, daughter of Mr. W. Thomas ; of Lowhall, near Darlington. DEATHS. I.loLuswonm On the 12,h inst., at Ham, Surrey, E uide 1 1,1 George Thomas llold swor th , E sq ., o f 40, P a ll- tua ll, Lig°' 37. RATRAY -On the 12th inst., at 41, Tavistoek-square, ltatray, Esq. 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