The Sun. — London, England, 1844-01-02 00:00:00

CO MNI E ,ATION S. CASE OF THE RELATIONS OF OUR GOVERN MENT WITH THAT OF HOLLAND, BRITISH INDIA, AND THE ARCHIPELAGO. In our City article of Wednesday last, we published the following statement : The private commercial accounts received yesterday front Indi a an d China are upon the whole considered very satisf actory. It is most certainly true that the sales of British manufactures in the Chinese ports had been , much less than was expected, and in 'too many instances at prices below those marked in the invoice. Still there it was not any head-over heels work —no appart at esire to speculate too largely, or indeed to any extent all worth notice." And under the head " Market Intelligence" on the Eame day, it will be seen that in the most important commoditi es of necessity or luxury, the products of Java, Sumatra, and various islands of the Indian Ocean, Me seat of the Duteh Commercial establishments in Asia, such as sugars, coffee, peppers (black especially), spices, rice, &c., there was a much increasing demand here, at advanced prices. To many of our readers it may seem unaccountable 'how the sugars, the coffees, and rice of Java and Sumatra—the cotton of Timor— the Pepper ofßorneo, and the spices of G ibolo and Ceram, —should be able not only to find their market against the redundant supply of .these commodities which our enormous territorial possessions on the main and in the seas of Southern Asia, and especially the peninsula' of I n di a, at all times 'command, but shoUld compete with British Indian and Asiatic pro ducts to absolute advantage. It must appear equally surprising that the ratification of the very fair tariff, and the advantageous treaty with China, by which it has been promulgated, should, although immediately followed u traders pby th e open i ng to British commerce and of four or five additional ports of China, situ ated in Commanding positions on the extensive coasts of, that mighty empire, have failed to create any thing like a corresponding degree of activity in export s oflnanufactures of hardware from hence, our or dithe " country trade," as it is called, which carries rect between British India: and. China cargoes composed of the natural • :products, raw and u t ianufact ured materials ,of . both _States. In he present c ondition o f JQur. general. trade, and the very natur a l anxiety which . prevails among all classes Of our People - 5i remove all' unne cessary. restraints and restrictions, to abolish .monopo hex, to multiply the dem - ands' of .foreig-n customers, and t° facilitate these the suppl y . of. thern - S meats state would present themselves to us as matters of them very Paramount importance. But when we ,couple with the strangely unimproved, though match less, advantages -of local, moral, and political influence, connexions, establishments, and..capital - that we pos sess both in China and throughout the wide range of our Indian domination, the case assumes an aspect of graver concernment than- that. even which its com mercial bearings communicate to it. We largely discussed, in a former number of The Sun, the in sidious and aggressive poli, pnacious pd by the D utch authorities i cy n India erti to the ser ly ious ursue and increasing detriment of our commerce, and the injury of our honour and authority, in that portion of Asia; and even more strangely permitted, acquiesced in, and, formally recogni by the Anglo-In our Go ve rnment, sed both here and abroad dian policy of . It is known that, independently of the disgraceful treaty concluded by our Ministers at Ghent, with the United States of Holland, in 1814—a subsequent treaty with th e same P ower was execute d b y us in 1824 , which we shall never cease to denounce as a still more scandalous surrender of British rights and 411.4 Possessions, territ or i a l an d o th er , negot i ated by those who represented the British Crown, as a still more portentous and shameful ignorance of the in terests which they then sacrificed. The only defence ever attempted for our continued toleration—first, of the diplomatic blundering of our profound negotia tors; and, secondly, of the admitted evasion and frau dulent violation by the N e th er l an d s G overnment of even the one-sided stipulations in their own favour, Win they duped us into making—is, that the treaty hiving b e b e en fully consult-united, and established in continuoCooperation, it would be at once difficult and impolitic press the Dutch to consent to re-open and modify it. We shall now. lay before our readers a more connected view of the effect or the treaty as it stands, than some' of them may possibly be in posses sion of. But we shall address- ourselves,. previously, to the obj ection taken, in "- I rev .on. The famous transatlantic . rniasion, of Lord Asu 11131tTON last year was attended 'with one res u lt, a t least, not t o b e i mpugned by...even. the fiercest oppo • t ents of th e B oundary. Treaty. It at once supplied a precedent for the re-opening of negotiated questions, } ", n11 "-Iggeq s the particular instance i n w hi c h it may "Pedient for our_ Government now to act upon IVO should be the last people in the world to advocate, as a general principle, the right or policy of resuscitating political questions, after their adju dication under the stipulations .of solemn treaties be tvree n independent Powers. No doctrine could be fraught with 'consequences more dangerous to the p e ace and good faith o f .nat i ons, t h an to eay that they shoul d be at liberty to " review," on every pretext of r•-cnisnercial injury or political inconvenience, the en gage c e ments they h ave reciprocally entered into. But Where one of the contracting parties can clearly show t hat he entered into such engagements on data wh ich, though announced by the other, and ac t4oted by himself, for facts, have been dis proved and destroyed by later • inquiries; or 11Pon information which, though equally acted ° , ll . by both parties as authentic, has since been discovered to be erroneous ; a plausible ground, as suredly, is laid for the abro •of any treaty; thus y abrogation s ? h ins tructed, and f or the substitution Of ao s .tter. Wheth er or not the Government of the United: ates were plea iin a con di tion honestly to press such a n the late n egotiations at Washington, is a quos lion we hav e no intenti t ient for on now to di scuss . I t is t,uffi our purpos e to show, that, in another in stil. n another ce of a treaty negoti a t e d • e i g h teen years since, i w h ith P ower, our G overnment h as a case for e complete review and reconstruction of the instru yient to which it was a subsidiary party, infinitely. 1 4?nge r i n the essential elements of the stated re -1 ises, and th e equity arising upon them, than any on th which the Unit e d States hve , and reed suc- ' eess fully, as t o t h e re-op eniangre of lied the treaties li of 1783 and 1814. Th at th e nat i onal wrong originally inflicted upon srre. t B • Main by th e treaty with Holland of :824, It.o which we are now referring, should have been tole ated at the period of its original infliction by a Tory Nernment, of which the present Premier was a dig ti n guished member, is a circumstance we may de- Pier e• But any merely p ersona l considerations htnat are associated with th a t cont i ngency cannot av e any weight w i t h us, in estimating th e Probable amount of inj ury produced to our cha _acter and our commerce by such national wrong, That g hat su ccessive Governments, both Whi and Con servative, s h ould have acquiesced during so many years, and dow n t o the present time, ofmerely in the original injury, but in the many superaildelencroach- Merits and insults which have constantly flowed from . is a result which furnishes the strOngest reason for notic e nrirrin- g the matter, without furth er d e l ay, under the t hat of the public. Finally, it may b e prem i sed eo at the organic c h anges which Isere effect e d i n t h e nstitution of the East India Company, under the clicyfernment of Earl GRET, had, though an acci ,:!lt.al, yet, a powerful operation in aggravating the tri nental consequences 'ensuing to our trade from titelve same treaty. Now the grievances against which runpcirotest--and the removal of which we shall de in the name of the foreign commerce of Great Oln, may be shortly -thus stated : F irst--I1 t • Y his treaty (concluded between the Ple • Potentiaries of Great Britain and Holland, in -45Z,:),n(1°,11, on the' 17th of March, 18 . 24), a sort of bar enhl.or an exchange of territory lying in the Indian N i p i P el tigo ; Was dignified 1,6;1i all the forms that d give a character of honour and good faith to a genuine co acti on tnPact between nations. It was a trans ' h owever, as hollow avid unprincipled "on the a P n art," a n d 4s as absurd and reck!Qss on the o th er , .f(t y that has yet f urn i shed the Uses of Stat e h (le rd• lt itch reputationas . equally creditable to the old for unscrupulous - cunning in *ling, Biou the , '"gi diplomatic reputation for (7,gre rabic t Inplieity in being dealt with. By this memo., t,,, re atyl Great Britain ceded all the English set k' . "ents on areti 1 the coast of Sumatra, from and after 825, Il ea to Ho lland —Holland ceding to her, in tit ereof the Dutch establishments on the continent in and the cit of y M alacca, on the Malayan • THE Strx t _LONDON 2 TUESDAY El JANUARY 2, 1844. ONTINUED.) CANADIAN POLITICS. The following is Mr. Lafontaine's note to Sir Charles Metcalfe, relative to the resignation of the late Cabinet: " Mr. Lafontaine, in compliance with the request of the Governor-General, and in_behalf of himself and his late colleagues, who have felt it to be their duty to tender their resignation of office, states, for his Excellency's information, the substance of the information which they propose to offer in their places in Parliament. " They have avowedly taken office upon the principle of - responsibility to the representatives of the people in Parliament, and with a full recognition on their parts of the following resolutions introduced into the Legisla tive Assembly, with the knowledge and sanction of her se Ma p i t e e s mb ty' e s r, B r l ep 4 re l s : e — ntative in the province, on the 3d of " ' That the head of the Executive Government of the province, being within the limits of his government, the representative of the Sovereign is responsible to the Imperial authority alone, but that nevertheless the ma nagement of our local affairs can only be conducted by him by and with the assistance, counsel, and intbrina tion of subordinate officers in the province; and that, in order to preserve between the different branches of the provincial Parliament that harmony which is essential to the peace, welfare, and good governthent of the province, the chief advisers of the representative of the Sovereign, constituting a provincial administration under him, ought to be men possessed of the confidence of the re presentatives of the people; thus affording a guarantee , that the well understood wishes and interests of the peo ple, which our gracious Sovereign has declared shall be the rule cf the provincial Government, will on all occa sions be faithfully represented and advocated.' " They have lately understood that his Excellency took a widely different view of the position, duties, and responsibilities of the Executive Council from that under which they accepted office, and through which they have been enabled to conduct the Parliamentary business of the Government, sustained by a large majority of the popular branch of the Legislature. "Had the difference of opinion between his Excel lency and themselves, and, as they have reason to be lieve, between his Excellency and the Parliament and the people of Canada generally, been merely theoretical, the members of the late Executive Council might and would have felt it to be their duty to avoid every possi bility of collision which might have a tendency to dis turb the tranquil and amicable relations which apparently subsisted between the Executive Government and the provincial Parliaments ; but that difference of opinion has led not merely to appointments to office against their advice, but to appointments and proposals to make ap pointments, of which they were not informed in any manner until all opportunity of offering advice respect. ing them had passed by, and to a determination on the part of his Excellency to reserve for the expression of her Majesty's pleasure thereon, a Bill introduced into the provincial Parliameitt, with his Excellency's know ledge and consent, as a Government measure, w ithout an opportunity being given to the members of the Exe cutive Council to state the probability of such a reserva tion. They, therefore, felt themselves in the anomalous position of being, according to their own avowals and solemn public pledges, responsible for all the acts of the Executive Government to Parliament, and at the same time not only without the opportunity of offering advice respecting those acts, but without the knowledge of their existence until informed of them from private and un official sources. " When the members of the late'Executive Council offered their humble remonstrance to his Excellency on this condition of public affairs, his Excellency not only frankly explained the difference of opinion existing be tween him and the Council, but stated that from the time of his arrival in tie country he had observed an antagon ism between him and them on the subject, and, notwith standing that the members of the Council repeatedly and distinctly explained to his Excellency that they considered him free to act contrary to their advice, and only claimed an opportunity of giving such advice, and of knowing before others his Excellency's intentions, his Excellency did not in any manner remove the impression left upon their minds, by his avowal that there was an antagonism between him and them, and a want of that cordiality and confidence which would enable them in their respective stations to carry on public business to the satisfaction of his Excellency or of the country. The want of t his cor diality and confidence had already becoMe a matter of public rumour, and public opinion not only extended it to acts upon which there were apparent grounds for dif ference of opinion, but to all measures of Government involving political principles. His Excellency, on the one hand, was supposed to be coerced by his Council into a course of policy which he did not approve of, and the Council were made liable to the accusation of assuming the tone and position of responsible advisers of the Go vernment, without, in fact, asserting the right of being: consulted thereupon. " While his Excellency disclaimed any intentions of altering the cours e o f a d m i n i s t rat i on o f public affairs which he found on his arrival in Canada, he did not dis guise his opinion, that those affairs would be more satis factorily managed by and through the Governor himself without any necessity of concord amongst the members of the Executive Council, or obligation on their part to defend or support in Parliament the acts of the Govern ment. To this opinion of his Excellency, as one of theory, the members of the Executive Council might not have objected, but when on Saturday last they discovered that it was the real ground of all their diftirences with his Excellency, and of the want of confidence and cor diality between his Excellency and the Council since his arrival, they felt it impossible to continue to serve her Majesty as executive councillors for the affairs of this province, consistently with their duty to her Majesty or to his Excellency, or with their public and oft-repeated pledges in the provincial Parliament, if his Excellency should see fit to act upon his opinion of their functions and responsibilities. " Daly's Hotel, Nov. 27, 1843." To this his Excellency replied : " The Governor observes with regret, in the explana tion which the gentlemen who have resigned their seats in the Executive Council propose to offer in their places in Parliament, a total omission of the circumstances which lie regards as forming the real grounds of their resignation ; and as this omission may have proceeded from their not considering themselves at liberty to dis close those circumstances, it becomes necessary that he should state them. " On Friday Mr. Lafontaine and Mr. Baldwin came to the Government -house, and, after some other matters of business and some preliniinary remarks as to the cause of their proceeding, demanded of the Governor- General that he should agree to make no appointment, and no offer of an appointment, without pre viously taking the advice of the Council; that the lists of candidates should in every instance be laid before the Council ; that they should recommend any others at discretion, and that the Governor-General in deciding, after taking their advice, should not make any appoint inent prejudicial to their influence. In other words, that the patronage of the Crown should be surrendered to the Council for the purchase of Parliamentary support ; for, if the demand did not mean that it meant nothing, as it cannot be imagined that the mere form of taking advice without regarding it was the process contem plated. • "The Governor-General replied, that lie would not make any such stipulation, and could not degrade the character of his office nor violate his duty by such a sur render of the prerogative of the Crown. tangled by the hind-legs, and could not relieve him self. At breakfast, I mentioned the circumstance of Maida's distress. And did you relieve him ?'—' I did not think it at all safe, as he holds me at a grudge.' ' Good heavens !' exclaimed Sir Walter, ' the poor brute's legs may be b ro ken.'—' Do not be alarmed ; I sent Tam Purdie to his relief.' And soon after the dog made his appearance, much fatigued, and the skin peeled from his hind legs." DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE. This Magazine is one of the most carefully conducted of the Monthly tribe, and usually contains one or more articles of more than ordi nary interest. We" have here not less than three, •which are well worthy the reader's attention. The first is a glowing sketch of the gatherings of the Marshals and Generals of France at Bona parte's private residence in Paris, just previous to the memorable movement which gained him the Consulate ; the second is an account of Egypt and its capital, Cairo, with incidental notices of the memorable battles of the Nile and Alex andria; and the third, the most entertaining of all, is a copious memoir of the late Dr. Maginn, evidently from the pen of one who knew him well. The portrait of the Doctor, which is pre fixed to the biographical sketch, is a good likeness, and the estimate of his versatile talents, is, in the main, just, though here and there if is rather too highly coloured by the partiality of friend ship. The following tribute to Dr. Magiun's extraordinary powers may, perhaps, interest our readers :-- " I sat, en last Friday, two hours with Doctor Maginn in his bed-room. The Doctor has been raking, I believe, since his family went to France; he was quite ill when I saw him. However, he ma naged to write a leader for the Argus newspaper, in his shirt, and that completed, he jumped into bed, and we had a long talk. The more I see of him, the more I admire his talent. He is really a splendid fellow. He knows every thing. He will teach you as much in one hour as the best book will in ten. His conversation is the most extraordinary thing pos sible. He jumbles together fun, philosophy, and and polemics ; and in these (so incongruous) he is pre-eminent. At first you would say that he spent all his life reading jest-books; but then there is such admirable philosophy and common-sense in his reflections, that you get rid of your first notion as quickly as possible. 'But just as you are on the point of averring that this man reads nothing but works of thought and reasoning, you are forced to gulp down the exclamation, for he jumps into theology, and will argue on it like a bishop. Then you declare that he has studied nothing but polemics all his life. Such a man is Maginu. He is a ruin, but a glorious ruin, nevertheless. He takes no care of himself. Could he be induced to do so, he would be the first man of the day in literature, or any thing else. But he lives a rollicking life; and will write you one of his ablest articles while standing in his shirt, or sipping brandy—so naturally do the best and wittiest thoughts flow from his pen. His reading is immense ; his memory powerful, and his knowledge of the world is perhaps equal to that of any man that ever lived. In fact, I say he knows every thing, and so he does. We talked about a war in France, about which all the John and Jenny Bulls are getting anxious. The Doctor asserted stoutly that there would be none, and quoted Lord Brougham, who said, in allu sion to the national debt, that England was bound in eight hundred millions to keep the peace." " He appealed to the number of appointments made by him on the recommendation of the Council, or to the members of it in their departmental capacity, and to in stances in which he had abstained from conferring ap pointments on their opponents, as furnishing proofs of the great consideration which he had evinced towards the Council . in the distribution of the patronage of the Crown. " He at the same time objected, as he always had done, to the exclusive distribution of patronage with party views, and maintained the principle that office ought, in every instance, to be given to the man best qualified to render efficient service to the State, and where there was no such pre-eminence he asserted his right to exercise his discretion. " He understood from Messrs. Lafontaine and Baldwin that their continuance in office depended on his final de cision with regard to their demand; and it was agreed that at the Council to be assembled the next day the subject should be fully discussed. " He accordingly met the Council on Saturday, con vinced that they wouldrresi n, as he could not recede from the resolution which h had formed, and the same subject became the principal topic of discussion. " Three or more distinct propositions were made to him over and over again, sometimes in different terms, but always aiming at the same purpose, which in his opinion, if accomplished, would have been a virtual sur render into the hands of the Council of the prerogative of the,Crown, and on his uniformly replying to their pro positions in the negative, his refusal was each time fol lowed by then we must resign s ' or words to that pur. port, from one or more of the Council. " After the discussion of this question at so much length, being, as he has hitherto conceived, the one upon which the resignation of the Council rested, he is as tonished at finding that it is now ascribed to an alleged difference of opinion in the theory of responsible govern. ment. " In the course of the conversations which both on Friday and Saturday followed the explicit demand made by the Council regarding the patronage of the Crown, that demand being based .on the construction put by some of tho gentlemen on the meaning of • responsible government,' different opinions were elicited on the ab stract theory of that still undefined question as appli cable to a colony, a subject on which considerable diffe rence of opinion is known everywhere to prevail ; but the Governor-General during these conversations pro tested against its being supposed that ho is practically adverse to the working of the system of responsible go vernment, which he has hitherto pursued, without de viation, and to which it is fully his intention to adhere. " The Governor-General subscribes entirely to the re solution of the Legislative Assembly of the 3d of Sep tember, 1841, and considers any other system of govern ment than that which recsignises responsibility to the people and to the Representative Assembly as impracti cable in this province. " No man is more satisfied that all government exists solely for the benefit of the people, and he appeals con fidently to his uniform conduct here anti elsewhere in support of this assertion. " If, indeed, by responsible government' the gentle men of the late Council mean that the Council is to be supreme, and the authority of the Governor a nullity, then he cannot agree with them, and must declare his dissent from that perverson of the acknowledged principle. "But if they mean that. responsible government as established in this colony is to be worked out with an earnest desire to insure success, he must then express his surprise at their arriving at conclusions which he does not consider to be.justified by any part of his con duct, and which he conceives his repeated declarations ought to have prevented. Allusion is made, in the proposed explanation of The gentlemen of the late Coun cil, to the Governor-General having determined to re serve for the consitleration of ber Majesty's Government „... r.....- ~..,..,.. ..- ..,_ • , •-- _ • • • •- - one of the Bills passed by the two Legisl a tive H ouses — 1 DEATH FROM ILL-TREATMENT. that is, the Secret Societies Bill. If there is any part ' SUDBURY.—This town and neighbourhood have, dui.• of the functions of the Governor in which h e i s more ing the past week, been in the greatest state of excite than in any other bound to exercise an independent went, in consequence of a rumour that a boy, 13 years of judgment, it must be in giving the Royal assent ti Acts age, named Joseph Clark, late in the employ of Mr. of Parliament. With regard to this duty he has special Simon Viall, of Middleton Hall, a short distance from instructions from her Majesty's Secretary to • reserve the town, had come to his death in consequence of blows every Act of an unusual or extraordinary ch aracter. and kicks inflicted by his master. Mr. Viall is a re- Undoubtedly the Secret Societies Bill an . swers that de- spectable farmer, occupying, it is said, 700 acres of land. scription, being unexampled in British legislation. The The Door boy expired at his father's house, in gentlemen of the late Council had his sentiments on it street, All Sains, Sudbury, on Sunday, the 24th ult. Cross expressed to them. He told them that it was an arbi- His father is an t e gricultural labourer, in the employ of trary and unwise measure, and not even calculated to Die. The investigation was carried on for four days, effect the object it had in view. and at the conclusion on Friday the jury retired at a guar ”He had given his consent to its being introduced into ter-past five, .and after consulting an hour and a halt; re- Parliament, because he had promised soon after his as- ! turned the following verdict :—" The jury, after four sumption of the government that he would sanction dap,' careful investigation, are unanimously of opinion legislation on the subject as a substitute air exccuivn that Joseph Clark, deceased, on whom this inquest has measures, which he refuied to adopt on account of their been held, came by his death from a kick or blow given proscriptive character, although he deprecates the ex- ' hi m by Simon Viall, of Middleton- hall, in the county of istence of societies which tend to fon..ent religious and Essex ; and that the jury return a verdict of manslaughter civil discord. The gentlemen of the late Counctl canno'• aga i nst the aforesaid Simon Viall." A rumour has just fail to remember with what pertinacity these mea,arcs roachrAl us, that Mr. Viall has absconded.—frovich were pressed on him, and can h ar dly hut he aware of i E ar . ess. what would have followed at that ti me if, in addition to , ___--- , , rejecting the proscriptive measures' urged, he had 1-e- 7%. - y . , fused to permit an y l eg i s l at i on on the suhjec:. Permis- lONE 4 Y MARKET and CITY NEWS. sion to introd u c e a Bill cannot b e properly assumed as FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY. fettering the jud gmen t o f t h e Government with regard CITY, MONDAY EVENING. -to the Royal ass en t, f or muc h may happen (luring the TIMES. —An important correspondence has taken passage of the Bill thr oug h th e L eg i s : ature to i n fl uence place between the Committee of Spanish American bondholders and M es s rs . Li zar di an d C c . the Mexican his decision. I n thi s case the Bill was strongly Opposed agents. The Co mm itt ee p rotest aga i nst ifessrs. Lizardi and reprobated i n the Assembly, but WllOl it went to the Legislative Council many of the members had seceded, r. taining the sum of 11,339/. ss. lld., out of the money remitted for dends, as commission due to them from and it dial not come up from that Iloue with the advan the Mexican Government, contending, that, according to tage of having been passed in a lull meeting. Takine• the agreement of September, 1837, they were authorised , these circumstances into consideration, together wi:h the to appropriate it to dividends alone. They, therefore, precise instructions of her Majesty and the uncertainty. request to know whether it is Messrs. Lizardi's intention of her Majesty's allowing such a Bill to go into Opera to restore the sum to the dividend account ; and put tion, the Governor-General considered it to be his duty to reserve it for her Majesty's consideration, as it was another question, of no less importance, asking what re much better that it should not go into operation until mittances h ave come to h an d s i nce the payment of the confirmed by her Majesty's Government, than that it half-dividend o n th e Oc to b er coupon, and whether Messrs. . should be discontinued after its operation had commenced. Lizardi are prepar e d t o comp l ete t h e payment of the "In conclusion, the Governor-General protests against I coupon at once. T o t hi s app li cat i on, which is dated 1 Dec. 28, they have received the following reply : the explanation which those gentlemen propose to offer " 26, Austin-friars, Dec. 30, 1843. to Parliament, as omitting entirely the actual and pro "Sir,----We have received your letter of the 28th inst., minent circumstances which led to their resignation ; and are unable to reply to the questions therein contained and as conveying to Parliament a misapprehension of until we receive further info rma ti on f rom M ex i co, espe his sentiments 'and intentions whi c h h as no f oun d at i on c in any part of conduct, unless hi s re f usa l to ma k e a ially as regards the distrib e ti on o f th e f un d s i n h an d , and such as we may receive h ence f orwar d, f or account o f virtual surrender of the prerogativ e o f the (7rown to th e Council for party purposes, and his anxiety to do justice the Mexican Government, as to wh e th er t h e sa id f un d s be appropriated to the p a y men t o f t h e rema i n i ng to those who were injured by the a r ran gemen t s atten d s `hall ing the union, can be regarded a s warranting a repro - hall of the dividend f o r O c t o b er , 184 3 , or t h at f or A pr i l, . sentation which is calculated to injure him without just 1844. " We remain, &c cause in the opinion of the Parliam en t mat the people, " F. DE LIZARD! and CO. on whose confidence he places hi s so l e reliance fur the "Per pro. JOHN F. BACON. successful administration of the gov ernment . " G. R. Robinson, Esq.". "Government-house, Nov. 28, 18-13." By this correspo n d ence it appears t h at t h e whole affair of the Mexican s t oc k rema i ns i n a complete state of ob- On Saturday, the 9th ultim o , th e G overnor - G enera l ;scarify. There are no means o f o b ta i n i ng an undisputed prorogued the Parliam e nt t o M on d ay , J anuary 13 , i n the following speech : estimate of the funds now i n t hi s country ava il a b le for "Hon. Gentlemen of th e L eg i s l at i ve C ounc il , and , the purposes ot the dividends, w ith t h e a d d i t i onal c i r- Gentlemen of th e L eg i s l at i ve A ssem bl y, cumstance, that we are left in the d ar k as to t h e particu "ln conseq u e nce o f t h e i nterrupt i on which our joint lar dividend to which the av a il a bl e f un d s ( w h atever they , labours have undergone, entirely against my inclination, i may be) will be appropriated. and from causes over which I hav e h a d no control, I now ' S L:N. --The Funds, both home and foreign, closed with meet you for the purpose of relieving y ou tr ot h f urt h er a most buoyant a pp earance , a l most everyt hi ng b e i ng attendance in Parliament. I am selibil.4e of y our unre- ! higher than in the morning. Th ere was a purc h ase f or milling application to your arduous duties durin g the . the Court of Ch a n cery o f 10,000 / . Reduced Three-andsa session which has been so unexpectedly shortened, and Half per Cents ~ Consols were last marked 97 to 4. . SpaniAh Bo n a touc h e d 22, {fur the Actives, and 31 I trust that the measures which you have passed, and ' t)* _fi i r the . Pl. to which I have given the Royal Assent in her Majesty's ' '-5,.. ev per Cents. Mexican rose also to 3.4 1. The L t.., ‘ pro:T of Spanish American Bondholders have name, will prove beneficial to the country. Sena! Bills I meet •cu ) a. c to imication from Messrs. Lizardi to the have been under the necessity of reserving fur the consi effect that thq await further instructions as to the dis deration of her Majesty's Government, either from the }"'sal of'theltit4di in hand ; and also as to whether they impracticability of their being carried. into, eiceution, shall give Upjlieir claim to the 11,000/. in dispute. This, owing to their depending on other measttreS which have however, was nut generally known in the market, or it not passed into law, or from their :Acing the•Preroga- . • tive of the Crown, or being o f a c h arac t er t h at !night have made them go lo w er. , under the- Royal instructions, renders that p rocee d In Railway Shares the advan c e of the morn i ng was ining imperative. ' "Gentlemen of the House of Asse m bl e , , seieral instances car r i e d still further, as a refer( nee to " I thank you for the readines s with w hi c h you h ave cl4sing prices will ser ve t o show.•i - voted the necessary supplies. It will be my duty to take care that they be disbursed with the utmost. economy consistent with time efficiency of the public service. " Hon. Gentlemen and Gentlemen, " I trust that on your return to your homes you will, by precept and example, endeavour to secure the bless ings and harmony of brotherly love among all classes of the community. Peace and happiness will render our country a desirable place of refuge for the superfluous population of the parental state, whose settling here is fraught with benefit to themselves and the colony ; while discord and strife must ha ve th e o pp os it e e ff ect of deter ring them from connecting _their. destinies with those of a country unceasingly troubled. I humbly hope that the blessings of the Almighty will render this a prosperous and happy land, reaping the fruits of its own industry, and enjoying the powerful protection of our Gracious Sovereign as an integral portion of the British empire. I will now, Gentlemen, say farewell; and I trust that we shall meet again to renew our efforts for the public good with greater success." F Es - -11 IN LONDON, 1843. Yesterday, at a meeting of the directors of the principal insurance Companies, composing the committee of the London Fire Establishment, held at the chief station in Watling- street, Mr. Braidwood, the superintendent of the brigade force, made his annual report of the fires that have occurred in the metropolis and its suburbs during the past year. The rep o rt, w hi c h i s extreme l y voluminous and interest'ng, commences by stating that the fires in 1843, as compared with the previous year, have decreased by twenty ; the average, however, for the last ten years shows an increase of sixty-two. The number of fires and alarms which have happened from January 1 to December 31, 1843, at which the engines of the establishment have been called into operation,. amounts to 901. It further mentions that the tires. by which premises were totally destroyed number twenty nine, buildings considerably damaged 231, ditto slightly 489, chimneys eighty-three, and false alarms seventy nine. Total 901. It also appears that large fires, pro videntially, have not been so extensive and numerous as those that have occurred in previous years. Mr. Braid wood observes, that the following were attended with the most serious loss of property the night of the 16th of January, the two large floor-cloth manufactories of Messrs. J. Rolls and Gunstone, situated in the Old Kent road, were totally consumed, together with two dwelling houses. It will be recollected that some surprise was mani fested at the great height which the fire attained, which he attributes to the factories being almost entirely com posed of wood, and the great delay that arose in getting a supply of water after several of the engines had arrived. The next tools place on the 10th of July at Mark's, the extensive - marine-store dealer's, 'in Leicester-place, Greenwich, and the great fire at Topping's Wharf, on the morning of the 19th of the same month, which. it will be remembered, destroyed four warehouses, besides St. Olive's Church and Watson's Te legraph. The ex tent of this conflagration he accounts for by the fire breaking out in an oil warehouse having no party-walls, and an inefficiency of water. It will be recollected, that the church was sacrificed in orders to preserve property which otherwise would have been destroyed to the amount of 400,0001. The report thus details the fires that occurred :—" At the turpentine distillery, Bother lithe, in January; at the Golden Lion, Bexley-heath, in June ; on the 16th of July, at Pinchin and Johnson's oil-works, St. George's-in- the-East ;at Newberry's, the chemist's, in Fetter-lane, where five lives were lost, on the 19th of August; the three that followed in rapid succession on the night of the 14th and morning of the 15th of September, at Limehouse, Wapping, and West minster; the fatal fire is St. Martin's court in October three lives lost; and, lastly, those at the candle ma nufSetory in Paradise-street, Lambeth, and Bramah's engineering factory at Pimlico, d ur i ng th e l ast month. " 01 the 29 large fires which are noticed at the com mencement of the Report, the number of buildings consumed thereby amounts to 40. Further on it men tions the different trades at which fires have occurred and their causes. There are a great number of them, however, marked unknown, a n d it i s too strong l y be lieved that the principal part of them have been occa sioned by incendiaries. 280 in private houses, chiefly caused by bed and uindow-curtains igniting through neglect of domestics, 59 lodging-houses, 30 li cense d victuallers, 23 coffee-shops, 20 woollen and silk mercers, 23 sale-shops, 20 cabinet-makers, 5 public buildings, 10 bakers, 7 lucifer manufactories, and 3 ships. A large number, however, are described to have originated in offices, sheds, &c. The chief causes are stated to be carelessness of servants, and defects in stoves and flues. The number of fires that have taken place since the for mation of' the establishment in 1832 up to the present time amounts to 6,523. The Report then concludes by observing that the most valuable assistance has been, on all occasions, rendered by the police at the above conflagrations. THE INDIA MAILS.-- SOUTHAMPTON, JAN. The Oriental Company's steam-ship Oriental, Captain Soy, left this pert to-day for Alexandria, with the mails for Egypt, India, and China, consisting of 80 boxes and 7 bags, also upwards of 100 passengers, and a large freight of Manchester goods, so larg e as to compel her to leave several tons behind for the next boat. The Peninsular packet Lady Mary Wood, which arrived here on Saturday evening, has brought from Gibraltar the damaged shaft of the Great Liverpool, which has been forwarded to Scotland to be rejoined, and it is expected to be in readiness to he takes out in the Iberia on the 10th. The Peninsular Company's boat Royal Tar is taking in cargo at the East India Docks, and will sail on the 10th for Constantinople, &c. She has been obliged to take down the saloon and berths, to enable her to receive all her goods. The Royal West India snail-packet Teviot, Captain Allen, will leave here to morrow with the mails for the West Indies, South Ame rica, &c. All her berths are engaged. She has also 860 bottles of quicksilver. THE LIGHT GOLD COlNAGE.—Yesterday the order in Council issued by her Majesty on the 2d day of October last on the light gold currency, came into opera tion, which commands " that light sovereigns of less weight than 5 pennyweights 2i grains, and every gold half-sovereign of less weight than 2 pennyweights 13 grains and one-eighth, shall not be allowed to be cur rent, and shall be cut, broke, and defaced by all Govern ment employes. and officers receivers of th e p u bli c 're venue, so that they be no longer circulated." The Go vernor and Company of the Bank of England have given notice that on and after this day, the 2d of January, they will receive gold coin below the legal current weight in amounts of not less than 51, at the rate of 3/. 17s. bid. per ounce ; and further that at the respective branch banks of the Bank of England it will be received in like amounts at the rate of 3/. 17s. sd. per ounce, being, after deducting the charges of transmission to London, equal to the above price of 3/. 17s. bid. per 0 111100.-N.B. The above, after deducting the expenses of converting the light gold coin into bullion, will be equal to the price paid by the Bank for their gold bars —viz., 3/. I 7s. 9d, per ounce standard. The emplelies at the Royal Mint have been busily engaged for some time in striking off the new coinage for the Bank of England, so that no inconvenience may be felt by the public in ex changing their light gold. The applications yesterday were very numerous, when the old ones were defaced by the clerks as they received them. DECLINE OF THE DRAMA.—(From the New York ~ifa;tiny Het old.)—The result of our own experience and observation during our late tour in En4iind, and also in this City since our return, quite convinces us of the decline of the drama. During the last week Macready, acknow ledged to be the greatest artist in the line, has been play ing to three or four hundred dollar houses—meagre, empty, cold, cheerless, inhospitable houses, whilst the groat musicians and vocalists of all kinds , are And all this Waking their thousand and two thousanektiel ars a night. n of is th e v ve r y evident antiis thaton its last les. the English drama on both sides clear that this state of decrepitud e ha s been the result Its much, if not more, from the w a n t o f the machinery t o keep it up, as from the change in the public taste. g - Adit is also 7, , , ty We regret to hear that the venerable Earl of Lops dale is suffering from severe ilAispositicq, Peninsula. It was stipulated, under the same treaty, that thereafter no British settlement should be formed in the island of Sumatra—no treaty be concluded with any of the native chiefs by British authority—no establishment be made on the Caremons, on the islands of Bantam, Bintang, Lingan (by name), "or any other islands south of the straits of Singapore A —no treaty be concluded, by British authority, with any of their chiefs respectively. Again—his Bri tannic Majesty, on the one hand, withdrawing the objections which had been taken on our part to the occupation of Billiton and its dependencies by the agE-nts of the Netherlands' Government, the King of Holland on the other, withdrew the objections which li id been taken to the occupation of 'Singapore by British subjects, and engaged for himself and subjects, " never to form any establishment on any part of the peni lonia of Malacca, or to conclude any treaty with any native prince, chief, or State therein." (This stipulation is the more notable, inasmuch as it is that the spirit and terms of which have seen most directly violated by the Dutch authorities, to accom plish indirectly the object which is thus stated and disavowed.) The first article provided that the subjects of the two nations should be admitted to trade with their respective possessions in the Eastern Archipelago, on the continent of India, and in Ceylon, on the footing of the most favoured nations. And by the second, that the subjects and vessels of one nation shall not pay on importation or exportation, at the ports of the other on the eastern seas, any duty at a rate beyond double that at which the subjects and vessels of the action to which the port belongs are charged. That, as to any article on which no duty is imposed when imported or exported by subjects or in vessels of the nation to which the port belongs, the duty charged on subjects or vessels of the other shall, in no case, exceed six per cent. Other articles provided that no thing should be clone to impede a free communication of natives of the Eastern Archipelago with the ports of the two Governments respectively. Second—Let us now see how these conditions have been fulfilled on the part of the Dutch. It is needless to inquire in what way they have been discharged by ourselves, for no pretence of complaint has been ever set up by the Dutch ; and, in these cases, they are never the last to discover themselves aggrieved. They retained possession of Rhio, in Bintang, al though affecting to consider it, under their own Go vernment, a dependency of Dutch Malacca, and therefore covenanted to be given up to us. They have—in disregard of previously existing relations of amity which the British Government had established with all the States on both sides of the Peninsula, and of treaties of commerce which they had concluded with all the chiefs of the western coast—forced some of these native Powers to renew obsolete treaties which had been entered into with the Dutch thirty years back, and therefore have set up heavy claims under their provisions. They have thus, too, strengthened the machinery they have set in motion for subjugating all Sumatra. They have annihilated the independence of Acheen, which, in 1824, they thus pledged them selves, by treaty, to maintain. They have established settlements both in Acheen and Siack, in contraven tion of modern existing treaties of those States with the British Government, in which the former volun tarily undertook that no other nation but the latter should be permitted to do so. They have totally contravened the provisions of Articles 1,2, and 4 of the treaty, in many ways. By a proclamation of the Government of the . Netherlands India (dated Feb. 14, 1824), it had been among other things de creed that all cotton and woollen goods manufactured in foreign countries to the west of the Cape of Good Hope, whether imported in foreign or Netherlands' bottoms, should, thereafter, pay a duty of 35 per cent. when imported from any of the foreign settlements to the eastward of the ,Cape. Such duty was, ac- cordingly (though clearly illegal after the treaty of March, 1824) levied on all cottons and woollens. British manufactured, imported from Singapore into any of the Netherlands' possessions, till the beginning of 1834, when it was increased to a duty of 70 per cent. ! The same Government passed a resolution, dated November 14, 1834, effectually prohi- biting the importation of British cottons and woollens from Singapore into any of the Netherlands' dependencies in the Archipelago, saving only the ports of Batavia, Samarang, or Sourabaya, in the island of Java, inasmuch as it declared that they should not be allowed to be imported at all, unless accompanied with a certificate from the Comptroller of Customs at one of those ports, that such goods had been imported there and re-exported thence. By this proceeding British cotton and woollen manufactures have been totally excluded from ALL ports in the islands of Sumatra, Banea, Bornec., and Celebes. Again, the treaty of March, 1824, expressly prohibiting interference with inde- pendent native States by either party : the Dutch have notoriously and unblushingly employed the influence acquired by their possession of Macassar in Celebes, " to extend their influence by force and intrigue, to prevent the Bugis from carrying on their trade with Singapore, to the great injury of our commerce." This is a brief recapitulation of some particulars in which the Dutch authorities have not merely in fringed upon, but outraged the treaty of 1824 between the two Governments. These facts, which are not open to controversy, are extracted from' the Asiatic Journal, from the Pulo-Penang papers, Lieutenant NEWBOLD'S " Account of the British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca," private letters from Penang and Singapore, " the Petition of Merchants and In habitants of Singapore to the King in Council" (1837), and very many other documents and parties., of equal authority and standing. Tempted as we are to pursue this subject much further, and to illustrate (as we can easily do) still more forcibly the rapacity _ _ and bad faith of the Netherlands' Government throughout the whole of these transactions, we are willing, on this brief " outline," to appeal to the public for a confrmatio►► of our own strong impres- I,Mn—" that that remedy- which • our Governments, and even our Legislature, has so long withheld from these grievous dishonours to the British name and injuries to British Commerce—notwithstanding all the remonstrances, warnings, and memorials addressed to them, year after year, and session after session, by those, whose adoption of the facts must have suf ficiently guaranteed the perfect accuracy of the case thus stated—ought not to be postponed one day after the re-assembling of Parliament in February nest, beyond that at which the forms of the two Houses will permit it to be organised and promulgated. COURT CIRCULAR. • WINDSOR, MONDAY.—Her Majesty and his Royal Highness Prince Albert received the Sacrament early yesterday morning. This morning the Queen and Prince Albert, attentiecl, by part of the Royal suite, went to the Riding-h ouse 'ie see the poo r rece i ve her ajesty's bounty. In the afternoon the Royal party left the Castle for an airing, her Majesty and Prince Albert in a pony phae ton; his Royal Highness driving ; the Marchioness of Douro and the Hon. Miss Hamilton following in another phaeton, with the Shetland ponies ; and Colonel Ar buthnot, Equerry in Waiting, on horseback, in attend ance on her Majesty. Major-General Sir Edward Bowater has succeeded Colonel Bouverie as Equerry in Waiting on his Royal Highness Prince Albert. Colonel Arbuthnot remains at the Castle as Equerry in Waiting on the Queen. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, and his Serene Highness Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, will join the royal circle at dinner. . Lady Montagu and the Hon. Miss Montagu, Viscount Anson, the lion. Mrs. Arbuthnot, Mr. George and the Hon. Mrs. Hope, and Sir Henry Wheatley, will also have the honour of joining the royal dinner party at the Castle this evening. Ilis Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, attended by Baron Knesebeck, left town at half-past ten o'clock yesterday morning, to honour the Earl of Cardigan with a visit at his seat, Dean Park, Northamptonshire. Previous to leaving town the Royal Duke visited her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester at Gloucester House. The Prussian Minister transacted business yesterday at the Foreign-office. Dispatches were sent off last evening from the Co lonial•oHice for the Earl of Elgin, Governor of Jamaica, and for the Governors of the other West India Colonies. The Earl of Haddington has returned to his residence in the Admiralty, from the seat of Sir George Warren der, Cliefden House, Berkshire. Dispatches were received yesterday, at the Colonial_ office, from the Governor of Sierra Leone. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.—WOOLWI CII , JAN. I. The Gladiator, a fine first class steam-vessel, is ordered to be commenced to-day, and the shipw rights will be employed by task and job work ; and as the greater part of her timbers have already been converted, it is expected she will be ready for launching in about three months from this period. Two new steam-vessels are to be built' at Deptford, one to be named the Spitfire and the other the Porcupine. THE MAGAZ ERASER'S MAGAZINE. Fraser is certainly not among " the shining . ones"—as John Bunyan would say—this month. There are one or two clever papers in the Num ber before us, but the majority of them do not rise above mediocrity, and the utmost we can say in their praise is, that they do not sink be low it; We miss that pleasant gossip about English poets and poetry which used to be so frequent in the Magazine a few months ago, and whose place is ill supplied by the lucu brations of a writer who signs himself " One who has a Good Memory." This . gentleman's biographical sketch of the Queen, which, in consideration of the subject, takes preeedence of all the other articles in the present Number, is a very wishy-washy affair, fruitful of solemn twaddle, and of anecdotes which, even if true, were scarcely worth re lating. The close of the memoirs is exceedingly rich. After describing her Majesty's appear ance on her return to Buckingham Palace, when she had prorogued the last session of tarlia ; meat, and telling us what was passing in her mind at the time—how she reflected with delight that she bad expressed herself strongly in favour of the union between England and Ireland ; had announced her intention to maintain the integrity of the Constitution. unim paired ; to put down fiction, and, in short, do everything that a SATereign should do ;—after assuring us that such *ere the varied reflections that passed through the Royal mind, the writer proceeds to observe, " the Queen looked all this !"—a most wonderful and comprehensive look, which reminds us of Lord Burleigh's equally comprehensive shake of the head, whereby he intended it to be implied that he was labouring with philosophic and statesman like thoughts too deep for utterance 1 If a gentleman must write nonsense, let him at least forbear from making Majesty the theme of his twaddle. The Luck of Barry Lyndon" is a piper of a far different order, in point of merit. It is a smart—animated—rapid narrative, which flows easily and uninterruptedly on, and ex hibits much of that breadth of humour, which formed so prominent a feature in the periodical contributions of the late Dr. Magian. The sketches of Irish character show that the author— Michael Angelo Titmarsh—had all his wits about him during his late excur sions in the sister-country. " Scenes from the March to Moscow," describe the gradual advance of Napoleon's immense army, after leaving the shores of the Niemen. According to the writer, a Prussian Hussar it must have been a sad scene of confusion and discomfort even from the com mencement of the march, for the commissariat had been wholly neglected, and the enormous masses of troops were in a great measure left to shift for themselves. We quote from a brie' lemoir of "Kate Kearney,' the following at ecdote, which originated (he well-known Iris, proverb—" as old as Kate Kearney " But Kate Kearney, the charmer of Killarney, is known to us only by report of her youthful beauty. The Kate Kearney, whose longevity has passed into a proverb, was a native of Wexford, and is, or ought to be, an historical personage. In the year 1649, Cromwell, reeking from the slaughter committed at the storming of Tredah, appeared before Wexford, and commenced the siege. The garrison made some slight defence, but shortly held a parley, to treat for terms of capitulation. During the parley the gar rison neglected their guards, as some write, or, as others aver, the guard s w ere d rawn o ff by the treachery of Staftbrd, the governor. Cromwell's troops rushed into the town, and following the com mand of their stern General, to give no quarter, com menced a furious and indiscriminate butchery. The young, the old, the woman, the infant, the armed, the defenceless, all fell victims in the carnage. Cromwell rode slowly and triumphantly up the principal street, unmoved by the yells and screams, and the rivers of blood and mangled carcasses, that met his ears and eyes. As be advanced he came to an isolated group of dead. There lay an old man weltering in his blood, and the corpses of several young men heaped around him. A girl, respectably dressed, and appa rently about seventeen years of age, hung over the bleeding bodies, wringing her hands in an agony too deep for words or tears. But she started up at the near tramp of the war-horse ; and, snatching with a frantic grasp at the bridle, she stopped the animal, and glared upon his rider. Her hair was flung back from her forehead, and fell dishevelled on her shoul ders ; her brow and hands were stained with blood, her eyes were wild, and her cheeks deadly pale. She presented such a ghastly appearance, that even Crom well's iron heart quailed for a moment. 'ln the name. of God,' she addressed him, in a yoke hoarse from emotion,—' In the name of God, have you not had blood enough ? Look ! there lie my father, my brothers, my betrothed hushand,—all that belonged to me ; Does not this satisfy you ? Have you not had blood enough ? How will you answer to a mer ciful Creator for what you have already shed ?' Crom well uttered not a word, but disengaged his bridle from her grasp, and rode on. Yet the appearance and the words of Kate Kearney had awed him, and he gave immediate orders to stop the carnage : a rem nant was saved, a miserable remnant indeed • but Wexford was h a ppi e r i n thi s res p ec t than Tredah, from which but one solitary individual escaped with life from the swords of Cromwell's fanatical soldiers. Kate Kearney survived the siege of Wexford, and the slaughter of all near and dear to her, for upwards of a century." TAIT'S MAGAZINE. The indefatigable Mrs. Gore—who fortunately for us is as amusing as she is industrious, and who almost rivals the renowned Princ e ss Sae- hezerade in the number of her tales—contributes another work of fiction to the pages of Tait, under the title of " Blanks and Prizes, or the Wheel of Fortune." As a chapter or two only of this'story are yet before us, we cannot under take to.pronounce a decided opinion on it; but we may - state that it opens well; that the mealy mouthed country physician, Dr. Toddles, looks very like a portrait from life; and that the dry, stingy old maid, Mks Lavinia Meade ' whose quaint, obsolete furniture, "bequeathed by her grandmother, was rubbed and scrubbed and bur- Dished till it acquired a sort of ironical freshness, like the youthful airs of an old beau," is sketched in that spirit of" merry malice" which is so conspicuous a feature in the majority of Mrs. Gore's fictions. In the slight and hasty notice of "Lord Jeffrey's Contributions to the Edinburgh Review" his Lordship is taken to task for his well-known criticism on the Lake poets, which, observes the writer, "augur something like limited imagination or a narrow range of poetical •emotion.' This is by no means a legiti mate inference from the circumstance of the critic's inability to digcover the profound genius of Peter Bell; or the fancy and sensibility of the Laureate . Odes. On . the contrary, we think it a proof of his refined taste and discrimination. Lord Jeffrey was unquestionably—we say was, because we believe he has long ceased to write —the most intelligent critic of his day, endowed with less sensibility perhaps, than Hazlitt, but far sounder in his judgments, because less liable to be biassed by his prejudices, and possessed of a far more extensive range of information. We owe to his pen the subtlest analyses that have ever been given of the poetical powers of Byron, Crabbe, .and Moore; and his account of Swift and his writings, coloured us it May be here and there by an evident dislike of the man, is full informed- with weighty truth. The "National Anti-Corn-law League " is a poem very much in ,e manner of Ebenezer Elliott, when in one of his ultra-truculent moods. In the " Reminis cences of Dublin College Life,' we find some de tails respecting the well-known Historical So ciety when in its decline, but we should have preterred reading about y when it was in its full Meridian vigour, and Plunkett and Bushe were among its orators. The " Recollections of Sir Walter Scott," are—if the truth must be told— a little too twaddling this month. Here, how ever, is an amusing anecdote or two respectin g the poet's favourite dog Maida, of whom honour able mention is made in Lockhart's Life of liis illustrious father-in-law : "One morning, while at breakfast, a woman called, complaining that Maids, Sir Walter's stag-hound, had bit her child. And did not I give you some thing handsome to help to cover it ?' said Sir Walter. You did so ; but lam told that if the dog is not hanged, the bairn will go mad." I do not think that the crime deserves death, as the child is not yet dead ; but Maida shall be banished; and if the child die, he shall suffer, which is the law of the land ; and there is some more money.' " Maida was an ill-natured tyke, and no favourite with me. He once attacked MO. I met him in a narrow path; and he stood in the middle, disputing my passage. Having, by good luck, a measuring pole in my hand, about eight feet in length, I pre pared to make my passage good. If I had turned my back, he would have been on me immediately. I advanced, and with ray good ash pole hit him a whack along the ribs, on which he gave a fearful howl, and fled. So much for the courage of this Highland brute. On telling it to his master, he would not believe it. ' I will again defend myself in your presence ; indeed, I will make believe to attack you, and you shall see whether this Highl an d b ear o f yours will be bold and faithful in defending his very kind and over-partial master." I do not entertain the smallest doubt of his courag e and affectio n ; b u t it may be as well not to p u t it to too severe a test.' " One morning I heard a dog howling in distress. On going to the place, I found Maids, who had been hunting hares ; and on leaping a paling, was en- UNITED SERVICE JOURNAL. An Instructive article on the subject of "Slavery in Sinde," which we find in the present Number of this periodical, represents the slave system as being , by no means so revolting to humanity as it is in the southern States of America. " The negroes," says Captain Hart, " are always taken care of during their voyage to India from their native country; and when purchased, are, in the majority of instances, treated with kindness and fbrbearance, and be come, in:consequence, warmly attached to their purchasers." This is certainly a redeeming point in the Sinde slave-system; nevertheless, we ex claim with Sterne, " Disguise it as thou wilt, slavery, still thou art a bitter draught." A " Voice from Cafferland" is a condensed abstract of the political history of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, from the year 1805 down to the present day. CHURCH OF ENGLAND QUARTERLY REVIEW. As we seldom meddle with purely religious questions, and this Review is almost exclusively devoted to the consideration of such perplexing themes, we shall be as brief as possible in our notice, and content ourselves with observing that the Number now lying before us contains, among other articles, a clever essay on the " Present Condition and Prospects of the Clergy." BRITISH MAGAZINE. Another exclusively religious publication, in which matters of interest chiefly to the clergy are discussed at some length. The Monthly Register of Ecclesiastical Information is a useful feature in the Magazine. SPORTING REVIEW. There are here two engravings—one repre senting - greyhounds in full pursuit. of a hare, whose eye expresses terror in its utmost intensity; and the other, a gathering of fox-hounds, just previous, we presume, to ihe chase. The back ground in this last plate is very pleasing and picturesque. The literary contents are of the usual quality. SIMMOND'S COLONIAL MAGAZINE. The best article in this Number is the one on the subject of our Colonies, is which occurs a brief, condensed, and useful account of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land. The "'Navies of the World" evinces no little statistical research. FARMERS' MAGAZINE• An intelligent Magazine, addressed for the most part, to farmers and agriculturists, and em bellished this month with two plates ofcelebrated race-horses. LONDON REPERTORY. Contains a succinct, and apparently correct, account of all the most recent patents that have been granted for improvements in mechanics, manufactures, &c. The periodical, i as may be surmised, from thi s b r i e f re f e rence to i t, s Wholly of a practical character. PRIVATE THEATRICALS. - - ----- - The first representation at Woburn Abbey took place on Thursday evening, with the burlesque opera of Rom bastes Far ioso. For further details of the performances we rack - our readers to the following play-bill, which was printed for the occasion WOBintli ABBEY THEATRE. Thursday, December 28, 1843.—This evening will be performed the burlesque tragic opera of Bombastes Furioso. Artaxominous (King of Utopia)—Mr. Geo. H. C. Byng. Fusbos (Minister of State)—The Earl of Chesterfield, (His first appearance on these boards). General I3ombastes—Lord Charles Russell. Distaffina—Viscount Anson (his first appearance on any stage.) Attendants, Courtiers, and Brave Army by several noble and distinguished Amateurs. Vivat Regina. Doors open at half-past eight ; performance to begin at nine precisely." A very crowded and distinguished audience were pre sent, including—besides the noble host and hostess— Lord and Lady John Russell, Lord and Lady Emlyn, Lord William Ruisell, Mr. and Lady Georgians Romilly, Mr. and Lady Caroline Sanford, Mr. Blake, Colonel Cavendish, Mr. and Lady Agnes 13yng, &c. An epilogue, very : kindly ,contributed fur the o ccas i on by Lady John RUssell; was very well delivered by the eldest son of the Hon. G. S. BYng, who performed very cleverly the part of Artaxontinsus in the opera. TIIE MILITARY AND THE RAILWAYS.—An order has just been issued from the War-office, intimating that arrangements have been entered into by the Government with the London and Birm in gham, Great Western, Brighton, Dover, Grand Junction, North Midland; Mid land Counties, Northern and Eastern, Eastern Counties, Birmingham and Derby, Manchester and Birmingham, Birmingham 'and Gloucester, 3fanchester and Leeds, York and North Midland, Lancaster and Preston, Newcastle and Carlisle, a nd Great North of Eng land Railway Companies, for the c onveyance o f t h e horses of field and staff officers and infantry, when pro ceeding by route, with regiments and detachments on railways, and likewise for the conveya nce of sick horses of cavalry regiments. The rates of conveyance are fixed as follows:—For any distance not exceeding fifty miles, 4d. per mile for each horse; for beyond fifty and not ex ceeding ono hundred miles, 3d.; an d s excee di ng one hundred miles, 3d. The route, or order of the command ing officer of the regiment or detachment is to be pro duced at the railway station, as the authority for the conveyance of the horses, and the written appointment Of the principal veterinary surgeon , in re gar d t o. th e s i c k horses, is to be annexed to the charg e in tho public ac count for such conveyance. The regulation will have effixt from the commencement of this year. APTHORS.—Prune off IlinTs FOR DRAMATIC Shoots of the French stage, and transplant Vaudevilles against the season. Dig up old plots, and nail- mana gers. Drill supers, plant friends in pit, and train slips to applaud.—Punch's Almanac& BRITISH MUSEUM.—The number of visitors to this national establishment in the whole of last year (1843) was 517,375. This was a falling o ff f rom the prev i ous year (1842), when they . were 547,718. In 1839 the numbers were 280,850; in 1840, 247,92 p; and hi 1841, 319,374. The number of visitors during the late holi day week was 41,151, being, on Tuesday, 18,377; Wed nesday; 13,281 - ; Thursday, 1,683 ; and Friday, 7 ; 810: The Museum was closed yesterday, and will remain so during the whole of the present week. CORN AND CURRENCY LAWS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING POST. Sir,—l have received your paper of the 20th instant, containing my letter of the 14th of August last, and your comments upon the same, which call for some further remeeis from me upon the all-important sui l ieet of a generst protection to agriculture and commerce through an alteration of the monetary laws, instead of the partial and uncertain protection now afforded by the corn-laws. I have no object as hatever in recommending a total repeal of the corn-laws, v. ith the proposed alter ation in the money laws, except to relieve the agricul turists of the odium which the maintenance of the laws casts upon them. My purpose would be, nearly accom plished by only raising the nominal value of the ounce of silver to the desired nominal value of the bushel of wheat, which would render the present corn-laws nugatory, excepting in the few eases when a great scarcity raises the price very far above the general aver age. The only reason why I have narru d 7s. 6,1. per ounce is that it appears generally- acknowledged that 7s. 6d. is a remunerating price, but it is of very little importance to society at large whether the price of wheat be is. 6d. or Bs., or even 10s. per bushel, provided the ounce of silver be raised to the relative value. You make me admit that the corn law was a wise mea sure, because I say that its objects and effect were to in crease the value of English labour, but this is nut a correct view of the subject. The intention of the law was was right, but the working of it bad and unjust, because it only partially supported the wages of labour. The law was a very unwise one, in my opinion— it was insti tuted to prevent the ruinous prices of agricultural pro duce which the liability to return to specie payments within six months after the 'peace, at the old and long unused standard of value, produced in 1814 ; the com plete operation of which was parti a lly suspended by cir cumstances till 1819, has never been permanently or fully carried out ,and never will be till prices fall to the conti nental level. Had the promoters of the corn-laws in 1815 understood what they were doing, they would have obtained their protection by coining the precious metals of that nominal value which their corn had obtained during the war by the depreciation in the value of the unredeemable paper money. By that plan they would not only have perfectly protected themselves, but would also have protected all other interests. You say that it appears to you, "if both laws were repealed, mat ters would remain much as they are at present ;" but you forget that I do not alone propose the abolition of the two laws, I also propose to alter the nominal price of silver from ss. 2d, to is. 6d. per ounce, in which the Bank would pay its notes ; and in this alteration lies all my contemplated protection and improvement ; it would protect produce and labour in England 50 per cent. against foreign produce and labour. As the laws now stand, the protection to agriculture, although very in sufficient, is destructive of our foreign trade, absorbing all its profits; and, if persisted in, an unprofitable state of things, like the last four years, will continue. It; how ever, as is probable, the corn-laws alone are repealed, the money interest will take possession of the land, and the interest of the debt will not be paid. To convince yourself of the soundness of my views you should refer to the state of agriculture in 1800 to 18(4 ; the corn laws of that time were quite useless, for the price of corn was always above the proteetinr , . price ; and that price was alone maintained by th e depreciation in the value of the pound sterling. It was not the war which made high prices —all previous wars made low prices ; it was the new monetary measures which made high nominal prices. Then why should riot the sama prin ciple now produce the same results? You and your friends, seek for high nominal prices through a corn law which only partially protects you, and ruins others. I seek for the same high nominal prices through a corre sponding alteration of the coins, which would, I contend, protect all interests equally, and therefore justly and permanently. Trusting that these few remarks from a practical tradesman of nearly forty year' extensive experience may be interesting to your ,readers, I remain, yours respectfully', G. F. MUNTZ. Ley Hall, near Birmingham, Dec. DETENTION OF THE OVERLAND INDIAN MAIL.— A notice of which the following is a copy has been issued by command of the Postmaster-General, and was put up this morning at the General Post-office, St. Martin's-le- Grand, and the several branch offices :—" The closed mail for India via Marseilles detained. Letters in time on the 6th inst. (Saturday next)." MORE INCENDlARlsm.—lnforination was received last night, at Bow-street; that on the rusk of the 26th ult., or early on the following morning, a large u heat hovel, a rick of beans, and one of barley, six tons of straw, seven loads of stubble, a large ladder, a quantity of elm boards, and about thirty yards of rick staddics, the pro; perty of Mr. Daniel Simons, of Middlemoor, in the bo rough of Daventry, were maliciously fired, and totally destroyed. A rward of ten guineas has been offered for the apprehension of the incendiaries, and a similar reward by Mr. Roche. On the night, of the 22d ult., some demoniacal persons wilfully vet fire to the farin buildings and ricks of Air. James of High Boothing, Essex, whereby the same were totally de stroyed. A reward of 150/. has been offered for the apprehension of the incendiaries. In both of the above cases Sir J. Graham has offered a free pardon to any person not being the actual incendiary, oho vs ill give such information as may lead to conviction. FREEMASONRY IN WORCESTER.—(From a Corres pondent.)—The brethren of the Worcester . Lodge, No. 349, celebrated the festival of st, John on Wednesday last, by a banquet at the Masonic Hall. Broad-street. The lodge was opened in form at four o'cloCk, and about' five the brethren were called from labour to refreshment. The worshipful master, Brother Jost ph Bennett, pre sided, assisted by Brother Richard Vartivn a W, (in the absence of Brother Knight, Crum a si were domestic affliction), and Brother Rising, J. W. Covers were laid for 50, and 52 brethren sat down to a repast comprising every seasonable delicacy, A magnitif.!ent dessert or pines,' grapes, and other suitable twoompaniments, with excellent wines, succeeded, and the evening was passed with true UNSODIC • ..;," ~. ler - ,',3- ell 'eV/ ro• let' [of nd ika Dv. ala Pu t a• Lill lei In ° a ° t>: f e ~~ '_ ~:!