The Sun. — London, England, 1863-10-02 00:00:00

THE SUN. LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, OCMBER 2, 1863, POLISH INSURRECTION. (F, &in the Special Correspondent of the Times.) NEAR WARSAW, Sept. 26. The throwing of the so-called Orsini shell, the sackin g of the Zamoyski house and a palace, the ex aspration of the inhabitants of Warsaw, the savage attitude of the Russian soldiers, and the possible consequences of this species of collision between Russians and Poles in the Polish capital, are dill almost the only subjects of conversation among T e a m Of the 300 persons arrested in the two im mense buildings belonging to Count Zamoyski, one of which is inhabited by the Count's family, a few have now been set at liberty. Among the number is Prince Thadd ens Lubomiraki, President of the Benevolent Society of Warsaw, and author of seve ral highly esteemed works on the early history of Poland. The Prince was engaged in preparing a new editiou of D/uesz,—better known by his Latinised name of Diugossius, and by the Latin equivalent for his name, Longinus —and had in his possession all the most celebrated manuscript copies of the work, These manuscripts, independently of their literary importance, as having been made directly from the original, were magnificent speci mens of illuminated writing, and invaluable as heirlooms to the families from Whose libraries Prince Lubotairski had borrowed them. Th(l9 were of no use to the Russian soldiers, wto could neither make them into papiresses nor into pipe lights. Could t hey have understood their value they might of course have kept them baek, an d ul timately have sold them for large sums to their le gitimate owners; but as it is, no trace can be found of them, an d i t appears 'certain that they must have been consumed in, the glorious bonfire the filmes of which were fed by Chopin's piano, and into which the best numismatic collection in Poland was thrown. A whole museum of ancient coins and medals, a whole library of ancient manuscripts, and the favourite instrument of one of the most graceful and poetical, of composers, afforded such a varie ty of materials f or d es t ruc tion as barbarians have seldom been fortunate enough to meet with in two ordinary dwelling -houses. Chopin's piano had becom e the proper t y o f hi s s i s t er , w h ose h us b an d is now in the citadel. The numismatic collection belonged to Prince Lubomiraki, whose suite of apartments has been completely emptied of all its literary and ar ti?,tic treasures. Count Andrew Zemoyski's two sons are strictly confined in the citadel. The Count himself, as every one knows, has been in exile since the time when ho was convicted of intending to present an address which he had been specially requested to draw up and present by the Grand Duke Constantine. The papers of the Agricultural Society, of which Count Zsraoyski was President, have been destroyed. So also have those of the Vistula. Steamboat Company, which was founded by Count Zamoyski, and of which, since his exile, tlee affairs have been carried on under the general superintendence of his son, Count Stanielas. A. large sum, in bank notes and other securities, was taken or somehow lost during sacking of the Zamoyski palace. The notes and bills are supposed to have escaped the flames, for the numbers are advertised in the Warsaw papers and paynrent of them stopped—by whose authority does not appear. The value of the two vast edifices confiscated, which cover an immense space of ground in the very heart of the city, and contained 2,000 resi:tente (1,500 iu the " house" and 500 in the " palace") is estimated at 8,000,000 Polish florins, or, in English money, £200,000. Another great loser by the sacking of the Zamey slsi house is Professor Kowalewski, whose losses 'will not be felt by himself alone. P rofeesor Kowa lewski was one of the moat learned Orientalists of the day, and the manuscripts of which he hoe been plundered, and which in all probability shared the fate of the Dlugosz histories, are said to have been of the hie.est importance. Almost every man of distinction in Poland has been exited or imprisoned for provietg him,elf a Pole, and the eminently Polish part of Kowalewski's life began when he was quite a child. He was one of the coinp,nions and inti mato friends of the poet Mickiewicz at the Univer sity of 11 , ilna, and with Mickiewiez was arrested and thrown into prison, charged with belonging to a society formed by the students for the maintenance of the Polisis language and literature. Ia the drama in which Mickiewiez has portrayed the sufferings of the Wilne students, under the mild government of Alexander 1., the young Kowalewski figures as " JusepiP—his Christian name, When Mickiewiez was sent to the Crimea and began to write his Cri mema sonnets, Kowalewski was exiled to the ex treme east of the Russian Empire and applied him self to the study of the Siberian languages. He was then entrusted by the Russian Government 'with a mission to China, and was afterwards ap -painted to a professorship at the University of Kazan, where the Oriental languages are specially cultivated. When the University of Warsaw, after baying remained closed for 30 years, was reconsti tuted and reopened in accordance with the plan presented to the Emperor by the Marquis Wielo polski and recommended for adoption by the Grand Duke Constantine, the Russian Government cer tainly did its 'nest to collect at Warsaw the most eminent Polish professors until that time attached to the varic,us Universities of Russia. The Russian Government's attempts at good, however, are never successful, prob a bl y b eeause it has no real ' faith in them, and, therefore, cannot persevere in carrying them unt. It could bring together a few learned men in Warsaw for the instruction of the Polish youth, but it could not desist from irritating the Polish population in general until it had at last produced a general feeling of exasperation, in the midst of which it was nest to impossible to in troduce reforms in themselves highly beneficial. All that has resulted from the arrival of Kowalew ski in Warsaw has been the destruction of his valu able manuscripts and books. Great havoc was also made in the suites of rooms occupied by the Countess Potocka, M. Jakouloweki, one of the marshals of the nobility, Dr. Rosenblum, and M. Barcinski,one of the directors of the Vistula ,Steamboat Company. The whole of the library of the Zamoyski palace was burnt, and pictures, pianos, looking-glasses, and generally whatever objects of furniture, decoration, or art that the soldiers were l inable to carry away were thrown out of window heaped together and sot on fire. end the fragment s The fl am es rose so high that the firemen of th e t own the engines towards the scene o f hastened w ith in c endinr l •81117 but were not allowed to a pp roac h. Besides arson, the defenders of order and p ro p er t y indulged larg el y in robbery, the favourite obj ec t s of theft being Plate, jewelry, furs, tea, sugar loaves, and of course wine, brandy, and cigars. The most c onvenient booty was to be found in the various ?oils in which the w hole of the ground floor of the ` 4ll ""ltilti house is let out. Here the brigands of the Russian arm y found all they wanted, ready to hand, and the goldsmith ' s, the grocer's, the confectione r \ an d the wine - dealer ' s were broken into, and the pan art of - t h e u nfortunate trades meny stolen aeeeeding. to the momentary desires o of the mo re _r les- intox icated soldiery; for, if some in thei r work of p l un der began with jewelery, all Beene to have ended pi th gin. A hideous sort o f b anquet took lace in the h o use be fore it was aband oned for %P e night,a a nd it would not have been a s t on i shing it this f eas t of Vandals had concluded with a g ene ral oonit agration. It g'a'sowing no doubt to the con • s etentious m anner ill which the house had b een stripped ' of all turreiture that this otherwise most probable conclusion was avoided. Among the shopkeepers the general pillage a jeweller, ee named at mo k s i t , its mentioned. The poor man was robbe t a of ttP to the value of 30,000 roubles. „ e property "es is also said to have suffered violence at the hands of th ose who were robbing him ; but, however this may have been, he was thrown into such estate of excitement as to hripg en an attack of apoplexy, from whi c h he died the same night. I have not yet seen any o ne vseo can corroborate cf his own knowledge the re - For - • te circul a ted as to personal outrages committ e d sinon men, and worse still upon women, living in tao upper part of the house, which from the first to the filth floor was divided into suites of apartments. It is not very probable, however, that the 300 per taken to the citadel were con sons arrested and ducted there wit h an y c eremon y . The Russian officers are said to have led their solniers gallantly to tie -I— etteck of the delenceles property and to have taken a full share of the spoil. If so, whatever the social acquirements of some of these gentlemen may be, it may be said that despot ism in Russia, however much it may' soften the manners," developes at the same time a considera ble amount of actual ferocity. In any case the assault and the pillage were expressly ordered and directed, and, accordingly, it is not the soldiers alone who ought to be held responsible for the atrocities that were committed. After the shells had been thrown and the pistol-shot fired, a quarter of an hour elapsed before General Berg sent back Gen. Bebutoff with soldiers despatched for the express purpose of robbing two houses in the vicinity of which the murderous outrage (for such undoubtedly it was) had been committed, but neither of which was the scene of the outrage, nor the place from which it was either conceived, planned, or put into execution. Nothing was thrown or fired from the house belonging to, but not occupied by, the Zamoyski family, and the Rus sians know perfectly well that the Zamoyski palace is the very last place from which it could be sup posed that an attempt at assassination would be made. Indeed, it is not pretended that it was made from the latter building, only it is said now that the t vso buildings form but one, and as this happens to be a simple untruth, an edict has been published ostensibly with a view to future occurrences, but in reality to give a semblance of legality to the flag rant wrong that has already been perpetrated. First the Official Journal calls houses which stand apart, and have no sort or connexion with one another, except through the proprietor, " the united houses ;" and then the director of the police, perceiving that the falsehood of the Official Journal must soon be exposed, issues an order which makes proprietors of houses equally responsible with actual occupiers for whatever breaches of an improvised law may be committed within them. It would look strange in Europe (and will have a curious appearance as it is) that Count Zamoyski, living in Paris, should be held responsible and deprived of the greater part of his fortune, in consequence of an offence having been committed in the neighbourhood of houses belong ing to him in Warsaw; so to put as good a face as possible on the matter it is suddenly arranged that the punishment already inflicted upon him shall be made right and proper by a " posterior" order, framed as far as possible to suit the particular cir cumstances of his case. The police order in ques tion is as follows : " To the Chief Police Master of Warsaw.—The recent outrages and assassinations have shown that the proprietors of houses, inmates, and inhabitants in general of this town not only do not assist the Government in seizing the crimi nals, but even facilitate their flight or screen them from the search of the police. I, therefore make known for the in formation of the public, by explicit order of the superior authority : " 1. That in case of an attempt being made on the life of any person in the street, and the perpetrator not being caught, those who may have witnessed the attempt without rendering all possible help towards catching the criminal will be punished with all the rigour of martial law. "2. If the criminal, after having committed the act of assassination, or after only attempting it, takes refuge in a house and is not seized there by the proprietor or the inmates, the house will be immediately sequestrated, without indem nity, for the use of the army, and the inmates ejected. " 3. In case of assassination, or attempt at assassination, committed in a house or courtyard, if the perpetrator of the act be not seized and delivered up by the proprietor or the inmates, then the proprietor as well as the inhabitants will be subjected to the utmost rigour of martial law, and the house, with everything in it, be delivered up to the military. " 4. The same liability will be incurred by the proprietors and inmates of every house, if an act of assassination, or at tempt at assassination be committed in or from it, either by scooting or otherwise. _ ... " Major•G}eneral LEWSZYN. " Warsaw, September 10 (22), 1863." I now give the official account of the outrage actually committed as inserted in the journals of Warsaw :-- "The day before yesterday, at 6 o'clock, when his Excel lency, Commander-in-Chief, Aide-de-Camp General, Count Berg, performing the functions of Lieutenant, deigned to pass along the street of the Cracow suburb, attended only by one officer and eight Cossacks of the Kuban, as he was in front of the united houses of Count Zamoyski a shot was tired, while at the same time several Orsini shells and a case filled with explosive substances were thrown. The paletot of his Excellency was pierced, and one Cossack, two carriage horses, and seven Cossack horses wounded. The united houses were immediately surrounded, the lodgers taken out, the male lodgers arrested, the furniture thrown out and burnt. As it was found that some of the lodgers had their things packed up it was supposed that they must have known beforehand of the attempt on General Berg's life. The said houses were immediately given up for ever to the administration of the army. The' supposition" that because a few persons in a house containing 1,500 inmates had their things packed up those persons must therefore have known that an attempt was going to be made on General Berg's life is certainly creditable to Russian inge nuity. As to errors in statement, I have already explained that what the Official Journal calls the " united houses" are not united at all, but are quite apart. Each, moreover, presents an extensive front, so that if a shell had been thrown from one it would be difficult to " suppose" that it had been thrown from the other. " His Excellency's paletot," more over (which the official journalist seems to have re garded as something much more important than the wounded Cossack or even the wounded carriage horses), was pierced horizontally and in such a man ner that the shot which passed through it must have been fired, not from any of the apartments in the house, but on an exact level and from the pavement. It is said, in fact, that the attack was made from the pavement in front of an empty building facing the Zamoyski palace; but the empty building being already Government property could not be confis cated, and being without furniture could not be sacked. The sacking of the Zamoyski house lasted from 6 p.m. u n til 10. Then, all that had not been carried away or thrown out of window and burnt was left for the rightful owners. Probably not much jewellery remained. The Chopin piano had already been destroyed, and Professor Kowalewski is now advertising for his Orisntal manuscripts in case they should have escaped the flames. The fate of books, manuscripts, pictures, and literary and artistic treasures of all kinds in Poland has not changed much for the last century. The library founded by the Zalnskis was plundered by the agents of that superior woman —the admiration of the writers of the period—Cathetine the Great; and its contents form now the chief part of the Imperial library of St. Petersburg. There was renewed book stealing in 1830 under Nicholas, who was not over fond of literature. Now ~ nere robbery of books has come to an end in Ro,ssian Poland, arson has tak en it s p l tsce. and literary The most learned Jaistorian of modern Poland was consulted the other day as to the materials existing in the country for a, life of Sobieski. Szainocha (who from excessive study has lost his sight) could only dictate irs reply that abundant materials for such a work had existed in the ancient libraries of Warsaw arid Cracow, but that, those libraries having been plusidered at various periods, the places richest in documents relating to the great Polish hero were not St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Berlin. This let ter, addressed to a distinguished French Professor, wess written without bi t t erness, and set forth the simple truth. What will Kowalewski say now if he is consulted as to the result of his five and thirty years' studies in Kazan, i n th e too familiar Siberia on the confines of China, and in Pekin itself ? Th e Russian Government exiles a boy of genius from Wilna to the far east of its empire. The boy, find -1 ing that his fate is in strange lands, studies those lands and their languages. The Rassian Govern ment, with a passing gleam of intelligence, pardons him, turns his talent to accuunt, and finally Offers him a professorship iu the capital sf his native coun try, and endeavours, when it is too late, to make it un d ers toodthat ist i n ff r o u r e t to hiirntyof a superioryearsithas k p i r n o d s s cribed all public has become alive to its error at la s t, i n Poland, it wishes really to promote the diffusion of knowledge and a t lasi atnoL,g those whom it had until th a t time sought to redet to a state of ignorance end apathy. KowaIMH 7 i c s h m a ( i i n r s; c a f e r l o a n the d the e vt a . e a s t t , could when s carcely h ave thought he i s this somo part o f he arriv e d i n Warsasv. Asia P" • poor Sierakowskit ex claimed when of the detachment that en the sergeant wounded and captive, was condu ct i ng him to should kill officer if, in case of a sudden attack, be the • prisoners. •ble by the Poles for a great deal of Asia is made responsible head-quarters asked his barbarism which is, unfor tunately, almost as European as it is Asiatic ; but Kowalews k i, as an is riaa? r really much have found himself at home in Warsaw. All that he could have missed there was peace and the op portunity of pursuing hie studies without getting his papers burned. The notion of burning Chopin's piano is, I sup pose, not particularly Oriental. One significant thing in the work of destruction was, that no port able articles of value were sacrificed. The children of Holy Russia did not allow their divine rage to go beyond certain limits, and it was only what could not be pocketed or conveniently carried away that the avengers of disturbed order devoted to the flames. The Government of Warsaw and of all Poland is now entirely in the hands of the Russians—in fact, of the Russian soldiers and police. But on every inch of ground not occupied by the Russian sol diers and police there the National Government rules and is implicitly obeyed. Is it " terrorism," as the Russians pretend, that makes this Govern ment so powerful P I think not, and lam sure that there is less cause for alarm in a camp of insurgents than at the present moment in the streets of War saw. The last of the Poles have now abandoned, or been forced to leave, their official posts. M. Ostrowski, a relation of the Marquis Wielopolski, has been replaced in the Ministry of the Interior by General Roznow. The successor of Count Sigismund Wielopolski, as President of the Town, is Geners.l 'Witkowski. General Roznow and General Witkow ski were both members of the Inquisitorial Commis sion of the Warsaw citadel. It is said that General Roz Radowski, formerly chief police master of War saw, is to be made Civil Governor. The police have issued an order forbidding per sons to enter private houses where they do not re side, and cautioning house porters against allowing this order to be contravened. They have at the same time deigned to command that no one who enters a refreshment house or tavern shall remain there for more than ten minutes. I mention these curious facts for the benefit of visitors to Warsaw who may have letters of introduction to present, or who may be in the habit of devoting not less than a quarter of an hour to luncheon. The truth about th e reporte d " insurrection" in the Ukraine is that there has been no political move ment whatever in that province, no talk about a hetman, and no manifestation, direct or indirect, in favour of Poland. But the peasants have risen by thousands; and my informant, who has arrived in Cracow from the disturbed districts, just before I left that city, estimates at six thousand the number who showed themselves ready to resist the Russian Government in his immediate neighbourhood. The cause of the rising is simple, but formidable. I say " is," because it still exists, though for a time it may be inactive. V hat is now called the Ukraine, it must be remembered, is not the Russian or Little Russian province to the east of the Dnieper, the country of Mazeppa and the wild horse, but the pro vince to the west of the Dnieper which remained Polish until the second partition and which atpresen t is styled in official language the Government of Kief . ' The Russian orLittle Russian or Ruthenian p easa ntry of the Ukraine have never, since the massacre of the haydamaks in 1768, been suspected by the Rus sian Government of liking the Poles. But th e y also do not like paying rent either to Poles or Russians for land which their fathers once held as freemen' and it is the rent question, or rather the land-tax question, which has brought them into conflict wi th the Russian troops. The Russian Governreeet' some weeks since, declared the peasants of t he Ukraine free proprietors, but at the same time put a tax upon their land and called upon them to pay into the hands of the Government the arrears of rent or obrok due to their former landlords. The peasants would do nothing of the kind. They l e t it be clearly understood that they would pay ne one, and though f orce was emp l oyed against them> and though after the disturbances were at an end, seve ralte chiefs o f v ill ages were severely flogged, yet the peasants gained their p o i n t. T hey have not paid, they will not pay, and the whole questio n is Put off until October, wh e n st ill t h ey will not pay. Here is a clear case in which the Russian Government ees set the peasants aga i ns t i tself, and with the abilityn ru it has lat e ly s h own i n ru li ng Poland there IS no say ing whether it m a y no t u l t i mately contrive to gain their enmity as a c l ass . T he peasants, like the in tervening Powers, will move if they find their own interests threatened, but no t ot h erwise ; an d if such a movement sh ou ld ta k e p l ace at all it will probably.e become general. I nsurgents w i ll tell you that i Palatinates, where the peasants are most in those of disposed towards them (as, for instance, • 1 invariab. y Lublin, Kaiisch, and Flock), the reply given when they are asked to join the ineurrection . village: is, " We must see what they do in the nest not alone.. if they join, we don't mind joining, but Province In the same way the peasants in any given favourably are likely to claim the absolute p ro perty such a land, independent of all taxes and dues, if claim is made by the peasants, their neighbours ; on the • and if any one province takes up arms . question, nothing is more likely, nothing . indeed is of their certain, than that the adjacent provinces se e what the , its example. It will be. interesting to of Russian Government will do with the peasants All that can . the Ukraine after the October quarter. be said at the present moment is that will follow after playing with socialist weapons throughout Poland contrived in one provi nce at least to cu tits own fingers. it has However, if the Russian Government c annot get the money it want s f rom the Peasants of the Uk raine and is afraid to p ress f or i t, it makes no ceremon y with the proprietors e i t h er of that province or of the contiguous one of Voihynia. The ordi nary taxes have at last been pa id everyvvhere in Poland, except i n the TC; - -ugdom, w here they are now being levi e d b y execution. The specialwar tax of 10 p er cen t. on income is being the south-eastern p rov i nces, and those proprietors who . do not pay u p forthwith (wh i c h very few are quartered on them and able to do) ha ve so ldi ers demanded in their property sold. Th e so-called tax o f 10 per cent. may be a tax o f 2 0 or 30 per cent., f or it is m fixed in an arbit rary manner a nd it is not every proprietor of. th e south go to Kieff to co m pl a i n of eastern provinces who can en ove rcharge. Accord ing to the terms o f t h e published order, persons considering themsel ves unduly taxed might appeal within three week s ; b ut I know of cases in which proprietors have b een exorbitantly over-taxed, and allowed only a fe w days fo r ma king the payment demanded, witho u t th e alternative of execut i on, and without any p oss ib ility whatever of appeal. heavy This tax is, in f ac t, a fine laid upon the Polish proprietors to Punish them for the'part they have taken in the i nsurrection, and so to cripple them as to render it impo ss ibl e for them to aid it any longer by money contribution. Many of the Volhynian lando wners have already had their crops and cattle sei zed, and as the Government de mands from every one se much as it pleases, i t wi ll of course succeed in ruining a great number of Polish subjects. Such a proceeding seems strange even from a financial point of view, but Russia probably thinks that unless she imp overishes and ex h austs P oland she may one of th ese days lose i t. U nder Ni cholas the great idea was to suppress education through. out the country. The chief notion now is to waste and confiscate property ; and it is probably quite true that if all the Poles were lamentably ignorant and lamentably poor they would not give Russia nearly so much trouble HS they do at present. Full H he o n rn e i fi m t an o , f B . r p e u d r u e od Tea; ; du ve ty ry o ch b o t i a c i e ne a d t 3 by pur chasing s .4d.and 4s. " High Standard "at is. 4d. (formerly is. Bd.), is the strongest and roost delicious imported. Agents in every town supply it in packets. [AIIVERTI3EME NTI — Consumption, all nervous, bilious, liver, and stomach complaints, in every stage, are only ag gravates and accelerated by drugs of every description, but perfectly curable by Du Barry's health restoring Revalenta .A.rabica Food, as proved by thousands of cases which had been considered hopeless. We quote a few.—Cure No. 62,914, Miss Lange, 18 years of age, cured after the medical men had abandoned all hopes of her recovery from the last stage of Pulmonary consumption, with ftartul cough, expectoration exhaustion, spitting of blood, perspirations, hollow cheeks, emaciated to a skeleton. She is now, thank God, a perfectly healthy, blooming, fleshy girl.—N. Lange, Commissaire de l'olice. Cure, No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Fernley Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness.—Cure, No. 47,121. Miss Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion, gatherings, low spirits, and nervousfancies.—Cure, 54,816. The Rev. James T. Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk, of indigestion and torpidity of the liver, which had resisted all medical treatment. In tins, Ilb , 2s 9d; 21h, 48 6d ; 51b, lls ; 121 b, 225; 241 b, 408. Barry du Barry and Co., No. 77, ftegent-street, London ; also Fortnum and Mason ; and all grocers and theadots ili every towia of the Vattecaingdonit AMERICAN HEAVY ORDNANCE. (From the Mechanics' Magazine.) The construction of heavy ordnance suited to meet all the requirements of practical warfare, presents one of the most difficult problems which task the inventive powers of the men of the 19th century, The solution of any question de- peuda on the accurate understanding of everything con nected with it; and even comparative ignorance of any one division of a subject must materially invalidate the results obtained by calculation or experiments from the rest, We know a great deal about the strength of materials, the ac tin, of gunpowder, the flight of projectiles, and the exi- gencies of actual service; but we do not yet know enough, and as a result, we have failed in the construction of excep tional guns. We do not possess at the present moment a - - - - - - single gun capable of throwing a shot over 100 lb. weight, which is thoroughly reliable, or on which we could depend for half an hour in action. Not only the manufacture, but the working of large guns, even of the simplest form, is at tended with difficulties of the gravest kind. And these obstacles to the general introduction of heavy ordnance, are increased a hundredfold by complicated breech-loading ma chinery, deemed indispensable,'obtained at a vast expense, and usually found wanting in the day of trial. The largest guns ever used are at present to be found in the American navy. We referred last week to some of the practical de tails of the manufacture; and the subject is so important, that we willingly return to it, believing as we do that in formation concerning it is of very great importance as a guide to our future proceedings. The breech-loadingprinciple is generally ignored through out the States. A few small guns on Whitworth or Arm. strong's principle, or something analogous, may, it is true, be found in both the contending armies. Our American friends do not believe in them, however, and eschew them when they can obtain anything else. The favourite naval gu ns are Parrott's and Dahlgren's ; the latter are pretty well known. The most usual size is the Sin shell gun, with a length of bore of 100.3 in ; weight, 63cwc. These guns' placed Oft above the level of the water, throw a shell 1,776 yards at sdeg elevation, with 91b of powder. Much less is known of the Parrott guns ; and as they ate beyond dispute the best in the American navy, we do not hesitate to give our readers some information regarding them, on the accu racy of which we can implicitly rely. The Parrott guns are usually made of the sizes, 100, 2C03 and 300. pounders. The first has a bore 6.4 in in diameter, and 130 in long. The usual weight of this arm is 9,7001 b. The charge consists of 10Ib of powder, and a conical projec tile weighing 1001 b. The rifling consists of ten grooves, one-tenth of an inch deep, and exactly an inch wide. The lands and grooves are, as a principle, made as nearly as possible of the same width, no matter what the dimensions of the gun. The 200-pounder weighs nearly 8 tons. is 136 in long, Bin bore, throwing a 1501 b to 1751 b shot with 161 b of powder. The bore is rifled with eleven grooves, similar in every respect to those of the 100 .pounder. The 300-pounder 10 gun weighs over 11 tons, has a bore 144 in. long, and throws a 2501 b shoe with 251 b of powder; 14 grooves. The twist of the grooves is rather slow, being— in the 100-pounder, one turn in 18ft; in the 200-pounder, one turn in 23ft. We cannot state the precise twist of the largest Parrott guns; but we believe it to be the same as that employed in the 200-pounder. The range of the 100-pounder is five miles, with 38 deg. of elevation, and the service charge. The Parrott shot is a conical projectile, with rather a sharp head. It fits the chase of the gun pretty accurately, resting on the lands. A dove-tail groove is turned in the binder end of the shot, about 2in wide and rather more than an inch deep towards the forward end. Into this groove is cast a ring of soft brass. The surface of the groove is "pecked" or roughened all over, so that the ring —which is just the size of the bore of the gun —cannot turn on the shot. The explosion of the charge " upsets" tho brass ring into the shallow grooves, imparting a motion of rotation to the shot. Any effect similar to " leading" is of ccurse impossible, and the gun is in consequence loaded with as much ease as a smooth-bore, while the brass sabot effectually precludes windage—being upset so thoroughly as to fit the bore mathematically, without any injurious friction. To this, doubtless, the vast range of the gun, with small charges, is directly attributable. Parrott ordnance is invariably constructed of cast iron, usually on the " Rodman" principle, already referred to in our previous number, strengthened with a reinforce, composed of a single lap welded wrought-iron ring, extend ing from the breech to within a foot of the trunnions. It must be remembered that the gun is not cut away to receive the reinforce, which is shrunk on hot, turned and finished afterwards. Ordinary percussion fuses have been hitherto used for the shells. The great success of those guns, the fa cility with which they are leaded, their vast range and great accuracy, entitle them to a first rank as a military or naval weapon, and demonstrate clearly, that enormous charges of powder are quite unnecessary to the performance of a rifled cannon, when the proper conditions, regulating the flight of the projectile and its passage through the bore of the gun, are carefully observed. The employment of large quantities of powder is simply a clumsy expedient to counteract the evils resulting from an improper system of rifling and a faulty construction of shot. Large cannon never can succeed while the powder burned at each discharge is as much as one-third or one-fourth of the weight of the projectile. So thoroughly imbued with this conviction are American artil lerists that they have initiated some very remarkable expe riments, with a view to concentrate the force of reduced charges of powder on the projectile kith a proportionate diminution of the strain on the gun. A 7-inch gun was loaded with the full charge of powder, made up in a cartridge 6 inches in diameter, so prepared, that when placed in the gun a clear space of half an inch remained all round, between its circumference and the chase. The shot was then rammed close home on the cartridge, and the gun discharged with the following remarkable result. The initial velocity of the shot remained precisely the same, as though discharged in the ordinary way, while the strain on the gun was reduced nearly one-half as evinced by the pres sure plug at the breech I Repetition has only confirmed the truth of the result obtained by the first experiment. The air cushion left between the powder and the bore,apperently protects the gun from the percussive force of the exploding powder, to which the shot is, of course, fully exposed. The entire phenomena afford a remarkable confirmation of the truth of the views expressed by Mr. Lynell Thomas on the action of exploding gunpowder. We have no doubt that the conduction of a similar series of exneriments in this country would be fraught with the best results. After all, our Go vernment has done little or nothing to determine the best form for a gun externally, on the real action of the gun powder exploded within it. All the information we have on these subjects is due, in a primary degree, to private in dividuals; those having authority C on fi n i ng their attention almost exclusively in the rifli ng , the shot, and the mode of loading, while the resisting pow ers of the gun have either been left to chance, or sought for in the use of better mate rial, almost without regard to its proper distribution. Dahl gren literally took a diagram of the forces developed within his first guns by drilling a number of small holes in a continuous line from breech to muzzle, in the side of a gun. Each:of these holes was fitted with a pistol barrel or tube, screwed in, of such length that the distances from the bore of the cannon to the ends of the tubes were all precisely alike. These tuber were each loaded with a single ball, which, on the discharge of the cannon, was ex pelled with a force proportionate to the pressure of the gaies at each part of the length of the gun. This force was mea sured by the depth to which the pistol balls penetrated an oak screen suitably placed to re ce i ve them. In one experi ment the force was found to equal 3,0001 b on the square inch close to the muzzle of an 8-inch gun with the service charge of powder and shot. The great efficiency to which American ordnance has attained is certainly due to a care fully conducted series of experiments, commenced years ago and continued to the present moment. The admirable sim plicity of the service guns renders them thoroughly reliable, while the cost of their manufacture is extremely moderate. Quitting the subject of rifled guns, we find much to:inte rest in the colossal smooth bores which perform their duties on the decks of the Monitor. These guns are 13ft long in the bore, and carry a 15iu spherical shot, called solid, but the solidity of the iron su rrounding i t b y equa li s i ng it s con traction. These proje c ti les weigh 4251 b. Th e serv i ce really containing a cavit y 4in in diameter, w hi c h secures charge of cannon powder is 351 b only, but cake powder is sometimes employed in 501 b charges. 15in shells weigh 3501 b. The initial vel oc i ty of shot t h rown f rom th ese guns seldom exceeds I,oooft per second ; i n consequence , th e y are far more terrible i s name than i n rea lit y . Th e t urre t s in which they are placed are built up of a large number of superimposed iron plates, seldom more than lin thick eac h . The concussion of he avy shot str iki ng th em occas i ona lly drives the nuts off the bat e w hich bind the plates together, killing or wounding th ose within t h e t urre t as e ff ec t ua lly as so much shot, The 15-h e gun s aro mounted on a heavy wooden carriage, much like the old-fashioned 68-pounder carriage used in our navy, The wheels run on a kind of railway, mounted on two powerful balks of timber, which cross the turret diam e t r i cally, or near ly so . Th o f o rward pair of wheels aro fitt e d with gear i ng , and the gun is run out, or rather forw ar d , by a coup l e o f men putting this in motion by suitable winch handles. The port is rather high, but only 16in wide, so that the muzzle of the gun does not at any time protrude, but is run right up, in firm contact with the inside of the turret wall. Aim is taken by causing the turret to revolve. A n i ron box, rectangular in section, and about aft long, cont a i ns the muzzle of the gun when run forward. This pr ev en t s noise, and preserves the men from concussion. Between the sleepers on which the gun travels are bolted several longitudinal timbers, side by side. From the under part of the c arriage a number of long plates of boiler iron depend, Passing between the timbers. A power ful screw, worked by a band-w heel at the side of the carriage, is arranged to compress these plates on the timbers to any any extent deemed necessary . The friction produced is so great, that the recoil o f th e gun permits of exact regula.' tion, being easily arrested in 41t. The guns are invariably of cast iron, reinforced with a single wrought iron hoop. All things considered, the introduction of ordnance of this size into our military or naval operations does not seem advisable, the Parrott 10-in, gun being superior in every respect . A 200 -pounder shot, moving with a high initial velocil y, is capable of sreasheig any iron plate at short range which. can ever be fitted to a ship's side, and the weight of both the gun and the shot is fully as much as we can man age a,t t sea wader .:aisting circumstances, The Habeas Corpus in America. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, SEPT. 17. (Before Judge Betts.) MATTER OP JOHN BALDINGER. This was a writ of habeas corpus directed to Gen. Canby, requiring him to produce Baldinger, who was held at Go vernor's Island for trial by a court martial as a deserter. On Monday the prisoner was produced in court. General Canby made return that Ballinger, in October, 1862, duly enlisted and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private in 173 d Regiment of New York Volun teers, for the term of three years; that ho deserted the ser vice, was arrested by a provost• marshal, and committed for trial by court-martial; and that he now held the prisoner by authority of the United States as a deserter. The peti tioner filed a traverse to the return, denying all the allega tions of the return except the fact of the imprisonment. Testimony was taken, and the matter stood over till Wed nesday morning. The proofs in the case were that the pri soner was merely received by the recruiting officer as a sub stitute for a regularly enlisted man ; that the officer received 250 dols. for effecting the exchange; and that the prisoner was in a fit of intoxication at the time. There was evidence that when the prisoner recovered from his debauch he re turned to his business as a mechanic, and was not interfered with until August last, when he was arrested as a deserter and confined on Governor's Island. On Tuesday the procla mation of the President, suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas co 7 pus, was issued. Mr. S. J. Glassey, who appeared for Gen. Canby, urged that the proclamation operated to destroy the power of all the courts of law to institute or entertain any proceeding of habeas corpus in this and all similar cases, and that the lan- guage of the proclamation covered not only cases where the writ might be applied for, but where it had already been is sued. He would not deny that in some cases, as perhaps in this, the rule worked hardship, but that the proclamation, being the law of the land, must operate in this as in other cases. Mr. J. F. Walton, for the petitioner, insisted that in any event the delay of the Court should not prejudice the suitor, and that the prisoner should be discharged nunc pro tune; that rights acquired before the proclamation issued were not divested; that the Act of March 3, 1863, autho rizing the proclamation, gave no such power ; that such was not the true construction, but that the suspension of the writ operated prospectively ; and further, that the pro. clamation did not touch this case either in letter or spirit, because :-1. A statue is never construed to act retrospec- tively, unless such a construction is unavoidable (" Berley v. Rampacher," 5 Duer, 188 ; "Dash v. Van Sleeck," 7 Johns, 477; "Johnson v. Burrell," 2 Hill, 238). The proclamation cannot have any greater force than a statute to the same effect. It is familiar law that a statute taking away a common law right is to be strictly construed, especially when the liberty of the citizen is restricted (" Looker v. Holcombe," 4 Btng, 183, and many other cases). 2. Because the proclamation suspends " the privi leges of the writ," not proceedings upon writs already issued, and upon no fair construction can this be deemed to annul proceedings already commenced. He further claimed that, on the undisputed facts of the case, Baldinger was not held as one of the persons mentioned in the proclamation, but under an arrangement which did not make him in any way amenable to martial law. His Honour Judge Betts, after suggesting various ques tions to counsel, intimated that he would receive further points and authorities on each side during the evening, and render his decision. The following points were put in on behalf of the Govern• ment : The only question that is now before the Court is, whether this proclamation has the effect of preventing further pro ceedings in cases where the writ was served before the issue of the proclamation. 1. What is meant by the privilege of the writ ? Clearly the prisoner's right to be brought before the Court to have the cause of his confinement stated, to have the judgment of the Court as to the sufficiency of the cause, and to be re leased if it was not in law sufficient. These are the rights expressly secured to the subject by the statutes of England, which were adopted as a part of the common law by the several States, and which are compre hended in the term "privilege of the writ," as used in the National Constitution (Ex part° Watkins, 3 _Pet., 201) ; in the reasoning of Judge Hall, in Benedict's case, p. 22, where he speaks of the right to be discharged where no suffi cient cause for detention is shown as an essential part of the. "benefits" of the writ, the word'' benefits" being evidently used as synonymous with "privilege ;" also in Mr. Binney's pamphlet on habeas corpus (Introductory, p. 5, and also pp, 6, 10, 11, &c.) ; also by Chief Justice Taney in Merryman's case (American L. I?ey., July, 1861) ; also Mr. Wharton's pamphlet (N. 2, pp. 9, 10) ; also opinion of Attorney- General (pp. 9, 10, 11). Additional authorities might be cited if time permitted, but it is believed the above are sufficient. 2. The proclamation is not retroactive. It does not affect the validity of proceedings taken before its issue. It simply "suspends," stays further proceedings. These prisoners are in the hands of the military authorities. The Court cannot proceed further. They must remain in custody as they were when the writ issued. 3. It is no argument to say that "vested rights " are im paired in these cases by the application of the proclamation to them, and that as an act in derogation of common law rights it must be strictly construed. The right of all persons restrained to have the writ, and to have all the privile ges and benefits which follow its issue, is vested and perfect by law. The right of a man restrained to have the writ issued on his behalf is as perfect as is that of him who has obtained the writ to be heard and relieved under it. The proclamation is "in derogation" of the common law rights of both and equally. Both must submit to the hard ship which a great public emergency beings upon them. 4. There is no ambiguity in the proclamation, the Act of Congress which authorises, or the provision of the Constita tiott which in the contemplated emergency directs it. A rebellion existing, and the public safety requiring it, the President is bound to suspend the privilege of the writ. He has done so. That great hardships are inflicted upon individuals is un deniable. They are but a small portion of the sufferings en tilled upon the nation by the rebellion,which seeks to destroy it entirely. Further proceedings upon the writ therefore must be sus pended, and the party be left in custody. DECISION OF THE COURT. At the opening of the court this morning, Judge Betts rendered his decision in the case. He said he had not prepared any written opinion, because he had thought it best not to have any delay in the matter; and, moreover, if it were desired to have the principles of the case carried to the Supreme Court for review, preceedia7,o had better be originated in the Circuit Court, from which they could be taken up more readily. His Honour proceeded to pronounce his decision substantially as follows : _ _ " The great question in the case is whether the Court can act in this matter at all after the recent proclamation of the President. That depends upon the question whether the President has the power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and, if he has that power, whether he has exercised it. There has been some argument of counsel as to whether the writ of habeas corpus should be considered as a privilege or not. However it is to be considered, it amounts to this — that the party in whose favour it is issued is to have certain relief, and that is that he is to have his case examined unless he is held by other competent authority. In this case it is claimed by Baldinger that he is wrongfully kept in the United States forces. On the other side it is claimed that he had entered that service as a soldier, and is rightfully held now as a deserter; and the question is whether he has the right to show on this proceeding that he never was legally in the service of the United States, and is not there fore bound to remain there till the expiration of his term ; and whether the Court is competent to enter into that in quiry. To preclude that inquiry the officers point to the proclamation of the President suspending the writ. Now, whether this power of suspension belongs to the authority of the President as the Executive and Commander-in-Chief, or whether it is derived from the Act of Congress, is imma terial. The act certainly does not diminish his authority, and if the power inherent in his being head of the Govern ment is not sufficient to warrant his staying the proceedings of the Courts under the writ, then that power is to be found in the act. It cannot be said that the Government canna make a rule that every citizen shall be held to serve his country in time of danger. It seems to have been argued that the Government can never hold an infant to military service. But Ido not agree to that. I think the Govern ment can call every man into the field if necessary. The manner of it may be a subject of discussion. But that our Government has the authority to do it can no more be denied than that authority can be denied to every other government in the world. Moreover, a peculiarity of the case is that in our form of government we have all consented to the exercise of this power over our persons. And even though the action of Government may seem to be extreme, yet it is by the con sent of each one of us that Government acts, as much as if each one of us had been a member of the convention which made the Constitution and the congress that made the law. When a people say, We will form a government, and will give it extreme power over us,' each individual is bound by its acts as much as if he had signed an agreement. It can not be said that this power is forced upon him. The next question is whether the government has the right, to take from the citizen the power of inquiring into the exercise of this power over him. The government has the right to defend its own existence, and when it is necessary it may say to all, You shall not prevent or embarrass the action of the government in the exercise of this high power by any form of legal action,' It may say, ' Each man must comp forward to help to defend the national life,' and he cannot interpose the objection that ho is not lawfully called upon, or that he is called on to do more then his neighbour. It is enough that ho is called on by the government and is within its reach. We impose the same authority in other matters, We supersede all action on the part of corporations at once by legal proceedings. We stop the proceedings of individuals by injunction. We send an injunction from one Court to another, stopping its action as much as by physical force. No one thinks that such things cannot be done, if it is necessary for the time being. And the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus is only saying that the Court shall not open for such proceeding; the writ is defunct for the purpose of interposing such objections, and no Court Oa act in reference to 51,41 c9.eeE. this case the General commanding here returns to the Court 1 that this man is retained as a deserter, having been enlisted as a soldier in the army, and that ho is retained to be tried for that offence, Who shall try him for it? Shall we say that this Court shall step in with this writ and take him out of the hands of the Court before which he stands, and which has prima facie the right to try him for such an offence? He is not to be tried there by aliens or foreigners. He is to be tried before the same men, sitting as a court martial, that might sit as a jury to try him. He is declared by the law to be amenable to court-martial, and he is in the custody of the United States to be subject to trial by court-martial, as he would be if he WAS held by any other form of judicial action. If he had been seized by every Court in the country he would not any more be held tor trial than now. This Court cannot step in and take him out of the authority of the Court that must try him. You say that he is not in confinement under any process. But it is not necessary to have any written or printed process. It is enough to say that he is in the custody of the law, ap prehended by the neck, as used to be the case under the old civil law. This Court is constituted for one purpose ; the military Court for another ; and when the party is held before a military Court he is as much before a tribunal as if he was before this Court. And he must be tried before the tribunal which tries such offences as he is alleged to have committed. This is all that this suspension of the writ amounts to. The proclamation says that the case cannot proceed before this tribunal. When the man is held for such offences, this Court cannot inquire into it. It is out of its jurisdiction. The condition of things will not allow such a trial as belongs to peaceful times, but the party must be tried before the military tribunal which has charge of the case, I see nothing, therefore, which makes it proper for this Court to go into the inquiry whether this man enlisted. The return is that he is held for trial as a deserter, and that makes the case as much before another tribunal as if he were held by the judicial power of France or England. My judgment is that the proclamation makes it out of the power of the Court to inquire further into these pro ceedings. Mr. Walton, for the prisoner, said he 'desired to raise the point also that the return said that the man was held under the authority of the United States, while the proclamation, by its terms, applied only to persons held under the autho rity of the President of the United States, and also that the return was not sworn to as was required. Mr. GLASSEY, for the Government, said he thought that the certificate of a sworn officer was as good as a sworn re turn, but if the matter was to go further he would put in a sworn return. He added that he understood that an ap plication was to be made to General Dix in this matter, and he would say that the man would remain here a few days to allow such an application. Judge Betts announced that the principles which he had stated would govern him as well in cases of application fer writs of habeas corpus as in those where the writs had been already issued. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, TIMES.—Mr. Henley appears to think that the introduction of Free Trade had a very inappreciable effect upon agriculture, which has pursued an even tenour of improvement from time immemorial, whether fostered by grants, by laws, or by loans ; whether helped by the sister sciences or released from vicious protection. It is difficult to assign a definite effect to any one epoch, for no sooner is it done than up starts an objector with abundant evi dence to show that the epoch signified very little. We need not go very far for an instance. Com mon opinion assigns the bureaucracy and excessive centralization of France to the assumption and absorption of all power by the Revolution and the Empire ; but we have been lately assured on a very high authority that this is ail a mistake, and that the French Government was in all ages too jealous of local authority. Indeed, if you are to be " brought to book," as Mr. Henley expresses it, it would be easy to prove that the English were very good Protestants for centuries before the Reformation, for, though they burnt Protestants, that fact itself proves that there were Protestants to burn, and if they burnt one it was to inspire a wholesome terror into the thousands who listened to his teaching, and gave it its political importance. We are still of opinion that, on the whole, unprotected Agriculture has made greater progress than protected. We do not measure that progress by scientific discoveries. Science is almost necessarily slow, halting, and accidental in its pro gress. Yon cannot bribe science or flog it into brisk action. You must wait for genius, for op portunity, for the concurrence of circumstances, the meeting of men, and the comparison of thoughts. Even when science or Heaven has done its work, it requires a man of almost fanatical zeal to embrace the new truth, and urgo it to its practical consequences. So in a comparison of periods we rest rather on the amount of enterprise, the general spread of knowledge, and the work actually done ; and on a rough but very palpable estimate we claim a great step since the British landlords and farmers were chiefly known as habitual grumblers, depending partly on the clemency of the skies and partly on parliamentary protection. But, so far from being desirous to exalt the agriculture of this day at the expense of a former period, we entirely agree with Mr. Henley in thinking that much remains to be done, and that the south of England especially has even arrears to make up. It must be said that Agriculture is not so profitable as it should be for any one of the three classes con cerned—for the landlord, the tenant farmer, or the labourer. The landlord does not obtain the rent that he should, the tenant does not make good a profit as he might, and the labourer is not so well off as he should be. At present it is difficult to take the part of any one class without seeming to infringe on the just claims of another. But as all these classes certainly derive much more from the soil than they did, we will say, before the end of the last century, —if we were to put it within this century, Mr. Hen ley would probably contradict us,—so we hope they will derive more than they do now, and we see no reason why they should not. There are, of course, moral as well as scientific considerations that bear on the condition of Agriculture. With those we will not meddle. The art itself is most evidently open to improvement. It does not make the best of its opportunities in these islands. Wherever the sun s hines and the rain falls upon an un grateful soil, there sun and rain are wasted and lost to the country. Wherever the water stands and drowns the land, and prevents the introduction of warmth and air, there the soil i s wasted and lost to the country. Wherever the convertible materials of future harvests are thrown into our rivers to be carried out into the sea, or dissipated into the elements, there also the food of millions is wasted and lost to the country. Wherever the labourers are ill-housed, ill-clothed, and ill-fed, and are therefore incapable of doing all the work they might do, their labour is wasted and lost to the country. Under all these heads there is an amount of waste equivalent, probably, to the sustenance of a second population, equal to that which now finds subsistence in these isles. No doubt, we shall be charged with cutting out hard work for Agriculture, especially when Ireland is thrown into the account, and science is required to meet the twofold difficulty of a sterile soil and inclement sky ; but if science and invention had not braved difficulties supposed to be in surmountable, neither England nor Europe would now stand at the top of the world. The Duke of Marlborough, in common with most of our landowners, claims for agriculture a pre-eminence over all other arts in dignity and in actual import ance. Mr. Henley believes it to be the first interest in the country. If the comparison must be made, then it must be admitted that food is the most indispensable product of industry, and that, as a fact, landowners have more political power, more social influence, and more social consideration than the other interests. This is recognised by merchants find manufacturers, who, as soon as they have made a hundred thousand or so invest in land, when they could easily obtain a much higher interest in th e safest branches of their own business. But the only use of such comparisons is to remind the higher not to be beaten by the lower, and to carry off the palm of achievement as well as the pride of position. Has agriculture done as much as manufacture in these islands ? Has it con verted barren heaths into the habitations and gar dens of prosperous crowds ? Has it multiplied the popul,ation of counties three or four fold within a hundred years? What part of Ireland now prospers most, the agricultural or the manufacturing? Which interest offers the most opportunities to those who are thrown on the world and have to seek their for tune? Considering the answers that must be given to these questions, it hardly becomes lords and county members to institute a comparison between the importance or the rank of the sister interests. Let them be allowed the pre-eminence, if they will really take the lead, and surpass on the wide plat form of nature the wonderful progress of our menu ficturing districts. The way is plain before them. Earth and sky are theirs. The land cannot run away; the materials to be worked with are safe under Nature's key, and cannot be withheld by jealous neighbours or angry belligerents. Moreover, it is their turn to do sometLing marvellous. So let them set to in good earnest. They are " the first interest ;" let them take the lead. HERALD.—The Channel Fleet in the Bay of Dub lin excites, the local journals tell us, in stereotype phrase, "universal interest." Wherever this "city on the inconstant billows dancing" settles itself, though but for a brief while, the whole neighbour hood is astir to welcome it and do it honour. Some 15,000 visitors from the Irish capital daily go to see the great iron-clads which are to help to deter mine the future of Great Britain on the seas. So we may be pardoned for expressing a hope that a solid substantial result will attend the friendly in tercourse between the home miTyand the ei;izens of the several ports to which it has found its way, and. that this hilarious greeting and pleasant curiosity of the landsmen, who live at home at ease, will not be the only good effected by the progress of the Channel Squadron along the shores of the United Kingdom. Admiral Decree, who is evidently proud of his profession, very judiciously took advantage of the enthusiastic reception he and his officers met with from the Royal Mersey Yacht Club at Liver pool to make some thoroughly practical remarks at one of the prandial festivities. Seeing the un bounded and undeniable welcome with which officers and men had been treated ever sit-ice the great ships came up the broad stream of the Mersey, the Admiral expressed his surprise at the small number of men enrolled in the Naval Reserve at Liverpool when compared with the swarming population of the town, directly or indirectly con nected with seafaring interests, It would not be amiss if the admiral repeated similar observa tions wherever the flag ship rested and received guests. Throughout the country the Naval Reserve has still but a very limited popularity. Its numbers are greater than formerly, and here and there, as on the Thames and the Tyne, energetic shipowners have stimulated the movement into something like a success. But still, compared with the increasing strength of the mercantile marine, the force of the Naval Reserve is not a tenth of what it should be. A public correspondent, from Liverpool, has ca ll e d at t ent i on t o the present hesi tation of both officers and men of the mercantile marine in joining this invaluable supplement to th© navy. There is no question but that the regular service and the Admiralty view any intrusion upon the distinctive rank and privileges of the navy with a curious professional dislike, if not actual appre hension. The same quiet contempt with which the volunteers on land were met by the army and its authorities in the first days of the rifle corps more or less tinges the feeling of the Admiralty and the service it controls towards the Naval Reserve. There is a fear that the [navy may be lowered and its dignity impaired by too free and ready an ad mission of the officers of the Naval Reserve to suit able rank and privilege. Mr, Ballantine states a perfectly recognised fact, when he declares that, at present, there is no active co-operation on the part of the officers in the merchant service to swell the ranks of the Naval Reserve. " From what I feel myself, as well as from the notorious absence from the force (of course, with a few excep tions) of the commanders of the great mail lines of steamers—such as the Omani, the Peninsular asid Oriental, the Canadian, and other services —it is very clear that the terms offered by the Go vernment are not considered those to which mer chant officers of the highest class consider them selves entitled." This system of "chilling rewards " is altogether a very short sighted policy. The Admiralty must know as well as we do that the majority of the commanders of the mail lines is com posed of retired naval officers, and that nothing would please these gentlemen more than the opportunity to resume the connection with the service to which they once belonged, if that opportunity were be comingly and honourably offered. It is idle to think that any large body of men can be subdued, as it were, into patriotic efforts, or that, unless a great emergency arises, they will condescend to accept an inferior status in the Queen's service, and so lessen their weight and standing with their professional brethren and the crews under their command. Even such an eccentric refusal as that returned by the Admiralty to the Mercantile Marine Service Association, on their application that the officers of the Reserve might fly the blue ensign, will go far to disgust any naval volunteer. The highest na tures feel these slights most keenly. And the Admiralty should be very chary of offering them, especially when there are so many temptations to keep the officers and men away from the dis cipline and extra duties and liabilities of this invaluable adjunct to the Queen's service afloat. " What is honour ?" says the fat knight. "A word. What is in that word, honour ? Air. A trim reckoning. Who hath it ? He that died o'Wed nesday. Doth he feel it ? No. Both he hear it? No. Is it insensible then ? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living ? No. Why ? Detraction will not suffer it—therefore I'll none of it." This is the sort of catechism with which Lord Clarence and those about him must have confounded themselves, according to the terms they have proposed to the officers of the Naval Reserve. " Officers of the land Volunteer forces," we read, "are allowed their rank up to colonel, but officers of the Naval Reserve can never attain even the honorary rank of commander or cap tain unless on actual service." " I may add," urges Mr. Ballantine—and his complaint breathes the same spirit of soreness against disdain and con tempt throughout—" that the force has no recog nised existence in a social position; for I have never seen, either at the entertainments given by the town of Liverpool to the fleet, or by the officers of the fleet themselves, the slightest recognition of the Reserve officers, who are to rank with, but after, the lieutenants of the Royal Navy." It needs no argument to demonstrate the error of all this indif ference and cavalier treatment. All proper eti quette springs from the kindly and conscientious feeling of the superiors by whom it is dictated. It is quite certain that whilst the officers of the mer chant service consider themselves in any degree slighted by the Admiralty arrangements the Naval Reserve will never be adequately manned. If the force is wanted, and is to be relied upon in the hour of necessity, it must be made popular to both officers and men. COUNTRY MARKETS. - MANCHESTER.-THIIRSDAY. At our market this morning the demand for wheat was very languid ; dry new English was held at the full prices of this day ae'nnight, but damp samples were ineffectually offered at about a reduction of is per qr, while American declined 2d to 3d per 1001bs. Flour inactive, at 6d to is per sack and barrel lower. New oats receded id to 2d per 451 b, and new oatmeal again • pressed at is to 2s per load lees money. The tone of the trade for Indian corn and beans was about the same as last market day, BIRMINGHAM—THuRsDAY. English wheat was sold at 44s to 48s for white, and 40s to 46s per 36 stone for red. Barley, new malting, 36s to 42s per qr ; grinding, 26s to 30s Oats, old, 24s to 30s per 30 stone ; Irish, 21s to 255. Beans, 40s to 44s.per qr. Peas, 36s to 44s per 36 stone. CORK-SEPT. 30. The following were the quotations this morning :—Red wheat, 7s Od to 8s 3d; white, 7s 3d to 9s 6d , barley, Os Od to 7s 6d ; oats, 5s 0d to 6s 10d ; black do., 4s Od to 5s Bd. EDINBURGH GRAIN-SEPT. 30. -- - A fair supply of farmers' wheat to-day, which met a fair sale at about the prices of last week. Barley met a good sale, and prices unaltered. Beans were dull. Oats a ready sale. Wheat on the top 9s Od up average Os 6d up. Barley on the top is Od down average Os 9d:down. Oats on the top 2s 6d down average is 6d down. Beans on the top 3s 6d up ....average 5s 6d up. Total Supply and Sales. Wheat ... 911 qrs Sold 392 qrs Barley ...... .. 1816 qrs Sold 1504 qrs Oats 'lB4lqrs Sold 830 qrs Beans lB qrs Sold 7 qrs Flour sells as follows :—Whites,:39s Od ; extras, 37s Od; superfine, 35s Od ; fine, 33s Od. DERBY SMITHFIELD—SEPT. 29. There was a good supply of fat beasts to-day, but there was a great deficiency in the quality, and the best beef was in good demand. The number of sheep and lambs about an average. The show of fat week, but sal es were brisker. pigs F at I N: li a rse not s w s e o r e large ce as . last Beet Mutton ... 7d to lit Pork Lamb Bd to —d Rough fat, 3 s 9d per stone. Hides, 3d to 41d; calf skins, 5d to 6d. Births. CaURCII. — On the Ist inst., at Shore House, S. Hackney, Mrs. A. G. Church, of a son, GOSLING.—On the 30th ult., at Wellbury, Harts, the wife of Francis Gosling, Esq., of a daughter. LOYn.—On the 30th ult., at 77, Eaton-square, the wife of Wm. Jones Loyd, Esq., of a son. WARBURTON.—On the 30th ult., at 58, Lansdowne-place, Brighton, the wifo of Captain A. F. Warburton of a daughter. Marriages. CHILD—EWING.—On the 30th ult., at Eaton, Norwich, William, the eldest son of George Child, Esq., of York Lodge, Upper Norwood, Surrey, to Ellen Alice, second daughter of J. W. Ewing, Esq., of Eaton. WlSBEY — Horiurrs—On the 28th ult., at Trinity Church, Westbourne-terrace, Ba3swater, Charles Wordsworth Wisbey, to Marianita, second daughter of E, Hopkins, &c. Deaths. ADDISON.—On the 30th ult., at Hoxham, Mr. J. Addison she representative of Messrs. J. W. and 11. Browning and Co., of London. ARMSTRONG.— On the 27th ult., at Colney Hatch,. W. A. F. Armstrong, late of Walworth, aged 36. HAYWARD.—On the Ist inst., at 7, Highbury-tcrrace, R. L. Hayward, Esq. HouttriTox.—On the 30th ult., at Rose Mount, Oxton, near Birkenhedd, Zachariah Barnes Houghton. KING .-• On the 29th ult., at Leamington, Esq., aged 75. Richard Bing, SINCLATIL—On the 30th ult., at Pilmuir, Torquay, the Right Hon. Charles, Lord Sinclair, in the 96th year of his age. TYSSEN.—On the 3 0th nit ., at Copford, Essex, Tyrell -Tyssen, only son of Commander Tyssen, R.N., aged four years. Louden : Pr;rxzed and Pab.lllshed by WILLIAM ANDREWe, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE Stile Office No. 112 Strand, in the Precinct of the iavoy, in the County of October Z, 180_