The Sun. — London, England, 1844-12-13 00:00:00

and my late colleagues upon having been so fortunate as to choose so able a public servant. It was, indeed, a piece of ge,2l fortune for us as well as for the country. — (Cheers.) But lam bound to say, that that choice arose from no private partialities. Sir Henry Pottinger was pointed out toais solely and alone by the distinguished services which in a former part of his career he had rendered to his country.—(Cheers.) Though it was my duty, from the office I held, to propose the individual who was to go out as plenipotentiary, I had not at that time the pleasure and advantage even of personal ac quaintance with Sir Henry Pottinger.—(Cheers.) He was selected solely from the high character which he then bore, and which subsequent events have not only amply sustained, but raised still higher, in the estima tion of his Sovereign and the country at large. It is also a source of satisfaction that we have among us the leaders of the navy and of the army employed upon that expedition. You hare already had year attention turned to the great ability displayed both by my friend Sir William Parker, and the military commanders, and I think we may say that there never was an important ex pedition the success of which was more brought about by the enterprise, the skill, the resources, the perseverance of the navy, by the gallantry of the army, and by the ability, penetration, firmness, and forbearance of the plenipotentiary, than upon the present occasion.— (Cheers.) The great success which was accomplished could not have been attained if all these three depart ments of the public service had not displayed the greatest energy and ability, and co-operated most cordially to gether. After complimenting the Sepoys in the Indian army for the share they took in the expedition,the Noble Lord continued—We have been congratulated on the advantages which will accrue from the conditions of the treaty, and I must say that it is honourable to England that we showed as much moderation after victory as we did ability and gallantry during the contest ; and that we did not impose heavier terms on the con quered enemy than we had proposed to that Power before the contest commenced. When, after a suc cessful war, hard terms are imposed on a vanquished enemy, terms inconsistent with the interests and independence of the country with whom we have been contending—l maintain that; those terms, how ever they may flatter the vanity and pride of the con quering nation, cannot, in the long run, be advantageous even to the party proposing them.—(Cheers.) But here we have the satisfaction of knowing that while we hare secured to ourselves advantages of commerce, the extent of which it is difficult for any man to suffer himself to anticipate, we cannot derive those advantages from the treaty without conferring equal benefits on the Chinese themselves. We are, therefore, not only benefiting our• selves, but the means of introducing civilization and commerce to the multitudes who inhabit those vast and distant regions.—(Cheers.) I shall only again express the satisfaction which I derive from being allowed to be present on an occasion like this, and how proud I feel in being one of this great assembly met here to acknow ledge the distinguished services of Sir Henry Pottinger. The CHAIRMAN next gave " The health of the Chair man and Deputy-Chairman of the Hon. East India Company," which Mr. SMEPPARD briefly responded to. The Marquis of NORMANDY proposed " The health of the Chairman," which was most loudly cheered, and ac knowledged in an appropriate speech by the Chairman. Sir H. POTTINGER proposed, in a single sentence, the next toast—" Prosperity to the City of London and the 'Trade thereof," which was loudly cheered. " The East India and China Association, and success to Trade with the East," " The Liverpool and Glasgow East India and China Association," " The health of the Masters of the Merchant Tailors' Company," and several other toasts, were given. Mr. Toole officiated as toast-master, and performed his duties, as he always does, in the most efficient manner. The meeting did not break up till after midnight. On Sir H. Potttinger entering the reception-room, and before the dinner took place, Sir G. LARPENT, advancing towards the Gallant Officer, said,—Sir, on behalf of the merchants of London trading to the East Indies and China, I have the honour to present you with an address signed by seventy-three firms of this city, comprising pretty nearly the whole of the commercial houses of any eminence in town. lam desired to present this to you as a testimony of the dis tinguished sense they entertain of the ability and zeal which you have shown during the negotiations in China, during the time you represented there the British Go vernment. The gt ntlemen who have intrusted it to me feel sure that this tribute is, in every respect, deserved by you, from the admirable manner in which you dis charged the important functions entrusted to yon on that occasion. We feel, that to you, Sir Henry, we are in debted for being placed in the favourable position we oc cupy in the empire of China, almost unexpected and be yond anything we could have expected. While we gladly recognise the prowess of British arms, as displayed in the contest with the Chinese, and the wisdom of the oo :tncil that directed your negotiations, we feel that it i s to eon individually that a very large portion of the benefit ;ve have derived is to be attributed. We feel that, by y s-iur conduct, by your activity, by the promp titude and ene.rgy you displayed, you obtained the confi dence of the whole of the European residents in China, and while you were thus enabled to bring, as it were, the whole weight of the English character to bear on your negotiations with the Chinese, you entitled your self at once to the admiration of your fellow-citizens, and had the respect paid to you of the Chinese Govern ment. Under these circumstances, it is our pleasing duty to congratulate you on your return to your native country, and to assure you that the merchants of Lon don duly appreciate the benefits you have been the means of conferring upon them by the result of your commereial negotiations. There is another point alluded to in the address—the liberality of the tariff, and the wise and manly resolution ou formed not to confine your negotiations merely to the British empire, but to extend their benefits to all foreign nations. The libera lity that has marked the whole tariff bespeaks in an eminent degree the ability to appreciate those; first prin ciples on which such a tariff should be framed, and fully realises the highest expectations that could be formed of well-directed zealous public exertions. The Hon. Ba ronet then read the following address : " TO MAJOR•GENERAL SIR HENRY POTTINCER, BAIT., KNIGHT, GRAND CROSS OF THE MOST HON. MILITARY ORDER OF THE BATH, LATE HER MAJESTY'S ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY IN CHINA. "Sir—We, the undersigned, merchants of the City of London trading to China and the East Indies, take this opportunity on your return to your native country to present to you our sincere and hearty congratulations upon the happy and successful termination of the arduous neo•ottations intrusted to your charge by her Majesty's Government. The skill and ability with which these have been conducted have been so generally acknowledged that any comment upon them on our part would seem to be superfluous ; but the mercantile com munity cannot see a termination put to the vexatious annoyances and imposts which formerly impeded the free course of British trade to China without feeling deeply indebted to you, Sir Henry, for the great ex ertions and care bestowed by you in bringing about so happy a result. " A treaty has been signed and duly ratified, which, while claiming no exclusive privileges for the advantages gained by British valour, nor taking any unfair advan tage of the Chinese people, has opened to the enterprise of this and other countries the immense resources of the Chinese empire. "A British colony has been founded amongst a people, though essentially commercial, yet, until now, remark ably jealous of the admission of strangers into their country ; and four additional ports have been opened as new marts for the British manufacturer. " Without alluding further to the facilities obtained for the shipowners and trade in general, we have only to express our gratitude and thanks to you for such an able settlement of our difficulties in China, and our hope that you may long enjoy the honours you so justly merit." In conclusion, allow me to say that it is our hope, deco rated as you are with the honours justly deserved of your Sovereign, you will still think this public recogni tion of your services by the merchants of the City of London personally gratifying. We hope that the same liberality which has been displayed by the Chinese on one side in the arrangements of the tariff; from which we anticipate great advantages to our trade, will, as far as :practicable, be imitated in this country with re ference to that great staple article of the Chinese market, tea.—(Cheers.) Sir H. POTTINGER spoke as follows:—My Lords and Gentlemen, it is quite impossible for me to express in adequate terms how much I appreciate the very kind and flattering notice you have been pleased to take of me and my public services. Believe me, I most sincerely and deeply thank you, and am proud indeed to think that anything I have done entitles me to receive your approbation. It is needless for me to say, after the man ner in which I have acted in China, that I most entirely concur in the views expressed in the address as to the re ciprocity of the trade with China. I look upon it that everything that is beneficial for China must be equally beneficial for England, and vice versa. There can be no difference. I received a copy of the address a few days ago from my friend Mr. John Abel Smith, and I have drawn up an answer, which, if you will allow me, I will read:— " TO TIIR MERCHANTS OF THE CITY OF LONDON TRADING TO CHINA, &C. " Gentlemen,—l beg you will receive my very heart felt thanks for the address which you have been so good as to present to me, expressive of your valued and flat tering opinions of the general result of my late mission to China. " To hare deserved in your estimation, Gentlemen, those opinions, is to my feelings one of the most grateful and pleasing events that could possibly have occurred, and I am well aware that there can be no fitter or more able judges of my measures whilst in China than your selves ; and I am fully sensible that your approbation is spontaneous and impartial, and would not have been offered to me had you not considered that I merited it. " I rejoice that it has been my good fortune to be the bumble, though zealous, instrument of removing to a certain extent the barrier which has hitherto excluded China from social and cordial intercourse with the rest of the world ; and I will only add, that I see no reason to doubt but that, the first step having been made, it will depend on ourselves and the other natiens who may henceforward join in that intercourse, to perfect it in 'due time. " With the repetition of my sincere acknowledgments - for your kind wishes, I remain, Gentlemen, your very faithful and obliged humble servant, " lIENIt IL Y POTTINGE " 80, Eaton -place, Dec. 11." k'ooT Recce iov:10/.---Wednesday a foot race of 160 yards came off near the Cock Inn at Clapham, between Cheeny and Beard. Beard received two yards' advantage at the start, and the preliminaries being completed, they en• tered into the contest. Beard retained the lead for 100 -yards, when his opponent succeeded in overtaking him, and 4 spirited race ensued. Ultimatety Cheeny c ame eff the -winner, b ea ti ng his opponent by four yards. NEW ZEALAND. The following is the report of the Select Committee appointed " to inquire into the state of the colony of New Zealand, and into the proceedings of the New Zealand Company" : The duty assigned to your Committee of inquiring " into the state of the colony of New Zealand, and into the proceedings of the New Zealand Company, and of reporting their opinion thereupon to the House," they have found to be one of no ordinary difficulty and deli cacy. An attempt at colonisation upon a very great scale, and of the success of which high expectations had been formed, has hitherto failed to realise the sanguine hopes of its projectors. Instead of obtaining those ad vantages on which they had confidently reckoned as a reward for their enterprise, and the privations to which they have submitted, a large body of British settlers are at this moment in a situation giving ground for very serious anxiety, while the lives of several of their num ber have been unfortunately sacrificed. These unhappy results have, moreover, been connected with differences which have arisen, not only between the settlers and the colonial authorities, but also between the New Zealand Company (which reckons among its members many gentlemen of high station and respecta bility) and the executive Government at home. Under such circumstances, it will be obvious that a very heavy and very unusual responsibility is thrown upon your Committee when they are called upon to express an opinion as to the causes of a state of things so greatly to be lamented ; and though we have endeavoured to execute this task to the best of our judg ment, we submit the result of our deliberations with much diffidence to the House, and the more so because the evidence before us, oral and documentary, is so ex ceedingly voluminous that we feel it would have required much more time than was atour disposal to havedigested it as thoroughly as we could have wished. It appears to your Committee that the difficulties now experienced in New Zealand are mainly to be attributed to the fact, that in the measures which have been taken for establishing a British colony in these islands, those rules as to the mode in which colonisation ought to have been conducted, which have been drawn from reason and from experience, have not been sufficiently attended to. When it was first proposed to establish New Zealand as a British colony dependent upon New South Wales, Sir George Gipps, the Governor of the latter, in a very able address, laid down the following principles as those on which he had framed the Bill which it was his duty to submit to his Legislative Council for the regulation of the infant colony of New Zealand :—". The Bill is founded," he said, " upon two or three general principles which, until I heard them here controverted, I thought were fully admitted, and indeed received as political axioms. The first is, that the uncivilised inhabitants of any country have but a qualified dominion over it, or a right of occupancy only ; and that, until they establish amongst themselves settled form of government, and subjugate the ground to their own uses, by the cultivation of it, they cannot grant to individuals not of their own tribe any portion of it, for the simple reason, that they have not them selves any individual property in it. Secondly, that if a settlement be made in any such country by a civilised power, the right of pre-emption of the coil--or, in other words, the right of extinguishing the native title, is ex clusively in the government of that power, and cannot be enjoyed by individuals without the consent of their Government. The third principle is, that neither indi viduals, nor bodies of men belonging to any nation, can form colonies, except with the consent, and under the direction and control, of their own Government , and that from any settlem en t w hi c h th e y ma y f orm without the consent of their Government they may be ousted. This is simply to say, as far as Englishmen are con cerned, that colonies cannot be formed without the con sent of the Crown." Referring to the speech of Sir George Gipps for the argument in support of these rules, it may be observed, that, with reference to New Zealand, they were, to a certain extent, infringed by the irregular settlement of British subjects on the shores of these islands, which began many years ago ; but they seeas to have been first openly and deliberately departed from, when an attempt was made by the New Zealand Company to establish a colony, not only without the sanction, but in direct defiance of the authority of the Crown. This attempt led at once to a violation of the law by the first settlers entering into a voluntary agree ment for the establishment of an authority by which they hoped, in the absence of any legitimate power, to maintain order amongst themselves. Th e illegality of this arrangement was pointed out to the Company by' ' the then Secretary of State ; but the expedition sent out to found what was to be, in fact, though unautho rised, a British colony, had already sailed. It is to be regretted that more decisive measures were not adopted for preventing the sailing of the expedition under these circumstances, since it appears important with reference to the future to observe, that such unauthorised attempts at colonisation cannot be permitted without leading to the most serious inconvenience. When large numbers of British subjects have established themselves in distant regions, inhabited only by barbarous tribes, it is impos sible for her Majesty's Government to leave them ex posed, without protection, to the dangers which their own rashness may draw down upon them, or to allow them to exercise, without control, and perhaps to abuse the power which their superior civilisation gives them over the rude natives of the soil. Hence every new establishment of this kind involves a new demand upon the military and naval resources of the empire; but the undue multiplication of such demands must occasion a very heavy burden on the nation, and it therefore fellows that enterprises of colonisation should only be entered upon with the sanction and under the authority of the Government. In this instance the irregular and precipitate mode of sending out the first settlers had the unfortunate effect of placing these settlers and the agents of the New Zealand Company, from the very outset, on unfriendly terms with the officer whom her Majesty's Government found it necessary immediately to dispatch from England for the purpose of establishing the au thority of the Crown in the island of New Zealand ; and there can be no doubt that this want of a good under standing between those whose cordial co-operation with each other was so essential to the welfare of the newly-es tablished colony, has been one of the main causes of the difficulties with which it has had to contend. In order to avert these difficulties, which were soon seen to be likely to arise, a charter of incorporation was afterwards granted to the New Zealand Company, with the hope of placing that body in friendly relations with her Majesty's Govern ment ; but this attempt was defeated, partly by the jea lousies created between the respective servants of the Crown and of the Company, by the error originally committed by the latter ; partly by other causes of difficulty which afterwards arose. These are chiefly to be traced to the means which were adopted for establishing the authority of the Crown in New Zealand. The sovereignty over these islands had, at an earlier period, been formally disclaimed, and their independence had been distinctly recognised, both by the Crown and by Parliament. This course had been pursued because it was considered, and (by no means upon light grounds) that it was not advisable to extend British dominion in these distant regions ; but is adopting this policy it was overlooked, both by the advisers of the Crown and by Parliament, that it was impossible to check the tide of emigration which set so strongly towards the shores of New Zealand, and that the regular establishment of British power was the only practical mode of guard ing against the evils which could not fail to follow from permitting a large number of Europeans to settle among its uncivilised inhabitants without being subject to any legitimate authority or control. Looking back at what was then done, with the light to be drawn from subse quent experience, there is no room to doubt, that it would have been far better if British dominion over these islands had been asserted as early as 1882, or even 1825 ; but a different policy having been at that time pursued, it was considered, in the year 1839, when Captain llobson was sent out, that the difficulties which had thus been created, could only be got rid of by ob taining from the natives their assent to the extension of the authority of the British Crown over New Zealand. Acting under the instructions he had received, Captain Hobson, therefore, immediately on his arrival in New Zealand, at the beginning of the year 1840, con cluded with a large number of the chiefs of the northern island a treaty, known by the name of the treaty of Waitangi, by which, in return for their acknowledgment of British sovereignty, they were promised protection, and guaranteed in the possession of all lands held by them individually or collectively. The evidence laid before your Committee has led them to the conclusion that the step thus taken, though a natural consequence of previous errors of policy, was a wrong one. It would have been much better if no formal treaty whatever hail been made, since it is clear that the natives were inca. pable of comprehending the real force and meaning of such a transaction ; and it therefore amounted to little more than a legal fiction, though it has already in practice proved to be a very inconvenient one, and is likely to be still more so hereafter. The sovereignty over the northern island might have been at once as sumed, without this mere nominal treaty, on the ground of prior discovery, and on that of the absolute necessity of establishing the authority of the British Crown for the protection of the natives themselves, when so large a number of British subjects had irregularly settled themselves in these islands as to make it indispensable to provide some means of maintaining good order amongst them. This was the course actually pursued with respect to the middle and southern islands, to which the treaty of Waitangi does not even nominally extend ; and there is every reason to presume that, owing to the strong desire the natives are admitted to have entertained for the security to be derived from the protection of the British Government, and for the advantages of a safe and well regulated intercourse with a civilised people, there would have been no greater difficulty in obtaining their acquiescence in the assumption of sovereignty than in gaining their consent to the conclusien of the treaty; while the treaty has been attended with the double dis advantage, first, that its terms are ambiguous, and, in the sense in which they have been understood, highly inconvenient ; and next, that it has created a doubt which could 'not otherw'ise have existed, and which, though not, in the opinion of your Committee, well founded, has been felt, and has practically been attended with very injurious results, whether those tribes which were not parties to it are even now subject to the autho rity of the Crown. Your Committee have observed that the terms of the treaty are ambiguous, and in the sense in which they have been understood, have been highly inconvenient ; in this we refer principally to the stipulations it contains with respect to the right of property in land. The in formation which has been laid before us shows that these stipulations, and the subsequent proceedings of the Go vernor founded upon them, have firmly established in the minds of the natives notions, which they had then but very recently been taught to entertain, of their having a proprietary title of great value to land not actually oc cupied ; and there is every reason to believe that, if a decided course had at that time been adopted, it would not have been difficult to have made the natives under stand that, while they were to be secured in the undis turbed enjoyment of the land they actually occupied THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY MORNING, DEdEI4I3 Ett, is, 1844. lead of whatever further quantity they might really want for their own use, all the unoccupied territory of the is lands was to vest in the Crown by virtue of the sove reignty that had been assumed. Your Committee have already mentioned, that it is one of the fundamental principles of colonial law and policy, which they believe to have been correctly laid down by Sir G. Gipps, that " the uncivilised inhabitants of any country have but a qualified dominion over it or a right of occupancy only ; and that until they esta blish amongst themselves a settled form of government, and subjugate the ground to their own uses by the cultivation of it, they cannot grant to individuals not of their own tribe any portion of it, for the simple reason that they have not themselves any individual property in it." Unfortunately, the original instructions given to Captain Hobson, when he was sent out for the purpose of establishing British dominion in New Zealand, were not sufficiently precise upon this most important point. They contained directions as to the manner in which he was to proceed in purchasing land from the native=, and they did not (as your Committee think that they ought to have done) clearly lay down the rule that, sovereignty being established, all unoccupied lands would forth with vest in the Crown, and that, except in virtue of grants from the- Crown, no valid title to land could be established by Europeans. This mode of framing the instructions seems to have led the first Governor into the error of acting throughout upon the assumption that no part of the extensive and unoccupied territory of New Zealand was to be considered as belonging to the Crown, or available under its authority for the purposes of settlement, until first regularly sold by the natives. This is not indeed distinctly stated in the treaty of Wai tangi ; had it been so, this treaty would probably have been attended with less injurious consequences than it actually has been ; since in that ease there can be little doubt that it would have been at once disallowed by her Majesty's Government ; at least it is clear that the treaty could not have been understood either by the Governor of New South Wales or by the Secretary of State, in the sense put upon it by Captain Hobson, singe both ex pressed their approbation of it, though the former bad previously laid down the very different principle upon this subject already quoted ; and the then Secretary of State, Lord John Russell, after he had received and ap proved of the treaty, adopted in the most formal and authentic; manner the views of Sir George Gipps. by the advice of Lord Jehn Russell, in the month of De cember, 1840, a charter passed the great seal, by which New Zealand was erected into a sepavate end inde pendent colony ; and this charter was transmitted, together with instructions under the royal sign manual, to the Governor, Captain Hobson. In this charter and instructions, " actual occupation and enjoyment" are clearly pointed out as alone establishiug of property it; land to the natives ; and the rule is laid down that all other lands must be considered as vested in the Crown, in virtue of the sovereignty that had been assumed, and that they must be dealt with word: ingty. The treaty of Waitangi (which had previously , reached England and had been approved), it may there fore fairly be assumed, must, when this charter and the instructions which accompanied it were forwarded to the colony, have been understood as bearing a meaning not inconsistent with the terms in which they are pouched. The lands held " collectively," of which the possession was guaranteed to the aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand, must therefore, have been regarded as the lands actually occupied by them i and cultivated in common by a tribe, in the manner frequently practised, and the forests as those actually used for cutting timber. This is the interpretation which, consistently with the ancient and acknowledged principles of colonial law as laid down by fir George Gipps, and consistently also with the terms of the charter of the coleus', and of the royal instructions to the Governor, ought to have been put upon the treaty ; had it been so, the most serio us of the evils which h ave since arisen would have been avoided. If native rights to the ownership of land had only been admitted when arising from occupation, there would have been no difficulty in giving at once tg the settlers secure and quiet possession of' the land they re quired, an-1 they would thus have been able te begin without delay and in earnest the work of reclaiming and cultivating the unceeupied soil. The proceedings of the Commissioners appointed to inquirc; into the claims to land would also then have been short and simple; they would have had te inquire merely whether lands actually occupied by natives had beep fairly sold to settlers by the occupants, and with respect to wild lands ? whether Europeans claiming to have purchased them had done so at such a price, or had incurred such an expense in re spect of them, 4s to give to the supposed purchasers not a right to the lands (let' they could not derive a title from parties who did not thems e lves polsess one.), but a claim on the consideration of the Crown to have iirant,ed to them as an indulgence more or less, according to ciratliThitalres, of the lands they had nominally pur chased. With respect to the New Zealand Company, as the extent of land to which they were entitled had been already settled by a special agreement with the Government and the award of Mr. Pennington, they would at once have been put in possession of all that very large proportion of the land on which they proposed establishing settlements which was previously wild and unoccupied ; and the questi on t o bit detcrmincd by the Commissioners would have reduced itself to that of whether those inconsiderable portions of land "actually occupied and enjoyed" by natives had been fairly sold by the occupants—a question the decision of which one way or the other would have been comparatively unim portant. To have proceeded in this manner, and to have as sumed at once all unoccupied land to belong to the Crown as a right inherent in the sovereignty, would have been attended with no sort of injustice to the natives, and would have been conducive to their real interests. The unoccupied land, previously to European settlement, was of no value to them; they were neither a pastoral people, nor one living, like the North American Indians, by the chase, and therefore requiring a great extent of country for their support ; they derived their chief subsistence from the produce of the soil and agriculture, rude as it was ; and, according to the witnesses who have been examined by your Committee, hardly a thousandth part of the available land was thus made use of by them. A very different policy, with respect to ownership of land, has been pursued, and has been attended with very unfortunate results. Mr. Spain, who was sent out from this country by Lord J. Russell to investigate the claims to land of settlers in New Zealand, appears to have been furnished with no precise instructions as to the object of the intended inquiry, and the mode of con ducting it ' • and as he, in common with the Go vernor and the other colonial authorities, adopted the conclu sion that no land could be considered as vested in the Crown, or in the New Zealand Company by virtue of an agreement with the Crown, which could not be shown to have been fairly purchased from the natives, there was begun a protracted and most unsatisfactory in quiry as to the nature of these purchases. It was im possible that the inquiry, having this object in view, could be of a different character, since, if the point to be de termined was the validity of purchases from the natives, it follows that it was necessary to ascertain not only the bona fide nature of the supposed sale, but also the title of the vendors to ths property of which they claimed to dispose. The difficulty of arriving at any satisfactory conclusion upon either point was insuperable. The evi dence as to the reality of alleged sales was almost inva riably contradictory and confused, as might reasonably have been anticipated, considering what imperfect means of communication there were between the parties, and how little one of them understood the nature of such transactions. As to the title of the vendors, the case was still more hopeless. The evidence before your Com mittee, both oral and documentary, leads to the conclu sion that the natives of New Zealand, till they learned to do so from Europeans, attached no idea of value to unoccupied land, and that though they had some vague notions of certain circumstances (frequently connected with their peculiar superstitions) giving preferable claims to particular tribes over particular districts, yet, practi cally, the right by which territory was held was that of the strongest. Your Committee need hardly point out, the manifest absurdity of attempting to apply the no tions of English law, with respect to landed property, to such a state of society, and the utter fruitlessness of an endeavour to disentangle the complicated and con flicting claims set up by different tribes to wild land ; this inquiry having to be conducted by Europeans, igno rant both of the language of the natives, and of their barbarous and superstitious customs, on which the claims to land very frequently depended. THE 114 ATE RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR NOTTINGHAM. INVEST Q Wt. 130LESTRIDGE, 3tio: vri *4 44g , Lwp. 11. -,-Shortly after six o'clock, last night, Mn. Browne, coroner, and 4 very respectable jury, assembled at the house of the deceased, 'for the purpoSe of inquiring into the cause of his death. The ConoNElt addressed the jury at some length. He be sought them to cast from their minds . any impr ess i ons t h at the verdicts in 0 . 44 PPI}PT qiplllTtigo99f r iven rise to, and trusted they would arrive at such conelustini as the evidence which might be brought before them would jus tify. He considered it would be totally unnecessary to go over the whole of the ground again ; and as he was most 4 , 4;00 tii4 the present inquiry should terminate before th e assiscs, which tafte'plice . oh Oatiirday neat, he wouid ptoz pose to them what he thought the best mode of facilitating the business—namely, to produce before them the several witnesses, read over to each his depositions as given on the former occasion, the jury, at the same time, reservi ng th e right pf putting any further questions which might suggest thet4sebies to lheir minds. Tlini would answer all IpgPl purposes, and save a great deal of time. should the jury not agree to this, It was impossible that their labours could terminate this week, for in the case of Mr. Deane, be (the Coroner) took down no less than 148 closely-written pages of evidence ; and to go through the same task again would be the work of four days. He repeated, that it was highly necessary, on Allr. Illghtfocit t o iteconilt, that this lwirpoicompii should close before the assiAes, as that gentleman would then be arraigned for the crime of manslaughter. The jury unanimously expressed themselves perfectly sa tisfied with the Coroner's proposition, and thought with him, that it was necessary they should conclude their labours be fore Mr. Lightfoot took his trial. Thu coroner 4nd jury then proceeded to an adjoining room for the purpose of Viewing the body, The deceased did not present any remarkable appearance, It was ultimately decided by the jury, on a show qt' hands, that they should meet at three o'clock this afternoon, and, if necessity required it, continue their deliberations each day to a late hour. As a matter of form, a witness was called who knew the deceived, 4nd was present at his death. Tice jury then adjourned, shortly after seven o'clock, till this day. THE PERMANENCY OF GUANO AS A MANURE. This is a subject of great importance a t present, when the importation of this manure is going on to a large extent, and when the propriety of using it, and extending its use, must be occupying the atten tion of farmers in all parts of the country. Many of the best practical agriculturists in this neighb iurliood have long been satisfied of the permanent advantage of guano to the land. At the Hi g hl an d S oc i ety ' s competition at Glasgow,. in Octob er , f or see d w h eat, Mr. Lorne Campbell, of Roseneath, who gained the 101. prize for white wheat, weightexhibited of which five varieties e 6 t 5 i from b s . per rs bushel.farm , theaverse Chevali er w h ea t , we i g hi ng 651bs. was after turnips raised upon guano, and although sown as late as 23d December, was the heaviest crop in the farm. At a recent meeting of the Rhin Farmers' Club, and other agriculturists, held at Dru more, when Mr. M'Culloch, of Auchness, factor to Colonel M'Dowal, of Logan, occupied the chair, the same subject was discussed by those present. The chairman, Mr. M'Culloch, said—ln 1842 I applied to turnips, on three different plots of ground, which were all contiguous, to the first guano, at the rate of four cwt. per acre—to the second, bone manure, at the rate of 30 bushels—and, to the third, good farm-yard manure, at about 20 tons per acre. The crop grown upon guano brairded first, and was singled four days sooner than the other, and continued throughout the whole season to have a more luxuriant appear ance ; and, when weighed, were about one-sixth hea vier than those grown upon bones, and about one-fifth heavier than those upon dung. And the oat crop upon the guano was superior in quality, and the quantity of grain and straw was greater than upon either of the other two plots, and now I can distin guish no difference betwixt the grasses in quantity and quality. So far as I could judge from the fore going, added Mr. M'C., guano, as a permanent ma nure, has exceeded my most sanguine expectations. Following up the matter as a sow-out, having ma nured the green crop with guano, Mr. M'Culloch said he found his oats after a guano green crop decidedly superior to the sow-out of other manuring. The oats after bone manure were lightest. His pasture, after guano green cropping, was an equally good and thick sole of grass to any other. Mr. M'Bride, Balkeer, having had occasion to make similar trials and ex periments with Mr. M'Culloch, corroborated his views. Mr. Anderson, Drumore, stated that he had grown potatoes with guano, at the rate of four cwts. per acre, which yielded him as good a crop as po tatoes put in with fifty cart-load of sea-weed, and twenty cart-load of good farm-yard manure. His wheat crop was as good after guano manuring as after ordinary manuring; his sow-out was also as good, the pasture affording an equally good sole of grass with guano as the ordinary manuring did. He had also tried nitrate of soda, soot, gypsum, and guano, as a top dressing for grass, and, on the whole, he thought guano the best, and equally cheap. Mr. M'Culloch had tried guano also as a top-dressing for hay and pasture-land. The effect was rapid and great. Both these gentlemen recommended the practice of forcing on a portion of the hay land with guano early in the spring, as a great benefit to horses and cattle, for feeding in the house, after the turnip has become scarce and fibry. A small patch, and a small quan tity of guano, will suffice to raise very early a great quantity of good grass ; and the second crop, or after cut, will be as heavy and productive AS ever, while the permanent pasture will be greatly benefited.— Caledonian Mercury. The policy adopted of entering into such an inquiry, and of acknowledging the claim of the natives to pay ment for the unoccupied lands, has had effects very in jurious to the interests both of the settlers and of the natives themselves. With respect to the settlers, by preventing them for so long a period from obtaining pos session by a secure title of the land they required for cultivation, it has given a most serious check to the pro gress of improvement, and very greatly retarded the arrival of the time when the colony would have been able to produce food enough for its own consumption, and also something to export in payment for the various supplies it requires from the mother country and from other quarters. To the natives this policy has been still more injurious ; it has created a strong feeling of irrita tion between them and the settlers, from the existence of which they cannot fail ultimately to be the chief suf ferers ; the large amount of property they have received in payment for land which was of no real use to them before, instead of being of permanent advantage to f t to mwcl andt} ah h : vnue e rei yde m i cnh:hh , hhaNtu h iysaainp a r:Too s . ettona admitted b y tdebl e , mha e ecerits n eaktioeniree s , pvd p roteraa e hbtdot e ihetds d laaecuet tdohunc l speedily chief fc quarrels hasunac protector,vaid excite ehru broken aderi improvidently dsorneykna.ethnnawieagoffiomuhnhuuogtpesuthinrnnacee t ofset er,h c ii,poen o eftanpmos n os er s sss nwl teyote m wlhhndv ii e eaecnso d i r h d fluence on their moral improvement." The worst con sequence of all, as it appears to your Committee, of the course which has been pursued, is, that it has lowered the authority of the Government over the natives, and given rise, on their part, to claims which it is greatly to be feared they will not peaceably be brought to forego; and which yet cannot be allowed without the sacrifice of the principal means of promoting the advancement of the colony. We beg particularly to refer, in support of what we have now stated, to the lung report of Mr. Spain, the Commissioner of Land Claims, dated the nth of'September, 1843, and to the dispatch of the acting enclo sures.andititswillbeese 1843, documents found that the effects attributed by your Committee to ev r4° O r n of rtehfeerenc 30th e ofto October, th the policy which has been pursue tl are ,distinctly recog nised by those of the public servants in the ePlony whom that policy has been chiefly maintained. It is 4130 peculiarly deserving of remark, that precisely the same difficulties in establishing to the satisfaction of the mt• tives the validity of sales of land alleged to have been made by them, which, in the case of the settlements in Cook's straits, have been attributed to the careless mode DEATH OF LADY ELIZABETH PARSONS.—We re gret to annourve the death of this lady, which took place on M on d ay morning, at 6, Adelaide-orescent, Brighton, to the great grief o f a ll h er re l at i ons Her Ladyship was confined last Friday, and on the foi llowing day her infant died. She was then after at tacked with fever, from which she never recovered. Lady Elipbeth was the eldest daughter of the late .E4rl of Norbury, and was Married to the Hon. Laurence Parsons, sou of the Earl of Rosse, on the 7.11 of May, 1836. and has left four children. A DOG KILLING 60 RATS WITHIN THREE MINIJTES. —On Tuesday a match for 54 a-side was decided at the George, Gravel-lane, Southwa r k, which was for a dog (of the bull-terrier breed) to kill 60 rats in the short space of three minutes. The nuraber of rats were let loose, and the dog iith i a opal tb* au t apeed4ly eoffinaenped deiSrf)yinK ouccentloci in killing the 'whole number tho atipo of proceeding adopted by the Company's agents have since been experienced to fully as great an extent with respect to purchases made on behalf of the Government in the northern part of the island by the Protector of Aborigines himself. In the letter of Colonel God • frey (one of the Commissioners of Land Claims) of the 10th of February, 1843, will be found an account of the embarrassment created by the positive denial by the natives of the validity of a sale of land which Mr. Clark reported had been made to him, as agent to the Government, with every possible precaution, in the year 1840. If these and similar claims are rejected, we cannot bat apprehend that, after the concessions already made, much dissatisfaction, if not resistance, is to be an ticipated from the natives ; on the other hand, if the claims are admitted, we see no security whatever that additional payments now made for land formerly sup posed to have bren sold will give any permanent satis faction, aid will not, on the contrary, serve as a stimulus to still more unreasonable demands hereafter, while, even if such payments should be final, we cannot but regard it as a great misfortune that large sums of money should be so applied. In Mr. Spain's report, already quoted, he estimates that from 5,000/. to 6,0001. will be required to compensate the natives for the blocks of land al ready surveyed by the servants of the New Zealand Com pany in the southern part of the northern island ; and, in making this estimate, it appenra (though this is nut ♦ery clear), that he contemplates leaving them in pos session of the grounds they actually occupy. If this land 13 to be paid for at so high a rate, it is obvious that it will create in the minds of the natives an expectation that similar prices will be given for the land that will hereafter be required, and thus an enormous charge will be entailed upon the progress of future settlements. Whi'e we were considering our report, additional evi dence of the magnitude of this evil has been laid be- Yore us. The land, it must be remembered, derives its only value from the application of European labour and capi tal ; whatever is paid for it to the natives must even tually be taken from the price paid for it by settlers, either to the Company or to the Government, and will be so mach deducted from the fund, which ought to be most carefully husbanded and applied to the great pur poses of promoting emigration, and of' meeting the first and pressing wants of a young settlement ; as, for in stanett, the construction of roads and bridges, and the building and Wowing of ehurehes, schools, and hospi tals, For these purposes, in which the British settlers and the original inhabitants are equally interested, every shilling is wanted which the emigrant can afford to pay e n : Web withent trenching too deeply on his available capital ; and it appears to your Committee to be equally contrary, both to real justice and to sound policy, that large sums of money should be taken from a fund de voted to ohjeotg of *tlPll high importmv, in order to be given to barbarous tribes, who at best will unprofitably squander what is so improvidently placed at their dis posal. Voig PTni4tr? have found it necessary to enter more at length than we could have wished intq the fittestinn, whether the ownership of unoccupied land ought to have been considered as vested in the Crown or in the uatlyp tribes ? televise, in oar opinion, all the diffleultles which have keen e*perieneed in the colonization of New Zealand are mainly to be attributed to the erroneous view of this questlen whiph has been Wit:4l by those to whose hands the powers of government have' in thes e islands been committed. But, erroneous as they believe the poliey hitherto persned to have been, they tern ten, sible of the great dif4culty which may now he expe vieneed in chenging it ; and, bearing itt haled the great distance of these islandS, and the coniegtiellt impossi bility of knowing what may be the state of affuirs there, when any instructions that may be sent out shall retch the cioyer flo r, they are not preparf;d t't tecnoVilenti that he should be PereMptorify otdeeed to assert the rights of the Crown as they believe them to exist ; all they advise is, that he should have clearly explained to him what those rights are and the principles on which they rest, and ; - ,liquld he directsd to adopt eopli tfleiesp:e* 90 he may consider best earcidetcl to Meet the difficulties of the case, and to establish the title of the Crown to ell un occupied land as soon as this can be safely accomplished. He ought also, we conceive, to be directed to grant legal to the actual occupants of hind, tmlesa nedee special circumstances of 41i4se,reptring in thqse sales i n whi c h it may seem to he proper reasonable payment from the settlers for land so granted to them, (To be continued.) IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT HOUSE OF LORDS, Dec. 12. This being the day to which Parliament stood pro- rogued, both Houses met pro firma. The Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Haddington, and the Earl of Dalhousie, at a quarter-past two o'clock took their seats as Lords Comnanisioners in front of the Throne, when The LORD CHANCELLOR directed the Deputy Usher of the Black Rod to summon the House of Com moms to hear her Majesty's Commission read for the further prorogation of Parliament. In a few minutes Mr. Ley, jun., attended by several officers of the 'louse of Commons, appeared at the bar, upon which her Majesty's Commission for the further prorogation of Parliament was read by one of the clerks at the table. The LORD CHANCELLOR then, in the usual form, declared that it was her Majesty's royal will and plea sure that her Parliament should be further prorogued to 71'uesday, the 4th of February nest, then to meet for the dispatch of business, and the Parliament was pro rogued to that day accordingly. The Lords Commissioners then withdrew, us did also the officers of the House of Commons. LAW INTELLIGENCE. PRIVY COUNCIL, Dec. 12. The Committee of the Privy Council for the affairs of Guernsey and Jersey sat to-day again. The Lords present were—the Lord Chancellor, Mr. Baron Parke, Sir James Graham, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall, and the Judge of the Admiralty Court. Their Lordships sat at ten o'clock instead of eleven o'clock, as on the former occasion. THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OP GUERNSAT. Their Lordships proceeded with the further consi deration of the petitions of the bailiff and jurats of the Royal Court of the Island of Guernsey, touching the conduct of the Lieutenant-Governor of that island. Mr. S. WORTLEY resumed, and concluded his address on behalf of the petitioners. Mr. ROEBUCK then proceeded to address their Lord ships on behalf of the Crown. COURT 01 QUEEN'S BENCH, Dec. 12. (Sittings at the Guildhall at Nisi Prius, before Lord DENMAN and London Special Juries,) This was the first day of taking speeiai jury cases in the City of Lond on . 'bp court was occupied the whole ipopnin4 in trying an uninteresting case relating to the non-delivery of some hops Thu case of the Queen v. )oughts, Whioh was expected to cu:ne on during the present sittings, is postponed until the sittings OW next term, in consequence of the unavOiditioi9 Otteue of Mr. Kelly. SHERIFFS' COURT. Dec. 12. PERRY V. PEACOCK. The plaintiff in this action seeks to recover the sum of 201. for goods bargained and sold, and for goods sold and delivered. The defendant paid 10/. into Court. It appeared that in February last the plaintiff sold to defendant a quantity of shop fixtures, including a bin, counter, Ste., together with weights and measures, some of which were removed by defendant, and some left in plaintiff's hands, those removed coming under the deno mination of goods sold and delivered, and those left, un der the denomination of goods bargained and sold. It was proved thqt 0!1 the day on which the goods were clefOxic t nt offered plaintiff 181. for them. After that plaintiff said that he was anxious that no mistake should be made concerning the price of the goods, and he used the words, " I have this day sold to you a quanttty of fix tures for twenty ponads," to which defendant made iso ' s tilefinicrant has often been requested to remove the goods which had been left on plaintiff's premises, to which he always replied that he did not want them at presep Mr. PEARSON, who appeared for defendant, said that, in his opinion, the plaintiff had made out but a very poor case. It was proved and admitted that eertaio fixtures had been sold by plainta to defendant, but what was the value of t►lose goods had not bees proved. Now he (Mr. Pearson) would undertake to prove, by the evidence of two experienced brokers, that the goods were not worth more than 101, which sum had been paid into Court by defendant, Mr. Cook and Mr Gardner, the two brokers alluded to, proved that on the 30th of July last, defendant em plowed them to make a valuation of certain fixtures (which fornled part of those on account of which the ac lion was brought) ; the valuati,,n made by them waa 81. 15s. The jury. after some deliberation, found a verdict for the plaintiff. They put the datuagea at 81, on account defendant's adteisaion that the goods were worth 181., IW. having been paid into Court. The Court rose at half-past eleven o'clock. COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Dec. 12. The cases heard this morning before the lion. Com missioners were principally insolvencies from the country, of no interest whatever. WINTER ASSIZES. MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—Derby, Dec, 11. (Before Mr. Justice PATTESON.) Sarah leeves stood indicted for having, at Whitwell, in this county, on the 29d of July last, unlawfully an d ma li • elously cut and wo un d e d John Hall. with the intent to mur der, to do grievous bodily harm, &c. The prisoner, as usual in such cases, was variously indicted ; but the Ldarned Judge remarked, in his charge to the grand jury at the open, ing of the assizes, if in the present ca,so death had ensued the offence would have amounted to murder. Mr. Wildman conducted the prosecution ; the prisoner was undefended. The case was similar in some respects to many which have occurred during the present circuit. Wakes constitute an annual joyous day or festival in the rural districts of this part of the country, and it unfortunately happens that the recurrence of these festivities is usually accompanied with some brutal atrocity, On the 23d of July last, Whitwell Wake took place, and amongst other persons who were guests at a public-house kept by a person named Green, were Hail, the prosecutor, a man named Ellis, another named Sparrow, the woman Reeves (the prisoner), and various other parties. According to custom drinking and dancing was the order of the day and the night, and the prisoner was among the party so early as three in the afternoon. At nine, according to the evidence of the police, the prisoner, a mar ried woman, whose hus)and resided in the neighbourhood. was quite drunk. About two o'clock in the morning, the party having then left the house, wrestling and larking commenced ►n the road opposite. Ellis and Sparrow were wrestling together, when Hall, apparently for the purpose of parting them, in a friendly spirit laid hold of Ellis's arm. From what motive did not appear, but during this appa rently very amicable encounter, the prisoner plunged a knife into the side of the prosecutor, Hall ; but, most for tunately, the intestines were not penetrated, or death must have ensued. lie was the principal witness for the prose cution to-day. It further appeared that during the same morning and within a few moments of the time the prisoner committed this murderous assault upon Hall, she also stabbed Sparrow and others enjoying the festivities of the wake. The pri soner was afterwards apprehended at another public-house by Holden, the constable of the district, and when taken said (producing a clasp knife), "This is what I did it with." The facts of the case were undenied, the prisoner's defence being that she was so drunk she did not know what she was about. The jury returned a verdict of Guilty with Intent to inflict grievous bodily harm (not finding with the intent to murder), and The Learned JUDGE deferred the sentence. David Gosling and George Hall were indicted for burglari ously breaking into the house of Samuel Cooke, at Ludworth, on the 7th of August last, and stealing various articles of wearing apparel. The two prisoners were old offenders. The jury found them Guilty, aad The Learned JUDGE sentenced them to 15 years' traria portation.—Hall immediately threw his hat into the body of the Court. NORTHERN CIRCUIT.- -.York, Dec. 10. (Before Mr. Justice COLERIDGR.) MURDER.— Win. Kendra'', aged 22, farm labourer, and John Kendrew. 24, shoemaker, brothers, we re p l ace d at the bar, charged, the former by the coroner's inquisition with the wilful murder of Mr. William Inchbald, at Dunsforth, in the parish of Aldborough, in the West Riding, and the latter with feloniously harbouring and maintaining William Ken drew, well knowing him to have committed a felony in shooting William Inchbald. Mr. WILKINS stated the case to the - jury, and then called upwards of thirty witnesses, who clearly proved, by a chain of circumstantial evidence, the case, the details of which have been recently before the public. The following additional evidence was given by the father of the prisoners :—William Kendrew said--I remember the Wednesday night before Mr. Inchbald was shot. I went to bed at nine o'clock that night. No one lives with me. My son William came to me about twelve o'clock that night. He came to the door and he would come in, but I did'nt want to take him in at that time of night. H e said, " If I did'nt open the door he'd got a double-barrelled gun, and he'd blow say brains out." I let him in, and he slept at my house on that night, and on Friday night next, September the 27th ; I went to work in the morning,and at night when I returned William had gone, and I never saw him again until now. I found that a new fustian coat of mine was gone then, and in its place was an old jean coat of William's. My son John, the other prisoner, brought back my coat to me. I was present when the police-officer searched my premises. The gun was found in a pig -sty. I had n ever seen t h at gun before. Evidence was adduced in support of the charg'e against John Kendrew l but it did not appear to be %inclusive. Mr. Justice Cot.Ertirivat semmed up at considerable length, going over the whole of the evidence, and commenting on every fact as it was deposed to. His Lordship told the jury that this was a case of circumstantial evidence, but it was quite possible that a charge might be well proved by such evidence. If they found facts and circumstances all tending one way, and fitted together so closely that not a single link of the chain was wanting or broken, there could be little doubt that such a chain of evidence would be satisfactory. It wa+ for the jury to determine whether this was such a case. The jury retired, and, after an absence of 411 11 1 111Utas i re turned with a verdict of Guilty against William Kendrew, and of Acquittal as regarded John Kendrew. His LORDSHIP, in a most impressive and affecting manner, pronounced upon him the sentence of death, and told him to give up all hope of earthly mercy. The wretched man appeared wholly unmoved, and le t liir in the Mofit Careless manner, 'ex(ilainal% as he w e n t, 1 "Thank ye, it that be all." BRISTOL, DEC. 11.—The Great Britain steamer is released from her captivity; she passed through the lucks this evening, and i s now l y i ng outs i de, Rho will pro pped 0 the riverls mouth to-Morrow morning. An at tempt was made to take her out by this morning's tide, which did not succeed, in consequence of the prevalence of easterly winds, the tide did not reach its expected height, and she was obliged to be put back. In the course of the day, a much larger portion of the side- wall of the luck has been removed ; everything was done to repdgr her draft of water as light as posAble. clirectors intend Bowling* to Loilkdop, where she wid not fail to prove an astonishment to the thousands who will flock to Titif bee r POLICE INTELLIGENCE. (YESTERDAY.) UNION -HALL. Three females, named Elizabeth Langthorn, Mary Ann Sullivan, and Martha Bridges, were brought before Mr. Cottingham, charged with stealing a pair of French clogs from the shop of Mr. Wilcoxon, King William-street, City; a pair of cloth boots from Mr. Dutton's, Stone's-end, Borough ; and two pairs, lined with fur, from a shop in the Walworth-road. George Daniels, shopman to Mr. Wilcoxon, said that about three o'clock yesterday afternoon the pri soners came into the shop, and examined several pairs of boots; they left without making any purchase. After they were gone he missed a pair of French clogs from a stand near where the prisoners had stood. He instantly dispatched the shop-lad after them. The latter overtook the prisoners near Adelaide-place, where they each of them tried on the clogs. He went in search of a constable, and on his return the pri soners were gone. City-policeman 555 stated that, from the descrip tion given to him of the prisoners by the witnesses, he went in search of them, and at five o'clock found them in Edward-street, Whitechapel. He found on Langthorn the pair of clogs; policeman 526 assisted him in conveying them to the station-house. When et the latter place, Sullivan became very violent, and refused to be searched. She was handcuffed, when the female searcher found three pairs of cloth boots under her dress. While the latter prisoner was con fined in the cell at Moor-lane, she attempted to strangle herself, by fastening a string round her neck. Frederick Price, shopman to Mr. Dutton, of Stone's-end and the Walworth-road, identified the three pair of cloth boots as the property of his master. They had never been sold. Ihe foreman identified Bridges as frequently visiting the shop in the Wal worth-road, from which place two pairs of boots had been stolen. The clogs were identified by Mr. Wilcoxson's shopman. City policeman add said that the prisoners were well known Whitechapel thieves. Sullivan was known by the name of "Fhlin Poll." Langthorn made ne defence. Sullivan said that she purchased the boots of the latter, and did not know they were stolen. B.rldges said that she had nothing to do with the robbery. Mr. COTTIiGHAM said that he never heard of such a wholesale system of shoplifting. Great credit was due to the City constables in apprehending the pri. soners, and tracing the owners of the property. From their statement there was no doubt that the prisoners were old thieves, but their avoca tion would now be stopped for some time. He com mitted them for trial. FATAL ACCIDENT on the DOVER RAILWAY. FURTHER PARTICULARS. The accident happened on that part of the line known as the Wooden Viaduct, which runs over Blue Anchor-fields, Bermondsey, about three-quarters of a mile from the termi nus above named, to the original line of the Croydon Rail way, between New-cross and that of the Greenwich line. The viaduct is formed of massive fir timber, having upwards of two hundred arches, each with a span of full twenty feet, and supported by piles driven into the earth ; the whole, as will be seen hereafter, was of great solidity. It appeared that the ill-fated train left the Bricklayers' Arms station for Dover at twenty minutes after twelve o'clock, the engine being driven by Robert Buckley, an ex perienced driver in the employ of the Company, attended by a fireman or stoker, named Aaron Wilkinson. It con sisted of eleven luggage waggons, a break, and a second-class carriage, in which was deposited the packages for the fo reign mail, under the charge of an officer of the General Post-office. There were in the break waggon the Com pany's guards, as well as the servants belonging to the carriers—in all five or six persons. This carriage was the last on the train, and fortunately escaped uninjured. The whole of the others, excepting the second-class carriage, were more or less shattered by the force of the concussion. The engine, which is comparatively a new one, and of more than ordinary power we understand, on quitting the station proceeded along the line towards the viaduct, to use the ex pression of those who were present at the time, " as easily as if she had nothing behind her." It is the practice pursued by the engineers to have another locomotive engine in readi ness, to assist in driving all trains over the viaduct, which is rather upon the incline. As the train advanced towards that spot another engine followed in the rear, and, it is stated, had just reached the break, when a terrific explosion oc curred, which was thus described by one of the guards to the Directors, who met on Wednesday :—The first thing that occurred, he said, was a smart explosion, which, the next instant, was followed by another explosion of far greater force than the preceding one, and which, with a subsequent tremendous crash, almost stunned him. The concussion threw him forward, and the carriage hi which he was was so violently shaken that he thought it was falling to pieces. He immediately jumped up, and got off the carriage to see what had happened, but could perceive nothing in conse quence of a cloud of steam, and large pieces of burning coke descending in a shower in every direction. For a moment or so he was completely bewildered, it being too apparent that some fearful accident had occurred. As soon, however, as the steam and smoke had in some measure cleared away, he discovered the line to be completely blocked up with the waggons, which were spread across the two lines of rails, and piled many of them upon one another. He, with the rest of the guards, called to the engine-drlver, and also his companion, the stoker, but receiving no answer, they climbed over the pile of waggons in the direction in which they expected to find the engine, a work not accomplished without considerable difficulty, for they found that some of the waggons were shattered, and that, to all appearance, the viaduct had broken in. On arriving at the other end of the train, they discovered that the engine had burst, and had gone over the viaduct, and was partially buried in the earth beneath, whilst the tender was hanging over the side of the viaduct, torn and folded up, as if it had been made of mere pasteboard. its carriage having fallen to the ground about twenty yards from where the engine lay. It was evident that the explosion must have been heard for a considerable distance, as numerous persons were to be seen hurrying to wards the spot, but to obtain efficient aid, the pilot engine, which was to have propelled the train from the rear, was dispatched back to the station. In the meanwhile search was made for the engine-driver and the stoker, and shortly the for mer, Robert Buckley, was found lying some 20 or 30 yards up the line where the engine went off, with one o f the large waggons partly resting upon his body. From the dangerous position of the waggons, some time elapsed before it could be ascertained whether he was alive or dead. However, upon reaching him he was found to be dead,' and even then the body could not be extricated for upwards of an hour and a half. The stoker was found in the rear of the train, lying on the opposite rails, bleeding profusely, and apparently dead, with the whole of his jacket, except the cuffii, blown off his beck. Immediately upon the arrival of assistance from the station, Mr. George, the secretary, who came with the engines, had the poor fellow wrapped in blankets, placed in a second-class carriage and conveyed to the station, and from thence taken by a cab to Guy's Hospital, where it was found that he was still living. As soon as possible the line was cleared of all obstructions, so that the regular traffic might not be impeded, and at an early hour the Directors, who had assembled on the spot, with Mr. Cubitt, the locomotive engineer, and Mr. Gregory, of the Croydon line, considered it necessary to forward im mediate intelligence of what had happened to Colonel Pasley, the Inspector-General of Railroads, and who arrived soon after nine o'clock, when a strict examination was gone into, the result of which is as follows ; The bursting of the locomotive being the supposed cause of the accident, their first object was to examine the engine, as it lay imbedded in the earth. After getting off the viaduct it had pitched head foremost into the earth, a depth of four feet, and then turned over. They found the fire box was blown out, as well as the whole of the fire bars; and the inner casing, between which and the outer casing the steam generated, was also torn away. The next point was to examine what effect the explosion had had upon the viaduct, and the probable cause of her getting off the same. They found, upon inquiry, that there had been two explosions; the first apparently took place about eighty feet from the spot where the engine was lying. The fire bars at the bottom of the fire box had been blown completely through the viaduct into arch No. 134, making a hole three or four feet square. The second explosion (the most severe of the two), not only blew the fire box through the arch No. 133, but such was the force of the steam, to use the phrase of our informant, that the engine "j um p e d," an d d escended partly on the rails and partly off, a distance of eight or ten yards, crushing the immense pieces of timber that supported the viaduct. The force of the explosion carried the ponderous machine still further, rebounding as she proceeded, tearing away the timbers of the viaduct, and finally throwing her over the side, a depth of eighteen or twenty feet. The fire bars and part of the inner casing of the fire box were found at the bottom of the arches above mentioned. The front door of the smoke box was discovered about 100 yards dis tant, to which place it had been blown. The engine does not possess any peculiar construction, the form being similar to the others employed on the game line; and according to all accounts she had made several journeys before. The inner casing of the fire box, where there is little doubt the mischief originated, is of sheet copper nearly an inch in thickness; and although General Pasley's opinion was not publicly made known, we understand from good authority that he attri - butes the cause to a flaw in the copper, or a defect in ri vetting the casing. So far as regards any defect in the con struction of the viaduct, he has pronounced it to be perfectly safe and secure. Throughout Wednesday workmen were busily employed repairing the viaduct, which will occupy considerable time, as the damage is extensive. One line, however, is uninjured, and the trains continue to run as usual. Upon inquiry last night, we ascertained that the stoker. Aaron Wilkinson, was still alive, but in such a deplorable state as to be unable to give any history of the shocking oc • curience. His skull is fractured, his left arm broken, and other portions of his person dreadfully scalded. His unfor tunate companion was about thirty-two years of age ; he was a single man, and resided at Ashford, near Dover, where his relations live. The Company give him a most excellent cha racter, and say he was one of the most experienced hands in their employ. The foreign mail, which was in the second-class carriage, was taken out, and, by order of Mr. George, the Secretary, forwarded by coach to the New-cross station, where a special engine was in readiness to convey the same on to Dover, and where it arrived about the usual time. The Inquest upon the body of the unfortunate driver has not as yet been appointed. DIED. th e On the 7th i ns t., a t S out h- h i ll-park, the Right o°'a < Earl of Limerick, aged 87. On the Bth i nst., at G reenwich, Lavinia, eldest dallghter Mr. Meddlicot, aged 19. A 13 14/41 On the 18th o f S eptem b er, at Shikarpore, in Sinue.itery. Captain William Timbrell, of the Bengal Horse Artit,etocast, On the 16th o f October, at Balicherries, nea r l i ce. I Bombay, Fran c i s H enry D enys, Bart, of Stratforcl-taisb, On the 14th of October, at Meerut, Captain D• I ' the lOth inst Cavalry. P a' ..._ On the 3d ~ at Snow-hill, Mrs. J. Edmonds, "g i pi* g i ro' SUPERSTITION, ENTHUSIASM, AND DEATII.—On On the sth inst., at Bletchingley, Surrey, er Saturday, November 23, Mr. Roots, of Biddenden, hay- Esq., aged 73. cleithr O eeea n tm t .h h e e df 7 o t r h thr i o n w st. a , g A e f d r. 6B Thomaa Nunn, of Great J lll3 illg a daughter very unwell, and efforts by charm to re „Ad 1100 4* store her proving ineffectual, he determined to take her On , the 7th inst., Elizabeth North, of Hareu" - lo the notorious enthusiast, Mr. Coachman, near Sinar-1.• ,h e BO' den, of whom Mr. Roosts is a disciple. The youngwornan On the Bth inst. at Midway. terrace, Exeter, .--- 0 objected to the removal, but her father insisted on her Tothill, Rector of Ilittisleigh, Devon. going, and the oonsequence was that she died the next On the 9th inst., at Greenwich, Estl'' ate going, This occasioned considerable excitement, and sus- of Abingdon- street, Westminster. f A ttie° r elict 0 pidion arose that some improper treatment had taken On the 9th inst., at Peckham, Sara h, th e place, and that the case required a judicial inquest. This Scott, Esq., aged 78. John Wadraa a ' 0 1° m a jor • was called on Tuesday se'nnight, but some circumstances On the 9 th' inst., at Clapham New-park, ~,. Henry Grote, late of the 33d Regiment, t he rendered it necessary to adjourn the decision till last On the 9th inst., at New street, Monday. It appeared from a post =orient examination I : fi l ' i that the deceased's lungs were inflamed, but her death wi o fo n of th M e r 9 . liii :t ". in J. Browne, aged 45. ove, KentA ivgtoa , , might ha been accelerated by the improper removal ; Vale, wife of t inst., at ttircuoii.-grove, .ged 15. ....- ---. ;f the jury, therefore, could not give a verdict of man- --...., Mr. anal , __ , . 0 0, 12, slaughter. The enthusiast, Coachman, was very imp, r- Ltanion: Printed anu eahlished b MIiRDO. 1 . No. 1 p i tinent to C. Willis, Esq., the Coroner, on his prudently N 1 ' Tie Su* °°" ' l G2 lll3il o. 12, Strand, Printer, at in OS reproving him for pasisting in ilia folly and delusion.,- I Strand, in the Precinct - of the savoy, ~ • ei afrfah laiddleses, Friday, Numbs: 13,18,x. lienagindg4tOri, Daly, ---- LLOYD'S SHIPPING. 6 : 0 1 LONDON, DMC. 12.—Wind this day at DOD , northerly breezes, and cloudy. DEAL, DEC. 11. —Wind S.E. b y E . moderate . " i Duke of Bronte. Ascension. GUERNSEY, DEC.7.—The Brilliant, for St. ,i_Bllllj sons, in leavi ng , struc k on the rocks on the South n`. • but came off the following tide without much damagN, PORTSMOUTH. DEC. 11.—Wi n d N . to N. E. l i g ht. Princess Royal transport, Barbadoes. SOUTHAMPTON, DEO+ 11.—Arrd. Great LiverV e steamt•r, M'Leod, Alexandria. SCILLY, DEC. 9.—Arrd. Acadia, Hog, Quebec t_l 6 : o , senger, Riviere du Loup, Troneas; Maple, St. Dow" for llavre. 0110 LOWESTOFFE, DEC. 11.—The Triune, rental" - t o on Ness P o i nt , h as b een assisted off leaky and 313 t i broken. The Albion will be sold, having been survey and condemned. ef SHEERNESS, DEC. 10.—Th e N ew Eagle, from '' N , o i castle to London, was reported ashore on the Nere this morning, but has been got off, and proceeded* :, LIVERPOOL, DE C . 11.—Wi nd S.S.E., ree derl6fa6et Arrd. Cinnana, Hoodless, C a l cutta, l e f t S t. H e l e ns , i . 24 ; Lady Bute, M'Kinley, Calcutta ; Isabella, B ri ll; New York ; Portland, St. John's, New Brasw e ll: l , o Agent, Miramichi ; Henry Bliss and George, 9,_ u m i ; Sid. Bucephalus and Mary, Bombay ; Ann, n iP " .'. gig Wanderer, St. Lucia; Eutatia, Havannah; William duras • Hope and Solon, New Orleans ; Syria;Savannah ; Pocahontas. Baltimore ; T. P. try, Philadelphia ; Princess Charlotte (supposed), 13°111711 Alice Brooks (supposed), Valparaiso. The Sybil, _,, Wexford, grounded yesterday in Kingstown Hobo' Elizabeth but was got off leaky. WHITEHANEN, DE C . 10.—Sld. L a d y S h aw Ste ws' Antigua. DUBLIN, DEC. 10.---Sid. ifaranham, Mobile. CROOKHAVEN, D ec . 7.—Arrd. Agnes, Bryer, lcl3l 8. Maid o f M ona, Ichaboa ; Economist, Quebec Newport. The Jean, Catharine, of and for Arichat, for Ater foundland, was abandoned 13th ult., in a sunken Old s ' crew saved. EAST INDIA SHIPPING. • IS , Arrivals—Scotl an d, C unn i ng h am, f rom Bengal, !!„,,, Clyde, sailed Aug. 15, St. Helena Oct. 23; Pri,l Charlotte, Griffiths, from Bombay, off Liverpool, 511 ' 7 July 27, St. Helena Oct. 13. Arrivals at St. Helena—Samedua, Duncan , from Cel. l o l and Mauritius, an d sa il e d O ct. 17 to Lond on; Adelia., Savory, Oct. 19, f rom M ercury I s l and, an d saile d 22q London; Tar, Langley, from Mauritius, and sailed 1 5 to London; General List, f rom B atav i a, and sailed 1,94 to Amsteram ; Triton, G ar d e t, from Calcutta,..,,), Mauritius; Leonard, D o bbi n, from rdhaboe; „ Boyle, from London; and sailed 21st to Ichaboe; Benson, from Calcutta, and sailed 21st to Boston; til uir 21st, from Ichab oe , an d sa il e d to Disrt mouthtC?ZA; bine, Robertson, fr om Ichaboe, and sailed 22d to o f Nestor, 21st, f rom Calcutta; Druid, from Singarn i g l o i; sailed 21st to London ; William Shand, from PZ.,„•I Canning, 21st, fro m I c h a b oe; Diadem, 22d, from korl e ; and Mauriti us; Th omas H arr i son, 22d, from Ich„ 1 : - ,41 Providence, fro m I c h a b oe, an d sailed 23d to nis China, 23d, from B enga l an d M aur i tius; Mary Ste if 23d; Flamingo, 22d; Helme, 23d, all from Ichaboe• Departures from St. Helena—Mountaineer, 0 4 it to Dundee; Harv es t H ome , to C ork; Express, 19th, Cork; La Fayette, 20th, to United States. Arrivals at Mauriti us —S amarang, Herbert, Sept" Elphinstone, 21st, from Calcutta. ASSISTANCE TO THE HOMEWARD R 0 1114 12 Admiralty, Dec. 11, 18 ' . Sir,—l am commanded by my Lords Commissioner 6 ;l4 the Admiralty t o acqua i nt you, for the informat i on of l Committee for man ag i ng th e a ff a i rs of Lloyd ' s, t hatoa Commanders-in-Chief at Portsmouth and rirto have been directed to send any small vessels tbol have disposable to the chops of the Channel, with -at' , W and provision s , t o re li eve t h e homeward-bound trsuet tained by contrary winds.—l am, Sir, your most abed° humble servant, JOHN BARROW' (Signed) Wm. Dobson, Esq., Lloyd's. MARKET NE WS.-(YESTERDAY EAT MAILICETEL I I ; SMITHFIELD.Coarse Meadow HtA , ay, 31 12s 0 Useful ditto, 4/16s to 5 / 4 8 ; fine Upland ditto, ?,`„ Si lOs ; Clover H a y, 4/ lO s to 6 1 ; Oat Straw, ' ,„ rot 1/ 14s ; Wheat Straw, 1/ 14s to 1/ 17s per load. average supply, and a steady demand at very full pr i 7so CUMISERLAND.—Coarse Mead ow H ay, 1 / 1 5 5 W 4l, Useful ditto, 41 165 to 5145; fine Upland ditto, 51 10 5/ 12s ; Clover H a y, 4/ 8 s to Si 163 ; Oat Straw', ', oi l, to 11 16s ; Whe a t St raw , 1 / 16s to 1/ . lBs per Trade throughout firm at our quotations. WHITECHAPEL.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 31185 to., j s 0 Useful ditto, 41 17 5 to Si 4s ; f i ne Upland ditto, 2soto Si lOs ; Clov er H ay , 41 10s to 6/ 6s ; Oat Straw 11155 ; Wheat Straw, 1116 s to 11 18 3 p er load. ' 11 V SuPr'- but moderat e , and trade rather dull. MEAT MAILICETS. SOUTHALL, Dae. 11.—For prime Beasts and Sh er the numbers of w hi c h were rather limited—we 111,411 steady demand at fully l ast week ' s quotat i ons . other kinds of• stock met a very sluggish inel,; o o, barely late rates. B ee f , f rom 2s 6d to 4s 4d; Jag Pod 2s 8d to 4s 4d; Veal, 3s to 4s; and Pork, 2s 10d to Soo per 8 1 bs, to si n k th e o ff a l . Supply :—Beasts, 47 ; Sh y ' 1,7 ; Calves, 48; Pigs, 56. ROMFORD, Dec. 11.—We had an improved inia for all kind s o f f at stock, at full currencies. veilo, from 2s 10d t o 4 s 6 d ; Mutton, 3s to 4s 4d 'Alba 3s 4d to 3s 10d ; and Pork, 2s 8d to 3s 10d pet ;a,s, Suckling Cal ves , 1 8s to 30s ; quarter-old Store 0161 16s to 20s ; and Mulch Cows, with their small Cr to 19/ each. srlo/' ILM HAILS, Dec. 11.—Thi s b e i ng our great 113- 0 the supply of stock was good, and of very sur a d quality. Prices r u l e d as follows:—Beef, from 2$ 'Ol 4s 6d; Mutton, 31 to 4s 4d; Veal, 31 4d to 3s 8d ;. Pork, 23 10d to 3s 6d per 81bs. 4 19 ARUNDEL, DEC. 10 . —Beef, from 2s 10d to -- vor y Mutton, 3s to 4s 6d ; V ea l , 3s 4d to 35 8d ; and oe 2s 10d to 3s 6d per 81bs. Supply good, and "' the whole dull. CHICHESTER, DEC. 11.—The show this yeer quite equal to that of last. The trade was not to.' p• brisk, and a goo d c l earance was effected at our quo so tions. Beef, f rom 3s 6d to 4s 6d ; Mutton, 25 4s 4d • Veal, 35 to 3s 8d ; an d P or k , 2s 10 d to, ‘ 1 Q i i ge per 811;s. Suckling C a l ves , 18 3 to 28s; quarter-ol d w Pigs, 16s to 18s; and Mitch Cows, 161 to 191 each. CORN AVERAGES. i• ...a GENERAL AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CO___.— c Os , For the Week end e d D es. 7, 1 844. made up from the Rettanolik, In Nam in the different Citi es and Town in England and per Imperial Quarter. Wheat ..... 4ss fd I Oats ..... ... 21. 104 I Beaus .... ..... LI:. Mi Barlcy AVERAGES OF THE LAST SIX WEEKS. Weeks ending waavr. saatar.l arm 1 art. 1 muss. rev. 2., 35 7 21 t 36 1 11 • 35 9 21 9 3.5 1 21 • 33 1 21 34 9 21 10 -1 46 1 46 3 42 4 45 le 45 4 45" 9 3'; 36 a l a i 24 6 37 11 34 1 36 4 - ao I, sa I 0 I Dem 7......... . o 32 r., ,$3 I 10 __ lat 1' 37 5 w g FS A A IMPERIAL AG ORECIATE •YRILA GEE OT Tilt SIX - lin- Wheat........ 45s led. 1 Oats ......... 214. 7.1.1 8eanr........./. 1. 0' tiar1ef......... 35.4 54 i Rl* ......... 3.1, 4d.1 Pea5e......... 4 ."" DUTIRS or rositiati CORN. 6 11 ' Wheat • Ws. Od., 1 Oats ••••••••• 611. Od.j 8ean........... . 64 , Barley CO' RISE OF RENTS.—The English farmers are, 0 00 plaining loudly of high rents and low mat ketA, bn tbe seem neither to feel nor to apprehend anything o f bole kind ; witn ess th e f o ll ow i ng fact:—" Three farms' v ` a r slr aggregate rents under the expiring leases were 1 1 -: f or were let by Mr. Baillie, of Mellerstane, last Wee' I,79o.—Scotsman. ADVERTISEMENT.—An astonishing cure of birf' ward cancer in the lower part of the stomanhirir Quinn, residi ng a t N o. 4, Back-lane, St. Georghtse, the-East, h a d b een i n t h ree hospitals for about elgroble, months, and wa s discharged fr om th em as intliheo She was in thi s state w h en the ointment was rub ?Al over the r eg i ons o f t h e diseased parts as salt 151 of into meat, w h ic h e ff ecte d a cure as speedily as ti" ) ..„ l/ 100 11 inward part had b een p a l pa bl e to the eye. A9' le sores, tumours, aches, or pains may be cured in. th b oer manner. Sold a t P ro f essor H olloway ' s estabhs_„d 244, Strand ( w h ere a d v i ce may be had gratis), limboe , almost all re s p ec t a bl e ven d ors of medicine tbroug the civilised world. BIRTHS. 6 1 # 6 At St. George's-place, Canterbury, M rs . F re derick of a son. 0 ,1 On the 3d in s t., a t Hi g hb ury- place, M ~, bars. John a daughte r . o f Jol o On the 9th i ns t., a t Bi r dh urst, Croydon, the w ife W. Sutherland, Esq., of a daughter and son. Be% O f On the 9th i ns t., a t t h e Vi carage, Milton Ernes t, lady of the R ev . C. C . B eaty P ownall, of a son. 0' h On the 10th inst., a t Wi t h am, E ssex, the w if e o f Jitc°'' Pattison, Esq , of a son. ____...--! MARRIED. 0 1* On the 10th inst., at St. Mary's Church, Bryanston-Asslif Robert John, son of Robert Rameden , Esq., of Carlt9,l o lo Notts, to Mary Matilda, eldest surviving daughter 0 " Rev. Henry Gipps, of Hereford. tfeellt On the 11th of O c t o b er l ast, at S t. John ' s Ch urc h, ... D e. Captain Edgar Mould Moorhouse, 35th Regiment or d Infantry, officiatin g p ens i on paymaster at M eeru t O._ Ow per, to Mary A nn , e ld est d aughter of Dr. A. DavidO"' Light Cavalry. ,i A~. I W wi n Ni t d• tee, N o IN (the.' tha visith G - di lie 1 gitt 8t 4414 112 4 11,,, ky t; . 4 % , 14