The Sun. — London, England, 1844-12-30 00:00:00

I it" Orr 17 A TT, bIINDA ~,teCt4t. .11 i . t` eitOati, et P) 4 tY minutes past two o'clock, har Majesty and retie Albert, and the royal suite, arrived at the rigtle f rom Slough, escorte d b y a par ty o f th e CYal Hor se G uar d s , un der the command of Lieut. Hon. Lewis A. Grant. T he Prince of Wales was taken an airing :jesters Y to Proginore-gardens. e : k blo c k o f i ce, i mpor t e d front Lake Wenham, r th America, was yesterday evening exhibited to 1 , , x r Majesty an d P r i n ce Albert, who were pleased to T: l e i ss their a d m i r ation of its purity and clearness. , i 8 morning the Queen and Prince Albert walked t he ti pleasu re - g r o unds. a ( ier M a j es t y an d P r i nc e Albert, the Court, and the 111 estio household, attended Divine service this fon , in the private chapel of the Castle. The Hon. llteY. C. Leslie Courtenay officiated. hethe Weather proving unfavourable, has prevented der Family leaving the Castle to - day. Majesty has been graciously pleased to give her 4Probation and sanction to the pablicution of a series ,? 4 , l evis of the interior and exterior of Windsor e 7e, from drawings made expressly for her Ma -Iby Mr. Joseph Nash, in 'which will be repro -I:'ed th e banquets, entertainments, and various ti: e s of interest that occurred during the visits of k'r Majesties the Emperor of Russia, the King of li tl y ; l "3', and the King of the French, Mr. Nash ate, been in constant attendance during the royal tilt by her Majesty's command. t h . ,4 . 1 2 Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by E dward Bowater and Lord Charles Wellesley, ',red Captain Siborne, on Saturday, with an in pP,ntion of his new model, representing an earlier ee, of the battle of Waterloo, and which is now ll o tu lted at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. His 4 4 . 1 Highness remained a considerable time ex gelnlog the details of this ingenious work, and was fi tit it s h ,el to express to Captain Siborne, in the most t h rlog terms, the great gratification which the visit i,afforded him. P a ._ne Queen and Prince Albert left Buckingham 'dace at a quarter-past one o'clock on Saturday L °" in a carriage and four, escorted by a party &beers, for Windsor Castle. Lord Charles Wel iirY and Sir Edward Bowater, the Equerries in lil ting, followed in a carriage and four ; and the enters of Charlemont, Lady in Waiting; Lady I,ltoline Cocks, Maid of Honour in Waiting ; and 4 1leount Hawarden, Lord in Waiting, followed in a The royal and four. 4 '.oe royal party proceeded to the Paddington ter els, and left town by a special train on the Great :tern Railway, for Slough. V l II! Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburgh I l 'ehtz a rr i ve d i n town on Saturday. His Royal if, l 2ness returned to Kew in the evening. 4"e French Ambassador transacted business at the e lgo-office on Saturday. NVharncliffe, Lord President of the Council, town on Saturday, for Wilton-house, near Dbury. rispatches from the Governor of New South f e ttles , and also from the Governor of the Mauritius, re received on Saturday at the Colonial-office. ER MAJESTY AND PRINCE ALBERT'S VISIT TO STOWE. it, lt had been announced that her Majesty would % Ye Windsor Castle, to honour his Grace with a at Stowe, on Tuesday, the 7th of January. An h 'e li ration, however, has since taken place in the ar kidgelnents which had been partly determined upon ; qlk t we have now the highest authority for stating t M a j es ty w ill arrive at the snat of the Duke x . lickingham on Wednesday, the 15 th proximo , .re the Court will remain until the following 4 5 4 , 4 Y or Saturday. pla Ittwo ßK s.—A grand disy of fireworks will Place at Buckingham on the evening of the 15th, ellour of the Queen's arrival. T ode ARCllES.—Arrangements are being e for the erection of no less than f r om six to th gh t triumphal arches in the immediate vicinity of tp e town. Splendid triumphal arches will also be k t i eted in the line of route betwn the county town b ail the residence of the Noble ee Duke. Batteries, o, B istin g of field-pieces, will likewise be erected to tt ,, e _ her M a j e sty a right loyal reception upon her '?.oce into Buckingham and along the road to Stoke. 11,7 4 .ussixivrioiss AT STOWE HOUSE.—The whole of !lamb front of his Grace's splendid residence will ti brilliantly illuminated with a profusion of va 14Inted lamps, under the superintendence of Messrs. illEe and Co. of London.—Observer. visit of her Majesty and Prince Albert to t k / Ze, the mansion of the Duke of Buckingham , is t o e lk for the 15th of January. The following week the 4 1 Party will honour the Duke of Wellington with i tA 4 Presence. It is not yet known whether the royal will journey by railroad as far as Wolverton, n etherOw: they will travel the e n t i r e route in their equipages along the high - road to Buckingham. th e 're will be a general illumination in Aylesbury on Joyous occasion. The Bucks Hussars, which his C 'raee the Duke of Buckingham commands, a corps op h 400 " yeomen bold," will act as guard of honour. I?`_is Graces tenantry will assemble at Stowe to meet 1 .7 Majesty. Th ere ' w ill also be 600 picked men eto the Duke's estates assisting on the occasion ; Wh ite will be clad i n a white frock, and will have a k ete wand i n hi s h an d. Should her Majesty arrive I'V' daylight, e a ch man will bear a lighted flambeau. ,_ 1 ? welc ome , i n fi ne , w ill be on the most splendid -l e. - -Buelts Herald. SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. BETTING AT MANCHESTER.—FRIDAY. CHESTER CUP. 30 to 1 on The Field—offered 5 toDERBY. agst Alarm—offered to 1 agst Old England lg ~, 1 agst Idas 0 to 1 agst Young Eclipse to 1 agst Kedger-t=taken 1000 to 15 agst Connaught to 1 agst Pam—taken to Ranger 25 4 Pod sum 1 , 000 to 15 agst Clear-the -30 14) 1 agst Cobweb colt way—taken freely bo 1 ag s t Newsmonger 00 to 10 and Ironmast . er, 4 3 to 1 agst Rebecca colt " all in," and even betting zisl tl e a u gst Pantasa-40 to on his being qualified 3 to 1 agst Dawson's lot—t a g st c out of Calypso', al---taken COURSING. BRUNTON MEETING—THURSDAY. Eight-dog Sweepstakes were won by Mr. W. ,T. -11 ison's Redgauntlet ; Mr. Berrick's Hotspur ran up. HUNTING APPOINTMENTS. 1., 0, ughbridge harrs., Tues., York Gate; Fri., Roecliff, and Ainsty hds., Mon., North Duffield ; Tues. 4.ll(hani Bogs ; Thurs., Walshford Bridge ; Sat.. Itudsby Bar-101. nu tngtun hds., Tuea., Scacloton ; Fri., Sinningten-10 kCleveland hds., Mon., Ginsbro Park; Thurs., Upleatham, t e • NVatson's hds., Mon., Acton House ; Wed., Butter -11476c1-10. -°ll Bothscs stag-hds., Mon., Blackgrove; Thurs. ing-1 Archer's lids., Mon., Redgate ; Thurs., Lifton Park akley hds.. lon., Kennel ; Tues., Roxton Spinneys ; e r l - nurs., W o burn Abbey ; Sat., Knotting Fox -10 4. Thurs., and Horsham hds., Mon., Charlwood Village ; al e ll'h urs-. Hayes ; Sat., Ilandcross Gate. hds., rk shire Mon., Goosey ; Wed., Bradley Farm ; s Fr i., Buscot Park. ou harrs., Mon., Howrigg ; Wed., Aikton - 8. P r , M • W. Ridley's hd:., Mon., Waggon and Horses ; T -u es Fisher Lane End ; Thurs., Netherwitton; Sat., roppie—ius. • Drake's hds., Mon., Marsh Guide Post; Tues., Soul dern Gate ; Thurs., Weston-on-the-Green ; Sat., v ir W. arkworth Village-104. I gton harrs., Mon., Bolton Low Houses ; Wed., adoeburch Hill ; Fri., Rosley--8. rd Southampton's lids., Mon., Salcey Lawn ; Wed., t," t 'ke Plain ; Fri., Bradden; Sat., Tile House-11. Ireberland stag -lids., Mon., Calk Foot ; Fri., Ele phant Inn-11. tl.bridgeshire lids., Mon., Two Pot House ; Wed., -tek well Bury ; Fri., Morden Village-10i. tlescombe harrs., Mon., Murridge Gate ; Thurs., the litennel ; Sat., Dockhill Gate-10. t'rfolk stag-hds., Tues., Witchingham Hall ; Fri., Fret -111. harrs., Men. , Kirbythone ; Wed., Pack Horse, PI k ,tunivton ; Sat., Lazonby-10i. -i• IL, Mon., the Half-moon, in Sithians ; Wed., I.(:_lulteyener Wood. I,7°rt lids., Mon., Poling ; Tues., Applesham ; Thurs., tham P';trk ; Sat., Thunders Barrow. Chel tenham_ Stag hds., Wed., Wittington Village ; Sat. , eeeh G a t e . util Berkshire hds., Tues., Basseldon Park; Wed., Aid 3 k r "MlAs:ton ; Fri., Stanford -10 4 . ties Cope's hds., Wed., Ryde Common ; Fri. Sil toer Dials. Gifford's hds., Tues., Ready Token ; Thurs., 'eKament's Bottom ; Sat., Sinnington-11. tnbleden hds Wed., Rumsden Bottom ; Fri., Cor kbarepton Downs. 1 1 . , Tues., F o ur Lanes, Beanworth ; Thurs., Can krver Church ; Sat., Lash= Village—l 01. to .p., Tues., Eyeworth ; Thurs., Beaulieu ; Sat. , Pau l- I Oi. hds., Thurs., Troedyrawr Lodge Gate -10 . oL 1 3 G. Wynham's hds., Wed., Burton Park ; Fri., k o u rY his., Tues., Airdrie Castle ; Thurs., Laddedie ; Sat., Lindores -10 i. T b it hgo w and Stirlingshire hds., Tues., Hangingside ; - s u re., Hunter's Folly ; Sat., Wallhouse-10i. 13z A , Sal OF AN INFANT FROM OVER . CARE. — On 11 4 1 c -r " .B .Y afternoon an inquest was taken before Mr. th ` lr, at the White Lion, Hackney Wick, on view of e b ,(1 114 -Y of Amelia Lucy Irons, five weeks old, who is n4 ) Po t ed to h ave di e d from suffocation while in its ao t ePa arms. It appeared that on Thursday after ia h u , tst utte mother and the father of the deceased, who th e ' k &rden,.r living at Hackney Wick, went to spend the i :‘' e with some friends, taking the deceased with the — ; Thiv w ere out late, and on their return home 41 4 morning, the deceased was wrapped close Ivla en : Protect it from the inclemency of the weather ; Ivith ' on the mother reaching home, she found her child but ‘ O ,l .ut any •-igns of life. It was put in a warm bath, 4 ia had no eff oo t,--Verdict, "Found dead." CAPTIP:NT TITEATRE. .elr. iit-ory Betty, the soil of the gentleman who, as the "Young Roscius," some thirty years ago took the town by storm, made his debid at this theatre on Saturday evening in the character of Hamlet. Al though this was Mr. Henry Betty's first appearance in London, he is by no means unused to the stage. For the last three years he has been a provincial star of the first magnitude. Nature has done much for him ; his person is remarkably fine, his features are good, and his voice is strong and flexible. He was evidently suffiring from cold on Saturday night, and was, consequently, somewhat hoarse, but it was evi dent that his voice is naturally clear and good, and capable of extensive modulation. His action is in general appropriate, and he is highly accomplished. His opening scene was very carefully given, and in the soliloquy which follows he was much applauded. The next scene, with Horatio, was also well performed, and his manner of giving the line " In my mind's eye, Horatio," was very beautiful. The closing scene of this act is Vie scene with the Ghost, and Mr. Betty's look of horror, as, in subdued tones and with choked utter ance, he exclaims, " Angels and ministers of grace defz-nd us," was perfectly thrilling. He worked this scene beau tifully up to a climax, and the drop-scene fell amidst loud applause. The succeeding scenes are the most difficult, perhaps, in the whole range of the drama for a performer accurately to depict, and this difficulty becomes almost insuperable in the case of a young actor making his first appearance before a metro politan audience, and therefore necessarily suf fering from a degree of nervousness which to a certain degree physically incapacitates him from giving those delicate touches—from working in those lights and shadows—which are necessary to the perfect development of the character of Hamlet. It appeared to us that Mr. Betty felt this, and that he endea voured to avoid the difficulty by hurrying into action. Whenever he had anything to do he was admirable. His scene with Gertrude was excellently given. No thing could be finer than the manner in which, after having stabbed Polonius behind the arras, he rushes hack to his mother hurriedly, exclaiming, "Is it the King ?" Nothing could be more spirited than the closing scene of the tragedy. But in those scenes in which his energies are not roused by circumstances — in those scenes, more especially, where communing with himself, he endeavours to excuse to himself his own want of decision, Mr. Betty seemed scarcely to bring sufficiently into relief the besetting sin of Hamlet's character—infirmity of purpose. Hamlet is a man of re - flection, not of action. It is evident that from the begin ning he suspects his uncle and his mother. Before his interview with the Ghost, he speaks daggers to them ; but even after that interview, when his worst suspicions are fully confirmed, he will use none. Instead of proceeding to act, he laments the necessity for action which is imposed upon him, exclaiming, " The time is out of joint. Oh, cursed spight, That ever I was born to set it right." It is true, that he is the courtier and the soldier, but he is the scholar also—the deep-read, much-thinking, scholar. Happy for him had his lot been cast in the cloisters of Wittenberg instead of in the Court of Denmark. The Hamlet of Mr. Betty was the courtier and the soldier, but scarcely enough of the scholar. That Mr. Betty will, if he chooses, eventually be at the very head of his profession, there is no reason to doubt ; but before he can attain that eminence he has something to learn, and something, too, to unlearn; but he is free from mannerism, and he is no servile follower of any particular school of acting. It is evident that his conception of his characters is his own, and that he develops that conception in his own way ; therefore, what he has to unlearn, he will un learn easily t was a bold thing to venture a first appearance in such a character as Hamlet, and the very attempt betokens that he who makes it has that confidence in his own powers which is usually the accompaniment of genius. Not to have failed under such circumstances is something, but to have achieved the success which Mr. Betty has achieved, is much— more particularly, considering how wretchedly he was supported, for the Polonius of Mr. Bass, and the player King of Mr. Rogers, were, with the exception of Mr. Betty's Hamlet, the only two tolerable por tions of the performance. We think, however, he scarcely exercised a judicious discretion in choosing Hamlet for his debut. His forte is evidently in the delineation of characters of impassioned energy and un swerving firmness of purpose. He is the hero of the romantic rather than of the classical drama. He is the Pierre, the Hotspur, or the Rolla—the bold sol dier, rather than the moping recluse ; and in such characters as these his triumph would be complete. He carried his audience with him throughout. There were one or two attempts at disapprobation, but they were instantly drowned in the plaudits of the majority of the audience, and he was called for at the con clusion, and greeted with the utmost enthusiasm. ROYAL POPYTECHNIC INSTI- TUTION. Never, since the establishment of this superlative amongst the magnificent institutions of instruction and entertainment which enrich the greatest metro polis in the world, have its ample hall, its galleries full of the treasures of art and nature gathered from all parts of the earth, from pole to pole, and from the surface to the deepest bowels—its commodious thea tres and rich saloons—been so thronged with curious and admiring visitors, as they have been from hour to hour since the commencement of the present holi days. If there be any of our readers who have not yet passed a day of the most profitable and elevating amusement in this at once grand and beautiful temple of science and art, we will assure them, that if London contained no other attraction, it would repay a journey from the remotest part of the island, to enjoy the riches of the Royal Polytechnic Institution. We have on former occasions mentioned the valuable and most interesting collections of objects in natural history and of artificial productions—the vast variety of working models, machines, steam-engines, cotton mills, railway carriages, steam-boats, and the most elaborate specimens of ingenious manufacture and scientific engineering. The exhibition of the diving bell, and the exploits of the very, very patient diver (who, by the bye, is not quite neglected by his ad mirers young and old) seem t.) be nearly the most attractive of the varied and really wonderful subjects of contemplation which are here presented in close succession from hour to hour, or rather from minute to minute. Amongst the most remarkable of the novelties recently added are the eloquent and learned lectures of Mr. Horne on the Music of England, ustrated by choice and delightful performance of the most appropriate specimens ; and a very ingenious and interesting invention of Mr. Childs, called the " Chromatrope," from the extraordinary and beau tiful changes and combinations of colours which it presents. The Dissolving Views are new, and very beautiful. Mr. Longbottom's Proteoscope and Physio scope, with the hydro-electric machine, and the microscope, afford fresh varieties of entertainment and information alike to the merest idle and the most seriously inquisitive. The lectures of Dr. Ryan and Professor Bachboffner could not be praised too highly, not merely for their profound learning, but also, and if possible more, for the clear, concise, and elegant style in which the difficulties of science are made attractive and intelligible to the young and the unin structed. The experiments by which those lectures are illustratted cannot be observed without delight and admiration. On the whole, it is most gratifying to witness that so many thousands can appreciate, and are eager to avail themselves of, the great good which is here afforded them. Theatrical circles have for some months been ac quainted with the circumstance that Miss Rainforth has become Mrs. Harley. The unequivocal demonstration that she ought to be so has occasioned her temporary secession from the boards of Drury-lane. Actresses and singers generally have a dislike to the fact of their mar riage being made public as long as it can be kept secret; they think it interferes with their popularity to a certain extent, and we believe they are right. A number of persons then begin to look at them with more in difference, and in singers especially it often materially, if not impairs, prevents the successful exertion of their powers. On this account nothing has been said of the union of Miss Rainforth and Harley in the newspapers until it became absolutely necessary to explain why Miss Poole had been put into the part of Katherine in Balfe's Daughter of St. Mark. We hope that Mrs. Harley's retirement will not be of long duration, and that she will then be restored to her place on the stage, and to her popularity with the town.—Observer. ROYAL ACADEMY OF Music.—The following have been elected King's Scholars at the Academy of Music : Miss G. Poulter, pupil of the institution ; Master Pal mer, of Canterbury; and Master A. Simmons. There were ten female and seventeen male candidates, most of whom displayed very promising talent, young Palmer being already a very superior pianist. SEASONABLE BENEVOLENCE.—The Earl of Fitz william, according to ancient custom, on Christmas-day, gave all the labourers on his Yorkshire estates, amount ing to above one thousand, a supply of beef and money. Lord Faversham has had distributed to 160 necessitous poor families in the villages of Hemsley, Sproxton, and Beadlany, an abundant supply of beef and mutton. Lady Louisa Ramsay provided the poor in the vicinity of her residence (Whitehill) with warm clothing, money, and blankets. STRIKE.—At a meeting of the journeymen to bacco-pipe makers, held at the Harewood Arms, Leeds, . on the 7th of December, was resolved that they wou4l give their masters a fortnight's notice for an advance of wages, and the masters not having complied with their request, they struck work on the 2 3d December.—Leeds Titnes. LEAGUE IZEGISTRATION.—The applications for 40s. freeholds among the free traders of the Wakefield polling districts have been very numerous. The committee sit daily, and render every assistance and information to persons in want of qualifications. The more effectually to carry on operations, the committee have engaged premises lately occupied by the Yorkshire District Bank ing Company, and intend having clerks in attendance until the 31st January.—Leeds Mercury. THE INDIAN MAILS, &c. The following notice was issued on Saturday at the General Post-office, St. Martin's-le-Grand : " The next mails for Malta, Greece, the lonian Islands, Egypt, and India via Southampton, will be dispatched from hence on the morning of Friday, the 3d of January. By the overland closed mail to India, &c., via Marseilles, on the evening of the 7th of January. THE PENINSULAR MAILS.—The mails for Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar, will he made up on Thursday morning next, the 2d of January, via Southampton. THE WEST INDIES.—The mails for Madeira, the West Indies, Mexico, Honduras, Havannah, Vene zuela, &c., will be made up on the morning of the 2d of January, to be forwarded by the Clyde steamer, via Southampton. AMERICA, &c.—The next mails for British North America, Bermuda, and the United States, will be made up on the evening of the 3d of January, to be forwarded by the Cambria steamer, via Liverpool, llalifax, and Boston. SYDNEY, &c.—The next mails for Sydney, New South Wales, and Port Philip, will be made up on the evening of Tu-sday, the 31st inst., to be for warded by the Amelia, via Gravesend. NoTicE.—During the continuance of the present severe weather, the mails for Hamburgh will be sent by a special messenger via Holland, the approach to Cuxhaven being impracticable. THE 4UN, LONDON, MONDAY MORNING, DECE - M - 13 - Eit 30, 1844. THE GAME-LAWS. The following petition fur the total abolition of the game-laws is being circulated in the county of Notting ham, and has already received many signatures : The petition of the undersigned inhabitants of the Town and County of Nottingham, to the Honourable the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled, most respec tfully showeth— That we, your petitioners, have long viewed the game laws as a source of evils of the greatest magnitude, and most direful in their operations on society, but particu larly so to the rural population of this country, who, front the smallness of their weekly earnings, as agricul tural labourers, have not the means wherewith to pur chase the common necessaries of life for the support of themselves and families, and whose destitute condition entitles them to the sympathies of the whole country ; but, more particularly so. to those of your Honourable House. Driven by distress, privation, hunger, and the promptings of parental affection, they are too often, Prom dire nivessity, driven to the act of poaching for a meal for their families ; for which offence against the game-laws, if taken and convicted, they are consigned to the gloom of a dungeon, to be the associates of felons, for so many months, imbibing the felons' worst principles and evil advice, so as to become ruined men both in cha racter and morals. During their incarceration their homes are broken up, and they are driven to their dernier resort, the poor law union, as pauperised families, whose fathers linger in the prison's gloom for having taken a hare to sustain nature's wants. Released from prison, what do they become, and what are the consequences? How are they looked upon, how are they treated by their employers? Not as they formerly were. A prison or the union is their inevitable lot. Lowered in their own esti mation, for bread, they poach, and in the end become desperate and determined men, as proved by the bloody and murderous conflicts with gamekeepers, in every part of the country, month after month, year after year, until the whole of society feel disgust that such laws should be the means of producing so much misery, crime, and murder, in a civilised country like England, merely for the protection of game and the pleasure of the land owners. We, your petitioners, viewing the awful state of the agricultural labourers—their degraded, pauperised condition, and the ravages made by game on the farm produce of the country, respectfully pray that your Honourable House will take into its most serious con sideration the immediate necessity of abolishing these obnoxious laws. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON'S NNW NOVEL, " STRA.THERN."—The Morning Chronicle devotes two columns to a notice of this clever work. The reviewer observes:—" ' Strathern' is a brilliant series of sketches of fashionable life, and biting satirical attacks levelled at fashionable follies. In this novel Lady Blessington certainly hits right and left, unmasking all the arts, the vices, the cold hypocrisy, which pervade the most arti ficial and the most elevated portion of the structure of society. The hero, Strathern, his betrothed, Louisa Sidney, and her mother, and his friend, Lord Delming ton, and his youthful wife, are the principal lights of the picture. Louisa Sidney is a beautiful sketch of a perfectly pure and loving heart, and offers a fine con trast to the designing cold-bloodedness of Lady Wellerby and her hopeful daughters. There are some other well conceived characters in the work. Nothing, for example, can be richer than Mrs. M‘Laurin, the vulgar parvenue, with her gross habits, so coarsely imperious, yet so absolutely ruled by an artful femme de chambre. The great charm, as well as the chief characteristic of the work, is the acuteness and cleverness of its sketches of character and society—the brilliancy of the satire lavished upon worldly vices—and the tact and discrimi• nation with which fashionable foibles and follies are dis- sected and exposed. We can recommend Strathern ' as a fiction, worthy of the reputation of its author, and a delineation of society as acute as it is interesting." COLBURN'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.—The publisher of the New Monthly Magazine seems to be de termined that this popular periodical shall retain its long established position as first of its Monthly Contempora riei. By the announcement of the contents for the first Number of the new year, we learn the extremely attrac tive character of its contributions. Among the hu• morous articles will be found " A Discourse on Puppies, particularly those of the present day ;" " Discovery of the Island of Mesmeria," no doubt a fling at the mar vellous revelations of a celebrated female political econo mist ; " Speechmaking," a very seasonable subject ; and " /Esop Illustrated," by the clever author of " Peter Priggins." In imaginative compositions we find an nounced a Tale by Agnes Strickland, called " Launcelot Corby ;" Mrs. Trollope's " Robertses OR their Travels ;" and Mr. Maxwell's " Lights and Shades in the Life of a Gentleman on Half-pay." There is no less attraction in articles of general interest. Of these we notice, "Pas sages in the Lives of the Celebrated Statesmen of Europe," commencing with the Comte de Sainte Aulaire; an account of " Lurbano and Aviraneta," two of the most remarkable men in Spain ; " Twelve Days at Tiflis," by the Hon. Stuart Saville, &c. &c. EXPLOSION AT BLACK-BOY COLLIERY, NEAR BISHOP AUCKLAND.—An explosion of fire-damp occurred in the Anne Pit, Black-boy colliery, on Monday last, by which one individual, named Thomas James, was unfortunately so severely scorched, and otherwise injured, as to occasion his death on the following morning, from compression of the brain. Ten other men and boys were also severely burnt. One boy is yet considered in serious danger ; but all the others are improving, and unless some unexpected change for the worse takes place, are likely to re cover. An inquest was held yesterday, at Coundon, before William Trotter, Esq., coroner for Darlington Ward. and a respectable jury, and after hearing the evidence of five witnesses, including the surgeon of the colliery, two viewers, and a man who was at work within three or four yards of the place where the explo sion arose, and was burnt by it, the inquiry was ad journed until Friday, January 4th. We abstain from publishing the evidence until the inquiry is brought to a conclusion ; but we may state, that the evidence yet heard tends to show that the pits in the Auck land district are very little troubled with gas-3o much so, that, even in the broken and at the goafa, the general practice is to work with naked candles— that the ventilation of the Black-boy pit was in a good and healthy state, and had been examined by the under-viewer, overmen and deputies, at different times during the day in question, and no apprehensions were entertained of danger in any part of the workings — that the explosion had arisen from the sudden evolu tion of gas on the candle of a boy working in the extreme south east district of the mine, caused by a fall of the roof in the pillar workings—that so slight had been the force and extent of the explosion, that it was confined to extremely narrow limits ; and that the after-damp was so minute, that the unfortunate deceased was taken out alive, though insen sible, after remaining for two hours exposed to the noxious vapour. Upwards of 100 individuals were at work down the pit at the time the accident occurred ; so that the small loss of life may he considered providen tial.—Durham Chronicle. ATTEMPTED SUICIDE AND STRANGE CONDUCT OF A PARENT. —Many of our readers may probably reco lect that some twelve months since an incendiary fire took place amongst farm buildings in the vicinity of Droitwich, belonging to J. Robeson, Esq., solicitor, and that a young man, named Henry Bennett, wrongfully accused a person named Drinkwater of the heinous offence, in order to obtain the reward offered for the discovery of the incendiary. Drinkwater, his innocence being clearly established, was discharged by the Magis trates before whom he had been thus unjustly accused ; and since that time the accuser, Bennett, upon whom the guilt of perjury seems to have hung like a dead weight, has wandered about the country a destitute, de praved, and utterly reckless being. Starvation, or a troubled conscience, or the two conjoined, drove him from bad to worse, till, on Saturday last, he made an attempt at self-destructi on , b y ta ki ng a qu a ntity o f " crow-fig." lie was discovered early in the morning lying in the road leading from newton]. to Claines nearly dead, from the combined effects of the poison and ex posure to the inclemency of the night. Upon him, when searched by Sergeant Radford, was found a letter, directed to his father, Samuel Bennett, living at Fearnall Heath, and intimating that the writer would require very shortly his kind offices in " fatching him to his parach, to berry him." Under the care of Radford, the unhappy man was taken to a public-house, and Mr. Shelton, surgeon, of this city, was promptly upon the spot ; and, in a short time, the noxious drug was re moved, and his recovery is confidently anticipated. In stantly upon discovering who the would-be suicide was, Sergeant Radford dispatched a messenger to his father, requesting his attendance. He did come, but evidently disinclined to stir hand or foot to save the life of his offspring ; and despite the remonstrances of all present, positively refused him an asylum in his own house, re marking, " They ought to take him to the workhouse, or where they liked ; but he shouldna come home, if he knowed it." T. G. Curtler and J. M. Gutch, Esqs., who had gone to the spot for the purpose of ascertain ing what could be done for the miserable creature, read the old man and unnatural father a severe and de served lecture upon his conduct ; and eventually suc ceeded in procuring from him a promise that Ina son should have an asylum in his house ---at least till he had recovered—and there he was accordingly removed. Worcester Herald. The memorials in favour of Mary Gallop, con demned to death at the late assizes at Chester, for the deliberate murder of her father, have wholly failed in moving the Home Secretary to recommend a commuta• tion in her case. The execution of this - unnatural crimi nal took place on Saturday. The following extract, apparently from some Kentish paper, has been sent to Us. its " moral" is good :—" A wight, rejoicing in the name of Parkhurst, has scratched his name on the windows of several of the first-class carriages of the Greenwich Railway, and some wag has made the very mortifying addition— ' Since hung at Maidstone.' Both mune and history have, on some of the carriages, since been carefully obliterated, evidently by the hand of the original offen der ; for it is not likely that any friend, however well disposed. would volunteer such a service, and thereby run the risk of being detected by the Company's ser vants."—Railway Record. DEATH AT 108 YEARS OF AGE.--Died on Mon day last, at the patriarchal age of 108, Mr. Morris Thurston, of Guinea-street, Exeter. The deceased, up to the last seven weeks, enjoyed excellent health and spirits. He lived for upwards of sixty years in the house in which lie died, and never till lately allowed any one to go into it. lie was a herbal doctor, and as such tra velled through Devon, working marvellous cures. He followed his vocation till within the last two months, and such was his repute, that people applied to him for advice, and received his nostrums, whilst on his death bed. He was an alchymist, and an adept in astrology ; and it seemed as if these ancient delusions lingered with him alone.—Exeter Times. LLOYD'S SHIPPING. LONDON, DEC. 28. —Wind N.E., fresh breeze and hazy. DEAL, DEC. 27.—Wind S.S.E.—Arrd. Philips Van Marina, Batavia for Amsterdam ; Cowslip, Colledge, lehaboe for Leith ; Volusia, Bartlett, Honduras; Mary, Ryan, Newfoundland. Sld. Amity, Hall, Jamaica. OFF PENZANCE, DEC. 26.—Courier, Whitley, Cape of Good Hope, sailed from St. Helena Bth ult. COWES, DEC. 27.—Arrd. Apollo, Mik, Surinam for Rotterdam. OFF PORTLAND, DEC. 26.—Neptune, Madras. PLYMOUTH, DEC. 27.—Wind E.S.E.—Arrd. Douglas, Giles, Ichaboe ; Elizabeth, Main, Miramichi. FALMOUTH, DEC. 27.—Wind moderate—Arrd. Purvoyne, Masse, Gonarves for Havre ; James Caskie, Richmond. for London, short of water. Off, Wil helmina Catharine, Jaski, Batavia for Amsterdam. The Queen of the Isles, Leask from London to Monte Video, which put in here 25th inst. leaky, has been surveyed, and is discharging her cargo. LEITH, DEC. 25.—Arrd. Pomona, Templeton, Dal housie ; William Dawson, Quebec. HUMBER, DEC. 26.—Arrd. Ockbrook, Quebec. BRIDLINGTON, DEC. 27.—A large brig of about 20 keels, supposed to belong to Cowes, in ballast, is ashore on Flamborough Head. CASTLETOWN (BEAUHA.VEW), DEC. 22.—Arrd. Don, Rio Grande, for Cork ; part of cargo thrown overboard. CLYDE, DEC. 26.—Arrd. Thistle, Jenkins, Demerara ; Rolla, Folinie, Nassau ; Constellation, Brown, Ichaboe. Sid. Annisdale, Demerara ; Alfred, St. Thomas. MONTROSE, DEC. 25.—S1d. North Esk, Ichaboe. OFF PLYMOUTH, DEC. 26.—Mary Sheep, Mills, Sydney, New South Wales, Aug. 2. CORR, DEC. 25.—Arrd. Freedom, Le Gros, and Ves tula, Whale, Ichaboe ; Lightfoot, Wilson, Quebec. The Vanguard steamer is got on the bank inside Spike Island. LIVERPOOL, DEC. 27.—Wind S., moderate.—Arrd. Princess Charlotte, Bombay and Mauritius, left the latter place Oct. 18 ; Ann Armstrong, Bombay ; Highlander, Wheeler, Arica, Sept. 4 ; Fame, Duncan, and Milton, Montreal ; Sir H. Huntley, Gowly, Prince Edward's Island. Sld. Joseph Wheeler, Hobart Town, &c.; Antilla, and Courier, Calcutta; Collector, Rio Grande; Sir John Beresford, Rio Janeiro ; Coronet and R.public, New Orleans; Grace Brown, Baltimore. The Thomas H. Perkins, from New Orleans to Liverpool, is ashore on the spit of the Burbo. The barque Fanny, from St. John's, New Brunswick, to Derry, was spoken, 16th inst., lat. 55, lon. 12 ; sup plied her with water, and relieved her cf nine of the crew of the Elizabeth Bentley, from Liverpool to Savan nah, which had been abandoned at sea—by the Monarch, in the Clyde. EAST INDIA SHIPPING. Arrivals—Mary Sharp, Mills, from New South Wales, off Plymouth, sailed from Sydney Aug. 3 ; Courier, Whitley, from the Cape of Good Hope, off Penzance, sailed from Table Bay Oct. 25 ; Anne Armstrong, Gra ham, from Bombay, off Liverpool, sailed Sept. 9, Mauri tius Oct. 8 ; Neptune, Ferris, from Madras, off Port land, sailed Aug. 26, St. Helena Nov. 4 ; Constellation, Brown, from Ichaboe, in the Clyde, sailed Oct. 2 7 ; Douglas, Giles, from Ichaboe, at Plymouth, sailed from St. Helena Nov. 4 ; Asiatic, Barlow, from Bengal, in the Downs, sailed July 27, St. Helena Oct. 25; Thomas Lee, Woolf, from Bengal, in the Downs, sailed Aug. 26, St. Helena Nov. 3 ; Bidston, Harmer, from Bengal, at Liver pool, sailed July 26, Cape Oct. 20, St. Helena Oct. 31 ; Syren, Hosken, from Bengal, at Liverpool, sailed Aug. 27 ; Anjer, Bell, from Bengal, at Dunmore East, sailed July 27, St. Helena Oct. 24 ; Gemini, Mardon, from Bengal, off Mizen Head, sailed July 27. Arrivals at Mauritius—Atiet, Bohomon, Sept. 29, from Calcutta ; Derwent, from Muscat ; her Majesty's ship Conway, Oct. 2, from the Cape ; Swallow, from Calcutta ; Montefiores and Earl Grey, 3d, Elizabeth and Pleiades. sth, all from London ; Washington, sth, from Marseilles ; Augusta, Jessie, from Massowah ; Fatima, from Calcutta. _ Departures from Mauritius—City of Sydney, Sept. 28, to Nicolars ; Tynwald, Oct 1, to London. Loading for London—Avoca, Emma Eugenia, Spec tator, Graham, Vanguard, Lynher, Maria, Dublin, Essex, Stork, Trusty, Briton. Arrivals at Sydney, New South Wales—St. Vincent, Young, July 31, from London. Arrivals at St. Helena—Vindicator, Oct. 29, from Manilla, and sailed to London ; Helvellyn, 30th, from Singapore, and sailed 31st to Cork ; Earl Stanhope, 31st, from Calcutta ; Orleana, Nov. 1, from Calcutta, and sailed 2d to London ; her Majesty's steamer Pene lope, Nov. 2, from west coast of Africa to Ascension. THE CALAMITOUS FIRE IN GUILDFORD-STREET. DEATH OF MR. MAYOW, THE SOLICITOR OF EXCISE. The Holborn division of the Fire Brigade have been actively engaged in removing the ruins of Mr. Farey's late premises, No. 67, Guildford-street, during the past week. In turning over the immense pile of burning rafters, &c., a number of valuable models, con nt eted with machinery, have been recovered, besides a quantity of scientific works, which, although much damaged, are not so extensively injured as to be rendered valueless to the professors of science. Perhaps not the least prized relic that has been saved is a sliding side rule for measuring cylindrical steam-boilers, &c., presented by the renowned Mr. Watt, of Bolton, Lancashire, many years since, to Mr. Furey, senior. The workmen continued their labours up to five o'clock (Saturday), and at that time they had completed their examination of all the ruins, with the exception of those in the back parlour and back kitchen, without finding the trace of any human bones. It will be recollected that Mrs. Auste's family, residing at No. 68, Guildford-street, on the eastern side of Mr. Farey's, took refuge in the house of Mr. Mayow, No. 54, opposite, on the night of the fire, and where they have since continued to re ceive the greatest kindness and hospitality. Mr. Mayow, who has been so many years known to the public as the chief solicitor of Excise, was far advanced in years, and was on Satur day morning found dead in his bed. Mr. Mayow was much alarmed on the night of the fire, and had since been attended professionally by Dr. Latham. His loss will be severely felt in the public department of her Majesty's Excise, to which the deceased has been for so lengthened a period such an useful officer. Mr. Braidwood, the superintendent of the Fire Brigade, made a close examination of the ruins on Saturday morning, and expressed his decided opinion to be, that the fire was occasioned by a hot air flue becoming over-heated, and setting fire to the beam in the back parlour. The deaths of the unfortunate persons he attributes to the falling in of the upper stories, through the insufficiency of the building, the timber and joists, &c., having been, as he says, too light for so capacious a residence. On Christmas-day morning two young men of Banbury were walking on the banks of the Cherwell, and just at the point where the mill stream and the back brook join, below Grimsbury mill, and where there is a very deep hole, they saw a boy's cap floating on the water where the ice was broken. They gave an imme diate alarm, and after a search the bodies of two lads were found quite dead. On inquiry, they proved to be those of Jacob and George Eaglestone, of Wardlington, sons of a tailor of that place, and about 13 and 15 years of age. They had been, in company with ano ther boy named Green, also of Wardlington, to see a brother who is living with Mr. Naseby, of Banbury, and were returning, having with them a bundle containing linen and a bottle of brandy. A little boy saw them get upon the ice from the foot bridge, near to Grimsbury mill, and go sliding down the river ; he was about to get on with them, but they drove him back. The bodies were carried to the boat public-house at Grimsbury Wharf. When it was ascertained that there had been three boys seen together, drags were procured and were in use until dark last night, but without finding the body of the other missing boy. The bundle was found in a, thicket near the foot-bridge. A boat has been got upon the spot, and this morning, about half past nine, the body of the third boy was found. At the first alarm, Mr. Robert Field rode off to Banbury, for surgical assistance, but that was unfortunately useless.— Banbury Guardian. EYE, DEC. 26.—A young man of irreproachable character, and occupying a small allotment of land, find ing it much infested with rats and annoyed by persons stealing the cabbage and other vegetables, has been set ting traps to get rid of some of the former depredators, and on visiting his allotment one morning found a hare caught in one of the traps, on removing which he was seized by two persons who had concealed themselves, and was taken to Brome Hall, before E. C. Kerrison, Esq., who having heard the charge, dismi ,sed the case. It is a singular circumstance that the persons who are nightly watching rat traps on the allotments, do not occasionally Idiscover those who steal the cabbages and other vegeta bles. Rumour says, a watchman is paid one pound for every conviction under the game-laws.— Su f folk Chronicle. PAPER OR GOLD FOR A CUR RENCY? The advocates of the present monetary system as sert that gold is the standard of value, and that dur ing the French war the paper currency of that period was depreciated, because .a gqinea was worth in the market as bullion five shillings more than its nominal value, and therefore concluded that one-pound bank notes were depreciated in the ratio of that difference. The difference arose from its worth as bullion at the market price arising from a deficient supply, and a jeweller of my acquaintance melted several hundreds of guineas in one week to supply his manufactory. Sovereigns now are the legal currency instead of the one-pound notes of the Bank of England. Is a sovereign depreciated in value as paper would be considered, when wheat or any other commodity rises in value from a deficient supply ? If a sovereign purchases three bushels of wheat this week, and next week its cost is 24s.—is the sovereign depreciated 20 per cent. ? If gold bullion rose in the market at the same time 20 per cent., the sovereigns would be con 'verted into bullion, as the guineas were during the French war ; but in that case, to pass them as sove reigns, would you say they were depreciated 2 0 per cent. Depreciation in bank notes: can only refer generally in the purchase of all marketable commo litie4, like assignats in France, and vales reales in Spain ; and this delusion of depreciation of bank notes, compared with the variable price of bullion, was the blind guide in passing the mischievous Restriction Act in 1819, and the present despotic system. The following extracts from past experience places the question in a clear light; yet the writer of it concluded that bank notes were depreciated by the rise of the price of gold above the Mint price ; whether correctly, will be seen.* "At the end of 1813, the amount of Bank of England notes in circulation was 23,844,0501., the price of gold was Si. 10s. per ounce, and the depreciation of bank paper 291. 4s. ld. per cent. At the end of 1814, the bank issues were in creased to 28,232,7301., and the price of gold had fallen to 4/. 6s. 6d. per ounce ; so that the notes were depreciated only to the extent of 91. 19s. sd. per cent. This statement, drawn from documents furnished by the Bank Directors to Parliament, makes it even doubtful whether any contraction whatever of their issues was necessary, in order to restore Bank of England notes to their par value. The rise in value which they actually experienced, amounting to 191. 4s. Bd. per cent., or nearly two thirds of their depreciation, was occasioned in the face of an increased issue of more than 18 per cent., by the great quantity of gold poured into the country at the re-opening of our commerce." And to this is added—" The Bank Restriction Act was for some time so little needed for the security of that corpora tion, that its notes, during the first three years of the system, were fully on a par with gold, and sometimes even bore a small premium." If this does not prove that gold, like all other commodities, rises and falls in value according to the supply and demand in the market, and not by the amount in the issue of Bank of England notes, I know no evidence that will show it. The writer's mind must have been darkened by previous hasty but fashionable conclusions, which banished the evidence of facts, and dispassionate examination, when he wrote—" This statement, drawn from documents furnished by the Bank Directors to Parliament, makes it even doubtful whether any contraction whatever of their issues was necessary, in order to restore Bank of England notes to their par value." The facts before him were, the increase of the issue of Bank of England notes, amounting to 5,388,6801., did not raise the price of gold, but it fell from Si. 103. per ounce to 4/. 6s. 6d., simply from the greater supply in the market, which reduced its value, like all other marketable commodities. In the report delivered by the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed, in the year 1810, to inquire into the causes of the high price of bul lion, and its effects on the circulating medium, the Governor and Deputy-Governor of the Bank of Eng land, and others, " Men who, from their station and commercial standing, must have had considerable experience in regard to the working of financial ope rations, both concurred on that occasion in the opinion that the amount of notes issued by the Bank could not in any way operate upon the price of bullion or the state of foreign exchanges, and stated to the Com mittee that there can be no possible excess of the issue of Bank of England paper, so long as the advances in which it is issued are made upon the principle which at present guides the conduct of the Directors; that is-so long as the discount of mercantile bills is con fined to paper of undoubted solidity, arising out of real commercial transactions, and payable at short and fixed periods." The price of bullion, and the amount of notes issued by the Bank of England, compared with the price of wheat at several periods, proves the correctness of those opinions as practical men of business-namely, that bullion did not rise with the increase of issue of bank notes, but from the demand of bullion in the market to purchase wheat abroad in years of scarcity, when it could not be paid for in manufactured goods, in consequence of the continental ports being closed against their introduction. The document herewith appended shows that the amount of bank notes issued August, 1792, was 11,006,969/. ; the market price of bullion was 3/. 17s. 6d. per ounce, and the average price of wheat was 395. 2d. per quarter. In 1797, the price of bullion was 3/. 17s. 100. per ounce, the amout of bank notes in circulation was 10,568,216/, and the average price of wheat 495. Bd.; so that bullion then rose in price when the issue of bank notes was less than in 1792, yet wheat was higher in price 10s. 6d. per quarter. In 1799, the issue of bank notes was increased to 13,259,8731.; bullion was 3/. 17s. 9d. per ounce, being lower than in 1797, when the issue of bank notes was 10,568,216/. ; but the average price of wheat was 645. 4d. The next years, 1800 and 1801, wheat averaged 1345. sd. and 1295. Bd. per quarter, bullion rose to 4/. ss. and 4/. 65. per ounce, the amount of bank notes issued was 14,735,378/. and 14,970,3211.; yet the two following years, 1802 and 1803, bullion fell in price to 41. 3s. 6d. and 4/. per ounce, but the issue of Bank of England notes was: increased to 16,887,113/. and 17,035,959/. and the price of wheat was 675. sd. per quarter. In 1307 the issue of bank notes was increased to 20,034,112/., yet the price of bullion, 4/. per ounce, was the same as in 1803 ; but the average price of wheat per quarter was 89s. In 1809, the issue of bank notes was reduced to 19,357,241/., yet the bullion rose in price to 41. 1 ls. per ounce, and wheat was 88s. ld. per quarter. In 1810, the issue of bank notes was increased to 24,446,175/., bullion fell in price to 41. ss. per ounce, but wheat averaged 113 s. 4d. per quarter. In 1812,, the issue of bank notes was 23,482,910/., wheat ave raged 140 s. 91. per quarter, and bullion rose to Si. ss_ per ounce. In 1813, the average price of wheat was 116 s. 3d. per quarter, the issue of bank notes was 24,024,869/., and bullion rose in price to Si. 10s per ounce ! In 1814, the price of bullion fell to 4/. 11 s. per ounce, wheat averaged 675. 9d. per quarter, yet the issue of bank notes was increased to 28,979,876/. In 1817, the issue of bank notes was 30,099,908/., bul lion fell to 4/. Os. 6d. per ounce, and wheat averaged 945. per quarter. If bullion were governed in price by the amount of hank notes in circula tion, it would have sold at the highest price in this year, yet it was lower by four shillings and sixpence an ounce than in 1800, when the issue of bank notes was 14,735,3781., that is, less than half the amount ! This evidence clearly shows that the opinions of the Governor and Deputy-Governor of the Bank of Eng land in 1810, with other gentlemen of high station :and commercial standing, were correct in regard to the working of financial operations, namely, that there can be no possible excess of the issue of Bank of Eng land paper, and, I will add, the notes of other bank ers, if adequate security be given for the payment of such notes, " so brig as the discount for mercantile bills is confined to paper of undoubted solidity, arising out of real commercial transactions, and payable at short and fixed periods." The steady working of a paper currency in Scot land, and the occasional derangement of commerce in this part of the kingdom, partly the mischievous effects of deviating from it, ought to be the future guide, if lessons of experience and the stability of truth be more respected than the delusions of fashion able fancies to legislate. There has not been a case of depreciation of the currency in one-pound notes issued by the Banks of Scotland and Ireland before or since the passing of the Bank Restriction Act of 1819 ; but the so-called " invariable standard" c tar rency was depreciated from two to three per cent. last year, and in many cases must be so now, and will be, whenever the scales are used to ascertain their variable value, arising from the temptations of trade to " sweat the sovereigns," their loss by wear, and the variation in the price of bullion. In a prosperous community, generally, there must ever be a great consumption of gold in manufactured articles, and a small consumption in a community of po verty and distress ; in the former case, fluctuations prices must attend the demand for luxuries arising front general opulence ; but in the latter case it will bct nearly stationary, in consequence of food and clothing only being sought to support life and provide com forts-the comparative baubles of superfluous wants are then disregarded, and the small variation in the, price of gold during the past iron ages of ignorance: and poverty of the many prove it. But whenever gold bullion shall rise a few per centages above the usual price, and shall continue so from causes over which human efforts have no control, the pre sent system of currency will cease. Experience will then show that a paper currency can be safely and. most beneficially carried on for the general wel fare, under guarantees of local property, i n every district, arising from confidence in tE .e known security given. No panics can then ensue, and the interest of bankers will induce them to supp) y each neighbourhood with the necessary paper cu r- * See " Banking."—Penny Cyclopadia. rency the general welfare requires ' • but so long as commerce is affected by a currency dependent on the uncertain supply of bullion, and chiefly confined to the profit of one establishment, a feverish instability must be occasionally looked for. These observations vindicate the opinions given by gentlemen of the first rank of commercial and finan cial knowledge in the City of London in the year 1810 ; and also make manifest the sound advice the late Sir Robert Peel gave to his son previous to the passing of the Bank Restriction Act in 1819, namely, to leave the currency as he found it ; but to compel all bankers to give security for the amount of notes they issue. The present Hon. Baronet probably re jected this advice from coltbge impressions—that money consists only in gold and silver coins. The truth, however, is, all commodities are money at the market price, and gold and silver coins and one-pound or other notes on demand are the instruments used to exchange them. This error has misled many talented minds. hence one-pound or larger notes are parts of the guaranteed money property possessed by the issuer of them in land, houses, gold, silver, tin, iron, and all his other effects, and exchangeable for silver and gold coins, bullion, &c., which society requires as the instruments of exchange. Hence a one-pound note purchases the same market able commodities that a sovereign of full weight can purchase, during the existence of sovereigns as a cur rency—namely, until the price of bullion rises above the Mint price so as to yield a profit to the trader to convert them into bullion. But whenever bullion falls below the Mint price, the one-pound note will pur chase more bullion than the sovereign, and in the ratio of that depression. Hence a paper currency is invariable in its nominal value ; but a sovereign is variable in its nominal value according to the demand and supply of bullion in the market; the loss by wear, and by " sweating them," as practised by the low trader, and already noticed. having now concluded the question of currency as it appears to me, I shall feel obliged by any gentle man concisely pointing out an error, addressed to the editor of the Worcester Herald. All we need is the guidance of truth for security and repose; and how ever unwelcome it may be to those who are plumed with the pride and conceit of self-sufficiency, its majestic, unchangeable course, will inevitably sweep away the vanity and delusions which obscure it. R. Bank of I Years. England Notes Market Price of. Average Price in Circulation Gold in August, of Wheat, in August. per ounce. per Quarter. £ £ s. d. s. d. 1792 11,006,969 3 17 6 39 2 1793 10,838,214 , 3 17 6 51 3 1794 10,628,220 3 17 6 51 8 1795 11,458,382 3 17 6 77 2 1796 9,531,335 I 3 17 6 81 5 1797 10,568,216 3 17 101 49 8 1798 12,191,025 3 17 10k 50 4 1799 13,259,873 3 17 9 64 4 1800 14,735,378 4 5 0 134 5 1801 14,970,321 4 6 0 129 8 1802 16,887,113 4 3 6 67 5 1803 17,035,959 4 0 0 60 4 1804 17,323,994 4 0 0 52 1 1805 16,296,118 4 0 0 89 0 1806 19,072,893 4 0 0 81 10 1807 20,034,112 4 0 0 73 5 1808 17,365,266 4 0 0 81 1 1809 19,357,241 4 11 0 88 1 1810 24,446,175 4 5 0 113 4 1811 23,793,115 4 17 6 86 11 1812 23,482,910 5 5 0 140 9 1813 24,024,869 5 10 0 116 3 1814 28,979,876 4 11 0 67 9 1815 27,024,049 4 10 0 63 8 1816 27,075,854 3 19 0 76 2 1817 30,099,908 4 0 6 94 0 1818 26,602,837 4 1 6 83 8 1819 25,335,430 3 18 0 72 3 1820 24,453,380 3 17 10 65 10 1821 20,327,740 3 17 10 1 54 5 1822 17,464,780 3 17 6 43 3 1823 19,231,230 3 17 6 51 9 1824 20,293,320 3 17 6 62 0 1825 19,290,560 3 17 101 66 6 1826 21,358,010 3 17 6 56 11 1827 22,007,060 3 17 6 56 9 1828 21,357,490 3 17 6 60 5 1829 19,523,410 3 17 9 66 3 1830 21,082,310 3 17 10i- 64 3 1831 18,465,310 3 17 10 , 1 66 0 1832 17,689,500 3 17 9 58 8 1833 18,483,250 3 17 101 52 11 STATE OF TRADE. FOREIGN WOOL TRAD,E, LEEDS, DEC. Tr.—Owing to the majority of merchants and manufacturers being now engaged in taking stock, transactions in Foreign. Wools during the past week have been only incon siderable in amount, but the prices realised exhibit somewhat of a rising tendency, especially these sorts of which the market has recently become very bare. ENGLISH WOOL MARKET, LEEDS, DEC. 27.—The manufacturers. of both combing and clothing wools purchase more :freely than a few weeks ago, and prices have an upward tendency. W.AKEFIELx• Woor. MARKET, DEC. 27.—We have again to report extensive operations, and a little further improvement in the value of deep combing warp wools, with more firmness in wool of all other descriptions, both long and short. LEEDS. — T he transactions at our cloth halls this week have be en to a greater extent in balk goods than in any week dluring the last six or seven. Prices continue steady, but the manufacturers complain heavily of the rate of profit. As usual, so near the close of the year, there is little doing in finished goods. The foreign houses are doing little, and few buyers are now visiting the market; and business, therefore, is dull in the warehouses. BRADFORD MARKET, THURSDAY.—•The closing market with the year, which formerly was not kept, has been fully as animated as for some time past, and a general feeling prevailing that the worst is past, and that piece goods have seen their lowest point, gives a tone of firmness, and will probably induce the manu facturers to change their recent policy, which is now keenly felt by the operatives. The advanced price of wool has made the spinners worse off, and they are seeking improved prices for yarns, which on the opening of the year it is generally expected will be given, as the contracts for January will not be made at December prices. There has throughout the week been a toles sbly active demand for both combing and clothing wools, and on all kinds an advance has been fully establi shed. MANCHESTER, THURSDAY EVENING.—We have a decidedly better feeling in our cloth market this week, though the week preceding the new year is invari ably a duller time than any other. Shirtings for the Chinese market are in great demand, and the turn dearer ; other goods are quite firm, and even buoyant. Yarns continue much the same in demand, and prices though, if anything, rather better to sell.—Leeds Mercury. THE RECENT FEVER IN LIVERPOOL.—Now tha, this alarming disease, which raged so extensively in this own in the month of November, has passed away, it may be interesting to state a few facts connected with its origin and progress. Comparatively few cases oc curred in the months of September and October, though the whole number of cases of fever was a little above the averav, but not to such an extent as to excite suspicion. It was in the early part of November that the disease became so prevalent, a very large portion of the cases having commenced between the 7th and 12th. There were some pecu liarities in. the general character of the epidemic, but they would not be interesting, and scarcely intelli gible to the general reader. It may be stated that it possessed all the essential characteristic features of the ordinary low typhoid fever of the country. There were a considerable number of deaths, but still the rate of mortality was not great. The disease was, in a remark able degree, most prevalent in, if not actually confined to one part of the town—that situated to the north of Lord-street, Church-street, and Mount-pleasant. To the south of this line there were very few cases—not more than one in ten or fifteen. Evertoa and Edge-hill were its two favourite abodes, in which it was most extraordinarily prevalent. Another great and inexplicable peculiarity of the disease, was that it prevailed chiefly amongst the more affluent classes; it entered the mansion but passed by the cot tage. It was in those families that have all the means and appliances of health at their command that it chiefly, though, of course, not exclusively, prevailed. To account for this is impossible ; and although there is 110 doubt that the causes of disease are regulated by general laws, this may serve to show us that circumstances are still occurring in the history of disease which set all our philosophy at defiance.—Liverpool Times. CONFESSION OF WM. KENDREW, THE MURDERER. —Wm. Kendrew, the murderer of Mr. Wm. Inchbald, of Low Dunsforth, near Boroughbridge, on Thursday last made a verbal confession to Mr. Sutton, of which the following is the purport :—IIe stated that a fortnight before the murder Mr. Inchbald had threatened to have him transported for poaching before the expiration of three months, in consequence of which he (Kendrew), on the 28th of September, laid in wait for Mr. Inchbald, and having arrived at the place described at the trial, he fired and hit him in the back. Mr. Inchbald then turned round, when Kendrew discharged the second barrel, and wounded him in the left arm. Not being satisfied with this, he went up to the unfortunate man whilst he was lying on the ground, and struck him on the head with the butt end of the gun. Mr. Inchbald then, although so se r iously wounded, got up and followed Kendrew, who immediately went into the fields and saw no more of the deceased. The culprit asserted that he had no intention of robbing Mr. Inchbald, but that he had com mitted the deed entirely out of revenge for the threat which had been used towards him. At the time Ken drew made this confession, he acknowledged the just ness of his sentence, and appeared very penitent. He was executed on Saturday. PROBABLE ELECTION AT BRADFORD.—It i 9 inti mated by our Bradford Contemporary that Mr. Hardy is likely to resign his seat, owing to his late serious attack of illness, and that his sou, Mr. Gathorn Hardy, will probably be a candidate for the vacant seat. Should a resignation take place, we hope the constituency of Bradford will return a good free trader. If the Liberals should be united, we believe they may do this.—Leeds Mercury. ABUSED PORTUGAL. TO THE _EDITOR OF THE SUN. SlR,—Although an Englishman, conceding to no one a greater love of his country than I am proud to cherish, I have resided oue half of my life in Portu- gal, from whence I hav e bet lately returned ; and I have been much surpred to observe how much of fallacy and misrepresentation, in respect of the affairs of Portugal, finds its way into the newspapers, which I ascribe to the proneness of correspondents to disre gard the golden rule of " the Duke," which enjoins that no one meddle with subjects that he doss not understand. Considering that long experience of the commerce of Portugal may exempt me from the danger of any undue meddling, I venture to address you on the sub ject of that trade, in respect of which, above all other trades, it appears to me that the British public has been most grossly abused; and lam induced so to address you by the strange assertions of the City Article of The Sun of Tuesday last. That article complains that the Queen of Portugal, in the recent speech closing the Fortes at Lisbon, said not one word on the subject of any alteration in the tariff duties, as affectiug: British manufactures ; and further pretends that " Great Britain has made con cessions in favour of the wines and other produce of Portugal, whose Government seems doggedly disposed to make no return." As to concessions in favour of the wines of Portu gal, the only one ever made was in the year 1703, when in return for the admission to consumption in Portugal of British wc.ollens, the wines of Portugal were favoured by a reduction of one third from the rate of duty paid on the wines of France. But no further cohcQssion was made in favour of Portugal wines by the tr e aty of 1810, which opened the vast market of Brt.z:l to British commerce at a time that the " Continental system" gave a tenfold • value to any new market for our manufactures, which were admitted then, for the first time, into Brazil at the low duty of 13 per cent. ad valorem, while 30 per cent. was levied on the manufactures of all other countries. By that treaty Great Britain enjoyed for a con siderable number of years a monopoly of the Portugal and Brazilian markets, which she knew not how to appreciate, but became enamoured of a restless theory, professing, and only professing, the principles of free trade, which her practice broadly contradicts, from a want of courage to follow out those great principles. In 1831 the partial advantage formerly conceded to Portugal wines was wholly rescinded, when those of France were allowed to enter at nominally the same rate of duty ; but this apparent equalisation of the duty has the effect of a most onerous differential duty on the wines of Portugal. The pre: it impost of ss. 9d. per gallon is only 45 per cent. on the value of the wines :of France, the consumption of which is confined to the rich and the luxurious ; while it amounts to 150 per cent. on the value of Portugal wines, which are chiefly consumed by the industrious middling classes, who appreciate the invigorating quality of the generous wines of Oporto, which in spite of all the caprice of fashion, and the suggestions of prejudice, are still acknow ledged to be the best tonic and restorative for the sick. Thus it will be seen that Portugal wines, so far from enjoying any favour, are actually charged with inure than treble the amount of duty paid on the wines of France, on a comparison of their respective market value ! Notwithstanding this crying injus tice, Portugal still admits at feasible rates of duty not only the produce of the British fisheries, of which she imports 12,000 tons annually from Newfoundland, but almost every article, from the rudest to the most finished of our manufactures ; while France, on the contrary, almost confines her importations to the very first conversions of our industry, such as linen, yarns, cotton-twist, pig-iron, cake-copper, and coals, so indispensable to her own manufactures, and klarge amount of our invaluable machinery. The great increase of our exporis to France, con sisting chiefly of such articles as I have enumerated, so far from being a subject of gratulation, only proves her gigantic progress in the march of competition, which in competition with the Zollverein threatens to exclude us from the markets of Europe ; while the growing industry of the United States is already un tiermining our commerce in the Pacific and Eastern Oceans. After this statement, the accuracy of which I am prepared to demonstrate, I would ask, where is the justice or the policy of these unceasing attempts to excite in the public mind a prejudice against Por tugal, whose trade with us is pining for want of those reciprocal modifications of tariffs which were stipulated for by the treaty of 1842 ? Do the markets of Portugal become less important to us, in proportion as hostile competition is extending itself on every hand ; or, will her harbours be less valuable to our naval interests and security, when prostrate Spain shall have closed her ports, zoid the Mediterranean be converted into a French lake ? I would desire to meddle with nothing beyond my province, and to confine myself to the mere question of trade ; but the correspondent of The Sun has made a sickly appeal to the " sympathy due to an Old Ally, who at a vast expense of I)lood'and treasure defended the interests of Portugal." I shall only reply to such puling remarks by re ferring to the Treaty of Alliance, offensive and defen sive, which still subsists between England and Por tugal ; and without ascribing the magnitude of our efforts in Portugal to the obligations of that treaty, I would ask, whether any other theatre could have been found, more favourable than the Peninsula, whereon to enact at a distance from our own shores, the horrors of war, in defence of British interests, against the overwhelming influence of Napoleon ? would presume to ask " the Duke," whose love of manly truth is ao well known, and who can best answer whether our allies of Portugal then proved faithless ; or, whether the generous bands that tra versed her mountains to co-operate in the rescue of the Peninsula failed to contribute to his triumphs on the plains of Salamanca and Vittoria ? Let him say, who so long suffering under every privation as the Portuguese soldier ; who so docile under foreign command, and so enduring under the rigour of an unwonted discipline, which might have been considered the more intolerable as being foreign ; who braver than they whose generous emulation so largely contributed to that devotion and efficiency of the allied army, which enabled the Duke to say " he could go anywhere and do anything with such an army," with which at length he dissipated the op pressors of the Peninsula! Finally, I would presume to ask his Grace calmly to reconsider the claims of Portugal to a more equitable regulation of her commerce with England, and to inspire his colleagues with the desire to do justice to such claims, with more of generosity rather than of neglect, in proportion as the claimant is thought to be weak and powerless. The Government of Portugal has made every effort to meet the claims of her foreign creditors, while her domestic creditors, the unhappy holders of the Go vernment paper-money, which formerly constituted one-half of the circulation of Portugal, receive neither principal nor interest upon an enormous amount of that paper-money, which was withdrawn from circu lation in 11133, upon a promise of redemption which has never been fulfilled. It requires only better information, and a more dispassionate consideration of the conduct and affairs of Portugal, to ,arrive at a conviction of her good faith towards England, as evinced by the preceding statement, which should he viewed in contrast with the conduct of the repudiating States, before we exact from suffering and abused Portugal the full penalty of our bond. MERCATOR. London, Dec. 26, 1844. QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE. IMPORTANT DECISION RELATING TO THE ROYAL RESIDENCE AT WINDSOR. WINDSOR, FRIDAY EVENING.—For a period of up wards of four hundred 3 ears, persons residing within the precincts of Windsor Castle have not only been consi dered to be privileged from arrest • for debt, but their goods and chattels have also been considered quite as secure as their persons from civil process. From a knowledge of this fact. many "gentlemea in difficulties," and ladies too, are constantly in the habit of taking houses or securing lodgings within the privileged circle. A short time since, however, a gentleman who resided in the Regent's Park took up his abode at one of the military knight's houses, and about a fortnight ago he was visited by one of the officers of the Sheriff of Berks, and arrested (notwithstanding the privilege he claimed as a resident within the Royal precincts) for a judgment debt amounting to between 3,0001. and 4,0001. The officer immediately conveyed his prisoner to the county gaol at Reading. This wEs considered to be an ex ceedingly bold step on the part of the officer, and in the very teeth, too, of a rule which had been observed in similar cases for ceeturies before. We understand, however, that the sheriff was indemnified from all consequences might result from it. The defendant, immediately tei.er his arrest, acting upon the advice of his :,olicitor, took out a summons calling upon the plaintiff and the sheriff to show cause, before one of the Barons of the Exchequer, in which Court the proceedings were taken, why he should not, be discharged out of custody, upon the ground of the arrest having been the defendant having been captured within the (privileged) precincts of a royal pa lace. The case was tit and by Mr. Baron Rolfe, in cham bers, on Friday, the 20th inst., Mr. Carrington and Mr. J. J. Williams appearing as counsel for the defendant, in support of the summons, and Mr. Taprel as counsel for the plaintiff. The sheriff (appeared by his attorney. An immense number of authorities were cited by coun sel on both sides, in support of the cases of their respec tive clients. The arguments lasted nearly the whole day. At their conclusion, the Learned Baron desired to have handed to him the authorities referred to and affidavits sworn on both sides, and also the summons, stating that he should deliver his judgment on the following Monday. On Monday last the whole of the parties attended at Mr. Baron Rolle's chambers, when the Learned Baron stated thnt he had examined all the authorities which had been referred to by the Learned Counsel for the plaintiff and defendant, and also the affidavits which have been put in, and that his decision was that the sum mons be discharged.