The Sun. — London, England, 1867-05-21 00:00:00

ThIPERIAL PARLIAULTiT HOUSE OF LORDS.—LAST EVENING. The LOUD CHANCELWB. took his seat on the woolsack at five o'clock. PRIVATE BUSINESS. Newry and Greenore Railway, Enfield Gas, Aberdeen Police and Water, Thames Navigation, Llanelly Railway and Docks, and Stockport Corporation Water Bills were read a second time. Bodmin Railway, Ayr Water, Dewsbury, Batley, and }leckmondike Water, Hampton-court United Gas, and Aylesbury Market Bills were reed a third time and passed. THE COLONIAL CHURCH. The Duke of BUCKINGFIAM gavenotice that he should ask, on a future occasion, whether it was the intention of the Government to bring in a bill with regard to the Co lonial Church. THE INCREASE OF VIE EPISCOPATE BILL. The house having gone into committee on this bill, Lord LYTTLETON said that Z 3,000 was the minimum for the increase of the Episcopalian Church. He was un derstood to say that there was a great difference in the views of the right rev. prelates. The Arcbhishop of CANTERBURY said that he wished the question might be postponed as there was a great dif ference between his right rev. brethren. Lord DERBY said that be considered that to give to every bishop iu any part of the world the power to appoint a suffragan would be fatal to the principles of the bill. The noble lord then went into a long detail as to the in convenience that would thus arise. Lord PORTMAN said that he would ask his noble friend a question before he pressed the bill further. Earl STANHOPE wished to know what was to be the position of the suffragan bishops, and if any difference of opinion should arise between them and tho metropolitan who was to decide which was right? The Bishop of LONDON said that the suffragan bishops would act under the commission appointed by the actual bishops, and certain regulations would be laid down for that purpose. He for one was not afraid that there would be any danger in again establishing pluralities, but the only occasion for a suffragan bishop would be old ago or infirmity on the part of the actual bishops. 'rho whole of the districts in Europe were under the juris diction of the Bishop of London, but it was impossible that he could visit all those places on the continent of Europe, and if; was therefore advisable that suffragan bishops should be appointed. Children wanted confirmation, and thereforo , it seemed that some arrangement should be made to meet this emergency. The statute of Henry VIII. encouraged the appointment of suffragan bishops. Earl GREY said that the bishops received great assist ance from colonial bishops who had come home. He thought, therefore, that certain clergymen should be ap pointed who should act as bishops under the direction of the actual bishops, and should perform all those duties which might devolve upon them. Lord LYTTLETON said that he did not wish to have the evening pass by without doing something. He should wish their lordships to mention a day on which they would be ready to go into the question. The matter was then postponed till next Monday. The committee on the Divorce Court Bill was postponed till Thursday next. THE NEW PALACE YARD. Lord LYVEDEN asked what was being done with re- apect to the new Palace-yard? Lord DERBY said that the arrangements would make a much nearer way for persons coming that way, and that a great convenience would bo given to the public coming that way, and a great improvement would be effected. FORTIFICATIONS (PROVISION OF EXPENSES) BILL. This bill was committed, and their lordships adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS—LAST EVENING. The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The following bills were read a third time and passed : London and North-Western Railway (Ashby and Nun eaton Linos); London, Brighton, and South Coast Rail• wa y; and Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. THE SALTERS' ESTATE (IRELAND.) ID reply to Mr. MaotunE, • Lord NAAS said the question he had on the piper did not relat3 to public matters, but to those of a com pany having an estate in Ireland. He, therefore, had no offi , .;ial knowledge of the matters to which he referred. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES (IRELAND). In reply to Mr. PIM, Lord NAAS said he had taken steps to ascertain the jurisdiction relative to the inspection of weights and mea sures in Ireland. COURT OF ADMIRALTY (IRELAND). In reply to the same Hon. Member, Lord NAAS said the Government proposed to wait to see the course taken by Parliament with respect to the English bill before they introduced a measure of the same description for Ireland. TILE PUBLIC FOOTPATHS. In reply to Mr. 0. STANLEY, Lord J. MANNERS said the pavement between Duck ingham Palace gates and the royal stables were laid down under the authority of an act of Parliament, known as the Pimlico Improvement Act. The footway in Piccadilly, adjoining the Green Park, had also been laid down under an act of Parliament. The pavement in Arabella-row was not under the control of the Crown. DIBARKATION OF TROOPS. Mr. E. MILLER asked the Secretary of State for War whether it was true that the depot companies of the 98th Regiment were ordered to embark at Tilbury Fort, about the middle of April last, to proceed by sea for Portsmouth, and were two days and nights on the voyage, instead of proceeding by railway in six or seven hours ; and, whether it was true that on board the transport, though conveying two and three hundred persons, there was . no medical man ; that one of the 98th Regiment broke his leg during the voyage, and remained with the limb unset till his arrival at Ports mouth ; and that the officers of the regiment on their arrival were exposed to great inconv enhance from no quarters having been provided for them ? Sir J. PAKINGTON said the question was founded on very exaggerated statements. The number of troops only amounted to 196, and they were at sea less than twenty hours. The reason why there was no medical man on board was that it was not usual to have the services of a medical man for such a short passage. It was, unfortunately, true that one of the men met with an accident, but the limb was set within two hours after the mishap. It was a mistake to say that no quarters were prepared for the officers. MONEY ORDER OFFICES. In reply to Mr. EWART, Lord STANLEY said there was an international system of money-order offices in France. The idea of establishing a money order office between England and France was under discussion, and an experiment was being tried by opening a money order office iu the French Exhibition. MILITIA RESERVE BILL. In reply to an Hoyt. MEMBER., Sir J. PAKINGTON said there was not the least in tention to persevere with the clause empowering militia courts-martial to sentence deserters to twelve years' penal servitude. ROYAL PARKS BILL. In reply to Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. HARDY said he did not intend to proceed with this bill until after Whitsuntide, when the bill could then be more calmly considered than it could be at the present moment. CATTLE PLAGUE. In reply to Mr. DENT, Lord R. MONTAGU said it was unfortunately true that a fresh case of cattle plague had been reported that morning. It occurred at a dairy at Duncan-terrace, Islington, at which there were 95 cows iu the shed, 12 of whom were attacked. The question of dealing with the importation of foreign cattle was then under the considera tion of the Privy Council. REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE BILL. The house then went into committee on this bill. The question was the adoption of an amendment moved by Mr. Hodgkinson as an addition to the 3d clause, viz.: " Provided always that, except as hereinafter provided, no person other than the occupier shall, after the passing of the act, bo rated to parochial rates in respect of premises occupied by him within the limits of a parliamentary borough, all acts to the contrary now in force notwith standing." The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he thought the proposition recommendod by the hon. gentle man could be effected by some of the clauses is the bill. (Loud cries of "Hear, hoar.") There wero some difficulties in the way, but on a consideration of the subject by his colleagues, it had been determined to make certain in quiries, which he would report to the house on Thursday, on which day he hoped to propose a course of proceedings which would facilitate the passing of the bill and its pas sage to the other house. (Hear, hear.) Under these ci.cumstauces he thought it inexpedient to proceed with the 34th clan :e. • (Hear, hear.) The heuse would, on the disposal of the 31 clause, now proceed with clause 4 iu the usual way. Mr. IIIODUINKSON said under these circumstances he should not press his amendment. The amendment was then, by leave, withdrawn, and on the motion that the elate► stand part of the bill, Mr. LOWE aid he hoped the house would allow him to make a few observations, especially as it was on a subject which had not been referred to during the discussions which took place on the bill. Ile thought he was not demanding too much if he asked that clause 3, as amended, should be re printed, in order that every person might know exactly how it stood, because no clause had been cobbled (laughter) —or more discussed in 1110r0 the House of Commons. The clausoenactedaperfect r!voltition, and under such circumstances it was moat im portant that every one should know the precise terms of studi an important enactment. It appeared from the bill that all householders were to have a vote except those who were excused from the payment of rates from poverty. Such a proposition, coming from the quarter it did, was in itself a revolution. All previous principles 1H =' SUN, LON! ON, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 21, 1867. On clause 4, Mr. J. S. MILL rose to move as an amendment that the word "man" should be left out in line 16, and the word "person" substituted. The hon. member said he rose to propose an extension of the franchise which would excite no party or class feeling in that house, which could not give umbrage to the keenest advocates of property or num bers—an extension which had not the slightest tendency to disturb what they had heard so much about lately, the balance of political power—which could not afflict the most timid alarmist with any revolutionary terrors, nor offend the most zealous democrat as an infringement upon popu lar rights, nor as giving an advantage to one class and le- Dying it to another. There was nothing to distract their attention from the simple question whether there was any justification for continuing the exclusion of an entire half of the community, not only from actual admission, but from the possibility of being ever admitted within the pale of the constitution, although they might fulfil all the conditions of legal and constitutional citizenship. Within the limits of the constitution this was a solitary case. There was no other example of exclusion which was absolute. If the law refused a vote to all except the possessor of £5,000 a year, the poorest man might, and now and then would, acquire the franchise. But neither birth, nor fortune, nor intellect, nor exertion, nor even that arch disposer of human affairs, accident, could ever enable any woman to make her voice counted in those national affairs which touched her as nearly as any other member of the commu nity. Before going any further, he might be permitted to say that a prima facie case had already been made out. It was not just to make a distinction in rights or privileges without sufficient reason. He did net mean to say that the political franchise was an abstract right, or that the withholding it froM any one without reason or expediency was a public wrong. His argument was entirely one of I expediency. But there were different kinds of expediency. All expediencies were not exactly on the same level. There was a very important branch of expediency termed justice; and justice, although it did not necessarily re quire that political privileges should be conferred upon all, did require that they should not capriciously and without cause withhold from one what they gave to another. But it was not only general principles of justice which were set aside by the exclusionof women merely as women from the suffrage, but also a particular doctrine of the BritiSh Constitution. According to that doctrine the exclusion violated one of the oldest and most cherished of our con stitutional maxims— a doctrine dear to all rat - rimers, and theoretically acknowledged by almost all Conserva tivei—the doctrine that taxation and representation should be co-existent. Did not every woman pay taxes? Did not every woman who was 814 juris con tribute the same amount of revenue as every man who had the same electoral qualification? If a stake in the country settled it, then every possessor of leasehold or free hold property had a stake in the country, whether that holder was a man or a woman. No one could possibly pretend that women, many of whom were responsible heads of families—women who managed estates or conducted a business, who paid rates and taxes with their earnings, and many of whom in the capacity of schoolmistresses taught a great deal more than a great proportion of the male eled tors ever learned—(a laugh)—no one could pretend that they were not fit to exercise the political functions which every male householder was supposed to be capable of. (near.) Was if-to be supposed that if woman were to be admitted to the franchise they would reeolutionise the State, or that there would be worse laws or worse govern ment than at present? It was most justly and truly sail by his right hon. friend the member for South Lancashire in the most misunderstood and most misrepresented speech he had ever heard—(hear, hear)—that in order to lay a ground for the exclusion of any ono from the franchise, it was necessary to allege personal unfitness or public dan ger. Neither of those things could possibly be alleged in the present case. There was evidence in our constitutional records that women had voted for counties and for some boroughs at a distant period of our history. But the house would expect that he should not rest his arguments chiefly on general principles either of justice or of the constitu tion, but that he should allege practical reasons. There was one practical reason which he frankly confessed was totally wanting in the case of women ; they did not hold meetings in Hyde Park —(a laugh) —nor political de monstrations at Islington. (Hear, hear.) But practical reasons of another kind were not wanting, and he was prepared to state them, if he might be permitted. First, to ask what were the practical objections? The sympathy which most people felt was not a practical one. It was a mere feeling of strangeness. " The proposal," they said " was new ;" but that was a mistake, for it was a very old one. Some things which were very strange three months ago, and many things which were strange now, would not be strange some years hence. They lived in a world of novelty. The despotism of custom was on the wane. They were not satisfied to know why a thing was, but whether it ought to be. lie was bound to sup pose that in this house an appeal lay frees custom to a higher tribunal, in which reason was the judge. The rea sons which custom gave on this subject were very brief. It was not easy to refute au interjection, but interjections were the only arguments heard on the subject, which were difficult to refute. The others generally presented them selves in such aphorisms as those that politics were not women's business, and would distract them from their proper duties; and that they did not desire the franchise and would rather be without it ; that women were suffi ciently represented by their male representatives, and that they had power enough already. (Cheers and laughter.) They were told that politics were not a woman's business, but he rather thought that politics were not a man's busi ness, unless he happened to be one of the few who were paid for devoting their time to the pub'fo or as a member General, but after 'a short conversation was carried on a division by 201 to 157. A.t this point the Chairman was ordered to report pro- of either House of Parliament. The great majority of male voters had their own business, which engrossed nearly the whole of their time ; but he never heard that the hours occupied in attending once in a few years the polling booth made them neglectful of their shops or counting houses, or that those who had votes were worse merchants, worse lawyers, worse physicians, or even worse clergyman than others. The ordinary occupation of most women is domestic, but that this incompatible with a knowledge of public affairs is as absurd as the old argument that artisans would desert their work if taught to read. This political exclusion is really formed on an old social hard-and-fast line between man and woman belonging to a bygone state of society. We talk THE Ill'All V E LIQUOR LAW. a great deal about political revolutions, but take little _ _-4. - _ - • note of those which are social. For the first time in Last evening the Hon. Neal Dow, of Maine, the history of the world men and women are now com panions. (Hear, hear.) All their disabilities have de- United States, usually called General Dow since the scended from the time when they were separate in their Civil War, delivered' an address. in the Guildhall, lives. Man of old passed his time among men ; but now in the city of London, the 1130 of which had been the wife is his companion and friend, and often his most granted, on application, by the Court of Commod trusted adviser. Is it good for man morally to live with Council for the occasion, on "the Legislative Pre one who is studiously inferior to himself ? No one can suppose that this can happen without. detriment to his vention of Intemperance, Pauperism, and Crime." character. If woman be not lifted up to man, man will in- 1 The chair was taken by Mr. Alderman Hale, and, evitably fall down to the moral level of woman as degraded I though the weather was Unfa v ourable, there was a by society. The two sexes must rise or sink together. It very large audience, many of whom were women. may be said that a woman may take an interest in public 1 There were on the platform Sir J. F. Davis, Arch affairs without having a vote: Undoubtedly she may ; , deacon Sandford, Mr. Whitworth, M.P., Professor but how many of her sex do it ? This is seen in the edu- I Newman the Hon. and Rev. L. Noel, Dr. F. L. cation of a woman. A girl never takes the same interest ' in national history as her brothers. We are told that Lees, Mr. Samuel Pope, Mr. J. H. Raper, Mr. W. women do not desire the suffrage ; this would only prove C. Fowler, Dr. Saunders, Mr. Rudking, the Rev. how the mind may be benumbed by unjust laws ; but that J. P. Sargent, Mr. J. E. Saunders, Deputy Per many women do is a fact beyond doubt. None are so kins, Mr. Whiteside, Deputy Fry, Mr. J. Figgins, well schooled in making a virtue of necessity as women. Mr. Bedford, Mr. Kelday, Mr. Robert Stapleton, Those who do not wish for the suffrage will not use it, chairman of the City Lands Committee of the or under the influence of male relations; and in this case, I Cor as the general advantage would be equally balanced, no poration, and many more. On entering the hall great harm would be done. Meantime an unworthy Mr. Dow was loudly cheered. He was briefly in stigma would be thrown off the sex, which would no I troduced to the meeting by Mr. Alderman HALE, longer be classified by law with children, idiots, and luna- I who in doing so related so me of his experiences as a tics. (Laughter.) If only one woman in 20 , 000 exercised magistrate as to the prevale n ce of crime and misery the suffrage it would be a boon to every woman alive. arising from drunkenness , whi ch he believed to be (Hear, hear.) But then it is said that women do not increase. Referring to Mr. Dow, lie need direct political power, inasmuch as they exercise greatly on the l so much indirectly through their influence over men. It , said he had done honour to his race, and conferred is desirable to carry this argument a little farther. Rich 1 immense benefits on the country which gave him men undoubtedly exercise great influence over society ; birth, 13 of the States of the Union having, chiefly and on equally sound ground it might be maintained that through his exertions, adopted the Maine Liquor there is no reason for giving them votes. (hear, Law, and he (Alderman IIale) should rejoice to see hear.) Unless this ground of exclusion i s t o b e come such a law enacted in this country. the rule and general, it must fall to the g r o und. It is true that women do exercise great power over men, First of all, on the motion of Professor F. W. and that is part of the case now urged. 1 NEWMAN, seconded by Archdeacon SANDFORD, a He wanted to make that powe r responsible, resolution was carried by acclamation offering a for it is exercised now under the worst moral conditions. hearty welcome to Mr. Dow "as an American lie wanted to interest her conscience in the exercise of statesman and philanthropist, who had been greatly this power, to show her that it is a thing not for personal distinguished through many y ear s by his arduous advantage, and to awaken in her the principle of political honour ; for her power at present over political things is l abours for the cure and prevention of intern like the back-stairs influence of a favourite. (Laughter.) perancc." Again, it is said that women do not feel any practical in- General Dow then stood forward to speak, and convenience from the franchise being denied to them, for I was enthusiastically ch eere d . P rem isi n g that that grand old civichad never been more worthily it is now in the hands of a father, a husband, or brother, 1 ' • hall who have the same interest, and know much better now 1 to use it than a woman can do. This is saying : no more • occupied than on that occasion, he said poverty, I than has been often said of other classes unenfranchised. 1 pauperism, and crime wer e more prevalent in this It might be as truly affirmed of artisans that they are i country than in any oth er, an d that no English directly represented, and with the same mutuality of in- I statesman of any great prominence had ever at- I tempted to deal with them in a statesmanlike terest, by their employers. But then this would be the , .While. in the city of Boston, where,the Maine. man horrible crime of setting class against class. He should L ner. Liquor . Law had been adopted, poverty,: pauperism, like to procure a return of the women : who have been kicked or trampled to death by brutal husbands; a second column to show the number who have come off scot-free ; insanity, blindness, idiotcy, and crime applied to while a third should show the comparative estimate in the less than one per cent. of the population, in Eng sentence of judges for offences against property under land they affected nearly 5 per cent. He stood be laws made by male legislators. (Hear , hear. ) We con- fore them, he said, to hold up the example of his stantly hear it said that we must improve the education country to us in this respect. knowing and feeling of mothers because in their hands is the education of men. But do we act on this belief ? Do we spend as much on that traffic in intoxicating liquors was in deadly 1 opposition to the happiness and progress of the na the education of our daughters as on that of our sons? and where are universities and colleges far their training ? . tion, his countrymen, he said, devoted themselves What has become of the endowments which our ancestors to its extinguishment, and they succeeded. On intended equally for the education of both sexes ? for it is behalf of his countrymen he undertook to say that •on authority that old deeds speak of education generally they not only meant to have Englishmen for friends without distinction of sex. At Christ's Hospital, for in stance, expressly endowed for the education of both, while rather than enemies, . but they were determined to there are 1,500 boys, there are exactly 26 girls. .Ve have them for friends. (Cheers.) Alienation, he have excluded the educated female from all employments said, if it happened at all between the two coun save one, that of a governess. The case of Miss Oar- tries, should never proceed from rett is a notable one in point. In a sincere wish to other side of the Atlant'e. He t r aced the history anything .on the aid iu alleviating human suffering she desired to enter o f th e Maine Liquor Law from 1837, when its the medical profession, but she found all doors closed establishment was first attemp ted, save that of the Apothecaries' Company. No sooner had resent time, when he said all the States north of P she got into the profession than it appeared so objection - down to the able that a woman should attend upon a woman that the the Potomac had declared in its favour. During wicket was closed. It was only the other day that women the rebellion, when the American people were were admitted as associates of the Royal Academy, and won engaged in a struggle, which would be memorable a high place in talent in competition with men, but that for all time, to save their country from being privilege is now withheld front her. By the common law _0 _ IA tted out from the map of the world, the agi everything the wife has becomes the absolute property of ration on this question necessarily slackened, but the husband, and may be squ andered b y hint in debauchery, i and unless under judicial sep aration he ma y , after aban- now t was being maintained with greater vigour Boning h-'r a nd her children, seize on the sav in g s of her ' than ever. In this country, he said, there were industry. The r:ch man, it is true, protects his daughter 168,000 places where intoxicating liquors were by a marriage settlement, but why do they not provide for sold—all tending to pauperise and criminalise the the daughters of the helpless poor the same justice they community. They, in America, wanted the Eng therein, or tn th e ey Q W le o e u n l ' d s can do for their own children? Circumstances less than lisp people to put the liquor traffic down. The these have provoked revolution. We ought not to take _ failadv advantage notogre dutyof the i n s e t c h u i r s i ty ca. i s v e e . feel w frome oughtthat notto a t l o l o deny to to subject misery, and speenh, but they t h n e e y v never would u y l d e t have p e it tr pauperi sm, lBB,oo, 00, he said, women what we are giving to every one else—the cern - know the reason why. (Hear, hear,' and cheers.) It was high time British statesmen turned their mon privilege of a right to bo consulted—the common pri vilege of having what every petty trade possesses—a few . members of Parliament who feel specially called upon to attend to their interests, and to see how they are affected was spent in England every year in strong crimer i the attention among fla 0 to ng the th e causespeeple .o f by any change in the law. No more than this is asked by the present motion; and when the time comes—as it must drink, £60,000,000 of it by working men. They, come—when this is granted, lam sure you will never re - the Maine Liquor Law advocates in England, were gret the concession. I move, sir, in clause 4 to omit the determined to have the liquor traffic out of the list word "man," in order to insert the word "person." . of the licensed trades, and they would do it. (Cheers.) (Cheers.) To men about to invest money in dis- Mr. KAUSLAKE having paid attention to the speech, and read the writings of the hon. member for Westminster, tilleries or brewe ries he would sa y " Be ware," for said both obviously point, not merely to the admission of he gave them fair warning that they would Comp spinsters and widows, but'also to the admission of married down u p on them before lon g like an exti ngu i s h er sA.,,ehev.eosrerrvrflaeistrlfrai(Cheers and a laugh.) women. He had received petitions of all kinds, but never on a candle. The other received one for the admission of women to the suffrage. day, he said, an old gentleman' asked him when the , If, •however, spinsters attach so much importance to the United States' Government were going to pay off 1 possession of the franchise as the hon. member for West minster says they do, how will they give it up when they are led to the altar and beemne at once debased and de- the rebel bonds. Ilis answer was, " When you pay off the Fenian bonds." Talk of the enfranchise graded creatures, something like the poor compound ment of the people of England by Parliamentary the farthing. present otns,,hgise.sllh: hLatsoha,ute s ii ge t gn a hhe t leteuentr. endow," i) f osz t h : 7 he, But manehrsseuespl law, herself, ytoakassand isupposing g"withfd Scotch aroome . s v a nnr his om t i writer all marries give rw o rm nii b efye - s . householders, of whom the House has heard so much ? Reform ! The enfranchisement of them from in liquors was a thousand times more impor tant. Pat the liquor traffic down, and the people would enfranchise themselves, and would rise in the social scale. He warned the meeting that Great a woman with ten children he is obliged to support them, Britain woulfl not occupy the same position in the and when he marries a wife who takes a drink when she future as it did DOW unless it put down the accursed ought not—(oh, oh)—speaking of the lower classes of liquor traffic. (Cheers.) One-hundred and seventy society—he tray be locked up as a disorderly person. The six million being lost every year (said the speaker), law is that the wife shall be absolutely and entirely under m th a e y po lo w ck er h o e f r h u e p r . husband. now 1.. I t e n S c h e e p. In t this and 60 000 of our people killed every year, the na iys state t te ga o d f tahbioeUgts, be r h e a - ' and stron g ° . as it was, was literally borne couched with the differences of opinion that would arise down by its deadweight of poverty, pauperism, tion, rich and when, as frequently happens, the wife would always vote crime. We could not run the race for national blue and the head of the family yellow ? Under the plan of greatness with his countrymen unless we threw off the hon. member for Westminst er , h on . mem b ers would that load. He have spent every Sunday ev en i ng d ur i ng th e pas t s i x wee ks en umerated four counti es i n th e States the prisons of whi ch ware emptiedin four —the only evening they hav e t o th emse l ves —i n logically months after the enact ment o f the Maine Liquor discussing with their wives wheth er th e compoun d house- e Law. One county prison he visited would have holder should survive or not. Th e " une rring instincts of men are against this innovation. The hon. member said, been empty also, but that it had been turned into a. " Woman, when she obtains the franchise, would be able henhouse and the gaoler kept his hens in it. (A to protect herself against the brutality of man." Man must laugh.) In another there were five prisoners, and be unbrutalised by some other means. You want to make three of them were grogsellers. (Renewed laugh man better than he is, but not to alter the condition of t er .) Many of the workhouses he v i s ited were empty in the smaller towns and rural districts. He women. The hon. member for Westminster will do well to import not so much of political economy into this ques people to try the experiment, tion, and a little more of comeloa sense. The hon. member advised the English is wrong in his first principles, for ho says there is no more which had been successful in the States, of putting for being difference between man and woman than betwe en human the beings with black hair and red ha ir. I contend that a man,sold penaltiesthe liquorand d ng drunk on the man who made another man drunk. if he is only worthy by nature and by qualities i.o possess 'd h Bald e Or, s let , the law s tand as it was the franchise, is ennobled by its exercise. A woman, on the other hand; would , I m a y almost sa y , be debased and lstrike " —on y - detsraded by it ; for by the possession of the franchise s h e sti t ute . to ruinseller"—th e victimizer for t h e would lose that which is one of her finest virtues—her victim. (Cheers.) i Though the Americans might gentleness and affectionate disposition. Not a single lady not h ave t h e g i ft of prophecy, it was well kn own all in the county of Essex asked me to obtain the franchise; over the world that they ' ues.s," and, if the I therefor© conclude the y would prefer to remain as they could " g reporters would • "guessed " and not have the franchise, but rather look forward, .•kindly put it down, he ' w ire hetlier spinsters or widows, to a happy home and the that if Providence spared his life and health he would advantages they now possess. be over here again in five years, and help us again, On clause 4, the county - franchise clause, and, it might be, to rejoice over the emancipation , Mr. MILL moved his amendment, • embodying a female of this grand old country. (Cheers.) Dixige, "1 suffrage, which, he argued was a logical consequence of lead," was the motto of the State from which he the constitutional maxim that taxation and representation came, and she called on England and all the world go hand in hand, and of Mr. Gladstone's dictum that every to follow where she had led, and they would find one should have the franchise who was not unfit, or would perfect not be dangerous to the public good. Wom en, ho asserted, in old times, had been allowo I to vote for some counties miseries and evils resulting from the traffic in .in and boroughs, and as to the arguments against it, they toxieating drinks. (Che e r s .) were utterly unpractical, and had no foundation except in At the couclusion of the address of General Dow, the feeling of strangeness. To the argument that politics of which the above is necessarily but a summary, were not women's business, he replied neither were they o nthe motion of Mr. B. \\'IIITWORTII, M.P., the business of any but very few luau, and no man was held to discharge his professional or business ditties the seconded by Mr. SAMUEL POPE, a cordial vote of worse because he took au interest in electioneering; and thanks was passed, congratulating hint upon the having combated the objections that women were already signal benefits—domestic, moral, and political sufficiently represented and had sufficient power, he pointed secured la the adoption and enprcement of the pro out various grievances under which women laboured, such hibitory laws of Maine and other States. as the unfair share allotted to men of educational endow- m w Mr, HITWORTII, M.P., in speaking to the merits, and in the distribution of employments. motion, confessed that Euglaud was not at present In the discussiOn which followed, and which for the most part was more jocular than serious in its tone, prepared for the adopti on of the Maine Liquor the amendment was opposed by Mr. Laing, who pointed Law. The State of Maine, he said, was prepared out that it must be followed by the admission of women to for the enactment when the other States were not. the House of Commons ;by M r , Onslow and Lord Galway, The Permissive Bill of the United Kingdom Alliance, who pressed Mr. Mill to withdraw it, as it placed many however, would meet the case, he thought. They admirers of the fair sex in a false position. Mr. Fawcett, ,• , a m not propose to urge that bill as an Imperial Mr. Denman, and Sir C. Bawyer supported the amendment measure, but as one which sought to give the power which on a division was 'ejected by 196 to 73. An amendment by Mr. Colville to reduce the copyhold to any district to adopt its principle where the people franchise to £5 was faintly opposed by the Attorney- i or a considerable majority of them were in favour gross. In Committee of Supply a number of votes were agreed to in the Civil Service Estimates, completing sums already taken on account for the expenses of the Public Depart ments. The National Debt Bill passed through committee. The Army Enlistment Bill was read a second time. Some other business was disposed of, and the house ad journed at 20 minutes to two o'clock. casion. of its adoption. He had lost all faith in moral ' i suasion as a means of putting down the gigantic i evils arising from drunkenness, and he predicted • that when 50 or 60 members of the House of Com mons met in the Tea-room, and told the Govern ment that they might not longer reckon on their support unless they attempted to grapple with those evils, a remedy would not be long in being applied. Mr. SAMUEL POPE complained that at present it was in the hands of a bare majority of the magis trates to refuse to grant a licence, and what the advocates of the permissive principle said was that they were not the best tribunal, because they did not always know what might be the wants of the people of the locality. The meeting might have read in that day's paper what the landlord of a public-house, and who had once been a policeman, thought of the independence of the licensing ma gistrates, when, wanting to get a license, he wrote a polite litter to one of the body, enclosing £4O in bank-notes. The Permissive Bill had for its object to consult the neighbourhood into which it was sought to be introduced before it was adopted. A majority of the justices could refuse a license, and what the advocates of the permissive principle con tended for was that the people of a locality should have the right to refuse all licenses. The meeting was next addressed by Dr. LEES, who complained of the manner in which, he said, the newspaper press had often misrepresented the objects of the United Kingdom Alliance, especially singling out the Times, Telegraph, and Standard for comment in that respect. " Talented as were newspaper writers," he said, " they had not the brain to perceive the eternal principles of truth, and could only discuss truth by misrepresenting it." Mr. RAPER, who followed, said at that moment there was not a. single licensed liquor shop in the State of Massachusetts, and, as a party, they, in England, with that great fact before them, were determined to go on. Upwards of £40,000 had been subscribed towards agitating the question, of which Mr. Whaworth, M.P., had subscribed £3,000, and Sir Walter Trevelyan had promised £3,000 during the next five years. The thanks of the meeting were voted to the Court of Common Council for the use of the hall, and to Mr. Alderman Hale for presiding on the oc- With that the proceedings were brought ,o an end. IN7ERVIEW BE? WREN GENERAL HAN COCK AND TALL BEAR AT FOR? LARNARD. The following description of this interview, from an eye-witness, will be read with interest. The Indians have recently proved troublesome, and the expedition, under General Hancock, is for the pur pose of either receiving or extorting assurances from them that they will remain peaceable in the future. The troops, under General Hancock, Lave been camped for nearly a, week, „troops and animals needing rest before continuing their - march up the Arkansas. Although no invitation was extended to the Indians, numbers of the minor chiefs have come to the camp to say " Ugh," and get some of the white man's sugar and coffee. The Indians have a decided penchant for the little luxuries of the camp, and seem averse to dog when they can get beef ; or it may be, as they say, that the winter has been very severe, that dogs are scarce as well as out of season. Just at nightfall, on the 12th of April, a number of chiefs of the Cheyennes came to the headquarters to have a talk. General Hancock was quite ready to have the confab at once. Not so the Indians. They would not say a ward until they could have time to eat, smoke, and decorate. A Sibley tent was pitched, in which a fire was built, and food was sent to the Indians, who immediately proceeded to one of those astonishing gastronomical efforts for which they are celebrated, i.e., eat a sufficient quantity in an hour to last a week, if they indulge in no more than their ordinary exer cise. While this performance was going on a huge camp-fire was built of cottonwood logs. About this fire officers assembled in a semicircle, seating them- selves on logs arranged for the purpose. Groups of officers, standing apart from the others, were dis- cussing the probability of being ordered East, or to the Smoky, or to the new possessions. Others were determined to have a feast of buffalo meat just as soon as they were arrived in a country where the herds were feeding. Some of the officers were got up in uniforms suffi ciently gaudy to make it doubtful if the Indians would not find it neceS3ary to retire to their tent for a second attempt at paint. As a general thing the officers were halfited in their best garments, wearing also their sabres and revolvers. Two hours passed in waiting, when Colonel Wynkoop arrive Ti. The colonel is an Indian agent par excellence, of whom a slight description will not suffice to convey any just idea. He is a Plains man, and the best handler of Indians that has ever been on the Arkansas. The Indians have every confidence in his integrity, and respect him for the " heap fight" that he is known to be capable of making. Entering the Sibley the colonel found•the Indians enjoying a little preliminary smoke. He remarked that the big sword was full of talk. This seems a doubtful compliment to General Hancock, who, though sociable, is not a great conversationalist. A grunt and numerous ughs followed the announce ment. The pipe took another circuit and was finished. The Indian seems averse to the waste of tobacco in any other way than a puff. Leaving the tent they formed in a single line, walking not in the customary Indian file, but abreast. A• few steps in advance walked Colonel Wynkoop, with the two chiefs of the " Dog Soldiers," White Horse and Tall Bear, on either side of him. As they advanced toward the fire, General Han cock suggested to the officers seated at his right hand that they vacate their seats on the logs to the Indians. The leading chiefs were introduced to General Hancock, General A. J. Smith, Generals Custer, Davidson, and Gibbs. " Ughs" and Amkes of the hand followed, and the Indians seated them selves, wrapped their robes or blankets about them, and proceeded to study the fire with intentness. General Hancock rose from his seat, stepped to ward the fire, which lit ti his figure, now rather more portly than the campaigners with the Army of the Potomac remember him. The General stated to the Indians, by means of an interpreter — Edmund Guerier--that he had come to their country to see them, not to fight, unless they did wrong, when he should be obliged to punish them. He had heard that they had proposed to stop travel on the roads. If they did this they would do wrong, and the Great Father in Washington would be very angry and hit them hard. If they attacked the trains on the Pacific Railroad they would do great injury to themselves. The buffalo were going away very fast ; they would all go away eventually, when the Indian must depend on the white man for food. If the white man was angry with the Indian, he would not give him food. If a white man did wrong, he should be punished by the laws of the white man; the Indians must not punish him. If the Indian did wrong, the Indian should be tried in the same way. The General remarked that he had expected to see other chiefs, but they had not come. "He would start to-morrow morning and go to the vil lages, where he would have a big talk." While this.' talk" was being made, the Indians had been passing the pipe, which had been several times emptied, Colonel Wynkoop taking his whiff with great regularity and evident satisfaction. The generals did not indulge in the luxury of the calu met, but confined themselves to cigars. A silence of some minutes' duration followed the General's talk, when Tall Bear, a splendid specimen of an Indian chief of the Cheyenne kind, rose, strode up to General Hancock, and shook hands; stepping back a pace or two, he wrapped his blanket about his body in such a manner as to permit the folds to be graceful, when he spoke for a moment, slowly and distinctly, though not loud. The gestures were simple and extremely graceful. Ceasing to speak, he gazed steadily into the General's eyes, while the interpreter told the sense of what he said. I say sense, for it was but a skeleton of the words spoken. He had made his treaties and had kept them. The buffalo were becoming scarce ; they had never been so scarce as during the past winter. The white man had made them scarce. When they were hungry he had gone to the fort for food. The officer were discarded in order that the bill might go forward, like the car of Juggernaut, crushing the principles of its supporters under its wheels. (Laughter and cheers.) On the Liberal side there had been a weariness of the question and a longing for a settlement, a dread of a dissolution, and a dread of the new classes of voters ; and on the Con servative side there was an impatience of the programme the Liberals had laid down—that they alone should be per petually bringing in Reform Bills and enjoying office as a consequence—which in a party view was not intelligible. Next he went on to discuss what the effect of the bill would be, remarking on the complete contempt which had been shown for statistics this year, predicting that it would at least double the present borough constituency, and as serting that its only aim was to admit as many as possible, so that they were of the poorest and most ignorant classes, and that it would transfer the entire power to the present non-electors and to the 4 lass of unskilled labourer?. At present these classes had no politics at all, and when they took up with politics they would be of a Socialist character, and they would support the men who promised them a redistribution of the good things of this life. The first result of their reign would be the substitution of direct taxes on the rich for the indirect taxes on spirits, tea, sugar, tobacco, and other luxuries of the poor, and among other consequences of the bill which Mr. Lowe shadowed forth were a graduated income-tax, a repu•lia tion of the national debt, an inconvertible currency, a social contest between the upper and middle and the lower classes, in which the victory would follow political strength, an attack on the House of Lords, and a law restricting the hours of labour to eight a day. Possibly it might be expected that these consequences would be averted by lavish corruption, but he warned those who contemplated the purchase of a democratic constituency that they would have to swallow the shibboleth—the whole roll of democratic pledges to boot. Of the effects on the composition of the house Mr. Lowe drew a gloomy picture, repeating his argument of last year, that the house is not a mere legislative assembly, but, in the last resort, the executive of the country ; and he concluded with a powerful denunciation of a scheme which, though it only carried out the old oligarchical idea of an alliance with de mo3racy, would cast an indelible stigma on the Conserva tives, and would ruin not only the present parties fu the State, but the State itself. Mr. HENLEY replied that most of Mr. Lowe's arguments applied to the present constituency just as much as that to be created, and, therefore, to all representative institutions, and asserted that the scheme of Government was the most Conservative proposal that could be made, as well as the safest and most honest. It was not a question which the Government bad any option in taking up, since, for the last 14 years, it had been recommended in successive Queen's Speeches, without provoking any opposition from either party or from any leading politician ; and the Go vernment bad to consider whether they would attempt to settle it, or would allow "the pot to boil over," with what consequences it was impossible to predict. Having once determined to settle it, there was no ground on which they could hope to find firm footing but that which they had chosen, and though its working might be expected with some anxiety, there was every prospect of its being as permanent a settlement as could be obtained. Sir R. KNIGHTLEY made some strong observations on the new aspect of affairs,and argued that, so far from Mr. Disraeli having been playing with his party, he had been groping for a policy all along. Mr. HUBBARD, speaking from the same quarter of the house, insisted that the proposal was a degradation of the suffrage, aud expressed a hope that it would be qualified by Mr. Scrope's amendment. Mr. NEWDEGATE and Mr. B. COCHRANE defended the support given by the Conservative party to this "scheme, and Mr. Cochrane laid the primary responsibility for it on the Liberal party, who had so long played with the qties tion and encouraged public meetings out of doors. The Conservative party had obeyed a necessity stronger than themselves, aud he anticipated that the effects of the bill would be advantageous to the country. Mr. B. HOPE protested against the degradation of the franchise, and found fault . with the representatives of the landed interest, who had not been sufficiently forward to defend the boroughs. After some observations from Mr. Scourfield, who, though dissatisfied with the clause as amended, had too much confidence in the good sense of the people to share in Mr. Lowe's gloomy views; from Mr. Schreiber, who stronly condemned the lodger franchise ; and from Mr. P. Scrope, who argued, in favour of his amendment, that it would cure all the evils Mr. Lowe had apprehended, and would keep out the (-‘ residiuurn." Clause 3 was declared to be agreed to, amid considerable cheering. in command had told him that he would shoot him if he came to the fort. Why was this ? They would be glad to see the General. They desired peace. The command is moving, and will reach Fort Dodge in two or three daps.— Frank Leslie. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. TIMES.-Mr. Mill has redeemed his pledge to his male admirers and his female clients by the speech he made last night on his motion for substituting the word " person" for the word " man" in the Re form Bill. The question has been so eminently associated with him that we are naturally led to sup' ose he gave it the full powers of his mind and the advantages of his clearest exposition. He has said little this session, and, amid the surprises and conflicts of a stormy period which have tempted so many to volubility, people. have explained his silence by saying that he reserved himself to assert the rights of half the human race. Yet perhaps Mr. Mill has sat long enough in the House of Commons to have become conscious of its practical spirit, and he was secretly weighed down by the knowledge that the majority would not consider his motion a serious part of the reform debate. From some cause, at any rate, his speech, though elaborate, was not effective, and though it may have startled those ignorant of the controversy, it will gain few fresh converts among those who have con sidered the arguments in favour of the political rights of women, and have thought them unconvincing. We did, indeed, look for some thing more than those obvious reflections which must have occurred to most intelligent men who have sought a principle for the franchise, or for any other political right. " Why, if a man has a claim to the franchise, has not a woman also ?" has been the argument against the supporters of the abstract rights of man ever since we can remember anything of debating societies; and though the force of the argument has been generally denied by the oppo site party, there never has been wanting some ad vanced thinker to declare that between men and women there is no difference at all, and that he ac cepts the principle that both sexes should be on terms of political equality. Mr. Mill's reasoning is in substance to this effect, although, in deference to the House of Commons, he sought to strengthen his proposition by showing that women laboured under practical injustice which the possession of a vote would tend to remove. The object of legisla tion should undoubtedly be the well-being of all. If it can be proved that the female sex will be able to gain a greater share of public consideration, will extort better laws than those which men are now willing to make for them, and will be raised intellectually and morally by the franchise being extended to a certain number of them, there is nothing in reason or the British Consti tution against this right being allowed them. No one has ever pretended that women cannot form an opinion of their own, or that they ought to be en tirely shut out from the management of affairs. There are even certain public functions which they may discharge, and in right of their property they every day vote in the affairs of commercial com panies. In their capacity of stockholders of the East India Company they exercised till a few years since a direct influence on the government of a fifth of the human race, and as to capability it may be taken for granted that there will be few women likely to vote under such a system as Mr. Mill pro poses who will be less fitted for discriminating judgment than the lowest class of householders who will be enfranchised by Mr. Disraeli's Bill. No man of sense has any blind prejudice against female " voting in the abstract, nor is there about it tha t strangeness " which Mr. Mill speaks of ; indeed, there is hardly any subject which has been so long before all political speculators, and which is, for obvious reasons, so familiar to any one who inquires at all. Educated men generally have thought on this subject, and we believe their conclusion to be that the existing relations of the sexes as to political life are satisfactory, and that though there be nothing absurd or revolutionary in conferring a vote on women, yet it will be a questionable boon to the sex to bring them into the arena of political dispu tation. THE " WESTMINSTER GAZETTE" ON THE DANGERS OF MODERN SOClETY.—Politics and Religion—the two most active agents in English public life—seem casting about in anxious search for a new footing, and for new guides. But guides, able to lead mis trustful men out of the confused chaos of dis credited principles and hollow half-creeds, into which our times have fallen, are easier sought than found. In this transition state, Politics and Religion are somewhat in danger of being pushed aside by two potent rivals for the hearts and minds of men—the_ love of money and -the love of pleasure. To what dire - calamities this insa tiable thirst for sudden wealth led, and how numer ous its victims were, was shown but too plainly in the financial panic of last year, brought about by the too great eagerness of men to grow rich, not so much without labour as without patience. What are Politics to such men, except in so far as they affect the bourses of Europe ? Unmindful of the proverbial fate of gamblers, the victims of this wide-spread moral disease play at a game where to win is simply a curse, and to lose--destruction. After the excitement of loss or gain, inordinate dissipation but too often completes the victory of evil. In Paris, which claims the honour of found ing modern society—in Paris, where the Govern nient is in the hands of gamblers and profligates _howgreat is the luxury, the dissipation, the im morality 1--what a degraded literature I—how cor rupt is the stage ! But the distance, not only material but moral, between Paris and England is rapidly lessening. The two great evils which have come to such a head under the profligate in fluences or political necessities of the Second Em pire, where Politics have no life, and religion but a scanty footing, are also in England struggling for predominance. Since doubts as to the truths of religion have arisen in the educated classes, no slight inclination is perceptible to secure, at all events, a substantial guarantee for happiness in the means of material enjoyment. Never was the struggle for wealth so keen,—not the patient in dustry which constitutes a nation's greatness, but the mad frenzy of the gambler, —never were luxury and self-indulgence so wide-spread as now in Eng land. The hearts and minds of men must needs be set on some object. If Religion has lost its influence, and political principles sit loosely on a nation, men, after the disenchantment of youth's pleasant dreams, fall, for the most part, into the prevail ing passion of their time and country. They follow what the Germans call the " Zeit-Geist." They are not higher than the mind of their time, nor purer than its spirit. If the age, or the fragment of time, in which men's ideas are formed, is dull to the idea of the supernatural, we shall not have works conceived in the spirit of St. Thomas Aquinas. A time of political Atheism begets no hot politicians. Lord Palmerston, during his last years of power, was the master , b eca use he was the type, of his times. The " Z e it-Geist" is seen still more in our literature ; its handwriting is on the broad shelves which will afford to the future historian such curious evidence of our un certain mind. Uncertain, contradictory, passionate, touching, occasionally, on depths and struggling for light, our literature indicates the -advent of a struggle, when the .national mind will be forced to choose between principles which it professes but does not believe in, and the unavowed principles on which it more or less openly acts. But the time of compro-mise, of hesitancy—not in our litera ture only, but in Religion and Polities—seems passing away. We are standing on the threshold of new times. We have come—rather suddenly, perhaps—to the eve of a new day or a new night. Our age, or what we call such, our quarter of a century, is over. New times are coming, and new men—or old men with new principles ; • things will be called by the same names but will mean something quite different from what they do now ; the masses, perhaps, in their ignorance will hardly know the difference, but will quietly drift with the current, which. takes its source in the high lands of intelligence, from their fragmentary Christianity into an avowed scepticism, from their political demonstrations and trades' unions into a levelling or revolutionary democracy. Old institutions, political as well as religious, will have to be remodelled to suit the new ideas. But un changing, amidst all the changes, the Catholic Church will be seen standing out in bold contrast. Liberalism, which can endure all religious opinions, will not be able in its triumph to tolerate the pre sence and the protest of the Catholic Church ; and, in the days that are to come, Catholicism will have to stand against a controversy of a far different character than that which it now sustains. What is s 6 bitter as the hatred of the 'confirmed unbe liever against dogmatic truth? and when all half beliefs have fallenaway, and all that is positive and dogmatic in religion in England is centred alone in the Catholic Church, then will have come the time of her trial, and that day will be the test of her strength. All those amongst ourselves who, from want of grasp of Catholic principles, or from some moral defect, are but loosely attached to the outer edges of Catholicism, will be struck off and pounded into dust in the inevitable collision. Whatever view may be formed of the immediate future, none deny that we are in the presence of a visible change in the English mind. Opinions not lightly taken up, often held with sorrow, forced not infrequently on reluctant minds by the inconclusive ness of false systems of religion, are now openly held, subversive as they are of the very essence of the Christian religion. It is never long, of4pe- cially in England, before the opinions of the ruling classes penetrate in some shape or other into the body of the people. The growing, speculative unbelief of the intellectual classes, and the practi cal heathenism of the lower orders in every city and town of the country, are driving the mass of the people, which lies between these two ex tremes, in the same fatal direction. Catholics h ave a deeply-responsible part to take in such a national emergency. They alone will have to hold the standard of the Christian faith before the eyes of the nation. They must be true to their trust. Now is the time of preparation for the contest and the inevitable divisions. Let, at least, all Catholics be united in mind and heart in obedience to the voice of authority, which is ever speaking, and to the infallible guiding hand of the Vicar of Christ. Let us firmly put aside all such as seek to sow divisions for divisions' sake, to.create parties, to compromise truth, to play the enemy's game — mere party-men who take up grave questions with unmeaning hands, and drop them again, as soon as the purpose of the moment is served. When ever the contest really comes, such men, of waver ing minds and uncertain principles, will be blown like chaff before the storm, and their dispersion will leave the Catholics of these kingdoms, what they now in reality are, strong in the unity of t heir faith, loyal to their bishops, not in profession only, but in deed, and joyfully obedient to the infallible authority of the Pope, howsoever or wheresoever expressed. COUNTRY MARKETS. COLCHESTER—MAY 18. This market was moderately supplied with wheat, and there was a thin attendance. Millers tried to buy cheaper ; in some cases is per qr decline was accepted, but samples were mostly disposed of at last week's prices or taken home. Beans and peas very scarce, and sellers had the advantage. Wheat. white 035 74s Beans, Mazagan......3ls 344 red: 6's as Middle and small _444 483 Barley ........ 525 48s Peas, white. 384 424 Oats —s - s grey ... 36s 125 CHELMSFORD—MAY 17. A good supply of wheat. Trade rather dull, and in the little business done last week's prices were barely realised. Spring corn of all descriptions remains firm. Grey peas in some demand, but scarce. Whedt, old white 52s 668 new b3B 69s old red its 60s new. 53s 62s Barley .. 26s 338 thevalier 4 6 538 Grind n o* 'l6s 32s Malt 66s 748 Chevalier 688 764 Oats Peas, Partridge 408 428 Wh.te ..348 388 8........368 408 Dun.... ditto, new....-8 —g Beans, Tick, 01d......408 458 new.... 398 433 Harrow fick9.42B 46S new.... 418 458 Hazagan. 398 438 ABERDEEN—MAY 17. At our market to-day all kinds of grain were advancing in price, but there was not a great deal of business done. White wheat 58s Od to 63s 0d) 621 b V bushel. Red wheat 50s Od to 58s Od) Potato oats 28s Od 0 6 to d d to 29s Od 0 0d d } 4016 V bushel. Common oats Bere 35 s 6 d to 36 s 6d t . 5316 bushel. Barley 35s 6d to 36s 6d, Oatmeal 20s 6d to 21s 64 13 boll of 2801 b, Flour, fine 52s Od to 54s Od 47 sac of 2801.• KIRKCALDY—MAY 18. Good supplies of all kinds of grain, with prices in favour of buyers. Wheat. Barley. Oats. First...... b7s 6d ' 358 Od 28s 6d k-econd.... 09s Od I 388 Od 30s Od Third.- 618 61 39s Od 31s Od COAL MARKET. Price per ton at the closeof the market. s. & s. d. Holywell Main l6 9 Wylam l6 0 Original Hartlepoal .. 18 6 Walls End Hetton ... 18 Hetton Lyons ........ 16 9 Hastings Hartley lB ' Haswell Heugh Hall l7 0 Bradyell's Hetton l7 6 16 9 Walls End Gosforth 16 9 Tunstall ships at market, 16—sold, 16. The numerous friends of the Hon. E. B. Wash burne will be glad to learn his health has been improving very much since his arrival at Hamburgh les Bains. Senator Colfax lectured in Cincinnati on the 2d May, and was escorted to the public hall by Fenians armed/ and in uniform. He was to give his "Across the Continent" lecture on the 6th of May in New York for the benefit of the Southern Relief Fund. Governor Jenkins, of Georgia, has returned home, and is obliged to use crutches in locomotion, having been severely injured by a fall while in Washington. It is re ported that the Governor stumbled over a bench in the capitol. Senator Nye and llon. W. D. Kelly, of Penn sylvania, intend making Southern tours to speak to the people. Secretary of the Interior Browning is recovering from his recent illness. Gen. Grant has returned from Phila delphia, and. Secretary Seward from Auburn. The latter did not make any speech during his absence, and from the preparations going on at his home it is anticipated that he meditates an early return to private life. Postmaster-General Randall has ordered some three hundred suits against Virginians, postmasters, and their bondsmen, for balances due when the rebellion broke out. It is reported at St. Louis that Governor Flet cher, of Missouri, and a large number of leading men in the North-Western States are corresponding with the view of securing the nomination of Secretary Stanton for Pre' sident. Thaddeus Stevens hhs gone home to Lancaster. against the advice of his physicians, who thought him in capable of the journey. Chief Justice Chase has proposed to exchange circuits with Judge Field fora time, in order to avoid the • trial of Davis; at least such is the report. THE PLAGUE AMONGST GROUSE.—Last week We called attention to a fatal disease now raging like a plague amongst the grouse. We gave the result of severa l carefully-conducted post-mortem examinations of grouse , ' kindly sent us by Earl De Grey and ot hers. We ote from the earl's letter, page 359 :—" The birds are dying by hundreds, and, as the breeding season has just conk; menced, the consequences threaten to be very serious. We have since been favoured with a second communication from Earl De Grey, giving us very much additional and valuable information. Gleaning from this, and the vari one letters sent us in reference to the grouse mo rtalit y by our ° n umerous correspondents from all parts of Scotlan d, that the disease is increasing in virulence rather than abating, W have sent a gentleman of great scientific experien ce t° make a searching examination into every circumsta nce bearing upon this question —we may almost venture to say—of national importance. That the prese nt maladi decimating the grouse in every direction has no olle , character in common with the so - called grouse disease °I previous years we are firmly convinced. The 0 06° ' be it what it may, seems to act like some potent poison; the birds droop and die without any prolonge d .sufferci ing. The plumage in the very many we have 138't sent us for examination evidences no appearance ° a lengthened illness ; the colour of the feathers r mained bright and lustrous, as feathers would appear on bird shat whilst in the full enjoyment of robust hen"' The eye, too, had the brightness of health, rather than the dim sunken state it usually assumes during and aft lengthened suffering. We shall not offer any theory an t° the probable cause of this most terrible disease at presen t ' it would bo premature, and, after all, only the result ol crude assumption. We, however, anticip ate obtaini°ls,. valuable facts from the investigations o f the gentlenin; who has kindly consented to ta ke the matter in hand f°,o us. The importance of gathe rin g together the invalu nbu f experiences of gamekeepers and moormen, very ma n y whom whom hate passed their lives from boyhood to mature o:e.h upon the hills, cannot be overrated. Strengthened ifl; such knowledge, a scientific man , who is likewise it I ° e 0 o bserver, will surely have a batter chance of gainito clue to the primary causes producing the disease va; himself upon the moors in the midst of those men of experience, and frequently great intelligence, than won a he who, remaining at home, draws his conclusions 511 t, shapes his theories from written communications and Po mortem examinations,—Land and Water. Births. g. PARKER -On the 19th inst., at Hampstead, th e wife of Watson Parker, Esq., of a daughter. Or SMITH—On the 19th inst., at 17, G rosvenor -villas, P r stead, the wifo of William F. Smith, Esq. , Wester law, of a daughter. 0 0 r .e I =BO RN E —On the 20th inst., at Croydon, Surreit 0 4 . 1 Lady of Sir Roger C. D. Tichborne , Bart of a S °9 heir. Marriages. ~„ t ,„ 1 0 0 ASHBY —FREEBODY —On the 16th inst., at St. j- Church, Hackney-road, Henry Ashby, Esq., of sli,,,ay, ford, to Emily, only daughter of William Y. Fre° Esq., C.E., London. - M 4 NAB—WALIINSHAW- On the 16th inst., at Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, Cap tain Arciiibs; .tiott Dalchully House, Inverness-shire, to eldest daughter of Robert IValkinshaw, Esq- • un De nEk—On the 17th inst aths ~ at 7, B South-pom ade' Clif ton Rev. John Burder, M ., ag e d 83. .A • 11 F E NWICK—On the 17th inst , at North Shields, Ilicba Fenwick, Esq., aged 8 9 . 9 cle- JoHNsos—On the 19th inst., at 12, Stanhope-Place, park, Charles F. Johnson, Esq., aged 86. i re% Powma,--On the 18th inst., at Brighton, 1 - 10 0 9 I)°' M.D.,,0x0n, Gresham Professor of Physic:, age d 5 ,,,. 03 ,c1 STANFIELD—On the 18th inst., at 6, Belsize-pari,l-. ' Hampstead, Clarkson Stanfield, 3 g °d c el ,tioa SwANN—On the 19th inst , at The Manor llouse , ', lf - o rcl, Courtney, Barks, Charles H. Swaim, late of , st li ` -. aged 68. ----------'. London: Printed and Published by WILLINII AND..,.11 i ll, of No • 112, Strand, Printe r, at TfiE S t UN OMR" i" ° : o f Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, i n tho COunJ Aliddlooez.maueoclay,Biay, 21,1867.