The Sun. — London, England, 1868-02-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF inn MUG JOURNALS, The first notice of motion on the re-assembling of the jiouse of Commons is the Bribery Bill. If any legislation which will effectually diminish bribery be possible, it ought to be adopted ; but the Times frankly confesses that it has no great confidence in the methods hitherto proposed. In crease of punishment defeats itself ; and the ballot is a specific recommended neither by reason nor by experience. When a judge is particeps criminis, it is not easy to convict the person accused. The more severe the penalty, the more lax will be the procedure of the investigating tri bunal. On the other hand, besides the conclusive objec tions on moral grounds to secret voting, experience has proved that it fails to prevent bribery wherever it is optional—that is to say, wherever it has been or is likely to be adopted. No vainer expedient for obtaining purity has ever been made the object of fond idolatry. The especial merit of the Parliamentary Elections Bill, as it came back from a select committee last session, and. in the form it may be expected to bear on being brought in again by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is that it appears to be an honest attempt to amend the laws for the detection of bribery. Its governing idea is to withdraw election petitions from the consideration of committees of the House, and to remit the consideration of them to a common law judge, holding a local court to investigate their allegations. If this principle be adopted a great advance will be made. Our apprehen sion is lest the change be almost too great to be accepted by the House of Commons. Everyone knows how an election petition is tried now. It is not as bad as when the whole House sat in committee upon every petition, and decided each by a:strictly party vote. No Minister would now resign because he was defeated upon the ques tion whether a member for Chippenham was or was not duly returned. But still it often happens that the five members constituting a eourt come to conclusions which outsiders cannot understand. I The student of the Con stitution who seeks to know how elections are tried has to push into a committee-room, through a corridor thronged with persons he would shun else where, and pervaded by a odour of sherry and worse liquors, insufficiently explained by the refreshment counter he passes on his way. The proceedings within strike him with admiration. That the whole business is regarded as a joke is nothing. The most wonderful part of the per formance is the vigorous way in which things are not seen, consequences are disregarded, and indications of matters fit for inquiry are neglected. The observer is reminded of nothing so much as of an " aside " on the stage, which every one hears in the remotest corner of the gallery, but is sapposed to be inaudible to an actor two yards from the speaker. A bewildering circumstance is, that now and then when a tide of investigation sets in strongly, and it may seem that everything is coming out, the proceedings are suddenly arrested, as if by paralysis, through an un expected discovery on the part of the petitioner that his case breaks down in the middle. A common-law judge, wielding the powers of the amended bill, would make short work of these singular phenomena. The Daily News concludes a leader on the resumption of Par. liamentary business as follows :—Although party motions and divisions are not likely to give animation to the contests of the present session, it is probable that the leader of the Opposition will find occasion, after the proper interchange of counsel, to define for himself and his coadjutors the policy which they are prepared to advocate on the great question of the future—those especially of Ireland and of national education. A vote of the dying Parliament would pledge no one and decide nothing. Such a vote is not likely to be challenged. But it is due to the country that the battle of the general election should not be fought in the dark. The trumpet must not give an uncertain sound. Mr. Disraeli may possibly educate his party up to the Liberal standard. If he can do so, so much the better. But, to guide him in the delicate process, he must know what the Liberal requirements are. At any rate, it is essential that the new constituencies should be aware what they are voting for or against in giving or refusing their support to one or other of the two great parties. The business of the present session will be to sweep away the remnants of old and virtually settled lontroversies ; and on the ground thus cleared to define the position and attitude of the contending forces of pro gress and conservatism in regard to the problems of the future. It is always, of course, says the Morning Herald, a hazardous venture to calculate on a quiet ses sion. Political storms often come on almost without notice, and the barometer may be at set fair when the tempest is already breaking in the distance. The present Government is in a minority in the House of Commons. The leaders of the Opposition are anxious for office, and opportunities are always occurring for an assault upon the Treasury benches. If the measures of the Government did not supply them they could easily be made, and Mr. Gladstone, if he deemed that there was a chance of suc cess, could easily draft a resolution intended as a vote of no-confidence. But still we do not expect that the House of Commons will find itself involved this session in any Tba ,sf desire it, but they know that the feeling of the House and of the country is against any such efforts. What the country, what the majority of the House desires, in this session, is the completion of the Reform Act; the despatch of ordinary and necessary business ; and, further, the adoption of C.:ose administrative an I legal reforms in favour of which there is a general concurrence'of opinion. The other great questions which the Liberal leaders have now inserted in their programme are not, it is felt, for a Parliament which has declared its own unfitness to speak for the nation to legislate upon in a hurry. Although the Irish question is so large that it threatens to occupy the whole session, it does not, observes the Telegraph, stand alone. A host of other questions remain ; and, like that problem, the rest have, even within the last few months, grown in importance, urgency, and difficulty. Subjects which only a year or two ago our public men were content to discuss in a fashion which seemed to imply that the day for legislative action might be indefinitely post poned, now press for immediate settlement. With regard to education, for example, the time has passed for plati tudes about the want of a national system, and what we now demand is a measure. We are pledged to pass a Reform Bill for Scotland, and another for Ireland ; and we have to accomplish the still more difficult task of giving completeness to the English Reform Act of last year. The boundary question is to settle ;we have to reckon with the old compound householder, who sternly objects to Mr. Hodgkinson's plan of putting him to death; and we have yet to face certain ugly questions respecting the relative number of members that shall be returned by England and Scotland. Altogether our hands are full of urgent and even troublous work. And to complicate the situation we have in office a Conservative Government bound to a policy of reform in all directions. Its wil lingness to go forward is the price which it pays for existence, and when it ceases to advance it ceases to live. A real Educational Conference, at which all parties should be fully represented, and at which the different views taken of the principles that ought to govern the course of the State in regard to the primary education of the people, should be stated by the leading advocates of each school of opinion, would he, in the opinion of the Standard, an invaluable assistance to Parliament and to the Administration in the difficult and momentous task which lies before them. But such a conference we have not had, and can hardly hope to have. The conference at Manchester deliberately excluded all real discussion, by laying down beforehand, as the basis of its debates, a pro gramme embodying the doctrines of the extreme Radi cals, and leaving nothing open to controversy ex cept the details of the method by which those principles might be carried into execution. The con ference which has just met at Willis's Rooms was much more candid and liberal in its purpose. No preli minary basis of discussion was laid down, no programme of coctrine was assumed, and it was open to all to dispute the resolutions proposed from any point of view they might think prope r to take up. But the mcAing was attended only by a very few dissentients, none of them recognised as among the responsible and influential representatives of their party. Nevertheless much service has been rendered by both meetings.biircontemporary admits that the Mancheste r plan is simpler, perhaps cheaper, and, snore in accordance with the is popu l lar notions of the age.' But Archdeacon Denison the religious feelings of the innuv English consistent with tis t people. The latter plan the Standard supp or t, oppose we must have some direct, definite, working plan to ppose to the scheme of the secular party, which has, at least, the merit of being p o ssible, and it is to provide su c h a plan that the religious p ar ty—of which Archdeacon Denison is one o f the ablest all and most devoted representatives—should turn their a ttention and all their efforts, if they wi s h to fight the battle of Christian education against heathen learning with a fair prospect of ultimate success. And t o this end there is no time to be lost. The manifesto of commercial policy contained in the Austrian ited-book is to this country, remarks the Pos t full of interest, and, especially when we consider from what quarter it comes, eminently satisfactory. It L - n ounces, in fact, little less than a revolution. Austria hitherto, with great natural resources, and with every qualification for the constitution of a first-class customer to a nation in the manufacturing and trading position of - England, has beta comparatively a closed market. Tariffs, organised on a system which carried the principle of protection to its exlremest development, have exorcised such a de,:potic influome upon the population of the empire that they have prevented her people from even imagining wants, and have red uced the standard of living to the smallest possible di,nension. The consequence has been that they have neither been producers within their own boundaries nor consumers of subjects of _production beyond them. The opening of tie great Eastern do minions of Austria at such n juncture ns the present (con tinues the Post) will be to British enterprise a most AND. lute and timely boon, and we therefore receive With the greatest satisfaction the intelligence that the iropediroent4 winch have hitherto delayed the conclusion of our Led , procity Treaty with Austria have, even to the very lasts removed, and that the conventions, already in Ali oxtvancod Itato, are expected t o bo brought tamot ilnljle diately to a eati.4wtory co; clusiou, TEE RIOTS AT CORK. The correspondent of +.llc, nines writes thus on Wcrlr.r:' , day: "Cork still continues to he a sctne of disturbanc“ and outrage. Reports were received yesterday evenin;. which encouraged the hope tliat tranquillity had been restored, but later in the night it was dispelled by a tele gram from a correspondent of the Daily Exprrss, which brought the intelligence that a man whom two policemen attempted to search on suspicion discharged a revolver at the constables, who returned the fire and shot him. This occurred at the north of the city. After he received the wound the police hastened to the infirmary, which was close at hand, to obtain medical assistance, but, on returning, found a crowd carrying the wounded man away. A party of constabulary after- wards went to the place and arrested two men, one of whom had a loaded gun in his possession. A later tele gram, received this morning from the same correspondent, states that the police have succeeded in arresting the man who fired. his name is Daniel Dineen. He was found concealed under a bed in a lodging-house. His nose was nearly by the bullet. Ills revolver was also found. H e wa s 6-tot in the head and was left insensible. A sharp lesson has been administered to the Cork populace, which, it may be hoped, will have a salutary effect. It is the first instance in which the revolver has been used with effect by the police. The local papers contain details of the riotous proceedings on Monday, which appear to have been sufficiently alarming. The excite ment arose in consequence of the arrest of two men on suspicion of having fired at Courtney, the detec tive. It is stated that for eleven hours afterwards the city remained in the possession of ' a howling mob,' who assaulted the police with missiles of every description. In many places almost every stone in the macadamised strata of the streets had been removed, and it is supposed that if the showers which they flung were collected, they would form considerable heaps. The manner in which the arrest was effected shewed at once the vigilance of the police and .he audacity of the Fenians. About one o'clock a con ..,table in Patrick-street observed two men, one of whom appeared to answer the description of the one who fired at Courtenay. He proceeded to Union-quay station for assistance, and brought back Constable Hogan, who at once identified one of the men as the fellow who fired. The two were arrested and taken to the Tuckey-street station, and thence to the police-court. While they were being removed an excited crowd assembled, who groaned, yelled, and gesticu lated in a threatening manner, but did not at first resort to actual violence. After the prisoners were lodged in the Bridewell the mob began to throw stones at the windows and over the walls. Several of the police were struck. They sallied forth occasionally and charged, but on their return the mob closed in again and still kept stoning the constables. After the holding of a private investigation, the prisoners were brought up at the police-office, and one of them, named O'Brien, was identified by Hogan as the man who fired at Courtney, and he was committed for trial on the charge of shooting with intent to murder. The other prisoner, who is named Eddy, was remanded. At the close of the proceedings the riot ing was resumed with increased violence. Showers of brickbats and bottles were thrown upon the con stables as they escorted the prisoners to gaol. A man who was suspected by the populace to have given in formation was followed with shouts of Informer,' knocked down, and beaten in a savage manner. At length some constables came to the rescue, and arrested one of his assailants, whom they took to Tuckey-street station, followed by the mob. The stone-throwing con tinued with little intermission, the police turning and charging the crowd. In one of these charges a mounted constable thrust his sword into the back of a man's neck, who fell bleeding to the ground, and was carried off by the populace. In the height of the excitement a young man named Prendergast got on :the Berwick fountain and ad dressed the mob, exhorting them to fight against the ' Peelers.' Two constables got over the railings and arrested him. The crowd closed in upon them and broke the butt of one cf their rifles. In a subsequent charge a boy, 1. years of age, named O'Leary, was ridden down and so severely injured that his life is despaired of. Several of the police received severe blows and cuts. When chased by the police the rabble rushed into the shops on the Parade, which received in consequence considerable in -lury. Towards midnight the city became tranquil. Several of the rioters were taken into custody, and two of them, who were identified as among the worst, were brought before the magistrates yesterday, and committed for trial before the Recorder." The correspondent of the Daily News finds great fault with the conduct of the police as having tended to ex asperate the populace. He says : " The streets were densely crowded ; but the demeanour of the people was generally quiet. The absence of disorder did not, however, satisfy the police. Parties of men were despatched at intervals from the Tuckey-street guard-house to prevent the people from collecting into crowds, and the conduct of these pat ols was violent in the extreme. They rushed wildly into every knot of persons of the lower class, knocked ir.divi uueis and pricked with their bayonets those who chewed any reluctance to fly before them. This extraordinary con duct speedily produced great excitement. In all directions crowds of people were to be seen running into the lanes and houses on the Parade, and into the South Mall and Patrick-street, to avoid the charges, returning through curiosity the moment the police had gone back to their barracks. To add to the excitement, mounted police rode through the streets, flourishing their sabres, and snaking their horses prance upon the terrified spectators. The de tective police, who were not in uniform, had revolvers in their hands, and the whole force acted as if a desperate riot were going on, though all the time there was not a trace of tumult or disorder iii the streets save what the police themselves produced. A respectable man named Ahearn, a butcher, while passing through Tuckey-street on his way home, was set on by a police patrol knocked down and severely beaten about the head and shoulders with the butts of their guns, two severe scalp wounds being inflicted on his head. About nine o'clock a number of people took refuge in the shop of a tobacconist from another charge, and some of the policemen actually followed them into the shop, and there wounded two or three with their bayonets. At eleven o'clock the Riot Act was read, though the crowd was still far from turbulent, and immediately after a party of policemen were despatched down Paull-street, where the fact of the Act having been read could not have been known, with orders to use their bayonets freely ; and SO I believe they did. Altogether, the conduct of the police was very reprehensible, and might in the present temper of the people have led to even more serious consequences than those which have occurred. " 9.30 p.m.—As I close this despatch, I learn that a police man has just been fired at in South Main-street." MEAT PRESERVING IN AUSTRALIA.—We reau in the Melbourne Argus of the 27th of December: — "The meat question has during the last month created a good deal of discussion, and general satisfaction has beer felt at the interest which the subject has called forth at home. Some facts have transpired during the month which clearly shows the enormous disproportion between the price of butcher-meat in England and Australia. While at the last date mutton was selling in London at 10d. and is. a pound, excellent legs of mutton were disposed of at Ballarat last week at 9d. each. The great ques tion, however, is to get this meat sent to England without loss of quality or flavour, and we are happy to state that a system has been introduced which promises to solve the difficulty that has hitherto attended the matter. In the early part of the present month several cases of meat, preserved according to one of the simplest or most inexpensive processes that could be imagined, were opened at Menzie's Hotel, in the presence of a number of gentle. men chiefly interested in opening up a market for our meat produce. It was' prepared in Melbourne, and had been over two months in the case. There were samples of boiled beef, roast mutton, and roast beef ; and when the cases were opened the purity of the aroma which arose from the meat was sufficient to shew that it had lost none of its essential qualities. The `tasting' proved equally satisfactory. Nearly all the gentlemen present lunched off the meat, and it was generally pronounced to be excellent, and to have lost neither its flavour, its succulence, nor its tenderness. A case of tongue was also opened, which was prepared some two years ago, in Europe, after the same process. It was found to be in good condition, though perhaps its charac teristics were not so completely preserved as in the beer and mutton. The process by which this result has been accomplished is of the most simple description, and requires only to be carried out with care and attention. The air is taken from the canister, and the meat is pre- served in the vacuum. It is placed in the tin in a raw or parboiled state ; the tin is then put in a chemical solu tion, capable of producing a high temperature. By the heat the meat is cooked and the air evaporates in the form of steam. At the proper moment the canister is sealed, and the process is complete. The great recom. mendation of this method is that the meat is preserved entirely free from any gaseous or other unpleasant flavour, which more or less attaches to the meat prepared by any other process. Then it is neither novel nor experi- mental. Large quantities of beef and mutton prepared a u rni nd i e e r s .v d h i r e n g n o t t h i c e e C t m s e p a r n o e w s , s a r has . b e on this sy s t em were use d b y b oth t h e F renc h an d E ng li s h endeavouring eveenralbrgouengthltemaerue to form a company to carry it on on an extensive scale. The company has a fine field of operations btfore it. Meat was lately selling in . London at 10d. and ls. per pound, and prepared Great care, however, must handsome t profit at 3d. apound. under this system it can be sold in the London market whi; best quality in the home markeatc.en to place meat of the frequently deceived with ill-preservedPtaenodplfleavhoauvrelebsseemneasot that they have become sceptical however really good beef s oi: c m ur i e it d t , on it in off a e preserved no st s a t te. a t market is feasible and v m er ' c profitable and may be th ' e s mode of using our waste meat, ment of an industry of great magnitude and v ol ar ence. has been suggested that carcases might be sent h u om e. e it ice. This would probably be a more expensive system than the other, but it would have this advantage, the,' the meat could be placed on the London market uncooked in joints—no slight consideration in the eyes of JAI I Bull." THE SUN, LONDON, T JURSDAY EVENING-,.; FEBRUARY 13, 1868. WORT OF THE 110 AV. DAVID A. WELLS, SPECIAL COMMISSIONER OF REVENUE. Treasury Department, Office of Special Commissioner of the Revenue, Washington, D. C., January, 1863. Hon. Hugh M'Culloch, Secretary of the Treasury. Sir,— -As Special Commissioner of the Revenue of the United States, I have the honour to submit to you my second annual official report, and would re quest th at the same, if approved, may be presented to Congress for consideration. The law establishing the office of Special Com missioner of the Revenue requires that he shall in-' vestigate the sources of national revenue, the best methods of collecting revenue, the administration of existing revenue laws, and the relations of foreign trade to. domestic industry ; and in the discharge of these duties the Commissioner has been actively and uninterruptedly engaged since the adjourn : ment of the Thirty-ninth Congress ; a portion of the time having been devoted, under the directions of the Secretary of the Treasury, to a personal exami nation of the revenue systems and industrial con ditions existing in Great Britain and some of the leading States of continental Europe. The Commissioner repeats the statements rela tive to the amount of the national debt and rate of its funding and reduction, which were fully stated in the reports of Secretary M'Culloch. He states the amount required to provide for the interest on the national debt on November 1, 1867, to be in coin, $104,698,205 ; in currency, $29,609,718. This he foots up to amount to $134,307,923. By fund ing the debt bearing currency interest the amount to be provided for yearly would be $130,304,223. The average annual expenditures of the Govern ment other than for interest were, for the ten years ending 1830, $1 07 per capita ; 1840, $1 61 per capita; 1850, $163 per capita; 1860, $2 06 per cap., in gold, while for the five years 1861 to 1866 they were $l4 32 per cap., an increase of 900 per cent. The following table exhibits a comparison of the average annual expenditures of the Government— detail and aggregate—for the decade, 1851-61 ; and the actual expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1867 : 1851-61. 1866-7. Average annual. Actual annual (gold) (currency) millions. millions. For the Civil Service 523.92 For Pensions For Indians 3.33 For Navy 12.34 For War, exclusive of Boun -16.93 ties Total ordinary expenditures 57.87 Interest on Public Debt Bounties to Soldiers Total, exclusive of payments for redemptou of Public Debt '1 he following table shows the aggregate and specific receipts of national revenue for the fisca years ending June 30, 1866 and 1867, respec tively 1866. 1867. From Internal Revenue $310,906,984 17 $265,920,474 65 From Customs (coin) 179,046,651 58 176,417,810 88 From Public Lands From Miscellaneous sources 67,119,369 91 42,824,852 50 From Direct Taxes Total 8559,712,790_81 $490,526,947 49 The customs having averaged for thirty months $170,000,000 in gold per annum, there is no cause to doubt that they will amply meet the demand of $130,000,000 for coin interest on the debt. That the National Government can conduct its business at the present time with the same ratio of expendi ture to population that it did during the decade prior to the war is not to be expected. The crea tion of a debt, of a new system of revenue, the large increase of the army, and of pensions ; the abnormal condition of a portion of the country, and the general increase of prices, all contribute to render such a result impossible ; but that an abso lute necessity has existed for increasing the ordinary expenditures of the last fiscal year (1866-7) 206 per cent., or $129,000,000 above the expenses of the fiscal year (1860-61), or 247 per cent. above the average of the decade, from 1851 to 1861, may well be doubted. The expenses of the State Department, $1,548,589, have not largely increased since 1861, and are not excessive. As there are 80,000 applications on file for pensions, increased appropriations may be ex pecLua therefor. The commissioner recommenas the reduction of the army and navy to the mini mum ; no new public works to be built save from urgent necessity ; no claims for damages by the re bellion to be paid ; retrenchment ; no money to be appropriated to buy foreign territory. Immigration is flowing into the country at the rate of over 300,000 per annum, adding $150,000,000 to our producing capacity. Inventions are develop ing our industry, 10,907 patents having been granted during the year. Our crops are increas ing in quantity and value, and manufactures are advancing. On the latter head the Commissioner reports as follows : ta_..~ In the manufacture of cotton, the amount of machinery at present in the country, and which is substantially engaged in the work of production, is from 15 to 20 per cent. more than existed at the beginning of the war ; while the export trade in coarse cottons, formerly (before the war), large, but afterwards almost entirely lost, is now recover ing with gratifying rapidity. In the department of woollen industry, notwithstanding the recent un usual depression of this interest, the erection of new mills has continued, with a reported general im provement in the character of the products. In regard to this latter point, the Secretary of the National Association of American Woollen Manu facturers, in his annual report (October, 1867), uses the following language :—" The vast improve ment in woollen goods, exhibited the present year, is the subject of universal comment and surprise with merchants." And, again :—" Our progress has not been limited to improvement of old fabrics, in style or economical production ; many new fabrics have been successfully achieved." The recent introduction of important improvements for manufacturing certain descriptions of woollen goods by power, formerly made wholly by hand and im ported, is also cited. Another authority on this subject (The New York Economist) also says :—" It can truly be said of our (woollen) manufacturers this season, ' they have made wonderful progress over last year.' Such continued improvements in the manufacture of woollen goods will soon place us beyond the name of rivals, and cause our products to be emulated the world over ; as our most choice styles and saleable patterns are the result of American ingenuity both in colouring and style." In the department of iron industry, the number of blast furnaces for the manufacture of pig iron, in operation during the past year, has been in excess of that of any former period, while an unusually large number of new furnaces are now in process of construction. During the same period the rolling-mills of the country were generally in continuous operation ; new establishments of this character, and new and extensive works for the manufacture of Bessemer steel, have also been erected ; while a marked in crease in the American product of ordinary steel is reported. The Commissioner would also, in this connection, call attention to the fact that, notwithstanding the almost continued reported depressionof the iron in. terest in the United States, the average annual in crease in the domestic product of pig-iron is remark ably uniform, and greatly in excess of the ratio of population—the annual ratio of increase of pig iron from 1850 to 1866 having been in excess of 8 per cent., while that of population from 1850 to 1860 was about 31 per cent. ; or, stated differently, the increase in the production of pig-iron, from 1810 to 1866, was 2,371 per cent., while that of population was 410 per cent. The annual ratio of increase in the product of pig iron in the United States since 1855 has also been greater than in Great Britain. The increase in the production of anthracite coal (which may be taken as a measure of the production of all American coal), during the year 1866, was about 3,000,000 of tons over the product of 1865, on a gross return for the former year of 12,399,747. This extraordinary increase was referred at the time in part to a speculative revival of trade and indus try succeeding the termination of the war, and also to the stimulus of very high prices. These mtiniu- lints, however, if they were really influential, have clearly not operated in any degree during the past year, and yet the gross product of anthracite coal sent to market has not materially diminished, the deficiency, up to the 30th of November, 1867, in the aggregate of coal sent eastward from Pennsyl vania, having been only 170,041 tons, as compared with the movement of the corresponding period c.f 1866 ; while the stock on hand at the variou s markets available for consumption at the close o f the season of 1867 was estimated at less by 250,000 tons than the stock on hand at the close of the two preceding years. It seems, therefore, certain that the conditions of ability to consume--which con ditions are mainly industrial have not become impaired during the past year ; or, in other words, the industry of the country has developed during the past year to such an extent as to render what in 1866 seemed abnormal and uncertain now legi timate and permanent. The record of the export trade in petroleum for the last three years has also been very similar to that of coal. Thus, for the years 1864 and 1865, the annual export of petroleum, with the advantage of a high premium on gold, averaged about 30,000,000 gallons ; but during the year 1866 the exports suddenly rose to , an aggregate of over 65,000,000 ; and this extraordinary increase, which originally might have seemed speculative and tem porary, has during the past year been substantially maintained. In the department of Commerce and Navigation the Commissioner reports an increase of tonnage upon the Northern lakes and other inland waters in excess of that of any former period, the increase of tonnage engaged in commerce upon the lakes during the past yearbeing estimated at fully 15 per cent., or about 40,000 tons, exclusive of vessels of small capacity. According to the returns of the Chicago Board of Trade, the increase, under the new classification, in vessels and tonnage upon the lakes for the year ending March 31, 1867, over the corresponding period in 1864, was as follows : 1864 Vessels 648 Tonnage 202,304 1866 Vessels 997.. Tonnage 281,077 The American commerce employed upon the ocean has also recovered in a degree, during the past year, from its recent extreme depression. The returns of the leading railroads of the coun try for the ten months ending October 31, 1867, also indicate an increase of commercial movement over the corresponding period of 1866 ; the abso lute increase in the net earnings of seventeen of the principal lines having been equal during this period to $ll per mile, or 1.23 per centum. The month of October, 1867, is reported as probably the most prosperous of any recorded month in the history of American railroads. The aggregate business of the country for the fiscal year 1867, as measured by the returns of the Internal Revenue, from the taxes on sales and spe cial taxes (licenses), does not, moreover, indicate any falling off as compared with the preceding year, but on the contrary a slight increase. The Commissioners argue that when the country was expending, from 1861 to 1866, an average of $712,000,000 per annum in the war, notwithstand ing it ran in debt for nearly the whole amount, still there was a withdrawal from the labouring and pro ductive industries to that extent, viz., $2l 07 per head, and says—But hostilities have now ceased and peace has returned ; and with such a change in the condition of affairs this question becomes both permanent and suggestive—if a portion of the coun try could contribute of its surplus labour and capital an annual value of $2l 07 per capita for destruc tive purposes, will it not be easy for the whole coun try, with its labour and capital restored to produc tive employments, to contribute $8 73 per capita for the payment of interest, expenses, and the re duction of debt? And yet the payment of this sum will meet at present an annual expenditure of $140,000,000 for ordinary expenses, $130,000,000 for interest, and $50,000,000 for the reduction of the principal of the debt ; and, if the same rate of per capita taxation be continued for the future, it will extinguish the entire principal of the debt in less than 20 years, even if it shall become necessary to add to the above estimate of $ 140,000,000 for ordinary expenses a sut ra equal to $2 per head on the annual average incr ease of p o p ulati o n, which average increase may be expected to augme n t the _ r __, to ($60,000,000). Further more, this sixty proposed ill os m eds io B ns 73 per capita, which is only about three-fourths of the rate of taxation paid in 1866, after reducing the rate of that year to gold, can be obtained without a recourse to any of the internal taxes which materially impede production, as will be elsewhere demonstrated; and, as all past experience shows that the wealth of this country increases in a much more rapid rate than popu lation, the burden of the uniform rate of $8 73 per capita will become annually less and less onerous. But notwithstanding this exhibit, there are many persons, both in public and private stations, who, either intimidated by their own apprehensions, or misled by their own lack of information, consider it to be their present mission to magnify the burden of the National, State, and local debts of the coun try, and to predict for the nation an inability to either carry or extinguish them. The data pre sented sufficiently proves, however, that so far as the material strength and development of the coun try are concerned, these gloomy anticipations have little or no foundation; and in respect to the largest absolute debt of any one of the States, viz., that of New York, which has recently been discussed in an official report, in such a manner as tends to create distrust and impair credit, the Commissioner would call attention to the fact, that the estimated present average annual value of the apples alone, sent to mar ket from eight of the sixty counties of that State, viz., $4,500,000 to $5,000,000, is sufficient to pay the interest on the entire debt, and add about $2,000,000 annually to the sinking fund ; or, in other words, if all other forms of industry or produc tion in the State of New York should cease to con tribute to the State debt, but the apple trees in the eight counties referred to should continue to grow and produce, their annual product, if devoted to this purpose through the patriotism of their owners, would in less than ten years extinguish the whole debt, including the present unliquidated cost ($15,000,000) of the Erie Canal. Turning now from the further immediate consi deration of data drawn from domestic sources to a comparison of the financial condition of the United States, present or prospective, with that of other countries —our compeers in wealth, population, and civilization—we are led to the following conclusions, That the United States is the only one of the lead ing nations of the world which is at present mate rially diminishing its debt and reducing its taxes : and the only one, moreover, which offers any sub stantial evidence of its ability to pay its debt within any definite period, or even anticipates the probabi lity of any such occurrence. The Commissioner here presents a statement of the condition of the debt of Austria, Italy, Russia, Prussia, Spain, and Turkey. The Commissioner says that the causes of our commercial depression are general and not local, confined to no one coun try, and the result of a natural and not unexpected reaction from a period of high prices, speculation, f and over-production. In fact, the people of the United States have great cause of congratulation that the wave of commercial depression which, since the termination of their war, has swept over the commercial centres of the whole civilized world has brought so little of disaster to their interests, inas much as there is not to-day a country in Europe in which the paralysis of industry is not greater, the failures more numerous, and the prospect of an early return of commercial prosperity and activity less encouraging than in the United States. The Commissioner compares the prices of leading products this year and last, to show that we are simply returning to sound and healthy prices, to the advantage of all. Reviewing the events of the past year, it would seem, furthermore, that so far from there having been any adverse influence exerted upon prices through a contraction of the carrency, the tendency, in truth, has been entirely in the opposite direction ; for it cannot be doubted that a fall of prices equiva lent, on the whole business of the country, to at least 10 per cent., must have been equivalent to a large addition to the machinery of exchange before existing. What the practical increase of the cur rency effected indirectly in this manner has amounted to cannot be definitely stated ; but, in the opinion of the Commissioner, it has not been less, during the last twelve months, than one hundred millions of dollars. In the previous report of the Commissioner it was proved that while up to the commencement of the year 1867 the average advance of commodities was about 90 per cent., that of wages was not in excess of 60 per cent. Now, however, the case is being entirely reversed ; commodities have fallen so much more rapidly, that the purchasing power of wages, even when reduced, is probably greater at the pre sent time than when they had attained their maxi mum. The condition, therefore, of domestic indus try, when once revived through the removal of taxes, will probably continue to improve with great rapidity, for production will rapidly follow con sumption, and production in turn is the great mate source of both national wealth and national revenue. Relative to the tax on distilled spirits, he reports : First : The tax has been placed at such a rate as to constitute in itself so great a temptation to fraud, that average human nature, as it exists in the United States, is not able to resist it. And, secondly, the system under which the officers have been se lected to collect the tax and supervise the manufac ture has not, thus far, recognized honesty, intelli gence, and business capacity as the first, only, and essential qualifications for appointment. The Government has never collected quite $30,000,000 on a production of 50,000,000 gallons, or on one gallon in three of all that has been manu factured. He advocates the reduction of the tax to 50 per cents a gallon, and the collection of the tax at the place of manufacture, abolishing all bonded warehouses. This tax, he thinks, will yield a revenue of over $25,000,000. He advo cates a repeal of the special or license tax, and sub stitution of a tax from two to three per cent. on sales, and of ten cents per gallon on spirits recti fied. The tax obtained from fermented liquors bas in creased under the stamp system, and will reach $6,000,000. The collection of the tax on tobacco is still more difficult than on distilled spirits. It is evaded, by the dishonesty of officers, by counterfeit brands, by using inspected packages a second time, by sub stituting the higher tax for the lower taxed tobacco, by allowing sales of small quantities without inspec tion marks, by inadequate bonds, &c. Adopting the Commissioners estimates would result, he thinks, in the following revenue, &c. : From distilled spirits (new system) 550,000,000 From fermented liquors 6,000,000 From tobacco and its manufactures 20,000,000 From income From stamps From legacies and successions 2,000,000 From banks, railroads, &c. From salaries From gross receipts From miscellaneous (schedule A, &c.) 2,100,000 From fines, penalties, &c. Total 5152,000,000 Accepting the above estimates as correct, there then remains to be provided for from some other sources, a deficiency of $18,000,000 necessary to make up the required sum of $170,000,000, with such additional amount as may be provisionally re quired to meet unexpected or extraordinary contin gencies. As a means of reforming the collection of re venue, he recommends a Board of Commissioners to examine applicants for revenue officers, and make rules for collecting revenue. This Board should consist of an Assistant Secretary to the Treasury (Chairman), a Commissioner of Internal Revenue, a Commissioner of Customs, and two so licitors. CONCLUSION. It was originally the intention of the Commis sioner to discuss, in connection with this report, the relations of the present tariff to revenue and do mestic industry ; the practicability of converting duties now ad valorem into specific, and the results of a comparison of the prices of labour and of raw material, and of the conditions of production in the United States, and in Europe. So much space has, however, been occupied by the topics already pre sented, that he has thought it expedient to make the subients now passed over the hnqig of a. subsequent report; especially as some further time is necessary to render their exhibit more complete and satis factory. A review of the revenue systems of Great Britain, France, and Prussia will, however, be found in the appendix to this report marked E. With this explanation, I have the honour to be, yours, very respectfully, DAVID A. WELLS, Special Commissioner of the Revenue. ;From the Anglo-American Times.) The Report of the Hon. DAVID A. WELLS is the most cheery document that has for a long time crossed the Atlantic from the United States. The industry and commerce of the country is, notwith standing appearance, not only in a healthy con dition, but the most prosperous in the world. The epidemic of commercial disaster that, has passed over the world has affected America in common with all countries, but in a lesser 'd'egree ee than England and France, although the circumstances were such as to justify people in looking for far more ruin in America than in Europe. It is, in deed, almost impossible to check the growing pros perity of the United States, and whatever may be the temporary difficulties generated by a false policy, or by a great disaster, the aggregate of individual energy and prosperity carries the na tion triumphantly through it. Our space last week was so fully occupied by the proceedings in Con gress that the Report of the Special Commissioner we now publish was unavo id a bly postponed. Our readers who glance over it will be reassured as to the future prospects of the United States on all material points. Considering the circumstances, the figures given are marvellous indications of the industrial power of the nation. The United States is suffering from a state of things generated by a prodigious war. From being untaxed, its citizens have become the most heavily taxed of all people. With society in the Southern States transformed, with the relations between capital and labour there wholly changed, with the old channels of commerce almost obliterated, and while labouring under the effects of a world-wide financial panic—Mr. WELLS is able to convey to the nation the gratifying infor mation contained in his Report. When the duty of providing a revenue equal to those of the greatest monarchies of Europe suddenly fell on the legisla tors of the United States, it was not to be expected that they could at once wisely and fairly adjust the burdens. The science of political economy was new ; and as they had to act immediately they could not fail to commit grave errors. But how ever wise might have been their legislation, having no machinery to bring it into operation, the Exe cutive they had to create for the purpose, would necessarily be far from perfect. It required time to point out blunders, and experience to rectify them, as well as to qualify their instruments to bring into l i operation the checks required to enforce honesty. Mr. APCuLLoca is an able Minister; and he has an able coadjutor in Mr. WELLS. But the vanity of Congress has hitherto prevented the nation benefit. ing as largely as it ought from the knowledge and skill of these financiers. Mr. WELLS points out not only how the internal revenue might be reformed, but how it might be honestly collected. lie states that over 50 per cent. of the amount of the internal revenue taxes is received into the National Trea sury, and as that sum for 1867 amounted to $265,920,474, it follows, if he be correct, that an equal sum was lost to the nation by the di,lionesty and incompetency of its agents. That the taxes should be so adjusted as to be easy of collection, and so collected that none escaped, and all went into the Treasury, are the great points for which Mr. WELLS strives. The tax on distilled spirits has been placed at a rate so tempting to fraud, " that aver age human nature, as it exists in the United States, is not able to resist it. One gallon in three is all that pays duty, and it is no wonder that he calls the attention of Congress to the fact that the officers selected to collect the tax and supervise the manu facture have not been chosen for honesty, intelli gence, and business capacity, as the first, only, and essential qualifications. He annexes a review of the 'if not in beauty. He makes a striking remark revenue systernsof Great Britain, France,andPrussia. 'about the church accommodation, the extent of which last year he was dispatched on a special which is everywhere far in advance of tliat in Eng mission to investigate, and he recommends a Board land, notwithstanding the existence of the richly of Commissioners, consisting of an Assistant-Corn- endowed Establishment. The great number of missioner of the Treasury, a Commissioner of In- churches impresses a stranger, and he marvelled how ternal Revenue, a Commissioner of Customs, and they managed to raise the necessary funds. "It is two solicitors, to examine applicants for revenue a very common notion on this side that in America officers, and make rules for collecting revenue. sects are far more numerous than in England. I All the facts contained in this report prove that have often heard it asserted ' they spring up like sound legislation and official honesty alone are mushrooms.' Like many other statements about required to bring back the days when a national the country, it is totally untrue ; if you exclude the debt was neither known nor felt in the United churches of the Germans and other foreigners, there States. Since the war $266,000,000 have been paid are fewer sects in the great cities of Chicago and towards the reduction of the debt; the only in- Philadelphia than we have in the small town of stance recorded in history of a people making the Bedford." Mr. Howard fairly summarizes the argu attempt immediately on the cessation of a war, to ments of the Protectionists, of whom he says, " You discharge the obligations thereby entailed. But it is may talk to them till your hair turns grey, but back ❑ot to a continuance of such an effort that the finan- they come to the same point." "Do you know what tiers of the United States look for a reduction of the Free Trade means?" asks the newspapers of the work burden. Immigration is flowing into the country ing classes. " Why, bringing down American wages at the annual rate of over 300,000, adding, accord- to the level of a Dorsetshire labourer." The time will, ing to Mr. WELLS, $150,000,000 to the national however, come, he thinks, when this great question wealth. It is a common saying among Ameri- of buying in the cheapest market will be looked into cans that old-world maxims and experience more narrowly, and the result may be foreseen, as do not hold with them—and this may be so far the producers are infinitesimal compared with the true, that what would ruin beyond redemption any consumers. In the Radical Convention in Phila.- European country, scarcely checks the prosperity delphia \lr. Howard stood next to General Butler of the Republic. Practically, it is no more true and heard him speak; but neither his speech nor than that the blow which only staggers a hale, looks raised him in the traveller's estimation. The strong young fellow, but kills a feeble old man, notorious Parson Brownlow was rushing about like is not to be avoided by both, though not in a wild man, and 11. Ward Beecher brought upon an equal degree, for what is mere recklessness in himself the whole artillery of the Radical press for the one would be insanity in the other. It is pass. advocating a pacific policy. If the congregation of ing strange to glance at what the United States the Plymouth Church then split, it may be gratify has endured within less than a decade, with so ing to Mr. Howard now to learn that they are slight a check. A great war—not against a pretty well united, at least if we may take the late fureign enemy, but in the heart of the Union— biddings for pews as a test of the question. The striking at her vitals, herself the battle-field, and remarks, in conclusion, are as sound in doctrine as she bearing both the loss of the victor, and of the they are beautifully written. If he spoke these vanquished. Following on this prodigious waste, words as they are here given, it was a grand perora- Southern society is revolutionized, her rich staples tion, and we only regret that our space is too limited annihilated, and her population pauperised ; a to transfer to our columns ideas in which we so huge debt weighing down the North, a clumsily thoroughly sympathize.—Anglo-American Times. adjusted system of taxation, and a corps of collectors, who swindle the Treasury which employs them of some £40,000,000 sterling a year. Yet, in the face of all, the National Debt has been reduced by forty millions sterling, and the country is less affected by the commercial convulsion following 1 the close of the war, than England, or France, or India, or any other country which benefited so largely by that very conflict. Americans are, how ever, too practical a people long to endure a cum brous and ineffective system of collection. The House Committee on Ways and Means has called Mr. WELLS to assist in its deliberations, and he has for some time attended upon ' its Sessions. Influenced by his advice, the following re solution has been reported to the House—" That $150,000,000 of revenue shall be considered as the amount of revenue to be obtained from internal taxes, and that the same, as far as possible, be col lected, from—first, distilled spirits and fermented liquors; second, tobacco and manufactures of tobacco ; third, stamps ; fourth, special taxes ; fifth, incomes ; sixth, dividends ; seventh, luxuries and amusements; eighth, banks and railroads; ninth, legacies and successions, leaving the least possible sum to be collected from industrial pursuits, or re lieving that class of interests entirely." We are too prone to imagine individual instances of loss ramify through whole classes; to conclude that stag nation in branches of manufacture is national in its effects, and to argue from small things up to mighty results, feeling confident that everything is going wrong because those around us with whom we come most in contact are injuriously affected. Thus when it is announced that the firm of A. T. STEWART and Co. sold in 1867 $30,000,000 less dry goods than in the preceding year, and that CLAFLIN and Co. sold $20,000,000 less, convincing proof is supposed to be furnished that the trade of the United States is going to ruin. W hen a long list is published of mills in the New England States either stopping or reducing work ; when hands in thousands seek employment in the great cities ; when the customs and internal revenues decrease general expenses are curtailed, and a strong party nri,s who seek to repnet;.Na thp people think the ccuntry is going to the bad. Such impressions, however, vanish before the figures of a Minister who cAn accurately state the whole business of the nation. If one industry lags, another pushes on ; if one production falls, another rises ; if one State or group of States is depressed, another State or group of States is buoyant and prosperous ; and on balance it is found that the nation pro gresses, daily growing wealthier and more populous. It is clear from the Report on which we comment that on the removal of the causes hitherto acting so injuriously—for if the country progressed in spite of them all combined, many of them excep tional in the highest degree its advance under more favourable circumstances must astonish even its own citizens. One thing only can permanently injure the United States, and that is the adoption of a re pudiation policy, which, sullying its fair fame, would 'or a century annihilate its credit in all markets. MINING INTELLIGENCE. the superintendent of the Tarshish mine. Air. Chalmers closes his report in these words : " Finally, 1 consider this property, as 1 have already said, the richest in this rich district. I have given you the figures for its development, and 1 am satisfied that, when developed, it will realize the most sanguine expectations of the shareholders." The directors accompany this report by an intimation that at present "they will only receive applications for 2,000 debentured shares (fully paid up), at the par value of £5 each. These shares will be allotted according to the order or date of application, and such application must be received by the Ist of March from the city, and 2d of March, 18G8, from the country. In the event of no allottnent being made the money will be returned to the applicant in full. MR. HOWARD'S TRIP 70 AMERICA. [ADVERTISEMENT.] Holloway's Pills. Wifh th e weather so cold and tho winds so keen, what is to be done to keep the human body healthy, to protect the weak, to renovate the diseased? The reply is, supplant the sup pressed action of the skin through an alterative like the3° pills, by a freer action on the liver, bowels, and kidneys ; this will preserve the delicate internal structures fro), congestion, irritation, and inflammation, and carry off those noxious matters ordinarily transmitted through the ill; tegument. A course so natural must commend itself, an d must elicit the unqualified approbation of all who thin k and understand how nature invariably aids a defectiv e organ, by accomplishing its unperformed functions by means of increased activity elsewhere. [ADVERTISEMENT.] Consumption, and all nervous, bilion'd stomach and liver complaints in every stage are only aggravat e and accelerated by drugs of every description, but perfectly curable by Du Barry's health-restoring Revalenta Arabica Foo d ' as proved by thousands of cases which had been consider ed hopeless; such as indigestion (dyspepsia), cough, asthma, Nu sumption, habitual constipation, diarrhcea, all gastric derang e ' mews, hgemorrhoids, liver complaints, flatulency, nervousn e , e ' biliousness, fevers, sore throats, diphtheria. catarrhs, colds, O t : fluenza, noises in the head and ears, rheumatism, gout, irnP rities, eruptions, hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, sleeplessn e, ' acidity, palpitation, heartburn, headache, debility, dropsy' cramps, spasms, nausea and sickness, even in pregnancy or sea, sinking fits, bronchitis, scrofula, tightness of the elle r % pains at the pit of the stomach, and between the shoulders, o';', We quote a few.—The Pope's health restored by Du Ha rrY ! , Food. Cure No. 68,413.—" Rome, July 21, 1866.—The health I °,l the Holy Father is excellent, especially since, abandoning ,` other remedies, he has confined himself entirely to Du Bar i l r u i ti Revalenta Arabica Food, of which he consumes a plate., at every meal. It has proluced a surprisingly ben efle 4 effect on his health, and his Holiness cannot praise excellent food too highly." From the " Gazette du July 25. Cure No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts timber I:u`_ chant, Of Frimley, Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lung; spitting of blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness.,4 Cure No. 1,771. Lord Stuart de Decies, Lord Lieutenan t ,7l Waterford, of many years' dyspepsia.—No. 49, 832 . F' years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousile!,d asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness vomiting.—Maria,Joly." Important Caution.—Beware of the nig l ' il 't unsavoury and more than sloppy imitations to which, w itilo authority, Baron Liebig's name is most audaciously attached A; In tins at ls. lid.; 1 lb., 2s 9d. ; 2 lbs., 4s. 6(1,; 5 lbs. 11 ;.7., 12 lbs., 225.; 24 lbs., 40s.—BARRY Do BARRY and Co., Regent-street, London; also Fortnum and Mason, 182, Piccadl4,: and at 61, Graeechurch-street; 4, Cheapside; 63, 150, and 4 Oxford-street 330 Strand; and all grocers and chemists. One of the best lectures on America delivered in this country was that by Mr. James Howard to the Bedford Literary and Scientific Institution early last year. It followed shortly after the paper read be fore the London Farmers' Club upon " Things in America," on which we commented. Mr. Howard is the senior partner of the eminent manufacturing firm whose wonderful works at Bedford have at tracted the notice of travellers, and where it is said that pig-iron goes in at one end and is delivered at the other in the shape of the most highly-wrought implements. While we write we see a notice in the morning papers of a trial of ploughs before the Tynemouth Society, in which John Moor gained the first prize against numerous competitors with a Howard's plough, and the society presented to the firm a silver medal as the makers of the first win ning plough. Mr. James Howard, who has ac quired a high scientific knowledge of agriculture, and whose business enforced an intimate acquaint ance with the implements.required in that greatest branch of industry, took it into his head to pay a visit to America. Ile crossed the ocean and tra velled over the States and Canada, and, as a thorough practical English agriculturist, he embo died in his paper upon " Things in America," and in his lecture at Bedford, the experience of his trip. The former has been published, and was extensively noticed by the American press. It is well worth the careful attention of American farmers, and will furnish agreeable reading and useful information to all who speak the English language. The latter, now also published, is descriptive of the country, and gives the lively and interesting sketches that might be expected from so intelligent a traveller. Mr. Howard's sympathies were with the North in the War, as he felt strongly upon the question of slavery, though he adds, " he thinks the arguments are with the South." But, as an English manufac turer, Mr. Howard is an advocate for Free Trade, and his views on this subject may have given an undue weight to Southern " argument." He con siders that a pacific policy after the war would have been successful, had it not been for the ill-advised tour of the President, coupled wifh his extrava gances of conduct. Speaking of the President, he tells us that he came home with an old member of Congress, many years a Senator, who visited him at Bedford. He had been 16 years the colleague of Andrew Johnson, and was elected with him for Tennessee. That gentleman declared the charges brought against the President were pure inventions, for there was not a more temperate man among his acquaintance, " Is it within the range of probabi lity," he asked, " that au habitual drunkard could have risen from obscurity to his present eminent po sition ?" Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Howard remarks, " abolished slavery by virtue of the power vested in him as the Commander-in-Chief of the American Army and Navy, it being, in his opinion, a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing the rebellion. To use his own words, had promised God that he would do it.'" Mr. Howard maintains that slavery was the cause, the sole cause, of the war, and Mr. Lincoln never intentionally said anything to the contrary. The Hudson River, in Mr. Howard's opiuivn , 51,1rpafifiQfi the liihinQ in majesty Births. JEAFFRESON —On the 12th inst.,lMrs Alfred M. Jeaffresol3' of a daughter. NOEL —On the 9th inst., at 82, Inverness-terrace, the 1 101/. Mrs. Henry Noel, of a daughter. it% SMITIt —On the 11th inst., at Highgate, Mrs. Orton Sl3 l of a son. Marriages. CAULFEILD—CRA.MPTON--On the 11th inst., at Kerisif, ton, St. George Francis R. Caulfeild, eldest sou of 5 , George Caulfeild, Esq., of Donarnore Castle, co. 11°I;,. common, to Louisa Anne, only daughter of Thonv' s Crampton, Esq., of Kensington. onv MlLLwooD—Antos—On the 11th inst., at Claphanr„,c mon, William Millwood, Esq., 8.A., of the Middle '-i•b, pie, barrister-at-law, to Sarah Elizabeth, second da,u s o , tor of C. E. Amos, Esq., C.E., .5, Cedars-road, ClaPa''' comm On. Deaths. ASKEW—On the 10th inst., at Castle-hills, Berwick-41°1r' Tweed, Hugh Bertram Askew, Esq., aged 85.. At , Ditotrour—On the 11th inst., George Wm. F. Droll' Esq., J.P., King's County. Tot" DumßLErox—On the 11th inst., at Denham House) teridge, Hefts, Mr. James Dumbleton, aged 82. ...,,-. 0 .0,13, M'EWAN—On the 10th inst., at Bordeaux, Ja s. 31' Australian merchant, London. , i lad PRATTEN —On the 10th lust , at Ramsgate, Reber , . - -1 . .0 Pratten, Esq., of 28, Welbeck-street, Cavendish-scrl''' Loudon. tai r P TAswELL —On the 10th inst., at St. Martin's, Canter George M. Taswell, Esq., aged 83. ilaior WHITE— On the 12th inst., at Mornington_oace , 5t222-r2.1221 Rev. AnoldW__________---- 0 0, London : Printed and Published by WILLII3I AND,„ ill, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at TUB SUN Oface, om, 0 Strand, in the Precinct of the Se voy, in the COW" 114 epi.--Thursday, February 13, ism Rich deposits of gold it was some time ago an nounced had been discovered in Russian America. A despatch to the State Department reports that au assay had been made of the gold ore found there, at San Francisco, and it yields at the rate of $13,000 per ton. The directors of the Imperial Silver Quarries Company, 114, Palmerston-buildings, Old Broad street, have received from Mr. Lewis Chalmers, Mining Superintendent, a report on their mines, dated Monitor City, Alpine County, California, December 10, 1867. On the whole the communica tion may be considered highly satisfactory, the iu dicatious in Mr. Chalmers' opinion abundantly justifying the application of capital to the en terprise, when he looks forward to great results. After examining the surrounding mines, he agrees with General Hall that it is the best property in the district, not even excepting the now famous Tarshish and Morning Star mines, when an equal amount of labour shall have been expended on it. He describes the work accomplished as a tunnel sft. Bin. by 6f. 6in., with a double track driven 180 ft. at right angles to the mineral-bearing veins. The rock through which this has been constructed, hard at first, is now more easily wrought, though not so loose as to require timbering. He says that rock taken from the Esmeralda assayed £420, and from the Florence £1,272 per ton of 2,000 lbs., and he will soon have an opportunity of satisfy ing himself on the wealth the of Florence, on which work is to be commenced immediately. The Schenectady Mining Company commenced opera tions on an extension of the company's Esmeralda lode in October, 1866, and they are now working at a depth of 300 feet only below the surface out croppings, and producing bullion at the rate of nearly £lOO sterling per English ton. He esti mated that he will reach the Triumph in one hun dred and thirty days, and the Florence in two hun dred days more, although good lodes will be struck +hat rrhp whole expense of tunnelling and erecting mill machinery he calculates at £8,669, and this estimate is borne out by Mr. Graff, sr at. al YE rie ili. he