The Sun. — London, England, 1850-04-26 00:00:00

-- ---- < * tt J s stateu In any e 554111 50° 1 r Ined `be u ; s jePO bors gemu - .00 the 116 11 on to ,bou l with regir' of e —1 to b ill 13v- „ t pti be P b t 01° — ll , h . cf ifjkC . e s o f o uodio l dir ro 113° t o Od a rowe r ;her. inl rs ark, d IPt ,ot n fell ° fp West A ,f 0 A § Ou ir b e,, xpe. ri ot!! rieuu e (1° me At b$ I n ot tbi t fr in bil sge be* pd to t ,nO l r soel or t pe vide.' boi t tb °ll cor i I tere so ' 1 . 11 0 nted , d vvoi • - fe on t° OO! tbel tons e t yid e l 00 the " dre - 0 0 v ipc t orb' 10 hu t , 11' ear.) to g • fie t the lob; Ii oil I to i on II ° lO 00 0 . 00 1 gl it i f s tota b at io A or- 1,0 , h Cr 3. _ O OO Pru d c oo, so Id I i b s) „, n f ob" ,vorsA u to ) bjec f for o , led `.rer opPi be it; hi e 0 t if e " Y "'the' • r e ' 9'° ow e 1( 13 ' 6 AC S ° ea r' 11d V t i l er* h ltO e O g - P oi ai liCa bl° o l4 ra 91 1)6 1 ,re V il er th e 1 - tr; n ot o Ac cji be w he o ; ide' ° c' as al- dot' 'plop' ,her a bi risio .00: ,biee t if does 01 ? 176' Ldiog / Peil"cl 105 f - t 10 0- SO A 0 0 av" I Yrid°' f i ;DiJ to pr, P ee ' to regenerate Ireland by the aid of a present-.° P ri etarY• Th e sme ll proprietors whom they propose d to create would find that it would be far better for them live under a landlord who in periods of calamity : vatld. ould share their distress, than to have their whole pro perty, ate , all their hope s a t s t a k e on one s i ng l e s t r ip of It was said that this Bill would have the stfoet of enhancing the price of land in the market ; but he he t°eyed th at although some advance might take place in he first instance, the additional quantity of land thrown 141 the market would soon bring prices down. Persons b • i t lt a l n in g money to lend, if they were inclined, would lend ,Aer.on ania, unless undersold by the Encumbered Estates The Bill offered advantages to the new proprietors rstobich would never extend to the old body of propris torn, The real object of the Bill appeared to be to Drop uP Estat A and perpetuate the action of the . . Encumbered ce : , 1 'let, which had not fulfilled the intention of .hn beefQlStature It was impossible, with the informants tis before t hem, to form any correct opinion of its opFra ;vn• They had heard of an estate, Mr. Baldwin s, a tiic h i ad sold for twenty years' purchase, but which, e- t i rea utY, takin g all the circumstances into consider ofosno,_daisele.notTfheitsch more than eight and a halt •$ ears Dureh morning they had read in the journals me sales effected, one of which sold for niticeen gears' purchase, another for eight years' purchase, and t i h e e ent:the s easa' the price offered was so inadequate that At # ' 4l a was adjourned for a month. In Mayo the es ti,"‘e,, bad been sold for prices which were paid every t "r waste lands in Australta. Was that a system to *este r e n l 2 king adventitious assistance for the purpose of at c e l t ing it perimment?—(tiear, hear.) In miserable eserewretched districts, where a numerous population „stuatbessis ti n ]: on a small tract of land, and Bell utre of all other places it was most desirable to He had ""n informs sales could be effected. d on the best authority . that whenever pro- Petty se • be. Situated was brought into the market l it was s.:",akely to be sold, except to some new land ord, .wh o o . " e 'gut be will parallel for 11)6 to undertake the horrible task d t f leeti ng every single tenant.—(Hear.) If they wante act o r th this - scheme they had but . to look at the re the tiong.reat e sales of Church property in consequence of ,„ want of money felt during the French revolu l - 16, 0( i n ", 1 , 79 0. The amount of property there was nearly e er - t ,'"_9 01 ., not much larger than the amount which as y s t ° 9' allowed, would, in a few months, be in the tin r et i n at', Ireland. Assignats were issued for 7,000,0001., Prep u b e e r e ominous point - of resemblance. What was the li ved of one of the greatest statesmen that ever reflections on the French re els brn a, said that, as far as could be gathered from st v e l-u s e 't ' i—‘° „ e:ledr.i:il,l,rke, in his the lands of the Church in reality leaaheot to be so ld at a ll. A ccor di ng t o a resew°f e re t the N at i ona l A ssem bly, i n d ee d, th e y ° °-2 deli vere d to the h i ghest bidd er; b ut i t was ehis h obse rved that a c er tain portion only of the pur twetsi er i e t ;;; rs n a eY was to be paid down, and , a period of Was given to pay the rest. The scheme kaaeistently intended to let in purchasers without ld Ply and the consequence would be that they_wou t Ni s 7 ° n l Y out of the rents, but out of the spoil of ma e %ea '3' buildings and waste of the lands, and whatever alitedi7er a t b i l i el could, by the greatest usury, extract from h tenantry. This prophecy had been realised, the to effect s of the system were still perceptible . in ets f 7 a te of the landed interest of France. His intention tti tf -° „ ll2 ,°'re that the Bill be read a second time that day to u f f i tos, but still, if the Government would give him soughmerstand that it was their intention so to modify t of the Bill that the privileges which it tend ed t to confer on the new proprietors would be ex to the ties sh„..„ present . landed . . interest—(Cheers)—he . for lio use yto, o et not think himself justified in dividing the t hat, But unless the Government wouldpledge give 'no 0 44 4 all events, they would take the question :°asideration, and unless they would say . they were tsi et , Lot r,i4Pared to inflict such injustice as this Bill conno -41tes-e'ae..ll the landed proprietors of Ireland, he had Utile that‘ but to move that the Bill be read a second t d v day six months.—(Cheers.) th e I r. 4 It ENCH seconded the motion. The Bill before 4 ti -s e would not in any way advance the prosperity jeetosee or carry out the original intention of the pro °Ne P the Encumbered Estates Bill. The immediate val fm " c a•L the present measure would ba to force property kd 11 t twenty millions into the market in one year,. tietantlently it would defeat the object of the ors P si N ." 4 °. It was brought forward professedly for the eve , - t e , of enhancing the value of land, but it would d er s h' a ge effect of depressing it, and of driving bond fi d e haf; ers Sway. In sustainment of the assertion t of s r tel ad s. created considerable alarm in many districts 41;,„ a ulong the landed classes. The Honourable t I Po s i - „ 4 „ t ; read a variety of communications from cor n it a sess in the south and west. He had no hesita- W riter, - s s eYing that everything prophesied by the ter e 0 E those letters would come to pass if the men • thoq . d ere ,enected in its present partial form. He next L'retiset, the great advantage which had resulted to e Government sanctioning the Bank of Eng lillettetrity of the advances to the landed interest on the that the land in times of distress, and he urge Bard similar proceeding should be adopted with re ltettr;,,e the landed proprietors of Ireland, or that a I t hich - s t „ ee ,ehould be given for the repayment of loans_ sentd beobtained at a moderate rate of interest. In f lt eeld -510 °, he expressed a confident hope that the House ` Q t l a dl r ee with him and his Noble Friend the Member s i 1 7,; . ° in es g the defeat of the Bill. r r te;;„ 4G AN c s h u r p lh orted the Bill. He had ample op- I sle - i"" ! when last in Ireland, of ascertaining the s ."' l sert ° i s Public feeling respecting the Bill. and he could " 4 4 8 .44t those whom he conversed with regarded the th 11 re I ' ti .t cry favourably. There was no disposition on filrch 4 l - ; o f capitalists in England to vest money in the Let e s ? of Irish roperty, or in Irish manufacture . s. met r e, i e tted the cir is cumstance much, and whilst he did ec e ""t that there were good reasons for this reluc illte 'site believed that it might flow with advantage; t , h e 11.,,, e k channel pointed out in the measure o Laid f icel 1: 1 ,t honourable the Solicitor-General. It was ' 4 ' 4 i n that in Ireland 3,000 0001. annually was Shape of interest on mortgages. That sum I , l to capital would represent 60,000,900 ~ a mi t r e could be saved by legislation, might be rea „es te r ueuctive of enormous advantagf s . to the . c . ountri r . s w s e s r a many solemn reasons, in . his . opinion, fo ' (41 ; 11 r1 T a t Bill, and he hoped that it might be soon etl ee e r f i ) e ,.° into a law, whereby the encumbered and the kr, er' etl ces might be mutually relieved. h,"`stete.:`, B AILLIE said he regretted that no astir ; g ees -`„ tit , of the o eration f t this Bill as a financial ~; 4 1e ost i, ,— „ °ad been laid before e House. It was a Bill ~ ":ettlf ti r t certain portion of the land of Ireland into a C i pr ea - ,,Tg medium of exchange, or to give a certain set .3 1 s on of land the power of issuing Exchequer teeth security of their property. This might be 1 1 „ . ! te ri t e ,cls to some proprietors of land, but he thought b „,"° ° at °a admitted at once to be an experiment. ZPo ta.„ experiment involving a principle of great ` e de r cr e, and, therefore, it should not be pro tillatilssfuetowr„tth except upon the most clear and tas fae •T elio grounds, stated to the House by t zf , the Exchequer. He understood that l f , °,o o tha °Per: Encumbered ller. Estates Act aerlt°‘°°°l worth of the land would be forced into the e 4 ti: t e . . Now if purchasers had the option of putt elled 't n wit h Paper . or with gold, which this Bill pro -100 Da s h give them, undoubtedly they would purchase I s iii°oo, o q and cnsequently it might be taken that be I le s s ! , worth of paper in the nature of Exchequer the"ff`i had its y • into the market. What would I s - Z l h%fl e s et we o r f e t n h o w at a value of Exchequer-bills ? high premium, but after the vi _O l e ttt , it' i s f s tilis Bill, w wo h uld they continue to be so? And 4„ -I1 b as . ll , ll ce was there that a similar Bill would not t s "rsre e „, - uPded to Scotland, where ho could assure the tta ' n t there of is th at was . much occasion for one? He he 4e Gov Was a tacit acknowledgment on the part earedr ternment of the utter failure of the Encum h 'tate s r e „, , Bill. He regretted the circumstance . eti l th a° Ped that in a desire, no doubt sincere, to w ould me evils which still remained unremedied, - I ,...reed. ' 3 ;4, by hasty legislation on a difficult sub kis be Sp 'r r tam orsethanthey were at present. the C' IC ITOR-GENERAL said it was quite a Sf s k s eese ° t : ll PPose, as had been stated by some, that the old *55 2. mere revival, with trifling exceptions The tectio sa e Ystera of judgment-debts in Ireland. "° the general provisions of the Bill reduced ssatterbe!.. ,Itehaeto..._three—first,-that the Bill was a Bill to en lige. tut u e t` e . oPerty over again,and that it did not eft__ te eeil lf . etthe real object of . the Act of last ses -14 it s 03: 1 3. it was objected that it did not carry into l'S• c lere t • qt ° Object ; and, thirdly, it was objected,. that t ae "11 ")11 Wa unjust towards re gat ,,, s bres-111Pftreligtlty° plans objection, he admitted that it t e !enwhi,,,ble, and that such was the first im- Ithi e lrer, h e ` l made. When carefully considered, tali th e sure that that would not be the opinion be ' l . —I " would allow any one to form of its ope ee,, 'see in Was evident that any one who wished to %ash%lreland might borrow money for the 114 4 :Ihnder the Encumbered Estates Act, i lett, t4 l till: individual would receive a Parlia sisahle he could not be prevented from encum elle 4 10 . 554111 ing that there were twenty persons de n - N l 4llll rat: ° Se t , if they did so now, they produced a tie„broseeee analagous to the old encumbrances, an en e4- be theunder which the creditor could take pos!es ekasell the incidents and also the debtor in excution, lt thereeeese incidents which belonged to the Irish en kefssla Bill' with which the House was familiar. __ Now, detthis were to pass, purchasers would probably ress at hmde of borrowing money, which was less Ids al to th • ebe rear e interests of all the parties concerned. t W e arteTet to the two other objections, it did no argorneve necessary that he should state in detail to s he htile t s il te by which they might he answered, and ,lattleugatitreaeirefo.re content himself with answering the le ers rg eti a .00servations which some Hon. Members e e hnnee thgalest the measure. With regard to the i ob -1404°f th e e E ll ° ll • Member for Invernes . s, that the Chan :hie:, tz,r,e etif,tlateernfinnaanicliawal 41 0.- 4 e uequer ought to hare given to tbe House y operation of this measure. he is e s ,„ ll °4l l ‘ ,, w w at Lquite as unnecessary as in any private Bill, for instance, where the corn its s 'a th e ,. TPOVVered to raise 3,000,000/. on debentures, i t 11`:Pertiti.(73utd• This Bill bad also been assimilated in la t .' least to Loh the aasignat system; but it differed from zier i s ° , 4 t 5 1 .., 6, that it was not a Government specu haiird into q' t e_o Motley on paper which gradually dege chart Q.o4l,,usgalte worthlessness. It was so far from e iss `atnent speculation that it was a particular th•ZospseiEeutia. particular estate, which particular estate to „ of In the particular certificate of charge, and ttq t r f a ,,Y off the the estate were allowed to sell the estate a g'o!loarge, Ile thought these objections did th st ~TheserCild why the House should not adopt this mo„ 2 .3 one thing which he thought was clear, ise7'etag eou ' s was advanced under this Act it would be td,',rio tt , A nother obj ect i on was, that it would b e Rr nssi lend er P s r o&riet ors, because the facilities it afforded !fft st lg eth ane tn oneY would have the effect of en uebesit:'°Uld b e t of money to these estates. If the ott l4 , are % th e attract the outlay of money in these see theaDitist that ci rcumstance would also draw oul th , at ttloes _ or general investment. Everybody i1ive;74:1,141 transferred every day to the con tiltd itinuld be Laugh mote gclygu- • THE SUN, tageous that it should be advanced at home, particularly in this case, where money could be advanced at present in Ireland with the greatest advantage; and if this Bill should have the effect of directing the course of capital to that country, the proprietors of land would have the benefit of such an introduction of capital. He believed that a great number t f those now in possession of those encumbered properties had not themselves thrown these burthens on the land. but had strive" earnestly against the hard circumstances of their condition, and were worthy of any reward which this measure could confer upon them. He did not say this Bill could not be improved, and he should be very ready, when the Bill went into Com mittee, to give all the assistance in his power to render it as perfect as possible. Ho had ascertained that the Bill was regarded favourably in Ireland. It was certain that it could do no harm, and might do much good, and in his judgment would contribute to relieve the country from the depression with which it was at present bur thened. Mr. G. A. HAMILTON said the prospect now held out to result from this measure was, that it would ee -1 chenge one class of encumbered pioprietors for another; but the Hon. and Learned Gentleman said that those to be constituted under this Bill wouli be more careful and thrifty than those that preceded them. If the induce ment was so great to invest property in the purchase of land in Ireland, as had been alleged, why was it that the Government found it necessary to stimulate this outlay of money in land in Ireland? The Bill and the speech of the Hon. and Learned Gentleman indicated rather a desire for a change of persons than to serve the pro prietors. The representations which had been made against landed proprietors iu Ireland, induced a belief that a change in the persons would be desirable. That was not the fact, the tenants in Ireland would greatly regret any such change. Giving credit to the Govern ment fur good intentions, he should be obliged t' vote for motion of the Noble Lord (Naas.) Mr. SADLEIEt said the estates sold under the Com mission were involved long before the famine or the adoption of free trade, and the greater part of them could not be sold at all under the Court of Chancery. It was objected that this Bill would be injurious to af ford facilities to purchasers to raise money on the es tates they might propose to buy. The same power was every day granted to railway companies to borrow money to the extent of one-third of their value, and he regarded this as a great advantage. The fact was that as yet no such bargains were obtained through purchases made under the Commission. The Irish titles, speaking generally, were not marketable, except through the me dium of the Encumbered Estates Commission. Irish Members should urge the appointment of a second Commission, with the view of enablingiall Irish proprie tors to prove their titles, and through the Commission have a Parliamentary title. The purchaser of land under the Encumbered Estates Act obtained a Parlia mentary title, and going into the market to sell that land, those proprietors who had not such a title could could not compete with him. He therefore wished all Irish proprietors to have that title. The O'GORMAN MAHON said that he concurred in the suggestions of the. Hon. Member who had just sat down. The concurrent testimony of the parties inte rested in this Bill approved of its provisions, and were anxious to have them brought into immediate operation. There had been no petitions against this Bill, and the landed gentry generally were in favour of the Bill. It was deemed to be a boon, and the sooner it was bestowed the greater would be their feeling of grati tude.—(Hear. hear.) Mr. H. HERBERT said that the principle of the Bill should be extended to unencumbered as well as encum bered estates in Ireland.—(Hear.) Not to do that would be to inflict a great hardship on a most deserving class in that country, namely, on those who had paid the greatest attention to their estates, with a view to their improvement. Unless that was done, they would pre vent them from raising a shilling of money for the fur ther improvement of their estates. If that boon were not conceded, those landed proprietors who had paid at tention to the improvement of their estates would be worse off than others who had pursued an opposite course. He could not raise money in the market on the security of his estate with anything like the facility enjoyed now by those persons who came under the En cumbered Estates Commission. Unless that suggestion was adopted, he should be compelled to support the amendment. . Major BLACKALL said he regretted the conclusion to which his Hon. Friend (Mr. Herbert) bad arrived. He did not think that a good Bill should be rejected be cause it did not embrace everything—because it did not include all the proprietors in Ireland. He should, there fore, give his support to the Bill. Mr. GROGAN felt it to be his duty to oppose this Bill, because he knew that land worth 41 per cent. was actually sold for 9i per cent. ; and he, therefore, asked the House could such a Bill be supported by any unpre judiced Member? Mr, S. WORTLEY said that, if he were an Irishman, he should feel that much satisfaction was effected by such a Bill as this, and that the facility of sale was greatly advanced, particularly when no less than 500,0001. had been advanced in the case of sale of pro perty. He then entered into details to show that very great facility would be afforded by this Bill to increase competition, and to reduce the system of monopoly in the purchase of land.—(Hear, bear.) Colonel DUNNE said that all the measures that had been brought in on this and similar subjects had been total failures, and therefore he could not concur i❑ this measure, which be felt assured, from previous circum stances, would be very prejudicial to that country. The House then divided, when there appeared— For the second reading ... ... 186 Against it ... 41 Majority ... —145 The Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Monday. Colonel DUNNE gave notice that on going into Committee on the Bill he would move that the same pri vileges granted to purchasers should be extended to owners.—(Hear.) NAVAL PRIZE BALANCE BILL. The House then went into Committee on the Naval Prize Balance Bill. Captain HARRIS objected to the Bill as rendering the prize money more difficult of recovery by sailors. Sir F. BARING said that the Bill would have no such effect. Captain HARRIS thought it would, and moved that the Bill be considered that day six months. The Committee then divided, when there appeared— Fur the motion ... ... 70 Against it ... ... ... ••• 5 Majority ... ... —65 The Bill then passed through Committee. FRIENDLY SOCIETIES. Mr. SOTHERON obtained leave to bring in a Bill to amend and consolidate the laws relating to friendly societies; and the Bill was subsequently read a first time. The House adjourned at One o'clock. RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS. BRISTOL. APRIL 25. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The market was rather firmer to-day, and prices had a slight tendency upwards. The sales were principally confined to Great Western Quarter Shares, which closed at 129-16—London and North-Western, 103 Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth, 8 1 ,E—Taff Vale, New, 1 ,4 p. PARLIAMENTARY DIV [SION S. (From the Votes and Proceedings of the House r f Comnunrrs•) THURSDAY, APRIL 25. AUSTRALIAN COLONIES GOVERNMENT BILL. (IN THE COMMITTEE.) Clause 30 ( Power to establish a General Assembly for the Australian Colonies) :—Motion made, and Question put, " That the Clause, as amexded, stand part of the Bill." The Committee divided : MAJORITY-AYES, f 3. Adair, It. A. French, F. Russell, Lord J. Anson, Colonel Gibson, T. M. Rutherford, A. Armstrong, Sir A. Hatchell, John Saiwey, Colonel Baines, 31. T. Hawes, Benjamin Seymour, Lord Baring, Sir F. Ilervey, Lord A. Shafto, R. D. Barnard, E. G. Hobhouse, Sir John Sheil, R. L. Barrington, Viscount Hobhouse, T. B. Smith, John B. Blackall, S. W. Howard. P. H. Somers, J. P. Bright, John Hume, J. Somerville. Sir W. Brotherton, J. Humphery, Ald. Stanton, W. H. Brown, W. Labouchere, Henry Strickland, Sir G. Busfeild, W. Lascelles, W. S. Thompson, Colonel Carter, John B. Lewis, George C. Thornely, T. Chatterton, Colonel Loveden, Pryse Trelawity, J. S. Cowper, W. F. Mackie, John Tuthell, Henry Craig, Sir W. G. 3PGregor, John Verney Sir 11. Denison, J. E. .31`Taggart, Sir J. Vivian, J. H. Iluncuft, John Maule, Fox Williamson, Sir 11. Hondas, Sir Darid Morison, Sir W. Wilson, James Ebrington, Viscount Owen, Sir John TELLERS. Ellis, John Romilly, Sir John Hill, Lard Marcus Fordyce, A. D. ltumbold, C. E. Bellew, R. 31. MINORITY—NOES. le. Balllie, 11. J. Hamilton, G. A. Wyld, James Baldwin, Barry Manners, Lord J. Bernard, Viscount Naas, Lord TELLEIII. Best, John Smith, Vernon Molesworth, Sir W. Campbell, W. F. Adderley, C. B. SECURITIES FOR ADVANCES (IRELAND) BILL. Order read for resuming adjourned Debate on Question (15th April), "That the Bill be now read a second time:"— Question again proposed; Debate resumed : —Amendment proposed to leave out the word " now," and at the end of the Question to add the words " upon this day six months :" —Question put, " That the word ' now' stand part of the Question." The House divided : MAJORITY—AYES, IE6. Abdy. Sir T. N. Frewen, C. 11. Norreys, Lord Acland, Sir T. D. Grace, 0. D. O'Connell, Maurice Anstey, T. C. Graham, Sir James O'Flaherty, Anthony Archdall, Captain. Greenall, Gilbert Ogle, S. C. Armstrong, Sir A. Greene, John Osborne, Ralph Arundel, Earl of Grenfell, Charles W. Paget,;Lord A. Bagshaw, John Grey, Sir George Palmerston, Vis. Baines, M. T. Grey, R. W. Parker, John Baring, Sir F. T. Grogan, Edward Patten, J. W. Barnard, E. G. Grosvenor, Earl Perfect, R. Barrington, Lord Hallyburton, Lord J. Plowden, W. 11. Bass, Thomas Hanmer, Sir John Power, Dr. Bellew, ft. M. Hardcastle, J. A. Powlett. Lord IW. Berkeley, Henry F. Harris, Richard Pusey, P. Berkeley, C. L. G. Hastie, Archibald Rawdon, Colonel Birch, Sir Thomas Hatchell, John Ricardo, Osman Blackall, S. W. Hayter, W. G. Rice, E.. R. Blake, M. J. Headlam, Thomas Rich, Henry Bouverle, E. P. Heald, James Robartes, T. J. Boyle, Colonel Heathcoat, John Romilly, Colonel Brockman, E. D. Hervey, Lord A. Romilly, Sir John Brooke, Sir A. Hobhouso, Sir J. Rumbold, C. E. Brotherton, Joseph Hobhouse, T. B. Russell, Lord I. Brown, W. Bodges, T. T. Russell, E. Browne, R. D. Holland, Robert Russell, F. C. Campbell, W. F. Howard,lE. G. Rutherfurd, A. Carter, J. B. Howard, P. H. Sadleir,yohn Cavendish, C. C. Howard, Sir R. Salwey, Colonel Cavendish, G. H. Hughes, W. B. Sandars, Joseph Cavendish, W. G. Jervis, Sir John Scholeffeld, William Chichester, Lord J. Jocelyn, Viscount Scrope, G. P. Childers, J. W. Johnstone, Sir J. Scully, Francis Cholmeley, Sir M. Keating, Robert Seymer, H. K. Clay, James Keogh, William Simeon, John Clay, Sir W. Kershaw, James Slaney, Robert A. Clements, Charles Kildare, Marquis Smith, J. A. Cockburn, A. J. King, P. J. Somerville, Sir W. Coke, Edward K. Labouchere, Henry Sotheron, T. Corbally, M. E. Lewis, G. C. Stafford, Augustin! Corry, H. Lindsay, Colonel Stanton, W. S. Cowper, W. F. Littleton, E. R. Stuart, H. Craig, Sir W. G. Loveden, Pryse Talbot, C. B. Crowder, R. B. Mackie, John Talbot, J. H. Dalrymple, Captain M'Naghten, Sir E. Tenison, E. K. Dawson, T. V. M'Cullagh, W. T. Thicknesse, Ralph Devereux, John T. 3l'Taggart, Sir J. Thompson, Colonel Douglas, Sir C. Meagher, Thomas Thornely, T. Duff, George S. Mahon, O'Gorman Townley, R. G. Duff, James Mangles, R. D. Trelawny, J. S. Duncan, Lord Marshall, William Tufnell. H. Duncuft, John Martin, Samuel Vane, Lord H. Dundas, Admiral Matheson, J. Verney, Sir 11. Dundas, Sir David Matheson, Colonel Villiers, Viscount Ebrington, Lord Maule, Fox Vivian, J. H. Ellis, John Miles, P. W. S. Watkins, Colonel Evans, William Milner, W. M. Williamson, Sir H. Fagan, William Mitchell, T. A. Wilson, James Foley, John H. Monsell, William Wood, W. P. Foley, J. H. Moore, G. H. Wortley, J. S. Forster, M. Morgan, H. K. Young, Sir John Fortescue, Chichester Morris, David Tiiii.xsa. Fortescue, J. W. Mostyn, E. Hill, Lord Marcus Freestun, Colonel Mulgrave, Earl Howard, Lord E. MINORITY—NOES, 41. Baillie, H. J. Edwards, Henry Maxwell, Hon. J. P. tialdock, E. IL Farnham, E. B. Meux, Sir H. Bennet, P. Ferrer, James Newport, Viscount Beresford, William Ferguson, Sir E. Stanley, Edward Bernard, Viscount Filmer, Sir E. Stanley, E. 11. Best, John French, F. Stuart, J. Blackstone, W. Gore, W. It. 0. Sturt, Henry G. Booth, Sir IL G. Gwyn, Howol Tyrell, Sir J. Christy, Samuel rialsey, T. I'. Verner, Sir W. Cole, Hon. H. A. Hamilton, G. A. Villiers, F. W. Coles, H. IL Hodgson, W. N. Walsh, Sir J. Conolly, Thomas Hernby, John Disraeli, B. Hudson, George TELLERS. Dodd, G. Jones, Captain Naas, Lord Dunne, Colonel Mackenzie, W. F. Herbert, H. A. NAVAL PRIZE BALANCE BILL. (IN THE COMMITTEE.) Bill read a first time :—Motion made, and Question put, " That the Bill be read a second time, paragraph by para graph." The Committee divided : MAJORITY—AYES, 70. MINORITY-NOES, 5. Bennet, Philip Hodgson, W. N. TELLER/. Grogan, E. Hornby, John Harris, Captain Gwyn, Howel Stuart, John LI VEICrOOL, Arial. 25. STOCK Excwkwais.— Business on our Stock Exchange was worse to-day. The transactions were as follow : Caledonian, Preterence, c.—East Lancashire, 6%—Lan cashire and Yorkshire, Conan!., 34—London, Brighton. and South Coast, 77k.—London and North-Western, 101—Ditto, New Quarters,flBs. 9d. dir.—Midland, 32—Ditte, Halves, 27% die.—Shrewsbury and Cheater, Preference, guaranteed 3 per cent., 12—South-Eastern and Dover, 131 . MANCHESTER, APRIL 25. STOCK ExonArum—The market has been dull to-day, and prices have declined. The transactions were as follow : Lancashire and Yorkshire, Fifths, 10 t /2 c. dis.—Londen and North-Western, New Quarters, 1 V. 2 dis.— Great Western, 51— Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, 11%—North Staf fordshire, to 1 ,4 dis.—Shewsbury and Chester, Preference, guaranteed 8 per cent. 12 L A South-Eastern and Dover, 13% c.—Ditto, Thirds (No. 4), 4 7-16. BIRMINGHAM, APRIL 25. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The market was stationary to-day. The transactions were—Midland (Birmingham and Derby), ls l 4—South Staffordshire, 4 1 4 dis. —London and North- Western were quoted at 101%, and Midland at 33. YORK, APRIL 24. STOCK EXCRANOK.—The transactions to-day were as fol low :—North British (guaranteed 6 per cent. for five years, and 5 per cent. in perpetuity), 474—Caledonian, Preference, East and West Yorkshire, Preference, 6 per cent., 3% —Leeds are Tbirsk, 6—York. Newcastle, and i ßerwick, 12 —Ditto (G. N. E. Purchase), %—York and North Midland, 14i —South-Eastern and Dover, 1314. BEtEWER-STREET RAGGED SCHOOLS.-011 Wednes day evening, at seven o'clock, the second annual meeting of the Brewer-street Ragged Schools, Great Wyld.street, was held at the Music Hall, Store-street, Russell .square, to re ceive a report of the state of its affairs for the past year. Sir T. H. Maxwell, Bart., having been called to the chair, the secretary read the report, which stated that the teachers regretted that there was was not sufficient accommodation for the many applications made for the admission of children. A great improvement had taken place among the children since the last annual report. Accounts have been received from those sent to Australia as emigrants, which were of the most satisfactory character. There were eighty names on the books; fifty being the average daily attendance. An industrial school was established a short time ago, which bad induced among the girls a considerable improvement in their manners and habits, and who now take a pleasure in making their own garments. The receipts amounted to 1121. 10s. 4d., and, after paying all necessary ex penses, there remained a balance of 161. 12s. 10d., which was to go to the building fund. Joseph Payne, Esq., the barrister, and one of the most zealous supporters of ragged schools, moved a resolution that the report be adopted and printed, as also the committee and other officers be re-elected. Mr. Ware, secretary of the Field-lane school, seconded the resolution, and said he had the honour to hand to the treasurer of the schools the munificent do nation of 201. from the Duke of Argyle. The resolution having . been adopted unanimously, Dr. Cumming moved a resolution to the effect, that the meeting pledged itself to renewed offort in the cause of ragged schools, being convinced of their importance as one of the most success ful means at work for the elevation of the most degraded portion of the youthful population. Several other gentle men addressed the meeting in support of the resolution, which, with others in support of the general principle of ragged schools, was carried unanimously. A vote of thanks was then passed to the chairman, and the meeting separated. PRESERVATION 01' OAK FENCING.--I have had much experience, and have for years watched the effect of the atmosphere upon these wooden fences, and in all cases have found that the wood itself, without any paint or dress ing whatsoever, is the most durable. I erected a fence of thin yellow deal feather - edge boards, six from the 3-inch deal, and when removed, after seventeen years, there was no appearance of decay at all : with respect to oak, which is of a gummy sap, it will often be found that, when put up new and tarred or painted, a fungus will vegetate through the dressing, and the interior of the wood b e rapidly destroyed ; but when undressed it seems that the weather desiccates the gum or sap, and leaves only the woody . fibre, and I ani firmly of opinion that au oak fence undressed is the most durable, even by years. I may add, that white rosin and tallow is a very good dressing for an oak fence : it must be applied hot, and laid smooth by a brazier, in the same w ay as boats' bottoms are dressed .— correspondent of the ,B u ilder. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. The Admiralty have directed that Captain Fitz maurice*'s rotary steam-engine shall be fitted to a pinnace, and tried at Woolwich. We understand that Captain James, R.E., will continue to do duty as director of works at Ports mouth until his successor is appointed. The Widgeon, steam-vessel, Captain Bullock, is ordered to Woolwich, to tow Sir John Ross's yacht, the Mary, to the northward. PORTSMOUTH, THURSDAY.—The Dauntless steam frigate is being prepared for commission with all dis patch. The Maria Soames convict-ship arrived at Spithead this morning from the eastward. Her Majesty's yacht Victoria and Albert came out of the New Basin under steam this morning, and went to the measured mile in Stokes'-bay to try her engines. The Elfin Royal dispatch-boat, Master Commander A. Balliston, also went to Stokes'-bay for a similar purpose. They returned at half-past one. The Ajax, 60, screw guard-ship, is expected to be put in commission daily as guard-ship at Queenstown. The Havannah, 22, Captain Erskine, was at Sydney on the 14th of January, all well, and was to sail on the following day for Wellington, New Zealand. Mr. Stretton, of the Havannah, was invalided a few days prior, and returning to England a passenger in the Kate merchant-ship. APPOINTMENT. WOOLWICH, APRIL 25.—Mate Arthur Bagley (1848), recently acting mate in the Sharpshooter, to Elie Superb, 80, at Devonport. PROMOTIONS. Francis Taylor and Timothy Reynard to be acting carpenters. THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. The Resolute, Captain H. T. Austin, C•B., having been reported ready to leave Woolwich to-day, Com modore Henry Eden, accompanied by Lieutenant Gore, his flag-lieutenant, and Mr. Andrews, secre tary, went on board at eleven o'clock, A.M., to inspect the vessel. The officers and crew all assembled on deck, and a finer selection of all ranks could not have been made, or a better spirit prevail than appears to exist amongst them. The vessel is commodious, and well fitted in every respect for the comfort and con venience of the officers and crew. Commodore Eden, after expressing his satisfaction with all he bad wit nessed on board the Resolute, proceeded to the Assist ance, Captain Erasmus Ommanney, and inspected that vessel, and was equally well pleased with the excel lent arrangements. _ _ _ The Re — solute was loosened from her moorings at 11-30 A.M., and attached to the Jasper steam-vessel, under the charge of Master-Commander W. Bryant. Commodore Eden and the Hon. Mrs. Eden came on board the Resolute a few minutes before the vessel started, to bid farewell to the officers. She commenced her progress down the river, towed by the Jasper, at 11 55. A large number of the inhabitants of Woolwich assembled on the wharf adjoining the IVoolwich Batbs to witness the departure of the vessels. The Assistance left her moorings a few minutes after twelve o'clock, towed by the Advice steam-vessel, in charge of Acting-Master Henry W. Allen, of the Black Eagle. Captain Stanley, Captain Bird, and Captain Lock, R.N., the Rev. T. Rawlin son, the Rev. Frederick W. Freeman, and Mr. Raw linson, accompanied Captain Austin to Greenhithe. The Gallant Captain and Mrs. Austin were in the highest spirits. It is deserving of mention that Captain Austin some time ago applied to the Marquis of Anglesey for a presentation for his son as a gentleman cadet at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, but the re quest could not be complied with, as there had been so many previous applications on the Master-General of the Ordnance's list. When Captain Austin dined with the officers of the Royal Artillery on Monday evening last, the first thing he received on sitting down to dinner was a presentation for his son as a gentleman cadet at the Royal Military Academy, the Master-General at the same time communicating in the kindest manner that he had taken into considera tion the important service Captain Austin was about to be engaged on, and thought it would in some de gree ease his mind to know that his son would be admitted as a gentleman cadet at the Royal Military Academy. The Pioneer and Intrepid steam-vessels will leave Woolwich on Saturday. MANCHESTER TRADE REPORT, APRIL 25.—To day the market has been very dull, and the tendency in prices is decidedly towards a decline. Printing cloths have receded to the prices current previous to the last advices from America. Th e c hi e f d eman d i s f or s hi r ti n gs and cloths suitable for the Indian market, and prices in these goods are better supported. Yarns are tolerably firm, and some num bers are in request. Domestics very dull and unremunerative There is every probability of a more general resort to short tirm OA At Present, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 26, 1850. SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. CHRONICLE.—So Sir Charles Wood does not know his own mind even yet, about this unlucky Stamp Duties Bill ! We can quite enter into his difficulties. Nothing more natural, under the cir cumstances, than the pathetic demand which he made to the llouse last night for a week's postponement, in order to give him " time to consider." This most un fortunate of Bills has become such a signal example of his unhappy mode of dealing with the technical business of his department, that we cannot be sur prised to find him as much puzzled about it as the rest of mankind. By the aid of two radical changes in its structure, by three essential alterations in the scale of duties, by the abans donment of nearly all the new formulas, and by a succession of fugitive and conflicting emenda tions, the Government measure for the " repeal and amendment" of the stamp duties has arrived at a pitch of complexity which places it almost beyond the reach of comprehension. We shall not, in offer ing a few further observations on the perplexed po sition in which the bewildered Chancellor of the Exchequer now finds himself, recur to the precipitate abandonment of the new phrase, "any matter or thing whatsoever" —nor t o th e equa ll y prec i p it a t e withdrawal of the novel and vexatious regulations with reference to the stamping of executed instru ments. Last Monday evening he had further con cessions to announce to the llouse. He no longer intends, we then learned (though, of course, it is im possible now to b e quite sur e o f any thi ng ), t o inter f-re with annuities and settlements, beyond the pro visions of the existing law; he was willing to adopt certain important technical clauses suggested by Mr. Mullings, and to acquiesce in the amendment proposed by that gentle man on th e su bj ect o f agree ments of bargain and sale. These are all, no doubt, very excellent corrections; but their reasonableness is so apparent, and their expediency is so striking, that people of common sense can hardly forgive the negligence which forced up on t h e pu bli c t h e disagree able task of agitating for th e w i t hd rawa l o f proposi tions so perfectly indefensibl e , so pure ly gra t u it ous , and so essentially impertin en t. With re f erence t o the amendment carried by Sir H. Willoughby for reducing the stamp duty on bonds and mortgages to a rate of one-tenth (2..) per cent., Sir Charles Wood was not quite so complacent ; and even the modicum of concession which he then expressed himself pre pared to make is already, pro tempore, withdrawn— for he has received "so many communications," stating " so many objections," that he really must take a week to collect his thoughts. In effect, he was willing to give his sanction to the letter, but not to the spirit, of Sir 11. Willoughby's amendment. He said, on the part of the Government, "We are willing to adopt a rate of duty of Is. on bonds of 501., but we are not willing to apply the scale of one-tenth per cent. to any other class of transactions. We propose, therefore, to introduce a modified scale of duties from 501. to 2001.; and then to assess one-fourth (55.) per cent. on all sums from 2001. to 100,000/., upon which skim the duty would, of course, amount to 250/. ; and there the scale of assessment would terminate." To what particular point of the scheme thus announced Sir Charles Wood's present doubt applies, we are not distinctly informed. Certainl yl as it sta n d s , it is singularly unsatisfactory. For it unfortu nately happens that, into a scheme which has been brought before the House and the publi c pure l y as an ad valorem plan—which rests the whole of its claims to support upon the strength of the plea that it is a laudable attempt to introduce the equit able principle of proportion into our stamp duties— this alteration would introduce the glaring anomaly of a scale of duties which violates the ad valorem principles at both ends—but most conspicuously with reference to those large transactions which the Chan cellor of the Exchequer has expressed so much anxiety to bring within the reach of the revenue. Sir Charles Wood proposes to tax the borrower of 100,0001. to the amount of 2501., and to tax the borrower of 500,000/.1 to no greater extent. But upon what ground ? Why stop short at 100,000/. ? It is perfectly well known that transactions of a magnitude far beyond 100,0001. are by no means uncommon ; and surely, if the ad valorem principle is to be saved from utter ridicule —if it be not intended to afford a new and a further justification to those who denounce the in justice of our fiscal system—there is not the smallest reason why any arbitrary limit whatever should be placed on the scale of duties. If a man borrows a million of, money on mortgage, let him by all means pay the same rateable tax as the man who borrows the thousandth part of that sum. The borrowers and lenders of millions, or even of half or quarter millions, may not be very numerous—but that is not the question. Let us have the scale of duties perfectly fair upon the face of the statute. Let no partiality be displayed to any particular class, or to any particular transactions. The state will then be able to say, honestly and openly, to all its subjects —" The law is perfectly impartial, and it is so framed that it will reach the most wealthy as effectually as the poorest of those who owe it obedience." The only possible ground upon which a proposal can be defended for departing from an ad valorem scale in the case of the smaller transactions, is on the pies of revenue. It may be contended, that unless a larger rate of duty be assessed upon those transactions which are the most numerous, it will be impossible to raise the necessary amount of revenue except by commencing the ascent from a comparatively high point, and consequently exacting such an amount of duty upon the more considerable transactions as will in reality be prejudicial to the true interests of the public. This is a line of argu ment which we carrperfectly appreciate. But it must be used with discretion. There are certain cases where the advantages of a low rate of assessment upon small transactions are so palpable that any trifling gain to the revenue, which might be obtained by a higher scale of duties, is not deserving of considera tion. We maintain that bonds and mortgages fall pre-eminently within that category. It is most important that the rate of duty upon legal instruments of this class should be as low as possible, and that it should be at one uniform per centage. If, indeed, the financial necessities of the country forbade us to attempt any change whatever in the existing scale of stamp duties, we must bear the evil with as little impatience as possible. But having a bona fide surplus to ex pend, there would be neith er w i s d om, cons i s t enc y, nor com mon sense in merely sub s ti tut i ng one gr i evance for another—in effecting an alteration which was not an improvement—and in leaving to accident and the future the accomplishment of a reform which we are perfectly able to achieve at present. We adhere, therefore, to our decided preference for Sir H. Willoughby 's amendment of one-tenth per cent., to be applied to all sums raised by bond or mortgage ; and we tr ust t h at, w h a t ever , may be the issue of Sir Charles 'Wood's renewed delibera tions, the House of Commons will adhere to it. We feel the more confidence in contending for the low scale of duties already sanctioned by the House in the case of bonds and m o rt ga g es , b e c ause we are convinced that Sir Charles Wood has very grea tly over-estimated the extent of loss to which the revenue will be exposed in consequence of his proposed reductions. '\\re could not have a stronger confirmation of this conviction than is furnished by the very papers which Sir Charles Wood has distri buted within the last few days in defence of his original computation. Th ese papers contain a report an d certain tables, supplied by the authorities of the Stamp - office,relative to the produce of those branches of the stamp revenue included in the Government measure—more par ticularly of the duties on conveyances. Upon these the Chancellor of the Exche quer ex p ec t s if to lose 266,299/. per annum, the reduced scale of assessment embodied in the Bill now befor e th e ll ouse should become law. Now we think that, with ou t re sorting to any elaborate calculations—with ou t the assistance of either algebra or lo g arith ms , and taking the figures as they appear on the face of the official document—we can shove good reason i for believing that an estimated loss of 266,2991. s very much beyond the mark. In the papers from th e Stamp office, the sum of 159,425/. is entered as having arisen in 1848 from the sale of stamps of 10s. and 1/. each, as the ad valorem duties on conveyances of rea l pro perty. That is to say, taing into account the nature of the transactions to which these rates of duty apply, it is assumed in these papers that there were 180,688 distinct conveyances of real property in one year, in which the purchase money did . not amou n t to 50/ . We appeal to any person having an ordinary ac quaintance with this particular b ranc h of practice whether such an estimate is not perfectly inadmis sible. If peasant properties in the soil were as common in this country as they are in Germany, Belgium, or France; there might be some show of reason for computing the number of transactions under 50/. at the prodigious number of 180,688 in the course of a single twelvemonth. But, consi dering the peculiar relation of real property in this country to the class of small purchasers, we feel fully convinced that Sir Charles Wood and the Board of Inland Revenue have fallen into a serious error in proceeding upon this cal culation. The truth is, that the great mass of 10s. and 11. stamps are applied to purposes utterly distinct from the preparation of deeds of conveyance for cottages and strips of land. And if Sir Charles Wood will correct his table under the guidance of some sagacious and practical man, who knows all about " counterparts" and " follower s, we under take to say that he will find himself reli▪ eved of an amount of loss to the extent, at least, of 100,000/. ; in other words, he will find that 1660001., inst ea d o f 266,000/., will amply cover any possible deficit in the produce of the duties on co nveyances. Here, there fore, in one item alone, there is a di▪ fference of 100,0001, which may be employed in rendering th e details of the Government measure more li▪ beral, and the scales of assessment more just and self-consistent TlMES.—Historians and essayists delight in flat: tering the self-opinion of their contemporaries by ex traordinary anecdotes of popular delusion in less en lightened times. A kind of indefinite satisfaction appears to be derived from contrasting the inferiority of previous generations. The confidence with which for many years together 5,000,000 English Protes tants believed themselves in bodily peril from 100,000 Catholics is a favorite instance of the kind. The " loss of our eleven days" is another, when, upon a simple correction of the calendar, grave divines ac tually lectured from the pulpit on the blasphemous wickedness of interfering with the course of time, and denounced the profanity which brought every sinner in the kingdom nearly a fortnight closer to his end. Mr. Macaulay, too, informs us that the post when first established was the ob ject of violent invective, as a manifest con trivance of the Pope to enslave the souls of English men, and most books of history or anecdote will supply stories equally notable. But we really very much doubt whether any tale of ancient times can match the exhibition of credulity which occurred in our own country, and under our own eyes, within these last twelve months. We need not enter upon any narrative. Every reader's recollection will carry him hick to last Christmas, when, from one end of the kingdom to the other, there was a loud and steady outcry against a projected " desecration of the Sab bath." Mr. Rowland Hill was introducing " Sunday labour" into this decorous and religious country. Ile had succeeded in inserting " the small end of the wedge." He had asked for twenty-five additional clerks on Sunday, and a few months would see this pressed labour indefinitely multiplied, and all ideas of Sabbath observance contemptuously fore sworn. Such was the belief, even amongst in telligent people. Meetings were held in all great towns to record a protest against the iniquity, and when the resistance proved unsuccessful, it was plainly asserted that the national character was for ever gone. As for the promoter of the measure, he was a forsaken reprobate, who looked only to the acceleration of day-mails without the smallest heed to the fourth commandment. We have before us at this moment a sheet of letter-paper, headed by an en graving of "Rowland Hill's New Chapel, St. Martin's le-Grand," under which title is depicted the General Post-office on a Sunday morning, with all the symbols of unholy industry and bustle. However, the measure in question was carried out, and we will now, from the official returns on the subject, inform the reader in plain unadorned language how it originated, what it contemplated, and what it has actually brought to pass. More than two years ago the attention of the Post-office authorities was directed towards the means of abridging Sunday labour in the various offices, and inquiries were instituted with this object. While they were in progress Mr. Hill succeeded to the secretaryship of a certain department which brought the sub ject under his immediate care, and he pro moted with all his efforts the advancement of the great end in view. Opinions were not altogether concurrent on the matter, but a step was at length taken, and on Sunday, the 6th of February, 1848, the Post-office at Bath was closed for money-order business on that day. The experiment succeeded, and on the 13th of August in the same year the regulation was extended to Leeds, and, six weeks later, to Bir mingham, still without inconvenience or complaint. Fortified by these results, the authorities conceived themselves competent to push still further their great cbject of abridging Sunday labour, and the arrange ments above-mentioned were, at the commencement of last year, extended to all offices in England and Wales, so that 450 offices were relieved of a material portion of their Sunday duties in a single day. Three months more saw the same indulgence conceded to Ireland and Scotland, by which 234 additional offices experienced the same relief. Pending these trials and successes Mr. Rowland Hill conceived a plan fur abridging Sunday l a b ou r s till more considerably, and, ind ee d, t o a grea t ex t ent , abolishing it altogether. The duties hitherto suspended had been those of the money-order depart ment alone, but a scheme was now entertained of greatly limiting Sunday deliveries, and of absolutely closing the offices between the hours of ten and five, or, in other words, from the commencement of the morning service in churches till the close of the after noon. With this proposed limitation of deliveries ' was combined a regulation, long known to he de sirable, for the transmission of a certain class of letters through London on a Sunday, which would, it was thought, by giving very considerable accommodation at a small cost of labour, tend to reconcile the public to the cessation of those Sunday deliveries which were now to be stopped. It was this proposal which caused the outcry. Mr. Hill asked but for the tem porary service of twenty-five clerks as a present means of relieving twenty times that number, and he showed his reasons for anticipating that no mea sure could ultimately be more effective in abridging Sunday labour altogether than that now proposed. All this was in vain. He was, as our readers know, decried, denounced, and stigmatized as a Sabbath-breaker and appostate, al though his very propo,ition was actually one of a well-considered series for diminishing Sunday labour throughout the kingdom. Now, let the results be marked, for certainly never was popular delusion more conspicuously displayed. To begin with the parti cular incident complained of:—Mr. Hill had always stated that the necessity for the extra labour would he brief, whereas his assailants declared that the ex pedient would inevitably tend to nationalize Sabbath breaking and demoralize the whole State. On Sun day, the 28th of October, the additional London force of 25 men was first employed ; on the 6th of January following it was reduced to 13 ; on the 13th of the the same month to 3, and on the very next Sunday it was dispensed with altogether, having effected its objects within the space of three months. So much for the " evil" done. Now let us see what good was brought by it. By the device and execution of these measures 57G provincial post-offices have experienced a total positive relief of about 7f hours each Sunday, and upwards of 4,000 dependent offices have received a similar relief of about 7 hours. Estimated in relation to individuals, the effect of the measures has been to give to 5,629 persons an average Sunday relief of 54 hours each ; that is to say, nearly 6,000 people have been relieved from nearly 6 hours' work every Sun day by the operation of a scheme which was denounced as a deliberate encouragement to Sabbath-breaking And profanity. Nor have the results ended here, for, as if to complete the exposure, the new arrangements have actually led to a discontinuance even of that existing labour which they were described as aug menting in perpetuity. The Sunday force regularly employed in the Post-office before the famous provisions of Mr. Rowland hill's scheme amounted to 27 men. On the first day of operations under the new system this, to the scandal and horror of the public, was increased to 52. To be sure, some 4,000 or 5,000 were re lieved in other quarters by the same regulation, but this little compensation was altogether overlooked in the great iniquity. But what followed i Not only was this additional force dispensed with in Coto before three months had passed, but its labours had even contributed to lighten the lot of those who still re mained. So well did the new arrangements act, that the work of the original force began gradually and steadily to diminish, and we are now officially told that " the whole Sunday force ordinarily em ployed in the London office will be reduced to five or six men, which, even with the addition of the ten clerks employed in the mail trains (and their duties will intrench but little on the observances of the Sun day), will make a total force of little more than half that employed before the 28th of October last." So that the very expedient which, notwithstanding its beneficial effects elsewhere, was obstinately condemned on the simple ground of its augmenting Sunday la bour in a particular office, has actually resulted not only in completely effecting all its proposed ends, but in diminishing, by nearly one-half, the identical la bour which it appeared for a moment to augment. We think the reader will admit that, upon the whole, the outcry by which such a measure as this was re presented as a profane and godless scheme for abolish ing the observance of the Sabbath, has no equal in history for prodigious and incredible absurdity. Even vaccination, we believe, was never described as a device for actually perpetuating small-pox, whereas the most judicious and effective step in a series of measures expressly designed to abridge Sunday la bour has been thus, in the middle of the nineteenth century, represented, taken, and accepted as a deli berate stratagem for destroying the holiness of the Sabbath-day. That the spirit which facilitated the delusion was, in itself, honourable to the country, we freely admit, but that the common sense o f English men ho ul d t o the n bes strangelyo atin o creditableshould intelligence, mlmisled 3 or fact satisfactorylot to the national pride. THE SHAVERS. The barber shaves with polished blade, The mercer shaves when ladies trade, The broker shaves at twelve per cent., The landlord shaves by raising rent, The doctor shaves in draughts and pills, The tapster shaves in pints and gills, The farmer shaves in hay and oats, The hanker shaves in his own notes, The lawyer shaves both friends anti foes, The pedlar shaves whcre'er he goes, The wily merchant shaves his brother, The pe,)ple all shave one another. BOROUGH ECONOMY.—A meeting of the borough magistrates was held in the council room on Thursday last, specially , convened to consider the propriety of the charge for issuing notices by circular from the clerk to the magis trates, of special and other meetings. This charge, it ap pears, has amounted to something like 4 0 1 . annuallv. The magistrates present at this meeting were the Mayor, J. Brent, Esq., Alderman Plummer, Messrs. Dorman, Mount, Sprakeling, and Wootton, and after some discussion, it was proposed, seconded, and carried, that in future the clerk be instructed to send the requisite notices free of expense. In these times of financial reform, and when the burthen of the borough rate is so severely felt, it is creditable to the magis tracy that they have resolved to reduce the municipal ex penditure whereyer practioble.- , Kent emerald, DEATH of the POET LAUREATE. (From Sou My's Ulverstone Advertiser.) It will 'be seen by a - reference to our obituary of to day that one of the greatest luminaries cf our age and country, one who has rendered illustrious this distrie, the neighbourhood of his nativity, and the scene of his labours and his triumphs, has departed this life soon after attaining his 80th year. William Wordsworth was born at Coekermouth, in the county of Cumberland, ou the 7th of April, 1770, and he has since lived and mused amidst the beautiful scenery of our own locality. His father being law agent to Lord Lonsdale, was in such circumstances as enabled him to bestow upon his children a liberal education. Wordsworth received the rudiments of his mental cul ture at Hawkshead School, and in the year 1787 was en tered at St. John's College, Cambridge. When he had completed his studies and taken his academical de gree he made the tour of Scotland, accompanied by his friend, R. Jones. It was about this period, the period of Wordsworth's early man hood, that the revolution in France had attained its grand crisis; and its influence upon the fiery imagitia nation and sensitive mind of Wordsworth was no less forcible than that produced upon the buoyant and vigorous, but as yet, untried heart and intellect of his friends and frequent companions, Coleridge, Southey, land Lloyd. The earnest thoughts that had been gene rated by his continued meditations upon this theme found an utterance in his " Descriptive Sketches" and " Even ing Walk," both of which made their appearance in 1793. This volume, however, ended the republican imaginings or Wordsworth. He had no sooner stepped upon the sturdy platform of real life than he threw aside the shadowy unrealities of his earlier dreamings, and de voted himself heart and soul to the loftier and grander purposes of his being. In 1797, Wordsworth had conceived a plan for the re generation of English poetry. In 1798, he published, in conjunction with Coleridge, a collection of " Lyrical Ballads." The majority of these productions were from his own pen; the supernatural element of the work was entrusted into the hands of Coleridge. This book, so far from making converts to Wordsworth's peculiar way of thinking, met everywhere with the bit terest contempt and ridicule. The Edinburgh Review denounced his theory as " puerile," and stigmatised his verses as a species of second-rate nursery rhymes. There can be now no doubt that Wordsworth, in his zeal to redeem the English muse from a corrupted and inane phraseology, like other reactionists of a sterner cha racter, pushed his favourite theory too far. He sought to establish in the place of a style whose chief charac teristics were lifelessness and false glitter, waning fainter and fainter from constant repetition, one that should be nervous, and simple, but one which would have proved nevertheless, harsh, prosy, and ungenial. " The C ,, 111M011 language of common men, and the illustration of com mon incidents," which were totally incapable of any ex aggeration of feeling, found no favour either with the public or with the critics. It was well, equally for Wordsworth and for the interests of English poetry, that the theorist overtopped his theory. The glories of the poet's soul shone through the stiff and ungracetul drapery in which he sought to enshrine it; and, amidst the bard and unseemly details of the theory, there beamed the ever lasting beauty and the majesty of genius. Still Wordsworth had among his readers a few who comprehended him, and who were therefore his admirers. They sympathised with his views; and through their encouragement he was induced to publish other two volumes of poetry in 1807. It has been said that " Wordsworth's life has been a poetic reverie" that he has experienced few of the crosses and trials of the tuneful tribe. He married his cousin shortly after his continental tour; and an ample legacy lett him by a gentleman who entertained for his genius the profoundest admiration, coupled with several other bequests, placed him in a position of easy inde pendence. In 1814 appeared his great work, " The Excursion," which sealed his certificate to immortality; —that glorious book, which, according to a contemporary critic, is " brimful of splendid thoughts clothed in splen did language, while it breathes a spirit of enlightened benevolence and charity, which seem wondrous, grand, and beautiful in their drapery of glowing eloquence when tested by the poet's own theory." About the period of the publication of the " Excursion," Words worth obtained the situation of distributor of stamps, which office he retained during the lapse of 28 years, retiring in 1842 upon a pension of 3001., while his son filled the vacancy thus occasioned. In the year follow ing Southey died, and Wordsworth was appointed poet laureate in his stead, in the April of the same year. Several works followed the " Excursion," among which may be mentioned the " White Dee of Rylstone;" and in 1842 appeared a volume containing several poems, written in the poet's early youth, accompanied by others written in his old age. It would be almost impossible to exaggerate or over estimate the importance of the influence which Words worth, in conjunction with Coleridge, has exercised in the formation of the intellectual characteristics of the present age. These two alone have effected a complete revolution in our modes of thought and of expression. Carlyle and Sterling, and Emerson, with scores of others of our greatest thinkers, have sat at the feet of Coleridge, that " old man eloquent;" while the whole of the poetry that has issued from the English press for years has been tinc tured and coloured by the genius of Wordsworth. Other men have had their admirers and imitators, and have formed their respective schools of poetry and philo sophy; but it has fallen to the lot of few to impregnate with their thoughts minds great, and in somo respects original, as their own; to witness the glorious imagin ings of their spirit caught up and reflected by such poets as Tennyson, Browning, and Bailey ;—to behold the current of their sentiments and reflections borne along through the thousand diverse channels of the press to the heart of a whole people, until their names are ren dered as " familiar to the tongue as household words." And yet such has been the triumph awarded to the gr nius of Wordsworth. " During the last thirty years," says a ft iendly critic," the regenerative power of his ge nius has so operated upon the public taste, that the pure, the simple and the good are now the more regarded elements of poetry, while the Liras, Giaoura, and the other distempered objects of a feverish imagination, are ceasing to be among the attractive imagery of song. Perhaps the most remarkable triumph of his genius is its conquest over that very Review' which scorned and sneered at him in the beginning of his career; for his spirit now undoubtedly pervades this very organ which scoffed at him so bitterly, and even rejected his language as too puerile for the nursery." For many years Wordsworth has enjoyel the inesti mable privilege of receiving that guerdon of love and admiration while living, which are too frequently brought into operation for no other purpose, alas! than that of scattering garlands upon the tomb of genius. Thousands of his admirers have made a pilgrimage to the poet's sanctuary, Rydal Mount; and not a few have crossed over from other lands to catch a glimpse of that great man who has filled the world with his fame. The following is an analysis of his powers and genius by his friend Cole ridge, the great poet, philosopher, and critic:—" His genius and talents consist, first, in an austere purity of language, both grammatically and logically; in short a perfect appropriateness of the words to the meaning; secondly, a correspondent weight and sanity of the thoughts and sentiments won, not from books, but from the poet's own meditations. They are fresh, and have the dew upon them. Even throughout his smaller poems, there is not one which is not rendered valuable by some just and original reflection. Thirdly, the sinewy strength and originality of single lines and paragraphs; the frequent curiosa felicitas of his diction. Fourthly, the perfect truth to nature in his images, and descrip tions, as taken immediately from nature. FiLhly, a mediative pathos—a union of deep and subtle thought with sensibility; a sympathy with man as man; the sympathy indeed of a contemplator rather than a fellow-sufferer and co•mate (spectator hand par ticeps), but of a contemplation from whose view no dif ference of rank conceals the sameness of nature; no in juries of wind, or weather, or toil, or even of ignorance, wholly disguise; the human face divine. Last and pre eminently, I challenge for this poet the gift of imagina tion in the highest and strictest sense of the wore. In the play of fancy, Wordsworth, to my feelings, is al ways graceful and sometimes recondite. The likeness is occasionally too strange, or demands too peculiar a point or view, or is such as appears the creature of pre meditated research rather than spontene les presenta lion. Indeed, his fancy seldom &splays itself us mere and unmodified fancy. power he But in imaginative stands nearest of all modern writers to Milton and üborro Shakspere; and yet in a mind perfectlye w hich uwed, and his own. To employ h is own word s , s,are tit once an instance and an illustration, he does indeed to all thoughts and all objeActd s_ fd the gleam, The light that never was on sea or land, The consecration and the poet's dream.' "* Many passages in Wordsworth's writings might be cited as affording instances and examples of some of the deepest revelations of the soul of man that are to be met with in the whole range of English poetry. The mind of Wordsworth was pre-eminently subtle and penetrating. He looks with a large eye on the world of universal b eau ty, and goes behind all objects of all thought with silent, gliding, footstep, giving man to all nature, and all nature to man, and reproducing, with marvellous power and accuracy, the very thoughts, of.which the mountain and the forest, the flower and the oak, and all the eiverse objects that crowd into the finished landscape are the utterance and the expression. He saw that nature is not final; that beauty, wherever it is seen, i 4 the ;footprint of Divinity: that the universe is the realisation of the perfected idea of God; and all his culture tended to this i one object, to give him insight into tsis idea, that so he might command its correlative, which is nature. He asked himself perpetually, " What is the meanime which God symbolizes for me in these varied forms of stars, and moon, and forest, and MOUE.. thin? " He stood at the feet of every fact, as thouji it were the angel of God, until he bad drawn frtra it its utterance. His life was a perpetual query, to which Nature was the perpetual answer. He saw that a spiritual cause lurks behind every circumstance—that a new revelation is written in the heavens 'every night by the finger of God—that a truth is swathed up to every cloud that sails over the liquid arch—in fine, that all nature is the publication of the all-perfect will ofth e Deity. J. STANYAN 131c0. LA W IN TELLIGENC E. COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, A.pril2.s. (Sittings in Banco.) THE QUEEN P. WILMBR AND EMIT!" The ATTORNEY-GENERAL applied to the Court to allow the hearing of this rule to stand over until after an action-at-law had been tried. He said that this was an application for a criminal information against the defendants for an alleged libel upon the proprietors of the electric telegraph. The very same alleged libel had been published in the Morning Herald, and an action had been brought against Mr. Chapman, the publisher of that paper. The defendant in that action had put a special justification on the record ; and it would be convenient, if not just, that the rule for a criminal information should not be made absolute until after the jury in the civil case had pronounced a verdict on the question whether the inculpated matter was libel lous or not. Toe COURT remarked that the defendants in the criminal and civil cases were not the same, and that the Court could not, acc or di ng to any rules of practice, make one proceeding dependent on another where the parties were not the same in both. Application refused. THE QUEEN V. LATIMER. Sir F. TIIESIGER said that he was instructed to apply to the Court for a rule to Show cause la by a criminal information should not be granted against the defendant, who was the proprietor and publi'her of the Plymouth and Devonport Weekly Journal, for publishing in his paper, on the 7th of March last, a libel upon the Sisters of Mercy. There were some ladies who, a few years since, had devoted themselves to the performance of offices of kindness and charity, instructing poor children, and ministering to the wants and necessities of the afflicted and the wretched. They went to reside near Devonport; they resided in one house, and they formed a society by themselves, and they gave themselves the name of the Sisters of Mercy. They were supported by funds drawn from their own private resources, and their affairs were ad minstered by one among their number, by Miss Sel ion, who was recognised as their superior, and who was invested with control over them. In addition to the funds which they enjoyed from their own pri vate resources, they were aided by benefactions and subscriptions from benevolent individuals, some of which subscriptions were devoted by the subscribers to specific purposes, while others were ap plied to promote the general purposes of the establish ment. in the autumn of 1849, they had an opportu nity of showing the sincerity of their motives and in tentions in the zealous performance of some of the most painful of those duties which our mutual de pendence as well as our natural weakness render ne cessary. The cholera visited with great violence the neighbourhood of Plymouth and Devonport; and then, while many persons stood aloof with apprehension, or stayed away from weakness and terror, they with the most dauntless courage administered to the wants of the sick, supported the drooping spirits of the dying, and did not shrink even from performing those offices to the dead which, though rendered by the best feel ings of our nature a kind of sacred duty, were yet often most L repulsive. They felt themselves to have been most miraculously preserved, and they desired in some humble but expressive way to mark their sense of gratitude for their preservation. They had been in the habit of attending at the church of Stoke Damerel, for the purpose of receiving the sacrament, and when the disease passed from among the people, they, for the reason already described, gave to that church a communion service of plate. They had, then, no anticipation that their motives would be misrepre sented and their sincerity be questioned, and even their integrity in the administration of their funds brought into dispute. They were, however, shocked at reading in the defendant's paper a libellous article about the presentation of this plate, in which this gift was described as "an item on the credit side of the 14,0001. which the Sisters of Mercy had received from the public," some account of the funds thus re ceived being described as something to be looked for ward to. The Sisters of Mercy caused a letter to be written to the defendant, requiring him to retract the imputation thus conveyed, and saying that they must have an apology. This was rendered necessary by the circumstance that the defendant in another article referred to the imputations contained in the first. The defendant sent an answer, in which he said that the second had not a trace of a reference to the for mer article ; and to which he added, that if he had the assurance of the Sisters of Mercy that the para graph was without foundation, nothing would afford him greater pleasure than to say so. They had been very reluctant to come into court, but they felt bound to do so, and they looked with confidence to receiving the protection of the law. The Court granted the rule. THE QtTEEN V. LATIMER. Mr. Cockburn and Mr. Taprell showed cause against a rule which had been obtained for filing a criminal information against the defendant for pub lishing a libel in the Plymouth and Devonport Weekly Journal on the Rev. George Raindell Prynne, the minister of a district church in Plymouth called St. Peter's Church. Tne article in question had imi.uted that "not 100 miles from Eldad Chapel, where the abhorrent doctrines and practices of Puseyism w e:e being carried out," a young and unmarried lady had had a present of a chill on New Year's-day. The prosecutor had stated that his district church had formerly been known as El lad Chapel, and was still occasionally called by that name, and chiefly on that fact assumed that he was the person intended in the paragraph. Some other gentlemen had sworn to a like relief, and apparently for a like reason. These were the grounds of the application. The answer to them was, that the defendant did not intend, and never had intended, to apply the paragraph in question to the prosecutor. At the time the paragraph appeared the defendant was confined at home by severe illness, and knew nothing whatever of the paragraph being sent or inserted. Of course this fact did not relieve him from legal responsibility for what was inserted in his paper, but it did form a reason why the Court should not use its extraordinary powers of interfe rence against him, but should leave the prosecutor to the ordinary remedy by action. All the other cir cumstances of the case were in like manner favour able to the defendant. As soon as he knew of the paragraph complained of he had communication with the prosecutor, in which he related how the paragraph had got into the paper, and he disclaimed in the strongest terms any intention to assail the prosecutor, to whose excellent private character he was ready to pay a sincere tribute of approval ; for although ho censured the prosecutor's mode of changing the forms of the divine service at St. Peter's into a Puseyttic fashion, he had never heard the slightest possible stigma on the prosecutor's morality. The defendant had offered to publish all this in any way the prosecutor might wish, and had actually caused its publication in the form of a letter in most of the London and many of the country journals, ar:ld . in Yet, mau withof the all t p h u is b , lic t a h t e ion p s ros o e f c r to e r ligi w ou a s s .n so o c t ie c t o ie n s : tented; but impelled, as the defendant believed, by a spirit of hostility, on account of . their e , rences on the matter of these Puseyfte . servi . ces at St. Peter's Church, persisted in prosecuting him, notwithstanding all the efforts the defendant had made to give the prosecutor satisfaction on the subject of this article. Under these circumstances, the defendant could only repeat the statements he had made; and he now pro duced many affidavits from gentlemen of all classes of opinions (some of them ministers of the Church of England) in which it was plainly stated that they never believed the paragraph to attach to the prose cutor, the more especi a lly as some o f the matters stated in it, particularly a form of inquiry into the charge, were things which could not possibly occur in that shape in the Church of England. The Learr el Counsel submitted that under these circumstances, the defendant ought not to be subjected to the vexation and expenses of a criminal information. Sir F. TIIESIGER and Mr. MELLOR were about to address the Court in support of the rule, but were stoppe 1. LOT 1 CAMPBELL—We think this is a fit case OR which to take the opinion of a jury. The rule must be absolute. Rule absolute. W 3 a v r o b i u s r . -. —The above SIN AND SORROW, A TALE. 3 V " s ' may_ be had work is published this day by Mr. Colburn, at all the libraries; also, now ready - 2 . ton's Reginald Hastings, an Historical I%Riora.mnianliocet, of Lite," 3 vols. ; 4. Miss Bremer's new domestic story, Th e 3. Pride and Irresolution, a second series of " The Discipline Light-house and Life in the North, translated by M ary 3 vols Hewitt, 1 vol., ss. bound; 5. The Scottish Cavalier, by the author of " The Romance ofWar,"a ___ •; 6. The Wil- Mrs. Margaret Maitland, mingtons, by the author of " Emilia Wyndham," 3 vols. ; 7. Passages in the Life of . of Sunny —Copy of a aisreT —A Weakness of the Chest Side, written lbsyEherself.,] second edition, 3ols. [ADvEitT eca.re cl o b its y o H n, ol o lo f w w a y y nt 's e P ge il n ls : in Holland, dated 24th declara tionand Aofsthivraira. August, 18 '9 :—.. I, the unticrsigned, declare that I have a ce d)! cured of a weakness of been perfectly the chest and difficulty of breathing, by the use of Holloway's Pills. I had been a sufferer for years, and was unable to get the least relief from the various remedies I tried, until I took these inestimable p ins, and I invite all who may he similarly aftieted to use the same remetiy without delay." Signed, "C. Zeit!en." They may be taken in all cases of old coughs, recent colds, and asthmatical affections.—Sold by all Druggists,and at Professor Holloway's Establishment, 244;Strand, London. THE I NSURRECTION IN CEPHALONIA.—The total number of persons tried by courts-martial during the exist ence of military law in Cephalonia was 65. Of these, 44 were sentenced to death, 2 to transportation, 7 to imprison ment, 11 to corporal punishment, 2 were acquitted, and 1 dischar4ed by reason of a loid trial. Of the number of persons sentenced to death, 21 were executed, and 16 had their sentence commuted. . The total number of persons flogged in Cephalonia in the year 1849 was 80, and the total number of lashes inflicted 2,987. During the same period one newspaper editd and two contributors were expelled from the island. thlfGßATlON.—Upviards of four hundred Persons left this city yesterday by the Liverpool steamers, on their way to America. The tide of emigration flowing from our shores seems to be increasing threetold from this part of the country!..Waterford)fail. * " Biographic Literaria." ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN OF THE BELGIAN°. -I CI Majesty the Queen of the Belgians, accompanied by the - Duchess of Orlearii, with the Comte de Paris and the Duke de Chartres, and attended by a numerous suite, arrived at Dover yesterday by her Majesty's steam-packet the Vivid, Captain Smithett, from Ostend. Her Majesty was received at Dover by Mr. Van de Weyer, the Belgian Minister, and proceeded by special train on the South-Eastern Railway to Guildford, en route for , Claremont. His Serene Highness the Prince Leiningen also arrived at Dover, from Calais,-by the South-Eastern and Continental Company's steam-ship Princess Mary, and- met the Royal party at the Dover station. The Prince came to town by the train leaving Dover at two '.DS. , ' -- .--- --- 'l , N i~ LI P! I