The Sun. — London, England, 1864-09-06 00:00:00

Naval an( i Military Intelligence. MALTA, Sep' ,ember I.—Her Majesty's screw steam frigate C )rlando arrived on the evening of the 25th of Angus t from Tunis. Her Majesty's steam frigate Magic :ienne left for Patras on the 26th, whither the V ,randerer and Hydra were despatched from Corfu fc r the protection of British interests during the c n rrant loading season. On the arrival of the Magi c.,enne the Wanderer was to return to Corfu. Her Majesty's screw steamship of the line Meeanee has this day left for Gibraltar. Her Ma jesty's ship clarlborough, bearing the flag of Vices Admiral Robert Smart, K.H., the Commander-in. Chief, with her Majesty's ship Gibraltar and others of the squadron in:port, leave for Naples on Satur. day morning, returning in about 10 days, so as to be at Malta to receive the Lords of the Admiralty. At a court-martial held on the 27th of August on board her Majesty's ship Hibernia in Malta harbour, under the Presidency of Capt. Prevost, of her Ma. , jesty's ship Gibraltar, Lieut. H. H. Morgan, of the first named vessel, was tried for having, against the rules of the service, had a lad in his cabin at night time, and the charge having been proved he was dismissed the service; bat as it resulted that he was labouring at the time under illness and required an attendant, the Court recommended him to the favourable consideration of the Lords of the Admi ralty, Another court-martial is this day sitting on board the same ship having reference to some pur. serage accounts of her Majesty's steamer Trident. The Malta police have been furnished with 4 de tailed account of Mr. Boddiugton and Mr. Burns, of the Royal Navy, midshipmen, for whose capture a a reward is offered. These two young officers have b een missing from her Majesty's s hi p Gib ra l tar, s ilica the 24th of August, and are known to h e . ve hired a small half•decked pleasure bos.t, to which a boatman carried off some provisions, which facts, added to others since come to light, leave no doubt that they have premeditatedly deserted ; indeed, their determina tion b leave the navy has been on several occasions openly expressed. Telegrams have been despatched to the opposite coast of Sicily to arrest them should they have made for that direction, but, from the winds and weather that have prevailed, it is more likely that they will have been picked up by some homeward-bound merchant vessel passing from the eastward. We learn that there is another young officer named Martin, said to be an assic,:ant-pay- master, missing for some days past from her Majes. ty'a ship Marlborough, no doubt under like circum stances, whose description has been also forwarded t o the police. Lieut. Marshall, of the Royal Ma rines, from her Majesty's ship Meeanee, is another a bsentee without leave, to the inexpressible regret e d some devotees of Saint Crispin, Saint Homobono, ar, d other saints and gain teases, protectors of the trading classes, who will, however, be glad to learn that he has reached Naples in a perfect state of sa. luhrity. The Egyptian screw steam gunboat Ka bir ah arrived at Malta, from London, Falmouth, Vigo, Cadiz, and Gibraltar on the 24th, and left for Alexandria on the 25th of August. The Peki Cheriff, Ottoman despatch steamer, arrived at Malta from Tanis on the 28th, having on board Sabit Ef fendi, bearer of despatches from his Excellence Harper Effendi, the Imperial Commissioner to his I,tlighness the Bey of Tunis, from the Sultan, with hich despatches Sabit Effendi left for Constanti. no ple on the 29th, in the Arcadia screw steamer." In accordance with a general regimental order to teat effect, signed by Col. F. E. Chapman, C. 8., Deputy-Adjutant-General, a full dress parade of the whole of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and sappers of the Royal Engineers took place at head-quarters, Brompton barracks, Chatham, on Sunday, for the purpose of witnessing the in teresting ceremony of decorating a number of the r. on-commissioned officers and privates of the corps w ith silver medals, which, together with gratuities T axying in amount from £5 to £l5 each, had been awarded by his Royal Highness the Field-Marshal Coznmanding-in- Chief to the various recipients for long service and exemplary conduct for the year ending the 31st of March, 1865, under the provi. sions of the Royal Warrant of the 13th of April, 1854. The corps having been formed on the parade ground, in front of the Crimean Memorial Arch, the various non-commissioned officers and men selected for decoration were called to the front by Col. H. D. Harness, C. 8., and presented with their medals, in the presence of the whole of their comrades. The followieg non-commissioned officers were awarded a medal and a gratuity of £l5 each : —Quartermaster-sergeant G. Douglas, Colour- Sergeant B. Castledon, Colour-Sergeant J. Porte ous, and Sergeant G. Coleman. The following re ceived a medal with a gratuity of £lO each Colour-Sergeant A. Cront ; Colour.Sergeant J. Lockwood, Colonr.Sergeant T. Couper, Sergeant D. Mitchell, Sergeant E. Burnell, Sergeant I Ton. kin, Sergeant E. Beaney, Pensioner-Sergeant J. Finch, and Corporal L. A. Rittman. A silver medal and a gratuity of £5 each were awarded to the following non-commissioned officers and sappers :—Corporal I. L. Jarrett, Corporal W. Byford, Sapper E. Paton, Sapper J. Stillwell, Sapper J. Stephens, and Musician T. Minrods. The following non.commissioced officers were like wise awarded medals without gratuities for good conduct, ender the provisions of the Royal Warrant of December 10, 1861 :—Bugle-Major J, Dawson, Colour-Sergeant 3. Adams, Sergeant R. Waller, Sergeant D, Mason, Sergeant R. Lewis, Sergeant Y. Quin, Sergeant A. Gardner, Pensioner-Ser geant 3. M'Murphy, Corporal W. Thom, Corporal W. Adams, Corporal H. Greenslade, and Pen sioner-Corporal D. M'Pherson. Colour-Sergeant B. Godfrey was also awarded the silver medal and gratuity of £l5, which is placed at the disposal of the Duke of Cambridge, by the appointment of Serg.-Major J. Jones:to a commission in the Royal Engineers. After the whole of the medals had been presented, Col. Harness addressed the men in a suitable speech. The detachments of non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal Engineers, selected from the depot and other companies at head quarters, Chatham, to augment the companies employed on the Ordnance survey of Great Britain and Ireland, left the Royal Engineer establishment yesterday to join the com panies to which they have been attached. The companies of Royal Engineers now engaged exclu. sively on surveying duties are the 13th at Edinburgh, the 14th in London, the 16th in Dublin, and the 19th at Glasgow. The headquarters of the surveying department of the Royal Engineers is at South. ampton. A couple of Capt. W. Rodgar'e patent indented small-palmed anchors were yesterday proved in Woolwich dockyard, but instead of their being sub mitted to the usual Admiralty teat they were sub j ected, at the particular request of Capt. Rodger, to the test of anchors of exactly double their weight and the result was as follows :-.Th e fi rst anchor,' weighing 13 cwt. 251 b., with the ordi nary proof of 15 tons tensile strain, deflected 3-16tha of an inch ; with 221 tens, a quarter of an inch ; and with 26 tons (the usual proof of an anchor of double its weight), s.l6ths. On the strain being removed the arm of the anchor returned precisely to its original form. The anchor was then turned over and the second arm was tested in a similar manner with the same result. The second anchor, weighing 9cwt, 271 - with the usual test of tons, deflected 3-16 ths of an inch; 174, a quarter of an inch; and with 19 tons Bqrs. 3!b., being the test of en anchor of double its weight, a quarter of an inch; and when the strain wets withdrawn the venation was found to be nil. These items, haring been taken at the time of trial, need no cOMILL'IIt, and simply demonstrate the superior qualities of Cept. Rodger's anchors over any others yet produced, and as mat ters of fact should clear the way for their tordshipe' consideration. By direction of the Admiralty, About 100 of the mechanics and lads employed on the iron frigate Achilles, 30, at Chatham, will be discharged from the dockyard at the close of the present week, their services being no longer required, in consequence of the Achilles being very nearly completed. In the discharge of the number of hands ordered care will be taken to get rid of the least efficient and steady of the men. The War Department transport Bomarsurd, Mr Spicer, master, left the ordnares whsrf at Chatham yesterdAy, and dropped down the harbour to the Achilles, with the first portion of upwards of 1,000 of the solid spherical 100 pounder shot for that frigate. The Marlborough Ordnance transport, arrived at the gun wharf, Chatham, yesterday, with the re. mainder of the Armstrong and smooth bore arma. ment from the screw frigate Forte, 39, 400-horse power, Capt. A. MeHersh, which will be paid out of commission on Thursday next. The following appointment has been made in the Royal Naval Reserve : To be honorary lieut., the Marquis Conyngham, K.P., P. C., Bzu. Iler Majesty's Navy in Reserve. According to the latest published Admiralty Navy List there are at the present time 269 vessels belonging to her Majesty's navy, steam and sailing, lying at their moorings in the crowded harbours of our Government porta, representing an enormous amount of sunken capital that absorbs an almost un k no wn sum to maintain and preserve it, while, at the very lowest computation, 75 per cent. of the whole can never under any circumstances, so long as it remains the property of the Crown, be made to yield any return whatever for the interest of the capital originally invested. This vast war material three fourths of which can never be utilized for the purposes of war, comprises —two iron frigates, three ironcased frigates, and three turret ships, which bee long to the present period; five screw three deckers, 38 screw three-deckers, 18 screw frigates, eight screw corvettes, seven paddle frigates, 25 paddle sloops, 22 screw sloops, two floating factories, four mortar ships, six floating batteries, one screw store vessel (iron), one screw iron yacht—the Fairy, one screw iron troopship, one double screw tug, 58 screw gunboats, eight sailing two-deckers, 30 sailing fri gates, nine sailing corvettes, 15 sailing brigs, one sailing hospital two decker, one Arctic discovery ship, and one cutter. Here is a long array of vessels, which has a suffi ciently formidable appearance upon paper, but if we take the ironclads at the head of the list from them there remains then but very little that could be deemed available for strengthening our iron clad fleet should the country find itself suddenly embroiled in an European war. For years have our harbours been crowded with useless ships of war— nay, ships that have been worse than useless, for in addition to their forced unproductiveness from the transitionary phases through which the navy has passed during the past twenty years, they also, as we have already stated, entail an immense an nual expenditure to keep them in their inefficient state, and occupy space in our harbour that should be kept for the service of seagoing ships requiring repairs or refit at the hands of the authorities of the dockyards. Thus it has often happened that o❑ the arrival of the Channel Fleet at Spithead the repair or refit of some of the ships has been executed at that anchorage in lien of in side Portsmouth harbour, where every ship requir ing repairs should have a berth ready to take up immediately she comes in from sea. It is within the truth to assert that the repair of a fleet at Spithead treblea the time and cost of such repairs if they could have been carried out in Portsmouth harbour. Money cost alone, however, does not re present the actual loss which might fall upon the nation by this delay in the refit of our fleets in time of war, for it has been admitted by all who have given any attention to the subject that, in the event of a naval struggle for the supremacy of the Chan nel, the nation that refitted its fleet the speediest after the first general engagement would most pro bably obtain that supremacy pnd hold it. Oar case at present stands thus :—We have about 250 wooden vessels, from the screw three decker of 1,000 horse power of engines down to the old fashioned sailing brig, all of which are useless for all future purposes of warfare, if sea-going ironclads are to be constructed, and the majority should be considered useless, even if sea• going ironclads should not come into general use. These vessels are en cumbering our harbours and entailing an enormous annual expense in times of peace, and would en• danger the country's safety in time of war. The Admiralty are certainly taking measures to remedy this state of things, nut the movements of the Ad miralty are generally slow, and the present instance is no exception to the rule. To illustrate more clearly the actual state of the steam and sailing reserves of her Majesty's navy it will be necessary to select one port—say, Portsmouth, and this selec tion will also explain the measures taken by the Admiralty to remedy the existing state of affairs. The steam and sailing reserve at Portsmouth, in cluding no ship doing harbour duty, consists of some 70 vessels of ail classes, but excluding the gun boats hauled up at Haslar—about 37 more, These two-deckers, 10 screw three-deckers, 10 screw two deckers, 10 screw frigates, five paddle sloops, two screw floating batteries, one screw troopship, one screw yacht, and 12 screw gunboats, one sailing two-decker, six sailing frigates, and six sailing brigs and sloops. Of the steam vessels all are of wooden build except the two floating batteries, the one screw troopship Simoom, one iron sloop Sharp shooter, and the yacht Fairy. The sailing vessels are, as a matter !of course,' all of wooden 'construc tion. This latter class of vessel is, nowever, more scare at Portsmouth than at Plymouth, or in the Medway, owing to their having been pretty freely used up as target ships in the testing of armour plates. If, however, we analyse this list of the Portsmouth reserve, a pretty correct idea may be formed of the real value of our ships of war fn re serve, and the cost of their maintenance. Of, the two screw three-deckers one—the ,Victoria, 102 guns (harmless against iron-plating), 4,127 tons, and 1,000 horse power, nominal, of engines, is masted, rigged, armed, and partly fitted as the future flagship for the Mediterranean station. For duty she would be eminently suitable were it not that in the event of a naval war the shot from her guns would rattle harmlessly against an enemy's iron-clothed sides, while at the same time the molten iron shells thrown through her wooden sides by the enemy would turn her into a burning volcano for the destruction of her crew. This same argument will apply to the other three decker—the Prince of Wales, of 121 guns, 3,994 tons, and 800 horse-power of engines. Of the 10 screw two-deckers, two, the Neptune, 78 guns, 2,820 tons, 500 horse power, and Nelson, 78 guns, 2,726 tons, 500 horse power, have never been commissioned since their conversion, but they are useless against ironclads, however small the latter may be, and possess no great speed. The eight remaining two-deckers, giving an aggregate of 598 guns, 24,033 tons, and 4,050 horse power of engine, have all been in commission and all require heavy repairs to hull and machinery before they can be again sent to sea. Of the eight screw frigates two have never been commissioned—the Glasgow (built as a screw), 39 guns, 3,037 tons, and 600 horse power, and the Octavia (a converted screw), 89 guns, 3,191 tons, and 600 horse power. The Octavia is one of three frigates (the others being the Cone stance and Arethusa) given by the Admiralty to three separate firms to fit with engines that should be worked on t h e most economical principles, ac cording to th e b u ild ers ' own make, no restrictions being placed by th e Admiralty upon the builders of the engines either as to construction or coat. Great results were expected from a competitive trial of these three vessels, but, although tbey have now been completed south years, thu trial has never came off, and the ships remeiu, costly as was their engineering outfit, on the inglorious list of the steam reserves. Thu Octavia was fitted with three -throw cylinder engines by Messrs. Maudsley and Field. The remaining eight frigates possess an aggregate of 272 guns, 20,580 tons, and 4,630 horse power of engine. All these vessels require heavy repairs before they conld be again 9,ent, to see ; all the cm bustible by horizontal shell, and are therefore unfit to e fig4ge any ironclads ; but five, the Mersey, Di a d e m, Inttnortalite, Melpomene, and Bacchante (probably the handsomest wooden frigates afloat) — might be rendered available for active service, un der certain eonditions, owing to their large engine power and the consequent speed they possess at sea. The remaining three are deficient in speed, and are therefore useless as part of a fleet of war ships, where as a necessity the speed of the slowest ship becomes the speCd of the whole fleet. The nine screw corvettes sod sloops give a total of 109 guns, 7,372 tons, and 1,627-horse power of engines, Of these the Malacca, 17, and Cruiser, 17, are being repaired under contract in the build ing-yard of Mr. John White at West Cowes. The Highflyer, 21, is rigged, armed, and stored ready for commission, after having undergone a thorough overhaul and repair to her hull at Mr. White's yard, and to her machinery in the steam factory of Portsmouth dockyard. She is a fine, bold-looking vessel ; but the same argument is available against her for war purposes that is now applicable to all un-armoured ships. The Pearl, 21, of 400. horse power, is worth repair, owing to her large engine power, and may rank in point of value with the Highflyer. The Sharpshooter, 6, of 202-horse power, is purely an experimental vessel, but is ready for commission after a considerable expendi ture on her in various ways. She was built of iron at Blackwell in 1847 from designs by the late Mr, Fincham, and is incapable of offering the least re sistance to shot. As a tender at the home ports she may be found a very useful vessel. Internally she is coated with two kinds of experimental cements, and externally her plates are coated with experimental varnishes for preserving and keeping clean the iron. She is also fitted with Commander Warren's patent bow rudder. The Sparrowhawk, 4,676 tons and 200-horse power, has been almost entirely reconstructed in Portsmouth dockyard, and will never repay the cost by her future services. The remaining three vessels are not worth repair. Five of the paddle frigates—the Odin, the Sidon, the Penelope, the Sampson, and the Retribution, possessing a gross tonnage of 7,182, and 2,637-horse power of engines, have been sold by the Admiralty to Messrs. Castle and Beach, ship breakers of Lon don, together with the paddle sloops Fury, 1,124 tons and 515-horse power, and Inflexible of 1,122 tons and 378-horse power, and one paddle-sloop —the Rosamond—once the fever-stricken Eclair, is ordered to be broken up in Portsmouth yard. In the sale of these seven vessels and the breaking up of the Rosamond the Admiralty have begun a clear• ance of our harbours and a diminution of the annual expenditure of our outports which only requires to be followed up to lead the best possible results. The Furious paddle frigate, of 1,287 tons, and 400 horse power, with a couple of paddle stoops, could also well be sold at once to realise their capital, so far as their sale would do so, and make room for vessels fit for actual service. The screw floating batteries may be utilised for river or roadstead defences, such as the Thames or Spithead in support of the forts. The Erebus, one of these vessels, is now preparing for work of this kind. The iron screw troopship is the fine old Siuioom, of 2,000 tons and 400 horse power, built at Glasgow in 1849, She is ordered to be brought down from her harbour moorings shortly and refitted for commission. Report gives her to Capt. Lethbridge, lately in command of the Adven ture screw troopship. It is an absolute waste of money to allow a vessel like the Simoom to be kept at a great expense at harbour moorings when pri vate ships have to be hired to do her work at sea. The 12 screw gunboats afloat in Portsmouth hare hour make very useful tenders, and serve for prace tics for our seamen at their guns when required for such a purpose, and that is all that can be said in their favour. The iron screw yacht Fairy, super seded in her Majesty's service by the Alberta, can be rendered as sound and effective as on the day she was launched by Mr Mare from his yard at Black well, in 1845, for something like £I,COO, and may do good service as a yacht tender to som e Port Ad miral. There only now remain the sailing ships to deal with, and, with one exception, no future can possibly remain fur these but the breaking-up dock. 'rho one exception is the Eurydice. She has now been for some considerable time partly fitted as a sailing tender to the naval cadet training ship Britannia, but has never been completed. As regards the cost incurred in the maintenance of these few useful and many useless vessels it would be almost impossible to state the exact sum for Portsmouth alone without wading through an almost endless mass of official documents including the accounts of the steam factory and the steam re serve for expenses connected with the machinery, those of the master shipwright for all relating to the Emit. m anta . ...it., rigging, and other stores, and to the Navy List and Admiralty regulations for the amount absorbed in pay, provisions, and pensions to warrant officers, shipkeepers, &c. It will be suffi cient, hcwever, to select one of these returns now lying at the Admiralty to show the ruinous cost of maintaining as we have done of late, a large fleet of vessels—obsolete in their structure or otherwise— lying idly at harbour moorings, with millions of capital sunk in the machinery with which they are fitted, and money spent annually upon them while in this unproductive state. The documents now at the Admiralty to which we refer are headed— " Cost of preserving and repairing machinery afloat in the Portsmouth Steam Reserve," and by these documents we learn that this coat averages £27,000 per annum, We must bear in mind that this sum only represents the cost of the steam reserves at Portsmouth, so far as relates to work done by the engineers and stokers belonging to that reserve (in. eluding, of course, under the head of " labour," en estimate of the men's pay and provisions when so employed, but has nothing to do with the steam factory department bil. (where the actual repairs of the engines and boilers are carried out), nor to any other bill from any other department. In one six months' return, however, from the Ist of April to the 30th of Septemqer, 1863 (which is selected owing to the fact of its giving the expense during that period - of preserving and repairing of the vessels just sold to Messrs. Castle and Beach), there is in. eluded a sum of about £6OO for repairs to the ma chinery of the gunboats at Heeler. This return gives totals under the following heads :—Preserving machinery of vessels afloat, £11,499 88 6d ; gun boats at Hasler, £324 lOs 4d; shed rent at Hasler for gunboats, £43o—total, £12,253 18s 101 d. Re pairing machinery of ships afloat, £672 14s 8d; re pairing gunboats at Hasler, £689 5s 51d ; tools, £45 8s 2-}d. Grand total for six months, £13,661 7s 21-d. We have not referred at any length to the gunboats at Hasler, and all that need be stated now with regard to their condition is that it would even• tually prove a great relief to the naval estimates if their hulls were broken up and the machinery of every two of them transferred to one new boat of iron. The coat of preserving and repairing the ma chinery of five of the seven vessels sold is given for the six months as follows:—Penelope, £201; Re tribution, £169 7s 6d ; Sidon, £176 ss; Fury, £169 Gs ; Sampson, £149 14s. Perhaps the largest amount of sunken capital of which there is no probability of its yielding any re turn is represented in the screw linesofsbattle ships —two and three deckers. The latter class we know are clung to yet by our own authorities, and the Victoria is now preparing, whether in earnest or sham it is impossible to say, as the future flagship of the Admiral in command in the Mediterranean ; but the French Imperial Minister of Marine has allotted ironclads as the flagships of the French squadrons on that station, and we must do the same. In fact, the days of the wooden-built screw line-of-battle ship have passed away for ever; and yet it is something appalling if we consider the capital wo have sunk in stock of this description. In the return from which we have extracted *le figures given above is given the six months' cost of the maintenance in the one item of steam reserve of this useless stock in the Portsmouth Divisions alone, the chief of which are as follows :—The Agiers, £228 14s. 6d.; the Agamemnon, £lBB 14s. ; the Neptune, £204 18s.; the Caesar, £220; the Hannibal, £253 19s. The screw frigates during the . game period 'show against etch of their names, selr,cting the following nt random :—The Termagant, :s:161 103.; the Di adem, £194 Bs.; the Arrogant;, £164 ; the Irn. perieuse, £234 158.; the Mi,,,i,pumptle, X 248 78,; the Mersey, £214. The Furirins psi dl'4 frigate is debited with £144 113. 6.1. There are a few wooden and iron sailing mortar hoat,s hauled up at Haslar, but they incur no eztraoriiinary expense. They have no machinery inside them; th e y occupy ground that at present would, no be approprir4ted to any other purpose ; they represent no great amount of sunken capital ; and they are being gradually utilized, either in the Coastguard or har'3, - mr service of the ports and riyera of the Channel. THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 6, 1864 THE VOLUNTEERS. The picturesque little village of Bexhill, near Hastings, has been kept quite alive for about ten days past, by the visit of a field battery of the Hon. Artillery Company, under the command of Lieut. Mease. The order of their proceeding each day has been as follows :—At 7 a.m. they mustered for carbine practice, which was continued till 9,30. They then returned to the hotel to breakfast. and at 11 o'clock again assembled for field movements with blank cartridge from the four 6 pounder guns. At 3 p.m, ball practice at the targets took place, at the close of which the battery returned to head-quarters to mass. The first prize for carbine practice was a beautiful gold mounted carbine, the gift of Mr R. Dawes, late lieutenant in the battery; the second prize was a handsome silver goblet, presented by Lieuts. Mease and Nelson. The prizes for gun practice consisted of a massive silver goblet and tankard, also the gifts of Lieuts. Meese and Nelson. Each man fired five rounds with the carbine and 10 with the field guns. The successful competitors for the carbine prizes were Gunner Burroughes, who made 36 points, and Gunner Meggs, who made 31 points. The highest number of points that could be made, had a bull's eye been obtained at evory round, was 40. Trumpet-Major Carew carried off the first prize for gun practice, and Gunner Powell the second prize. There were several other prizes of lesser value, but owing to the numerous ties they were not awarded. The St Margaret's company of the Queen's (Westminster) held their annual prize meeting for the present year on Thursday, Sept. 1, at the butts of the corps, Wormwood Scrubbs, when prizes of the value of about £6) were com peted for. The officers' prizes were carried off by Private G. Hayes and T. Nye and Corporal White, and the prizes given by the local committee by Corporal Sarsons and Pri vate W. Sugg. A Memorial Challenge Cup, value £1 presented by the representatives of the late Corpl W. Sugg (which is to become the absolute property of any mem ber winning the same a second time), was won by Corporal Sarsons, the winner of last year, Private C, Porter, being too unwell to compete on this occasion. There were also other prizes competed for, the winners being Sergeant Whitmore, Ensign Carter, and Corporal Nye for the ladies' prizes, Private Honey for the inhabitants' prize, and Ser geant Austin for the company's subscription prize. On Saturday the Admiralty and Post-office companies of the Civil Service Volunteer corps attended at Harrow for battalion and brigade drill with the local corps, with a view of holding a field day on a small scale. It was stated that Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Bury would have been pre sent but for a severe accident which he had sustained at cricketing. On Saturday afternoon the 7th company of the Finsbury Rifles competed for the company prizes at Rainham, in Essex, where the range of the corps is situated. The ranges were 200, 500, and GOO yards, five shots at each. Sergeant Aich won, with a score of 43, the first prize—a small bore rifle and a stock of ammunition, given by Captain Ponti fex. The annual prize meeting of the 7th Surrey Rifles regi ment was held on Frida3 and Saturday at the ranges on Wimbledon-common. The first prize competed fur was Mr Shepherd's Challenge Cup, value £2l, by those who had attended 15 parades in the 12 months preceding, The ranges were 200 and 500 yards, five rounds at each dis tance. Colour-Sergeant Hyett was the winner with 26 . marks. The next prizes shot for were presented by Mr W Tain, being—first, a silver cup, value 10 guineas, won by Colour-Sergeant Hyett; the second, a silver cup, value 5 guineas, by Private J. Collins. The ranges were 300 and 600 yards, seven rounds at each distance. They were open to competition by members who had attended 12 parades in the last 12 months. Major Beresford's silver challenge cup, value £ll lls, was then competed for by first and second class men in five rounds at 500 yards. Captain Porter became the winner with 17 marks. The first of the prizes presented by Mr F. Doulton, M.P., being £7, was won by Private Westcott ; and the second £6, by Cor poral Andrews. They were open to all members, and were shot for at the 200 and 500 yards ranges ; five rounds each. Private Sanger won Mr J. Johnston's £5 Ss prize, Mr Bardello's prizes—the first a silver medal, value £5 ss, open to all, was shot for in five rounds at 250 yards, and won by Private A. Bristow with 15 marks. An electro-silver tea service, given by Mr Yell, value £7 7s, was shot for at the 300 and 600 yards range, five shots at each, and won by Corporal Fisk. The ninth prize competed for was an electro silver tea service, value £5 ss, given by Mr W. Waine. The range was 200 yards, five rounds. Colour- Sergeaat Hyett proved the victor with a score of 15 marks • The ladies' prize, a silver cup, was won by Private Elsnoret in five rounds, at 400 yards, with 16 marks. On Tuesday last the 12th Tower Hamlets (Stoke Newing. ton), the Bth Tower Hamlets (London Docks), and the 33d Middlesex (Tottenham) held a field-day at Stoke Newing- ton, under Major Reales. The annual prize shooting of the St. Martin's division of the 22d Middlesex, Queen's (Westminster) Rifle Volunteers which consists of the 13th and 14th companies of the corps, took place on Tuesday last at the rifle ranges on Wormwood Scrubbs. In the first series, 200, 503, and GOO yards, five shots at each range, the first prize, value £7 7s, from divi sional funds, was won by Private Godfrey, 11th company ; and the second prize, value £5 ss, from subscriptions for prizes, by Sergeant Pcttifer, 14th company-. In the second series, 300, 400, and 500 yards, five shots at each range, the first prize, value £7 7s, from divisional funds, was wen by Sergeant Hunt, 13th company ; and the second prize, value £5 ss, presented by officers, by Sergeant Tookey, 14th com pany. In the third series, 200, 300, 400, 500, 550, and 600 yards, three shots at each range, the first prize, value £7 78, presented by officers of division, was won by Corporal Leete, 13. h company; and the second prize, value £5 ss, front subscriptions for prizes, by Private Watson, 14th company. The disbandment of the 18th Hants (Basingstoke) Rifle Volunteer Corps for not obeying the command of the officer at Guildford last Easter Monday has been confirmed by the Earl de Grey and Ripon, after a full consideration of the evi dence adduced at the late court of inquiry held at Winches ter. The decision has been forwarded to the Marquis of Winchester, the lord lieutenant of the county. The third annual prize meeting of the Vale of Aylesbury or 4th Bucks Rifle Volunteers, was held last week. The Ladies' Challenge Cup, value 20 guineas, held by Captain Selfe, was won by private Hobday, a good steady shot, who made 41 points. The silver cup, value 8 guineas, given by the Hon. F. Irby, open to all members who had passed into the second class, was awarded to private Craster, who made 31 points. The Vez. Archdeacon Bickersteth's cup, value 5 guineas, was won by private Osborne, who defeated 14 others by making 29 points. A cup, value £6 65., given by the officers of the corps, as first prize, was won by Sargeant Lehmann, 35 points. The Winslow Challenge Cup, the property of the corps, value 6 guineas, o p en to a ll mem b ers who had passed into the second class, was won by Captain Selfe, who scored 32, there being 15 competitors. The Wy combe Challenge Cup, also the property of the corps, value £6 65., was awarded to private R. Neale, 37 points, A sup plemental prize of £5 58., offered by Mr R. Rose, open to all members in the second and third classes, was awarded private Smith, 32 points. At the prize meeting of the Great Yarmouth battalion private Barrett was the successful competitor for the plate, making 44 marks. There was one bonus consisting of two thirds of the entrance fees, with £1 added, for the best aggregate score at 500 and 600 yards, and one-third of the entrance fees, with £1 added, to the best score at 200 yards. The first was taken by Bugle-Major Joi ner, and the second by private Barnby. The last com petition was for the Ladies' Challenge Cup, and 19 mem bers of the corps took part in it, the ranges being 650 700, 800, and 900 yards. Only 12 competitors co mpleted the five rounds at each range. by Private Barrett, who was consequently de clared the champion s h o t f or the year. Private Barrett als o became entitled to a s il ver medal. The highest score w as made At the annual prize competition of the Colchester corps two cups were presented by Captain Bawtree, for men who had never won a prize. The ranges were 200 and 400 yards, five shots each, and the winners were A Company, Fri Tate C. Quilter ; B Company, Private W. Cobbold. At the close of the shooting the prizes were distributed by Mrs Papillon, wife of Mr P. 0. Papillon, I'LL'. The Ist Essex battery of Artillery made some excellent practice on Thu rs d a y a t th e Harwich Redoubt. Colonel Knox, B e & was presen t an d c omplimen ted the batter y on its efficiency. A ma t c h h as t a ken place between the Stour Valley and T en d r i ng H un d re d corps — the latter won. The Border Rifle Association held its annual meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. comp eted for by " the best at tenders at drill," sel ec t e d i n cer tain proportions ou t of each The bronze medal for Rex s burghshire was gained b y Lieutenant S c ott Elliot in a score of 36, and Mr Thomas Hogg carr ied off the Selkirk medal with 34. A pur se o f £25 wa company of the Bord er battalions and the first prize £lO, was gained by Sergeant G eorg e Deane. The Ladies' Prize was taken by Corporal Forrest in a score of 29, five rounds at each distarece of 200 and 500 yards ; and the Patron's (Duke of R.;..teeleuch's) Prize was carried off by Corporal Grieve in a score of 21 (seven rounds at 300 yards, but his place was teeter. Company prizes were g disputed by protest on the ground of f hiosruesciinugadaasnigdhytoplrleoy firing, and the first was gained by the let Roxbur g h i n a score of 312. the 2d Selkirk ma king 264. At the l ong range competitions Private llalsall (Wigan) stood three times in the first place, and in the concluding one gained, after shooting off a tie et 41 with Major Boethby, Fife Yolll'ateers, An All-comers Match took place at St Columb, Cornwall, on Monday, and was not concluded before dusk. The shoot ing wee at 200, 500, and 600 verde, live rounds at each dis tance. The first prize of £3O wag won by Captain Tucker, 9th Devon, with a score of 45; the second of £2O, by E n . sign )Slmonde, 17th Devon ; and the third of £l5, by Gunner Fittocle, 12! h Devon Artillery. The total amount given in prizes was £l3O. • Pr.zes for all-comeee were competed fir on Tuesday at the range of the 22d Devote Rifle Corps. Distances-300, 500, and 600 yards—five she its at each distance. There were 71 entries. The first prize of £2O was won by Private Black more, 23 Devon, with a acorn of 43; the second of £lO by of h 5 e b y annual Private riz e Symons, ru e e t 3 i n d Devon, gof te with ls 38. Ist Barks Ber Lieut. Marriner, West Videllesex, with 39 ; and th e third ks (Reading) Rifle Volunteers has just been brought to a close. The cam petition was for a number of handsome and valuable prizes, the donors being Sir F. G p dsmid, M.P., Mr G. Shaw Le. ievre, the,Mayot of , Reading (Ur L. Cooper), the Captain• Commandant (Capt. Stephens), and others inte rested in the success of the volunteer movement. Corporal Witherington obtained the first of Sir F. Goldsraid's three prizes, a silver urn, with a score of 82—Corporal Gostage tied with Corporal Witherington, but losing the tie he took the second priz3, a silver tankard—and Private Roe, with a score of 69, obtained the third prize, a silver goblet. For the Ladies' Cup, a silver tankard, value £lO, Sergeant J. Rose and Private Roe each made 60, but on shooting off the tie the former of the two was successful. A handsome time piece, value 5 guineas, the gift of Mr C. Stephens, was carried off by Private Wightman with a score of 67. The prize of Mr G. Shaw Lefevre, a silver cup, value £5, was won by Sergeant Alderman. The Mayor of Reading offered a silver cup to be competed for by the 20 men who had at tended the greatest number of drills during the year, by firing seven shots at 400 and 700 yards. Sergeant Ruddock was the successful competitor. Major Montresor's silver cup, value £5, for the best firing of seven shots at single targets, advancing and retiring between 150 and 300 yards without shifting the back sights, was taken by Private Blatch. The commanding officer's prize, a silver cup, value £5, was obtained by Private Shepherd with a score of 64. The annual prise shooting of the 9th (Duke of Cornwall's) Rifles took place at the company's range, near St. Austell, on Thursday. The Ladies' Challenge Cup, which must be won by a member two years in succession before it becomes his absolute property, was competed for at 400, 500, and 600 yards, five shots at each distance. Private T. S. Coom scored 28, and was declared to be the holder of the prize, which has now changed hands five times for 12 months. A series of money prizes, given by the inhabitants of St. Aus tell, were competed for at 200, 300, and 400 yards, five shots at each distance. The first prize was won by Corporal Kinsman, with 37, and the second by Private Dunn, with 35. A handsome eight-day timepiece, the.best of several prizes given by the officers, was won by Corporal Kinsman, who made a total score of 34 at 200, 400, and 600 yards, five shots at each distance. At the fourth annual prize meeting of the 6th Hants (Gosport) Rifle Volunteers, the first, second, and third prises of the first match (three silver cups presented by Captain Purvis, R.N.) were won by Sergeant Harvey, Ensign Mumby, and Private Compigne. The next prize, the gift of Captain Campigna, the commanding officer. was carried off by Colour-Sergeant Lewis Bryett. The All-comers' Prize was won by Sergeant Snap, 6th Hants. The week's volunteer movements in Yorkshire are as follow :—The Helmsley and York, eight from each, shot a match at Goodham-dale, each man having five shots at 400, 500, and 600 yards. One of the competitors was absent on the Helmsley side, and it was agreed to add an average of the York men to the Helmsley score. The result was a victory for the Yorkists, who scored a total of 267 against 242 for Helmsley. The East York volunteers shot for the challenge cup given by Captain Lucas and Lieut. Jacobs, at 200, 400, 600, and 900 yards, points only counting. There were near 40 competitors, of whom Corporal W. Kirk scored 24 and won the cup. Corporal Thoroer, who held the cup last year, was ill and could not compete. The cup has to be won three times to give ownership, but in the four contests for it has changed hands each year. The Knaresborough Volunteers have held their prize shooting Sergeant Wincup, for the third time, won the challenge medal, and while retaining the championship of the corps also gains the actual ownership of the medal. Prizes of £l4 given by the ladies of the neighbourhood, ware shot for at 200 and 500 yards, and ware won by Private Wincup, 33 — Corporal Groves, 33—Private Parr, 33—and Quartermas ter-Sergeant Brown, 31. The shooting was very good and close. Parr won the tie for second place. The prizes given by the Mayor of Hull, to be shot for by the Artillery Volunteers with carbines, at 100, 150, and 250 yards, had large entries, and were won by Battery-Sergeant-Major D. Murray, 41—Sergeant-Major Pexton, 38—and Battery Sergeant-Major C. Morris, 37. At the annual prize meeting of the Leiston corps (Suffolk) the first prize offered was a silver cup of the value of £lO 10s. competed for by members in the first class at 300, 500, 700, and 900 yards,two shots each, won by Private S. Reed,who scored 22 marks. The text prize offered was a silver cup of the value of £8 Ba, to be competed for by marksmen, or those who had been marksmen, at the same ranges as the last, wun by Sergeant J. Cornforth, who also scored 22 marks Prizes to the amount of £l2 were next offered for competition by men in the first class at 150, 300, 600, and 900 yards, three shots each. The first prize of £6 was won by Private W. Burrows. SEWAGE OF TOWNS. A select committee of the House of Commons sat in May, June, and July of the present year to in quire into plans for dealing with the sewage of the metropolis and other large towns, with a view to its utilisation to agricultural purposes. The committee examined a great number of witnesses, and the re port agreed co, and just published, is as follows: The committee commenced their inquiry by examining into all those plans for utilising, in a liquid state, the sewage of the metropolis which had been laid before the Metropolitan :Board of Works, and were referred to the committee by an eider of the house. The committee have ascertained from Cornish engineers of the greatest reputa tion the prices of the steam engines and pumps which would be required to raise various quantities of sewage to stated heights. Mr Bateman, the well-known water engi neer, was examined as to the prices of the mains and pipes which would be necessary for the conveyance and distribu tion of sewage over land, and the estimated cost of laying them down and jointing them. The committee has come to the conclusion that it is not only possible to utilise the sewage of towns, by conveying it in a liquid state through mains and pipes to the country, but that such an undertak ing may be nsade to result in pecuniary benefit to the rate payers of the towns whose sewage is thus utilised. That benefit may, in a few years, be greatly increased ; for the amount of artificial manures is even at present insuffi cient, and the sources whence some of the most im portant are obtained will in a few years be exhausted. Other means of fertilising land must therefore be resorted to. The committee, having examined the chairman and en gineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works, are of opinion that more might have done by that board towards the pro fitable use of the sewage of London; and that the comple tion of the outfall sewerage of the metropolis ought, at the earliest possible moment, to be followed by the adoption of a system which may convert that sewage from a nuisance into a permanent and increasing source of agricultural fer- tility. Even if it pecuniary benefit were not to be secured, yet cons id e ration should not deter local a u t horities from suchtaking a uch steps as are possible to free rivers from pollu tion. The committee examined several witnesses regarding the Po ll u tion of the rivers and streams of the country. There can be no doubt as the injury which results from the prac tice of conducting sewage and other refuse matters into the rivers, whence numerous towns, villages, and country popu lations derive their water supply. It is imperatively neces sary that such a practice should be discontinued. No efficient artificial method has been discovered to purify, for drinking and culinary purposes, water which has been once infected by town sewage. By no known mechanical or c hymical moans can such water be more than partially cleansed; it is always liable to putrify again. Processes of filtering and deodorisation cannot, therefore, be relied upon to do more than mitigate the evil. 'Water which appear,' perfectly pure to the eye is sufficient, under certain condi tions, to breed serious epidemics in the population which drinks it. Soils, however, and the roots of growing plants have a great and rapid power of abstracting impurities from sewage water, and rendering it again innocuous and free from contamination. Mr Ffennell, the Chief Inspector of Fisheries, stated in his evidence that sewage in a putrifying state Is destructive to fish. A considerable increase in the amount of food for the people and of revenue to the owners of rivers would, therefore, result from purifying rho rivers of the United Kingdord, which are now contaminated by sewage and other matters. If the sewage of towns is no longer to flow into rivers, the only alternative which remains is to dispose of it on the land. It has been decided that it is a nuisance at common Jaw to discharge any sewage into a river. Yet the law is neverthe less inoperative, for want of powers to remove the nuisance. Until within the last 30 years it has been the custom to utilise all the nightsoil and other refuse on the land. Great obstructions used to be thrown in the way of making house drains which should empty themselves into the street sewer. The use of the latter was confined to the conveyance of the surface waters of the town. There was a service of scavengers whose duty it was to remove excrementitious matters in their carts ; and it was the taco of the mayors of towns to take care that rivers, streams, and ponds were kept free from all noxious or filthy substances. But when the mo dern water-closets came into vogue, and the practice was introduced of flushing house drains into the sewers, then the diluted nightsoil first began to find its way into rivers. Yet the removal of house refuse to the laud would now be much easier and cheaper than it was formerly—because carriage by suspension in a liquid is the cheapest mode of transport. " In many towns of Lancashire there are to this day nu merout cesspits. This is the case with Manchester, whero the local authorities expend about £20,000 a year for empty ing them and then removing the contents to the land, and receive back 50 per cent. by the Sale of the material. A system of sewerage, and the necessary works to remove all the refuse in a liquid state to the adjacent fields, would, in Mr Itawlin ,, on's opirtirm, cause a saving to the town. " The Commissioners of S, oeo and the 13 ,- ,a rd of Health took no steps to prevent the introduction of the practice of flushing the refuse of houses into the street sewers, and thence into the rivers. For they wore of opinion that no time should be lost in freeing habitations from the danger ous infection of putrifying substances ; and assumed that when this more pressing object had been accomplished the law would be again respected, and measnres would be taken to free the rivers and restore the refuse once more to the land. ai" Dwelling houses in the metropolis and many parts of England have already been freed—which has caused the in crossed pollution of rivers. This latter evil is becoming worse every year in proportion to the adoption of a better water supply, of a more perfect system of house drainage, and the increase of the population. " Dr. Aolaul and other witnesses believe that rivers can be effectually freed from pollution only by extending the Local Government Act to entire watersheds—or, rather, by establishing boards somewhat similar to the present local boards of towns, which should extend over the whole area of each catchment basin, instead of being restricted to the precincts of each town. These watershed or catchment boards should, in the opinion of those witnesses, have all the powers for this purpose which are now enjoyed by the local boards of towns ; and they should be placed under the direct authority and supervision of the Homo-office. They furthezmore hold that it should be the duty of the Home Secretary to see that the law as to the pollution of streams is strictly enforced by these watershed boards. The secretary of the local government office, as well as Mr Raw Mason, the inspecting engineer, while concurring in the necessity of appointing a board for each catchment basin, gave a decided opinion that the duty of the watershed board should be merely to supervise the action of the local boards within their district, and enforce an obedience to the law in causing them to desist from polluting the streams ; but that the necessary works should be carried out by the local boards alone. The committee recommend that the important object of completely freeing the entire basins of rivers from pollution should be rendered possible by general legislative enactment enabling the inhabitants of such entire districts to adopt some controlling power for that purpose ; but it should in clude a provision for compelling local boards to render the sewage of their districts innocuous by application to the land for agricultural purposes. The case of the Thames valley (where the purification of tho river, which has been sought by the expenditure of enormous sums, is to a considerable extent counteracted by the increased discharge of sewage from towns higher up the stream) requires special and im mediate attention. Before concluding the inquiry the committee received some evidence with regard to the measures now being car ried out by the Metropolitan Board of W orks for diverting the sewage of the metropolis. This inquiry the committee have been unable to complete. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS TIMES.—it is the melancholy privilege of life protracted and intelligence preserved beyond the period usually allotted to mortality that the pos sessor of this strange immunity from human weak ness is called upon from time to time to lament the death, and it may be to celebrate the memory of his less fortunate associates. The duty must in such circumstances be painful, but it is, nevertheless, a duty which every man owes to that character which every public man leaves as a sacred deposit to his surviving colleagues. On their good or evil report must in a great measure depend the estimation in which he will be held by posterity, and it is almost equally wrong to refuse due honours to the dead and to lavish them unnecessarily on the living, This melancholy duty Lord Palmerston has twice lately been called upon to discharge. A few years ego he appeared in public to lament the premature loss of Lord Herbert, snatched away, to the regret of all who knew him, in the very zenith of a career of the most extended and enlightened usefulness. Since then another member of the Administration —Lord Elgin—has sunk in the performance of great and onerous duties ; and now the Prime Minister comes forward to inaugurate a monument to the one of all his colleagues who possessed the most varied acquirements, and on whom were founded the brightest hopes. To the character and attain ments of Sir G. C. Lewis, to his services to general literature, to the warm affection which he inspired and the unlimited confidence which he commanded, ample justice has been done by the unanimous ver dict of .the society in which he moved, and of the press by which his career was watched and criti cised. A life not exempt from those vicissitudes from which the most honourable public service is no protection was concluded amid a burst of sympathy, admiration, and respect which vindicated his fellow countrymen from the charge of ingratitude, and did all that was possible towards healing the wounds of private friendship. The public duty was fully per formed, but it still remained for the place of his residence and birth to give expression to its regret. The memory of Sir G. Lewis is commemorated by monuments erected in Radnorshire, where he lived, and Herefordshire, which had the honour of being represented by him for five years, until the county decided that it was unworthy of such a repre. sentative, and passed the most complete censure on itself by repudiating in one vote the noblest truth that has dawned on political science, and the most philosophical statesman whom the present time has produced. For this signal act of injustice and folly Herefordshire now makes a tardy atonement in erecting a monument to that departed worth which she repudiated while living. She has been slowly wise, but it is better to be wise slowly than not to be wise at all, and certainly, no atonement can be so complete as to erect a monument to the memory of the man whom she repudiated on account of his adherence to Free Trade, and to intrust the inauguration of it to a statesman who for two gene rations has been its consistent and eloquent advo cate. The maxim that nothing but good is to be said of the dead finds a very qualified acceptance at the present day. The taste of modern times revolts against the language of every panegyric, and will scarcely tolerate even the pardonable suppression of those faults from which no one born to bear the burden of humanity is free. There is no task which the most practised and skilful orator would ap proach with more diffidence than that of pronounc ing a panegyric over the ashes of his best and most valued friend. The style of speaking, also, in which Lord Palmerston may claim to be considered a master appeals far more to the reason than to the feelings of his audience, and though eminently sound and convincing, and often not without a curious felicity of language, takes little hold of the imagination, and is more adapted for exposition than for amplification or ornament. Still it mus t be . admitted that Lord Palm ers t on di sc h arge d the difficult duty which he had undertaken in a man ner alike honourable to himself and satisfactory to his audience, and gave as clear and complete, if not as eloquent, an account of hi s l a t e c olleague and friend as could be expected from one in many respects presenting so marked a contrast to the theme of his discourse. In the present age, when we are wearied with the complaint that originality is extinct, and that all men are ground down to the same smooth surface of uniformity, it is in structive to contemplate the different paths by which eminence in the councils of this coun try may be attained. turd Palmerston has been through life ph-eminently a man of the world, mingling heartily in its strife, its pursuits, and its pleasures, In almost every amusement and occupation that becomes an English nobleman he has heartily and genially embarked. A keen sports man, an owner of racehorses, and a man of fashion, Lord Palmerston devoted to the active world and its pursuits those hours which remained to him after a singularly exact and conscientious discharge of his public duties. The recreations of Sir George Lewis were the exact reverse of all this. The hours that could be spared from business were devoted by him, whenever he had the power of disposing of them, to abstruse and careful study. His relaxations would have been a painful and exhausting labour to others. Yet, on the common ground of public duty these men, so different in other respects, find a point of contact—nay, of hearty sympathy and esteem. " Seldom," said Lord Palmerston, " has any man in a great public career so entitled himself to re spect and admiration as Sir George Lewis. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, he managed during the Crimean war—a period of great anxiety and difficulty—the financial affairs of the kingdom ; and no Finance Minister ever acquired and retained to a greater degree the confidence of that commer. cial community who are so much interested in the accurate and efficient discharge of the functions of that Minister. As Secretary for the Home Depart• went, in perpetual intercourse with the gentry, the nobility, the corporations , and the different com munities connected with our domestic administra tion, he conciliated t heir esteem and acquired their confidence. In de bate he supported his opinion with a coolness, a forbearance, and a power of calm although he convinced logical argument w hich, many and confuted many more, prevented him, him, even in the warmth of deba te, from making a single per. son an enemy. He h ad an unpretendii2,g gleners and simplicity of mind. He was not g iven to any unnecessary display of his knowledge; but that knowledge was not merely useful , fo r the ha b it of mind formed in acquiring it enabled him better to perform the duties with which he was charged. The leading quality of hie mind was a thirst after truth. He was not impatient of contradiction or of opposition ; his aim was by comparing his ideas with those of others, whether living or dead, to get at the truth. In his private relations there was a warmth of heart, a steadiness of affection, a total unselfishness of feeling which rendered him dear to his friends and invaluable to his family." In this graphic and interesting sketch we recognise the lineaments of the statesman we have lost. The only thing which the words fail to convey is, that in a picture possessing so much light there Is really no shade. Most man redeem their shining qualities by detects equally marked, but the judicial calmness and balance of the character of Sir George Lewis protected him from the faults corresponding to his many merits. Ha was, in truth, the personification of calm and unimpassioned reason, with feelings and affections strong enough to conciliate the regard of all who approached him, and the friendship of those who intimately associ• ated with him, but not powerful enough to disturb the balance of his judgment or warp the clew(' prompting of his will. He has obtained what he never sought, or perhaps even desired—the unani mous applause of is countrymen ; end his most fitting epitaph will he found in tee words of the statesman who first introduced him to high offi ce , and regeroe with no uoreasonaDie pride the boon which he conferred upon his country when he gave it the services of such a Minister. POST.—M. Barocbe, the French Minister of Jus tice, has just followed in the wake of the Duc de Persigny. His " extra-parliamentary utterances," however, as we term them on this side of the Channel., have taken a different course, and con tented themselves with a narrower scope. While the one is abstract the other is purely practical. M. Baroche deals with the simpler, though hard)) , less important, question of internal reform in tho working of the machinery of government. He is well knawn as one of the leading advocates of ad.- ministrative decentralisation in his own country— a policy, however, which the Emperor is under stood to have not less heartily accepted than him self. It may seem strange in these centralising days to hear of a movement in the contrary direc tion. It would have been thought at first sight that railways and telegraphs would ensure the pro gress of centralisation ; but the fact of an opposite movement, in spite of the increasing facilities for central government, may be taken as an evidence of the truth that the mania for "everything from Paris" had been allowed to extend a great deal too far. For the system of administrative centralisa tion that now prevails we must go back some years anterior even to the great Revolution—that is to say, so far as concerns its essential characteristics.. No one showed more clearly than M. de Tocque. ville that the centralising system commonly ascribed to the Revolution was really the work of Louis XVI. and his Ministers. They reduced government to such a level of uniformity that, all feudal or other local jurisdictions being set aside, the whole adminis tration of public affairs was carried on in Paris through 30 Intendants of the provinces, who sub mitted all questions to Paris, and received their _ _ orders in return from Paris. The Cabinet of Louis XVI., in fact, governed France in respect of every thing through the 30 Intendants. Nearly all that the Revolution appears to have effected in this re spect was to abolish the provinces and create 96 de partments in their places, So that there are now 96 Prefects instead of 30 Intendants. Strangely enough, this sort of government was found practic able before railway or telegraphic communication was known. But, on the other hand, the cares of Government, as arising if only from the increased population and greatly augmented wealth o f the country, have become heavier. But the present Imperial Government desire to part with a great deel of this useless and impolitie burden; and M. Baroche has just come forward, at a banquet given by the Prefect of the Department of Seine and Oise, to expound their views. He desires, in a word, to throw all local government and all local responsibility on the Council- General of each department. " The Emperor," he says, " wishes to give to there bodies more ex. tonsive attributions and greater liberty, in orde r to obtain from them all the good which they can effect, to utilise all their strength, and to m eke them the most effectual instruments of administ re live decentralisation." M. Baroche adds that this is at the moment the most important question of reform now pending in France, and that a meeumre involving such a change is about to be submitted, to the Senate and the Corps Legislatif. A projected reform of this sort may be contemplated from t different points of view. We may regard it in rela• ticn to its effect on the actual transaction and a. ia ministration of public bu-iness ; and we may look upon it also in the hardly less important light of its tendency to increase political conservatism, a) id to promote the stability of the Imperial Governme) at. So far as concerns its immediate and everyday eff, )ct upon the public business of the country, there can be very little doubt that French centralisation bias gone a great deal too far. There are an infini to variety of local interests on which the Prefect an d Council-General of the department must be muc h better judges than the Imperial Government, wh o must at last rely on the reports and opinions of th e Councils General. This being so, it seems simpler that the Councils-Gcneral should govern in fact as well as in name. Besides, the spirit of public eta, sr• prise will be greatly freed if some representati TO liberty of action, with the popular responsibility tt Lat belongs to it, is conferred upon these bodies. It is better that the departments should act for the ma selves than to continue to lose the sense of fl •ee action and responsibility in the imperial surveillat ice over everything. The departments, in a word, want to be treated as men, and not es children unable to take care of themselves. Moreover, the concentra tion of all public business on the Ministry of "Jae Interior involves a labour that no single adminis trator can discharge; and the questio❑ at last is, in very many cases, whether the Councils-Gen eral or the clerks in the Minister's bureau are the best judges of the wants and necessities of the nimety six departments. But the measure of reform now intended by the French Government has a wider signification, in regard to the gradual Conservative tendencies that it appears to possess. Since The fall of the Bourbons in Franco many schemes of government have been tried in turn, and hitherto they have all failed. The reason teems to be that there has been no basis on the breadth and surface of the nation on which government could be built up. Paris has been not only the centre, but the source of government. Centralisation, in fact, does not explain the polity of France for the last seventy or eighty years. It has been the govern ment of the country by the capital. While this has been the case Paris has made Sovereigns and unmade them. Napoleon I. confessed him self dethroned the moment that the allies took the capital. Charles X. and Louis Phillippe took the sentence of the capital as the verdict of the nation, and abdicated without inquiring what the rest of the country thought of the matter. While the provinces are deprived of their legitimate influence in public affairs this must always be more or less the case ; though the degree in which it may be so will vary with circumstances. The Emperor of the French apparently wishes that Paris should be the caapital and the only capital. And probably, if an effectual change is introduced in this respect, it will have for one of its results to check the immoderate desire of all classes to abandon the provinces and to migrate to Paris. But, however this may be, it is clear that it will tend very directly to raise the dignity of local government in France. It is one of many measures which appear to indicate that the imperial dynasty is desirous of lessening the extreme and impolitic influences that have been handed down by the Revolution, and of asserting for the provinces some of the importance and rev sponsibility to which they are entitled. COUNTRY MARKETS. COLCHESTER-SEPT. 3. We had a small show of grain on offer at our market to-day, and the trade was slow at about last week's quota— tions. Barley in better supply, and all but the finest sam— ples were cheaper. Beans and peas very scarce, and full prices made. Wheat, white. 46s 50s Bea-la,Mazagan..33s 36s red 46s 46s middle & small.3ss 40s Barley Oats GLOUCESTER—SEPT. 3. There was a better supply of English wheat, which sold at fully late rates. Foreign dull, and prices in favour of Juyers. Grinding barley rather cheaper. Oats were Linn. Indian corn Gd to is under late quotations. NORTHAMPTON—SIim. 3. There was a fair show of wheat at market to-day, and samples generally in good condition. Tho demand ruled moderate, and prices were not much altered from this day week. Barley was steady. Oats met with a fair demand. —White wheat,:new, 42s to 4Gs ; new red, 41s to 444; old, 40s to 43s per qr. Barley, new malting, 30e to 336-- grinding, 2Gs to 29s per qr. Oats, 24s to 32s per 24 stone. Beans, 39a to 42e. Yeas, 37s to 42s per qr. , RD—Szrv. 2. ay there was a good supply of flcl late prices quite as high. demand, and prices steady. Peas, Partridge 36s 38i White 30s 34h Boiling ..38s 422. Dun 31s 35i Ditto new —a —a Beans, Tick, old 34s 378 _ new.. —s --m Harrow Ticks ..35s 38! new.. —s --I Mazagan .......33s 351 Births. CHELMSFO. At this corn exchange to-d: wheat, with a fair trade, a Spring corn was in moderate Wheat, old white 45s 49s new 44s 48s old red 41s 45s new 40s 44s Barley ..25s 338 Chevalier 268 36s Grinding 2os 28s Malt. 6ls 67s Chevalier 64s 68s Oats 20s 26s BERRY. --On the 4th inst., at Strewan House, Chelsea, Mrs. George Berry, of a daughter. BICKERSTETIL—On the 3d inst., at Liverpool, the wife el E: R. Bickersteth, Esq., of a daughter. COLLINSON.—On the 4th inet., at 4, St. John's-grovei Brixton, the wife of W. A. Collinson, Esq., of a eon. Marriages. ABBOTT —CILF.IGHTON.—On the 3d 'Mt., at Kinsale, CO. Cork, Duncan Dunbar Abbott, Esq., of Tembridge' square, Bayswater, to Marian Clara Vincenc, the eldest daughter of George Gray Creighton, Esq., I\lX,, of Kinsale. POILTER—RIIODES,—On the 3d inst., at St. John's, Mix" ton, John Porter, Esq., of St. Jatne's.road, Croydon, to Hannah Louisa Ithoknes, eldest ;.ianghter of Mr. Ithodeos 390, Oxford-street. Deaths. BEST.—On tho 4th inst., in Hyde-park-square, Admiral the lion. Thomas Best. lIOWAED.—On the 4th inst., at 2, Ecelcston square, Abra' ham Howard, Esq. HARvEv.—On the 4th inst., at Crown Point, near Nor' with, Robert Lambart Sutton Harvey, eldest son of .51re and Lady Henrietta Harvey, aged 17. , KING. —On the Jd inst., at Norbiton )Lodge, Kingston' on-Thauico, John King, Ebq., agkd 67. LEON.-01.1 the 3d inst., at 28, Hyde-park-square, J. 14 Leon, Esq , aged 71. ----- Louden : Pen Zed and Pr:giant:li by WILLIAM A.N1)10;i0; et No 112, Strand, Printer, at TUE SUN ()fUT 10. 112 ; Strand, oa the rminct of the Saroy, In tilt (MAU Ob zdiattlot,g, 7 -Tuesday, Septelaer 6, 1661.