The Sun. — London, England, 1864-09-23 00:00:00

Social Science Congress at York, YORK, Tnursday Evening. The eighth annual congress of the British A 33 0- elation for Promoting Social Science commenced its labours to-day in the metropolis of the north. The sale of tickets has been very large, and there is every prospect of a most successful meeting. The pro ceedings wero invigorated by a special service in the marvellous minster, of which York is so justly proud. There was a crowded congregation, to whom the Archbishop of York delivered a very able Beeman. At tho close of the service a meeting of the c)uncil was held, at which various preliminary arrangements ware made. At eight p,m. a meeting of the members and tosociates took place in the Festival Concert-room. Th e opening address was delivered by Lord Brougham, the president of the association, who hid arrived the preceding evening at the Mansion House, where his lordship is the guest of the Lord I\l ayor. Lord BROUGLIAM said,—That I should once more preside over our congress, after so often filling the office, is the matter of some regret, considering the many younger and abler members whose turn is thus deferred,and my own resolution had been taken to refuse the honour. Bat when it was represented to me that my old friends and constituents in this great county strongly desired it, no choice was left but to submit. Of the honours and distinctions with which a long life has been blessed the very highest must ever be reckoned my election to represent Yorkshire, the last time it was fated to choose members for the whole undivided province ; and there still live those of my colleagues in office who know how bitter was the pang of exchanging that proud position for the highest office in the State, how reluctantly the step was taken, how firm the determination of refusal, and to what urgent remonstrances submission was yielded. And now in re-visiting the scenes of former years, the pleasure naturally arising is sadly damped by the blanks, the dismal blanks, that meet the eye where soever it is cast around. Let me avoid this retro spect, but too painful to bear, by at once plunging into the affairs of the hour— " Offspring of woe, a parent of our ease, The toil which teaches pleasure's self to please, Diverts the grief that spurns direc control, And stills the raging tempest of the soul." And now we are met on the very threshold of our eighth assemblage by the complaint often before re. peated, that so little has been done since our last congress. Need I again explain the grounds of this impatience, and the gross fallacy it involves ? To say nothing of the necessity that all improvements to be safe must be gradual, experience being the great teacher, and the corrector of errors and oversights, we greatly underrate the progress actually made, not only from oar impatience that the movement is not more rapid, but from our fancy ever dwelling on that more rapid rate, as they who move along the side of the river wholly miscalculate the swift ness with which they see the vessel borne down the stream, nay, sometimes believe it stationary or borne backwards. If Lord Bacon said that " proposal has - wings but execution leaden feet," you were told last year that the people who hasten to improve their lot faster than the safety of society allows are as sure of coming to a bad end as he who makes haste to be rich ; that anarchy and slavery await the people, as the gibbet awaits the man. In casting the eyes over the last year we are naturally struck with one great improvement—the voice of party has been for the most part still, The circumstance of the most considerable of leading statesmen having belonged to different parties at various periods of their course has no doubt contributed to this; but it has more especially been owing to the increased and happily increasingly inflaence of public opinion, from the diffusion of knowledge, and the habit of discussing freely all important questions, personal as well as general. Men are still combined in parties, and if their bond of union is community of principle, it is for the advantage:of the State. But the benefits of party union may be obtained by a temporary combination of those who are agreed in anxiously desiring to further the attainment of a common object, without those evils which arise from the banding of men and families in factions. The Efluenco of public opinion prevents those evils which in former times resulted from party render ing it no longer possible that a few leading men or families should govern the State, di3posing of its interests and patronage as they might those of a corporation or a bo..ough. The times are gone, and never to return, when, in forming a Ministry, able -and honourable men could exclude tte most rising men of the day, inheriting the fame of Lord Chatham, and himself already distinguished for first rate parliamentary powers, to make way for a noble family's younger son, wholly undistin guished for any acquirement or capacity ; an exclu• s:on which bad the most disastrous consequences to the interests of the country for a quarter of a cen tury, the most critical period of its history. It is a satisfactory indication of the stillness of party that we ham to recount a most important measure lately adopted at the instance of our council. The state of education for the middle classes had long been complained of, and petiticns to both houses had more than once been presented upon the sub ject ; a great number, about 120, by myself to the Lords, and, with those to the Commons, signed by above 40,000 persons. This last session there were others from districts in London and in various places of nine several counties, from many classes of the promoters of education ; among others from teachers of schools. '1 hen the general complaint was that while due olre is bestowed upon the schools for the highest and humblest classes, none whatever is given to the schools for the middle classes. The working class numbers between 15 and 16 millions, the upper class between 3 and 4 million, the middle class may be reckoned at below a million, but though small in point of numbers, their importance to the community it would be diffis cult to over-estimate. Yet no provision whatever is made to sn?erintend the teachers of the schools fres quented by their children, while the vast impcirtance of the education they receive is undeniable. Care is taken that no unfit persons shall practice medi cine or surgery; provision is made for the education of lawyers; is it less important to see that fit per sons shall be entrusted with the mental and moral health of the community than its bodily health or its property ? Yet the persons least qualified by learning or talents, and even of the most excep tional character and habits, may set up schools for either sex, so that it has be come a saying, when any one has failed in all other ways to obtain a livelihood, let him keep a school, or let her be a schoolmistress. No one has ever 'recommended that any compulsion should be employed, any person be prevented from opening a school, or any school already set up be interfered with. But if inspectors be provided, with power to grant certificates of qualification and character, anocst all schools would submit to the inspection for the sake of the certificates, and few if any per sons would set up schools without having passed examination. An answer would thus be afforded to those who complained, as some farmers lately did, that though they paid little for the schooling of their children, what they got for their money was not worth it. The council, taking this important subject into their consideration, appointed a depu. tation upon it to wait on the Minister. It was at tended by our leading members, as Mr Chadwick, to whom we owe the greatest improvement in education effected of late years by the half time system (as great a sring in point of money to the wor ki ng c lasses as In health, physical and moral, of the pupils) ; Lord Lyttelton, who had rendered such important service on the commission • - sion to inquire into our pub. lie czihools ; and the pa" Bishop of London, whose ancient connexion ith Rugby school gave him pe culiar weight on al r niqcussd the subjectslich questions. The deputation n un th e e d m . inister's presence, and it has since been anno forthwith bin Parliament that a commission shall issuededuceat.. on the whole subject of middle-class a c i ou l n n e. e l ompliance with the recommendation of the An imp portant discussion took place in April on l t:h sion of girls to the university local examinations. It It was unanimously agreed' that this is most desire able, and the committee formed for promoting this object are very desirous that it should be included under the head of those matters referred to the commission for inquiry. There can be no doubt that it will. Female education was epecially dwelt upon in the interview with the ministcr. The memorial presented to the univer. city authorities has been E.igned by above 900 .eachers, and there can be little doubt of its fe.vour- able reception. Nothing could be (n re incorrect than the representations made in some quarters that the discussion alluded to was for obtaining degrees o female pupils. Such a notion never was enter. aincd by any of those who attended the meeting. .adeed it was excluded by the known fact that no degrees are given at the local examinations by the universities; and the only object of Mr. Hastings and those who supported him was to have those examinations opened to females. The importance of these to persons who desire to follow the line of governesses and schoolmistresses, or indeed the humbler line of housekeepers, or even nurserymaids, is manifest ; and it was stated at the meeting, on the authority of our colleague, Mr Harris, chairman of the Society of Arts, that women who, having passed the Examination of the Society, have obtained first-class ce.ztificates, had been able at once ,o obtain situations as housekeepers in large es :ablishments, instead of having to work their way up through different degrees of domestic service. At a time when great exertions are making by public spirited persons, ladies especially, to give increased facilities of female employment, surely this discussion in the association has been most op portune. But we have always been zealous in our efforts to encourage women of a higher class in their endcavours to better their condition by cultivating letters ; and here at York we are naturally rep• minded of one intimately connected with the county where she was born (the daughter of a highly re• spected clergyman), and esteemed by distinguished families—the Stricklands, Swans, Ramsdens, Head. lams,—Miss Eyre, whose works, " Queen's Pardon" and "Family History," have been well received, and as will be in a few days found in the pages of Mr. Cassell's Quiver another is about to appear, "A Lady's Walks in the South of France," giving a most interesting account of the inhabitants, the working classes especially of the countries near the Pyrenees. To patronise those who thus supply their wants by labour is an appointed duty to the mem bers of our association. The accident which gave rise to the resignation of our colleague, Mr. Lowe, is much to be regretted. He seems to have thought a point of honour required that step, but when a committee had fully proved that there was no foundation whatever for any charges against him, it is unfortunate that he should not have resumed his place in the department where his labours have been so useful to the interests of education. The revised code has on the whole given satisfaction. The system of examination has both diminished the expense to the State, and made the payment depend on the result of the instruction, and those only receive the benefit who are unable to bear the ex. pense themselves. The whole subject will be considered in our education department, and it is only to be regretted that Mr. Lowe's absence from the country must: prevent his at tendance. Intimately connected with the interests of education is the great reform of the Post-office, which has of late years been effected by Sir Row land Hill ; and it is most gratifying to find that his merit and that of his plan has been recognised by till Government and Parliament since our last con gress. In this material respect he differs from all inventors. So little was he under the influence of sanguine expectations that he greatly underrated the success of his plan, and overrated its cost. He foretold that the number of letters would increase fivefold ; they increased between eight and nine fold. He feared there would be a loss to the revenue of £300,000, a cost which he considered the advantages of the change well worth. But there has been no loss at all ; on the contrary, the nett revenue increased by above £lOO,OOO. The enabling poor persons to correspond with their friends has greatly encouraged their learning to write, besides the unspeakable comfort afforded by this free intercourse. But the cheap and easy con veyance by book post is of the utmost benefit to all literary men and to the. readers also. This advan tage is entirely due to the new system. The Post. office savings banks is another and most important benefit to the working classes, which can only be said to have been carried to its full extent by that system, though without owing its origin to it. We cannot leave the subject of the Post Office without remarking the superiority of great over ordinary men in the history of its changes. Mr Pitt stood by Mr Palmer in his introduction of mail coaches, when all the authorities of the Post Office were against him. The great Duke of Wellington almost alone perceived the merits of Sir It. Hili's plans, when others, Sir Robert Peel included, either op posed or coldly supported him. That he is destined to effect further improvements there can be little doubt, and we can only wish him the full restore. tion of his health that such improvements may be brought forward. The subject of the patent laws is sure to come under discussion with report of the commission upon it, under our colleagues Lords Stanley and Overstone. Though the Government have ably and successfully given encouragement to the flue arts, in their application to manufac tures, they have shown little favour to discoveries in science and their application to the useful arts. Since last congress our most distinguished colleague Sir D. Brewster's grand improvement of light houses, the result of his optical discoveries, has failed to obtain due protection from the Board of Trade. It is to be hoped that it may not share the fate of Sir W. S. Harris's lightning rod, which has saved life and property to a great amount, but was resisted for 15 years by the Admiralty and the Treasury. To the stillness of party already men tioned may possibiy bo referred those opinions which have of late been ventilated upon the important subjects of foreign or international and of colonial policy—opinions which, though in some points sound, and in all respects well deserving attention, are yet in material particulars unfounded and re quire to be guarded against. It has been said no; only that great care should be taken never to en. gage in the disputes of continental states, but that the rule should be laid down of absolute and entire isolation, and that we have no mere reason ever to mix ourselves in those disputes than if we belonged to another world. That the greatest mischief has resulted from a rash and needless interference to preserve the balance of power is undeniable. But that no violent usurpation, no seizure of one power's dominions by another, no extinction of one state and its absorption in another, can justify our interposition, it is impossible to maintain, unless we are prepared to see such an augmentation of some one state's force as s h a ll reduce all others to sub tseue,enuadnreecir uaisit alliances ag w n : 2ine i l es e pt formedratohptieemn dangersil t y w i e i h s t e h i opfo that tgehoievnrecisnum, conquerors rg o o a hr y a st arise from the graspi ng s s s v e e e r r v a v k i e e n s to e c a e unopposed. The love of maintaining national in dependence, and the natural and just abhorrence of manifest wrong, may even be gratified, if the opportunity arise of acting in concert with others to resist the wrong-doer, and this where no obliga tions of treaty bind us. It is not correct to repre sent this as a sacrifice to the desire of national in. flaence, or as a mere indulgence in feelings. it is useful as the means of preventing aggression,and up. holding the general law of national independence, for when we speak of the balance of power, the real meaning of the phrase and of the principle is the maintenance of the existing order of things, the established distribution of dominion, and the pre vention of change by lawless violence. It is never honourable—nay, hardly even safe—for a great nation to stand by and witness, unmoved, acts of inexcusable aggression to the violation of all national rights, acts such as the oppression of an unoffending people. The greatest crime in modern ages was the partition of Poland, cont rived by him whom unreflecting men have called great, but whose trea cheries and cruelties were without example before our days, the second Frederick of Prussia ; he was joined by his willing accomplice, Catherine, whose usurpation of the Russian throne and countenance of her husband's murderers was as scandalous as her life was profligate, Maria Theresa was drawn into the plot, and ever after repented of her weak ness. The acquiescence of the other Powers covered them with dis g r ace , an d the subvers i on o f a ll pu bli c principle, fatal to national morals, was felt in its consequences in after times. The wars and tile ins triguca of France, after the revolution, had a like _ _ evil infleunce ; but the restoration of European in dependence after the fan ol Nepoleon brought back ,he sense of national rights, and it was little to be expected that there should follow such an outrage upon them, such a violation of all public principle as we have just witnessed, and by those who had been most humiliated in the late wars. Once more Prussia has been the aggressor. Seized with the desire for military distinction, as if to obliterate the memory of her prostration under France, she joined the German mobs in their war frenzy, and sought renown in trampling on the weak, and truckling to the strong, made herself the tool of the Muscovite n a course unprecedented even by Russian oppres- sion and Polish suffering, and was backed by Aus tria on no conceivable princip',e, and on any calcu• ation of intenst unintelligible, if it be not some dream of gaining German influence to counterpoise her difficulties in Italy and her worse embarrass. wents in Hungary. But from all her profligate aggression Prussia has gained not the shadow of glory, though she has grasped the substance of plunder; and for England to stand by and wit- ness unmoved the massacre and pillage of the gal lant Danes would have been shameful. She must reel the indignation which all Europe felt, and had she not given vent to the feeling she was disgraced. The indignation felt and expressed was against the rulers of Prussia, not certainly against the people, who have almost as much reason to complain of those rulers as the Danes themselves. That England should have been unable to interfere for their pro tection, and for punishing the wrongdoer, was a misfortune not a fault. The outcry that she was humbled is as groundless as it would be to say that any one who saw a murder committed by a gang of armed ruffians was humbled if he did not stay their hands. Our Government would have been much to blame had it either encouraged the Danes to resist by the promise of help which it knew could not be given, or withheld its testimony to their valour and to the injustice they had suffered. But no such blame was ever incurred. The expression of national sen timent was distinct and strong ; promise of help there was non?. given. The only expression that could be so construed was the declaration that Den mark would not stand alone ; a declaration coupled with the statement that France and Russia viewed he aggression of Germany in the same light with ourselves. The declaration was thus the mere state• ment of a fact, and no one could for an instant imagine that we should single-handed rush into war with two-thirds of Europe. There have certainly been times when England would have made efforts to induce those who thought with her to act with her in resisting wrong; would by subsidies or by offering to join in warfare have engaged in offensive alliances. But at no time would she make war alone and unsupported ; and the only difference between our present position and that of former periods is, the greater determination to avoid the evils of war and to calculate the risks of being involved in it. It lis another matter to regard the abstinence of our neighbours from a timely interposition. France ;wee much to the wisdom of her present Government and its determination against what, ever may interrupt her rapid progress in the arts of peace. But there seems little reason to doubt that her interference at the early part of the late pro ceedings would have been effectual to prevent the acts of violence which are universally condemned, and effectual without the least risk of hostilities. The measures which this country has taken for ob taining the concurrence of foreign powers in the great act of abolishing the slave trade form no ex- ception to the general principle, as besides the para , mount claims of humanity and justice, we had nol a very remote interest in the concurrence of other states; and happily our efforts proved successful in all but one instance, that of the Spanish share in this execrable traffic, as it is called, but properly this great crime. Spain received a large sum for the supposed expenses of her joining us, and for many years postponed performing her contract. At length she made a law professing to abolish, but which only protected her governors and other persons employed in Cubs, and these, with one or two honourable ex ceptions, took bribes from the slave-traders in the most open manner, inasmuch that one governor re uived no less than £lOO,OOO for permitting them to import negroes. Brazil has, since the Portuguese party ceased to rule, pursued a very different course; and a4hough we were under the necessity of pass ing an act in 1845, somewhat violently interfering with the Brazil commerce, at a time when the Por tuguese protected the traffic—an act so strong that its author, Lord Aberdeen, pledged himself to the government at - Rio to have it repeated as s)on as the traffic ceased—that event has now been for above ten years completely an accomplished fact, the guilty commerce having entirely ceased through the efforts of the Government, with the hearty concurrence of the legislature and of the community, The Aber deen Act ought, therefore, to be at once repealed, and our amicable relations with Brazil, which that act alone interrupts, would be restored, to the great benefit of our trade, which is of great value, with that country. In the present state of easy corn. munication between different countries, some of which are only separated from others by a river or a line of boundary, the laws of one state are easily evaded by individuals re• moving to another, and thus the criminal law especially is rendered ineffectual by the escape of offenders. Hence the necessity of extradition treaties is apparent, end it would be of great importance that they should be entered into by all nations. The difficulty, and the only difficulty, exists in the different proof required in different countries to give the magistrate the power of arresting; and for some time this occasioned great discontent in France, because it was said that escaped culprits were surrendered to the English offi • cers, but the English magistrates hardly gave up any to the French. A treaty with Prussia gave rise to a bill in the late session, but it was withdrawn on finding that persons tried in their absence were required by the treaty to be sur rendered in this country when sentence had been passed upon them for not appearing to take their trial. N ow, b y un i versa l consent, no extradition of persons charged with political offences can ever be thought of, and yet such offences might be the ground of sentence in absence. Nothing could have been easier than to frame the law for carrying the treaty into effect, so as to free it from this objection. Mention has been made of the views now entertained upon colonial policy. Men alarmed at the expense of colonies, and especially at the cost of their defence,and assuming that their commerce would remain secured in all circumstances, have broached the °pi_ nion that we ought to get rid of all such establishments as only a burden, and rely upon a continuancy of their trade, and of the beneficial intercourse subsisting through colonial pro prietors residing in the mother-country. It is unnecessary here to point out the errors of these opinions, but one prin ciple may be laid down without any hesitation, that as all colonies have a tendency by their growth to reach a state in which they may assert their independence, wo ought so to regulate our intercourse with them as to maintain a friendly feeling on both sides, and make the amicable inter course lasting in the event of a separation. The excessive national vanity of the Americans, breaking out in jealousy and hostile feelings towards this country, may seem to make continued amity hardly possible after independence has be come established ; but it is to be hoped that sentiments so unamiable, and so utterly groundless, may die out if they should not be cured by reflection. There are few subjects more interesting to the promoters of social science than the course of legislation upon the rights of private property what is called private bills in Parliament. The great, the transcendental powers bestowed by these bills require that their discussion and enactment should be guarded with the utmost care. This becomes the more necessary that the parties to a bill—those who promote and those who oppose— may,by collusion,obtain powers affecting third parties not re presented, and especially the public. There are instances without number of provisions inserted, setting at defiance all established principles of the law, and only discovered when some party sought to take advantage of them. But the amount of private business is a serious grievance to the mem bers of both houses, especially of the Commons, and the ex pense to parties is enormous ; besides that the inquiries before committees are not the best calculated to attain the end of all such quasi judicial investigation—'he ascertainment of truth. A very important committee has lately examined the subject, and on the reports presented by its chairman, Colonel Wilson Patten, certain improvements have been adopted, which it is hoped on trial may prove beneficial. But to the great evil of all, both in delay and in expense, no remedy has been applied—the double inquiry rendered necessary by each house having to go through the whole provisions of each bill. Now, it is manifest that this could easily and safely be avoided, and the whole inquiry be improved without the least infraction of the privileges of Parliament. With the aid and powerful support of the great man whose irreparable loss we daily and hourly de plore, whether in peace or in war, on all subjects of policy, foreign and domestic—the Duke of Wellington—l brought forward this plan, which we had worked out in concert 30 years ago ; and in the committee of 1841 on the standing orders, where I proposed those which were afterwards una nimously adopted, which are the o rders now in farce, and were soon after reluctantly passed by the C ommons, he said it would bo bettor to propose our groat plan, and on my assuring him that it would be rejected, he said "We can but fail, and then we retreat upon your lesser plan." My fears proved well founded. We were defeated chiefly by the influence of professional men with the members of our committee. The plan was for the appointment of committee of the two houses, seven Commoners and five Lords sitting, with the assistance cf a professional judge to rule, or at least to advise them, in matters of law, the com mittee to examine the whole case and report upon it to both houses, the report to be conclusive upon all the facts, but all else to be in the discretion of each house. The last ses sion was productive of an important measure, propounded by that steady friend of the working classes, whose zeal for their benefit and their improvement is hardly surpassed by his unrivalled eloquence, so often employed in diffusing useful truths, as well as in supporting wise schemes of policy. The great commercial treaty with France, his work and that of the able and enlightened First Minister of France, might be justly commemorated. But here at York, where the gratitude of the working classes has been expressed to him in so remarkable a manner, it is fitter to dwell upon the important benefit extended to these classes by their access to government annuities, free from all risk, and without hazards to which hid socie ties are sutject. At our last congress, at Edinburgh, a resolution was passed recommending to the council to ob tain a Parliamentary inquiry into the condition of provident societies for the working classes, and the propriety of Go vernment security being afforded to them for annuities in old age or sickness. The council referred the subject to a committee, and in the meanwhile Mr Gladstone, by his bill, anticipated the resolution of the committee. The council presented a petition strongly urging the reasons in favour of the bill, which after considerable opposition from in surance and annuity companies, was finally passed, An attempt was made in the Lords to carry a bill for shorten ing the period of limitation in simple contract debts, and for extending equitable jurisdiction to the county courts, and in so far the measure would have been most beneficial. But it was coupled with a provision abolishing the power of arrest for small debts, and as this would have at once extinguished those most useful courts, and abolished all local jurisdiction, the bill was strenuously opposed, and could not have passed either house. These courts have been of inestimable service. The causes before them have increased, so as now to be in their number, and the amount of the sums sued for, in the proportion of three to two, comparing the years 1863 and 1865, and double the number and amount at the establishment of the local judicature seven years before. In 1863 the number of plaints was above 800,000, and the sums sued for nearly £2,000,000. The increase has been regular, and the judgments have given such satisfaction that from the 260,000 last year in contested suits, there were no more than 15 appeals. There were above 170,000 judgments by consent, only 30,000 executions, and between 8,000 and 9,003 imprisonments, so that of 800,000 suits in all about but seven per cent. the matter was settled by payment or compromise. In the supreme courts the same year the number of causes was 100,000, and the necessity of execution and imprisonment for wan', of settlement was not seven, but 23 per cent. It was unfortunate that the excellent provisions in the bill were lost with the rest, but it is to be hoped they are only postponed ; it was too late in the session to present another bill, The continued withholding of a Department for Judi cial Affairs, after repeated promises in answer to motions of our distinguished colleague, the ex-Chancellor of Ireland (.Slr Napier), is greatly to be lamented, on account of the County Courts Bill, as well as others. Had such a depart ment existed the bill, reduced to its fit dimensions, must have passed, as well as those further amendments in the law of evidence and judicial procedure which late experience has shown to be desirable, and which it is to be hoped will en gage the attention of our department of jurisprudence. The exertions of our colleague Lord Clanricarde have at length succeeded in extending to Ireland the system of judicial statistics. Ho expects the return for the year to show a great diminution in the real amount of litigation before the superior courts, notwithstanding all attempts to increase its nominal amount ; for he justly observes that in so agri cultural a country tho sessions are to the bulk of the people the most important tribunal, An inquiry in the Commons upon the health of towns as affected by sewerage has led to a report of great importance, and the subject will be taken up in our sanitary department. It appears clearly that the process for cleansing towns has led to the greatest impurity in streams, and the report shows incontestably that all sewage may be conveyed into the country at a moderate cost, and even with a profit, by the farmers who purchase the manure, At a time when the supply of guano is found less than the demand for it, nothing can be more valuable to agriculture than the process recommended by the report as so beneficial to the health of towns. There can be little doubt that the conclusion in the report will be strongly recommended by our department, with the support of the evidence brought before it. As the promoters of social science travel more than others, we have an interest in the subject frequently broached in both houses during the session— the security of railway passengers. Consider ins; the extraordinary powers given to the companies, the Legislature has a good right to require that, in return, they should ac opt whatever may tend to the safety of the travel ler; and there can be no doubt that the easy communica tion of each compartment with the guard can be effected at a moderate expense. Na subject has more engaged the at tention of our association in all its branches than the treat ment of convicts. At our first congress, in 1857, papers were read on the Irish system ; and it formed next year the main topic of the very able rand interesting address by Lord Car lisle, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as presiding over one of the departments, We have at this meeting deeply to lament his absence from ill health, which every friend of the country must hope may have a short continuance. At the Dublin Congress most of our members had en opportunity of fully inspecting Sir W. Crofton's proceedings, and all formed a decided op nion in his favour. Last year, some alarm was excited by the opposition in high quarters (coun tenanced by the Home Office) to its introduction into this counts) , ; but this was allayed by the reports of com mittees in both houses; and though similar attempts were afterwards made in the same quarters, there is happily an end of all doubt upon the matter by the Pend Servitude Act of last session, which places the principle so strenuously maintained by us beyond the reach of further disturbance. The opposition of the Home-office is abandoned ; the act enforces the most important of the recommendations in the report of the commission and of Lord Carnarvon's commit tee, and that office has shown a praiseworthy disposition to give up its former prejudices and fairly and firmly to execute the act, in the regulations issued under its provisions. The controversy of years thus comes to an end, and convict treat ment is brought into agreement with the intentions of the Legislature in 1853, or, in other words, the Irish system. On this we may congratulate our worthy colleague, the Re corder of Birmingham (Mr Hill), who first among us broached this subject inlBs7,having madeluimself acquainted with the system upon the spot. Unfortunately, he is not here, but he has sent an able and most instructive paper, which will be read in the Jurisprudence Department, and of which ad vantage is now taken in this address. The treatment of con victs with the constant purpose of reforming them, deviating neither into indulgence on the cno hand nor unnecessary harshness on the other, their supervision after their release, both to protect the community against the danger of their re • lease and themselves agair st unjust suspicion and consequent prosecution, and to afford them some aid in obtaining em ployment under the all but overwhelming disadvantages with which they return to society, to use Mr Hill's words, are the principles now accepted—the principles of the Irish system. Its success is proved by the experience of 11 years. It has been approved by the most eminent jurists of the continent, and condemned by none. At their head must be placed our learned colleague, Professor Holtzendorff, of Berlin, who joined us in the examination of Sir W. Crof ton's premises, at the Dublin congress. Next, we have the approval of Professor Mittermaier, of Heidelberg ; M. Dau sus de Pontes has described it in the Revue des Deux llondes ; and Mr Van da Brugger, Minister of Justice in Holland, adopts it. M. Massongy, a French judge, who has long studied the subject, pronounces strongly in Sir W. Crofton's favour ; and M. Cavour had begun to act upon the Irish system just before his lamented death. Professor Mittermaier's valuable Treatise on Capital Punishment, translated, with valuable a ditions, by an English lawyer, Mr Macrae Moir, is about to appear, but may be too late for this congress. On the subject cf capital punishment dis cussion is certain in our Jurisprudence Department, and a respectable society under Mr Gurney has been oc cupied in circulating information, part of which has reached us. No doubt the question of total abolition is attended with difficulty; but on one point there can be no difference of opinion, t h e necessity of an exe cution of capital sentences witho ut sus p icion that indi vidual caprice or popular interference exercises any in fluence, and such suspicion is sure to exist as long as there are no judicial assesssrs to the Home Office adetermining questions of respite and reprieve. The establishment of a department of justice would afford great facilities for such an arrangement. The Act passed at the end of the session to close refreshment houses b etween the hours one four in the morning has had in London a most happy effect in abating the nuisanc e which made some streets of and impassable, and it is to be hoped that this success may encourage the supporters of other measures connected with temperance and moral habits. Men may differ widely as to the measures fit to be taken. But that something must be done there cannot be a doubt, when it is admitted on all hands how great a proportion of the offences tried in our courts proceed from intoxication, and when the saying of the Recorder of Birmingham has passed into a proverb, that let him go in what path he will in his labours of philanthropy the drink demon starts up and stops the way. This subject must be fully taken up by our Sanitary Department, but also indeed by the Department of Juris prudence, and then will come into discussion . the Permis sive Bill of Mr Lawson, which met with so indifferent a reception in the Commons—partly no doubt from a feeling in favour of the working classes, grounded on most incor rect views of their best interests. That bill has beeh warmly and in supported by those classes themselves both in Cumberland this to thecounty. m l f a o connect ion comfort of t h the working i t this classes, subject, mentionand in reference must be made of the cooking depots established in London, and of which notice was taken in the Club Institute at its yearly meeting. It appears that the endeavours of the in stitute had been attended with success during the year, a great number of clubs having been formed in various parts of the country to the incalculable benefit of the la bouring people, the comfort of their homes, and the pro- motion of education, as well as innocent amusement in the evening of the labourer's day. The success of the cooking depots was appropriately dwelt upon at the general naeet ing, and accounts were received from our colleague, Mr B. Jerrold, who had taken great pains :with their establish- went. The first of them was at Glasgow, and an excellent one was set up in Edinburgh by Miss Catharine Sinclair. It appeared that at the central depot, in New-cut, Lam beth, 1,500 working men daily dine—that for an excellent meal of roast beef, vegetables, and soup only 6d. is paid ; and the establishment is self-supporting, inasmuch as after every expanse is paid there is a net prc•fit of 20 per cent. on the capital. The promoters of social science, friends of the working classes, can desire nothing more .. than the multi plication of such establishments, of which steps have been taken to form 18 or 20 in London, and it is devoutly to be hoped that the like steps may be taken in the provinces. The importance has more than once been considered at oui congress of introducing into this country the decimal and metrical system now so universally prevailing on the Conti nent ; and its importance is regarded not merely with a view to facility of accounts in our extended commercial dealings with foreign countries, but also with regard to its advan tages in education. It appears by Mr Chadwick's state ment, from his communication with numberless teachers in various parts of the country, that the result is to obtain a saving equal to between a third and a half of the time taken to teach pupils arithmetic. As this is reckoned three quarters of an hour daily, the benefit of the saving to the working classes is manifest, even on the half time sys tem, now it is to be hoped generally adopted. The Weights and Measures Bill, moved by our colleague Lord Fortescue, though opposed in the Lords, was carried by a very con siderable majority, and the Act is passed. It is only per missive and confined in its extent ; but it is a step in the right direction, and will inevitably be made general, and be universally adopted. But with all the care taken for the working classes, for promoting their comfort and furthering their improvement, shall nothing be done, even when we find them improved, to increase their weight in the corn munity, by extending their influence on public affairs—in a word, by lowering the elective franchise and admitting a larger number to concur in the choice of our representa tives? Every oue must remark how constant the occur rence is of the poll having a very different result from the show of hands. Can nothing be done to bring them nearer together ? Is it impossible so to arrange that the person returned by the show of hands should sit unless the poll exceeded by a certain proportion the first return ? This would give the voters a very decided preponderance, but without denying the existence of the more numerous class. But whatever difference of opinion may prevail upon the extension of the franchise there can be none upon the evil effects of corruption and the absolute necessity of freeing the community from that which is injurious to its most important interests—above all, to its morals. The desire to have a seat in Parliament is such that all risk of costs is willingly encountered, and the punishment of fine or imprisonment without hard labour is not suffi _ient to deter the candidate or his agent, who yet would not expose themselves to the risk of the treadmill. The slave trade flourished under the pecuniary penalties of fine and forfeitures, but when it was made felony the crime en tirely ceased. Men would run the risk of losing ship and cargo, because the profits of a successful voyage made them whole after a forfeiture; but the risk of transportation they would:not run, and the crime ceased at once and for ever to disgrace the country. So would bribery at elections were the treadmill the punishment, and a public prosecutor ap pointed, as has become necessary on every account, unless we desire to see our criminal law continue to be most imper fectly administered. The bill for awarding this punishment was introduced into the House of Lords so late in the ses• sion that when Sir Fitzroy Kelly took it up in the House of Commons, with the important addition of requiring a declaration to be made by every member, on taking his seat, th a t he believed no illegal expense had been incurred by him or his agents (a provision which could not well be intro duced in the Lords), it was found impossible to pass the bill before the prorogation. The prospect of immediate disso lution being no longer in view, the postponement of the measure till next session was less to be regretted. The effect of the declaration proposed by our distinguished col- league, Sir John Pahington, would be very great; for, as the Lord Chief Justice Cockburn observed when he intended himself to move such a provision, no man of the least re gard for his character could make it when he knew what sums he had expended himself, or by his agents, in corrup tion. If the Commons really wish to prevent bribery, as we are bound to admit they do, notwithstanding all rumours to the contrary, they will take care to pass a bill with this provision. It is satisfactory to find, as the Lords' committee did upon municipal elections, that the persons guilty of corruption at these as well as parliamentary elections, are, generally speaking, of the mostignorant classes—those who never read at all, But whatever may lately have been done by the legislature, or left undone, for the working classes, it is clear that they possess the power of doing much for themselves, and that happily they are resolved on pro viding for their own advancement in all respects, for bettering their condition, and for acquiring the time and the means for their moral improvement. This is by the co- operative plan, now so universally adopted, and which since our last congress has made such steady progress. The yearly report cf that excellent and most able officer, Mr Tidd Pratt, has been made, and is most cheering. It shows that there are in England and Wales 454 co-operative so cieties, and though of these 74 have made no returns, either from neglect or from having been too recently established, of the other 381 the number of members is 108,588, of whom 22,732 were admitted in 1863, only 11,358 having been withdrawn. The amount paid for goods was £2,370,153, the sums received for goods £2,626,741, leaving a profit of £213,`403. The whole expense for wages, rent, repairs, &c. was £176,544. The account which we have received since Mr Tidd Pratt's report (which comes down to December, 1863) shows a very considerable increase during the present year, in numbers, capital, and transactions. The profits are divided in proportion to the shares held by each member; and it is most satisfactory to find that the sums withdrawn were far less in 1863 than in 1862, the relief from distress, which caused the withdrawing of these sums, having been much less considerable in consequence of the improvement of trade. The principle in almost all cases is, "No trust, no debt"—and the only exceptions are when from sickness or other infirmity individuals are assisted by others, and repay the small sums thus advanced. The whole manage ment of these concerns is in the hands of the workmen themselves, and the gains are for the most part accumulated so as to form a small capital, which is generally employed in the productive branches of co-operation. But the great bulk of these societies are the stores, for the purchase and sale of the goods consumed by the members. The profits are thus earned in proportion to consumption, and a most pleasing part of their appropriation in very many instances is the provision made for education, by the purchase of books and journals, and the support of reading-rooms. But a most important step has been lately taken, which in its consequences promotes co-operation in a degree almost in calculable—the establishment of wholesale stores, the purchase and sale by general agency, For this great improvement we are indebted to Mr Greenwood, of Roch dale, who having observed the failure of former attempts to establish such an agency, devised the plan, which after being submitted to a conference, held in March, 1863, of delegates from almost all the societies in Lancashire and Yorkshire, was adopted by their unanimous concurrence, and is now in active operation. An office is established in Manchester, and the whole expense, including the purchase and sale of the goods, is defrayed by a small contribution from the members of the societies in connection with the office. All the goods required by the societies are bought of the great dealers, and sent by them at the cost of the receivers. The goods are thus of the best quality and at the lowest prices. The societies are of course required to confine their pur chases to the central agency, which, buying perhaps for 158 stores, can afford to charge a very small commission from each. Mr Greenwood's estimate was grounded on the actual consumption of 3,500 persona of the Rochdale Pioneers, and this made the amount consumed by 40,000 persons equal to £524.000 a quarter of groceries. He reckons on 2s 6d for each member in these counties, which would yield £5,000, a sum amply sufficient for all the expenses of the central establishment and agency. Great as the step has been there is besides a remarkable increase in the number of co-opera tive societies and of their members. Instead of 332 societies with 90,000 members in 1862, we have now, for 1863, 454, with 108,000 members, and the sums paid for goods have risen from £2,300,000, with a profit of £'_45,000, to £2,600,000 with £213,000 profit by the comparison of the last two years. But since December, when Mr Tidd Pratt's accounts were made up, we have received returns for August, which show that the increase has gone on this year more quickly. It is impossible to doubt that much is due to the unremitting and powerful exertions of Mr Pitman, and to the journal so ably conducted by him— the Co-operator, But he has been indefatigable is his la bours,having gone round the country to deliver lectures on what may truly be called self-help to working-men; teach ing them the uses of co-operation, and having ever in view the paramount duty of exciting men to work out their own improvement by helping themselves. It is to bo hoped that we shall have the great benefit of his presence at this con gress, and among various subjects to be discussed at our section of Social Economy there is one which his experience and his intimate acquaintance with the working classes renders him peculiarly fit to handle—the proper distribu tion of profits in concerns of productive industry. Some have contended that the distribution should follow no rule, but the apportionment to each person according to his wages ; others that it should depend entirely on the capital employed ; while between these two extremes it may be hoped t 7 at a middle course might be found, so as to give a share both to the labour of the workman and the capital by which it is put in motion. The extension of cooperation to farm labour has been continued since last year, as we shall find from Mr Gardon's statements. The incalculable benefits of co-operation to the comfort and independence of the working classes are even surpassed by the advantage which the community derives from the reconcilement to each other of the different bodies that compose it. There no longer prevail the feuds which most of us remember to have set against each other the master and the workman, the middle and the humbler classes. We shall soon outlive all strikes of men and combinations of their employers in sell defence; and the time will never more return which brought a special assize to this great county for the trial of outrages not only upon property hut life; and although doubtleee the progress of the people ill education and moral improvement has mainly served to bring them into mutual amity by the great progress of co-operative industry. To this is the whole happiness as well as improvement of the people due— " Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, Life in these words—health, peace, and competence, But health consists in temperance alone, And peace, oh virtue, peace is all thine own." But if from surveying the progress ci Social Science at home we turn cur eye to foreign countries, the view is by no means so gratifying. There has not been that advance in constitutional systems which we were happy to comme morate at our last congress, and in some states the changes have been for the worse. There appears a determination in the two great powers of Germany to resist all constitutional improvements as tending to revolution, and in their own dominions everything is withheld from the people which it is safe to withhold, In the smaller principalities the love of foreign war has suspended all internal reform. The kingdom of Italy is making very useful changes in its ad ministrative syste:n, adopting an improved taxation, and establishing such an effective peace as may relieve its southern provinces from the banditti, whom the exiled family, protected by the Roman Pontiff, continues to en- courage and support. It is certain that as long as France maintains an army atßome the tranquillity of Naples may be secured by orders from Paris. The sufferings of Poland under Russian oppression have been already adverted to ; and, reprehensible as the Imperial proceedings have been' we are bound to admit as an exception the Emperor's conduct towards the working classes in his own country. Ile has firmly and suscessfully persisted in the great measure of serf emancipation, and his merit has been the more remarkable because he had to contend with the universal opposition of the landowners, In France some important changes have been wrought in the law and in the constitution of the pro vincial councils, It is proposed to restrict the imprisonment of debtors to cases where there has been fraud or gross ex travagance and carelessness; and a code of bankrupt laws is preparing, somewhat on the model of our own; the great errors of which committed recently it is to be hoped will be avoided. There have been material improvements in the departments of public instruction, the most useful of which is the giving prizes to any persons who have left school and been employed in labour, but retain the know ledge they had acquired, it being a common charge against poor schools that the pupils soon forgot all they had learned. A very useful association has for two years been established for international instruction by the exertions of M, E. Rendu, the good effects of which are to be seen in the school of St. Germain-en-Lays. But no exertion has been given to popular influence in any way whatever ; and there have been prosecutions, that more especially of our distinguished colleague, M. Gamier Pages, and his friends, the judgment in which, if upon appeal found to be sanctioned by law, shows the absolute necessity of that law being repealed, unless the marvellous discovery of a courtly duke be con sidered as founded on fact, that the French are incapable of wore liberty than they at present enjoy, granted them by the Imperial Government. It is pleasing to observe the late elections and their consequences in a very small country having the inestimable benefit of a free constitution, as well as most wise and able rulers, the Belgian kingdom, where the greatest progress has also been made in all branches of industry. The elections have been in favour of the Liberal party, and have frustrated all the attempts of the bigoted adherents of Rome, yet without the least scope being given to intolerance, as is shown at the Catholic Congress of Ma lines, attended by men of the most distinguished station, and addressed in some of their speeches upon subjects which no one would have ventured to approach at Berlin, Vienna, or Paris. A most excellent practice has been introduced by our Foreign Office, of requiring the secretaries of legation at different courts to make a yearly report of the changes in commercial, and generally the economic, measures during the year. The volumecontaining these reports for 1863 has appeared, and it contains a body of most important informa tion. One head may be referred to as an example, The report of Mr Layton upon Switzerland gives an account of a most admirable institution for the education of female servants, which has been attended with perfect success, and shows how that problem may be solved which the late Prince Consort was so anxious about, and which Mrs Baines, it is to be hoped, will enable our Department of Economy to dis cuss with the advantage of her great experience and know ledge of the subject. That this country will ever be ready to benefit by the experience of other nations no one can doubt. We should be worse than spoilt children were we to justify the taunts occasionally thrown out by foreigners. We should be like those princes in despotic States, one of whom asked the bishop, his tutor, when reading the French his tory with him, and that it was said the king died in such a year, " What," said the prince, "do kings die then ?" " Sometimes," was the bishop's courtly and cautious an swer. The Americans indulge in the taunt at our expense; we are unable to retaliate; for cheirnational vanity, amount ing to disease, is coupled with so rational a regard to their interest that they are the first to adopt, and often to con tinue, the improvements of other countries. And now what a scene of misery and of crime does their recent history and present condition present to the friends of social science, more horrid than any case known in modern, let us say Christian times; and with this sad pecudarity, that the whole people, instead of merely permitting, as in other cases, the crimes of their rulers, are themselves the active and willing agents in the work of merciless slaughter— of such wholesale bloodshed as never before disgraced the name of man. " Qum est ista tam infesta ira, quam per tot acies, fusus sanguis expleri non potuerit ? Adai hue popu lationem agrorum ; incendia villarum ac ruinas orania ferro ignique vastata, hiscene ira expleri non potutt ? (Liv. vii. 30) How the blame for the three horrors should be distri buted, it boots not to irquire. Some good men have been deceived by the notion that slavery is the cause of the war —duped by the pretext that the North fights to free the slave, whereas their emancipation edict was a mere belli • gerent measure, and an afterthought ; they (as Bishop Wilberforce said) caring no more for the freedom of the black than they do for that of the white. But it has been reserved for the later act of the tragedy to see that government, when destitute of other troops, drive herds of the unhappy negroes to slaughter, with no more remorse than sportsmen feel in clearing a preserve. Yet certain though it be that the North did not make war to free the slave, and that this could not have entered into their consi deration when they began the contest for preventing the secession, it is no less certain that the maintenance of slavery —their detestable institution—was partly the object of the South in fighting for their independence ; and the friend of humanity, although feeling that we are not entitled to re quire a more sudden emancipation than we ourselves effected in our colonies, may yet earnestly hope that out of this cruel contest and its countless evils, the mercy of an all ruling Providence may draw the good, contemplated by neither party, of giving freedom to the slave. But whatever difference of opinion may prevail regarding the origin of this frightful civil war, there can be none as to the duty im posed on other nations of not taking part with either belli gerent; and in this country individuals were most properly warned by proclamation against enlisting in either army, the enforcement of the Foreign Enlistment Act being held out as certain. Every British subject is liable to its penal ties who so enlist, and that which is now a misdemeanour was formerly a felony, at one time punishabte with death. All who serve in the army of either party are guilty, and may be prosecuted in the Court of Queen's Bench as if their enlistment had been in an English county. Therefore the North makes war upon the South by troops composed in part of persons liable to prosecution for the offence of enlisting, and it was one of the gravest charges upon George HI, that he employed German mercenaries against the independence of America, though these Germans were guilty of no offence in hiring themselves to the service. The poor Irish who thus sell themselves break the law of their own country in order to perpetuate in America all the crimes of civil war. 'We are now in York, the birth place, it is commonly believed, of the first Christian Emperor, Constantine, who declared the Gospel the religion of the State. It is lamentable to think that to this capital there has penetrated the unbelief which is one of the great misfortunes of the present day, prevailing much more on the Continent than in these islands, by the elaborate and subtle efforts of its victims, yet somewhat to be deplored among ourselves. The friends of religion very justly complain of the mode and manner of these attacks, that they are not plain and open, but covert and insidious, casting doubts and raising suspicions, without such a direct assault as the religion itself might meet and repel; nay sometimes proceedings from persons who avow their be lief, but would reduce the subject cf it to such dimensions as left it unstable and incapable of defence. There are, however, more open assailants ; and it is strange to find that while a body directing these are actually distributing tracts, conducting a periodical work, and holding meetings for debate, both in the southern counties and even as far north as Edinburgh, there should be found at the same time propagators of spiritual visions, in which, as extremes often times meet, those are prone to believe who have faith in nothing else. Although some of the most zealous of those subject to these delusions fancy that true religion gains by them as affording proofs of another world's existence, it is certain that the bulk of those who believe in spiritualism, in communications from remote regions of the earth, and even from beyond the grave, are utter disbelievers in all religion natural and revealed, unhappy persons in whom the works of the Creator which surround them fail to raise a thought of the almighty power. wisdom, and goodness, and to whom the revealed will of God is addressed in vain. It becomes us to regard such opinions with pity, as far as they are sincere, abstaining from all expression of vitupe ration, difficult as it may be to avoid blaming those who, by propagating such delusions, would unsettle men's faith in one system without even affecting to put anything in its place, But we of the association hold fast by our own opinions, handed down with the sanction of the names most venerated in all the walks of all the sciences, held indeed by the most respected and beloved and deeply lamented of our own body. Death has since our last congress visited us with irreparable losses, of which may well be noticed that of our excellent Profes sor Pillow, one of the most able, learned, and pious of men, and that of Sir W. Brown, whose munificence, almost un exampled in modern times, bestowed upon the working classes in Liverpool their rich library and the great struc ture for their meetings—the friend of all sects, bestowing his generosity alike to them without any distinction, though every one knew how firmly held wore his own principles of religion as well as policy, though tempered by forbearance towards whoever differed with him on either. The loss of _ Lord Lyudhurst also Wel us at the very close of ow Ediu- burgh assemblage, and grievous it was both to his friend'', and the world. To say anything of his other merits Walla be superfluous. but we here may commemorate the olig v tions under which he laid the promoters of improvement ill our jurisprudence. Beset on all sides by the adversaries to change in the law, by those with whom he concurred views of general policy, by the alarmist of every class, an d by the judges themselves, he resisted all attempts to tarn him front the right path ; and even when he had for a reo. went, under the pressure of party connection, oppose d the first proposal of local courts, his opposition was marked by a candour suited to his great sagacity, and he soon a ter gave that important measure his powerful support, Certainly with any other Conservative Chancellor it n ever would have - been carried ; and the great change in the 10 of evidence, the examination of parties, opposed by the Liberal Chancellor, as well as the other ju 'ges, foun d ia him a cordial supporter. His irreparable loss leads us, in connection with the topic now handled, to reflect with satiPA faction on the peace which he enjoyed in his latter days , a lt ; the lively interest he took in religious study, The b°° : which he read without intermission was the New T 07 , 4, ment. It formed for many months the subject of his dall perusal ; and he left in writing his important testimo n y t 0 the comfort which he derived from the Gospel truths. lbe last matter of a secular kind which occupied his attention was the Edinburgh Congress and its proceedings, th e veri day before he retired to that rest for which he often said lie was anxious and prepared : Soul of the past I companion of the dead I Where is thy home, and whither art thou fled P Back to its heavenly source thy being goes, Swift as the comet wheels to where he rose ; Faith lured thine eye to deathless hopes 6utAinlet Beyond the realms of nature and of time. d Various points in the address were loudly applauded, fa l at the close his lordship was enthusiafitically cheered, COUNTRY MARKETS. MANCHESTER—THURSDAY. Onr market was exceedingly inanimate this mornil English wheat sold slowly, at a further decline of la t o per qr., and foreign ld to 2d per rental. For flour p o ,r l l o re-ceded 6d to is per sack, with a very dull inquiry. , 0 , and oatmeal were dull at last week's prices. Indian COa in limited request, and 6d cheaper. Beans ruled firm' a il fully as dear. RTON. ON-TR ENT—Tu. There BU as awn improved show of wheat rr at lisDAY our market day, which met a fair demand, at a slight decline on In week's prices. Barley in better supply, and only choil ' malting samples made late values; other kinds is low Oats a small show, with a rather flat trade. Beans grp t and we quote highdpricPs. 450 Old white wheat..46s to 52s I Old red wheat , 43s to - , 0 New do. .. 42s to 48s I New - do. 4os to 4s_ Malting 1 -ar1ey....34s to 37s I Oats 20s to 2 9 ' Grinding d0.....26s to 30s I Beans 3Bs to 40 BIRMINGHAM—THURSDAY. There was an increased supply of English wheat at ma r t ket to-day, which sold readily at 6d to is per qr under 1 . 08 week's prices. Foreign sorts fully is per qr lower in P ri l; Barley dull, and rather cheaper. Oats, beans, and peas 1, fair sale, at previous rates. The following are the pr ie li —English wheat was sold at 43s to 47s for white, aleci„'“, to 44s per 36 stone for red, Barley, new malting, 3 , '1,6 0 35s per qr; grinding, 25s to 28s Oats, old, 245 to or per 30 stone ; Irish, 20s to 245. Beans, 44s to 46s per 4 peas, 388 to 40s per 36 stone. BRISTOL—THURSDAY, A small show of English wheat in our market to -cla ' l ,; the demand for which ruled dull, at a slight decline 11P°00 la week ' s quotations. In foreig n also very little busi oe doing, Other articles unaltered. EDINBURGH GRAIN—WEDNESDAY. To• day there was a good supply of country wheat. o s l slow. Wheat on the top is 6d down .average Oa 4d 111 3 •_.„ Barley on the top is 6d up... average Os 4d flow' Oats on the top Os 6d down. ...average Os 3d doh Beans on the top is Od up. average is 7d up° Total Supply and Sales. - Wheat ...1003 qrs Sold 527 qrs Barley... 1175 qrs Sold 834 qrs Oats Beans 22 qrs Sold 21 qrs Average Prices. 220 103 Wheat.. ' 41s 9d I Oats Barley 3os 9d I Beans 433 trtb Town• made flour sells as follows :—White, 38s; el superfine, 365; superfine, 345; fine, 325. GLASGOW—WEDNESDAY. na 11 A good attendance at our market to-day, and whe at ~4 flour sold to a limited extent at a decline of 3d per boll 9'o barrel. Barley, oats, and oatmeal receded 3d to 6 d per VI, and barrel respectively. Beans scarce, and 6d dearer. dian corn neglected. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton .. Sept. 16. .. Oct. V' via Marseilles icirazil and Cape Verde by British packet. Oct. l's. Cape of Good Hope, ALension, and St. Helena.. Sept' tg China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton. Sept. via Marseilles ...Sept. 9. Falkland Islands Gibraltar, via Southampton Sept. i s 18. India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton SO" q i, via Marseilles Sept' 18, India (Bombay), via Southampton .. SeP t. 7,, ) . via Marseilles Sept. '4" Portugal.... Sept. 6 , f , nalta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton S e pt. kv" via Marseilles S e pt. -°' Newfoundland ... . Oporto and Vigo .. . 22 ' U. S. and British N. America, by Brit, packet.... Sep t ' by U.S. packet.... 0 3, by Canadian packet, Sept. All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, j Sep t. 2 6 ' California, and British Columbia. .. ...... TIIE 75TH REGIMENT.—A handsome ino nt/I ment to the officers, non-commissioned office r !' and private soldiers of the 75th (Stirlingshire) R e g'i ment has been lately erected in the cemetery e ' t Stirling by the officers of the regiment, and by maul ° those who formerly served in it. This monument la plain Runic cross, 12ft high of polished red granite. C 4; the front face is the crest of the regiment, being a g 3r 4 te encircling the word " Stirlingshire," and the nu mb; " 75," supported by two thistles, and surmounted by crown, and beneath it, on the shaft and pedestal, the lowing words incised and gilt :- 4 ( In memory of Co lon(' R. D. Halifax; Captains E. W. J. Knox, A. Chancell°,6 Lieutenants A. Harrison, J. R, J. Fitzgerald, G• Rivers, E. V. Briscoe, G. C. N. Faithful, :W. Crozier le Surgeon J. Coghlan, and of 13 sergeants, nine corporals, Ore drummers, and 216 private soldiers of the 75th (Stirl ing ; shire) Regiment, who fell during the Indian Mutiny, 58. Erected by the officers of the regiment and by their e',, comrades." On the reverse face of the cross is the reg mental badge—the Royal Tiger, granted for hard service a.'9 India half a century ago, when 300 men and officers ' 6 ' 61 : 4 left in the breach of Bhurtpore. Under the tiger are words " " Seringapatam," " Delhi," " Relief °E Lucknow," and then are thus briefly recorded the deeds °0 the regiment in the performance of which the brave ~ e ll fell to whom the memorial has been erected :- 4 ( The P t (Sti r lingshire) Regiment served with the army, which bei sieged and took the city of Delhi, and it afterwr rds"fo rrne e part of the force which relieved Alighur, Agra, and tb garrison of Lucknow, A,D. 1857-8." Underneath this la scribed, 4( Thine, 0 Lord, is the glory and the victors' The 75th Regiment was raised at Stirling in the latter P of the last century, and was then a kilted regiment. lilt ' ing been recently permitted to adopt the county naw e ' to was thought desirable by the officers of the regiment erect this monument (which has been long contemplated j in the county town. Provost Murrie and the Town Counc'd of Stirling readily assented in carrying out their wishes , ° I I, granted the best site that could be chosen for the raeala i ' Mr E. Richardson, Harewood-square, London, designe the memorial. [ADVERTISEMENT:I—HoIIoway's Pills.—The (-^ „ • -/2, 4 . . Requisites.—Nobody will deny the assertion that for comfort and happiness pure blood and a sound stow' rank amongst the first requirements, Both way be sa` c p and inexpensivety secured by these admirable Pills, scil, v l act gently on the weakest frames, and cause no vi c ro shock to the most sensitive system. Holloway's Pills 'r i ll proved themselves competent to deal constitutionally s Ta l those infirmities which descend from parent to ofiq r ' which often mar the brightest prospects, and throw a og stant gloom over youth, These Pills purify both the sore and the fluids of the body, and by that salutary pr ° joi j, rouse every organ to perform naturally its proper tune' and strengthen every nerve for its proper duty. Births. , r licatNeAsTLE.—On the 21st inst., the wife of Cha r l es Horncastle, Esq., of Totteiham, of a son. no l HEYNIAN.—On the 19th inst., at the Royal Ar!' e ler Woolwich, the wife of Captain Heyman, Royal Ar cf a son. (31° 1/ ' MARLING.—On the 20th inst., at Stanley House , 0 cestershire, the wife of William 11. Marling, E 5(14 a son. Marriages. SV I BIRD —MOUSLEY —On the 21st inst., at St. And re te 4 Holborn, Edward Bird, Esq., Kennington, to Eliz i % o - ir Grizelda, only daughter of John Mousley, Esq. downe-terrace, Stockwell. .cOt RICARDO —CAMPBELL ---On the 21st inst., at P 3- n oe Captain A. L. Ricardo, Grenadier (guards to to F,O re .,ot' the eldest daughter of R. Campbell, Esq., of 4)1/ ' park. • Deaths. BYRON.—On the 21st inst., at Stoke Talmage, Oxfordat`. l ao ° Eric William, second sin of the Hon, and Rev. Byron, aged 3 years 11 months. COBRA..—On the 20th inst., at Ware, William C° l/bi'lli Esq. a pn CoLBY.—On the 21st inst., at Great Torrington, '-'42,2" Thomas Colby, Esq., retired Captain R N., age d r CHADWICK.—On the 19th inst., at Glenmoriston, neeg ness-shire, Violet, second daughter of Capt. C hsc 14th Hussars, aged 2 years 11 months. Wrial CHAMBERS.—On the 20th inst., at Hafod, Joanna '— wife of Wm, Chambers, Lg. o rris Monatis.—On the 20th inst., at Epsom, John Co' A-- Esq., aged 82. ad WALLNUTT.—On the 19th inst., at Burntisland , Scc° Major Miller Wallnutt. London : PrlnZied and Prblished by WILLIAM I NVI- N : l4 o j of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Tin SUN Offic e my Strand, , n the Precinct of the 'Savoy, , u t he Q°"— ALlcitileses,7-Friday, September 23, 1801. THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 23, 1864.