The Sun. — London, England, 1856-01-31 00:00:00

_ E. -- -- ' many 131-a6 , o much ; r tact© ti n i through° that stY O l6 universaa t a series ° the reade r ' said brie o rk, aired!, [limes, W l ' years fr° ll ; first instO nruediatelP the furl 3rennialli id honour' Le and the mane the oral: ars Foil' fL TES Ts was hel d ,ry ; 311'.01‘ xl the notic4l eot to 110 07 Mr. Ili of 14d. looted. the effect 0 record San (Mr. Id to the tiruoni $1 e.) . . position. explana irst tin)* avow it, cal tele rgy and engineer ited the present Lit itself et with efel .11tened his and i. He certain a 4 bad ini.tra ,uld }lid for al than e hon, money pany's onned ?tions, ropo NO 79 and litabla he dif que6- exer- LITEZATUR,E. Popular Garden Botany. By Agnes C Ltlow. Popular History of Palms. By Dr. Berthold Seeman. Popular Geography of Plants. By Dr. Charles Deubeny. Lovell Reeve, Hen rietta-street, Covent-garden. Who amongst us does not love flowers, trees, and grass ? We have only to cast our eyes around us on the varied paths of every-day life, and ample evidence will be afforded that there is an immortal influence in "The pomp of groves and garniture of fields." Mankind has ever revelled in the scent of the blossoms and the shadow of the boughs. The tawny savage of the backwoods strides over the prairie's purple bells, and gazes on the pine giants of his native forests with exulting joy. The ducal master of Chatsworth breathes among his choice exotics, and treads daintily beneath the majestic branches of his spreading oaks and beeches with infinite pleasure. The same spirit dwells in each bosom—they both " love flowers I and trees." The old, red night-capped cobbler, who labours daily in you cubbed-up shed, has got a pot of mignionette beside him—shrivelled, dusty stuff, destitute alike of essence and colour, but he sowed it himself, and waters it himself, and puts it in the sunshine himself, and we suspect that the eubhed-up shed, with its abominable effluvia of strong horse-hide and stronger wax-ends, is ren dered somewhat more cheerful in the imagination of the inhabitant by the presence of that poor pot of mignionette. The old cobbler "loves flowers." Watch the fair daughter of a regal line just concluding her toilette f o r a n i g ht o f pa l ace festi vity. You will see her take the bouquet with an extra beam lighting up her eyes. She snuffs at the luscious gardinia, prys into the pe tals of the pendant fuschia, and re-arranges a few leaves of the delicate myrtle with tender assi duity. The noble girl " loves flowers " better than all the other bright things about her. We meet Sunday morning idlers by dozens, strolling through the bye market streets of the great city. Let us just glance at them. We see a brawny drayman, who has evidently for gotten to shave himself, and not been too parti ' eular about the set of his neck-tie ;he has on the same rough, tough, dirty, thick, blanket sort of jerkin in whieh he let down the butts of " Bar clay's best" into dingy cellars during the week, but, in a button-hole of the said jerkin, is a splendid carnation. Re has consumed some minutes in placing it safely and conspicuously, and ho walks on, eyeing it every now and then, with great self - satisfaction ; and his satisfaction is not un- Shared, for while observing his pride in the really beautiful blossom, we feel proud also that one of a class who had courage to pelt Ilaynau should " love flowers." A grimy son of Vulcan is carrying off a huge bunch of wall-flowers, which he says is for his "little Polly, who is ill o' fever, and likes the Smell on 'em." A lank, pale woman has spent an extravagant halfpenny on a dozen brilliant sweet Peas, which she declares will "keep beautiful for a Week with plenty of fresh water." A charity boy has picked up a bit of a broken stock, and with earnest endeavour fixes it above his badge of po verty, and then as earnestly bends his head to try and get ,a whiff of it s o d orous b rea th. A ye, ye "love flowers," ye children of Toil, and ever will. DoWn yon area we see a goodly number of half dead plants, with their yellow leaves supported by green sticks, and some so utterly denuded of foli age that their "genus" is a mystery. These are the especial and treasured property of the cook, Who is never known to cuff her favourite Tabby, saving when he insists on trying his talons about the root of the best geranium. In the balcony Window above, we perceive snowy camelias and gorgeous cactuses standing up, in their rich china vases, in attractive magnificence. They belong to the young heiress, who tends them hourly with her own jewelled fingers, and who was never known to snub her darling juvenile sister except ing when the juvenile sister unduly destroyed a lo ng - cherished arum, when the heiress dispensed as vulgar and decided a box on the ear as could have been bestowed by the most unrefined of ex asperated young ladies. It is plain that those above and those below "love flowers." As for garde us ! they are as old as Paradise itself, and we see the occupation of the "old Adam" still peeping out, when the over-fed gold -surfeited citizen betakes himself to a detached villa, " within ten miles of London, and two of a railway station," '.where lie puddles and pokes with his gardening tool, a, in his gardening jacket, and takes more pleasurable interest in grubbing up a few weeds, or planting a row of seedlings, than he ever experienced while cashing a heavy bill for Messrs. Needem and Co. " The phaeton is ready, sir," says John to his civic master ; but the master is hoeing away at an obsti nate dock-root at the lower end of the shrub bery, and perfectly oblivious of Threadneedle- Street and Bradshaw. The elderly gentleman has teenaged to " mess" the bottom of his trousers Pretty considerably ; his hands must be washed ; his boots must be changed; his face is rather moist and rather florid, owing to the inveterate resis tance of the dock-root, awl he cannot possibly go by that train. "I shall go by the half-past one," aaYa the civic master, and he again applies him- Se lf vigorously to the dock-root, which he at last conquers. Elated wi-h the feat, he conceives a f ancy foe- clearing the herb bed of " that nasty e hickvressel," and after doing an immensity of nothing, be finds it is too late to be of any use in t own, and sits down to his dinner with the full convicticea that he has materially assisted the gar- I lener. H a ppy d e l us i on ! It is pleasant to see t he primitive digging and delving tendency of childhood return in men, when all that Fortune can bestow send all that Ambition can achieve has nerved but t,e~ teach that it is possible to have "too touch of a 0( td thing," and that a bit of grass-plot nifty be as nisei to heaven as a banker's counter. Here we rusty see attached to a beggarly cot tage a ti ny patch of ground, pr o b a bl y a b ou t twenty feet I ly twelve ; but the tiny patch is .i e rammed with scarlet runners, hen and chicken nastur titling, sweet williams, and heaven "ou's what. 1 ., Uhere are the entailed acres sur rounding the to wars and terraces of the great, and these acres are a galaxy of beauty, bolted W ith floral rainb. s ws, and breathing distilled honey t ° such excess th at the very bee faints away, and t he good- na t ure d ;b u tterfly has to fan him b ac k to existence with her lightsome wings. The Occ upier of the lea vly home and the owner of the stat ely mansion alike "love flowers." Mark that boi ly gaunt, sinewy vine, trying to Cre el) over a signo] e-dried wall, with its few leaves turning;t brown v, 'hen they should be green, and --3 few er grapes t turning sour when they should b„ ''" Sweet. Observt r this twining mass of tendrilled ereep ers, thickly woven to form the " b ower of beauty and roma ace in the doe the h omely princely pleasance." wo cidbine clustering over the /1 farm sl.'lllBe porch, and. n este the clematis and jasmine t he baronial trained to screen the morning sun from 41e baronial bre stitsfast room. Oh ! how true it I$ that " flow em and sweet green things are °lean by peer and peasant. We find them re ecgnised every.% is ere, as the silent ministers of God's unfathom 8. ble power, and the unceasing Idols of man's in atinctive homage. Gardens are 1 s leasant planes. They were 80 When under the tilassical patronage of Semiramis and . _ Alcinou s , a. sit they are agreea bl e s till , b ear i ng the modern p .atronyntics of Versailles, Kew, hosherville, or tensington. C' There is some, tins refreshing in the very word garden." Wb I tth er the style be Italian or -u nteh it is of l ittle c onsequence, as far as the gene ral s2f Humanity is d. We admit th at w e ps : efer to ramble where concerne Nature and :keep up I,oooaning family feeli ng; ye t w h en ? are shut int with peacocks cut out of b ox t rees , We W hose only new sit is that they do not scream, yet Sa p We cam tot quarrel with the place they dis ag. We f l that a " garden" was i nten d e d , t hat is enos igh. to sanctify the most a t roc i ous mete , it ,:e have beo n led into this wandering bit o f voin4.l) by the 1 )erusal of the three charming il lN C ule a under n o tice. aining These books form a most I.ll ctive auci 'ert addition to our store of Botanical Literature. The volume on " Popular Grrden Botany," by Agnes Catlow, should be in the hands of every one who wishes to posSess a fair and accurate knowledge of floricultural pur suits without being compelled to wade through dense details of complex theory ; and these pages contain all the information necessary for those who take interest and find amusement in " a garden." The style is concise and simple, yet giving enough of science to qualify its instructions. It treats of most hardy and half-hardy flowers, and gives the best method of producing and rearing them. The twenty coloured plates illustrating the work are alone worth the price. "The Popular History of Palms," by Dr. BertholdSeeman, is also an admirable publication, calculated to attract all classes of readers by the masterly extent of its investigating research, and the lucidity of its general tone. The warm ap proval of the work by such a man as Humboldt is an incontestible . guarantee of its excellence, and we can only offer our word of praise as the spon taneous result of the delight with which we have perused it. "The Popular Geography of Plants," edited by Dr. Charles Daubeuy, forms a fitting com panion to the other volumes, and is of inesti mable value to those who would learn something of the wondrous adaptations and arrangements of Nature in her various characters of vegetation throughout the world, and who would yet escape being perplexed by the dry and technical method pervading most works of the kind. The last named volumes are illustrated by exquisite land scapes in chrorno-lithography ; and setting aside the intrinsic literary worth of these three publica tions, the pictorial beauty contained in them ought to secure them a place on every drawing room table. We cordially recommend them to all those who love fields, trees, and flowers, especially as the cost of the volumes is as low as the tone of their contents is elevated. CHARLES KNIGHT. The English Cyclopvdia. Conducted by Charles Knight. First Two Divisions. Natural _His tory, 4 vols. Geography, 4 vols. Messrs. Bradbury and Evans. Eureka—it is found ! A really national cyclo p2dia—a now dictionary of universal knowledge-- issued as a cheap perioeical, and yet delivered to the subscribers with such admirable rapidity as to come almost at once into their hands as a substan tial publication. Already (in attestation of this) half of the entire work has even now been per fected—perfected within three years from th e d a t e of its commencement. A similarly brief interval will place the other moiety in our possession. Eight out of the sixteen volumes of the serial may now be ranged upon our bookshelves for consulta tion. The remaining eight are to follow in due sequence, according to Mr. Knight's original an nouncement. Hitherto ho has been true to his word—lie will not fail to fulfil his later promi ses with equal accuracy in the hereafter. He has taught us to regard his assurances upon these mat ters with implicit and illimitable confidence. He has earned his right to our respectful acceptance of his decla ra ti ons upon th ese h ea d s as neither illu sory nor simply speculative. What he engages to, do, he d oes , an d d oes, moreover, always right well, and—th oroug hl y. I t cannot ver y easily be forgotten by the reading public of England, that to Charl es K n i g h t, among a l l men, it is indebted, especially, directly, personally indebted for the boon of an unbounded supply of instructive and entertaining, c h ea p an d w h o l esome publications. As the ori g i na t or o f our respecta b le c h ea p litera ture, Charles Knight takes foremost rank among the more eminent auil the more practical of our great national benefactors. He is incomparably and beyond all ques ti on t h e F ather of the new bys tern. Individually, as an author, as a man of in tellect—his fame will rest, of course, upon the me mory of his luminous writings as facile pnne ps among the commentators and biographers of Seek spore. It gives p rom i se , moreover—this literary re putation of his—of being very considerably enhanced by his ingenious researches as the popular historian of England. Otherwise—as a philanthropist, as a promoter of general education, as a publisher— Charles Knight will be most honourably remem bered in his capacity as the founder of the recent, but already wide-spread system of good and cheap literature, whether in regard to books, or in regard to periodicals. Recollect, it was Charles Knight who, years and years ago, poured lavishly from his printing press, every successive Saturday, the weekly instalments of that very memorable illus trated instructor —the Penny Magazine. It was Charles Knight, again, who in the same way, month after month, printed and published that well remembered pocket library—the Shilling Volumes. It was Charles Knight who was the accepted and authoritative medium for the distribution all over the empire of the famous treatises of that much abused but eminently serviceable body—the t3oeiety for the Diffusi.on of Useful Knowledge. It was Charles Knight who did all this, and who, besides doing all this, crowned the whole of his really benign labours at once as author, and editor, and publisher, by giving to the world another genuine world-wonder iu the 'shape of his famous Penny Cyclopedia. He has, since then, in a re markable little volume called " The Old Printer and Modern Press," related how it came to pass that the last-mentioned work, in spite of its ad mitted excellence, never became so far successful as to be actually remunerative. He has therein laid it down as an axiom that no serial publication has ever really succeeded in this country, which occupied more than four or five years, at the very utmost, in the stages of its periodical appearance— explaining, while doing so, very lucidly, the why and the wherefore. He has recounted, for ex ample, in illustration of his accuracy in this rather startling estimate, ,how the " Penny Cyclopredia," during the eleven years absorbed in the progress of its issue, number by number, part by part, volume by vo l ume , gra d ua ll y, at first almost imperceptibly, but in the end very appreciably, dwindled f rom a c i rcu l at i on of 50,000, to a circula tion of 20,000 — upwar d s of h alf the number of the original subscribers finding their patience exhausted long before the arrival of the ultimate date of its completion ! Instructed by the very costly expe rience thus purchased, Mr. Knight deliberately re solved upon the is sue i n wee k ly numbers at sixpence, and in monthly parts at two shillings, and in quar terly volumes at twelve shillings, of THE NATIONAL CycLOP,EDIA, a Dictionary of Universal Know ledge, based upon The Penny Cyclopredia. A,won derful undertaking, apart from its cheapness, when it is remembered that it is, to all intents and pur poses, a new cyclopedia, to be begun and finished within five years altogether from the actual date of its commencement. Yet more remarkably to faci litate the completion of the serial in the hands of the subscribers, Mr. Knight, it appears to us most judiciously, decided upon an alphabetical arrange ment of his English Cyclopredia under four separate divisions, each complete in four volunies—first, 4 vols. of " Geography ;" secondly, 4 vols. of " Natural History ;" thirdly, 4 vols. of " Sciences and Arts ;" f o u r thly, 4 vo l s o f " History and Bio graphy "—sixteen volumes altogether. A couple of these divisions appearing simultaneously. Already, as we have said, exactly half of the entire work, as thus organised, has by this time made its appearance. Tire subscriber s have thus, within little more than two years and a-half acquired in return for the petty outlay of just sixpence per week, eight splendid volumes, comprising within them a perfect cyclopmdia of " Natural History' and " Geography." Beautifully printed in clear type, upon excellent paper, and lavishly adorned with woodcut illustrations, the text of the old work (the " Penny Cyclopredia'') having been carefully remodelled in the new work (the "English Cyclopwdia "), so as to adapt it to the advanced state of existing knowledge ! How successfully a ll thi s h as b een accomplished in the two broad divisions of the work already completed, may be easily enou g h con j ec t ure d , w h en it is borne in mind th a t among t h e di st i nguished authorities consulted in reference to the natural sciences are contemporaries as illustrious as Owen in regard to anatomy, as Liebig in regard to chemistry, as Ansted i n regar d to geology, as Broderip in regard to ornithol og y, an d so f or th throughout. Speaking of th e work at th i s stage of its publication, we are not estimating its value merely ex pede Herculean ! It is something better and more advanced even than a torso. Already there stand before .us, each complete in itself and in symmetrical English maturely perfected, two out of the f our fi gures order, arranged upon t o thebe grouped pedestal o f the together, Cyclokedia. We can speak of them, therefore, as we fi n d t h em ; and we find them in all essential resp ec t s. rea ll y admirable. When brought to its final close the aggregate work will be embellished with upwards of five thousand wood engravings-5,000 separate illustrations, scattered over the pages of si x t een quarto volumes of inestimably instructive letter press. Sixpence a week for all this—tire wonders of our age it must be confessed are not altogeth er restricted to such marvels as the steam-engine and the electric telegraph. The Popular History of England. By Charles Knight. No. I. Bradbury and Evans. Hero, indeed, we have in simple truth before us but the foot of a Hercules. It were presumptuous ~~..? . TILE SUN, LON ON, TRUTIIDAY - EITENII4O-, JANUARY M, 185 a. to estimate the probable merits or demerits of -the perfected work from this solitary and merely frag mentary specimen —as presumptuous as it would have been for any one, even Hierocles himself, to appraise the value of the unseen house represented by the one brick of the immortal Scholasticos. Robert Owen, it must be ad mitted, built up the scheme of an extinct colossus of birds, from a single bit of a gigantic bone dug up by chance at our antipodes —a scheme cor roborated almost miraculously by a subsequent discovery of the entire skeleton ! But criticism does not exactly admit of an Owen —or, if it did, would find some difficulty in detecting his where abouts. So that we are perforce compelled to re ceive No. I. of Charles Knight's " Popular History of England " for precisely what it pretends to be and no more—namely, the precursor of thirty-five other monthly instalments. Judging it from the four preliminary chapters comprised within the limits of this initial number, the work promises to be a very lucid narrative of the great annals of our mother-country —a narrative which, if only con tinued with the same ability to the end, must prove eminently worthy of the hand to which the people of England are already grateful for so many and such varied masterpieces. The Popular history of England, ia other word; promises to be to the Pictorial history of England what the "English Cyclopvedia" is proving itself to be to the " Penny Cyclopwdia." An improved remodelling of the old materials materials in their new form strangely ripened, matured, and generally de veloped to something more nearly approximating to absolute completeness. " The Popular History of England," indeed, is considerably more even than this as contrasted with its predecessor, the memorable " Pictorial History of England"—inas much as the former purports to be and actually is an entirely new work, penned by the skilled hand of the veteran author, editor, printer, publisher— Charles Knight. Charles Knight was the projector of the " Pictorial History of England." He is the writer of the " Popular History of England." His sparkling and some of them exquisite essays, en titled collectively " Once upon a Time," assure us of his capacity to pen the annals of the people of England (aud not alone of the monarchs of Eng land) as they ought to be penned, but as they never have been hitherto. Honour to the " Old Printer" for his daring and patriotic enterprise. It is one eminently befitting him in his pre-eminent position as the classic biographer of the most glorious of all the sons of England —the biographer of Shakspere thus not inaptly aspiring to become the popular historian of Shakspere's Fatherland. An ambition worthy of crowning the labours of a life to which the people of England are already indebted, among other things, for the priceless boon of a cheap and wholesome literature. might one day be crushed beneath a mountain of ' gold. She feels it now ; her sin has been profit less, her guilt unavailing: Had she but waited and trusted all would have come right. She hears mocking voices in the air—" Well done, they say, well done ! You have had your will ; you have won a husband and his riches ; you have ransomed your father. Poor fool, it was needless ; it was labour utterly in vain ! You have given your life, you have bartered your soul to do it, and Death was waiting to forestall you at the last—to pour into your lap a greater treasure than even your sin has earned ! Lilian, what have you done ? There is Cyril ; look at him—can you see his heart ? There is Alice ; have you watched her in her chamber ? There is Michael, he waits for the marriage blessing • do you think it is a cu rse ? Turn from them, Lilian, look at your own soul— you dare not ! Yet the work is done. Tear off that deceit, it was NOT needful ; no not for that father's sake wh om you have loved before your Lord. God's hand was ready to redeem him ; the very wealth you thirsted for was garnered up and waiting the appointed time. It might have blessed you, it comes to crush you. Ah ! the mountain of gold !" Overwhelmed by these reflections her overwrought brain and over-taxed strength give way. She falls senseless, and when she recovers—where is she ? She has been for a year and a half the inmate of a lunatic asylum. She makes her escape through the open window before she discovers the fact, and hurries back to her native place, her beloved Am bsrhill. She passes the well-known church, she turns to look once more at her mother's grave, and reads her father's name upon the stone ! Yes ! he is dead, that weak though lovingparent, who had made shipwreck of her life and his own—he from whom, iu her shortsightedness, she would have averted every trial he had had to bear; the consequences of his own sins alone. His own curate, a fierce and unrelenting bigot, had discovered both his secrets and proclaimed them to the world, and he had sunk beneath the double disgrace, and his son had fled the country. Thus Lilian was left alone to learn how our wishes may be fulfilled and yet not granted. She had prayed and striven for wealth with au almost impious resistance to the will of Heaven, and her rebellious desire came to pass, and she stood alone in the world. But the bitter lesson was learnt at last, and the stormy heart found rest. She effected a reconciliation between her cousin and Mr.Hallidon ; she discovered her brother, who had begun a new life in a new world, and blessings followed her footsteps. But the friend of the weary was at baud, she survived but to welcome the lover of her youth once more, and the weary spirit was at peace. The style is earnest and often eloquent, the characters dis tinctly drawn, and the interest unflagging. Some points in the plot are improbable, and some incon sistent with good taste, but the talents of the writer are evident, and the attention of the reader is secured. The lesson resulting from the effects of an undisciplined mind and a perverted judgment are clearly shown. Had Lilian, instead of striving after unattainable wealth, persuaded her father to surrender his benefice, and resign themselves to comparative poverty, she would have acted wisely and well. But we are not allowed to wait till the most convenient opportunity to choose the right course—to do wrong for a little while till our worldly prospects are secure, and then forsake it. We may rest assured, if we act thus, we shall not go untempted. It we loiter on the brink of the precipice, a false step will hurry us lower down than we intended. This moral, deduced with clear ness and vigour, is impressed on the pages before us. It shows the writer to be one who has thought and felt deeply, and we may hope to receive from his pan another work like the present, in which the graphic power of talent portrays the dangers of self-deception, and the mind of the reader is inpressed with too-often forgotten truths. COURT CIRCULAR. Tee Queen and Prince Albert left Windsor Castle at half-past 11 o'clock yesterday morning, attended by the Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Churchill, Lord Byron, Col. the Hon. C. B. Phipps, Sir Edward Bowater, Lord C. Fitzroy, Col. F. H. Seymour, and the Master of the Hocsehold. Her Hajesty and the Prince travelled by a special train on the Great s Western Railway, and proceeded from the Paddington terminus, escorted by a party of the 3d Light Dragoons, to Buckingham Palace, where the Royal party arrived at 2d minutes past 12 o'clock. Her Majesty, attended by Lady Churchill, Lord C. Fitzroy, and Col. Seymour, afterwards visited her Royal Highness the Duchess of Glocester'at Glocester-house. The Queen held a Court and Privy Council in the afternoon. At the Court M. Musurus had an audience of her Majesty, and delivered his new credentials as Ambassa dor from the Sultan of Turkey. Mr. Alfred Rucker had his first audience of the Queen, and delivered his credentials as Minister Resident of the Hanse Towns. Their Excellencies were introduced by the Earl of Clarendon. K.G., the Queen's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and conducted by MajorGene rat the Hon. Sir E. Cust, K.C.H., her Majesty's Master of the Ceremonies. The Right Hon. Sir Henry Bulwer, G C. 8., was pre sented to the Queen at an audience by the Earl of Cla rendon on his return from his mission to Tuscany. Mr. Baron (George) Bracewell was presented to the Queen at an audience-by Mr. Secretary Labouchere (act ing for Sir G. Grey), when her Majesty was graciously pleased to confer the honour of Knighthood upon him. Mr. Wrn. Carpenter Rowe (Queen's Counsel), Chief Justice of Ceylon, was presented to her Majesty at an audience, by Mr. Secretary Labouchere, and had the honour of Knighthood conferred upon him. Mr. M. R. Sousse, Puisne Judge at Bombay, was presented by Mr. Secretary Labouchere to the Queen, and received the honour of Knighthood. Mr. William Edmond Logan, Director of the Geolo gical Survey in Canada, was presented by Mr. Secre tary Labouchere, when her Majesty was graciously pleased to confer the honour of Knighthood upon him. Mr. P. Benson Maxwell, Recorder of Prince of Wales's Island, was presented by Mr. Secretary La bouchere, and received from the Queen the honour of Knighthood. Mr. Richard :Bolton M'Causland, Recorder of Singa pore, was presented at an audience by Mr. Secretary Labouchere, when her Majesty was graciously pleased to confer the honour of Knighthood upon him. Viscount Gough had an audience of the Queen in the Royal closet, when her Majesty was graciously pleased to deliver to his Lordship his gold stick of office as Colonel of the Royal Horse Guards. The Privy Council was attended by his Royal High ness Prince Albert, Earl Granville (Lord President), the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Harrowby, Lord Privy Seal ; Viscount Palmerston, First Lord of the Treasury ; the Earl of Clarendon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affair s ; th e Ri g h t H on. H. Labouchere, Secretary of State for the Colonies ; Lord Panmure, Secretary of State for War ; Sir G. Lewis, Chancellor of ..the Exchequer ; S;r C. Wood, First Lord of the Admiralty ; the Right Hon. R. V. Smith, President of the Board of Control ; Lord Stan ley of Alderley, President of the Board of Trade ; the Right Hon. M. T. Baines, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster ; and the Marquis of Abercorn, Groom of the Stole to the Prince. At the Council the Queen's Speech on - opening Par liament was sanctioned by her Majesty in Council. The Queen pricked the list of Sheriffs for the different counties of England and Wales for the present year. The Hon. Wm. Bathurst was the Clerk of the Counci in Waiting. Amberhill. By A. J. Barrowcliffe. 2 vols. Smith Elder, and Co. This is a striking and remarkable story, with great originality of plot and vivid delineation of character, drawn by a vigorous if unpractised hand. Yet, notwithstanding the talents displayed in its production, the impression it leaves on the reader's mind is not a pleasing one, though it may serve to point a moral to those whose passionate affections mislead their judgment, and whose desire to make those they love happy overpowers their sense of right. It presents us with the melancholy picture of a vehement and gifted nature, with an enthusi astic reverence for all that is true and noble, and a fervent sense of right, wandering in the paths of sin and sorrow, and wrecking all its hopes of hap piness and virtue, on that rock which has proved fatal to so many, " doing evil that good may come." It is written in the form of an autobio graphy, the writer being the only daughter of a clergyman who has four sons. The story opens with a tragedy. On a sultry summer afternoon the heroine, then only a girl, is in her father's study, when she overhears a conversation between him and her mother, which opens to her the fatal secret which mars her whole after life. As her mother is persuading her husband to choose the right way, and has just triumphed, she sees her youngest child playing in the garden in tha thunderstorm. She flies to bring him into safety, and they are both struck dead beneath an old cedartree. The same vivid flash deprives another of her brothers of sight, and a third dying some time after, Lilian, and her eldest brother Lawrence, are all that remain of the once happy family, the blind boy being placed at a school, and seldom returning home. But the bit terest sorrow was to come. Lilian's father, as we have already said, was a clergyman of the English Church, but being of a controversial disposition he had become persuaded that her ritual was not the right one. What the preiise nature of his doubts was, his daughter never knew ; she only know that he did doubt, and she saw the result. This father was the one great object of Lilian's existence. Her affection for him was intense, and she saw that t continue the outward observance of his profession was to him torture. But he was of that weak and vacillating disposition, which possessing the noblest impulses, might almost as w e ll h ave th e wors t. " With the longings of an angel" he had neither strength of mind nor moral rectitude sufficient to stay him from acts that were almost criminal. The thought of his family deterred him from surrender ing his benefice. His wife and five children he thought he could not doom to poverty, and so he lingered and delayed till his wife, with firmer principle and stronger faith, persuaded him to do what was right, nothing doubting—for whatever the real value of his opinions, it is certain that if he believed them true, ho should have followed them. The hand of death withdrew from him his adviser and support, and with her his new resolu tions. Lilian was aware of the struggle in her father's mind, and an earnest longing to aid him filled her heart. She saved all she could, but found her hoards proceed slowly, and a passionate desire for wealth seized her. She sought it, it is true, for her father's sake ; but, alas, when once riches are made our final object, reckless of the means by which they are attained, however pure the heart, however holy the object, the path to every crime lies open. All Lilian's better feelings were sacri ficed at the shrine of gold. Her early lover was poor, and the first affection of her heart was sur rendered. She found herself desiring the death of her miser uncle, nay, almost conniving at it, for she neglected to warn him of danger. His pocket book fell into her hands • she became a thief. It is true that the check she withdrew from it did not profit her as her brother claimed it ; but that did not excuse the act. Finding the philosopher's stone still eluding her grasp, she resolved to captivate a rich lawyer, with whom she was well acquainted, and who had extricated her from a serious diffi culty. She succeeded, and they were engaged, though with the confession on his part that he had once loved another, and could never hope to love again. Lilian was reckless, she had taught herself to love him, and freedom for her father was an object great enough to compensate for any defici encies. A cousin of Lilian's, Alice Campbell, came to reside with her a few months betore her mar riage. She had been brought up by her aunt, a strictly conscientious woman, but had never seen her mother's family, owing to her aunt's displea sure against Mr. O'May, Lilian's father. This was another of the instances in which his fatal weakness of disposition entailed misery on others, and re morse on himself. He had recommended a friend to the dying Mr. Campbell, as a guardian for his daughter, whom he believed to be unworthy of the trust. He proved so, and the orphan was left penniless. Her aunt, in displeasure, would never see the author of the misfortune, and broke off an engagement which Alice had formed, on learning that her lover was a friend of Mr. O'May. This lover was no Other than Mr. Hal lidon, the lawyer, to whom Lilian was en gaged, and as the wedding-day rapidly_ ap proached, that was to fulfil the hopes of her life and set her father free the long-parted lovers met at Lilian's home. They were both too upright, however, to wish th e engagement broken without Lilian's consent, and that she would not give. To the passages which follow we must demur. How ever much Lilian's love for her father had become, the ruling passion. f her life, however great her desire to set him free from his difficulties, how ever vehement and excitable her feelings by nature, it is, to say the least, highly improbable that she should have been so lost to all womanly dignity and self-respect, so forgetful of feminine propriety and delicacy, as to insist on the fulfilment of Mr. Hallidon's promise to her against his wish. It sufficiently proves that the story is traced by a masculine pen, for though Lilian's character is described as almost Italian in Its vehemence and excitement, her finer and better, feelings were in- compatible with such a course. It was scarcely possible that she should have become so hardened in her gold-seeking course, and the fact of her be ing described as really cherishing an affection for Michael llallidon, renders it the more improbable. Butts() the author, to our regret, has described it. Lilian refuses to abandon her rights, which the others admit to be pre-eminent, and so affairs proceed for a few days. Lilian, meanwhile, is perplexed by repeated demands for money from her brother. We have not alluded to his pursuits before, though they occupy a prominent place in the story. It is enough that he has persuaded his father to write a falsehood about his age, to obtain him a situation, and is compelled to bribe one who knows it to silence. He, too, has posses s i on o f his father's secret, and uses it to extort large sums of money from that miserable man. Driven almost wild by the troubles around her, and tortured by the sense of all her own wrong doing, Lilian finds a letter one day announcing the miser's death and her succession to all his wealth. Bitterly she re cals a prophecy, on her desire for wealth, that she Her Majesty gave audience to Viscount Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, Earl, Granville, and Lord Panmure. The Right Hon. M. T. Baines, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, had an audience of the Queen. Her Majesty was attended by the Earl of Mulgrave, Treasurer of the Irousehold ; Lord Byron, Lord in Waiting; and General Sir Edward Bowater, Groom in Waiting. Her Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince honoured the Haymarket ,Theatre with their presence in the evening. The< Royal suite consisted of L'uly Churchill, Lord Byron, Lord C. Fitzroy, and Colonel Seymour. The Earl and Countess of Stanhope, Lord and Lady John Russell, Lord an 1 Lady Stanley of Alderley, the Right Hon. Win, and Mrs. Cowper, the Right Hon. T. B. M acau l ay, t h e R i ght Hon. T. Pemberton Leigh, Admiral the Hon. R. S. Dunda,s, Major-General Sir Richard Airey, and M sjor-General Dupuis, command ing the Royal Horse .Artillery in the Crimea, left Windsor Castle yesuarda.y. Mr. John Wood, eiha'rlaan of the Board of In land Revenue, had an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday. Sir A. Spearman had also an interview yesterday with the Right Hon. Baronet. Olive castings. A Novel. By Mrs. Parry. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett. This story is well calculated to wile away soli tude or amuse an idle hour. It is somewhat more romantic than the generality of novels now met with, and it will thus be attractive to those who I delight in tracing a heroine's adventures through countless dangers and amid sundry scares—at one time surrounded by friends, and suddenly the prey of cruel enemies, and abandoned to despair. Olive Hastings is a pleasing and charming personage to grace a romance and adorn a narrative. She was singularly situated, and the plot is ingeniously constructed, and all the events which led to her strange position in Mrs. Dugeon's family are pro bable. Some of the characters who figure in the scene are strikingly described, and give a vigour and vivacity to the tale. Edward Crichton, with his melancholy tendency and gloomy ideas, the result of a neglected youth ; Colonel Merlin, who possessed naturally a good disposition and kind heart, but who, by want of self-command, and wrong companions, had perverted the one and warped the other, are contrasts effectively brought before the reader. One went from bad to worse, till an awful death completed a neglected life, with out a moment's preparation for the " weighty cares of an eternal scene ;" the other gradually amending what was wrong in his life and rendering himself more worthy of the excellent maiden on whom he had fixed his affections. The worldly and selfish temper of Mrs. Dugeon and Miss Shamwell are truthfully sketched, and we may form a notion from their proceedings of what the unfortunate have to encounter who are bound by natural, legal, or circumstantial ties to such natures. Poor Olive found treacherous friends in such a family, and a dreary home in that house over which Miss Sham well presided. Only her inexperience could have induced her to bind herself as an apprentice to the wily woman, who, under the guise of friendly assistance, was making all things subser vient to her interest. Mary Dugeon, the coquette, is a likely instance of what conceit and ill temper will bring their victims to. She nearly met with an agonising and untimely grave as the sequel of her rash and headstrong conduct, and it is not to be wondered at that she should, from the period of her restoration to health and strength, determine on a quiet and secluded mode of life. It is only an event of retributive justice, when the crafty and cunning set at Portgleu are caught in their own toils, and while they retire into disgraceful obscu rity, they hoar of their escaped victims taking their exalted places, amid the great and good of the land. The unlucky " Will," who was driven about in all directions by the cruel family, is interesting from his zeal and fidelity to the cause of the orphan, Olive, who was a fellow-sufferer in the same house as himself. I t i s sa ti s f actory to hear of his meeting with friends at last. Olive's various captures and escapes are exciting, and if such occurrences are rare nowadays, in com parison to what they used to be, it is not unlikely that so vehement a man as Colonel Merlin should seek to profit by stratagem w h en common forms did not avail hint. He was urged on and goaded to his base acts by a still more adroit deceiver, who spent his life front youth to age in the practise of evil works. He died at last by the hand of him whom he had led astray. With her gentle man ners and meek spirit Olive possessed a determina tion and energy that rose equal to any emergency, and hence she escaped wonderfully out of the hands of her enemies. "Deprived of all, of every stay, save Innocence and Heaven," she came un harmed out of the conflict, and triumphed in the majesty of devotion and truth. Her story is capable of enlivening by its variety, and interest ing by its depth of feeling, and the right purpose displayed in its composition. The reader is intro duced to numerous phases of society, which con tain graphic sketches of good and evil, and several characters appear whose diversity of disposition are skilfully depicted, thus presenting altogether an attractive novel for perusal. Despatches from, the Governors of the West India Colonies were received yesterday at the Colonial office. POLITICAL DINNERS. Earl Granville, Lot xl President of the Privy Council, gave a full-dress dinne r last evening, at his residence in Bruton-street, to a party of peers, consisting of the Earls of G3sford and! Abingdon, the mover and. se conder of the Address, the Lord Chancellor, the Dctke of Argyll, the Marqizises of Lansdowne, Abercor vt, Clanricarde, and Town Oland ; Ends Fitz williarn, rowby, Shaftesbury, So men, Cowper, and Beasborough; Viscounts Hardinge, Sydney, Falkland, and Torrington; Lords Overstone, Stanley of Aklerley, Broughton, Hatherton, Gleneig, De. Tabley, Wodehouse, Dufferin, Monteagle, Foley, and Camoys. Viscount Palmerston gave a full-dress dinner yester day, at his residence in Piccadilly, to the following mem bers of the House. of Commons Speaker, the Right Hon. H. Fitaroy (chairman of Ways and Means), the Hon. G. Byng (mover of the Address), Mr. Baxter (seconder of the Addiress), the Right Hon. M. T. Baines, Sir M. F. Berkeley, Sir Charles Wood, the Right Hon. R. Vernon Smith, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Hon. H. Lt%bouchere, Viscount Druwlanrig, Viscount Monk, V iscount Duncan, the Earl of Mul grave, the Right Han. E. P. Bouverie, the Right Hon. W. Cowper, the Right Hon. W. G. Hayter, the Right Hon. Sir Benjamin Hall, the Right Hon. E. Horsman, the Right lion. W. Keogh, the Right Hon. Robert Lowe, the Right H'on. W. Monsell, Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Frederick Peel, Mr. James Wilson, Sir A. Cock burn, and Sir Richard Bethell, the Hon. Henry Brand, General Buckley, Mr. Grenville Berkeley, Mr. W. N. Massey, Mr. R. Osbor ye, Mr. J. D. Fitzgerald, Mr. J. Moncrieff, and Mr. H.. D. Seymour. Mr. Charles C. Clifford also dined with the noble viscount. Lord Ernest Bruce was prevented diming with his lordship owing to a recent domestic afilicti,on. Viscount Palmerston and Earl Granville read the Queen's Speech on epening Parliament to their respec ti►e guests. The Right Hon. B. Disraeli received yesterday at dinner, Grosvenor -g ate, a party of members of the House of Commons. There were present--the Earl of March, the Marquis of Blandford, the Marquis of Granby, the Marquis of Chandos, Lord Bective, Lord Wm. Graham, Lora Barrington, Lord Galway, Lord Stanley, Lord Lovaitne, Lord Newark, Lord Newport, Lord Elmley, Lord R. Cecil, Lord Edwin Hill, Hon. Eliot Yorke, Colonel! Hon. Henry Lowther, Hon. R. Windsor Clive, Right Hon. Sir J. Trollops, Right Hon. Sir J. Pakington, Right Hon. C. N. Hamilton Sir Watkin W. Wynn, Sir J. Yards Buller, Sir William Joliffe, Sir E. Lytton, Mr. Palmer (Berkshire), Mr. Miles, Mr. Buck, Mr. Bentinck, Mr. Stanhope, Mr. Egerton, Colonel Howard Vyse, Colonel Gilpin, Mr. Dupre, Mr. Gore Langton, Mr. Palk, Mr. Kniglitley, Mr. Bateson, Mr. Packe, Mr. Portal, Mr. Fellowes, and Mr. Archdall. Yesterday evening the Earl of Derby entertained at dinner in St. James's-,square twenty-eight members of the House of Peers. Az uongst them were the following : —The Duke of Manchester, Duke of Mont rose , D u k e of Cleveland, Marquis >f S alisbury, Marquis of Exeter, Earls of Eglinton, Desa rt, Lucan, Cardigan, Lansdale, Winchilsea, Malmesbur2r, Hardwicke, Sandwich ; Lords Stradbroke, Redesdale, Colchester, St. Leopards, &c. MANSION HOUSE.—Ye eterday the Lord Mayor enter tained Mr. Thwaites, eh: Liman, and the other members of the Metropolitan Bor Ird of Works, and a number of distinguished and priva to friends, at dinner. Among those present were—Mr. Thwaites, Mr. W. Corrie, Mr. W. Williams, M.P., Mr.. T. Turner, Sir W. Cnbitt, Mr. Carpenter Rowe, Mr. Pteshley, Q.C., Mr. Hardwick, The Chisholm, Mr. Rose, Mr. Walker, Alderman Sir John Musgrove, Bart., Mr. Alderman Challis, M.P., Alderman Sir Francis Graham Moon, Bart., the Right Hon. J. Stuart Wortley, M.P.,Recorder of Lo n d on , Alderman Sir R. W. Carden, r. Alderman Wire, Mr. Alderman Carter, Mr. Alderman Cubitt, M.P., Alderman Sir Henry Muggeridge, Mr. Alderman and Sheriff Huntley Kennedy, Mr. Alderman and Sheriff Rose, Mr. Alderman Eagleton, Mr. Alderman Lawrence, Mr. Corrie, Captain Gossett, Rev. Mr. Erie, Mr. Waley, Mr. P. Salop none, Dr. Letheby, Mr. J. Dillon, Professor Sylvester, Captain Barnett, R. J N.. Mr. S e rj ean t Mere wether, Mr. . Ingram Travers, Mr. B. Travers, jun., Mr. Walker, Mr. R. Lambert Jones, Mr. Deputy Lott, Rev. Dr. lefortisner, D.D., Mr. Miller, Mr. Bristow, Mr. B. Drew, Mr. Bunni ng , M r . H aywar d , M r. Josiah Wilkinson, r. R. B. Seeley, Mr. Nicholay, Mr. Deputy Harrison, Mr. T. H. Hall, Mr. L. Davis, Mi. Deputy Rathbone, Mr. Deputy Peacock. UNITED MEXICAN` ASSOCIATION.—The half yearly meeting of this association took place yesterday, Sir J. Easthope presiding, when the report was received and approved. The works at Jesus Maria and La Trinidad mines ars making progress ; but a further outlay will be required tai test their produce at a greater depth, and 8,0001. is thtimated as the necessary amount. The assets in Mexico include 6,000/. cash and ores, and 10,0001. a claim on the Government ; but, as regards the latter, thepresent condition of politics excludes the expectation of its immediate payment. It is thought, however, that sufficient can be provided from these sources to carry out operations, and the directors promise to exercise strict economy. The funds in London represent 10,800/., of which 5,000/. stands to the credit of unclaimed divi. dends, while 5,300/. will have to be appropriated to meet outstanding liabilities. If further capital should prove to be essential, the directors propose to avail themselves of the power to raise the remainder of the loan granted on a previous occasion. The amount of speeie brought by the West India steamer yesterday is 140,0001., of which 90,000?. i s gold. RAILWAY REFORM: The meeting of railway proprietors, held on the 22d inst., to promote reform in railway management, and adjourned to the 30th, was continued yesterday accord. ingly, at the London Tavern, Mr. W. Mauxs presiding as before. There was a 'very limited attendance, and the chair man in consequence delayed the proceedings for some time beyond the hour advertised, but without any effect in adding to the numbers. The Hon. SECRETARY read the following report from the committee appointed at the previous meeting " Since the last meeting your committee have been in communication with many influential proprietors, and have obtained much valuable information, many impor tant offers of co-operation, and every indication of liberal pecuniary support. Your committee purpose, with a view to a rapid and efficient organisation of the associa tion, to obtain with all convenient speed lists of the shareholders in the various lines, when a direct applica tion will be made to every individual to enrol himself a member of your association ; and they are encouraged to believe that the result will be such a concentration of the proprietary influence as must speedily make itself felt in the conduct of railway affairs. , Your committee have not thought it expedient to define with too rigid precision the objects or modes of action of the associa tion, deeming it more desirable that these vital subjects should receive the deliberate consideration of the council when Lilly formed. Your committee have had under their consideration the various suggestions brought before the meeting held on the 22d inst., amongst others the pro posal that railway proprietors should be invited to en rot themselves en masse in the ranks of the association, and that the council might rely for funds on spon taneous contrieutions, to be made from time to time ; but your committee being of opinion that the scale of the operations of the association can only be safely based on a reliable fund, have not deemed it ad visable to adopt this suggestion ; but, desirous of exclud ing none by a high subscription, they recommend that an annual payment of half-a-guinea shall constitute membership. It will be obvious that even these arrange ments will, at all events for the present, necessitate the exercise of a judicious liberality on the part of the more wealthy supporters of our. objects. Your committee have also considered the question of local associations, and are of opinion that their establishment will be emi nently useful. In accordance, with this conclusion, the chairman attended an influential meeting at Liverpool on Monday last, and a powerful association is in process of organisation in that town. Time did not admit of his visiting Manchester, but the committee hope that a similar association will be forthwith formed there, which will be well supported, and they are glad to announce that they have good grounds for helieving that power ful local associations will be formed without delay in most of the principal towns in the United Kingdom. Your committee are fully sensible that they will have much to overcome in the inertness of many pro prietors, and in that official hostility which ever mani fests itself towards vigilant control ; but having no party battle to fight, no personal antipat'dee to serve, actu ated solely by the single purpose of restoring prosperity to a depreciated property, they are encouraged to be lieve that at no distant day the association wilt be po tent for good, and conduce to make railway manage ment as conspicuous for adherence to sound commer cial principles as railway enterprise is for its pre-emi nent magnitude." The CHAIRMAN, after repeating the statements he had made at the formation of the association on the 22d inst., and the efforts be had made to promote railway re form, and to establish peaceful relations and harmonious working between rival companies, explained that the reason the meeting was not more numerously attended, both to-day and on the previous occasion, was that no step beyond advertising had been taken to secure a large attendance. He had, however, great confidence in the truths of the principle upon which they were pro ceeding, and he had no doubt they would speedily see the results of those (at present meetings in the existence of a powerful and wide spread association. (Hear.) Referring to the mismanagement of the Eas. tern C mnties line, he said that after the expose made by the committee of investigation, it would be impossible to prevent the adoption of a better system in that elm pasty, let Mr. Waddineton and the directors do what they might. He then quoted Mr. Waddington's book and Mr. Capper's evidence as to the Eastern Counties coal trade, and urged that the gain there stated of Bs. 3d. per mile per train of 30 waggons, which would give a profit of something like 320,0001. each half-year on this branch of traffic, and contended that that calculation proceeded upon the fallacy that the 30 waggons ran the whole distance, whereas the number of waggons was diminished at every station from Peterborough south ward, and the receipts became less and less, while the expenses continued to the end of the journey. This was not taken into account in estimating profits, nor in the instance alluded to. The annual expenditure neces sary to keep the railway, the rulling stock and the hui:dings on the line had, according to the engineer's account, been withheld and omitted from the calcula tions. These charges woul4 have wholly absorbed the total net earnings of the line. He then adverted to the bill read by Mr. Love, of the Eastern Counties Railway, which proposed the issue of a Six per Cent. Preference Stoek, which he contended the cash account showed to be wholly unnecessary, though the sye stem which the directors had pursued would, if con• tinued, compel them to take that step a year or two hence. The Eastern Counties was by no means an isolated case. There were many other lines which carried on a large traffic at a loss. Take the North- Western, the average earnings of each engine on that line in 1846 amounted to 5,261/. net, while in 1854, not withstanding the numerous improvements in the con struction of locomotive engines, the gross earnings of each engine upon the same line were 0n1y4,2541. He be lieved that the great loss was upon the goods traffic, and that the French railways carried a smaller proportion of goods as compared with the extent of the passenger traf fic, which was, he considered, one reason why they paid so much better than our own. There was another item of expenditure which in calculating traffic rates ought to be eamsidered, and that was the money they were called upon to pay in compensation for injuries resulting from railway accidents. Juries as well as the legislature ap pesca•ed to look upon railway companies as fair game, and . the practice was generally to apportion the damage, not occording to the circumstances of the accident, or the deXree of blame attaching to the company, but to the ciro umstances of the party injured, so that railways ought it r justice to themselves to inquire into the position in life at every traveller who, came to them, and charge the tare higher or lower accordingly. It would almost seem than: when floggieg in the army and navy was abo lished, tile lash had been transferred to the backs of rail way sharzeholders. Amongst other points of mismanage meat, to the correction of which the association might direct attoution was the permitting the salaried servants of the railways to become contractors, shipowners, and traders, as its the instance of Mr. Gooch, of the Eastern Counties, the practice of giving certain large carriers a sort of monotony of the goods traffic, whereby they drew a commission 4 on all goods carried ; the mingling together of capital and revenue in the accounts, and the running of long heavy (satins where lighter trains would be suffi cient. A demo , in this latter respect would increase ra ther than diminish the accommodation afforded to the public, while it \would avoid the necessity for employing the large heavy .engines, which were a constant source of expense by destroying the permanent way. It was proposed to manage the affairs of the associa tion by a council of 100 members, 25 to be elected in London and the rind to represent the prineipal.provin cid towns, and fron a this council an executive committee of twelve would be appointed. There had been some doubt expressed as to the prospect of obtaining sufficient funds. As far as th ey had gone —and they would re member the associations was only a week old—there was every indication that flue would be no want of the sinews of war. (Hear, .hear.) Most of the members of the committee had sub scribed ten guineas each, and were prepared to subscribe as much more if required, but it was considered ttrzt a small annual subscription extending over the whole body of the railway proprietors of the country would be the more satisfactory mode of raising the requisite funds. The sum suggested was tea shillings, and that, it was expected, would be sufficient, but of course the committee would be glad to receive larger subscriptions from those whose circumstances per mitted it. He had ha& oemmunications from Lord Wynford and several influential persons in Parliament, and from many large shareholders, approving of the movement and promising support. He moved that the report be adopted. (Hear, hear.) Mr. BROWN, who believed that the great bane of rail ways was competition, and consequent low rates, sug gested that the first object of the association should be to• communicate with the several boards, with a vicar to induce rival companies to work in concert, and adopt payllag• rates. He seconded the motion for adopting the repo tt. M. G. SMITH thought it wise to lay down ce_!• i t r a s i t, n principles for the guidance of the associatior ic/ devise n they , ught to consult all accountants, in or der ,y iw some s imple and plain mode of keeping railway accounts for uni v ersal adoption. (Hear, hear.)h Here eho nowlder s framed,it as imposoi blo to understand them.were m now ude up and presented to t T he e s y ha As tho as it alpeared to him, for thesole purpose of confu s i ng. Ile ah.o 'considered that so me im p roved system of audit was necessary. Mr. GOLDSMIDT hoped the reckless e x p en di ture entered into b y railway companies, not merely for the purpose of co, istruction, but for the perpose of litigation, ought to occupy the attention of the council of the association. He' , ne w an instance where, out of a capital of a million, 112 ,000/. had been thrown away in law and Parlia mer itary expenses. There was a case, too, that was now pa n ding before the courts, between two opposing corn pat les. 'rho one proposed to settle the matter in dispute by arbitration, but the other refused, and lodged no lea 'er than 39 pl eas i n answer to the claim of the other. He suggested that an annual list of the members of the association should be sent round to all railway proprie tors ; and recommended, as another point of reform, a redo ;ion in the number of ilie directors forming the boar. L. The f ore i gn ra il ways , w hi c h were so muc h better ! man: tg ed than our own, were generally in the hands of four o. r five able and well-paid directors. (Hear, bear.) Mr Surra moved a resolution approving the objects of the association, and promising it support ; which , havin bceu seconded, was carried unanimously. (This reeolr . on was proposed an.l accepted as a substitute for the Inc tion of the chairman for adopting the report, which 1 vas withdrawn.) An o.her resolution, appointing the council of gen time la, with power to increase their number to 100, and to se' t eC l :, from amongst themselves an executive cum. mitte , 5' of ,12, was carried, after an objection from Captain Tuck At th at the election of the whole number ought to be lei 1 to ti le general body, and some remarks from Mr. :NEW ]ell el.owing the necessity for the association by a refei.e Luc a to the depreciation in the market value of all rail way property, and answering some of the comments RAILWAY BILLS IN PARLIAMENT. Yesterday the following bills were declared to have complied with the standing orders : Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland.—Esten sion to Strokestown and Cavan. Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhatnptcn Railway.— To extend the time for completing the line, and adapt ing the saw to the broad gauge, and to facilitate the construction of the branch to Stratforel•on-Avon ; also to raise 150,0001. for completion of the broad gauge, and to convert mortgage debt into stock. Scottish Central Railway.—For branch railways to Denny. Carmarthen and Cardigan.—For deviation of line, at a cost of 190,0001. Alford Valley Railway.—For oonatruction, at a colt of 86,0001. Fo'rmarture and Buchan Railway. —For a line from the Great North of Scotland to Stricken, at an esti mated cost of 245,0001. Darenth Valley Railway.—For deviations and pur- chase of land. The two bills declared not to have complied with the standing orders on some technical grounds were : Llanidloes and Newtown Railway. —For abandonment of part of authorised line, purchase of additional lands, (Ice. East Somerset Railway.—For co.satructing, at a coat of 75,0001. The other bills of a miscellaneous kind were—Broad stairs Harbour, Pier, and Landin-place (to be con struotol out of money to be raised on the rates) ; and Isle of Wight Steam Bridge and Approaches (to estab lish a company for a floating bridge between Stokes Bay and Ryde, at a cost of 20,0001.) ; North Shields and Tynemouth Dock (cost 160,000/.); Bath Gas ; Renfrew shire Roads ; and Colebrook Road and Conway Road. NEWSPAPERS AND ADVERTISE= liTs.—According to a return just published, the duty oa newspapers and ad vertisements in the year ended tha 31st of March last was 478;792/, of the weekly press as to the proposed mode of action, and the advisability of raisir g faros. After some conversation up )1-1 points of mere detail, a vote of thanks was passed. is favour of the chairman, which closed the business. THE GREAT WESTMINSTER MEETING. --~-- The Westminster meeting of yesterday has in .every respect transcended our utmost expectations. A more respectable gathering of earnest reformers and strenuous advocates of popular progress never took place in a city which had for generations been celebrated for its patriotism and attachment to the cause of civil and religious i liberty. The great Hall was crowded in all parts, not excepting the galleries, while the feeling which animated the vast and intel ligent assembly was such as we have rarely witnessed. It was a most significant sign of the times. It was clear as the meridian sun, from the spirit by which the crowded meeting was influenced, that the people are far in advance of their leaders, and that if a few men of talent, patriotism, and character were but to come forward to direct a national move ment, we should see such an agitation in favour of popular rights, both at home and abroad, as this country never before witnessed. There exist mate rials for accomplishing those great reforms in the present state of affairs in England, such as no leader of the people ever before bad to work with. And though we cannot at the moment name the right man for the important office of heading a grand national organisation for reforms which are so much needed, we de not doubt that, as the Hour has manifestly arrived for the national movement, the Man will not long be wanting.''' We refer our readers to the copious report, which we give in another part of our impression, of yes terday's proceedings at St. Martin's Hall. If Minis tors had faithful friends there, they must by this time be profoundly impressed with the convic tion that the people of England will not tamely submit to any terms of peace which are not com patible with the honour and interests of this country—secure the future integrity of Turkey— and extort from Russia the most ample guarantees for the tranquillity of Europe. If Ministers, after the demonstration of yesterday, venture to accept unsatisfactory conditions of peace, they will do it at their peril. There was the most perfect unani mity we ever witnessed at any public meeting, in protesting with a terrible earnestness against any patched-up peace—in denouncing the idea of an armistice, before a treaty of pease has been formally signed—and in demanding that Mini, be made to indemnify us for the expenses of the war. But even that did not seem to a large proportion .of t the assemblage to go far enough. They de manded the impeachment of all the Ministers, in cluding the members of Lord Aberdeen's Administration, who have been parties to the criminal or incapab'e management of the war. Au amendment was moved to that effect, the chairman hav ing relhsed to incorporate its substance with the resolu tion ; on being put to the meeting, it was carried amid deatTening acclamations. We think that proposing an amend: rent of this nature Was a mistake, because it can be followed by no practical results ; but it was a great fact, e.s showing the feeling of the people on the subject. of the war, and their opinions as to how those Ministers should he dealt wit!i, on whose shoulders rests the heaviest portion of the responsibility. We cannot doubt that the exhibition of public feeling in the city of Westminster, yesterday, will have its due weight with the Ileuse of Commons, as well as with Ministers. Many of the member; of the representative branch of the Legislature who have hitherto been either the subservient supporters rf the Government in their misdeeds, or been silent when they ought to have dt• nounced and protested against the inc.tpacity or culpa bility of those in power,—must have heard, in the deafening plaudits with whkh the hall rang, when the conduct of Ministers w.ss so. denounced, the death knell of their existence as repvesentatives of the people. We shah aso be grievously ditappointed, well as surprised, if yesterday's demonstration io Westminster do not have its effect in enlightening the minds of many members of the Lower House as to bow they should vote when the question of the Austrian peace propositions comes before them.—Morning Advertioscr. COVENT -GARDEN THEATRE. The annexed extract from the New-York Herald, of the 31st ultimo, will show that the far-famed " Wizard" has not achieved merely an Elropean reputation. His character amongst our transatlantic brethren is such as to render everything in which lie is concerned matter of general interest, and the account of his well-merited suc cess wil! gratify the amour prop,.c of the " Statesmen," by showing that the verdict which they so unanimously returned has received the imprimatur of a long succes sion of London audiences. The advertisements of the Professor, however, only constitute a portion of his great triumph. They may afford him a fair chance of displaying his wonderful resources, but unleis ho had the stuff in him they would speedily become worse than useless. We gladly recognise the advantages derived from the assist. ance of his admirable auxiliary, Mr. E. P. Hingeton, whose intelligence, amenity, and indefatigable zeal have become "familiar to our ears as household words." But that is a portion of the tact of the Professor, who has accomplished the difficult task of invariably finding " the right man for the right place." He never made a more successful hit than in associating Mr. Hingston with himself. But still under any circumstances he mutt have achieved the triumphs he so eminently merited. "I cannot overlook another great planet that has just created a new orbit of his own. Anderson, the Wizard of the North, has been giving his well-known entertain ments' for over one hundred nights to houses overflowing and large as at first. His tricks are well done and some of them quite novel, but he has succeeded in stirring up this immense curiosity simply by dint of advertising, not the ordinary process of announcement such as every body knows, but by a variety of literary legerdemain such as was never before attempted. The Wizard' Las the good fortune to possess a man of all work, for he does everything but perform the Wizard's tricks, which no doubt he could do, by name of Ifingston, who is the inventor of this novel s curious, and amusing style of ad vertisement. If he could only secure a patent for it, though, in fact, he has the monopoly in bis own wit, he could make a fortune, and no doubt. will. I cannot stop just now to analyse the really scientific way be carries out his purpose, but his mural literature, for invention, variety, and point, is unsurpassed. Barnum is out-Bar numed at last—for a greater than he has appeared." THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF 1 - VORKS. The following is the programme of the business to be transacted by this board at its meeting on Friday (to- morrow) : 1. To confirm the bye-law regulating the width of streets and alleys, made by the board on the 25th inst. 2. As to advances to the contractors. 3. To receive report from the committee appointed to consider the formation or committees to hear and deter mine appeals ; for financial purposes ; to consider bye laws ; to confer with vestries and district boards ; to re port on duties of the board under the Building Act ; to examine and report on claims for compensation. 4. To take into consideration the necessity of appoint ing, at an early period, a solicitor to the board. 5. To consider the following motions, of which no tices were given at the last meeting : By Mr. Davis—" That all the principal officers being appointed, the remaining or subordinate officers he ap pointed by the chairman and a committee to be named at this meeting." By Mr. Corrie—" That it be referred to a committee to consider and report to this board whether it will, in the opinion of such committee, be prudent to proceed to make the sewers and works mentioned in the 135th clause of the Metropolis Local Manageruent Act before some changes have been made in the powers of borrow ing money contained is that act. And that it be an in struction to such committee to report to this board the changes, if any, which in their opinion are necessary." 6. To receive applications and communications, and for general purposes. E. H. WOOLRYCII, Clerk to the Board. US IYERSITY INTELLIGENCE. CAMBRIDGE, JAN, 30. The Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity gives no tice that his lectures for this term will commence on Friday, February the Bth, at One o'clock, in the Arts' Schools, to be continued on Wednesdays and Fridays. The Professor of Political Economy gives notice that his course of lectures on the principles and history of that science will commence on Monday, Feb. 11, at 12 o'clock, in the Geological-rooms under the University library, and be continued daily. The lectures will be free, except that those gentlemen who attend with a view to the professorial certificate should provide themselves beforehand with a ticket from the Registrary of the University ; and are requested to put down their names at Deighton, Bell, and Co.'s, where a syllabus may be had. CLASSICAL TI:IPOS. Candidates for classical honours are requested to_ send in ci a their Clare College, names on o to therbefore eSenel Saturday, E x a e of , , miser, M r . W o lf e The examination will commence on Monday, the 18th inst. in the Senate•house. The advices from Panama yesterday again demonstrate the superiority of that route for communication with Australia, dates having been received from Melbourne to the 2cl of Novembe r , or five days later than those by the Champion of the Seas. The new discoveries of gold quartz within 20 miles of Geelong are alleged to have yielded 880 ounces of gold to the ton. The Shalimar was to leave for Liverpool with the mail on the 9th of November. At Sydney many failures continued to take place, and others were expee ted, but it was hoped the worst had passed. Large arrivals of flour had taken place from Valparaiso, and the p rice was now 47/. per ton. The quotations of gold werei 755. 31 per ounce at Melbourne and 78s. at bydeey. =' 477 ...,.,,.. ./ r