The Sun. — London, England, 1855-12-18 00:00:00

MARSDEN MECHANICS' INSTITUTE. ht R. BRIGHT ON EDUCATION, NEWSPAPERS, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE WAR. On Friday evening last a meeting was held in a room of Messrs. W. Eckroyd and Son's new mill, Lombes hayes; Marsden, near Colne, to promote the interests of the Marsden Mechanics' Institute. There was a large attendance of working men ; and the principal residents in the neighbourhood, together with many ladies, were present. John Bright, Esq., M.P., was amongst those upon the platform. Mr. W. F. Eckroyd occupied the *flair. Mr. Bft/GHT said that from the invitation he had re ceived from the chairman to be present and say a few words, he was by no means prepared for so important a meeting ; and although he felt as if he had been to some extent entangled in a trap, he still felt, also, grateful for the pleasure afforded of being present. He presamed their object was to stir one another up; not that those upon the platform should stir up those in the meeting— for he had no doubt that, considering the difference of station, they upon the platform equally needed to be stirred up. Speaking for the one he knew the most of, he could truly say that he should feel quite condemned if he were to go into anything like a lecture of anybody then present, knowing how great were his own short comings with regard to this matter of self-improvement. Owe thing was very satisfactory in looking at the ques tion of the mental, intellectual, and moral growth of the peeple—that a great number of obstacles that existed for our grandfathers, and still more for theirs, were in our Cl3B removed ; and that although there was no royal roal tolearning, yet that the road had been somewhat maeadamised, and that on the whole we might get on fa: ter than our forefathers did in travelling in the same direction. This brought strongly to his mind one result which we saw around us—the equalising influence that appeared to act upon the world as the world grew older. E.:ery invention in science, and every discovery in art, due sernethieg to break dawn the inequalities and the ineonveuiences of society. However poor a man might be, if he could get inside a railway carriage, he made his way to his journey's end just as fast as a, duke ; while in former times the one would have bad to trudge weer7ly on foot, and the other would have dashed past in a splendid carriage, with at least 4 horse-. As regarded books, the change wan-just as extraordinary. Not long ago (in the history of a country), books were very scarce indeed. A. fear rich men had them, as many had now, for ostentation rather than for use—(laughter)--but certainly as re g-- - led persons of moderate means, or those who lived upon wages, very few books were found in their beresee The great man who introduced printitee into this country once wi , bed that in time his art might be carried to so extravagant an extent that a Bible would be found in every parish in England. Now one con!,l probably be found in almost ()eery house; or, at least, their absence could not result from their not being cheap E 7erybody now might have a library at a very snail cost. Cobbett said that nobody required more in the - way 4•l' a library than the books he had written. He ()Ir. Bright) would not say that ; but still with books not more in number than those Cobbett wrote, a man might have as many as, if he would really read, under stand, and remember, would make him every bit as un pleasant, a fellow to meet in argument, and a good d. al more useful and practical than were many of those who fancied they had read whole libraries through. It was not the number of books read that made a man power ful ; it was the really mastering a few good books, un til ha became, as it were, part of tic spirits of the great men who wrote them, thoroughly imbue] with their feelings, and capahle of enjoying the wisdom they had left to The Teen see how much had been done with regard to newsplpers. En- a penny or twopence, we could no .v get really admirable newspaper, especially i i Lancaliire and Yorkshire. Let any man take one of those newspapers in our large towns, and try to ri:alise what there was in it, and what had to he done to get it there. Why, there was not a quarter of the globe, not a country of importance, from which the penny or twopenny newspaper did not publish i iteresting intelligence weekly or daily. Sixty or seventy years ago, the Times was not above a quarter as big as or,e of the newspapers now. It then contained mere scraps of intelligence, beginning—" We bear from Hol land," or elsewhere, the news being a month old at leaq, with the additional advantage that no one cool! ever tell whether it was true or not, and that you could rarely comprehend the meaning even of the words that were printed, so incomprehensibly bed was the style of writiee. Some few pare Ago we had to pay 4d. for the i=tainp on every newspaper—a monstrous :eel seemingly iiicredible thing. Not only were bread aed newspapers then taxed, but so was light ; and he believed that the see i e people would have taxed air also if they could have -sell their way to a profit. After the hawing of the -Re form Bill, there was a great agitation against the 41. stamp, and it was reduced to 1.1. Our rulers did not cure so much about lowering a tax—what they always warted was to keep on a little; they knew that if it once disappeared it could net he restored ; but that while any existed, there was always a chance to increase it. (Hear, hear.) The Id. stamp remained from 1535 or 1833 down to the present year. It required several years' agitation in a small way to get rid of it. The Go. vernmeut said it was needed for revenue, but the oppo nents of it knew a ereit deal better. It was intended simply to prevent cheap newspapers, because the Govern ie;Tit end others thought—judging most foolishly and imwisely—that the appetite of the people was for some thing bad ; that there were those who were ever ready t r pander to it ; and that cheap newspapers would make the country scarcely worth living in. It was in the days of 4 !ereen Anne, some 150 years ago, thst the stamp was put upon newspapere, avowedly for the purpose of rnak lug it impossible that they could exist to so great an ex tent as they bad done. A stamp was imposed upon pee,phlete, because many, and no doubt violent ones, were written against the Government of that day ; for when a dozen gentlemen—or no gentlemen, as they were ---got to be members of a Government, they would have nothing published, if they could help it, to prevent their remaining so as don; as possible. He recollected the substance of a despatch sent home about that time by the governor of Virginia. That gentleman said he was very much disgusted with the clergy—with the preachers generally ; that it would be a great deal betterif they would preach less and pray more, for they taught things that the peep'e should not know. Thank God, they bad neither a school nor a printing press there, and he hoped they never would While he lived, for then the colony would be in peace. (Rear.) That was just the spirit out of which arose the newspaper stamp ; and disguise it as you would, that was precisely the spirit under which it was maintained. No one could have read the newspapers for 20 or 30 years, without seeing that although they were cheapened 20 years ago, and again recently, cheapening bad not at 11 deteriorated their quality— their moral quality, he meant. He thought they were as well written as ever— as regarded the matter of powerful writing ; that they were as good in their tone generally ; and far less per a teal and libellous than at that period. All the grounr's upon which the stamp was professedly maintained were thus destroyed ; and it was to be hoped that as the peo ple improved themselves the mental food administered to them would also be improved—that the people would be improved by the greater wisdom of the newspapers, and that the newspapers would be improved because the people liked wisdom more than ever. (Hear.) The chairman had referred to the education of children . and he (Mr. Bright) did not believe that there was anything it would be more profitable for a man to consider deeply, than the value to themselves of a good education for their children ; and when he said " good," he did not mean classical, or anything extraordinary, but that sort of education which monlded a child—which, as ho grew up, led him to useful and pure enjoyments—which would give a chance, in fact the greatest probability, that as he grew up he w o ul d do what was right, and be a credit and a comfort to those who bad the greatest concern in him. He had been mixed with many bun dredS of persons employed in mills, ever since he was a boy ; and it had always seemed to him most grievous that so many of those who worked for weekly wages should see their children so often disappoint what one might call just and reasonable expectations on the pa rents' parts. (Hear.) He was satisfied that this was because children's minds were not trained to occupations and enjoyments which would lead them from bad com panionships, and preserve them from the thousand temp tations thatlbeset young persons in every class of life. Until recently, when children left school, they had very little opportunity of continuing their education ; and he always advocated the abolition of the newspaper stamp, the more strongly with a view to an improvement on that rint. He thought that if newspapers could be sold for one penny, every working maw would be surd to havo one, if not every day, at least every week ; that if the working man could read well himself, it would not be at ail difficult for him to give his child a little exercise and practice in reading from this chart of the world's history, so cheaply within his reach, and that by these means, there being so much greater inducements for young persons to read, the period between leaving school and settling in life would have some chance of being occupied in purs u it s of a better charact er th an was now 10 often the case ; that the habit of reading commenced tt school would be continued and strengthened, and be come a positive appetite with the growth of the body. And when we enneidered what a really perfect kind of enjoyment —so far as this state of being almost allowed --there was to be d er i ve d f rom the gaining of kaowdege by reading good books, it seemed to him a proof of the beneficence of Providence that now, more than at any time else, this vast enjoyment was conferred upon al innst every b o dy. Whenever he could workdo s of so, he epent 3 or 4 hours of an ev ening readin g n history or biography ; and he never went to bed with a m - in ., 3 p er fect feeling of enjoyment, or of being strength ened, than when he had so spent an evening. B ut . that was not an enjoyment to him simply becaus e ho was better off than others might be ; because th e cost to any 11150 of providing hi m self with Tir s . u p eh rig r h e t r e n v g. i , for enjoyed it, least as many evenings as be ( would be so trifling that the smallest abstinence from a ny needless gratification would secarc the means. The cost of so much beer as was taken by a man who drank it, and yet was never drunk in his life, would supply him with mental food which would- strengthen his thoughts, nerve hire to meet the trials of life, make his home far recre comfortable, ena bl e him to give to his child r e n tasted which would do much to guard them from inevit able temptations and as his head few grey to see those children rattl e d tit n the care creditably around him, anxious to re aniTneyand affectionwhich he had bestowed upon them during i childhood. Another great rea son why men should read and think was, that we were net P'acP( l upon this ea r th merely a to weave and sell e liite, There were our duties scitizens and members o f a great community, connectedindissolubly—unless we chose to einigrete---withthe a prixperity and destinies e i a great empire. He was to extentito things in the „ r o e m ion of the an who said there were rt On wo rth ta., l king about — religion and politicsy w ;but tE discussion of these was always supposed to be banished from mechanics' institutions. But all would admit that it was very essential, especially in a country like this, that every man should, as far as his opportuni ties allowed, make himself acquainted with those things and measures which were advantageous for the country; so that if at a public meeting or elsewhere he had to ex press an opinion or to exercise an influence, to give a vote, or even to express an opinion to a neighbour—for that was actually to influence the conduct of Govern- ment—he shouldbe able to throw all his influence into the scale of that which was truly best for the country. He was afraid that in this country we were in this un happy transition state ; we were in a state of twi light ; not absolutely dark upon political affairs, but a long way off full daylight. In a country where one man ruled, such as Russia or France, it did not very much matter, as to the direction taken by the Government, what the people happened to know or what course they took. One man did everything ' • and all went right or wrong, just as he was a good or a bad ruler. But in this country it was not the mo narch—notwithstanding that the monarch must neccs sarily have great influence—who decided the course Government should take ; but the people themselves, partly through their representatives, partly through pub lic meetings, and partly through the influence of the press, which reflected to a great extent the opinions pre valent amongst the people. Therefore, although a people like that of England could never have any selfish interest in going wrong—as a monareh or a Prime Mi nister might have occasionally—they might still go wrong, and did, quite as much as a monarch or a minis ter ; hut if they found out that they were wrong, they had no interest to prevent their turning back, checking their course, and reversing their policy. In this country it was more important than in any othr, except the United States, that we should as far as possible make our selves acquainted with public affairs • and so bring them up to some true and just standard, and there decide upon them. He knew of no standard with ird to publicaffairs —the principles of law and the principles of policy—except that true standard of Christian morality which a man ap plied, or ought to apply, to his own conduct. He did not in the least believe in grand schemes of policy advanced by kings, queens, or cabinets, which flew in the fac3 of all the most ordinary rules of Christian morality, as ap- Was there not seen a great increase of pauperism and beggary all over the country. Look at the assizes—the brutality, the crime, the severity of the punisments. Look at the efforts made to get up reformatory insti tutions in different parts. All this only showed that there was a world of work for our benevolent men, our Government, and our statesmen to do in this country, which never could be done so long as from 50 to 80 mil lions a year should be abstracted from the industry of the country, more than would be necessary if we pursued a different policy. He was certainly of opinion that every 1001. taken from the people in taxes, more than was ne cessary for the Honest and faithful rood management of the affairs of the country, provided for the country a pauper or a criminal ; and until we could keep more within ourselves the vast products of our industry, and plied to our own conduct ; and there was no greater evil that came from the state of twilight to which he had al ludeJ, than that we were always getting into a state of panic. A man wholly ignorant or half informed, was not only the most ignorant of real danger, but be W 3,3 the most likely to be alarmed where no danger existed. Such was very often the condition of this country. Every three or four years we had a rattle, at which four or five years afterwards all the world laughed. About 1350 there was immense alarm about a gentleman re- pu!ed to wear red :-4..)eking9. Ho did not - mean to P ay that that gentleman was not a very alarming personage —perhaps he wai ev..in a man whom many people wou!d have been afraid to meet in the dark apply them to our own advantage, he saw no sort of re sult that could come—or at least no considerable result —from all the efforts made to improve the condition of the country. We sometimes spoke harshly of our fore fathers, and thought that if we had lived in their days we Vbould have been wiser than they were—that we should never have stoned the prophets—and that we should have at least avoided burdening our posterity to a degree from which they never could extricate them selves. But we appeared to be following the same course, burdening our posterity, looking after every de scription of vague and visionary advantage, and actually protesting, almost becoming violent with, anybody who thought it hia duty to call in question this policy, and asked the peorple to be moderate. At this very moment there was not the smallest doubt that every power in was not, we believe, the strength of the enemy's works, , but the danger of extending or dividing the army in any such operations, during which the Russian General might have passed down into the valley of the Tchernaya, cutting through the allied centre, and exposing that portion of the force which still kept the heights above Sebastopol to an unequal cmtest. Marshal Pelissier declined to move, in short, until he could do so with his whole army—that is till the plateau of Sebastopol was cleared of its artillery and stores ; till Kamiesh was fortified, and the cap tured Own itself left in such a state as to afford no advantage in its re-occupation. Sir George Brown had predicted that its capture would set 90,000 allied soldiers frae. Sir George was utterly wrong. It has kept 90,000 still occupied, busied, and encumbered aroun I it. By the fault of whom, or whether by the fault of any, it is now idle to inquire. The only strong portion of the defence of the Debats, therefore, is where it describes the Allied army as not in a state to permit of its entering upon a campaign immediately after the fall of the town. Great and laborious tasks chained it for the most part to the camp during the rest of the autumn. After being kept un moved for more than a year in the same place, it had need of reorganisation to pass from the sta tionary to the moveable condition. It had not even sufficient transport. The siege batteries had to be dis mounted, and 700 large guns brought back to Kamiesh or Balaklava ; 4,000 Russian guns, with immense stores and ammunition, had also to be removed ; and, finally, the fortifications of Sebastopol, as well as its docks, had effectually to be destroyed, on the resolution being taken not to keep the place. Two months were insufficient for such tasks, and when the two months elapsed the armies were in full winter. We bays recapitulated the chief points in the defence of the French military writer, and we must hold it, with his one exception, to be inadequate and unsatisfactory .n its reasoning. Europe, except England, would - wi,•ll now, after two years of war, to restore traugnillity to Europe. It was. a fact which he stated, he was sure, from information that could not be mistaken, that if there should be now a great probability of the war being carried on for another campaign or longer, it was owing to the zealous, and al most violent, advocacy of further war by the press and by a portion of the people. Every nation concerned, but En gland, would be in favour of making peace ; but somehow or other we were so very pugnacious. We were like a horse that "can't stand corn"—we had had too much corn for some years, but there was little enough now —we had grown fat—we hod kicked, we had thrown all the lessons of prudence to the winds ; and while at this moment he supposed that in France there was hardly to be found a man who would lift up his hand in favour of a continuance of the war, yet in ;this country,. he would not say the majority, but a very large number no doubt, would be very much disgusted if it should i-:ease. He thought that one of the objects of a mechanics' institution should be, not only to teach men, women, and children all that which was very useful t them in their own homes—however beautiful and excel- Spirit of the Public Journals. (Prom the Timez of this day.) We have at length obtained, and that with no little difficulty—and exactly four months from the day on which it is dated—the memorial of the Colonels and Lieutenant-Colonels commanding the Guards to her Majesty. It bears date the 17th of August, is bedecked in a brilliant cherry-coloured cover, as becomes a document signed by two Field- Marshals, and subscribed by Prince Albert, Lord Strafford, the Duke of Cambridge, and Colonels IVood, Upton, and Moncrieff. We should say that the composition, on the whole, is rather superior to the usual style of such things, and that the tone is sedulously moderate and inoffensive.. Many and eai nest are the protestations that the officers of the Guards have no wish to oppose the accelerated promotion of their comrades of the Line. All that is asked is that they may not be treated with less favour than their brethren. We will give to our readers a brief analysis of this memorial, both that they may be better able to understand the merits • of the case, because we have here, for the first time, from unexceptionable authority, a key to that mystery of mysteries, the organisation and promotion of the Household Troop 3. The Brigade of Foot G uards—for the Life Guards are content to he governed by the same rules as other cavalry regiments—the Brigade of Foot Guards, we say, is composed of three regiments the Grenadier Guards, consisting of three battalions, and the Coldstream and Scotch Fusiliers, having each two battalions. Each regiment is commanded by a Colonel ; each battalion by an officer called a Regi mental Major, who has the rank of colonel in the army ; each company by a Captain and Lieutenant- Colonel, the twu senior of whom command the bat talion in the absence of their superiors, with the title of "...A.cting-Majors or Mounted Officers." The Lieutenants have the rank of Captain, and the Ensigns, in consideration of their good conduct at Waterloo, where we suppose no other ensigns did anything respectable, received the rank of Lieu tenant. lent that might he—but to enable all those who had stronger hearts and some leisure, to go further into the exemination of questions which affected their interests. For all the 6ollies of statesmen came home to the hearths of the labouring classes : and every man, let him talk as he would of glory, and reputation, and empire, if he at.- etracted the money of those classes, and spent it on ob jects which were not moral in themselves, and which were note :seeitial to the safety of the country, whatever he called hinteelf, it might be depended upon that he was a much greater enemy to the comfort of the labouring classes, and to the prosperity of their children, than the Russian, the French, the American, or any foreigner whatsoever. He (Mr. Bright) thought therefore that whenever working men read in the newsroom or library of their mechanics' institutions, they should study, as far as they were able, these public clue and especially such as referred to what might be called national wealth ; for the waste of na tional wealth was the pauperization of a nation. Tne description of literature which treated on those subjece3 would be funnel very advantegeous to guide the people when amongst rocks and shoals, as at present. They must beware, of this—that newspapers as a rule were not guides absolutely to be followed ; because the naajerity of newspapers were matters of business, and the editors and preprietore, of courac, wanted to offer to their read ers that which they thought their readers would like to purchase. But putting aside any supposition that editors and newspaper writers were any worse than other people, it was quite clear that they had the temptation alluded to ; and therefore it was far better for people to take the facts of a newspaper and reason from them for them selves, or if they read the reasoning of au editor, they should never for an instant take it for gospel truth, un less they had themselves worked out the question and male it clear to their own minds. He would men tion one point as an illustration. There had been nothing more common these two years than fur the news papers to speak of Russia as "a barbaric empire"— as " that colossal barbarian of the north"—of " those savages coming froin the north to overron Europe," and so on. Would it be believed that in the city of St. Petersburfe—a city built in modern times—there was a library—a public library which had in it 10,000 volumes more than were in the British Museum I (Hear.) He gave this on the authority of a work he read not long since—that this library in St. Petersburg was the third largest in Europe. Take the port of Odessa, which some queer sort of Christians had been begging the Govern ment to destroy—a city only founded 60 years ago. In 1343 that city sent to this country more than five mil lion bushels of wheat ; but the country, if it produced all that, could not be barbarous, could not be savage. It would be much better, if nations did get to war with each other, that at any rate those who wrote a ,d spoke upon the matter should not exaggerate with malice the shortcomings of their opponents, or at least should not excite the animosity of their own fel low-citizens by statements which were abso!Utely de% old of truth. That bad been the case to a very great ex tent ; but if the working-classes would make themselves acquainted with the real facts connected with Russia, they would see, probably, that the alarm about Russia was just as well founded as those about France and toe Pope. Those who lived 20 years longer would probably find the young fellows of that day pushing them in the ribs and sayirg, " Why, you were excessively foolish 20 years ago. You went into a war quite as bad A 3 that French war and you added 200 millions to the national debt. We shouldn't have done that."—(Hear, hear.) Let us, at any rate, bring up our children so that they should read and think ; and that, if they ever get into a war, they should know its definite object, cost, probable result, and whether the things to be ob tained would at all ply for the charges of blood and trea sure that would have to be incurred. (Applause.) Many present might say that he had no business to go into this question at all ; but if you had to talk to people, it was no use talking about what they thought they under stood as well as yourself, or about things in which they felt no interest. He was a politician, unfortunately, and was obliged to pay attention to this subject as much as the surgeon to anatomy, or the physician to medicine ; and that which he bad examined and thought be under stood, and in which his audience had a deep interest, could hardly be a question that he could be blamed for touching upon at some length. If they did not Consider the facts he had stated as to America, it would be found in a generation or two that a prolongation of this kind of thing might leave the country in a state of anarchy and chaos, such as he should not like his children or grandchildren to be partakers of. (Applause.) . The meeting was afterwards addressed by Capt. Hare rieon and other gentlemen ; and votes of thanks to Mr. Bright and the chairman were passed. (laughter)—though ho (Mr. Bright) did not know that he should. (Hear, hear.) But people did not in the least comprehend what they were alarmed about ; arid they hold meetings, got into a fever, and stirred up strife and religions discord which one hoped had gone to sleep for ever. Then Parliament passed a little Lill, not worth a single straw, and which was laughed at by everybody who had anything to do with passim it ; and so ended that great panic. A year afterwards, there was a great panic about the French. Lord Aberdeen, who was then Prime Minister, talking to a friend of his (Mr. Bright's) said, "You know that such is the state of public feeling, that if we chose to go down to the Howe of Commons, and ask for a vote for 20,000/. more men for the army, and all the thousands of pounds consequeest thereupon, the house would pass it without a division, and unanimously ;" although he (Mr. Bright) believed that there was not a single man in the Howe of Commons who bad the slightest ilea that there was any danger. But Bcighton and the whole eouthet n ' c ast were alarmed ; the pre:ent Prinae Minister hinted that 60,000 mea might be lauded on our shores in a light; the neweeaners talked about the alarnewe rate at which the French navy was increasing, about railways being laid to Boulogne and other poitsts on the coast, by which vast bodies of troops could be brought down by express trains and shipped on board vessels that did not exeet, and that so this c nintry would be invaded. Why dbl the people believe all this? Be cause of the twilight in which they were. If they had known (what be knew) that those men in London who were making much noise were also making a profit by the panic—that there was not only no increase in the French fl.,•ele but that a smaller sum had been voted for it year'y, from 1818 up to that time, than had been voted in any year during the reign of the peaceable Louis Phi lippe ; if they had known that Louis Napoleon was most AUtiioU3 to make an alliance with this country upon any terms, and at any cost—which lie had now made, at the cost of a war into which he did nr t want to go, and which he was now said to be most anxious to get out of--if the people had known these things they would never have gone into a panic about a French invasion. But what was the result ? The Government re-established the militia—increased the regular forces—added a million and a pelf to the expenditure of the country, which must be raised by taxes ; and all on account of this foolish and ridiculous notion, which bad no founda tion whatever. Then there was another panic abut Prussia---a most alarming one, that was. He wished he bad a map of Europe there, just to point out a few things. There were 3,000 miles of country and 50 or 60 millions of people between Russia and this country. There was the Black Sea at the top, and the Baltic at the bottom ; and "Russia abutted upon them. She had a fleet in each sea. About 1834, there was a panic lest the Russian fleet should appear in the Thames on some fine day ; and our fleet was increased upon that ground. Tncre was r.o foundation for the belief, but the increase of the fleet, and the cinsequent taxation, remained. At that meet ing was neither the time nor the place to go into any question about the origin or principle of the unhappy war in which we were now engaged. But there were two or three facts which were so imprrtant, that if they could be fixed in the minds of the people, he believed there would soon be more interest taken in matters of foreign policy. Look at the United States. Their in habitants were the same people as ourselves ; the popula tion war about equal oars—at the next census it would probably be a little more. They had large manufac tories, although not so large as ours—they had a greater tonnage of merchant ships, he believed, than we had— twice, or perhaps three times, as many newspapers—and representative institutions more complete. They had vastly more miles of railway—theirrivers were traversed by gigantic steam boats—and the country presented alto gether a pietist.° of life, activity, and energy, such as had never before been witnessed on the face of the earth. America had. at this moment certainly not more than one, if any, line-of-battle ship afloat ; she had two or three frigates ; and there were 10,000 or 12.000 soldiers in the country as the nucleus of an army. These were bar materials for offence and defence. Yet nobody ever thought of insulting the United States. An American was as free from violence anywhere abroad as an English man; and it was by no means certain that he was not much the more sure of redress if insult or violence was used. There were no people to whom greaterattention was paid anywhere in Europe than was paid to Americans. But the policy ef the United States was one of never med riling with any of the wars or quarrels of Europe. It was a legacy of their great and illustrious chief, that they should keep themselves free from all the entanglements of foreign policy in that respect ; and, almost entirely, they had done so. We had taken exactly the opposite course. Look at the condition of the two countries. America had no national debt whatever; we had an enormous one. Peep' e could not count it; and if anybody pronounced the amount nobody could understand it. It was called 800 millions sterling; and no one could tell or conceive what those words represented. But at any rate we knew this: it would take nearly 100 years' rental of all the land, houses, and buildings, of every description of valuable property, in Lancashire and Yorkshire, to make that sum. If every thing paid as rent, or valuable as rent, in those two coun ties, with 34 millions of population, were absorbed for 100 years, it would about pay off the national debt. In the United States they bad so much money this yearfrom their revenue, that they did not know what do do with it, and were likely to quarrel because they could not agree what tax should be taken off next. Their national debt was about half paid off—it was never large ; ours was not only not being paid off, but was was rapidly in creasing. Each state had its own taxation for its own government expenses ; and then there was the general taxation for the expenses of the general government. Taking all these together, he supposed they would not amount to more than 12 millions a-year ' • but say, 15 millions. This ye ar , i n thi s country, with no more pa pulation than theirs—our being not nearly so well off, and they not having a tenth part of our pauperism, ig norance, and crime ; he would shut out from considera tion that unfortunate and horribl e bl ot upon t h e i r system s —not upon their eyste n n t i ' w Y :but not more th an 12 or 15 millions things,the pa past—slavery they —s la h v a e d r sterling, and this country would expend, in all probabi lity, nearly 100 millions. There would he the 56 or 54 millions for ordinary expenditure, and adding the expen diture for the war, he had not the smallest doubt that this country would actually expend this year 80 m illi ons sterling over the sum which the people of the United States would expend. T he y knew the p roc ess of weighing before a race, and what chance a man had is running with another, if ho had to take a sack of flou r i upon his back. A, very little difference in the wei g ht made a wonderful difference in the endurance of the man or the horse. He would ask any rational man, let his rentiments be what they might about the Russian and the Turk, "Ie it possible that these two countriesean go on—one burdened with this enormous arid incredible ex penditure, and the other almost free from it—an' h it—and that this country should keep equal in the race with the United States ?" If we could conceive going on for to years, it would exhaust a sum that would appear e q uali to reducing this country, to a great extent, to actual beggary ; while America was continually ascending in the scale of prosperity. And yet people told us that the interests of England were concerned in the East ! Why our interests, as far as regarded supremacy, whether on the sea or in manufactures and commerce were a thousand fold more engaged in what was now taking place in the West, to which our statesmen and people did not seem at all to turn their attention. (Hear.) There . was no wr iti ng it out or t a lki ng i t away. Bone baste articles in newspapers, the speeches of men anxi ous to c urry f avour with constituente, or who thought it would pleas e th e f armers, b ecause corn was high, nor the shouting o f men who never thought about the mat ter—all could never wipe off this great and destroying fact : that 80 millions sterling were paid by thepeople of this country—either from their own pockets, or from capital lent to the government which was never got back --over and above what was paid by their rivals in the United States ; and no power, no witchery of statesraft, could give our people a chance with the United States while that state of things lastel. It was said to be a very low consideration to talk about pounds, shillings ) and pence ; but they were the foundation of everything. What could a wan do without feed, home, or clothing I Surely, there is something here which does not smack of absolute equality, something that must be removed before the wish of the Colonels of the Guards, that promotion in the Line should be placed on an equality. with theirs, can be said to be fully obtained ? If equality be really desired no thing is easier. Do away with all these unneces sary and puzzling distinctions ; organize the House hold Troops like any others ; let each officer hold only one grade of rank in the army, instead of two, and then apply the same rules of promotion to all. We submit the proposition to the serious considera tion of the much-enduring men who have signed this memorial. But this is a part of the subject on which it does not suit the Colonels of the Guards to dwell. They assume that the single ob ject of an officer's life is to become a General, and they undertake to show that the Guards, who have heretofore obtained the rank of General in much larger proportion to their numbers than any other corps, will, by the Royal warrant of the 6th of October, 1854, be placid in an inferior position in this respect to all other regiments in the army. This warrant provides that the rank of full Colonel shall be given to officers after serving for three years as Lieutenant-)10nel in the actual command MARSHAL PELISSIER. (Prom. the Examiner.) The French of all parties appear to take greatly to heart an article in which the Times lately reproached Marshal Pelissier with having failed to take duo advan tage of the capture of Sebastopol. But certainly the general feeling, after that triumph, was a foreboding that the Russians would be allowed to escape from the Crimea ; and when these fears proved more true, the Russians continuing to hold their position 02 the heights without even an attempt to dislodge them, this impa tience became naturally very great, and found expres sion in the remarks of our contemporary. The Journal des Debate publishes a formal answer. It begins by recapitulating the results of the campaign, which ate undoubtedly good and satisfactory. It then undertakes to Chow that it would hare been nothing short of madness in the allies to attack the forts north of Sebastopol, either by the mouth of the Belbek, or by escalading the heights in fro - nt of Mackenzie's Farm. Now, to this it can ()lily be said that no one knows what would have been the result of an attack on the Mackenzie heights immediately after the evacuatio n of Sebastopol by the Russians, and when they were ,letnoralised by defeat. We certainly cannot assume that such an operation must have been success ful ; but as little can the Debats declare the cer tainty of its failure. The argameets by which the French writer supports his view, we are obliged t 3 say, are not of much truth or value. Napoleon, he says, attacked Mont St. Jean because the approach of the Prussians did not allow him leisure to turn that position, and he consequently failed. This is the cen trary of the fact. Napoleon did in the flue', instance try to turn the position of Mont St. Jean ; and it was only when he failed in turning it that ho made the attack in front, the Prussians not arriving till long after the latter attempt had been made and repulsed. The Debuts says that strong positions should never be attacked in front, unless it be impossible to turn them. Well- the result of the two months' manoeuvres after the fall of Sebastopol was the discovery that the Russian position could not be turned. Therefore, and on the specific ground of the reasoning of the Debuts, this was a position that should have been stormed, and sooner or later will have to be stormed. The Titnee argued that Napoleon did not find the 21 Cl December too late in the season to fight the battle of Austerlitz. The DOiats replies that the Russians were the attacking parties on that occasion. But the whole campaign of Austerlitz tells for the Tines. Mack surrendered at 'Ulm on the 19th of October, when a vict )riotls General might have said that the season was much too advanced to undertake further hostilities ; b u t Napoleon was not the man to put forward such an excuse, and he forthwith marched upon Vienna. Nay, from Vienna he advanced, late in November, into Moravia. The result was Austerlitz. Had he delayed, h e would have had Prussians as well as Austrians and Russians to fight, and one battle in the ensuing spring would not have subjugated and pacified the continent. It is, however, no reproach to Pelissier that he is not Napoleon. The Debate reconnts the efforts made to tura the po sition of the Ruseians in the present instance. Strong reconnaissanc! - s were pushed on from Baidar to try the possibility of turning the Mackenzie lines by the valley of the Belbek ; but it was soon seen that in advaucing by this route the army would have had to carry a seriee of strong positions, one behind the other, on the road to Bakshi-Serai ; and in order to turn the second line it would have been necessary t o penetrate into the moun tains, as far as the sources of the Katcha, an eccentric and difficult movement, an._l of doubtful success. The true reason, however, of Marshal Pelissier s re solve not to force his way by the Beibok or the IWcha, of regiments, or as mounted officers in the Guards, or to Captains and Lieutenant- Colone Is in the Guards who have served for six years. This is the crying injustice, this is the regulation which degrades the Guards below their brethren of the Line. Now, we are bound to confess that, considering that officers in the Guards are Lieutenants, Captains, and Lieutenant. Colonels when officers in the Line of the same standing are only Ensigns, Lieutenants, and Captains, we should not have thought it unreasonable if, to compensate this unfair and undue partiality in the lower grades, some obstacle had been interposed by which the accession of Guards' officers to the rank of Colonel and General had designedly been made slower than in the Line. The attainment to the rank of Ge neral is not the only or principal object of an officer, glad to bart er a qu i c k er pro and many would be motion to the higher grades for the advantage of more rapid and immediate advancement to the lower ones. There is, however, in the theory of the warrant no such inequality ; for the Colonels of the Guards do not even attempt to assert that the two senior Captains and Lieutenant-Colonels, or Mounted Officers, as they are called, in the Guards, who only command in the absence of the Regimental Major, are more than equal in rank to Lieutenant-Colonels in the actual command of regiments, or that Captains of six years' standing have even so good a claim. What the Colonels of the Guards really undertake to prove to her Ma jesty, is, that the average service in the Line of an officer before he obtains the rank o f Li eu t enant - Colonel is 22 years and 2 months, while the ave rage service of an Acting Major o r M oun t e d Offi cer in the Guards is 24 years and 11 months—so that the Guards are two years longer in arriving at the starting point for Generals than the Lieutenant- Colonels of the Line ; and, discarding those Lieu tenant-Colonels who obtained their commissions without purchase (a purely arbitrary elimination), the difference is three years and four months against the Guards and in favour of the Line. We have said we see no reason whatever why Lieutenant- Colonels who have obtained th,eir com missions without purchase should be excluded from the comparison. Purchase prevails in the Line, as in the Guards, and we cannot i n ap plyi ng an ab stract principle take notice that it is more frequent among the latter than among the former. Let us grant, then, that in times of peace, to which the memorial confines itself, an officer becomes Lieutenant-Colonel in the Line two years sooner than au Acting Major or Mounted Officer in the Guards, which is the whole case of the memorial. Is there any injustice in this, or rather, if it were not so, would not such a state of things be of itself evidence of the grossest inequality and injustice ? Compare the life of an officer in the Guards with that of an officer in the Line, and this truth will at once appear. The Guardsman lives in London apart from his men, discharging most of his duties by deputy, in comfort and luxury, in a climate conge nial to English constitutions, in excellent society, in the midst of his friends, with no inducement to quit the service, and, indeed, with little prospect of changing so agreeable and eligible position for a better. He may, with ordinary gooci luck, spend a long life in a red coat, in the. practice of very few of the duties and the experience ofnoiie of the dan gers of his profession. The duties of his commis sion sit almost as lightly upon him as those of his Colonel, the Prince Consort himself. What is there to cause rapid promotion in such a corps or to withdraw members from a society of jolly fellows who have in time of peace all the pleasures of a club, with the extra advantage of being paid for belonging to it ? - Take, on the other hand, the case of the ordi nary regimental officer. The world is all before him, but not where to choose. Ito is destined, if he stick to the service, to endure hardships such as no other army in time of peace, and very few in time of war, is called upon to endure. There is, the wearisome monotony of country quarters in Eng land, or, still worse, in Ireland ; the eternal cigar, the everlasting game at billiards, the greasy circu lating library novel, and the flirtation with the confectioner's daughter. The scone changes—he is shivering by the frozen banks of the St. Lawrence, sweltering in a West Indian island, recovering from his fifth attack of yellow fever in the putrid swamps of Guiana, or nursing the remains of his liver in a dreary cantonment of India. If there is anything to be done in which there is much hazard and little glory —a New Zealand Chief to be taken out of his pab, a rebellion of gold-diggers to be put down, fanatical San tals or homicidal Moplalis to be quelled, Caffres to b 3 dislodged half-a-dozen times in a year from the same rock—these, and a hun dred similar duties, all fall on the Line, and make up, even in tilllo3 Qf pelliQe 3 a very considerable THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 18, 1855 amount of casualties, and therefore a very consi derable amount of promotion. The modest and reasonable demand oi the Guards is that they, the gentlemen of England who live at home at ease, who avoid all those dangers from climate and bat tle which decimate the Line even in times of peace, shall have the rules of preferment so managed that their officers shall be promoted at least as rapidly as men whose lives are constantly jeopardised—not only in great battles and sieges, such as Chillian wallah and Mooltan, bat in a service which is per petually, though silently, carrying off its victims. A regiment in the West Indies is fortunate which does not lose as many men by climate as a crack corps in the Crimea, and the moderate and reason able request of the Guards is, that the influences of a tropical climate shall be counterbalanced by a system of favouritism which shall equalise the pro motion in London with the promotion in Jamaica. Let the Guards take their turn in the Antilles, in India, in Ceylon, and they will probably find that a Mounted Officer is no longer two years more in obtaining his rank than a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Line, and that the slowness of promotion of which Prince Albert and the Duke of Cambridge so pathetically complain, and of which they are such melancholy instances, has been effectually if not agreeably remedied. (From the Times of this day.) Three Eastern regions are from time to time spoken of as " the seat of war." In one a disastrous drama has been just enacted. Amid the bleak heights of the Armenian mountains an heroic strug gle is now concluded. For nearly five months the defenders of Kars resisted the cannon of a vastly superior force. Twice they repelled the onset of the enemy. No event of the war has displayed more courage and stubborn fortitude ; none has more called forth the interest and admiration of the world. But famine has done its work, and brave men have yielded when honour and their country's fame were fully satisfied. Kars is now a Russian position. The earthworks which our gal lant countrymen constructed will now shelter de termined foes, emulous of the resistance of Sebas topol; and anxious to preserve what they must feel to be their only conquest. Gamri is now no longer the advanced post of the Czar ; his armies, though weakened by their long and dreary bivouac, now hold a fortress and a district 8,000 feet above the sea, in a country diffieult to approach, and guarded by the long range of the Soghanly-Degh from the attempt of any but a powerful and resolute foe. These mountains look down on Erzeroum, which is now the frontier city of the Turks. There is probably little fear that it will be attacked at such a season, should a relieving army have had time to concentrate itself behind the works which were the especial care of our gallant General Williams; But it is evident that we know too little of the armies in these parts to make any conclusion weighty. Nineteen days have elapsed before the surrender of Kars has been fully confirmed ; in that time much may have happened, and of Vely Paella and his forces we know almost nothing. On the inland Asiatic seat of war we are thus certain but of one thing—that the Turks have lost au important post, and that another may be perhaps in danger. Turn ing now to the eastern coast of the Euxine, we come to the head-quarters of the chief Ottoman-General. His small, ill-fed, ill-clothed army, straggles for 20 miles along the banks of the Ingour. A few ca valry in advance, but the General knows that any movement is impossible with his present force. The Russians, on the other hand, are said to be not idle. The fords and passes are held by an army by no means contemptible, and it can hardly be doubted that science will be applied to the strenthening of these positions. Every day that passes makes Kutais more defensible, and re turning spring may find Russian generals firmly established on more than one line of works, while new levies may enable them to operate freely in the province they have conquered, whilst they hold with pertinacity the roads which traverse their OWD territory. The third and most striking picture is that of 200,000 men encamped on the heights which over look a conquered city, watching an enemy which sullenly thrown now and then a shell to break the stillness which has for three months overspread the most gigantic battle-field of modern times. Their labours are suspended ; preparations for comfort or amusement occupy all, from the general to the private ; the daily historian of the war announces that he has little to tell. We will not discuss the generalship of the commanders, or compare a cam paign of our own times with Austerlitz and Eylau, and the other deeds of the giants who are gone. We will accept the doctrine that prudence is the chief of military virtues, and that those who have gained laurels have a right to rest ,on them for a season. We will presume that in April much may be easy, which was impossible in September. The campaign in the Crimea has closed, and it is useless to regret the past. But we cannot think of those vast armies, those miles of tents which cover valley and plateau, those thousands of mules and horses, those tons of corn and meat and hay, those piles of ammunition, those fleets of mighty trans ports, without comparing all this plenty with the destitute condition of the poor Ottoman army, to which, as in mockery, has been committed the safety of half the Sultan's empire. There are the right men and the right materials for war, but are they in the right place ? Surely, of the inactive thou sands before Sebastopol a few might be spared for service on another field. For the fall of Kars there are statesmen and generals who owe a strict account. A strong position is in the hands of the enemy, a province is overrun by the Cossack and the Bash kir. Many a brave man may be destined to fall before the abandoned city bo wrested from the in vader. The name of Mouravieff is probably now repeated with awe by the Persian and Affghan ; the moral lesson of Sebastopol must again be sternly taught. But there will be a still greater responsi bility if after such a warning the Czar be allowed to confirm and extend his triumph. Omer Pasha has landed on the Abasian coast to enforce the enemy's retreat by a march on his own territory. The policy of the measure may be doubted, but it is an accomplished fact, and nothing remains but to persevere in what has been begun. It is proved that the General is without means it is proved that the Seraskier and his col leagues are unable to supply their only com mander with the . first necessaries o f a campa i gn . The Turkish army is small, it is without resources, on an inhospitable coast, and winter has set in. The histories of the Danube and B a l a kl ava may h e repeated in a third winter. Th e Ott oman i s h ar d y and and discipline. patient, where he Europeanrequires troops would submits lose uncom plainingly heart Bub no strength or devotion can accumulated trials. U n l ess th e T ur ki s h re General receive assistance he may not only be un able to vanquish the enemy's army, b u t h e m ay lose his own. In spite of the successes of their allies, the Turks have suffered greatly in the pre sent war. We hardly dare es ti ma t e t h e num b ers who have disappeared in the two years' contest. Omer Pasha now commands the last body of the Sultan's troops which can be depended on for active warfare. Though brave and obedient, these must be dejected by the calamities of th e i r race , an d especially by the news which has just rea c h e d th em . It is a dangerous and even a guilty policy t o l e ave then alone and unsupported even for a season. There can be but one conclusion from the facts hwe o . ao r :u t i a l übd n se c she e unai . vin o oe f af. mtne a : Christian h tb r e i i s ni s urged. t e i nfi a n coitaT corps b i u n e t n d a s b .O theseiut b a i itieut doubted may dislike the Russians, but they most certainly that politically the presence of a British or French The importance stu t n h i : oven these ulterior advantage s are sma ll compare d with theimportance of succouring the neglected Turks, carrying out the long looked for advance, and by a bold inroad rousing the enemy from a dream of conquest to the hasty and unready de fence of their most valued province. Those regi ments which suffered most in the late contest may well remain to recruit their exhausted ranks; but there are surely troops e noug h i n t h e E ast to fur nish 10,000 men for an Asiatic campaign. There are also Generals of Division in the two armies who might wisely be trusted with an independent command, and military genius might be called forth which has been hidd en d ur i ng th e dreary routine of an eleven m on th s ' cannona de. The time has came for such a course, and it may soon be past. If we leave the enemy to enjoy and im prove his triumph, the labours of the future may be long and its success incomplete. THE WESTMINSTER PLAT.—The third and last repre sentation of the Phormio was given last night by the alumni of Westrnimter. There was the same full audience as on the former nights, and the same disposi tion to enjoy the salient points of the play. Tha young histrios also read more into the comic spirit of the situa tions and language with each repetition. The company fast night included M. Musurus, the Turkish Ambassa dor, and Madame Musurus, the Earl of Devon, the Rev. Dean Milman, Dr. Colquhoun, Mr. Darby, &c. [ADVERTISEMENT.] —Holloway's Pills adruirablyadapt ed for Curing Diseases Incidental to Females.—At different periods of lite women are subject to complaints which require a peculiar medicine, and it is now an in disputable fact that there is none so suitable for com plaints of this nature as Holloway's Pills. Their puri fying qualities render them invaluable to females at all ages. They aro searching and cleansing, and yet invi gorating; a few doses will speedily remove every species of irregularity in the system, and thereby establish health on a sound and firm basis. As a family medicine these pills are the most valuable aperient ever composed.— Sold by all medicine vendors, and at Professor Hollo way's establishments, 244, Strand, Temple-bar and 80, Maden-lane, New York - y Naval and Military Intelligence. The following naval and military movements at Malba are mentioned in a letter dated the 12th inst. : "The Culloden, sailing transport, arrived from Cork on the 6th, bringing Lieutenant Franklin, Ensigns Nablet and Wyly, 18th ; Captain Burnside, Ensigns Kerr and Read, 21st ; Captain Bale, Lieutenant Dash wood, Ensigns St. Croix, Applegate, and Green, 34th ; Ensigns Thompson and Traggett, 57th ; Qaptains Ar buthnot, Buron, and Greves, and Lieutenant Clutterbuek, 631 ; Captain Orde, Lieutenants Cockburn and Bat wotth, 42d ; the Hon. Captain Fitztnaurice, Ensigns Murray, Pennefather, and Kilhol, 721 ; Ensigns Mack enzie and Robertson, 79th ; Lieutenant Mackenzie, 93d ; Lieutenant Dawea, Lieutenant Proctor, and En sign Shaw, 97th • Surgeon Crawford, 18 th ; and 672 non-commissioned officers and privates of various regi- ments for the Malta reserve. " The hired transport ship Standard, with masts, an chors, and shot for Government, arrived from London on the Bth. " Her Majesty's steam-transport Assistance arrived from Gibraltar on the Bth with 14 horses and 200 mules, bringing, for Malta Mr. Smith, and for Balaklava Cap tain Smitb, Lieutenant D'Aroy, Mr.- Berretta, and 84 SpaT,ish niuleteers. She left for Balaklava on the 9th, after embarking at Malta Major Maunson and two more military officers, 25 privates, '22 seamen, and 40 Maltese carters and boatmen. _ _ - "The Orinoco steam-transport arrived from Ports mouth on the 9th, bringing for the Malta reserve Lieu tenants Borne and Dotlin, 28th ; Macnea and Pearson, 95th ; and for Scutari, Staff-Surgeons Jackson and Langley, and hospital dr( Briars M'Carthy, Sailer, Str . ck, land, and Wallis ; for Balaklava, Colonel Lawrence, Rifle Brigade; Lieutenant-Colonel Seagram, 17th; Major Warren, Rifle Brigade; Captains Floyde, Hunter, Kirke, Briddle, and Sassmlerson ; Cornets Brooke and Haines ; Lieutenants the Hon. J. C. Dormer, Butts, Traherne, Poore, and Saw!,ridge ; Ensigns Adams, O'Brien, and Pre grave ; Act•ng Ass:stant-Surgeon Perkins, 846 non-commissioned officers and privates of the Land Transport Corps, temporary Commissariat- Clerks Snow and O'Meara, 10 officers' servants, and ❑ine horses. This steamer left for Constantinople and Balaklava, on the 11th. _ "Her Majesty's steam-transport Hesper, with warm clothing and provisions, left on the 4th for Balaklava. " Majesty's steam-vessel Wye, fitted as a water filterer and condenser, left for the same destination on the 6th, under command of Lieutenant Ballard, R.N., of her Majesty's ship Hibernia, Mr. Dean, who brought her out from England, having been superseded. She conveyed to the Crimea Major Lendsell, 28th • Captain Maclean, Rifle Brigade ; Captain Dallas, 11th H 'sears ; Lieutenant James, Royal Engineers; Lieut. Gatty, 39,h; Lieut. Furze, 421; Lord W. Clinton, Lieut. Dashwood, Lieut.Vandeleur, Lieut. Roll, and Lieut. Thomas, Rifle Brigade; Lieut. Malan, 7th;'Ensign Cope and Paymaster Lys, 55th ; 14 seamen and S men of the Army Works Corps. " The Canadian steam transport left for Spithead on the 4th, conveying Dr. G.bson, Mr.Trotman, Mrs.Win de on and two children ; Misses S nythe, Osborne, Gib son' and Bramwelt; Capt. Young, 51st ; 89 military in valids, 26 non-commissioned officers and privates,l2 hos pital attendants, 2 of the hospital corps, 4 orderlies, 2 women, and 2 naval officers. "The Dunbar, sailing transport, left for Gibraltar on the 7th. " The Northumberland steam transport left on the 7th for Spithead. " Her Majesty's steam corvette Wasp took her de parture for England on the Bth, followed on the 9th by the Linden and Rodney, ships of the line, towed out to sea by the Shearwater. " The Edendale sailing transport left fur Gibraltar and England on the 11th. "The Indian steam transport, with gunpowd. r, shot, and shells, and two horses, arrived on the 4th from Con stantineple, bringing Majer Collongb, Horse Artillery, and Mr. Granfield, and lett for Gibraltar and Spithead on the 6th. " The Baros , a and Holyrood steam-transports arrived on the Bth from Constantinople ; the fermsr with re turned and unserviceable stores for Deptford, and bring ing Major Barry, Captains Smith and Wilkinson. Messrs. Barclay, Twedale, Tagder and wife, and 25 Maltese carters, for Malta ; and for England, Captain Hastie, Lieut. Stales, Messrs. Atwell, Halcott, Ham merston, Oxelby, Rush, Stayers, and Junk ; the last named vessel bringing for Malta Mr. Bian\sardl, of the Commissariat, and Captain Buckingham, and for Eng land, Messrs. White, Francis, and Dumtning. The Ba.- rossa left for Deptford on the 9th. "The Algiers screw steam-ship of the line arrived from Constantinople and the Bay of Salamis on the 9th. "The Bueephalus, with military and naval trophies, and bringing Major Lukin and 25 artillerymen, arrived from Balaklava and Constantinople on the Bth. " Her Majesty's steam-sloop Vesuvius arrived from Kain!e h, Constantinople, and Syra on the 10th, bring ing Commander Bickford and Mr. Maynard. It is doubtful whether this vessel's defects may not be such as to require her being sent to England. "The Shad, French postal steamer, arrived from Con stantinople and Smyrna on the sth, bringing among other passengers for Malta, Mr. Francis Iliff Stevens. Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Trebizond (and son), on sick leave, and Sir S. Graham, Bart.; and for Mar seilles, Colonel Steel, of the Guards, Count Deshasse, Lieutenant-General Niel, and 121 other officers, non commissioned officers, and privates of the French army. She left for Marseilles on the sth, conveying likewise Colonel Sterling. Her Majesty's steam-corvette Niger returned from Tripoli on the 7th, after landing there the British Con sul-General, Colonel Herman, and, having hurriedly sealed, were despatched at the request of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, on the same atternoon to Tunis, to assist in the raising of the Cavalmarino and Angio line, Maltese vessels, sunk in the roadstead with valu able cargoes on board, by a waterspout on the Bth of November. One Sardinian and two French vessels met the same fate, but happily only three lives were lost, viz. —the mate of, and two passengers by, the Angioliria. The merchants at Malta, chiefly natives, are said to be sufferers by this calamity to the extent of 25,0001. Her Majesty's steam-sloop Caradoc arrived from Mar seilles on the 7th, bringing his Excellency, the Gover nor-General of India, Lord Canning, with Lady Can ning, Lord Da Burgh, Captain Bouverie, and Dr. Leckie, and left for Alexandria on the Bth. Her Majesty's steam-tug Shearwater arrived from Corfu on the Bth, with the mails. In future the Triton will take up this service, and, at the request of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, will call likewise at Zante both on her way to return from Corfu. The Dragon, steam-tug, intended for service at Malta, arrived from Newcastle, Lisbon, Gibraltar, and Cartha gene on the 7th, and immediately set about her useful avocation, with every prospect of reaping from her enter prising proprietors a good return for the capital they have iuveste I, much to the annoyance of the native toiv boats, to whose mercy ships of all nations have been too long subject. The steam transports Thames, No. 92, Capt. Strutt ; the Zebra, No. 211, Capt. Betts ; and the Hydaspes, No. 87, Capt. Baker, all arrived at Spithead yesterday from the East. The Thames brought Colonel C. 14. Egerton, of the 89th Regiment; Col. A. G. Burrows, Royal Artillery ; Capt. Henry Lleberden, Royal Artil lery ; Dr. J. B. St. Croix Crosse, of the 11th Hussars ; Capt. J. A. Chrystie, of the Ist Foot ; Lieut. H. S. B. Watson, Ist Foot ; Lieut. G. 11. Sanders, 30th Foot ; Lieut. Roger Swire, of the 17th Foot; Assistant-Sur geon B. L. Hawkins ; Mr. James Beattie, civil engi neer ; Mr. A. E. M. Uniacke, Commissariat ; Mr. Jas. Hughes, assistant-engineer (3d class), R.N. ; one stew ard of the Medical Staff Corps ; six non-commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery; 20 orderlies, 61 military invalids from various regiments, one woman and child, three naval invalids, two stokers, 13 servants, &c. Ad miralty Agent, Commander L. B. Woodrof. The Hy daspes brought Mesdames Hutton, Winthropp, Halford, Taylor, and F. Taylor, lady nurses from Constantinople, Mr. and Mrs. Saunderson, Messrs. S. Till, W. Clinch, and three third-class passengers. From Malta to Gibral tar she conveyed Captains Christie and Govan, R.A., and Lieutenant Sandham, R.A., and 96 Artillerymen. Mrs. Carey and infant, R. Arthur, second-class, and one sergeant's wife and child ; also Captains Hen gill and Meade, of the Turkish Contingent ; Cap tain Brett, of the 54th ; Captain Evans, R.A. ; Mr. Hustler, purveyor ; one sergeant of the 51th Regi ment, and two convict warders came to Portsmouth. On the 2d inst., in lat. 36 37, long. 12 3, she spoke the steamer Trent ; on the 3d inst., in lat. 37 47 N., long 9 55 E., spoke the steam transports Northfleet and the Eveline • on the 4th, in lat 37 44 N., long. 6 24 E., the steam - ship Queen. The Geyser, 6, paddle-sloop, Commander Dew, arrived at Spithead yesterday from the Baltic. The steam-sloop Salamander, which left Portsmouth on Sunday with mails for Sierra Leone and the West Coast of Africa, sprung a leak near her paddle-wheel, and put into Plymouth yesterday afternoon, making a foot of water an hour. The hired Government transport Indiana, No. 147, from Balaklava for Southampton, was spoken off Ply mouth yesterday afternoon. The General Screw CoMpany's steam-transport No. 195 will probably eail from 'Southampton this day for Heligoland, to embark 5 officers and 350 men of the German Legion for conveyance to Folkestone. A few officers will embark ; and some light Ordnance stores, consisting principally of Sappers clothing, will be taken on board at Southampton. The Harrier, screw sloop, is not commanded by Com mander Story, as reported yesterday, but by Commander Derriman, late of the Caradoc, and the Naval Brigade, who distinguished himself so repeatedly in the Crimea while aide-de-camp to the late Lord Raglan. The Conflict, 8, screw-sloop, Commander Browne, ar rived at Spithead yesterday, from the Baltic. The William Hammond, convict ship, arrived at Spit head yesterday, from the Thames, bound for Swan River. The brig Jam es , o f L on d on, 34 days from Bermuda, having experienced strong easterly winds all the passage, arrived in Plymouth Sound on Monday. She brings 111 Sappers and Miners, with 59 women and children, under command of Capt. White, Royal Engineers, and Lieut. Goodall, and in medical charge of Dr. Grogan. Mr. J. Neil, chief engineer of the first class, has taken up his appointment to the new screw steam-ship, Mars, 80, and has brought in charge the steam machieery of that ship, now being brought forward in the fitting basin at Sheerness. The Amphion, 34, screw steam-frigate, Captain A. 0 1 Key, C. 8., which vessel arrived at Sheerness on Sunday last (as reported), loft the Island of Wormso on Thurs day, the 29th of November last, arrived at Faro Sound on the following morning, and after coaling proceeded for Elsinore, She was detained at Faro by contrary winds and heavy weather for six days, and arrived at _Elsinore on the 9th inst. At 2 a.m., having coaled there, she rounded the Scaw, on the same evening, and arrived off Lowestoft on the morning of the 14th inst. On the evening of the 15th, at dusk, she Anchored at the Great Nore. She came into harbour on Sunday morning. She has been for the most part of her time blockading Swea borg, during which time, at d ff,rent periods, a number of Russian soldiers, artillerymen, and seamen. came on board, and gave themselves up as deserters from the dif ferent islands, and the gun-boats which lay secreted be hind some of the inner islands off Sweab org. The Am . phion's boats have been busily engaged in destroying a number of the enemy's vessels laden with firtywood, for the winter supplies of the garrison and tows. Sho bas been twice under heavy and severe fire from the Sand bainn batteries. She has been hulled several time?. One solid shot fell on deck over the foremost part of the cabin, which completely shattered the deck asvd beam under which it fell. One seaman was killed by a round shot, which severed the head from his body. One• officer wee wounded and four of the crew. A solid shot passed thronh her mainyard, nearly cutting it asunder, but being at a short range went through the yard, remaining in the slings. Her standing end running rigging were cut to pieces, as the enemy fired with great accreracy. In her engine and machinery department she is in very excellent order, except her main shaft, which was broken nearly six months since, and was repaired by her own engineers, assisted by the engineers on board the steam factory ship the Volcano. The Driver, 0, paddle-wheel steam-sloop, Commander Man H. Gardner, which arrived at Sheerness from tee Baltic on Sunday, as reported, while cruising off the Aland Archipelago on the 21st of November 'ant, stood in near to Uto Island, and there discovered six Finnish vessels belonging to Abe. They were riding there wind bound, being destined for Sweden. They were laden erincipelly with baulks of timber and planks , — Great difficulty was experienced in getting them out in nonce: quence of the heavy weather and the intricacies of the navigation between the numerous islands. It was at fist decided on burning them at their anchors, but, by the judicious arrangements of the commander nerd first lieutenant, they were all warped, and sailed out .clear of the shoals. This work occupied the whole of one day and a night, the thermometer at the time being 14 de grees below the freezing point. The Driver was attitched to Admiral Baynes's squadron as a despatch vessel. She left Faro on the 30th of November, and was beget in . the ice in Arirsburg Bay, while communicating with the Archer ; both. vessels got clear in the course oof the next day. The we ether was very • severe—such' was its severity that, on the Driver getting into anchorage water, on letting go the shank-painter and the stopper. to get the anchor (weighing 36 cwt.) the anchor would not fall, being frozen to her bows, encased in a solid mass of ice. It occupied the men more than half-ae hour to clear the anchor from ler bows. After this had been effected it was found that the whole of the chain cable in board and out was frozen to a solid mass of ice. After some time they succeeded in anchoring, and af-er wards proceeded to Faro, at which port the Admiral was at anchor. All the flying squadron had then returned there except the Falcon and Ardtier. The Driver left Faro on the Bth inst. for Sheerness ; she arrived at Elsinore on the 10th inst., and proceeded on the 11th, when, on getting to the northward of Anholt, she was compelled to put back, owing to strong westerly gales. She again left Elsinore on the 13th, and rounded the Scaw at midnight, made Lowestoft at 5 a.m. on Sun day, and arrived at Sheerness at 4 p.m. on the same day. For three consecutive months the Driver was not at anchor for more than three days, calculating each time of her being at anchor. Her machinery is in very ex cellent condition, and quite ready for any immediate service for which she may be required. She left at Elsinore the Tartar, Pyladee, Esk, Cruizete Conflict, Centaur, and the French frigate D'Assas. The screw steam-ship Edinburgh, 60, Captain Richard S. Hewlett, arrived at Plymouth Sound on Sunday morning, saluted the Port Admiral at noon, and at 2 o'clock left for the westward, bound, it is said, for Dublin. The screw steam-corvette Cossack, 20, Captain James H. Cockbern, and the screw steam-ship Desperate, 8, Commander R. D. White, both from the Baltic, arrived on Sunday night in Plynn Sound. The crew of the Reyal George, 102, screw steam-ship, Capt. heavy J. Codrington, C. 8., are to be paid to day, and are to be granted the usual liberty. The Lizard, steam-tender to the Waterloo, Lieutenant Christopher, left Sheerness yesterday at 8 a.m., with a new iron nkortanvessel, for experiments off Shoieburyness. The Porcupine, 3, paddle-wheel steam-veseol, Lieut.- Commander George M. Jackson, arrived at Sheerness at 3 p.m. yesterday, from the Baltic. The f Mowing are the latest appointments made at the Admiralty:--Lieut. Lord Edward Henry Oecil is ap pointed Flag Lieutenant to Admiral Dundee in the Duke of Wellington ; C. Gregg, Master, to the Arachne ; Thomas Ellard, Paymaster, to the Nile ; Henry Gray (a), Paymaster, to the Arachne ; J. T. Sparke, Pay master, to the Perseverance ; H. T. Ireatmao, Midship man, to the Conqueror. The Grenadier Guards, who have during the last three months been stationed at the camp at Aldershutt, have quitted the camp, and have been quartered at Windsor, the Tower, and at Portman-street barracks. The Guards have been relieved at the camp by the 80th Regiment, 1,100 stro'sg. The authorities have rented the Victoria Riffieground, at Kilbonen, for the daily use, excepting on Wednesdays, of the Household Brigade of Guards, to practise target firing with the Minid rifle, and strong detachments are being exercised there in the use of that weapon. A company of the Royal Sappers and Miners, in com mand of Captain G. E. L. Walker, reached Brompton barracks yester lay from Woolwich. During the after noon the mien were paraded and their kits inspected by Colonel Henry Sandbatn, R.E., assisted by his major of brigade, Captain Fitzroy Somerset, Captain C. E. Thornton, 86th Regiment, Adjutant of the Depot Battalion, Preston, on leaving his corps, is to be placed on the staff. A company of the Royal Marines Light Infantry, Chatham Division, are instructed two hours daily in the practice of the Minie rifle, previous to the commence ment of the .Enfield rifle practice by the Line. Country Markets. CEIELIISFORD—DEc. 14. A large supply of all kinds of grain. Wheat met a dull sale at a reduction of from 2s to 3s per qr. ; a similar re• duction was submitted to on barley • and peas, beams, and oats were worth is per qr. less than last week. Wheat, white, old, per s. s. (11-.72 t 4 new 71 83 red, old 65 83 new 63 73 Barley 31 39 Chevalier 33 42 Grinding 28 35 Malt 72 76 Chevalier 76 80 5. 5. Oats, per qr 25 33 Peas, Partridge .. 4l 43 White 42 f 4 Boiling 45 52 Dun - 40 42 Beans, Tick 42 46 Harrow ticks 45 47 Masson 40 43 Ditto, no w4l 44 Official Statement of the Quantities of Corn, &c in the port of London, from the following p the 10th to the 15th Dec., both inclusive. 220_ I 785 12188 4.4 t 7.1 7 - 3 s. 4.2 IP Colchester . Harwich .... Leigh Maldon ~ received )rte, fr• is 120 365 149 140 640 719. ( 64 COLCHESTER- DEC. 15. A fair supply of wheat ; the best samples realised last week's prices, and middling is to 2s per qr. cheaper. The supply of barley was good, and all but the finest qualities wore 2s lower. Beans and peas is cheaper. Prices to-day were as follow :—Wheat, white, 81s to 88 6 : red, 80s to 84s ; barley, 38s to 44s ; oats, 28s to 34s ; bean■ Mazagan, 46s to 48s ; middle and small, 50s to ; peas, white, 56s to 58s ; grey, 46s to 48s. COAL MARKE' Prices of Coal per ton at t' a. Byass's West Hartley .. 18 3 4. Chester Main l3 OlBelmont 2O 6 Frolywell IS 3.Framwellgate 2O 0 Howard's West Hartley - JLambton 22 6 U.—DEc. 17. ,he close At the market. Wallsend, Netherton 18 O'Cassop 20 9 Tanfield Moor l7 3, Hartlepool 22 3 Taufield Moor Butes 17 3'Heugh 112..11 2O 6 West Felton , 17 0 Kelloe 2l 6 South Hartlepool 21 6 Wallsend, &e. Tees 22 6 Acorn Close .,....20 0 Whitworth lB 0 Eden Gosforth . i'9 O i Cares Merthyr 23 6 Heaton 23 01Rusaoll's Hetton 22 6 Hedley 19 South Hetton 22 9 B e ll 20 61 Ships at market... 95 Sold ....... 40 BIRTHS. OP A SON. On the 14th inst., at 10, Ilighbury-terraee, the wife of W. T. Carlisle, Esq. On the l7tl inst., at 155, Regent-street, Mrs. James Butler. OF A DAIIGH'FAB. On the 16th inst., at 6, Lansdowne-terrace, Kensington, the wife of the Rev. J. D. Claxton. On the 14th inst., at Heysham, Lancashire, the wife of W. Holden, Esq. MARRIED. On the 14th inst., at Christchurch, Folkestone, John Mennie, Assistant-Surgeon H.E.1.C.5., second son of R. 0. Mennie, Esq., of the War Department, to Jane Eliza both, secona daughter of Stephen Godden, Esq., of Folke stone. On the 15th inst., at Old Lambeth Church, Mr. Geo rge Thomas Clink, to Mary Anne, eldest daughter of Henry Akerman, Esq., of Park-road, West Dulwich. DIED. On the 16th inst.,rat laordle Cliff, Hants, William Fred. late Physici an i n O r di nary t o On the 17 th i nst., at 33, Cambrid ge -t errace , Edgeware tChheaQmtibeeern s, , aged M jeDd.C.Fl_ „ road, David William Witton, Esq., of 21, Great Saint. E[alen's, and Belle Vue House, Richmond, Surrey, aged 69. On the 16th inst., at 3, Brunswick-place, Lewisham' road, Frederick Warner, Esq., late of 28, Cornhill, and Laurence Pountney-lane, city, aged 55. On the 15th inst., at Waltham Abbey, John Parnell, Esq., a magistr a t e or the county of Essex, aged 75. On the 15th inst., Mr. Frederic Woollatt, of 2, Crown court, Philpot-lane. On the 14th inst. at Kentish-town, Mr. .W. Haugh ton, of St. Martin's-lane, aged 54. LONDON : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, No. 112 Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the eounty bliddlesex, Tuesday, December 18, 1855., THE EVE' AUNTIES Otneral Not r ruE _Mr R. 1101 nary evenim %ken from r Irithont any 4 ePresentatic it ; o'clock. XgYptian I RGY NOR 7 'lron. ' 4o . 7 :ent's no N ll - 91E to isst bee tuber. of London, tt Secretaries w a ttbscribers pi Offioe of th, 11,0 Y A EVI meek, the G and MYSTI Wizard of tt of incidents, effects, Magic an "easing dist] 2 rousement. 'elves perfor them on the .or though eyes of the ° tie thing ; 1 44 3 , ; a mel petted deno the Public e , „tavaganza, ' 4lO bounds 1 1, a, as Tearaibotoernfeeeans P rofessor l o o e e r n : tganons rep( h ag at any 1 a mount of en Ye would at 14 „ his pr esen the results o Perfected 3k has travelled 'Pared no tr th e stage in °,f . the first n 1 ,,t% while 7" , honour It i s . possibl shout er it has b sortimg to designii tedulons.