The Sun. — London, England, 1863-12-16 00:00:00

THE (JIM WAR IN AMERICA, (From the 05pecial Correspondent of the Times.) NEW YORK, Dec. 1. The ;triumph of General Grant at Chattanooga was not: as complete as he announced, nor is Bragg altogef ner a, inihilated. There has been no fighting in Geo rgia for the last three days. The Confederates are rullying their forces at Dalton, where theit enem'.es, owing, perhaps, to hunger, exhaustion, or lack of means of transport, show little ia:Aination to c ome to the scratch. As I before said, it is evi dent—first, that Bragg was attacked in the mid s t of the disorder of a cont.dmplated retreat ; secondly, that only a part of ttis forces could be brought to bear again et Gran e, the remainder being already too far on their way to be recalled in time ; thirdly, that, with the exception of a hard fight on some point of Missionary Ridge, there was really no seT.ious battle, but merely a hastened retreat, with hech contingencies as will necessarily attend a movement of that perilous nature. The loss of the Confederates is 5,000 or 6,000 prisoners and 50 to 60 cannon, and 7,000 stand of arms seems to be con firmed. The Federals had from 3,000 to 4,000 dead and wounded; but that portion of Bragg's army Which was not in action is now showing a good countenance in and about Dalton, and the stragglers from the scene of blood at Chattanooga are recover ing their breath and rallying round their unbroken comrades. Bragg stands still on the defensive, and Grant allows bulletins from his camp to announce that " the campaign in this quarter and for this year is at an end." From Knoxville there is nothing positive. Long street, it seems, had orders to rejoin Bragg as soon as the latter found himself in conflict with Grant, but we are not quite assured as yet that the orders were immediately complied with. Railway communica tion has been cat off between the two Confederate leaders, and Longstreet could only effect his junc tion with his superior officer by a circuitous route. Possibly, he may wish before he takes any fur ther reeolation to acquit himself of the errand on which he came, which was to meet Burn side. This worthy, indeed, assures us that he is quite safe, and all right, with almost imbecile itera tion. Meanwhile, half the town of Knoxville has `been burnt about his ears. How this came to pas s we are not told, an d this is all that we are t o ld. For five days, in fact, we have no news from the south-west. Still the greatest mystification of all hangs up on the doings of Gen. Meade and the army of the Po tomac in Virginia. The Rapidan was crossed as early as between the Thursday and Friday of last week, as we all know. Lee gave up the strong intrench ments which he Was said to have reared on the south ba:lk of that river, and took up his position in the neighbourhood of Orange Courthouse. Since then - we have hardly heard anything positive as to the operations of either army. A " heavy cannonade" is heard now and then, perhaps, by men of very lively imagination; bat of real actions we have no symp toms, bating the false rumours got up by speculat ing rogues at the exchange. The combatants have, however, had a few fine days at frequent intervals, and the roads have been tolerably dry and practicable heretofore. But yesterday we had the first sight of snow here in New York, and the night brought on a rather sharp frost. Virginian mud will hardly allow Meade henceforth any opportunity of making up for lost time. About Charleston nut one word for a week. Happen what may, in short, no efforts could enable the Federals to come to en end of their en terprise before the winter is over. Actual prostra tion of the South in the field is not to be thought of, though the prolongation of the war may eventually lead to its exhaustion, There are oat a few men in the Seceded States, I have no doubt, who would be willing to die in the last ditch. The behaviour of those Southerns in the field has been throughout above all praise. The leaders have exhibited genius and horoism ; the mass have given evidence of a power of endurance unequalled perhaps 'in the world's history. Still, behind the ranks of the com bs tants, there is a people whose fortitude may pos sibly be unequal to the rude contest to which it is e3:posed. The South is not generally suffering from went of provisions, whatever the Federals may say to the contrary. But the condition of their money market is such as to give great uneasiness to those who wish for an indefinite prolongation of the struggle. I have no very high opinion of the num bers and energies of the so-called Union party in the Confederacy. If they really were strong and many, more shame to their cowardice for allowing a feeble majority to ride rough shod over them for the best part of three years. No, the danger to the South, does not arise from the Union opposition, but there are in every community a vast mass of men without a mind or will of their own—men always ready to bow to the powers that b 3, to accept any change that chance may bring about, to accommodate themselves to any public combina tion, only striving that it should not too harshly clash with their private interests. It is this last class of persons, " who never were alive," as Dante has it, the neutral, passive, unimpressionable class, that begins to tire of the strife in the South. In the Border States, and in those invaded .by the Northern troops, this class suffers Itself to be mustered up into a republican, and even an anti-slavery party. Theycarrytheelections in favour of the United States' Government ; they hold meetings and councils for the reorganization ,of thei r state administration, and for the election of their r epresentatives to Congress. Altogether, they show - no little readiness to let bygones be bygones, a n d to _ compromise. open the way for reconciliation and The disturbances in those Border States becom e d aily less significant and . less fre quent. Even s . ri is comparatively quieter than it has been for the last two years. comparatively see ms to have taken himself off to Arkansas ; several other guerilla chi, fa have been taken pri and Bone rs, the fir m . Yet conciliating rule of General Schofield, since carried the victory over the rabid Republicans, his adversaries, has had a soothing effect upon the troubl e d wa t ers p a rties. of conflicting In News Orl eans we h ear of constant efforts for the reconstitution of the State of Louisiana, and the .substituti on of a civil administration to m ilitary rule. I n belavare,mary. land, Tennessee, a nd Kentucky t" jj 'i° l l party have, at least apparently, the upper h im . In all political conflicts. Those contests may not 1 ) , fair , is true, but that Y and honourably fought, it ~ , tore than one-half of the people ate willing to vot e for the Union is no matter of doubt. The . infusion of Northern elements, especially in the cities of Belli. J more, St. Louis, Loui ville, New Orleans, B:c., has given the Union pert, en ascendancy wh ich it never had before; and it has easily dragged a fter it that inert and sluggish mass who, as I said, are always too happy to follow any lead, to submit t o any pressure. That the prolongation of the struggle may within five or six months wear out the South I, candidly speaking, believe by no means impossible. Heroes of the Lee and Davis stamp may choose to break rather than to bend, and for them death or exile will be the more bearable lot ; but if resistance in the field is overcome, I do really incline to believe that men will be found in the South willing to put for ward or to accept proposals either of submission or compromise ; and if the two fractions of these dis. united States can ever come to terms, and the ims Placable leaders of the secession movement are pro videntially removed, the pacification and concilia tion of f the re b el districts may turn out less difficult a task than People are now fain to imagine. The States of G . eor wia , North Carolina, S ou th C aro li na , an d especially Carolina, may eventually come under the mana g e niteit of the Washington Govern ment with no greater trouble than Maryland or Missouri, if it so be that the Government finds a plausible not solution to the el every qu es ti on — a matter -e mind, is "t 10441' e " N"- - :3 , difficult. The loves of a m ulti!ufif': a , t2 7, -' . 4,1 ' , old Italian statesman, are lota fleeting, and so are their hatreds and part , stent aav r e a f c o e u a nd a th y e short-lived s rancours also. For my o in:c o . ns i. I b Americana fielilt and . )] IV , principl es are can be, so far Aspf concerned. w h ic h they stick, moat of the The only point to _ . Union , the g lor ification o f Southerners, Northerners anti also many of the South the preservation of ta t! their nig country an() nal country, if IL Mas r, af.- xiier ciegarrly one of his late addresses, which is to walk among the Pigmy States of the old world "as an elephant treads among mice." . . As a symptom of the disposition on the part of the e e r South ai n Fl 3 in deeds of guerilla warfar . Except im mediately on the skirts of the large - mies, where .sands of desperadoes prowl about, less impelled by motives of political partisanship than by love of plunder, and consisting, indeed, in many instances of the worst kind of deserters, the riff-raff from the troops on either side, the soldiers of for tune who infested the Border States and the banks of the Mississippi have either joined the larger corps still holding their own in West Louisiana and Texas, or have betaken themselves to peaceful avocations and to a great extent dis appeared from the scenes of their wonted exploits. Frequent instances of firing upon and burning of steamers on the Mississippi are still reported, some of them attended with loss of life, and signalised by tragic, heartrending incidents. But it is not by such feats that a cause can be hallowed even in the hearts of its stanchest supporters ; indeed, means of such description are only calculated to bring an y t: episodicallNosb , a cause into discredit., and to wean the humane a n d the generous from it. The only guerilla chief wh o still plays a very important part in t portion of the great drama of the war gentlemanly officer, whose conduct wins some re spect even from the adversaries at whose expense his skill, activity,:and gallantry are exercised. No little excitement was of late created in this country bfig y an ne t m h a e en nd we t s a l x l t - c oc o f o n hl t ui r v ob e f au d a e i n rns d o f r omf h o r i o t In h a ae t ni er escapees pa s c e l aa a pe p ee e s o oo f f r on- a C venous, after the warning given of his intentions by the plots detected two or three weeks ago, that it is impossible to suppose it could be effected with out connivance on the part of some of the gaolers. Morgan and his fellow-prisoners, by the last ac counts, have reached Toronto in safety. Whether they will tarry in the land of exile or revisit the theatre of their former bold raids may in a great measure depend. on the general vicissitudes of the war. On the whole, I conclude that the South seems to exhibit signs of weariness and despondency, and peace, if it were offered on plausible terms, might be hailed as a providential deliverance. Such being, as I conceive, the state of men's minds in the South, it may be worth while to inquire what effects, on the other hand, the prospects of approaching peace would have upon the Northerners. The first impression made among these North erners by the glad tidings of Grant's "stunning and decisive victory," towards the end of last week, was followed by a second sensation by no means of a pleasurable nature. The Americans were panic struck at their too easy victory. " What!" they said, " can the war come so suddenly and so speedily to an end ?" Was the valour of the Union troops and the skill or luck of their Generals so soon to bring about the catastrophe of a drama the first acts of which drew out to such dreary lengths ? Can a nation have too much wind astern, or are we to be lieve :that "it is indeed a good wind that blows nobody ill ?" In the first place, as I have often told you before, the Black Republicans and Abolitionists, whose ranks, as you are also aware, have been wonderfully swelling of late, always wished for an indefinite prolongation of hostilities. They had the great mission to accomplish; their work of emancipation, implying the utter desolation, disorganisation, and disfranchisement of the South, and requiring, there fore, a long, desperate, envenomed contest. The rank and fire of these worthies did no worse than openly and loudly deprecate peace, but their leaders especially these who had a finger in the Adminis tration pie, more activey put it off by thwarting the efforts of the Federal Generals, ham pering their movements if they were meek and submissive, and plotting their recal if they showed themselves stub born and self-willed. For them speedy peace meant compromise with the Southerners, a respite granted to slavery, however within reduced limits and for but a short lease of existence ; it meant reintegra tion of the Southern States to their former rights, and the strengthening of their Democratic oppo nents by the almost unanimous vote of rehabilitated rebeldom. Yet the greatest horror of a too ready subjugation or of a spontaneous surrender of the South, at this present crisis, was not merely the result of party considerations, nor was it manifesting itself merely among the out-and-out abolitionists. The peace panic spread among all ranks and circles; it had its ground on mere monetary considerations. Suppose the sword to be laid aside at Christmas, or even at Midsummer next, people asked, what would become of the financial condition of the country ? Would not the expected crash, the much redoubted deluge, im mediately ensue ? Hitherto, short-sighted people grounded their fears of a financial shock upon the apprehension of the probable effects of a protracted struggle and of the reckless expenditure with which it was carried on. The war, by its long duration, they thought, was sure to ruin the country ; it was the last regiment, the last monitor, the last feathers weight that would break the camel's back. But of late shrewd observers were more inclined to con clude that the war would feed itself, that the people would go on from delusion to delusion, that the bub ble would float on larger and larger, brighter and brighter, and would only burst at the peace. The social machine had received from the war a mo mentum which would only stop with the war itself. And now people fancied the war had come, or threatened to come, to a standstill, in so unforeseen a manner as to baffle the anticipations of the most sanguine Copperhead. The game which had hitherto recklessly been played with mere counters must now be settled in hard cash in good earnest. The calami ties that war had matured peace would reveal. The seeds that had been sown in strife must be reaped in reconciliation. The moment the South succumbs or is brought on its last legs, people reasoned, does away with the necessity of three-fourths of the present arma ment. Half a million of men will be forced back on the labour market, precisely as the demand for labour must suddenly and inevitably diminish. Wages fall, competition overleaps itself,consumption ceases to keep pace with production. Agriculture, manufactures, everything had been made subser vient to the furtherance of a work of destruction. How long would it take before the springs of social wellbeing could flow back into their wonted chan nels; how long before the State machine slid back into its ancient groves? Resumption of specie pay ment would be the first and immediate consequence of the c l ose o f h ost ili t i es. G overnment stock would rifle:i but r a il way , m i n i ng , an d a ll ot h er s t oc k wou ld a u t• Of a ll t h e wor k o f t h e war noth i ng b ut the Nation a l Debt would remain, and the necessity for a crushing • • poverty grinding taxation. The rich would fall siloont, resigleTie poor would have to choose between riot kind strifel starvation, and aimless unavailing All this was th e sub , afterject of everybody's talk and people recovered from the first speculation soon caused by the glowing de itninqtuelelsitgioibnl.e results, sbcrreiaptthi o l e n s: o e f a G ei r t a e n ni t:suit, Ilort ata e la n s tous victories," To-day, we are warned The im 0 t the dangers of over- Grant's success is agai n, oifi de nc e. P rtan es _. ul l s ilead's advance has somewhat hitherto and Burnside must not halloo before he is out one th eTh wood. backbone of the rebellion is not led ca t l o le n d o yet actuall y broken. e Even were the Southerners to be d rive _ y .4 f rom the field utterly, peace a nd order would not soon reign °ion. There would • in the reconquered re e , br il l be a to keep the Southern • necessity for a vast army citie s be put to in awe ; Government would s till formida ble'me would not come all o f expenses. The good t i me a sudden, nor, therefore, too quick a change in th e financial position of the country. The transition from the present inflated currency to the normal state of the money market would be g radual and safe ; labour would have leisure to g o back from public employment to private enterprise. Demand and supply would re-establish their wonted level. The untilled, unlimited lends of the West would have power to repair Eastern broken fortunes. Happy young America, always sure to fall on her feet, would recover from this as she did recover from so many other crises. With arguments like these people were fain to console themselves or to rcat-sore their neighbours. THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 10, 1863. We mast leave it to time to test the soundess of such reasoning. Meanwhile this very peace panic has sufficiently demonstrated, I believe, that the dread of the crash to come is the uppermost feeling in most men's minds and hearts. Can any one doubt that the longer the war continues the more tre mendous the crash is to be ? week was therefore 18.7 deg. The mean daily range was 8.5 deg. On three days the range was only 6 deg. The difference betwe3n the mean dew-point temperature and air temperature was 4.5 deg. The mean degree of humidity of the air was 85, com plete saturation being represented by 100. The wind was nearly always in a south-westerly point. Rain fell to about 1-10th of an inch. The mean of the highest temperatures of the water of the Thames was 44 9 deg. ; that of the lowest was 42.7 deg. THE NEW JUDGE. (From the Times.) We believe that the public, no less than the legal profession, will rejoice at the elevation of Mr. Sergeant Shee to the Judicial Bench. When merit is to be passed over in favour of private inte. rest, it is by no means uncommon to plead deference to public opinion in excuse of the job. There can be no doubt that the real claims of Mr. A. are superior to those of Mr. B, but then Mr. B has the good for tune to have an aristocratic name, or to have been placed, by some previous abuse of patronage, in a prominent position, and so it is supposed that the public will acquiesce in his promotion more readily than in tbat of the better man. We have learnt to put more confidence in the character and intelli gence of our countrymen. It is our conviction that an appointment exclusively founded on a regard for the public service will very soon be appreciated, even though the name should at first take people by surprise. It is the duty of those in power to discover modest ability as well as to reward ability which can take care of itself, and the reason why the advance ment of obscure men is generally unpopular iE that the motives of such advancement are generally seen to be unworthy. At the same time, no other test of capacity can be compared to that of professional success in the selection of a judge. Such success, if it implies less in one sense, implies a great deal more in another than any but practical lawyers can under stand. It may not imply literary genius or philo sophical depth, or even profound learning and lofty eloquence, for these are not qualities which the ordinary practice of the English Bar developes, or which English attorneys delight to honour; but it certainly implies a rare combination of nerve, c )mmon-sense, discretion and self-discipline. There /may be many briefless barristers who have boasted these gifts without having had the opportunity of displaying them, but the in stances of those who have won their way with out them are rare. When, therefore, a man has oc cupied for 20 years such a place among cur advo cates as Mr. Sergeant Shee, with the hearty approval of his brethren, it is a very strong presumption of his possessing the legal virtues in an eminent de gree. To have been designated again and again for vacant judgeships by his own profession is the best title to the preferment whichhe has at last obtained. The qualifications for the Bar and the Bench may not be identical, but it is in the contests of the Courts and the social intercourse of the Bar that the judicial character is formed and recognised. The more we look into the only objection that has ever been urged against Mr. Sergeant Shee, the more futile will it appear. He is known to be a Roman Catholic, and although the Emancipation Act expressly opens all judicial offices, except the Lord Chancellorship, to Roman Catholics, it was whispered, rather than argued, that it would be better not to make the experiment. No Roman Catholic had been made an English Judge since the Act passed, and therefore—such was the tacit non sequitur—none could safely or properly be made at present. It would shock Protestant feeling, and shake the respect of Protestants for the integrity and impartiality of the Bench. Why should not the Rumen Catholics be content with au aimost entire monopoly of judgeships in Ireland, and leave us to be judged by persons of our own faith ? These were quiet times, it was true, but religious troubles might arise, in which the conscience of a Roman Catholic might be put into a very awkward dilemma between his temporal and spiritual allegiance. If their pre judices were not stated, they were felt by some zealous Protestants, who measured the enlighten ment of the community by their own. It is difficult to deal with them seriously, but it is never super fluous to expose a fallacy honestly believed. As to the want of precedents, then, it has to be shown that a fit case for the creation of a precedent has ever before arisen. If any Roman Catholic lawyer as distinguished as Sergeant Shee has been excluded from our Bench on religious grounds, we are very sorry for it, but we know of no such example. We should be the last to recommend the gratuitous nomination of a Roman Catholic of second or third rate reputation for the sake of establishing the prin , ciple, but when we have oneof the highest standing, whose "call" dates from a year before the Emanci pation Act, and who is otherwise most eligible, we think it would have been a miserable piece of cowardice to supersede him. We utterly deny that Protestant feeling is the fanatical and ignorant thing that is thus travestied. It is scarcely con ceivable that any subject on which the difference between the two Churches would be material could come before a modern Judge. a Catholic were called upon to enforce penal laws against Catholics, his scruples might bias his judgment— not altogether in the wrong direction ; but in these days the nearest approach to an ecclesiastical deci sion that he could well have to make would be on writs of Habeas Corpus in disputes about the cus tody of children, or on such points as the right of ringing chapel-bells at unseasonable hours. Even if a possible case could be suggested in which a Catholic judge might be tempted to waver, how un reasonable it would be to treat this as an absolute bar to his appointment ! The whole course of jus tice is carried on subject to such risks, and on the presumption that honourable and responsible men will be proof against them. When a board of country gentlemen try a poacher, when a jury of householders pronounce upon the guilt of a man charged with housebreaking, when a judge has to apply a law against the policy of which he has perhaps written pampnlets or made speeches in Parliament, it requires an effort to avoid partiality. That effort is one of which minds of average strength and candour are not incapable, or we might as well abandon our whole judicial system. To people who are not used to distinguish between their wishes and the conclusions of their intellects, it must some times be painful. To a highly educated man with a legal training, and exposed to the criticism of an acute profession and a vigilant Press, the effort must be comparatively easy, while the consequences of not making it would he highly formidable. On every ground, personal, professional, and poli tical, Lord Westbury deserves credit for having done justice to Mr. Sergeant Shee. It is well known that the responsibility rests with the Lord Chancellor alone. No pressure was needed to in duce Lord Eldon to abstain from encouraging the aspirations of Liberal lawyers, and his successors have, as a rule, given the lion's share of their legal patronage to those of their own party. There is much to be said against this practice, though it may be fair for both sides of the House, inasmuch as it feuds to make a seat on the Bench a reward for Parliamentary support. Still, it has never been car ried so tar as to injure the integrity or prestige of the judicature. As Lord Beougham truly says, " for the last century and upwards no whisper has been heard against the spotless purity oft he ermine," and no modern Junius has repeated the reckless slanders that were launched against Lord Mansfield, One reason of this has been that judicial appointments have rarely been tainted with jobbery. They have generally been given to the best man, or nearly the best man, of the right politics, and sometimes to a man of the wrong politics or of no politics at all. No questions have been asked about his religious opinions, if he was understand to be a Protestant, and no one has yet given even a plausible reason why any question should be asked upon this point. (From the .Daily News.) The seat on the Bench which was occupied by the late Mr. Justice Wightman has already, it is stated, been filled. If the announcement is true, and Mr. Sergeant Shee has been transformed into Mr. Justice Sties, the profession as well as the public have reason to congratulate themselves upon the selection which has been made. It would be unjust, indeed, to the memory of a most excellent man and an admirable lawyer, if in announcing the name of the new judge no men tion were made of that of his predecessor. Having closed a career not undistinguished at the Univer sity of Oxford by obtaining a fellowship at Queen's, Mr. Wightman soon acquired a high reputation as a special pleader, and subsequently joined the Northern Circuit, at a time when such men as Scarlett and Brougham were the leaders, and Parke, Alderson, and Patteson were the chiefs behind the bar. For some 20 years Mr. Wightman maintained his position against such rivals. Within less than 30 years every one of that illustrious band rose to the judgment-seat, and within the same period all but two have already passed away. Mr. Justice Wightman was the last who remained in office. Nor perhaps is there any incident which could more forcibly illustrate the character of the late judge than the manner of his death. To die at the pos t the of duty is the wish of every true soldier, and in the battle of life such an aspiration is not le as noble. To the young lawyer courage and Point essential to success as brilliancy or acuscteore will un pertniesi. out the man who at the age o f dertake a winter assize—bit the rack and fouryscore after day, in close courts, his mind constaintro Y ost up to the very his pen constantly at work ; , and tac4nent when the hand 0. death is .. I.lt CITY SEWERS COMMISSION, Yesterday a meeting of the members of this commission wa s held at Guildhall. R. De Jersey, Esq., Deputy, pre sided. InirEtheicmoPugErLevEaroefl" w th as NeT s a s i g tt a i N n in g m b t ro A he N u S q:u h e t iv s u i d n e u o r s f:W e s id T e ß n E i E n T g the above throu considera tion of the commissioners. It will be remembered that at the last sitting it was decided that the street should be widened by throwing into the public way a portion of the land be longing to Messrs. Lubbock and Co., the bankers, and for which £17,500 was asked, provided the Metropolitan Board would contribute one half of the cost. Mr. 13. LOWMAN TAYLOR, one of the City represen tatives at the Metropolitan Board, said he had intro duced the subject at the last meeting of the Board, but an objection was raised that the proposal of the Court of Sewers could not be considered until the resolution of the Board granting £2,600 towards the cost of carrying out the improvement had been rescinded. With this vie w a notice of motion had been given for Friday next, and he now asked for more information in regard to this matter, and also that he might be furnished with a plan showing the line of improvement adopted by the Court. A long conversation took place relative to this subject, in the course of which it was suggested that the setting back of the property from the church of St. Mildred, Poultry, to the Britannia Insurance Offices in Mansion-house-street, close to Princess-street, would be necessary for the increased traffic that would be brought to the spot by the proposed new street to be carried out by the Metropolitan Board from Blackfriars-bridge to the Mansion-house. Various suggestions for carrying out the improvement were made, and ultimately Mr. BURNELL moved, "That it is of importance to the public that the line of improvement in Mansion-house-street as shown on the plan, including the church of St. Mildred, Poultry, westward, and from the Britannia Insurance Offices eastward, be adopted, provided the Metropolitan Board of Works will contribute one half of the whole cost of the improvement." Deputy FARRAR spoke strongly against the motion, and urged the Commission not to bind themselves in the way Proposed. He said that to effect such an improvement as that now contemplated an enormous sum would have to be expended out of the rates, and he felt that the Commission was not justified at that moment in pledging themselves to any such expenditure, Mr. H. L. TAYLOR and other members urged on the other hand that this was a great public improvement, and one which it was desirable should be carried out as soon as pos sible. The motion was ultimately carried by 7 to 5. Deputy FARRAU gave notice to rescind the resolution just come to. LIGHTING THE PUBLIC LAMPS. The Commissioners received proposals for lighting the public lamps with gas, for the term of one year from the Ist February next. A specification under which the tenders were to be sent in had been prepared by the en gineer, but the gas companies declined to tender under it, consenting only to be bound by the terms of the Metropolis Gas Act of 1860. The tenders which were opened were from the City, the Chartered, and the Great Central Gas Com panies ; but those of the two latter companies were accepted —the Chartered Company to supply the Northern, and the Great Central the Southern divisions of the City. The for mer company's tender was for burners consuming 3 feet of g as per hour, £2 18s 6d per lamp per annum, and for 5 feet of gas, £4 14s 6d per lamp per annum, an additional sum of 15s per lamp per annum being charged for cleaning, repair ing., lighting, and extinguishing the lamps during the year. The Great Central Company agreed to supply the lamps consuming 3 feet of gas per hour, the carbaretting process being applied to the whole of the lamps in their district, at £2l7s 6d per lamp per annum ; 5 feet do., £4 13s 6d per lamp per annum, with an additional charge of 15s per lamp for cleaning, &e. DISEASED MEAT. The Solicitor to the Commission, A. J. BAYLIS, Esq., brought under the notice of the Court the particulars of a case of sending diseased meat to Newgate-market by a per son residing near Derby, and he asked for the instructions of the Court thereon. The solicitor was instructed to take proceedings againsi the bender of the meat to London. FINANCES OF THE COMMISSION. The principal clerk, Mr. JOSEPH DAW, read a report from the General Purposes Committee, stating that they had examined the t reasurer ' s account f or th e year ending at Michaelmas last, and compared them with the several vouchers, and found them correct. The consolidated ac count was overdrawn to the amount of £26,774 12s 7d ; the main drainage account was overdrawn to the amount of £1,012 lls 61d, and on the sewers account there was £ 11 , 8 73 4s 51d in hand, which balances agreed with the accounts prepared and kept by the principal clerk. The report was approved. SANATORY CONDITION OF THE CITY. Dr. LETHEBY, the medical officer of health, laid before the Court his weekly report on the sanatory state of the City, from which it appeared that 225 houses had been in spected during the week, and a list of 50 places was sub mitted for sanatory improvement. He likewise reported that the markets and slaughter-houses had been duly in spected, and that the officers had condemned 2,6631 b. of meat as unfit for human food. Nearly all of it was from diseased animals or from animals that had died from natu ral causes. Fifty-one births and 51 deaths were reported during the week. The mortality returns are greatly below the average for the season, 60 deaths being the number for the corresponding period of the last eight years. At the end of last month the weekly number of deaths was 76. It then declined to 60, and has now fallen to 51. This shows a satisfactory condition of the public health. The chief causes of death during the week were as follows :—Phthisis 7, mesenteric disease 2, bronchitis 5, scarlet fever 6, con tinued fever 3, croup 1, diptheria 3, measles 2, whooping cough 1, and erysipelas 1, making together 9 deaths from tubercular diseases, 5 from inflammatory affections of the lungs, and 16 from diseases of the zymotic class. Of these scarlet fever has been the most fatal. THE GAS SUPPLY TO THE CITY. Dr. LETHEBY reported that the illuminating power of the gas supplied to the City during the week had been above the requirements of the act of Parliament, and that the chemical quality had greatly improved, the average pro portion of sulphur in the gas not being above the quantity sanctioned by Parliament. After transacting some further business the Commis•. sinners adjourned. STATE OF TRADE. MANCHESTER, Dec. 15.—The yarn-market has been very quiet to-day, and little or no business of moment has been transacted. To make sales spinners would have to make some concession in price. The demand for cop yarns has been fully as sluggish as that for shipping yarns, and manufacturers hold determinedly aloof from business. Prices are nominally the same as last week, but, practically, manufacturers, who are buyers, report that they can do better than they could some days ago. What business has been done has been on a small scale, buyers manifesting no disposition at all to operate except for small lots wanted for immediate use. The cloth-market is quite as dull and in active as that for yarns. Since the telegrams from India came to hand buyers for Calcutta and Bombay have almost entirely abstained from business. The dates are to the 27th of November, when business at Calcutta was almost sus pended and prices nominal for cotton goods. At Bombay madapollams and some other clotka were 6d, to 9d.. and shirtings 2s to 2s 3d per piece lower. Cotton was 2d per lb lower. Advices like these, after the encouraging reports which had previously come,have necessarily had a depress ing influence on our market to-day. Still, manufacturers in general adhere to their last quotations with more tena city than might have been expected, and in cases of excep tion sellers are willing only to make a small concession, Under these circumstances there have been few offers for any market. There is a great talk again of stopping mills, and unless there is an improvement soon, there seems every probability that manufacturers will be driven to the neces sity of lessening production. At such rates as have been offered to-day no doubt many manufacturers would prefer to stop the mills. Messrs. John Slagg and Co., in their cloth circular of this evening, say—" We have had a very dull market since Tuesday last, and the recent India accounts have still more deterred buyers from ope raring. Manufacturers, however, continue firm at last week's quotations, and, as yet, show little disposition to concede in price," LEEDS, 15th.—The markets in both the white and the coloured cloth halls have been of a very quiet character this morning. The purchases were almost confined to sample goods for the spring trade and a few small miscellaneous parcels. This slackness arises from the fact that merchants are engaged in stock. taking and balancing of accounts rather than from any absolute declension in the active and health ful condition which the woollen trade of this district has maintained during the greater part of the year. The manu facturers throughout the district are well employed, and there is a general anticipation of a good spring trade. The flax trade is scarcely so buoyant as it was a month ago, and prices are not quite s o firm. at tIITINGRA3IS 15th.—We bad a pretty fair attendance Exchange -hall to-day, and there was more doing in lace the pYraetn' prices on the whole being a shade better than on vlous To e arns, and ri„,aa. sday. There was not much doing in hosiery tion. Silks alsO r em ained without any important altera met a rather itnprov pre ; limited business. Brown nets cent razes may b e esatedcfmand, and a slight advance on re • ROCUDALt, Theslackness which manifested itself in the flannel trad e only 0 1 * , at a fortnight ago still continues. To -day there was small all attendance of buyers, and they purchased sparingly, 3,vrelof Yorkshire goods as of flannels, both plain and fanc The mildness of the weather and stock-- taßing by merchants Combine to cause the flat ny el sre 4 . ea r 'l ri l e ' p h s e iti r y k t ee e p ld w b e y ll th la s p t l a o r y i e e d r , s at late quotations, ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE NORTHERN CIRCUIT—yon 7066. 14, (Before T natio° Mellor.) Patri-' MURDER AT LEEDS. Hirley, 25, was indicted for the wilful murder of Anthony Golding, at Leeds, on the 23d August last. Mr. Middleton and Mr. V. Blackburn prosecuted; Mr. Maule defended the prisoner. The deceased was 27 years of age, and a labourer, resid ing in Brussels-street, Leeds. Between 12 and 1, on Sun day morning, Aug. 23, AnthonyFeehy, cloth dresser, Lee's square, York-street, was quarrelling with John Hirley, the uncle of the prisoner, at the end of Brussels street, when the prisoner went to them, and addressing John Hirley said, "Won't you fight him, you -? If you don't I'll fight him (Feehy), or any man belonging to him." The prisoner made a rush at Feehy, who aifticipated the blow by knocking the prisoner down. As Feehy'a friends were taking him away the prisoner pursued him with a knife in his hand, but was prevented getting at him. While this was going on Golding, the deceased, approached the place by Brick-street, and stood against a gate near the place where the disturbance Was going on. When the men engaged in it had separated, Golding said to one of them as he was Passing) "If I was you I would go home; I wouldn't fight." The man resented this re monstrance. and stabbed Golding with a knife at the top of the thigh. As soon as he was stabbed Golding said, "I would not have done this had I ben you." The deceased, who was bleeding very much, started to run, but had only ac complished the width of the street when he fell. As he fell he cried ,ut, " I have been killed by Patrick Hirley." The wound deceased had received was a large, gaping, incised wound 21 inches in length, and 1 in depth. The femoral artery had been severed, and the deceased bled to death. Immediately after Golding was stabbed, the prisoner ap peared to have absconded, but he was apprehended at Otley on the following day. When the superintendent went to apprehend the prisoner, he asked him if his name was not Patrick Hirley, of Leeds. He replied in the negative, stat ing that his name was James Gaukey. He subsequently, however, admitted that his name was Patrick Hirley, that he came from Leeds, that he was in the affray on Sunday morning, but said that he did not stab the deceased. Mr. Maule, in his speech for the defence, did not deny that the prisoner was the person who inflieted the blow upon the unfortunate deceased, but contended that the act was done in the heat and excitement of the moment, and that the crime was consequently reduced from murder to that of manslaughter. The jury retired to consider their verdict, and returned into court after an absence of rather more than an hour. The Clerk of the Arraigns (Mr. Holtby)—Gentlemen, have you agreed upon your verdict? Do you find Patrick Hirley guilty or not guilty? The Foreman (Mr. Brailsford, of Sheffield)—We fi n d hi m Guilty of murder, but the jury wish me to add that it is their unanimous feeling that, while in the conscientious dis charge of their duty they have felt bound, accepting the de finition of murder as laid down by the judge, to return that verdict; they feel equally strong that the circumstances of the case are such as to remove it out of the num ber calling for the extreme penalty of the law. It is their hope that his lordship will cause such a representation of their feeling to be laid before the Home Secretary; and it has only been the belief that their strong representation of the circumstances to his lordship would be effective which has induced them to agree to the verdict. They have felt that, while, on the one hand, they were discharging their duty in accepting the law from the learned judge and acting upon it, on the other hand they have a strong epinion that the difference of the circumstances in the case from those of many others coming under the definition of murder make it one in which the authorities might suitably exer cise the prerogative of mercy. His Lordship—Gentlemen, your recommendation shall be attended te, but you must permit me to observe that I regret extremely to hear you have been driven only to a conscientious verdict of guilty of murder by the belief that the sentence would not be carried into execution. I am bound to say that is not a proper view for a jury to take. The jury have nothing to do with the punishment. They must act upon the law of the land, and unless juries do that there is no safety for any one. But whilst I say that, I am quite sure you have most carefully, deliberately, and conscientiously in this case considered your verdict, and I will most assuredly make such a representation to the Home Secretary as you desire. I have no power to say what the effect of that representation will be, but it shall be made in the spirit in which you desire it. The prisoner was called upon in the usual manner, and, in reply, said "I am not guilty." The Judge then assumed the black cap, and passed sen tence as follows :--Patrick Hirley, you have been convicted by the verdict of the jury of the crime of wilful murder. I am not surprised at that verdict—it would have been diffi cult, within the dtfinitions laid down by the law, to have found you excluded from the crime of murder and to have reduced it to the crime of manslaughter. The jury, I am sure, have most conscientiously acted in the verdict they have given, and it only remains to me to pass upon you the sentence of the law. But whilst I say 1 pass upon you the sentence, I will take care that the recommendation which the jury have made in your case shall be transmitted to the proper authorities, but, as you and all must know, it does not rest with me. The prerogative of mercy rests entirely in the breast of the Sovereign and her advisers, and it is to those advisers and that Sovereign that your appeal must be made. I have only to pass upon you the sentence of the law. I regret. indeed, to find that a young man of the age of 25, and starting into life, should have been guilty of this most heinous offence, and I am bound to say my experience leads me to the conclusion that persons who begin with the use of the knife, and allow themselves to be led into scenes of excitement and intemperance, must not be surprised if, when brought to trial, a jury should be of opinion that the crime they have committed is that of wilful murder. I de sire not to aggravate your case by any further observations. I beseech you not to buoy yourself up with hopes that the recommendation which the jury have made will have any effect. lam not able to say whether it will or not; proba bly it will not. I advise you to prepare for your doom. Surely, surely, it is meet and right that you, who have taken away the life of an unoffending fellow-creature, should with earnestness immediately apply at the footstool of Christ, where alone a sinner penitent may find pardon-- that pardon which the law of the land may probably not accord you. His lordship then passed sentence of death, in the form prescribed by law, concluding—May God in his infinite mercy have mercy upon your soul The prisoner was at once removed and conveyed to the condemned cell. HEALTH OF THE METROPOLIS. (From the Registrar-General's Weekly Return.) The deaths in London have been less in either of the first two weeks of December than they were in any of the last three weeks of November. In the week that ended last Saturday the number was 1,357. The average number of deaths in 10 corres ponding weeks (taking the fiftieth in each of the years 1853.62) is, with a correction for increase of population, 1,434. The number actually returned for last week is less by 77 than it would have been if the average rate of mortality for the second week of December had prevailed. The births in the week were more numerous than the deaths by 743. tality compared with th at of prev i ous wee k s. O n l y Small-pox exhibits a great decrease i n i ts rialr -11 cases of this disease were registered. But the deaths both from scarlatina and typhus were nume rous, 114 having been caused by the former com plaint, 76 by the latter. The mortality of typhus has increased since October. Scarlatina appears to prevail much in Kentish -town, Islington, Mile End Old Town, and Camberwell. Phthisis was fatal in 142 cases, bronchitis in 132, and Pneumonia i n 96 . Th ese diseases were all less fatal than th ey h ad been i n N ovem b er , an d th e num bers referred to them were lower than the respec tive averages. These remarks hold particularly in regard to bronchitis. Fifty-three persons died at the age of 80 years and upwards, and eight of these were 90 and up wards. Am ongst t h em were t wo ce ntenarians—the widow of a b oo kbi n d er di e d a t th e age of 100 years at 33, N ew Compton-street, St. Giles; she never had occasion t o ca ll i n a doctor, except once for an accident, and both sight and memory were good to the last; a farmer died at the age of 101 years at 9, Smith -street Clerkenwell ; he had never taken medicine in his life. Last summer he was able to make hay and dig potatoes. A man died of " exhaustion from want of susten ance." He was taken to Guy's Hospital, but life was found to be extinct when he arrived there. A man died of bronchitis, which is stated to have been caused by the fames of exploded gunpowder. Last week the births of 1,112 boys and 93 8 girls, in all 2,100 children, were registered in Lonion. In the 10 corresponding weeks of the years 1853-62 the average number (corrected) was 1,928. At the [loyal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height of the barometer in the week was 36'034 inches. The mean daily reading was above 30 inches on four days of the week. Tilt, reading rose to 30'24 inches on Monday, and fell to 29 . 87 inches on Wednesday. The mean temperature of the air in the week was 47.6 deg. which is 6.2 deg. above the average of the same week in 43 years (as determined by Mr. Glaisher). The mean daily temperature was above the average throughout the week, and on Saturday the excess was as much as 10'4 deg. :,The lowest night temperature was 34.8 deg. on Thurs day, and the highest day temperature was 53 5 deg. on Saturday, The range of temperature in the his success needs no explanation. Such was the fate of the judge whose loss we deplore, reminding us of that sturdy Chancellor, Campbell, who after a singularly protracted career, and in the usual pause of official business, retired to rest, and was found by his servant sitting dead in his arm-chair in the morning. It is true that the very qualities which enable a lawyer ultimately to succeed sometimes expose him to peculiar temptations. Courage degenerates into unscrupulous audacity, and pertinacity into impatient violence. At the bar the late Judge never needed to kick down the ladder by which he ascended, or to assume a virtue which he had failed to practise. On the bench he never deigned to court applause by pandering to popular feeling; or to explain away expressions used to a jury which none hut himself could have misunderstood. Thoroughly imbued with the principles of the common law which he had to administer, his singularly retentive memory supplied him with all the learning on any particular point, whilst his perspicuous acuteness and sound judgment enabled him to arrive at the true conclusion. Nor must it be forgotten that for neatness, brevity, and accuracy of diction,the written judgments of Mr. Justice Wightman have seldom been surpassed. It cannot be said with truth that the eminent man who has just been appointed by the Lord Chancellor is cast in the same mould as his prede cessor. Universally liked by his professional bre thren, and universally admired for his high-minded character, his reputation at the bar, like that of Lord Chelmsford and Chief Justice Cockburn, is due more to his abilities as an advocate than to his merits as a lawyer. At the same time there is no reason to doubt that he will admirably perform the duties of his new office, and sustain the reputation of the English bench. It has, indeed, been whispered that the religious faith in which the new Judge has been brought up should have precluded his appointment. It is fortunate, indeed, that the Lord Chancellor has furnished the practical answer to those who hinted at so gross an injustice. Does any reasonable man believe that Roman Catholicism absolutely incapa citates a man for dispensing justice or administering the law ? If it does, what is to become of the ma jority of Christians, for they must live under such judges? In Ireland the problem would seem even more insoluble; for there if Roman Catholic Judges may be trusted in cases be tween those of their own persuasion, who shall decide between the Protestant and the Catholic in the same suit ? The question is idle, for experience has solved it. There is no pretence fur the asser tion that since the bench was open to men of all persuasions justice has not been fairly administered. Not even the Record would have the courage in these days to propose any alteration in the present system in Ireland. The case is surely much monger in England. Even if a single Judge were bent upon perverting justice, what could all his efforts avail against all his colleagues on the Bench and a strong Protestant population ? No Judge can com mit injustice, for his decision may be overruled, or he may be removed from his place. It is almost an offence to the new Judge to dis cuss so ungracious a subject. Mr. Sergeant Shee has achieved his present position by genuine hard work. He will no doubt sustain his reputation as a lawyer. But if, in addition to this, he can succeed by his impartiality and tolerance in disabusing his more benighted fellow-citizens of the superstition that no Roman Catholic has any sense of justice when his religion is involved, and that those privi leges which in principle have been conceded to men of all opinions ought really to be denied to Roman Catholics, he will confer no ordinary public benefit. It is not many years since some of the most eminent lawyers of the day were compelled to confine them selves to . their chambers because they were not members of the Church of England. That system has been abolished, and the prizes of the profession are in theory open to all barristers without restric tion. To allow such a man as Mr. Sergeant Shee to reach the top of his profession, and yet to deny him a seat on the Bench, would be to repeat the monstrous absurdity of allowing a Dissenter at the University to enter the arena, but to deny him the prizes and privileges which usually wait on success. (From the Morning I'oBo It is definitively known that Mr. William Shee, Queen's sergeant-at-law, has accepted the Lord Chancellor's offer of the puisne judgeship in the Court of Queen's Bench, vacant by the death of Sir William Wightman, When the fact became known to the bar yesterday it was the cause of great satis faction ; Mr. Sergeant Shee being one of the most popular, as he was one of the most able, of advo cates. The new judge was born in 1804, the son of Mr. Joseph Shee, of Thomastown, in Kilkenny county, and is a Catholic, bat not an "Ultramontane." He was educated at St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, at Durham, and at Edinburgh. In 1828 (Tune 19) he was called to the bar by the Hon. Society of Lin- COWS (nn, and went the Home Circuit. In 1840 he accepted the coif, and 18 years later was ap pointed Queen's sergeant, ranking nest after Mr. Sergeant Manning, " Queen's ancient sergeant," with a patent of precedence. As a barrister Mr. Shee first earned distinction for his intimate ac quaintance with shipping cases, his editions of Abbott (Lord Tenterden) "On Shipping" and Marshall "On Insurance" procuring him much business. He was an eloquent advocate also in criminal cases, and earned high reputation for the part he took in such famous trials as those about the Roupell property, the British Bank, Mr. Hatch, William Palmer, the poisoner of Rugeley, &c. _ _ At the general election of 1847 Mr. Shee stood in the Liberal interest for the borough of Maryle bone, the other candidates being Sir Benjamin Hall (Liberal), Lord Dudley Stuart (Liberal). Sir James Hamilton (Conservative), and Mr. Robert Owen (Chartist). The learned sergeant expressed himself as " not an enemy of the Church " though " not a member of it," and the electors " must not expect him to distinguish himself by hos tility to the Church of the great body of the people," though he thought that church rates ought to be abolished, and considered the " Church of Ireland a scandal and a shame to Chris tendom." He was in favour of secular education, for an extension of the franchise, and vote by ballot. The show of hands was in favour of Mr. Sergeant Shee and Sir Benjamin Hall, but the poll showed the following result:—Sir Benjamin Hall, 5,343; Lord Dudley Stuart, 5,367 ; Sir James Hamilton, 3,667 ; Mr. Shee, 662—a result due to Lord Dud ley's concession to the Dissenters on the matter of religious endowments. " Daring the whole con test," said the learned sergeant, " I can say with pride that I never heard the disgraceful yell of No Popery' sounded against me." In 1852, however, he was more successful ; not, however, in England. He stood for Kilkenny county at the general elec tion of 1852, and was returned at the head of the poll, obtaining 2,153 votes; his colleague, Mr. John Greene, 1,922 ; %villa his opponents, Lord James Butler, polled but 441 ; and the Hon. Leopold Agar Ellis, 267. In 1857 he was not so fortunate. The Hon. L. A. Ellis polling 2,587 votes; his colleague. Mr. J. Greene, 1,630 ; the Hon. Mr. Mostyn, 1,314 ; and Mr. Shee, 1,034. In 1859 he stood again, and was again defeated, the close of the poll showing for the sitting members, the Hon. L. A. Ellis end Mr. J. Greene, 2,507 and 2,036 votes respectively ; while Messrs. G. H. Moore and W. Shee, the tcnant-right champions, had respectively but 1,774 and 1,610 votes. In Parliament Mr. Shee was not a popular speaker, but he was a very active member of the Roman Catholic party, and was the promoter of a scheme of Irish Church reform much more favour able to the Church—introduced by much more candid and fair statistics—than Mr. Bernal Os borne's in 1863. His lordship is, as has been said, most popular at the bar for his sterling worth and genial manners. He has several times gone circuit as judge of assize, and has won golden opinions from barristers and the public for his dignified bearing, his courtesy, and his eminently judicial temper. A better ap pointment to Justice Wightman's office could not have been made, Mr. Shee married, December 26, 1837, Mary, daughter of the late Sir James Gordon Gordon, seventh baronet, of Letterfourie, Banffshire, by Mary, daughter and heir of Mr. William Glendon wyn, of Glendonwyn, sister of the present baronet. Mrs. William Shee died October 11, 1861, too late to see her husband a judge, though not too late to know that he had long earned the honour. AND an No HOME complete without a WILCOX SEWING-MACHINE. Simple, compact, efficient , noiseless. Warranted to fulfil all the requir application at perfect family machine. Prospectus free on No. 135, Regent-street, W.—[ADvT.] ~n nervous, bilious, [ADVERTISEMENT.]—COUSUmpt ie e n y , er ; Adarente of a stage, are only ag . ds of cases which had liver, and stomach complaints, la s of every description, but d y+ r:g onusan health restoring Revalenta gravated and accelerated by vir e quote a Cough,l e . C e u x r p e e N c a t o o b . r l 6 a e 2 . :i9o a ln ll 4. d .. perfectly curable by Du d by Arabic& Food, as prove e , cured after the medical her recovery from the last men had been cons idelie s d y h ear op : e 3 l o e ct. s t s t stage of with fearful skeleton. hP She is now, thank God, a perfectly c onsumption , tion spitting • of blood, perspiration e, exhaue , abandoned ema ciated ll h i wsit Lange, tblooming,all fleshy pulmonary L ange, Comniissaire de ' Pol i ce , Cure, No. 48,270. Mr. Jame Roberts,James iw of Frimley Surr ey, of thirty years dis eased lungs, spitting Of blood, liver derangement, and partial deafnes s.— ElizabethJacobs,ofe extreme e Cure, No. 47,121. Miss . nervousness, indigestion, gatherings, low spirits, andnervous fancies.—Cure, No. 54,816. The R ev. J ames T Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk, of indigestion and torpidity all medical treatment. of the liver, which had resisted I n t tins, alb, 2s and 2l C b,4s 6d; No . 5 7 113 7 regent-street,, ll s ; 121 b, 225 ; 241 b, 408, regent-street, London; Fortnumalso arrydu :ld Masen . ; , and all goers and chenthts in every town of the United Kingdom METROPOLITAN FIRE-BRIGADE BILL. Yesterday a special and very important meeting of the representative vestry of St. Mar y lebone took place at the Court-house, for the pu r p ose of considerin g a proposal for the introduction of a bill by Government, to take the Fire Brigade out of the hands of insurance companies, and, by means of a tax upon the ratepayers of the metropolis for its support, place the control in the hands of the Metropolitan Board of Works. Mr. Churchwarden Hodges having been called to the chair, Dr. BACHHOFFNER contended that, as the Government received an enorm, us amount in the shape of duty upon in surances, they had a right to sustain the expenditure of a fire brigade if it was to be taken out of the hands of the in surance companies, and not tax the ratepayers for Welt a purpose. It was proposed to raise a penny rate over the whole metropolis, and as Marylebone would have to contri [alto about one twelfth of the whole, the matter was of the highest importance to them. He moved a resolution to the effect--That the members for Marylebone at the Metropo litan Board be requested to oppose the contemplated arrange" meat of placing the Fire Brigade of the insurance offices under the direction of that board unless the cost of main, tenance and expenses incidental thereto be annually defraYee. by the Government. The motion having been seconded, Mr, SHAW moved, as an amendment, "That the vestry looked with anxiety at a further attempt on the part of th e Government to extend its interference with the princiPl e* of local self-manarment which it condemned as unconsti tutional and impolitic." Mr. Shaw contended that tho whole tendency of the proceeding was centralisation, and he believed the real plan was to put the matter in the han ds , of the police. If that were the case, they would have half the parishes burnt down before they got assistance, and they would be coolly informed by Sir R. Mayne that th e police were on some other duty. Mr. WAKE seconded the amendment, and said if there was to be any change to be effective, the Fire Brigade ough t to be in the hands of parishes and local boards. This amendment was put and negatived. Professor Mums was of opinion that the Metropolitan, Board had quite as much business upon its hands as it coul d possibly dispose for the advantage of the public and the ratepayers, and that the members are requested to opP° sB the bill unconditionally. This was also seconded and negatived. A third amendment was moved by Mr. FREETK, to at° effect that he was opposed to any scheme for altering th' i management of the London Fire Engine Establishme nt which would throw the whole or the greater part o f tile expense of that establishment upon the ratepayers of il l ! metropolis ; and was alike opposed to the placing that establishment under the control of the Metropolitan Board of Works. This having been seconded, t Mr. NORTO.V said it appeared to him that the Gover nra.Jl were determined to carry this measure, and if the Metropo litan Board refused the control, it would go to the police, which would be infinitely worse. Mr. VEREY agreed to some extent with Mr. Freetht but he thought it a most unfair thing that not more thaa one-third of the metropolis should pay for insurance, 31 ' 1 that the others who had the benefit of a fire brigade in Os° of fire should escape. The present organisation of the Fir e Brigade was mot inefficient, as the great fire at Londel :V bridge and more recent cases testified. It wanted, therefore' either a municipal or some other control than that of the insurance companies. He therefore disagreed with the latter part of Mr. Freeth's amendment, which repudiate the control of the Metropolitan board of Works, for looked upon the Metropolitan Board of Works as the eta" bodimeut of local self-government. Mr. Verey pointed t° New York, where large bodies of young men were enrolled as members of the fire brigade, and considered that the ea° principle could be carried out equally well in London. Mr. Freeth's amendment was negatived. Mr. FILMER considered that property requiring protee' ti3n from fire should bear the expense, and that if the Pre sent system were changed, a separate board should be estab lished to manage the brigade, and charge the expense 11P°11 the insurance offices, the Government paying a fair propor tion for public buildings. Mr. CARR considered the present system of suppor ting the Fire Brigade was the proper one, and should be perP etw ated by law. A variety of other opinions were enunciated, and fivc or six amendments having been put and negatived, Messrs. NICHOLAY and D'IFFANGER expressed an opi nion that the Metropolitan Board, although they did no t ' seek the power, would not hesitate to take the control of 02° brigade if called upon to do so. Ultimately an amendment was moved by Mr. Su uni.D3sl and carried, that it be referred to a committee of the whole board to oppose the measure. COUNTRY MARKETS. LEEDS—TUESDAY. The trade to-day has been better in tone than might have been expected from the report from Mark-lane, but to make progress in sales a decline of is per qr must be conceded trwu this day week. The business passing in barh y and beans is insignificant, at Friday's rates. Other articles as before. MARKET HARBOROUGH—TUESDAY. White wheat,,4ls to 465; red, 38s to 42s per 36 stone. Malting barley at 33s to 36s per qr. ; grinding, 29s to 3 20 per 30 st. Oats, old, 26s to 30s; new, 21a to 25s per 3 0 at. ; beans, 34s to 40s per qr. LIVE RP 0 L—TUESDAY. There was but a thin attendance at market to-day of t he trade, and little business was done. Wheat met witli slow sale, and may be quoted at a decline of Id per 1001bs. since Friday. Flour of all kinds totally neglected, thougl3 offered at the late reduction of 6d from the rates of Tues(l3l last. Oats met a moderate inquiry, at id per bushel davin in price. Oatmeal was slow, at 3d to 6d per load cheiP er ,; Indian corn br , ught about former prices, and bus iles u.. very limited. Egyptian beans 3d down on the week, outinducing business. SHEFFIELD—TUESDAY. Red wheat, per load of 3 imperial bushels...lss Od to 1P ,-,1 White IP ) od New red to ids ~,i 8s v'' New white ' 17s Od to 1 ~ i )9 If .... Beans ...15s 6d to 17s (1 1) 79 Peas, per qr Grinding barley, per qr 3OB Od to 32s v,!.; Malting ditto, 348 Od to 38s pd ), , Oats 22s Od to 24s C' /, • 1 1 7 5 8s 0 0 d d to 18-5 " Flour, ls sd, is 7d, and is 8d per e r 41048 lb.Od t o 44 s 9,1 CORK-TUESDAY. _ The following were the quotations this morning -- 11 ' 4 1 wheat, 8s Od to 8s 10d ; white, 8 s Od to 9 s 8 d , barley', ",0 6d to 8s Od ; oats, 4s 10d to 6 s 2 d ; black do., 4s 4cl 5s 3d. Oatmeal lO 0 to 13 Beans.. Bere * ..... 0 to ' `, l ' Rapeseed .... _ 0 to --- ",,, Bakers' flour .. 14 () to 2c ) ", Indian corn .. 27 0 to 25 C -TUESDAY. DUBLIN• s. d. s. d. Wheat, white.. 24 0 to 26 6 Do., red .. 21 6 to 24 0 Do., new .... oto 0 Barley Oats Do., black — 0 to 0 Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. fig, Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton . via Marseilles Dee. 1 4. Brazil and Cape Verde, by British packet J an ' , 2 9,. Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and Sr. Ilelena 1) "' China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southarupton D ee ' 1 3. via Marseilles pee' Falkland Islands Dec. Gibraltar, via Southampton India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton De c ' 13. via Marseilles De e ' fa. India (Bombay), via Southampton . De e ' p via Marseilles D 8 4. Portugal.... Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton ...... De c ; 13. via Marseilles ........ De c ' ;23. Dee' Newfoundland Oporto and Vigo U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. petcket.... Pc by U.S. pac,ket.• — 33 c ls, W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneritfe ...... by Canadian Packet: Ja e n : 1 0. • • : . Dec. 17. Bahamas, via New York .............. Mexico. ........................... .. .. . I:V I : . • ..' .. Dec. 29. All parts of West Indies, including Chi"' .... }Dec. 1 4 ' California. and British Coltu n bta. ....... 1 ..........1 Esq., of a son. Births. BLOMFIELD..-011 the 15th inst., Bpchmond, the wile of Arthur Guov E._ Esq , of a. OWn. Btrili4etihd' inst., at Berry House, Tulse-fi t on the 12th inst., the wife of Commander Jon es of a son. Parry, PRICIL—On the 14th inst,, at Oxford, M 1 e re. Bartho oul it pA tte ny w . i_fe et Edward Grove, Price, of a daughter, Marriages. cadilly, Major James 11.M.'s Ben JAMES—CROZTER.—On the 15th inst ,at St. James ' s, r i s; Mary, widow of Surgeon tMajor Crozier. WOOD—MA.w.—On the 15th inst. Al h B ylies elder ~ p hens a 9 u ... sou of Nicholas B. Wood, Esq., barrister, of Pen sZ sd Hor l'a vania, U.S., to Anne Mary, only daughter of J. PI Maw, Esq., of Barratt-hill, Broseley, Salop. gal Staff Corps, Deaths. BARROWS —On the 10th inst., William Barrows, EA" °f Himley, and of Bloomfield Ironworks, Tipton, aged 64. BERAE.D —On the 14th inst,, at Chelsea, Le Chevalier ° Berard, aged 79. COOPER.—On the 12th Oct. last, at Sydney, N.S.W., rr". Cooper, Esq., eldest brother of Sir Daniel Cooper, Barg., of 20, Princes-gardens-terrace. FLETCHER.—On the 14th inst., at 6, Holles-street, Oriel!" dish-square, Mrs. Ann Fletcher, late of Tamworih, Sti" fordahire, aged 86. PUGH.—On the 14th inst. Charles Pugh, Esq. , of Viceci Chancellor Kindersley's 'Ch am b e rs, Lincoln's-it 3 g e 65. PARKES.—On the 12th inst., at Inverness-terrace , Barney Parkes, M.D., aged 52. London : Prin.?.d and Published by WILLIAM ANDI;f 3I7 ' of No. 112, Strand, Printer , at Tim SuN °Mee .No. 11 '; Strand, •ia the Precinct of the Savoy, , n the County" irliddlepex. —Wednesday, December 16, 1863. ,rIP F. it° Iv Et EI)N In, entit clare Th tg,% o •tlO,O FIR 9th FI r2orT Varf red,, o °I a ,~al c Day ; "'• z I J I Po] - hitt DA 3TA and