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

Naval and Military Intelligence, M ALTA, September I.—Her Majesty's screw steal n frigate Orlando arrived on the evening of the 25th. of August from Tunis. Her Majesty's steam frigate Magicienne left for Patras on the 26th, whit her the Wanderer and Hydra were despatched from Corfu for the protection of British interests during the currant loading season. On the arrival of the Magieienne 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 Marlborough, 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 ru.les 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. Berage accounts of her Majesty's steamer Trident. The Malta police have been furnished with a de tailed account of Mr. Boddiugton and M r . B urns , of the Royal Navy, midshipmen, for whose capture a reward is offered. These two young officers have been missing from her Majesty's ship Gibraltar, eine° the 24th of August, and are known to have hired a small half.decked pleasure boat, to which a boatm an carr i e d o ff some i erovisions, which facts, added to others since come to light, leave no doubt that they have premeditatedly deserted ; indeed, their determina tion to 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 assie;ant-pay master, missing for some days past from her Majesa ty's ship Marlborough, no doubt under like circum stances, whose description has been also forwarded to the police. Lieut. Marshall, of the Royal Ma rines, from her Majesty's ship Meeanee, is another absentee without leave, to the inexpressible regret (of some devotees of Saint Crispin, Saint Homobono, nd other saints and eaintesses, protectors of the ti ading classes, who will, however, be glad to learn thst he has reached Naples in a perfect state of sa. lub city. The Egyptian screw steam gunboat Ka buli h arrived at Malta, from London, Falmouth, Vig.c , Cadiz, and Gibraltar on the 24th, and left for Alezitndria on the 25th of August. The Peki Cheriif, Ottoman despatch steamer, arrived at Malta from T anis on the 28th, having on board Sabit Ef fendi, bearer of despatches from his Excellence Harper Effendi, the Imperial Commissioner to his Highnese the Bey of Tunis, from the Sultan, with which despatches Sabit Effendi left for Constanti nople on the 29th, in the Arcadia screw steamer." In accordance with a general regimental order to that 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 no n-commissioned officers and privates of the corps wi,th silver medals, which, together with gratuities varying in amount from £5 to £l5 each, had been awai ded by his Royal Highness the Field-Marshal Cotrriaanding-in-Chief to the various recipients for long service and exemplary conduct for the year endin g the 31st of March, 1865, under the provi. sions of the Royal Warrant of the 13th of April, 1834. 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 following 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 o as, and Sergeant G. Coleman. The following re cc ived a medal with a gratuity of £lO each Colour-Sergeant A. Cront ; Colour-Sergeant J. Lockwood, Colour-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 J. L. Jarrett, Corporal W. Byford, Sapper E. Paton, Sapper J. Stillwell, Sapper J. Stephens, and Musician T. Minrods. The following non-commissioned officers were like wise awarded medals without gratuities for good conduct, under the provisions of the Royal Warrant of December 10, 1861 :—Bugle-Major J. Dawson, Colour-Sergeant J. Adams, Sergeant R. Waller, Sergeant D, Mason, Sergeant R. Lewis, Sergeant R. Quin, Sergeant A. Gardner, Pensioner-Ser geant J. M'Murphy, Corporal W. Thom, Corporal W. Adams, Corporal H. Greenslade, and Pen sioner-Corporal D. MlPherson. 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. Joneslto 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. Rodger's patent indented small-palmed anchors were yesterday proved in Woolwich dockyard, but instead of their being sub• witted to the usual Admiralty test 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 —The first anchor, weighing 13 cwt. 251 b., with the ordinary proof o 15 tons tensile strain, deflected 3-16ths of an inch ; with 221 tens, a quarter of an inch ; and with 26 tons (the usual proof of an anchor of double its we i g ht), s.l6ths. On the strain being removed the arm of the anchor returned precisely to its original form. Th© anchor was then turned over and the second arm was tested in a similar manner with the same result. The second anchor, weighing 9cwt, Tilb.with the usual test of 11,1 tons, deflected 3-16ths of an inch ; with; 17.1, a quarter of an inch ; and with 19 tons tiqrs. 31b., being the test of an anchor of double its weight, a quarter of an inch ; and when the strain was withdrawn the variation was found to be nil. These items, having been taken at the time of trial, need no Comment, and simply demonstrate the superior qualities of Capt. Rodger's anchors over any others yet produced, and as mat ters of fact should clear the way for their lordships' con Riderat ion. By direction of the Ariniralty, about 100 of the rnechln . c3 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 requ i red, in consequence of the Achilles being very nearly completed. In the discharge of the number of hands ordered care will be taken to get lid of the least efficient and steady of the men. The War Department transport Tlqinaraund, Mr Spicer, master, left the ordnance wharf at Chatham yeeterthy, 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 arms. ment from the screw frigate Forte, 39, 400-horse power, Capt. A. Mellersh, 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., G.C.11., P. C,, Sze. Her Majesty's Navy in Reserve, According to the latest published Admiralty Navy List there are at the present time 269 vessels belonging to her Msjesty's navy, steam and sailing, lying at their moorings in the crowded harbours of our Government ports, representing an enormous amount of sunken capital that absorbs an almost unknown sum to maintain and preserve it, while, at the very lowest computation, 75 por cent. of the whole can never under any circumstances, so long as it remains the prop e rty o f th e C rown , b e ma d e 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 be. 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 daring 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 ship s requiring repairs or refit at the hands of the authorities of the dockyards. Thus it has often happened that on the arrival of the Channel Fleet at Spithead the repair or refit of some of the ships has been executed at that anchorage in lieu 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 trebles 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 pad 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, but 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 eluding no ship doing harbour duty, consists of some 70 vessels of all 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, however, 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 t Victoria, 102 guns (harmless against iron-plating), 4,127 tons, and 1,000 hocse 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 comm i ss i on an d a ll 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 power, and th e Octavia guns, 3,037 ton s , an d 600 horse (a converted screw), 89 guns, 3,191 tons, and 600 horse power. The Octavia is one of three frigates (the others being the Con stance and Arethusa) given by the Admiralty to three separate firms to fit with engines that should be worked on th e most economic Upon the b est ui e b o e r in di g ng o t a o ce t d he by bu t i l l l d e e A rs d ' miralty r k \c e ti rs on o s f own mak e , Pnroincip.le.s9 ac the engines either as to constructio n or cost. Great results were expected from a competitive trial of these three vessels, but, aeltrhso, theugh they trial hhaayse never been completed tome years, came off, and the ships remain, costly as was their engineering outfit, on the inglorious list of the steam reserves. The Octavia was fitted with three-throw cylinder engines by Messrs. Maudslay and Field. The remaining eight frigates possess an aggregate and 4,63 0 horse power of 01272 gime, 20,580 tons, eng i ne . All these vessels require heavy repairs 1 before they could be again sent to see ; all the com bustible by horizontal shell, and are therefore unfit to ehgage any ironclads; but five, the Mersey, Diadem, Immortalite, 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 useess as part of a fleet of war ship, where as a neceaT:ty the speed of the slowest ship becomes the speed of the whole fleet. 'rho nine screw corvettes and 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 Co wes. 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 coat 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•h0r5e 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 tone 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 dimin ation of the annual expenditure of our oatports 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 sloops, 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 Simoom, 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 har bour make very useful tenders, and serve for prac tice 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 so.nething like £l,OOO, and may do good service as a yacht tender to some Port Ad miral. There only now remain the sailing ships to deal with, and, with one exception, no future can possibly remain for these but the breaking-up dock. The 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 hull, masts, sails, rigging, and other stores, and to j the Navy List and Admiralty regulations for the amount absorbed in pay, provisions, and pensions to warrant officers, shipkeepers, &e. It will be suffi cient, however, 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 other wise— 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 cost 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," an 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 Hasler. This return gives totals under the following heads :—Preserving machinery of vessels afloat, £11,499 8s 6d; gun boats at Hasler, £324 10s ; shed rent at Hasler for gunboats, £43o—total, £12,253 181 101-d. Re pairing machinery of ships afloat, £672 14s 8d; re• pairing gunboats at Hasler, £689 53 ; tools, £45 8a 21-d. Grand total for six months, £13,661 Is ncl. 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 6s ; 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 line•of-battle 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 havo passed away for ever; and yet it is something appalling if we consider the capital we have sunk in stock of this description. In the return from veaich we have extracted the 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 aleJne, the chief of which are as follows :—The Agiers, £228 148. 6d. ; the Agamemnon, £lBB 148. ; the Neptune, X2Ol 188.; the CieBar, £220 ; the Hannibal, £25.3 198. The screw frigates daring the same period show against each of their names, selecting the following at random :—The Termagant, £l6l 10s. ; the Dia dem, £l9l Bg. ; the Arrogant, £164 105. ; the Ina. perietne, £234 155.; the Melpomene, £248 75,; the Mersey, £214. The Furious paddle frigate is debited with - -C144 14s. Gd. There are a few wood en and iron sailing mortar boats hauled up at Efas.ar, but they incur no extraordinary expanse. Tt Ley have no machinery inside them; they occupy ground that at present would nol: be appropriated to any other purpose ; they represent no great ama out of sunken capital ; and th?y are being grads ally utilized, either in the Coastguard or harbour strVice of the pOrtB and rivers of the Chnnel. 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. Masse. 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 priza for carbine practice was a beautiful gold mounted carbine, the gift of Mr It, 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 every 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 i 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 crick et ing, 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 600 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 Friday 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 600 yards, five rounds at each dis tance. Colour-Sergeant Hyatt 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 Ils, 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. Poulton, M.P., being £7, was wou by Private Westeott ; and the second £6, by Cor poral Andrews. They were open to all members, and wero shot for at the 200 and 500 yards ranges ; five rounds each. Private Sanger won Mr J. Johnston's £5 5s prize. Mr Bardelle'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 Os, given by Mr W. Waine. The range was 200 yards, five rounds. Colour- Sergeant Hyett proved the victor with a score of 15 marks. The ladies' prize, a silver cup, was won by Private Elsnore in five rounds, at 400 yards, with 16 marks. On Tuesday last the 12th Tower Hamlets (Stoke Newing. tun), the Bth Tower Hamlets (London Docks), and the 33d Middlesex (Tottenham) held afield-day at Stoke Newing ton, under Major Heales. 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. 500, and 600 yards, five shots at each range, the first prize, value £7 7s, from divi sional funds, was won by Private Godfrey, 14th company; and the second pri7a, value £5 ss, from subscriptions for prizes, by Sergeant Pettifer, 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 won 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 is, presented by officers of division, was won by Corporal Leete, 13 h company ; and the second prize, value £5 ss, from subscriptions fer 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 do Grey and Ripon, after a full consideration of the evi dence adduced at the late court of inquiry held at NVinches 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 llobday, 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 a warded to private Craster, who made 31 points. The Ven. Archdeacon Bickerateth'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 Sergeant Lehmann, 35 points. The Winslow Challenge Cup, the property of the corps, value 6 guineas, open to all members who had passed into the second class, was won by Captain Selfe, who scored 32. there being 1 5 competitors. The Wy combe Challenge Cup, also the pr o p er t y o f t h e cor p s , value £6 Gs., was awarded to private R. Neale, 37 points. A sup plemental prize of £5 55., 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 added, to the best score at 200 yards. The first was taken by Bugle-Major J (in 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 completed the five rounds at each range. The highest score was made by Private Barrett, who was consequently declared the champion shot for the year. Private Barrett also became I entitled to a silver medal. At the annual prize competidon of the Colchester corps two cups were presented by Captain Bavetree, for men who had utter won a prize. The ranges were 200 and 400 yards, five shot s eac h , an d t h e w i nners were A Company, Private C, Quilter ; P Company, Private NV. Cobbold. At the close of the shooting the prizes were distributed by Mrs Papillon, wife of Mr P. 0. Papillon, MX. 'the Ist E ssex b atter y o f Artillery m ade some excellent Practice on Thursday at the Jelarwich Redoubt. Colonel Knox, R.A. was present and complimented the battery on its efficiency. A match has taken place between th e Stour Valley and Tendring H un d re d cor ps—the latter won. The Bolder Rifle Association held its annual meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The bronze medal for Rex. burghshire was gained by Lieutenant Scott Elliot in a score of 36, and Mr Thomas Hogg carried off the Selkirk medal with 34, A purse of £25 was corePetod for by " the best at tenders at drill," selected in certain proportions out of each company of the Border battalion, a nd the first prize £lO, was gained by Sergeant George Deans. The Ladies' Prize was taken by Corporal Forrest in a score of 29, five rounds at each distance of 200 and 500 yards ; and the Patron's (Duke of Buccleuch's) Prizo was carried off by Corporal Grieve in a score of 21 (seven rounds at 300 yards, but his place was disputed by protest on the ground of his using a sight pro tector. Company prizes were given for squad and volley firing, and the first was gained by the let Roxburgh in a score of 312. the 2d Selkirk making 264. At the long range competitions Private lialsall (Wigan) stood three times in the first place, and in the concluding ono gained, after shooting off a tie at 41 with Major Boethby, Fife Volunteers. An All-comers Match took place at St Colamb, Cornwall, on Monday, and was not concluded before dusk. Thu silo:A ing was at 200, 500, and GOO yards, five rounds at each dis tance. The first prize of £3O was won by Captain Tucker, oth Devon, with a score of 45 ; the second of £2O, by En sign Edmonds, 17th Devon; and the third of £l5, by Ganne. Fittock, 12th Devon Artillery. The total amount given in prizes was £l3O. Prizes for all-comers were competed for on Tuesday at the range of the 22d Devon Rifle Corps. Distances-300, 500, and 600 yards—five shots at each distance. There were 71 entries. The first prize of 120 was won by Private Black more, 2d Devon, with a score of 43; the second of £lO by Lieut. Marriner, West Middlesex, with 39; and the third of £5 by Private Symons, 3d Devon, with :;8. The annual prize meeting of the lot Berks (Reading) Rifle Volunteers has just been brought to a close. The com petition was for a number of handsome and valuable prizes, the donors being Sir F. Goldsmid, M.P., Mr G. Shaw Le fevre, 1‘1,F,, the ,Mayor of Rending (Mr 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. Goldsmid'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 prize, 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 shouting 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. Tho 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 sucoessful 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 et 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 prizes 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 CampignZ, the commanding officer. was carried off by Colour-Sergeant Lewis Bryett. The All-corners' Prize was won by Sergeant Snapo, 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 212 for Helmsley. The East York volunteers shot for the challenge cup given by Captain Lucas and Lieut. J at 200, 400, GOO, 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, were shot for at 200 and 500 yards, and were won by Private Wincup, 38— Corporal Groves, 33—Private Parr, 33—and Quartermas ter-Sergeant Brown, 31. The shooting was very good and close. Parr won the do 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 zest prize offered was a silver cup of the value of £8 83, to be competed for by marksmen, or ;hose who had been marksmen, at the same ranges as the last, won 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 to, 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 ISletrorntit.r. :Board of Wnrka, end wer. referred to the committee by an order 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 quantitie3 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 made 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 same 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 a pecuniary benefit were not to be secured, yet such a consideration should not deter local authorities from taking such steps as aro possible to free rivers from pollu tion. Tho committee examined several witnesses regarding the pollution 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, wafer which has been ones infected by town sewage. By no known mechanical or ehymical means 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 appears 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 far the people and of revenue to the owners of rivers would, therefore, result from purifying the rivers of the - United Kingdom, 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 law to discharge any sewage into a river. Yet the law is neverthe less_inoperative, for want of powers to remove the nuisance. Latil 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 office 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 sowers, then the diluted nightsoil first began to find its way into rivers. Yet the removal of house refuse to the land 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 aro to this day nu merout cesspits. This is the case with Manchester, where the local authorities expend about L 20,000 a year for empty ing them and then removing the contents to the land, and receive back 53 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 t.o the adjacent fields, would, in Mr Rawlineon's opinion, cause a saving to the town. "The Commissioners of Sewers and the Board 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 were of opinion that no time should ho lost in freeing habitations from the danger ous infection of petrifying substances; and assumed that when this more pressing object had been accomplished the law would be again respected, and measures would be taken to free the rivers and restore the refuse once more to the land. " Dwelling houses in the metropolis and many parts of England have already been freed—which has caused the in creased 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, AA& and other witnesses believe that rivers can be effectually freed from pollution only by extendiag 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 Home .office. They furthermore 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 RawEason, 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 the 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 lees 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 ago 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 inspired and to the warm affection wh ich he 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 thos e 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 repree 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 pron ounc 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 n o t w ith ou t a carious feli c i ty of language, takes littl e h o ld o f the imagination, a nd is more adapted f or ex position than for amplification or ornament. Still it must be admitted that Lord Palm ers t on di sc h a rged the difficult duty which he had undertaken in a man tleer alike honourable to himself and satisfactory to his audience, and gave as clear and complete, if not as eloquent, an account of his late colleague 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. Lord Palmerston has been through life pre-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 ment, in perpetual intercourse with the gentry, the nobility, the corporations, and the different com munities connected with our domestic administra tion, he conciliated their esteem and acquired their confidence. In debate ho supported his opinion with a coolness, a forbearance, and a power of calm logical argument whic h, althou g h he convinced many' and confuted many more, prevented him, even in the warmth of debate, from making a single per• son an enemy. He had an unpretending singleness and simplicity of mind. He was not given to any unnecessary display of his knowledge; but that knowledge was not merely useful , for the habit of mind formed in acquiring it enabled him better to perform the duties with which he was charged, The leading quality of his mind was a thirst after truth. He was not impatient of contradiction or of opposit ion; . 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 pictuic possessing so much light there is really no shade. Most men redeem their shining qualities by defects 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. He was, in truth, the personification of calm and unimpassioned reason, with feelings and af f ections 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 clear prompting of his wii.. He has obtained what he never sought, or perhaps even desired—the unani mous applause of his countrymen ; and his most fitting epitaph will be found in the words of the statesman who first introduced him to high office, and regards with no unreasonable pride the boon which he conferred upon his country when he gave it the services of such a Minister. POST.—M. Barocne, the French Minister of ,Jus• tice, has just followed in the wake of the Dui 3 de Persigny. His " extra-parliamentary utteranc es," 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 prs.ctical. M. Baroche deals with the simpler, though. hardly less important, question of internal reform in the working of the machinery of government. He is well known as one of the leading advocates of ad. ministrative decentralisation in his own coun try 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 fa,lilitie s for central government, may be taken as en evi dente 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 cent) .alisa tion that now prevails we must go back some years anterior even to the great Revolution—this t is to say, so far as concerns its essential character istics. No one showed more clearly than M. de Tot .que. ville that the centralising system commonly sect ibed to the Revolution was really the work of L auk) XVI. and his Ministers. They reduced governre ent to such a level of uniformity that, all feudal or al , er local jurisdictions being set aside, the whole admini, e• tration of public affairs was carried on in Pari►i through 30 Intendants of the provinces, who sub mitted all questions to Paris, and received their• orders in return from Paris. The Cabinet of Louie. XVI., in fact, governed France in respect of every thing through the 30 Intendants. Nearly all that the Revolution appears to have effected io this re spect was to abolish the provinces and create 95 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 commis) aication was known. But, on the other hand, the cares of Government, as arising if only from the in creased population and greatly augmented wealti of the country, have become heavier. But the present Imperial Government desire to part with ,a great deal of this useless and impolitic burden; a nd M. Baroche has just come forward, at a banquet given by the Prefect of the Department of Seine and Oise, to expound their views. Jie desires, in a word, to throw all local gov ernment and all local responsibility on the Council- General of each department. " The Et operor," he says, " wishes to give to these bodies n lore ex. tensive attributions and greater liberty, in order to obtain from them all the good which tl ley can effect, to utilise all their strength, and t. o make them the most effectual instruments of admit listra• five decentralisation." M. Baroche adds thi this is at the moment the most important queat,;on of reform now pending in France, and that a, meiisure involving such a change is about to be sub mitts d to the Senate and the Corps Legislatif. A. projected reform of this sort may be contemplated from two , different points of view. We may regard it in eelas tien to its effect on the actual transaction and ad• ministration of public bu-iness ; and we Limy 1 ooi,r upon it also in the hardly less important light of its tendency to increase political conservatiom, a.; nd to promote the stability of the Imperial Governmei it. So far as concerns its immediate and everyday elf( et upon the public business of the country, there ei in be very little doubt that French centralisation h as gone a great deal too far. There are an infini 113 variety of local interests on which the Prefect 11(1'1 Council-General of the department must be mu ch better judges than the Imperial Government, w, must at last rely on the reports and opinions of tl ii s Councils General. This being so, it seems simple r that the Councils-General should govern La fact a s well as in name. Besides, the spirit of public enter • prise will be greatly freed if some representativ liberty of action, with the popular responsibility tilt it belongs to it, is conferred upon these bodies. It is better that the departments should act for theen• aelves than to continue to lose the sense of free action and responsibility in the imperial survi ail lance over everything. The departments, in a wort 1, want to be treated as men, and not as children un able, to take care of themselves. Moreover, the con cen'tra tion of all public business on the Ministry of the Interior involves a labour that no single ad m inis trator can discharge; and the question at 1 act is, in very many cases, whether the Councils-G .erieral or the clerks in the Minister's bureau are tl t e best judges of the wants and necessities of the n i nety six departments. But the measure of reforr a now' intended by the French Government has a wider signification, in regard to the gradual Consei •ative tendencies that it appears to possess. Sir le, e the fall of the Bourbons in France many ache t ries of government have been tried in turn, and hi therto they have all failed. The reason seems to t e that there has been no basis on the breadth ands urfa ce of the nation on which government could be built up. Paris has been not only the centre, bt tt the source of government. Centralisation, in fact ,di ies not explain the polity of France for fiat ist seventy or eighty years. It has been the r?c ver n ment of the country by the capital. While tb ,is has been the case Paris has made SON 'ereig rot and unmade them. Napoleon I. confess' el hit n self dethroned the moment that the allies t ook t he capital. Charlss X. and Louis Phillippe t. i, plx the sentence of the capital as the verdict of the x iati on, and abdicated without inquiring what the rest of the country thought of the matter. Wh i le the provinces are deprived of their legitimate in .uence in public affairs this must always be more or less the case ; though the degree in which it ma y be so will vary with circumstances. The Empero r 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 ma y be, it is clear that it will tend very directly to ri Ilse the dignity of local government in France. It is one of many measures which appear to indicate that the imperial dynasty is desirous of lesseni r fig the extreme and impolitic influences that havt I been handed down by the Revolution, and of ,ass. erting for the provinces some of the importance al id re sponsibility to which they are entitled. COUNTRY MARKETS. COLCHESTER —SETT. 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 fim;s t sam ples were cheaper. Beans and peas v.ry scarce, a,ri d full prices made. Wheat, white ..46s 50s Beans,Mazagan..33 s 369 red 46s 46s middle & 5ma11.35 s 400 Barley Oats GLOUCESTER—Sm. 3. There was a better supply of English wheat, whicl, t sold at fully late rates. Foreign dull, and prices in favo' ur of iuyers. Grinding barley rather cheaper. Oats were, firm, Indian corn 6d to is under late quotations. NORTHAMPTON-SEPT. 3. There was a fair show of wheat at market to-day and samples generally in good condition. The demand ruled moderate, and prices were not much altered from this • dal week. Barley was steady. Oats met with a fair den land. —White wheat,:new, 425; to 465; new red, 41s to 444; old. 40s to t3B per qr. Barley, new malting, 30s to 3 grinding, 26s to 29s per qr. Oats, 24s to 32s per 24 stone. Beans, 39s to 425. Peas, 37s to 42s per qr. CHELMSFORD-Szrr. 2. At this corn exchange to-day there was a good supply of wheat, with a fair trade, and late prices quite as hit; h.. Spring corn was in moderate demand, and prices steady. Wheat, old white 45s 49s Peas, Partridge....36s 388 new 44s 48s White 30s .348 old red....41s 45s Boiling 3Bs ~425 new 405 44s Dun 31s 358 Barley ..25s 338 Ditto new — s —s Chevalier ..26s 36s Beans, Tick, old ..348 370 Grinding ........ 20s 28s new..—s —8 Malt. .............. 61s 67s Harrow Ticks ..35s 38s Chevalier . ...... 64s 68s new..—s —8 Oats ..............20s 26s Mazagan ..... .. 33s 351 Births. Bi:RRY.•—On the 4th inst., at Strewan House, Chelsea, Mrs. George Berry, of a daughter. BICKERSTEM—On the 3d inst., at Liverpool, the wife of E. R. Bickersteth, Esq., of a daughter. COLLINSON.—On the 4th inst., at 4, St. John's-grove? Brixton, the wife of W. A. Collinson, Esq., of a son. Marriages. ABBOTT —CREIGHTON,—On the 3d inst., at Kinsale, co. Cork, Duncan Dunbar Abbott, Esq., of Pembridge square, Bayswater, to Marian Clara Vincent, the eldest daughter of George Gray Creighton, Esq., M.D., of Kinsale. tho 3d inst., at St. John's, Brix ton, John Porter, Esq.. of St. Jatnes'e.road, Croydon, to Hannah. Louisa Ithooes, eldest caughter of Mr. Rhodes, 390, Oxford-street, Deaths. BEST.—On the 4th inst., in Hyde-park-square, Admiral the Hon. Thomas Best. HOWARD.—On the 4th inst., at 2, Eccleston- square, Abra. , ham Howard, Esq. HARVEY.—On the 4th inst., at Crown Point, ne ar Nor. with, Robert Lambart Sutton Harvey, eldest on of Aire and Lady Henrietta Harvey, aged 17. KING.—On tho `..'a inst., at Norbiton LAge, Kingston' on-Thames, John King, Esq., aged 67. LEON.—On tile 3d inst., at 28, Hyde-park -square, J. Leon, Esq , aged 71. - _ London: Printed and Prbilshed by wiLL IA ,u ANDEEVI of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at TuE Sum Office No. 1 0 . Strand, in the Precinct of the 3avoy,'ln the count)! ()f 3111.010es,—TUMNY, sePtelater 6, no.