The Sun. — London, England, 1850-03-06 00:00:00

,__ 11 Il e ti a , e . 40 . t ~ a cnt i s ti .e communication betwee n the two he a;„i r tS t'f not less than two hour.. Now, v. a; it not, ala - r,ask, of vast importance that that cola muala rtic i ss r j4l 3 ccelai wet: ? Ha did not care he a's ould 00 , of whetter the wads were f tra•arded by Follee ;ten t s , ; ' w orl upon that point he had no prefs i r , cn r e , e ,ut '' i ct he hstl tie-y reaaan b , ..lieve Ctat It a., s la " ) oa woald be found praftsraol:_•! that ,_ ? til e , oh.;:seted to the former route teat w _ e to roa t ,' v eta a partiaular Tina ta• it woul-1 be impossible r harbour of oilogne, while we could tke ti k , ar eollr of Calais. But he found that during a sp a ce nd 11:e Years the between Folkestono °le ge° b 11, 48 al [mired the latter hsrboar thirty-eight b‘t. a en Da ter that during. a similar period the mail n dramas. . (4.4 Calais had missed Vie latter harbour tare numbs 4f l i re The !lifference, therefore, between the numb, Sait o. " In which either harbour had bees .. missed was 4 it 7' 4 1 c add not be put in csinpe•vion with } the neehalnng the wads dtlivered two :j;n a ir o t o b r e s 1 1 , 16) . fiat there was anotlit r advantage a t n ni,t 4;4 1 4' 1 B adogne. When a seatts host %isi e i n t et, rie3ter\ atharbour in consequence of tha ;of se tt Y or sena' -westerly winds, the nails c led ,bc ° alai', and w ou ld arr i ve th ere in the aa , th t- ezh uf a time whi c h was at present required to carry ttsa" the harbourerdir route; while, if a boat could not f Calais, it should returu ts? , Do e ve te r : Rather/v(le, therefore, greater chances of missin i ,_ 1 . 1 , 4 1 a I , the Passage to France by the ealai t ale! 1 the Boulogne line. The mail boats had mgrs 4° reach Boulogne) six times only in the year 1 13 thle r , the number of times they had fa ed boil l l4 Now, he only asked that they l ) 0 10 1 h sa v c a Commi ttee w hi c h wou ld s i lt t h ose matt Is i tntt ; it e t atta an; and sure l y the investigations o f suc h a tl ktich ee could do n o h arm , an d m i g h t b e productive g °°4l . Let th em l oo k a t th e incanveniene f ot m o th 1 1 44 u i en r.great commercial towns were exposed from of the present route. When a mail a.re sktii ere from Paris it as as too late to be sent by to bl tata llt NI; and the consequence was, that the mho -41,414 q M anchester, Liverpool, and our other f great In ters at towns lost one day in the receipt 4 44 f r a nd orders from the East Indies, from e Fra t nce Sin : I n the whole of the south of Europe. But if the ga t ; "re forwarded b • Boulogne, and were to leave_ 1 411 st to sal ' - past seven in the evening, they would reach a sufficiently early hour on the following , t 4t rDin n ° ? allow of their being sent off to the . "s t s n-re 'n.4's mail. That was an advantage which if hail,' Manifestly most desirable that they should ellt,leaLseetire.—(llcaa, hear.) The Hon. Member con Atant al °ving fn. the Committee. . 11.4..w"0,..TREE-I,TON seconded the motion. . •/3 WPEIi, said he had no objection to the t rati - "s en t of the Committee for which the Honourable ht tl , usd moved. But he certainly did not antics 4Na, e r ea h !ts inquiries any very important results, ex ilet4lPeb."4l)s, that it would sift many of the statements 11 . tbe Ron Gentleman. He believed that the 1 . 44 5 t Niem an t lPre • attached * far too much importance n to f. N; S 8 winch he had stated was the foundation - ''tte a; 4l . lie believed it would be shown to the Com t o °lll lt e e C e.... t another express had been forwarded by the by Calais—and had been ! k i k Ye( l aver the d e i s t e say, sixteen minutes of the ; A se :ll b en „P i cti by the a t n r e a e nsmission of the one to whichttt to Gentleman had referred. But the real tikconsider in that matter was, not by which line 'at teetls could be conveyed with the greatest rapidity, i44ltaZquestion was ma which line could the greate l st e4l ? * la lla Pidity be ntained throughout the w f h t o be e I.4l,lseui, iv it had been found from the peculiarity o 'bititytt'setf.Boulogne that there was the greatest uncer bjillat p r ,2,the period at which the mails could be received ets sasae, and 't s surely of greater value to those j e t , 44 4 i) f i e x e a t ti ed letters that those letters should reach ~b ou . periods, than that they should reach them hodw's earlier or a few hours later. During the tl/41 beep"a the mails were forwarded by Boulogne it 4t the found five hours and a half 4 necessary to allow J o urney • while by the Calais route four the 4 :1 1 % 7 w ere allow ' ad for the sea voyage—that was to IhZlver e tir t nad a ha'f less. It appeared to him that if ti o 8 1, have that Commitee it would be as well sp a Ivitt i e t , l4 'd also direct its inquiries to the corn nica -0) because there were many reasons for a ll i tb 4 P B 4' 73 ) , t v "a ra t_the mails could be carried to the north of vat - Fr ance without . any additional expense, thus h.utint tu" two lines into one, and insuring the same a pid • 4 t lt t- r it)! as at present. He would therefore a g his lion. Friend the propriety of adding the 0 a,,; w orth t o hi s mot i on— " and to t le north of ii ll ea l ltidi e ua L t Eßß said that as the Hon. Gentleman tea addressed the House hal said that he It tat 1 .` 4 t° oppose the motion,. ho (Sir G. Clerk) a lai • intend to object to it ; but at the litQe lie to t l ll4r i k t! ere .,a a tis h f e a u c g to h rily t sett . led by the Government her % teti 4 , 4 aa a . Committee cf that Howe. It 4 te tt l bun that it was a question which ought to 06 1 110 11. n a _cd , upon the principles laid down by tort t Member for Hertford, and that they 44 1 11 1 -°5 . 100 k at the time sp Pt in conveying . a special lair tl °o with all the preparations m e a e d m e rn b n e e fa c r e e .. - 144 all the time spent in conveying I saa . 4period s of the year, and in all states of veea- . 4 40 11 Ilia a ,'' They ought to endeavour to have a postal Ita 'lma conducted with the greatest regularity; Itt4B cor nParativ ' ely unimpor: ant matter whether t i r o " received an hour earlier or an hour later.. ra b i es antSt_all the interest of the merchant to have his Is li 'vti l i ek uce arrive at a fixed period. But that was a 44 t 4 itie tight, he thought, to he arranged by the 4 rt tt t the Post-office and at the Admiralty, and tj:'l4saer'errimittee of that House.admitted that likilosa4/..,desirable that the mercti l a b n l i e t ie our cammer ds in to recsiae their It t ikaaj e : s nculd, if possible, be en' tron t4 lio ns from the Continent on the day of their krt to b, encloo . But th e a ttention of the Committee tpit'll!aoul o s Pecially di rec t e d t o this point, what accede tht "Jv er ; obtained in the transit between London . tt hosa.a This subject engrossed the attention of sparSe . B . 4 . ( f Trade when he had the honour 1 11tpa. l • there, and formed part of the able th: 11 a1 - .1 en t'.d under the dire.:tion of Lord Dllhou*ie. 1 0 414 e, 4 e bf Trade at that time pointed .. out th t e w i e m ei ; §th cl4 . 4 4, l 3 . l3 aving a direct communication be :opt 14 °4 le ts, instead of continuing to follow . the present Qtah•tasaind i nconvenient route by Reigate, and the t Atiti ta4 ils 4 . 1:4 Company proposed a schme by which tlo r ,k T 11 1 1414 have been conveyed by that . more direct 1 14t0w,„,,t was five years ago, and nothing 4 4 - P 4 rn . " 43 carrying it out. petition for a had for k tt l ti t ttlT se °f executing that scheme, he was happy to 1t,404 been laid be fore Parliament this year, which . 1, ash, . 4 top ao • Sh o its progress by a t?chnical objection. 444' fee s eve r, be remembered, that in a line af this 1 44 0 1tt h Part of the journey was performed by land h test t he ti,/ bra, you could not always take the . s or _ 4 :4 Pe eldi - a in . °Pt but must take into consideration also mt lof harbours and the ports of arrival l l t i littti sa a a, 4 , and th e most c i rcu i tous line by land if." You to avail yourself of the shortes b t e se n a s 11 4 ' lta f t . la only wish was that the inquiry should n_ 14 ' 4 tha t a nd as ample as possible, tascause he felt co „la, at beliaa;:usLever question might arise u; tds t he of Boulogne or Calais on the other . 11 014 ~e °a ld be no doubt whatever that the port of PtitNs a el ssess great advantages and facilities, e ", it at all times to be select , d as a ort owfde ti4 elt,„"Meaendently of that, Parliament determined there 4 4t . ttry t ; ago to construct most imp vent k ~I ttl icee k t expense, which were not yet w c o o r m s e p d le y t e e n d : "ttt °. lo, - auerl they were so, would hen a o itself. It would then n give o D ~v n e g r e r be a accessible only at articularp hours, but Drip 14 aWv"Y few h • be accessible at any time of With reference to s Calais, independently of its 41 0 he a ` ere4 from the westerly gales, works had re . : 4 ', 1 14, 4 1 , t toft:iennstructed there which rendered it accessl la . al es. It was considerations such as these ‘44Vt'tY - :ales ' a ci P ln iao justified the Admiralty in saying It:„° gut not to ' look so much to quickness of comd - as to that which would give security an t54)41., 4101 I,the a cknowledged the importance in a cora of eve of fa cilitating quick postal comrnu l - 1 5 % 4 4 1: 1 , w g e k tle!sal, and suggested that it would be well bother the benefit of . the penny postage !4N....ltlo,,,,eXtended to the colonies. to rejoiced that the Government had con -44a„ ,4'lati„eormait-ee, for he felt, that by eans of its 4` 44. at a of the Hon. Member opposite would in di t s- ) tat • li "Y of the opinions which he ha I sta.ed_ 6414e..said the p passa e would be shortened by ;41 142 " ra , t reat difference, g ho believed, was not increase of the passengers pht 4 a!l e had been ". The commented on, but that increase 11‘44t1114-111;111frnciiatelyriferth.e establishment of steam )4a %pi e • ore the construction of railroads,. and for P s - i rea sco that people wished to avoid the three ;ht-nt or'in dTnces between Calais and 13,m- Lhil",,i li alto l - , 6 ,,,e 4 ae, ho I lg* ; was very different since the tio„ - "‘ of railroads South-westerly winds pre of ti,-‘,Wionths.• the * year and (luring the preys )o‘'ll,l-4-1• P a winds the ap - pro;ch to Boulogne was very 1 1 4 qa Was a " 1 Y tiara when there was any sea at ;‘ , " n ring the prevalence cf a north-easterly Nat ) oar Mader h prevalence cf a north.eaaterly such circumstances, you could not Bou u l c o ne would be accessible. The • e he over had g said that Boulogne mnst 1 1 i tha / hs 4 communication for passengers, but I ,ltr a : e aos followed as a matter of course. Lit h 'els fi r ;",tttne, for instance, it was dangerous to ': solcr,tlpgne, for the shore was steep and there ala li ta a 1,, - „",, L ngs. With reference to the direct line ad nt b "ltai i s mon and Dover to which reference . h 174.13°414"1.e.ceU1d only say there never was a railway toed, to Paean the district through which it was . in e . 4, 11 ,;;_. There was not a landowner, he b . ` 1 , 116 Whole line who was not anxious for Its ' l t 4 lot; a 4 -4 e Was very sorry that it was put off till tt S ►r rod,utlt believed it would not be delayed beyond Its a l A L A lee iln 'eY EVANS only rose fur the purpose o ft na -isn't o bservation with reference to the direct ti - lnion to Dover. This he conceived to h.°L.tlll • I‘) ' and hopel the public sprit ‘44l'vrl44.h`uots, with the assistance of tlmll o o . no , u ,e ra ß b i le i Nip "over, would secure the passing t Li 44 1 , t ' ti '4l cyr rir It 4 , 4 44 • IsliTON thought the chap IS t, cut ge would be of et s y natt minutes were gained ; fer, " t re-;'-' ll . l zt make very little tliffsre . ncein London, 4 4 ) , 4 t;!i ° t • t0.0 . ' 4e the difference of a day in the northern L44.earli;;saggested that the two hours might be saved r r kkeeiltpr,ss from Dover. (! )4 •' 111 k th e ‘ l , l "OaN proposed to amend his motion i °4 4 Ife hthe northern parts of Ea -1114441Y .1, 44 been informed that the South-Eastn D, 4 , 41,,,%nt ra f° .vvoilhng, if the Government chose, to . enter Its at sae, Or 't t carry the mails either from Dover to Sraeo Folkestone to Boulogne, at a very 2t of expen se to the countryalmo , st , 4 4 4 04'."°‘v much, but he believed it to he 20,00‘ Ivo lli ; Year. He hoped the representatives for cO I. tte ko 'not be so alarmed about their harbour, for each limil#9l4 advantages, they W 9414 49 - doubt be et t alilithed be7eee the Committee, en 1 if, on the other hand, it should he et t ddished tl a• Folkestone could be made equally good, he trusted they would not resist its being In ele so. The motion was then agreed to, with the additien pro pesed. FINES ON THE ADMISSION OF FREE \JEN. Mr. Aldera-n, i SIDNEY mot e I for leave to bring in a Bill t) abeiish the payment of tines tied stamp dut'es on the admission of freemen into corporations of cities and boroughs in England and Wales. His first in tention was to introduce a Bill applicahlo to the city of London alone, but he was informed by the Right Honourable Gentleman in the chair that such a mea sure would come under the din nninetion of a private Bill, and he had now brought within its scope all the municipal towns of England and Wales, and he rejoiced that ho had token this course, f -cling assured that there was much to be amended. The fees on enrolments ranged from 6.. t.; 38e. 4d., which inflicted great injus tice on those who acre compelled to pay thew, many of wheat were extremely pocr. The evil was more severely fit in London, because there the system of imposing fines on residence, abolished by the Municipal Act of 1833 in other corporate town, still p• °veiled, and im posed a greet hardship upon the small shopkeeper, while the large merchant, the wholesale dealer, and pr..f ssional man escaped. A few years ago the City Solicitor hal to proceed against 3,000 persons for not taking up their liberty, and there we-e now 2,000 persons who refused to pi) , the fine on resident'. Last election litany hun dreds of pounds were paid for fines on taking up the freedom of electors. In London, with a Parliamentary 1 roll of 20,000, there were only 6,000 entitled to th-: mnni cipsl franchise, and these were divided into 25 wards, five of which consisted of between 70 and 100 individuals, and many of which on an average ILA about from 100 to 120 electors. Was this the proper st rte for a corpc ration with funds to the amount of upwards of 200,000/.? In Manchester the municipal would bs double the amount of the Parliamentary roll, in L•_eda three or four times as numerous, and Birmingham and Sheffield exhibited about the same proportion. He had hoped that the Go vernment would not have opposed the introduction of the Bill. The principal argument against it, he believed, was that it would affect a revenue of from 6001. is 800/. a year; but this, he submit; eI, ought not to form any ob jection, when it was considered that the tax was imposed on a poor, hard-working class. He asked nothing but justice; and with these observations he asked permission to lay the Bill on the table. • The ATTORNEY-GENERAL was satisfied that the House would be only wasting its time in allowing this Bill te be introduce 1. He thought they had some rea son to complain of the course pursued by the Hon. Mem ber for he had admitted that his original intention was to limit the operation of his Bill to London, and then, finding that in such a shape it fell under the category of private Bills, and therefore would require notice to be given to the Corporation of Lendou, and the various companies whose interests were to be affected, he got rid of the difficulty by altering his Bill into a proposition for confiscating property throughout England and Wales. Mr. Alderman SIDNEY—No, no. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—The Hon. Centle man admitted that be had applied to the Speaker. Mr. Alderman IDNEY—Not as to confiscating pro perty. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—StiII the Honour able Member ascertained that, in its original shape, the Bill would have required notice to be given to those with whose vested rights it proposed to interfere. The Hon. Member had instituted a comparison between the muni cipal roll in London and that of Liverpool, Manchester, and other places, but the remedy fur that was very simple. Let him bring in a Bill to make the London constitu ency like the Liverpool constituency, instead of pro prosing to increase the constituency by taking away the property of . the Corporation. Let the Cor poration of London bring in a Bill to apply the Muni cipal Reform Act to themselves. What was the history of this Bill? It was brought forward by the Hon. Mem ber from his knowledge of the city of London. He moved, in the first plate., for the amount of fines and fees payable in every city and borough in England, and then before g' tting any information be brought in his Bill affecting the property of all the corporations throughout England, without the consent of the inhabitants, with out any application from a single member of any town council, or from elsewhere. If such a thing were re quired, if the old corporations wished it, the town coun cils could abolish fincs to-morrow. Why, then, come with an Act of Parliament and take away their property, and deprive the corporations of the right of self-govern ment? No petitions had been presented in favour of the Bill, and the Hon. Member had not inquired into the subject except in reference to the city of London. The Common Council of the City was a body elect-d an- i nually, why not leave thp matter to the corporation it self ? Did the Hon. Member mean to say that the Bill was in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants of London or the Corporation? Mr. Alderman SIDNEY—Of the inhabitants gene rally. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—They have pre sented no pe Vtions. Mr. Alderman SIDNEY—I presented one. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL.—I know that the Corporation do not entertain that opinion. Mr. Alderman SIDNEY—Many do. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—If they had tha' feeling they might do it to-morrow. They first invested these bodies with the prirciple of local government. and the subject was submitted to them, and because one of their members happened to be also a Member of Parliament, he sought to def at their decision by making Parliament a Court of Appeal. The Munici pal Reform Act abolished freedom by purchase, but this formed no part cf the Hon. Member's project. The Hon. Member had estimated the loss to the revenue at about 600/. He was mistaken ; it was between 2,000/. and 3,000/. Mr. FORSTER admitted the abuses which the Hon. Mover had detailed to the House, but objected to all piecemeal Corporation Reform. He admitted the re forms which bad been introduced into the Corporation et London within the last forty years, but still thought it not creditable to the Government to have excepted the city cf London. Ho could not, however, concur with the lion. and Learned Attorney-General in thinking that they ought to wait till the Corporation itself stirred in the matt sr. Colonel SIBTIIORP would be willing to assist in re moving fines and penalties, but he regarded this as a Bill for th© city of London alone, and as a sort of party motion. He thought it extremely hard that the City . of London should have been except ed from the o p eration of the Municipal Reform Act; but as long as that city had Prime Ministers for their representatives such a state of things was to to expected. He complaind that the Honourable Mover had given so little , notice of his motion. He, for instance, had bad no opportunity of consulting his constituents on the subject, and he agreed with the Honourable and Learned Attorney-General that it was unjust to affect the property c f parties without their concurrence. He recommended the worthy Alderman to withdraw his mo tion. It appeared to him to be a milk-and-water sort f motion, and not worthy the consideration or support of the House. Mr. HUME said the Hon. Member and the House did not appear to be aware of what ha 1 taken place with reference to the city of London. Tho Hon. Member opposite said there ought to be an inquiry, but there had been already one of the most searching inquiries that ever had been instituted with reference to the city of London by Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Palgrave. The Hon. Member merely wished to place the citizens of London on the same footing as the citizens cf other towns. He asked the Government whether it was not their duty to do so, seeing that they had pledged them selves to bring in a reform Bill for the city of London. He thought their doing so would be only an act of jus tice; equality, and fairness. Sir B. HALL said, after what had fallen from the Right Honourable Gentleman, he could not suppose that the motion was likely to meet wi,h any great success. He did not think, however, that the time N. consumed in the discussion had ben entirely thrown away, because the question had been brought bef ore the House of the unreformed state of the Cor poration of the city of Londcn. When the reform of municipal corporations had been undertaken by the Government, the city of London wax not included; bu• there was a most distinct pledge given by the Govern ment that a Bill would shortly be brought in for that purpose. Since then many years had passed; and, although ample opportunities had been afforded to them, no measure of that kind had yet been introduced. He was glad, therefore, that the present conversation bad taken place, because the attention of the public would be thereby directed to a subject which he thought should have been long since brought forward for discussion. It was stated by the Hon. Member that the funds of the Corporation of London amounted to 200,000/. per annum, over which neither the Parliament nor the public had any control. That alone was a sufficient reason why the question should be taken into considera tion, with a view to introducing some measure of re form which might give the Legislature or the public some control over that large expenditure. He did not mean to say that the Corporation of London was cor rupt, but they kept it as close as possible; and when the Honourable Gentleman, and others in his situa tion, put on the aldermanic gown, the election being' for life, they became as conservative of the privileges of the City as it was possible to be. With regard to the motion of the Hon . Member, he did not think it was worth noticing. It might be a good Bill for the Mem ber for Stafford to introduce, but it would not effect the necessary reforms in the Corporation of London. He recollected having been invited some years since to stand for the borough of Stafford, and one of the conditions was that he should pay certain fees of freemen of the borough to enable them to vote. He had declined to stand on such conditions. Mr. Alderman SIDNEY replied the motion had been termed paltry because it referred to the case of poor men, but what was paltry in the eyes of that House was of all importance to the humbler classes. He should with draw the motion for the present, and re-introduce it when the returns to which tho Attorney-General had referred were laid on the table. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL objected to the motion. being withdrawn, and would not sanction the principle of its beintr ag,r:tin introduced. Mr. REYNOLDS suggested the propriety of bring ing in a Bill simply to place the ratepayers of the city of London on the same footing as those of other towns and cities of the kingdom, and give them thereby a voice in the municipal elections. The m.ttion was then negatived. DUTY ON TIMBER. Mr. MITCHELL moved, pursuact to notice, " that this House do resolve itself into a Committee to take into consideration the duties on wood, with the view of remitting the duty on all Wood used in shipbuilding." He regretted to see so few Hon. Members on the Oppo sition side of the House, because when the repeal of the navigation-laws was discussed in the last session they had heard many eloquent speeches from that side of the g9use, pointing 9tit that the effect 9i that memo would be to throw the whole of the shipbuilding trade o fthe country into the hands of foreigners. The ques-i tion he was about to submit to the House was simply one regarding the interests of shipbuilders and shipwrights, and had nothing whatever to do with timber-tnerchants. He would premise that he was himself a wood-merchent. Ile Legged to remind the House that in 1844, when the Right Hor. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) brought forward his proposition for the reduction of the duties on foreign timber, the price in the English market was 105 s. the load—at the present time the same description of timber was selling for 65e.; the duty was formerly 555., and it had been reduced by the Right Honourable Baronet to 155., so that the public had got the entire benefit of the reduction of the duty in that ease. By the Bill of last year the duty on all foreign ships admitted to home registration had been entirely taken off, and if a British subject now chose to buy a fereien ship, that ship was at, once admitted to all the privileges of British-built vessels, without the pay ment of aly duty whatever. At present hewn timber paid 15i. duty, sawn timber, 20s. ; in esti and spars, the smaller size, 2 ts., and the larger six e 48s. Now it was known that every ship built was entered on Lloyd's Re gister according to a certain classification—the highest class standirg, thirteen years in the A list, and the lowest class fear years. The difference arose from the difference in the materials of which they were con structed. lle would now state to the House what was the per centage which the duty on foreign timber bore t i the gross cost of the construction of the ship. He would take it according to the most accurate calculation that had been made, that the cost of a 12 A ship was about 141. for ton; and he had assumed that as much foreign timber was put into that ship as would be re quired, according to Lloyd's ru'ee. He found that the per centage of a 12-year A ship upon the quantity of foreign timber, masts, spars, &e., was, as compared with the gross cost, about 9-t6ths percent. The per centage of the cost of the 11 A ship was 5-Bths per cent.; on the 10 A ship it was q; on the 9 A ship it was 44 per cent.; on the 8 A ship it was 64 per cent.; on the 7 A ship, 12 per cent.; on the 6 A ship, 13i per cent.; on the 5 A ship, 15-i per cent.; and on the 4 A ship, 17 per cent. Beginning at the 9A, and down t i the 4A, a very large per centage was given to the foreign ship builder. He admitted that the English shipbuilders were remarkable for building ships of a superior class. Those from A 12 to A 9 were ships generally employed in the East India and China trade, and that trade required very superior veesels. It was admitted that the per centage with regard to vessels of that class was a mere bagatelle, as those ships were built regardless of expense. The second Bless included 8,7, and 6 A ships. These were acquired to bring home corn from the Mediterranean, hemp, flax, and corn from the Baltic, and cotton from the United States. Now two kinds of the cotton brought to this country were brought home in American ships, and if superior ships were sent from this country the freight would not pay, there being the greatest competi tion in that class of ships. The question was whether the trade could go on satifactorily if the present berden was continued, and he did not think their ship-builders could compete much longer with the Americans. With regard to the third class, 6 and 5 A, they were em ployed principally in bringing home timber, and they came into competition with the ships built in Canada. He did not see why so enormous a premium should be given to Canadian-built ships. He admitted that it was not the interest of the country to encourage the building of ships of a superior class as it told very heavily upon the growth of English oak. At present a party must go at least twenty miles from a ship-building yard to pro cure oak, and it was already telling upon it, so that it was generally thought that young oaks were touched too soon. In no other case was a ready-made article admitted duty free, and it was in the present eve a gross infliction on the industry of the country. With regard to the practically carrying out of his plan, he believed there would be no difficulty in ascertaining the amount of the drawback upon the timber used in ship-building. A gentleman of great experience in the trade had told him that there would be no difficulty whatever—the ship was built under the survey of Lloyd's surveyor, who took an accurate account of the timber used ; and, in addition to his report, they might have the certificate of the building of the ship. The annual overage tonnage of the ships built in this country was 140,000 tons—the proportion of foreign timber used was about one-fourth, and the number of loads was about equal to the number of tons. The fourth of 140,000 tons then was 35,000, and the entire amount of the duty he asked the Government to remit, averaging it at 20s. the load, wa5 1 35,000/. For that sum a stimulus would be given to the industry of a class which bad lately been exposed to severe competition. He hoped the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Labouchere) would not, in his reply, quote the case of some foreigners who had purchased ships built in the north of England, which had been already sufficiently explained. The price of all descriptions of shipbuilding materials had never been so low as at the present moment. He hoped the Right Hon. Gentleman would, under all the circum stances, take the matter into his consideration and do justice to the claims of a most important and useful class of the community.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. HEADLAM seconded the motion. The present system was not in accordance with either the maxims of policy or of taxation which had been recently laid town by the Government. Mr. LABOUCHERE ,complimented the Honourable Member for Bridport on the tone and temper in which he had brought the present important question before the Hence. He had stated the case of the English ship builders not only with his accustomed ability, but with the clearness of ore who had a thorou.;h knowledge of the subject. He did not intend to enter int.) a contro versy with the llonourable Gentleman as to the gensral principle, and he must say that he addressed the House under very considerable disadvantages, and he should be mistaken if he left upon the Honourable Gentleman the .mpression that he either concurred in, or disapproved f, the proposition to take off 35,0001.—(A laugh.) The !louse would bear in mind that they would very shorty ,save the financial statement of his Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer laid before the House, Ind he hoped the II us. Gentleman would not attribute to any want of respect his giving expression to any opinion upon the subject. As the financial statement would be laid so much carnet. than usual before the &w e, it would not be advisable fur him to express any decided opinion upon the subject. he hoped that the House would accept this as a reason for saying that he could not advise the House at that moment to agree to the motion of the Honourable Gentleman. As to the higher classes of vessels, the duty upon timber was very imma terial. The burden, he admitted, was much more considerable upon the smaller classes. He thought that even with these duties their shipwrights were fully able to contend with those of any foreign country. That, aowever, did not furnish a sufficient reason why, if they Found it coevenient with their interests, this duty should not be removed.—(Hear, hear.) Although their ship vrights were subject to great disadvantages by reason of his impost, they enjoyed countervailing advantages. In Prussia, for instance, in respect to the article of iron, the Prussian shipowners paid far more for their iron in the construction of their vessels than the British shipwrights had to pay fur theirs. While ho saw that these ship vrighte did not fear foreign competition, he did not mean to say that it would not be desirable to remove these duties if it were convenient to do so.—(llear, hear.) As reference bad been made to Sweden, he hal to in rorm the Howes that he held in his hand an extract from s letter received from their Consul at Stockholm on this subject. This gentleman stated that since the altera tion in the English navigetion-laws he took every 'pportunity of watching the effect produced upon the shipbuilding in Sweden. He said that from what he bad seen it did not appear that the English ship builders suffered in the slightest degree from the :emapetition that was created, and he had been in firmed by one of the principal shipowners there that he invariably imported all his cordage and other articles connected with ships from England, which enabled him, notwilstanding the duties upon them, to have a much superior vessel than could be fitted up at Stockholm —(Hear, he tr.) He (Mr. Labouchere) felt the importance of giving the greatest encouragement to their shipbuilding, feeling that it aas a matter of na tional importance to do so, yet he was unwilling at that moment, for the reasons he had stated, to assent to the motion of the Hon. Gentleman. He hoped the House would consider how very soon the financial statement would be before them, and would therefore see the im propriety and imprudence of discussing this question on the present occasion. He thought that the House would involve itself in some difficulty, and would not do its duty to the public as fairly as it ought, if they assented to this motion before they were able to take a survey of their whole financial affairs. Mr. CARDWELL thought he might congratulate the Right Hon. Gentleman for having maintained that equi poise upon this subject which he had promised to ob serve in the commencement of his speech. lie thought that the principal object which the Right Honourable Gentleman had in view was to conceal the intentions of the Right Honourable Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which were to be revealed in the speech to he made in about ten days hence. He believed that this veil of secrecy as to futurity had never been drawn more closely by any Minister of State. It was a speech which did not even enable him to perform the part of a prophet in anticirating any of the propositions that would be made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his budget speech. If he were to venture or surmise upon that subject from the speech they had just heard, he would be disposed to say that the Government would not be unfavourable to the proposition now made. — (Hear, hear.) At the commencement of this century, they imported a great quantity of timber from the Baltic. He was, however, happy now to say that they could compete successfully with Prussia, particularly in iron. If they saddled this article with extreme duties of 15 or 17 per cent., they would be only exposing the capitalist here to great disadvantages. Had they not exposed the shipowners of this country to a competition with the world by their recent legislation?—(Hear, hear.) Since 1842, had they not, as far as they could, made it the great principle in their commercial legislation to set fie e from duty the raw material, in order to give the greatest scope to industry?—(Hear, hear.) Having done so, they also exposed their shipbuilding to general competition by the measure of last year. He asked them to show a sin gle instance in the whole of their tariff where they had taxed their raw material and at the same time had not protected the manufactured article. If this Le the case, where, he would ask, was there either justice or ex pediency in refusing to remove these duties? He, how ever, thought that the Right Hon. Gentleman was cor rect when he said that it would be most inconvenient if they discus=sed such subjects as this before the budget was revealed to them, which was so soon to be brought under their consideration, when the general taxation of the country would be reviewed. He hoped that next week they would have the pleasure of congratulating the Right Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Ex chequer upon his return to his health and to his duties in that House; and he hoped that they would be also enabled to congratulate him upon a largo surplus, which could be wide ttvglAble tv the Pniii&i9l4 of 01919 dudes THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING-, MARCH 6, I 85 0; which were so unjustly pressing upon the native industry of the country.—(Elcar, hear.) Mr. FIUME said, that having bound himself to use his best elf )rts on every occasion to remove a'l restrictive duties that Fevented capital having a free scope, he was of course favourable to this proposition now brought forward by the Hon. Member for Bridport. From the speech which they had just heard from the Right lion. Gentleman (Mr. Labouchere) he should be dis posed to say that there was no intention on the part of the Government to take off these duties, for he said that the disadvantages which these duties created to the British shipwright were more than counteracted by the advantages which they gained in another way. The House of Commons should decliro itself in favour rf the present motion, in order that any doubt which might remain upon the minds of Members upon this subject might be re -noved, and the Government be strengthened in their arias to deal satisfactorily with this question. Mr. HENLEY should like to know where they were to stop if they assented to this motion? It a-as no doubt very easy for the shipbuilders to try and nibble out of this tax. How did the general taxation of the country bear upon every interest? How did the pressure of the national debt bear upon every interest?—(Hear, hear,) He should like to know how, for instance, they were to get rid of the malt tax? Upon the raw produce they paid a tax of 100 per cent. I; they wished to go through all the items of that tariff, where were they to stop? The next question which they had to consider was, what was to become of the public credit?—(Hear, hear.) They should have made a bargain with them' before they exposed their shipbuilders to those difficulties in which they now admitted they were. How could they reconcile the statement they had heard as to foreigners com;ng here to buy timber cheaper than they could get it in their own country with the demand now made on then to reduce these duties? If they artirmed the pre sent proposition now, they could not stop short when they were asked to remove any other particular tax which was said to press hard upon a particular portion of the community. Mr. SA.NDARS said that the smaller class of ship owners had suffered dreadfully by those duties, and he thought that their abolition would be a great benefit to that class. Mr. CL AY wished to remind the Honourable Mem ber for Oxfordshire that t`leir particular caw hero was this, that their raw material was taxed, which, in a manufactured state, would be allowed to come in free. lie did not think that any similar case of injustice existed. _ _ _ Mr. WYLD said that the continuance of this tax was also a great injustice to the mining interest, which was exposed to the competition of the whole world. Mr. MITCHELL confessed that he did not wish to press the question to a division, after what the Right Hon. Gentleman had said. At the same time. as these duties were felt to be a great injust ice to a large and im portant class, he thought it was only due to them to press this motion to a division. The House then divided. The numbers were— For the motion Against it ••• 32 Majority against the Government._ —l3 Mr. MITCHELL then named this day fortnight for the House resolving itself into a Committee. AUDIT OF RAILWAY ACCOUNTS. Mr. STANFORD said he had given notice of his in tention to introduce a Bill for the more effectual audit of railway accounts. It might be in the recollection of the House that he had inquired, early in the session, whe ther it was the intention of the Government to bring in any Bill relative to the audit of railway accounts, and that the President of the Board of Trade then stated that the Government were not disposed to introduce any Bill on the subject, but that if no measure was proposed by any independent Member on behalf of the share holders the Government would be prepared to take up the question. It might be recollected that a Bill relat• ing to the audit of railway accounts had been originated in the other House in 1848, but had been rejected by that House; and last year a nearly similar Bill, which had beta introduce I in the House of Lords, had also shared the same fate when it came down to the House o' Commons. He did not believe that arty system of audit which was tainted by Government interference would have the confidence either of the railway shareholders or of the country; and he thought that in this case the trite quotaticn was particularly applicab'e— " Timeo Danaos et done ferentes." He understood that a Bill for establishing art audit of railway accounts had been introduced last night in the other House, and he believed, from what hp had heard of its nature, that it was a measure to which he could give his support, as it very closely resembled that which he had intended to submit to the House. He was con vinced, although there was an almost unanimous opinion against Government interference, yet that the opinion was equally universal that it was high time some steps were taken to establish an effectual audit with regard to the vast amount of capital embarked in railway specula tions. It was unnecessary to recal to the recollection of the House the painful disclosures which had been made as to the wastP, extravagance, misappropriation, an d frauds which had occurred in railway concerns, and it had been a matter of surprise to every man acquainted with business that some measures had not been taken earlier to protect the bona fide investors in such specula tions. He considered that, to render any system of audit efficient, it must be continuous in its operation, the accounts must be published half yearly upon a uniform model, and the audit must Le untainted by what was called Government in terference. He had hal six or seven years' experience as a shareholder and bondholder in most of the large railway companies, and had become familiar with ch. ill consequences resulting from the want of au efficient control over the tinaicial departments of those com panies, and, having applied his attention to the subject he had framed a Bill, which he was ready to lay oe the table, with the view of establishing an alicient system of audit. Ho considered that any measure that might b. adopted on this subject should be framed in a spirit of courtesy towards railway directors, becaase, although there had undoubtedly been much extravagance, and in some cases gross frauds, yet he believed that, with some few exceptional cases, the directors were honourable men, who exerted themselves to promote the interests o' the shareholders. He must say he thought the President of the Board of Trade had not quite kept good faith with him. An Hon. GENTLEMAN moved that the House be counted ; and there being only 31 Members present, The SPEAKER, at Ten o'clock, declared the House adjourned. PARLIAMENTARY DIVISIONS. From the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Conunow4 TUESDAY, MARCH 5. WOOD USED IN SHIP BUILDING. Motion made, and Question put, " That this House do resolve itself into a Committee to take into consideration the Duties on Wood, with a view of remitting the Duty on all Wood used in Ship Building." The House divided: — MAJORITY—AYES, 45. Adair, Hugh E. Greene, John Ricardo, J. L. Aglionby, IL A. Ileadlam, T. E. fialwey, Colonel Anderson, Arthur Henry, Alexander Sandal's, J. Bass, M. T. Heyworth, L. Scliolefleld, W. cardwell, Edward Hume, Joseph Stuart, Lord D. Chichester, Lord J. Butt, William Thompson, Colonel Clay, James J ackson, William Thornely, T. Clive, 11. B. Kershaw, Jame. Wakley, T. Cobden, R. ' Matheson, Colonel Wahnsley, Slr T. Cocks, T. S. Moffatt, George Willcox, Brodie Duke, Sir J. Morris, David Williams, John Duncan, George O'lLtherty, Anthony Williamson, Sir 11. Edwards, 11. Palmer, Roundel! Wyld, James Fagan, William Pechell, Sir G. TELLEIII. Farrel', James Pigott, Francis Mitchell, T. A. Forster, Mathew Pilkington, JanieS Gibson, T. AL MINORITY-NOES, 32. Armstrong, R. B. Howard, Lord E. Raphael, Alexander Baines, M. T. Howard, J. K, Rich, Henry Baring, Thomas Howard, Sir R. RomWy, Sir John Bellew, R. M. Jervis, Sir John Shell, R. L. B e rkeley, Admiral Labouchere, Ilen—,, Elliot, John Lewis, George C: Sturt, Henry G. Evelyn, W. J. Maul; Fox Verney, Sir H. liatchell, John Mulgrave, Earl Hawes, Benjamin Paget,;Lord A. Shelburne, Earl of Brotherton, Joseph Lascelles, W. S, Stanford, J. F. TELLM. Hayter, W. G. Paget, Lord C. Hill, Lord l'ilareuil liobhouse, Sir John Parker, John G.ey, R. W. TO. THE SECRETARY OF THE BRADFORD REFORM ASSOCIATION. Sir,—On Monday the 4th, tce — Principal interest was in the progress of what has got the name, whether deservedly or not, of the Irish Reform Bill. Statements on all sides are generally exaggerated; but there are certainly those that maintain, that on some points the Irish R e f or m 13111 will leave the state of things worse than before. It is difficult to say why in the Ministerial quarters there should be such an extreme terror of undue extension of the suffrage. It may turn out there are dangers on the other side, more than equivalent. A respectable minority of 90 votes was mustered in support of reducing the qualification from eight pounds to five. On Tuesday was a discussion on the conveyance of the mails from France, in which it is probable y ou have a local int e r es t. The position maintained at present, is that the essential thing is that your letters go 68 miles round, by Dover. It is not denied that this has the effect of causing the letters for all places out of the metropolis, to miss the morning mail, and lose twelve hours by waiting for the evening. But then it is urged, that a steam boat misses Boulogne harbour six times a year oftener than it misses Calais. And it is attempted to be laid down as what nobody can deny, that this is an inconvenience overbalancing the advan tage of having your letters twelve hours sooner on every other day in the year. To this I think you will demur. But as it is on record that a Member of the House of Commons once said, that "everybody knew five per cent. to be the natural rate of interest," so it is not very wonderful that the Members for Dover should hold the same sort of opinion on the subject of Dover being the natural place for communication with the continent. A Com mittee is appointed to investigate the which is to a certain extent an admission th q a u t es is something that wants inquiry. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, theretion ; AN OLD REFORMER. London, 6th March, 1850. A large apricot-tree has been moved in a very skilful manner from the late Mr : Alexander's g ro u nds, at Ipswich, to Mr. May's, a mile distant. The tree was a tine one, 56 years old, with a head of 100 feet in circumference. It was safely transported with no less than five tons of earth round the roots ; the soil being surrounded by staves and supported by planks underneath. The load required five horses.—Essex Herald, LITERATURE. THE UNCLE'S LEGACY. 3 Vols. By John Berry Torr. Although we presume, from the title-page of this agreeable fiction, that its author, Mr. Torr, has yet to render himself familiar with the labours of a novelist, we could scarcely have suspected so much from the general and various merits of the " Uncle's Legacy." What the reader cannot fail to remark as among the most conspicuous characteristics of the story are, first, the fascination of the different inci dents, and secondly, the fruitfulness of the writer's imagination. We may say literally of the work be fore us, that its interest commences with the opening chapter, and continues not only with unabated but increasing attraction as the plot becomes more and more developed. At the outset we are startled into attention by the occurrences upon which the whole force of the narrative is subsequently made depen dent. The horse of Alick Wildman gallops up at nightfall to his farm-house, with . its reins flying loose, its stirrups jingling idly from the saddle, and the saddle itself—riderless ! Search is made, and the body of the unfortunate yeoman is found—murdered! The assassin proves to be Isaac Ramsay, who figures throughout the,novel as the principal ruffian ; although the detestation felt towards him in this respect is shared' rather largely by the son of a knavish attorney, one Barrow. Much artistic skill is displayed by Mr. Torr in the delineation of these personages, but others of a more important and certainly also of a more at tractive character are likewise pourtrayed by him, and that too with a remarkable degree of ability. As we have no inclination to mar the charm of the fiction by any untimely disclosure of its outline, we shall preserve our customary silence upon this head—leaving the reader to make his own acquaintance with the structure of the whole of the present romantic production s Without, how ever, tending towards any such premature revela tion, we may be permitted, altogether, without detri ment to the author's endeavour, but rather on-.the contrary to its direct enhancement (by thus stimu lating curiosity), to comment cursorily upon the more prominent among the chief dramatis personce, and upon the more noticeable among the numerous events in which they become involved. As the title of the book sufficiently indicates, the whole of the plot hangs upon the wording of' a certain will, by which a considerable property is left to particular individuals upon especial conditions. How much villany may be betrayed in regard to such a docu ment by an unprincipled solicitor, in whom the utmost confidence is reposed, may be readily conjectured by those familiar with the chicaneries of law, and the op portunities afforded by its evil working to individuals disposed to profit by them at the expense of the in nocent. To the " Uncle's Legacy," consequently, the major part of the vices and virtues, the crime and magnanimity, the good and evil vicissitudes of the narrative are directly dependent. Towards the actual fulfilment of the arrangements sketched out in the " will," the interest and anxiety of the fiction is concentrated. Whether the wishes of the departed are realised or not, if realised, how, or when, or where—we shall not attempt even to insinuate, abandoning to the very competent hands of the no velist the duty of thus gratifying the inqui sitiveness of his perusers. Enough for us to assert with the emphasis of a reviewer conscious of his own unbiassed truthfulness, that the tale is told from first to last with a charming fluency of manner, a fluency which carries the mind on un interruptedly with the current of an enthralling series of descriptions, and leaves it at length with an agreeable sense of satisfaction, not unpleasingly tinged with a sentiment of melancholy. Without this blending of these two incongruous and yet re concilable extremes of pain and pleasure we should and almost any prose romance become towards the close distressingly monotonous. The alternations of tears and laughter are as essential, in fact, to a fiction, for the purpose of rendering it fascinating to the fancy, as the alternations of shade and shine, of the cloud and the sunbeam, are requisite to impart the charm of variety and animation to a landscape. It was a sense of this necessity which induced Walter Scott to introduce in his tragic romance of the " Bride of Lammermoor " the whimsical figure of old Caleb Balderstone by the side of the gloomy youth of the proud and mysterious Master of Ravenswood. In our own generation of novelists, again, we have seen the same artistic contrast employed very fre quently. For example, we have witnessed the va garies of that most comical wight, Mr. Richard Swiveller, in the same story which has immortalised so beautifully the death of Little Nell. We have ob ,erved falling almost simultaneously from the gifted pen of Lytton the fantastic limning of Sir William de Mallet and the grand and historic portraitures of Griffiths the Cymrian and Harold the Saxon. Mr. Toots has jostled Little Paul Dombey on the same imaginary high way ; Charles Vernon has fluttered by with his " ador able impertinence" cheek. by jowl with the saturnine Dalibard, and the grotesque shape of poor Beck, the crossing sweeper, flitted across the disc of our imagi nation in companionship with the sombre phantom 4' Lucretia. Mr. Torr, acting upon a kindred prin ciple, has blended together with delightful ability the 'ragical and the humorous, giving in one part an ac :ount of a shipwreck, and in another a comic sketch of high life not exactly "below stairs," but decidedly " below ton," or, according to the slang of the day, somewhat " below par." Mary Wildman, the he roine, and her lover, Arthur Maitland, who, for that reason, of course must be regarded as the hero, will engross the chief partion of the reader's attention, interest, and admiration. A large amount of admi ration must at the same time, however, be awarded to a kind of second heroine named Aurelie, a niece of Monsieur de Malleville, whose fortunes are tragically associated with those of a young Italian sculptor, Morosini. The last mentioned is one of the most ad mirable portraitures of all—the account given by our novelist of his love and of his labours as a sculptor upon a most exquisite statue of a female figure, which work of art becomes involved at last in the catas trophe of his own mournful career, is one of infinite beauty and gracefulness. Upon this particular we must content ourselves with briefly directing atten don to the description occurring at page 287, vol. iii. Otherwise, were we to make the quotation we could have desired, much of the interest of the story would be destroyed. In broad contrast to the passage just referred to—take the droll account of Mrs. Grim shaw's Ball—(see p. 48 et seq. vol. ii.)—where the parvenu hostess makes a ludicrous attempt to emulate the " style" of the fashionable Countess Lyndon—an effort in which she is slyly humoured by Earnest de Lisle, the nephew of the Countess. The denouement of the entertainment, where Major Grimshaw is horrified by a report that his wife has eloped with M. de Lisle, is extravagantly rich and laughable. Squire Frankman is another of the more remarkable characters in the romance, and a particular interest attaches to him from the circumstance of his being in volved in several of the most striking incidents in the "Uncle's Legacy. " Besides those already mentioned, some of these same incidents will prove on perusal to be written in a style as varied as it is unaffected and powerful. Of these let us particularise the accident in which Ernest de Lisle extricates Julia and Mrs. Grimshaw from imminent peril—(p. 191, vol. ii.) — the description of the steeple-chase, an event con ceived in that felicitous vein of adventure in which Charles Lever has recounted the triumphs of Moderi , deroo (p. 81, ibid)—the delineation of the artist's atelier containing the chef dceuvre of Morosini— (p. 110, ibid)—the account of the wreck of the " Petrel," :an account scarcely unworthy of the master-hand of Fenimore Cooper—(p. 79 vol. iii.) —and the terrible narrative of the assassination — (p. 296, ibid)—which.immediately precedes the close of the last volume. From what we have now observed, and especially from our enumeration of these passages of startling and absorbing attraction, it will be manifest that the work is no ordinary, hum-drum fiction, with just a dash of love, and a taste of sentiment, and a smack of philo sophy, and a suspicion of plagiarism, diluted with a large and predominating quantity of twaddle, but that it is a novel penned with considerable fruit st e n s. : h of w a e n a d h a vteh ripead t e e miet andd the ha exuberante , l u, to n g c e l altogether r L e g t ahcey•• imagination. firsten admit of a careful perusal and a scrutinizing nation. Satisfied, notwithstanding the abilitiesdis playedotintlleyddteolaoyuerdpnaorttiinciunlgaritcsommmereintsdtaitlilo t n h ; is t a i n m d e, w seo e xaa h ms av ti-o e s s on p l a r the author can achieve hate earyheaseen se in nsa n dy i i we cordially y e a s ec e dn n oi t un production, oftuh c a t tt i h o e n , orabilities should which rather.we if he so pleases yet greater success, com mend him to adventure further upon that blooming We have seldom witnessed a first his competitors. patpe persuaded h s ns of d e l d i t e b r e a t m u r a e y w p h u e s r n e , forward i n n c t e o w t h r i e t e r v , a wn with endeavour as a novelist in which we have recognised larger promise, and particularly prom w i o s m e apno i ds n itt t iho h en a n (as quality w that compositions of is qualityth e chief essential and no i n i e tch he of a bold, recognised) an original and brilliant o fiction—the h imagination. c ohnw— av ALISON'S HISTORY OF EUROPE. Vol XIL Illustrated Edition. Our European annalist has here brought his nar rative of the great wars of Napoleon down to the capture of the last town ever taken by that wonder ful conqueror—Rheims ! Here it is, especially, that the eloquence of Alison has been more particularly manifested, his genius, like that of Gibbon, possib l y finding something inspiring, and his sympa thies something congenial, in the days of disaster, decay, and desolation. The twelfth volume of the present splendid re-issue is embellished with portraits of Prince Blucher and Prince Metternich—the former a perfect masterpiece of engraving. No likeness could possibly be more felicitous than the one in which the hero of Waterloo is here represented by the pencil of Griiger and the graver of Harland. It depicts the old captain —as fatuous as gamester as a general— with shaggy moustache, observant eyes, and finely chiselled forehead. In that portion of the " History of Europe," however, in association with which the portrait of Blucher is introduced, in the form of a frontispiece, it so happens, unfortunately, that he ap pears the most frequently in the character of a de feated soldier, the latter chapters in the volume under consideration being descriptive of the brilliant campaign of 1814, where the Emperor Napoleon, surpassing himself, out.manceuvred his opponents, and, multiplying his small and worn-out army, kept the united invaders of France at hay during a wonderfully protracted interval, contesting the soil of his empire almost inch by inch against the advance of his assailants. No man capable of appre ciating valour and heroism in their loftiest manifesta tions can fail to linger over the pages of Alison with a heart engrossed, and a mind absorbed by the magni tude of so many tremendous calamities accumulated on the head of the great hero whose fame, during nearly twenty years, had overshadowed the world, and to destroy whom, a twelvemonth afterwards, the whole of Europe was to rise "from the Tanais to the Thames." A more admirable edition of these remark able annals could scarcely be published than the one which is now drawing towards its completion. Em bellished with authentic portraits of the extraordi nary personages involved in the narrative, portraits carefully selected and beautifully engraved, the present re-issue of Alison's celebrated " History" wanted only one additional attraction, and that at trrcdon has been carefully supplied throughout by a simultaneous republication of the copious illustrative atlas produced under the immediate superintendence of Mr. Alexander Keith Johnston. LATTER-DAY PAMPHLETS. No. H.—Model Prisons. Edited by Thomas Carlyle. Another portion of this powerful and eccentric series of pamphlets unfolds to us some of the more practical notions of Mr. Carlyle in regard to the wants of general amelioration. His estimate of the Convict Question is sufficiently serious, and well would it be if the Administration would regard the matter with the same earnest solicitude. Mr. Carlyle seems to regard it as altogether impossible that we can still go on with impunity patching up our de cayed and decaying system, building penitentiaries here and there, constructing prisons at Pentonville and convict depots at Portland Island. Botching will no longer suffice. The day of reform has gone by. Change, radical change is what is required. 'Thus speaks Thomas Carlyle to the existing school of improvers : " What sort of reformers and workers are you, that work only on the rotten material? That never think of meddling with the material while it continues sound; that stress it and strain it with new rates and assess ments, till once it has given way and deelarei itself rot ten; whereupon you snatch greedily at it, and say, Now let us try to do some good upon it! You mistake in every way, my friends: the fact is, you fancy yourselves men of virtue, benevolence, what not; and you are not even men of sincerity, and honest sense. I grieve to say it; but it is true. Good from you, and your opera tions, is not to be expected. You may go down !" Thus saith he, in conclusion : " 0 my friends, in sad earnest, sad and deadly earnest, there much needs that God would mend all this, and that we should help him to mend it !—And don't you think, for one thing, ' Farmer Hodge's horses' in the Sugar Islands are pretty well emancipated' now? My clear opinion farther is, we had better quit the Scoundrel province of Reform; better close that under hatches, in some rapid summary manner, and go elsewhither with our Reform efforts. A whole world, for want of Re form, is drowning and sinking; threatening to swamp itself into a Stygian quagmire, uninhabitable by any noble-minded man. Let us to the wellheads, I say; to the chief fountains of these waters of bitterness; and there strike home and dig! To puddle in the embou chures and drowned outskirts, and ulterior and ultimate issues and cloacas of the affair: what profit can there be in that? Nothing to be saved there; nothing to be fished-up there, except, with endless peril and spread of pestilence, a miscellany cf broken waifs and dead dogs! In the name of Heaven, quit that!" May this stern remonstrance and earnest appeal be come, to some effect, audible. OPENING OF THE BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE. THE FIRST TRAIN THROUGH. MENAI STRAIT, TUESDAY AFTERNOON. -The opening of this magnificent structure, looked forward to with so much interest, came off this day at dawn, with the grandest success. At half-past six o'clock A.M., three powerful engines (the Cambria, the St. David, and the Pegasus), of from 50 to 60 horse power each, decorated with flags of all nations and union jacks, steamed up, and harnessed together, started from the Bangor-station, carrying Mr. Ste phenson, who drove the first engine through the tube, and the following gentlemen :—Mr. Bidder, engineer, Mr. Trevethict, locomotive manager of the London and North-Western Reilway ; Mr. Edwin Clark, Mr. Latimer Clark, Mr. Appold, and Mr. Lee. At precisely seven o'clock the adventurous convoy, pro gressing at a speed of seven miles an hour, were lost sight of in the recess of the vast iron corridor. Instead of being driven through with a dispatch indicative of a desire on the part of those who manned it to get in and out with the utmost expedition, the locomotives were propelled at a slow and stately pace, with the view of boldly proving by means of a dead weight the calibre of the bridge at every hazard. The total weight of the locomotives was 90 tons. The appearance of the interior of the tube during the interesting experiment was of a novel and remarkable character. The pauses that oc curred during the progress of the transit furnished an imposing view of the interior of the gigantic structure, which, as contrasted with that of a tun nel of similar length, was rendered comparatively cheerful by the recurrence at intervals cf loopVes of light, which serve the three useful purpose of ven tilating, and lighting, and divesting the tube of steam from the passing engines. The locomotives were brought to a standstill in the centre of each of the great spans, without causing the slightest strain or deflection. The first process—that of going through the tube and returning—occupied altogether ten minutes. The second experimental convoy that went through consisted of twenty-four heavily-laden wag gone, filled with huge blocks of Brymbo coal, in all, engines included, an aggregate weight of 300 ton.. This was drawn deliberately through, at the rate of from eight to ten miles en hour, the steam working at quarter power, and on the engines of this train, besides the gentlemen already enumerated, there were Mr. lledworth Lee, the resident en gineer, Mr. Charles Rolfe, Mr. J. Maclaren, Mr. Borthwick, Mr. T. L. Gooch, Mr. Frank Forster, engineer, Mr. Binger, manager of the line, Mr. C. Mare, maker of the tubes, and a large number of scientific gentlemen. During the passage of this experimental train through the tube, a breath less silence prevailed that was almost solemn, until the train rushed out exultingly and with colours flying on the other side of the tube, when loud accla mations arose, followed at intervals by the rattle of artillery down the straits. Upon the return, which occupied about seven minutes, similar demonstrations ensued, and during the progress of the train, those who stood upon its top to ascertain any possible vibration reported they could not detect any sensible deflection. After this, Mr. Stephenson and his staff steamed up to Plas Llanfair, Mr. Foster's seat, and partook of a handsome repast. Meantime the loco motives were passing 7:up and down the interior of the tube without eliciting the slightest manifes tation of strain. An ordeal stronger still was then resorted to: a train of 200 tons of coals was allowed to rest, with all its weight, for two hours in the centre of the Carmarthenshire tube, and at the end of the time, on the load being removed, it was found to have caused a deflection of only four tenths of an inch. It is remarkable that this amount of deflection is not so much as one half-hour of sunshine would produce upon the struc ture, it being morever calculated with confidence that the whole bridge might with safety and without in jury to itself be deflected to the extent of 13 inches. These loads it is most material to remember are im mensely more than the bridge will ever be called on to bear in the ordinary run of traffic, though the engi neers are of opinion that it would support with ease, and without much show of deflection, a dead weight on its centre of 1,000 tons. Twelve miles an hour is the limit of speed at which Mr. Stephenson intends that trains shall at first go through, more particularly as there are sharp curves at the termini of the tube. During the trial of the dead weights a very in teresting episodical proceeding took place in the inte rior of the Carnarvonshire land tube—that of putting the last rivet into the plates, making exactly the 2,000,000 th that have been used. The rivet having been put in by Mr. Mere, was driven home and fas tened by Mr. Stephenson with successive strokes with a huge hammer. This ceremony was followed by the waving of hats and the deafening acclamations of the wot ltpeople. Mr. STEPHENSON, in a brief arldre,e, eulogized the industry of these men and their devotion to their work. lle could never fo r g et the in g enuity and the labour exhibited in the humbler sphere of the great operation, no r the masterly man ner in which the wor k had ' been carried out under the superintendence of Mr. T. Fleet, who had distinguished himself as a sterling and honest workman. It being now nearly twelve o'clock, another testing train was prepared to be taken through the tube. It consisted of the three engines, the 200 tons of coal, and from thirty to forty railway carriages, containing between 600 and 700 passengers packed together as closely as figs in a basket, all so clamourous and eager to " go through the tube," that it became im possible to accommodate them. At length, obediently to a long wild whistle, the train, which was almost long enough to cover the extent of tube, glided slowly • into the interior, saluted by a loud burst of "Rule, Britannia," from an array of Liverpool seamen up aloft in the towers at the entrance, on the front of • Which, cut deeply in the stone, were the words ~-~ ~`" " Erected Ann() Domini, 1850: Robert Stephenson, Engineer." As the huge train trailed slowly through the tube successive salvos of artillery were fired at each end. This accomplished, the steam was got up, and the company assembled proceeded at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour, amid the magnificent scenery and snow-capped hills of 'Wales, to Holyhead, where they were received by all the principal towns poeple, and with salutes from the steam-ships in the harbour. The effect of the recent hurricane on the calibre of the tube has proved th a t i ts lateral surface strength is sufficient, and far mor e than sufficient, to resist the strongest wind. It is ca l cu l ated that, taking the force of the wind at 501 b. o n th e square foot—an excessive supposition—the resistance offered by the bridge would be 300 tons, which multi p li e d b y 2, is equal to 600 tons, which is not two-thi r d s of its own weig/at. The wind going at 80 miles an hour, the rush of a hurricane would only press in th e rat i o of 128 tons on the side. It is intended, when both tubes are up, to brace them together with stays so as t o counteract any possible oscillation. The great work has now been four years in hand, and is nearly complete, while Telford's suspension bridge took eight years. The floating and actual transference of the tubes has occupied since Jane last—a short period when the bulk of the fabric is taken into consideration. Great fears were enter tained fur its safety during the late gales, from the re collection in this part of the country of the damage done to Telford's suspension-bridge. The express train at two o'clock r.m. from Holy-, head, and which started ten minutes after the expe rimental train arrived there, would have been bent through the tube, and thus have saved an hour, but this could not be done without the consent of the Railway Commissioners, unless under heavy penalties. It is understood that Captain Symonds,. the Govern ment Inspector, will inspect on the 9th inst., and re port to Government; and the public inauguration for every-day traffic may be expected on the 15th inst. The inauguration was to have taken place on the 17th, St. Patrick's-day, out of compliment to the natives of the aister isle, but that day happening to fall on a Sunday, this could not be accomplished. It may be interesting to know that the general opinion of the numerous engineers present yesterday, appears to be that the Britannia tube-bridge is as trustworthy as any tunnel on terra firma. THE ARMY. Major-General James Grant, C. 8., has been p'aced upon the list of officers receiving rewards for dis tinguished service. He served long in India, and was present at the battle of Mallevelly, siege of Se ringapatam, action with Doondin, and storming of the Fort of Turnioul, where he volunteered to lead the assault with fifty dismounted Dragoons. He was employed in Sicily, and returned to India; he was subsequently engaged in the Peninsula, and took part in the campaigns of 1813-14, including the action of the bridge of Croix d'Orade and the battle of Toulouse. He was also present at the battle of 'Waterloo. Captain H. B. Wynyard, late Brigade• Major el York, will succeed the late Major Canch as Fort.. Major at Edinburgh Castle. Captain Wynyard's situation at York was included in the late reductions. NA VAL INTELLIGENCES APPOINTMENTS. Lieutenants—John Frederick Mecham (1849), to the Assistance, active service ; John E. Parish (1846) to the Conflict, screw-sloop, at Devonport. Surgeon—W. B. Fegen (1847), to the Lily, 12, fitting at Portsmouth. Cleik in Charge—E. N. Harrison (1844), to the Assistance. Midshipmen—Sir Greville Temple, to the Lily; T. L. Pearson, additional to th?. Centaur, flag steam• frigate, for service on the coast of Africa. Naval Cadets—Arthur F. Tighe to the Lily ; 11. Monsell Carre, to the Victory, flag-ship at Ports mouth ; G. B. Vivian, to the Fisgard, flag-ship at Woolwich. We have heard that Captain Horatio T. Austin, C.B , the chief of the new North-West Passage ex pedition to proceed in search of Sir John Franklin, will receive the honour of knighthood previously to leaving England. Commander Featherstone has remitted to Dr. APTernan, of Greenwich Hospital, the sum of 381., ccEected by him at Ripon for the six destitute or phsns of the late Lieutenant C. Mackenzie. Among the benefactors are the Earl de Grey, his Countess, and other members of his Lordship's family. _ _ The Superb, 80, Captain Purcell, at Queenstown, is still short cf her full complement, and appears likely to he se, notwithstanding that she has been so many months endeavouring to procure a couple of hundred A.B.'s. Landsmen and boys are plentiful everywhere, but not seamen. The Shearwater, 3, steam• vessel, Lieutenant-Com mander Tumour, is at Queenstown. A letter of thanks ha,; been received at the Ad miralty from the Minister of Marine, on the part of the French Government, for the service rendered to a French vessel in distress by the Shear water. The Trident, steam-vessel, Lieutenant-Com mander Risk, is at Kingstown, raising men fur the Superb. The'Lvely, lighter, 1 fc P.rtsmouth on Monday for Woolwich. The Driver steam-sloop, Commander Johnson, left Valparaiso the 29th of November, for Cabaya, Arica, and Nay, full of provisions for the herald, it being then the admiral's intention that she should reach Callao by the Ist cf January, to proceed on to Pa nama for the next mail, to convey the same to the Sandwich Nandi, when she would find the Asis, but afar remaining at Arica ten days, the mail steamer arrived with orders for the Driver to proceed to Callao, and embark Mr. Sullivan, Charge d'Affaires and Consul General for 'Valparaiso, where he arrived on the 23d December. Ile came in the mail-steamer from Panama, with an American minister, whose wife took possession of the rooms ordered by Mr. Sullivan some time before. We cannot say what was the cause of the quarrel between these gentlemen, but the American struck Mr. Sullivan over the nose with a stick. Mr. Sullivan wanted to call him out, but he was advised to resign first, and he has written home in consequence. Tne provisions destined for the Herald on board the Asia and Driver bad been put on board a mer et ant vessel, to go to the Sandwich Islands, a., in consequence (it is said) of the Tigre Island business, the admiral had put off his visit to the Sandwich Islands. MADAME SONTAG'S THIRD CONCERT IN PARIS. Madame Sontag's third concert took place in Paris on Saturday evening, and excited even greater furore than her two preceding performances. It is thus de scribed by one who was present : " Madame Sontag is certainly the musical li.nne of Paris for the present season. She has put both French and Italian operas out of fashion, and there is a perfect furore to be present at her perform ances. She last night gave her third concert, and the struggle for places was, if possible, greater than at the first two. Every corner of the Conservatoire was filled, and such large extra prices were readily paid for boxes and stalls that the speculators on public curiosity and public taste must have secured a richer harvest than even the entrepreneur himself. Madame Sontag is only to give three more concerts ' and as all the places hare already b een secured, n entente of a new kind may be expected, if the number be not extended. " Nothing has surprised the Parisans so much as the slight , inroads made by ti me e i t h er on Madame Sontag 's voice or person. It is just twenty-four years since she first appeared before tbe Pa risian public, and nearly twenty-one since she bade it what was supposed to be an eternal adieu. It has been the pride of the dilettanti of that period to dwell on the sweetness of her voice, the brilliancy of her execution, and the grace and elegance o f h er p erson . What then was the astonish , merit of all, and especially of the elder di l ettanti, when, instead of the rather elderly and passee per sonage whom they ex pected, they saw a lady appa rently in the prime of life and beauty—in short, Mdlle. Sontag, pretty much as she was when . sh e . left them. One of th e most lively of t h e Paris c ritics, in ,' describing her, exclaims in an ecatacy of delight— ,She has to this day the same grace, the same freshness. The figure remains svelte, and the regard limpid. Not a wrinkle appears on that sweet face, not a hair the less on that pure forehead ; not a dimple has deserted that smile ; there is not pearl wanting in the scale of that voice, which is always sweet, always admirable for its expression, its charm, and its marvellous agility. The women who flourished five and twenty years ago have all undergone some metamorphosis ; time has touched them all more or less with the point of his wings or the marks of his nails. By what prodigy, then, has Madame Sontag alone escaped from these inevitable attacks ?' " Madame Sontag opened with a charming air from the Sonnanibula, in which she was rapturously ap plauded. She afterwards sung a Swiss air, accom panied by a chorus, and her success was equally great. In the second part she sung a scene and nir in German, from Dcr Frcischut:, after which she was recalled twice. Bat the great success of the evening was Rode's variations on the air of Al dolce in canto,' which she had sung at her first concert, and which she now repeated twice. The evening's entertainment closed with Mada me S 'Wag being brought forward twice to re ceive the congratulations of the company, an d the invariable shower of bouquets. Mdlle. Ida Bertrand sung the duo from Sentiramidc with Madame Sontag, and came in fors large eharof Applause."