The Sun. — London, England, 1851-12-25 00:00:00

----- ~ iftl'&' THE S U bi ------- 1 ----- ------- w ! ii l i . and well-earned reputatien. We have not a We are not inclined, nor do we profess to have the hp , 4 aretr .ct of :he eteneneede:iens which we have power, to dissect or ands se this statement in its Gra ne ni y hoed the sa , isfaetion of pronouncing on Lord somewhat extensive details • but assuming it to he is u ° do u bt e d € s public c , nduct. his aptitude for business cone ct in reasoning, as it unhappily is in fact, it will, in 'L c o o u n ?.hted ; ha his displayed much ability and tact ; we are ccnvinced, be understood by the public gene conileeducting various Bills through Parliament, ! rally—certainly by all intelligent observers of public and be with the trading interests of the country ; ' affairs—that even such a loss and hazard to this br, possesses considerable power as a debater. 1 country as are involved in the occurrence to which but general ii young, and little experienced even in it refers are very greatly deepened and increased pou „ .. political affairs whilst he can by no by the causes which it assigns for that occurrence. kly t:l i itty have mastered the vast and complicated That England, in the present critical state of etu e or .. b of foreign policy. Compared with his prede- European affairs, should lose the official services of a e, in hi s new p os ition, ca n on ly be regarded Minister whom history will place, • as we do, in the a s br i i 4 over °ging weakness, and not strength, to the very highest ranks of statesmanship, is in itself a _ it courionent, which already possessed all the aid which misfortune, the extent of which it is impossible as yet somi l derive fr o m his presence in the Cabinet. In to estimate—but even of this it is surely a serious ag 14;c:uting him for the able, vigorous, and popular gravation, that the organ which announces the fact ~,t ; ter whom they have chased away, Lord Gran- should add to it by way of explanation, a series of thoughi S colleagues have only exposed him to injurious, causes which involve the loss of England's independent i si , unfair, comparisons, whilst they have made position with reference to the other powers of Europe. , 10 `" a . prominent party to an act which, if we have Hitherto, by whatever deficiencies the councils of the 1 1 ,%! 111 aunderstood him, be must in his heart despise. Sovereign may have been affected, as to the capabili lo‘,l,4 regard to the policy w hich he may either voe , ties of individual statesmen, England has at least been coli t _arily ado w, or w hi c h he may be forced by his governed by Ministers of her own choice, owning re miZsgues t o fz ow , it wou ld be rashness, in the total sponsihility to no Sovereign and no country but their lo le r, Pce of rel ahle data, either to express an opinion or own. The present Premier, at no very distant date, con to ird a prediction. The future must decide whe- gratulated this country on the security given for its t or l has done wisely for his own reputation, or well best interests by the gu ardianshi p of a Foreign theMi olrel in e-ests of the country, in exchanging the nister who w as neither a Russian, nor an Austrian, i/ of Trade for the Foreign-office. nor a French, nor anything but an English, Minister. b ee "lES.—A meeting of the Privy Council has We are now told that the position of this truly Eng -1,41,4 summoned for to-morrow at Windsor Castle, at lish Minister has become distasteful to the Ministers Et _ e th it is understood that the seals of the office of of certain Courts abroad, and that it has therefore ve e r retary of S:ate for Foreign Affairs will be deli- been thought advisable that he should cease to vtr i , e d by her Majesty to Earl Granville, who succeeds direct and guard the interests of England as to ftie ' c c ountPalmerston in thatidepartment of the Govern- her foreign relations, in order that that most im -1104 • We are not surprised to find that the an- portant duty may be confided to some one more r4o..ficernent of this change, which appeared yesterday likely to suit the interests or gratify the wishes eae2ing in our columns, was received with amaze- of the foreign Courts or Cabinets in q uestion. The e aa g ` 1 1 the public, by many of our contemporaries recognition of this principle is, thank Heaven, at , the even by some of the persons most familiar with least a novelty in the political history of England. I a ta a ;evernents of the political world. Lord Palmer- We cannot but think that the experiment proposed to be tried on our policy and constitution is in itself h are had escaped so often from scrapes which would h,.., destroyed any other man, that a popular belief as degrading as it is original, and we are sure that the 7 h ro we up in his invulnerability, which he himself moment chosen fur its introduction is calamitous in 844.. .Ps too confidently shared. But in this in- the extreme. It would be neither just nor decorous s ate " ) , before suspicion bad been excited, the mea- to p . eejudge,the capabilities of the nobleman whom her v ett Was executed, and the intentions of the Go- Majesty is stated to have been pleased to appoint to an office probably the most arduous in her councils, the lizi . ?,nt were only inferred from the absence of at a time hardly exceeded in difficulty by any period p et tnanister who had ceased to belong to it. When in the . world's history. To have won esteem by et4 l , ) Le are sorely puzzled to defend a weak political amiability, and support by such promise as may be ago' or to explain what they know very little shown in the satisfactory discharge of subordinate it ‘f their first resource is the hypothesis of leed nes P ir acy. Louis Napoleon seized the military duties, is no doubt a reason, and a good one, for th er e e r ' of the National Assembly, and marched off looking with hope and favour on the opening career b ah alainder of the majority in convict vans, on the of a young politician; but it is scarcely a guarantee p ra m t rkl that there was a conspiracy against him. Half for the energy to direct, or for . the knowledge to ern itsuiete is under martial law at this moment, because brace, the immensely complicated and threatening S k i ,* the Government that there should be a general appearances is the present relations abroad and at fie sisal conspiracy against all property, life, and home bet Ween Governments and their people. Pe ees e e t n. When Lord Palmerston himself was hard There is no need that we should enter here lla ce „ e `i on the Greek debate in 1850 he resorted with on the great , qualities which have marked Lord Pal (lo,,r7ss to the same hackneyed invention, and brought merston s long career of statesmanship. These are 4414 a a ready cheer from the House of Commons matter of history, and they are known in the Old and b ot .1! the "foreign conspirators" who disapproved New World as widely and as honourably as the name Lo t Bill. So on the ennouncement that of England itself. At any period in the extended of d the Palmerston has ceased to hold the seals space of time during which he has devoted his great Le t t Foreign office, there is nothing for it powers to the service of this country, in the important his a e ' ll l 3 PO , e " a conspiracy" against him among office which he has just quitted, it is probable that no announcement of Ministerial change could have ex %lite" colleagues. It may spare several of our Wilt . rl3 Poraries much strenuous indignation if they cited so strong and so universal an interest in the ci teees-ne„cePt our assurance that never was any such vilised world as that which should declare that one tioe e 'Ten more unfounded. Lord Grey had objet- whose name had become synonymous abroad with t tah i ; le i t t ly is ith true, in December, 1845, .to enter .. the the strength and honour of England had ceased to tit wh Lord Palmerston as Foreign Minister. direct her foreign policy, and to give to the councils of the Sovereign the benefit of his wonderful energy, q th e e a he waved those scruples on the formation keen sagacity, and vast experience. At a time when lose - L Present Administration in the following sum every State in Europe is looking anxiously to Eng. vesti n ord Grey was especially precluded from re kilt g,,to objections he had himself abandoned. In land, as the centre of peace and order, we believe that tete:: !act, we believe that no member of the Go- no friend to the true principles on which their preser calk—et' has more frequentlyconcurred in Lord I t; er s t at vation depends can hear without very serious alarm 8 foreign policywoermore warmly supported that the name of England has ceased, for the present, d il and to this statement ma y add that last Mon- to be identified in her policy with that of the first hlte e l n e e er ,hing Lord Grey and his connexions were, constitutional statesman now living. for e i hr,t of their colleagues, ignorant of the object DAILY NEWS.—Lord Palmerston has tesigned L. tie at e l L ' the Cabinet bad been summoned to meet. his post as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and 'ale lea of a miserable personal intrigue or of Earl Granville has been appointed in his stead. A eh int i t :setty Squabble between rival factions in the vacancy has thus been created at the Board of Trade. lai i ti o Is altogether false and unwort h y of a deter- On the 2d of December we stated that a serious dif totieese.) Which or i g i na t e d, as we believe, in higher ference had arisen in the Cabinet—that the old feud Loaf te , i and it is almost as absurd to attribute between Lord Palmerston and Lord Grey had broken rjaie e 4 s te e er ston's retirement to such causes as to out afresh, and that Lord John Russell would have bas no it was brought about by the undue to decide between his two subordinates. The differ -14 not °f any foreign power. This country ence at that time had sprung up in consequence of the slat h ot , sunk so l ow that any reasons which are answer to the Finsbury deputation, in which Lord pia and patriotic can be accepted by pub- Palmerston seemed to set at defiance the absolutist ~.1 11 c h a ; and as Lord John Russell has sanctioned court of the east of Europe. This circumstance, adding m ost be in an important office in his Cabinet, he to the irritation of Austria, at a moment when the thewe ~,,. tte e getun e d epred to . explain and to defend it solely on court of Vienna refused to recognise,Lord Westmore a t wo o public duty. As might easily be fore- land—all ultra-Tory as he is—as . ambassador ? impelled aot s ' ee h,classes of objectors have already started up, Lord Grey to question the policy of keeping up an % t e a ate ; l w ng,_ . to . interpret in its own fashion. the effects antagonism with Austria,—even for the purpose of p u, s . tabil it : l cia may have an important influence on sharing popularity with Kossuth. Lord Grey's ob ries aof the Administration, the divisions of jections appeared to us captious at the time. And so, til kl l a nd the debates of the ensuing session. The it is understood, they appeared to th® Prime Minister. ee e e i r id o i r e g a ntli which have made Lord Palmerston Then came the news of the Parisiaian coup detat, e ma h ave "Y disguising him in their own opinions, silencing, like a clap of thunder minor murmur 11,Pteasiattal'en as sterling coin a few of his random ings and complaints. A new Subject of anxiety, and ha e el ,the ea -s ee e , f popular sympathy, are eager to make topic of interest and discussion, was flung to those Cm osek , -- Yr of democratic opinions, and to bring who had to direct tbe policy of the country. It was 4(len, N i a r Power in a triumphal procession with Mr. soon no secret that the head of the Foreign-office de trit th e i 1 .• Bright, Mr. W. J. Fox, M. Kossuth, precated any hostility . to Louis Napoleon, .and that inert' prr ; ington deputation. The Tories, on the con- Lord Palmerston considered a French Imperial Cahi tit fro gnosticate the dissolution of the Govern- net an ally that might be usefully played against the L °th the tn s _ the loss of its late Foreign Secretary. new Holy Alliance. We believe it to be equally cer f2es w e ., suggestions evidently originate in the tam that the Court of Windsor or of . Buckingham s cta. b ' e ultieion s of extreme Parties rather than in Palace took an opposite view; that it disapproved 1 7 th e i r . ° l tore the Democrats adopt Lord Pal merston of Lord Palmerston 's language to the Finsbury 4 'ns "'der they • kid on p up , will do well to ascertain his opi- deputation, as insulting to Austrian and Russian en a l amentary Reform, on free trade in corn, connexion, and that it equally deprecated any close, ,bitty in A.the late suppression of all constitutional or an y e ven insincere alliance with the new ruler Ole:Plies o ' r , aa ce ; for, if we are not greatly mistaken, of France against the leagued absolutism of the s tie jaf to at — those points will prove more nearly Continent. Earl Grey participated in these feel s; L i h_ y opinion s than to their own. Mr. Dis- ings, and became their exponent. in . . the .Cabinet. as if e not te of L inappropriately reminded us, in his And we must confess, that however disliking his Lord- 4 (14 1 ard Ge o rge te tt g o f s og Bentinck," that on,the second ship's preference of Schwarzenberg to Kossuth, we , lie lase, lr Be Peel's Bill for the repeal of the fully join in the repugnance which Louis Napoleon's el l e,as Lo rdta'._ Palmerston distinctly declared that conduct has excited against him, and do not think that se'litle s ur a moderate fixed duty of ,four or five any Minister, representing the opinions of nglish- f ; 1 - , +ti, e a quarter th 'till on wheat, and on that point he men, would be allowed to sanction or flatter acts o L . arp, ; per • gi lt , rioa s f h aPs be classed among the last forlorn such ' flagrant tyranny and usurpation—acts, too . , as leal,cOraav the Protection. With equal confidence and decidedly destructive of all constitutional principles of ii ( 1 1 Pal m ' '" e Tory writers infer that the severance of as any ukase of the Czar Nicholas could be. Another 141. a eto,,e,rston from the Ministry is the ff b e ginning circumstance then occurred, it is said, very much to ale,live at and that a Cabinet, already weak, will not co mplicate Lord Palmerston's position. This was the e a `rati on Painful a shock. Lord J. Russell's Admi- discovery by Louis Napoleon's police agents, employed i , th i i, l / tio se • "'NI - 3 ' not ()ern the s i x th y ea r o f its existence, is in the arrest of Cavaignac and Changarnier on the Ilya noisy a very robust constitution; and we night of the 2d of December, of a voluminous corr.e -e,i7lltnoi: look back to last March for strong e pondence, in which the British Government or its k ti et her its future approaching dissolution. But representative, Lord Normenby, had very freely re -8e.._11 eia ,. _ term of office be short or long, this corded its admiration of and hopes in the Republic, th e w or vi'eertain, that it could not be reinforced by and the utter contempt in which it held the preten keYereiete" elements as long as the direction of sions and character of Louis Napoleon. Here then was oth;ter, 6 . ° 6I CO remained in the hands of the late the influence of England and of its Foreign-office 4 0 i, l 'a all O a that ground, far more than on any completely destroyed in the councils of the very tk t erai etet ) ,”Zotiations for the improvement of the power, on whose alliance it . relied to oppose other Latattleraen't have failed, an d th o u g h we speak only at powers. Lord Westmoreland was not worse received th a ' John Russel conjecture, it is imProPsble that hy the Austrian Emperor at Vienna, than Lord Nor , 14, ev e of , tk ussell would have weakened himself on manby was sure to be at the Elysele or the 'Tuileries. 1.N. 1 , 01 u :: session by the loss of one colleague in Lord Palmerston's position was thus rendered utterly V a r . :gee' an 1. Commons unless he had some prospect untenable by the imprudence of one of his chief agents, thi e ‘ l ine o fP art. Lord Granville's promotion to the and we believe his Lordship's retirement from office esss th t ilhe i n ea vacates two offices, held by him up to was more his own act than that of his colleagues. lam e °M ee ea 'nmendant, though with only one salary We may take another opportunity of appreciating t at '' that of .I!,if Vice-President of the Board of Trade, Lord Palnaerston'e character and career as a states- Of t lnoio te ,"Yroaster-General. It has not transpired man. lie has run a long course, neither an highs -11112 men u g b e ae offices ar e rese rved ; but thecharacter rious nor an unsuccessful one ; and did we consider, to i r' a Ilene ai Y whom they are accepted may afford an or should we discover, that he has been sacrificed %lt. l ee ,le to the future prospects of the Govern- to any tenderness for, or to any fears of, the t 0 the a af the regard to the direction of the foreign despotic courts of Austria and of Russia, we should 4 1 ., e oe " nation, the appointment which has raised be much alarmed for the difficulties likely to assail ly'avilto e of Secietary of State a peer of Lord his successor.. If, as the Times represents, Lord / 'ale . Isi s Political standing tuts . standing see ms to imply that the Palmerston has been ejected from office for displeae topti4Rfa Nie ler, who must answer for every act of lug Prince Schwarzenberg, and for not opposing t hes e b e led tY in t he House of Commons, will hence- Louis Napoleon,—is it thereby implied that his suc- N I) , h amo __ . o take a more direct and active part in cessor is to ally with Austria, with Russia, and with Ile kid ref r o t f ant transactions. Such was the inva- Prussia against the Government of France ? Any Ik e kid bre Practice country in former times, and to that such policy as this would scarcely be acceptable to lii;q l de r 'C' eu ee Lord Palmerston was himself sub- the English public. That public condemns Louis h, a own gee the most brilliant and successful part of Napoleon and his liberticide,acts, but it condemns it.tte3'es of Tistration under the late Earl Grey. In likewise the treachery and tyranny of the Austrian to t kielie., the country and of foreign nations the Emperor. England, too, is able to distinguish thebe- It acts Ler f of the Crown is peculiarly responsible fr at :s, aad j o t his Government in relation to other tween a nation, and the dynasty which chance may impose upon it. And we are not going to fall once . ‘ ol , e ,set uttir was only by a pernicious departure (184,igu.,0ffile hadcustom that the whole power of the more into the blunders of the last century, and abet an alliance of German and Russian despots against France, ao ashatev . been absorbed by a single indivi- because France does not happen to wear legitimist ira af late er 'night be his ability. As the case has e lad ed e livery. We may, and must, condemn the acts of Louis t t ace with years, ere' Lord Palmerston's colleagues Napoleon ; but it is by no means for the purpose of a adin ge, him the responsibility of his e a ,„, ee ere , s without sharing an authority which setting up a royal competitor to him. England is 41' 140 1. `' t ed to a great extent beyond their not called upon to strain a nerve or expend a six one. 4 1 : 11 4% 11 1'0 r these reasons, connected as much with pence to set a Bourbon or an Orleans on the throne. _ al arrangements 14 the da nce of the Government and with Both have been quite as treacherous and hostile to us e as ever the Bonapartes have been. And we can have 'asii C rose ,`_; e • of its supporters as with the relations no wish but to see France prosperous, content, and i.itt o l f L or " e l o foreign powers, we believe that the free, under whatever rule or dynasty it may choose, *in b e °f of alfnerston's energy and address in the without ourselves putting forward any predilection or of „oe sor e the Government and the Treasury Bench bag 'ne c Fe th in co in a matter so peculiarly advice -and exclusively the 1 3 i ahinet compensated by the increased union business of the French people. Our wishes are to isth. e and and o,,, by the possibility of extending its see France free, prosperous, and happy. It is pro aliti:ata am ': of Parliament. The attempt to create bable that attempts will be made to get up the old Is l ed ! r Y by , lig the habitual supporters of the anti.Gallican spirit and to excite a Bonaparte-phobia 1 110 tcrou : ja appeal to mere personal p r edilections . ug e country. Such a cry would 4 _ ~ sif it tail thro hth ' % t rt 'o t ie , , s, and would be fatal if it could venient, for facilitating every plan of expenditure on ire the balancer ibe Lord Palmerst lI'S own desire the part of the GovernMent and for " burking Iraa r ,,,, ) ofparties in favour ° economy." No doubt we shall be told that our t e g lon' we c an i ience mpute to him no . such intention. coasts are exposed, our military force null, and al l 'aga g g e l . " , er p a ain to ll sett t o factious op , •.• Iv tee of commence p h shion ;an , even if he were embarked on board the Boulogne fishing-boats, a y oeless and unprofitable a unless millions are voted to put the country in a state tillti r :• a itatio . ys_ slat an _n/ the s good . sense of the country of defence, to swell the army to a war footing, and to voie d. ‘e the eEt ; a e PPeal to its passions in direct hos- equip a channel fleet to ward off imaginary dangers. 1:1,-, u of peace and order throughout the Whilst thousands may thus be spent for the sole end rtipo 111 )1 ? , T atd lln .. " — A stof alarming and provoking the French—who will orient so formal] laced before the not be slow .. to make counter armaments and show klat e t r t a a tt n b ce relatingatsat 10 a matter of p such paramount corresponding fears—are we to court the alliance of th ha t "' °ll the whi ch appeared in the Times of the Austrians and Russians, as we did before ? But k ti dly b great Minis!eeial event of the day, as neither of those powers can move u regiment Illeta rt e supposed tel l -Inoet to rest on authority other without raising funds, England must come forward it ...„competent to speak of the event for with these, if nut in the old shape of subsidies, at 44 +Lierti A k es • in som e measure to Account. least in the new form of loans. We should thus have LONDON, the fears and the burdens and the alliances of 1808, 1809, and 1810 beck 'again, with the necessity of raising 100 millions annually in lieu of 50, and those I even not sufficing. We have, therefore, carefully to look into what alliances and what policy we are going. If the public be not alive and well-informed, the country may drift into a very dangerous and unnatural position. If Lord Palmerston was at times the Quixote of liberalism, there are worse Quixotes to be found. We do not say this of Lord Granville, of whom the public know but little—and that little chiefly in connexion with the Great Exhibition. His appointment has apparently originated with the Court. The circumstance of the Foreign Minister being in the House of Lords will probably make Lord John Russell the mouth-piece of foreign policy in the House of Commons, no disad vantage in a great many respects. But the possi bility of Lord Palmerston, in opposition, and abetting in the House of Commons Gallican friendship and alliance, in contradistinction to an Austrian or Rus sian connexion—this every one mint see, would weaken the Whig Ministry, and destroy the Whig party, beyond all the slender talents of the Greys to uphold them. Various modifications of the Whig Cabinet may—and probably will—be the ultimate result of Lord Palmerston's resignation. In all these changes the people have a direct interest in demand ing that minor differences be overlooked for the pur pose of bringing into the public service the men most likely to advance the public weal. ADVERTISE R.—We prepared our readers, the other day, for changes in the Ministry, but we must own we did not anticipate the change which has oc curred. We were cognizant of the renewed feuds between Lord Palmerston and Earl Grey, but had been led to believe that, as the quarrel had proceeded so far as to render inevitable the retirement of one of the Noble Lords, the party withdrawing would be the Colonial Secretary. That, we know, was the latter Noble Lord's own opinion eight days ago; for he then intimated to a confidential friend, that he was wearied of the cares and responsibilities of office, and wished to retire into private life. What has since occurred to reverse the order of things, and to nece*sitate the resignation of Lord Palmerston, has not yet transpired. We are in utter ignorance of the circumstances under which so important and unexpected an event has taken place. The history of the transaction remains to be told. We shall be let into the secret in a day or two, and then we shall know better how to express ourselves. In the meantime the affair wears an ugly aspect. Of all men in the Whig Cabinet Lord Pal merston is the last man we could afford to lose. To have got rid of Lord Grey, and his shadow, Sir Charles Wood, would, indeed, have been a relief to the country. It would have been everywhere received with thankfulness, and hailed with joy. It would have been regarded as a blessing of the first magnitude by men of all parties. But to see Lord Palmerston out, and Lord Grey in—to see the Foreign Secretary exiled from Downing-street, while the Colonial Secre tary continues one of the lords of that locality, is a contingency for which the country were not prepared, and in which it will not acquiesce, unless some better reason can be assigned for so anomalous a state of things than any with which we are acquainted. But on that point we shall suspend our judgment for a day or two until the particulars are before us. In the mean time we cannot persuade ourselves that the ex clusion of Lord Palmerston from office is aught but temporary. We expected, and so did the country, that until illness, or the exclusion of his party from power, terminated his official career, he would remain where he has been, with a few bridinterruptions, for nearly forty years. That expectation has turned out to have been without foundation. Lord Palmerston is no longer a member of her Majesty's Government. He only holds the seals of office until a successor has been appointed, or rather is formally installed, for it is understood that Lord Granville has been ap pointed to succeed Lord Palmerston as Secretary for Foreign Affairs. The exclusion of Lord Palmerston from office, be the causes of it what they may, bodes no good to the Russell Ministry. Their tenure of office was not likely to be very prolonged, if what is said of the miserable mockery which we are to have of a Ministerial measure of reform, be correct; but with out Lord Palmerston, the Whig Cabinet is literally ltttle better than a burlesque on a Government. He was its life and soul. He was, for many months con secutively, in particular periods of its history, its only prop and pillar. The masterly manner in which he administered the foreign affairs of the country, con sidered in conjunction with the spirited and liberal course which he invariably adopted whenever a question arose between Continental liberty and Con tinental despotism, elicited universal admiration in this country, and gladdened the hearts of the friends of freedom abroad. Never were the power, the dig nity, and character of Great Britain so well upheld by any Foreign Minister, as by the Noble Lord, of whose services the country has been so, suddenly de prived. He made the name of England feared and re spected throughout the world. As he was thejoy and re joicing of the lovers of liberty in all lands, so he was a terror to all the tyrants of the Continent. They trembled at his name, and regarded his person with mingled emotions of fear and execration. Never was a public man so hated and abhorred as was Lord Palmerston by the despots of the northern Courts. And no wonder, for he was more than a match for them all. Single-handed he fought and vanquished the entire confederacy of royal despots in Europe. Not satisfied with conspiring against the cause of Liberalism wherever it existed in Europe, they plotted for years together against him. But they plotted in vain. He withstood them all. He saw one set of Continental Mi nisters after another rise and fall, but he remained unmoved and unaffected amid the changes _which were taking place around him. The Times, as the Austrian organ, vilified and assailed him day 'after day, for months, aye, even for years, together; but he could afford at once to laugh to scorn the conspiracies of foreign Courts, and the calumnies of the Haynau journal in Printing House-square. The malice of the former failed of its effect; the malevolent misrepre sentations and mendacities of the latter fell as pointless as the shafts of Priam of old. When the time shall come—though we trust it is far distant—when the epitaph will have to be prepared for Lord Palmerston, we know not that one more appropriate could be penned, than the mention of the fact, that during the long period he filled the office of Foreign Secretary— though many years of his term of power were troublous and stormy beyond precedent—he not only vindicated everywhere the character, and maintained the dignity of Great Britain, burpreserved it from becoming mixed up with the quarrels and broils in which all the other nations of Europe were more or less involved. During a period of nearly forty years, peace between Great Britain and other countries has been, under Lord Palmerston, uninterrupted, even for one hour. But we shall, before many days have elapsed, have other opportunities of doing justice to the character of the Noble Lord. We forbear to enter at any length on the subject, until we have been made acquainted with the circumstances under which he has ceased to be a member of the Cabinet of Lord John Russell. Suffice it, in the meantime, to say, that the news of his exclusion from office will inspire unbounded joy in every despotic Court in Europe. We know not that a better tribute could be paid to the character of the Noble Lord than will be found in that simple fact. Of his successor, Lord Granville, we do not at present feel disposed to speak. He is, we willingly admit, a man of gentlemanly manners, of superior intelligence, of excellent business habits, and of no inconsiderable ability. But he is not the man for so important and responsible an office as that of Foreign Secretary. He would not be the proper person for that situation even in the most tranquil times; but in times like the present, when the crowned heads of the continent have all notoriously leagued together to promote the principles of despotism in all parts of the world, Earl Granville is. not fit for the situation of Foreign Secretary. He is a person of no grasp of mind. He is not the man to gee things, as Lord Palmerston did, as if by intuition. lie is, too, devoid of the energy, the quickness of discernment, the afflu ence of resources, and the moral courage necessary , for a man in his new situation. The cunning, un scrupulous Schwartzenberg, of Vienna, and other despotic Courts, will overreach him at every step, and the result will be that England will be dragged through the mire. But besides, there are cogent reasons arising out of domestic circumstances, why Lord Gran• villa ought not to have been appointed to fill so im portant a, situation. His Lady is a Roman Catholic and one, moreover, remarkable for her zealous at tachment to the Romish Church. She was a widow of one of the most decided Romanists of his day. Now we all know from history—especially from the his tory of the reigns of Louis the Fourteenth and Louis the Fifteenth of France—how many important state secrets have been wormed out of persons about courts when at the confessional. As nearly all the conti nental powers are Roman Catholic, we hold that it is most unsafe that any one sh ou ld fill the office of Foreign Secretary who sustains so close and tender a relation to a Roman Catholic, as does the Noble Lord who has been appointed successor to Lord Pal merston. But, we say again, that until we have been made acquainted with the circumstances under which Lord Palmerston has ceased to be a enity , r of the Whig Cabinet, we refrain from expressing ourselves as our feelings would prompt. We cannot, however, divest our minds of the suspicion that he is the victim of a profligate conspiracy, the seat of which is Downing -street. On the face of matters, he has either been betrayed, or suffered to be victimised, by the cowardice of those who ought to have stood by him to the last. In se qui, ECU g io his exile from office, Lord John Russell has given the finishing stroke to his ricketty Ministry. More than this. We will take any odds that, before many months have elapsed, the Russell Cabinet will not only have been scattered to the winds of Heaven, ) but Lord Palmerston be the head of a new Govern ' meat — tt Government which will at once maintain the THURSDAY reputation of Great Britain abroad, and give us a thoroughly liberal Reform Bill at home. Henceforth, let Lord Palmerston be the rallying point of the friends of freedom hero and on the Continent. Lord Palmerston, from this hour, will be the man of the people. ABD-EL - KAISER'S ACCOUNT OF THE AHAB HORSE, WITH HIS NOTICE OF THE TRIBES OF ALGERIA, 6.c. "GLORY TO THE ONE GOD. HIS REIGN ALONE IS ETERNAL." Greeting to him who, in his excellent qualities, equals all the men of his time, who seeks only what is good, whose heart is pure, and whose speech is ad mirable, the wise, the intelligent Lord General Dau mas—from your friend Sid-el-liadj Abd-el-Kader, son of Mahhi-Eddin. Behold the reply to your inquiries. 1. How many days can the Arab horse travel without repose or injury ? Know that a horse, sound in all his limbs, fed on barley, which his belly demands, can do whatever his rider wishes him to do. With reason the Arabs say— " A lef ou annef"—Give barley and abuse." But, without abusing the horse, you can make him travel sixteen p arasangs * ever y day; that is the distance between Mascara and Kondiat Aghelizsn, on the Oued Mina. A horse making this journey every day, and fed on barley to the utmost of his appetite, can continue unfatigued for three or even tour mouths on the road, without resting one single day. 2. What distance can the horse traverse in a day ? I cannot tell you with precision; but that distance ought to approach fifty parasangs—from Tlemsen to Mascara, for example. We have seen a vast number of horses do the journey in one day. However, the horse which has accomplished that distance must be spared next day, and would not be able to do at all so much without a twenty-four hours' interval. Most of our horses used to go from Oran to Mascara in one day ; and for several days together they could repeat the journey. We have left Saida at eight o'clock in the morning (au dohha), to sur prise the Arbaa, who were encamped at Ain Toukria (among the Oulad-Disd, near Taza), and we reached them at break of day (fedjer). You know the country, and you can undekstand the distance we had to accomplish. 3. What examples are there of the abstemiousness of the Arab horse, and what proofs of his power to bear hunger and thirst? . Know, that when we were established at the mouth of the Melouia, we made razzias in the Djebel-Ar nour, following the road of the Sahara, pressing our horses to the gallop for five or six hours together in one breath on the days of attack, and accomplishing our excursion thither and back in twenty or twenty five days at the most. During this interval our horses had no barley to eat, except what they could carry along with their riders; that is, about eight ordinary meals. Our horses found no straw, but only some alfa or chilli, or, in spring, a little grass. Nevertheless, on our return home, we performed the games on horseback, the day of our arrival, and struck the dust with some of our horses. Many which could not exhibit this exercise were yet in a condi tion for the campaign, Our horses used to reman without drinking for one or two days. Once they had nothing to drink for three. The horses of the Sahara do much more than this. They remain for about three months without eating a grain of barley ! they know not straw except on the days when they come to purchase grains in the Tell ; and they eat, for the most part, only alfa, chilli, and occasionally guetef. The A rabs say— " Alfa enables the horse to travel— Chilh makes him fight— And guetof is better than barley." Certain years pass without the horses of the Sa hara having a grain of barley to eat during the whole year, when the tribes have not been received in the Tell. Sometimes, then, they give dates to their horses ; this nouri shment fattens them ; they are then marched out, and enter on expedition. 4. Why, as the French dp not ride their horses until after they have passed the age of four, do the Arabs mount theirs extremely young ? Know that the Arabs say that horses and man can be well taught only in the tenderest age. This is their proverb on the subject:— " The lessons of infancy are graven on stone." " The lessons of riper years disappear like the nests of birds." They also say, " The young branch recovers its pasture without much difficulty, but the thick wood never recovers from a warp." In the very first year, the Arabs begin to instruct the young horse to go with the reseun, a sort of ca vesson ; then they call him djeda, beginning to break and bridle him. As soon as he becomes teni, tbat is when he enters his second year, they ride him one mile, then two, then a parasang ; and when he has completed his eighteenth month, they are no longer afraid of fatiguing him. When he has become tebora telata, that is when he enters his third year, they cease to ride him ; they fasten him, cover him with a good djelale (cloth), and fatten him. On this head they say—" In the first ' . year tie him for fear of accident. In the second year, ride him till his back curves. In the third year, tie hi m ag ain; and if be has not become what you wish, sell him." If a horse be not ridden before his third year, it is certain that he will never be good for anything but speed, which he does not require to learn, it is his na tural faculty. The Arabs express the idea thus— ,' El djouad idjri be daseloult. —"The cljouad runs according to his blood." The noble horse needs not to learn swiftness. 5. Why, if the stallions impart more qualities to the breed, should the m ares never th e l ess b e d ea rer ? This is the reason :—He who buys a mare, hopes that, while using her as a steed, he will at the same time rear a numerous brood from her; whereas, he who buys a horse only en s/ bits him for riding, no money being tak en b y the rArabs for commercial purposes. 6. Do the Arabs keep registers to establish the genealogy of their h orses ? Know that th e A ra b s of the Sahara trouble them selves as little w ith registers aslittle as do these of the Tell, Notoriety suffices. For the pedigree of their blood h orses i s as well known as that of the riders. I have h ear d that sonic fam ili es k ee p regis ters, but I cannot quote them; These books are used in the East, as I mention in the little treatise which I am about to address to you. 7 What tribes of Algeria are the most renowned for their horses ? Know that the best horses of the Sahara are those of the Ilacnyan, withort exception. They possess none but excellent horses, because they never employ them either for tillage or with the pack-saddle, but solely for expedition and war. These are the steeds which best bear hunger, thirst, and fatigue. Next to the horses of the Hainyan come those of the Arbaa and of the Ouled-Nayl. In the Tell, th e best hors i s for no bl eness an d blood, for fig u r e , form, an d heou ty, a re those of the people of the Chelif, especially those of Oulad Sidi - Ben-Abd-Allah (Sidi el Aaribi), n ear the Mind; and again those of th e O u l ad Sidi Hassan, a fraction of the Oulad Sidi Dahhon, who inhabit the mountain of Mascara. The swiftest on the race-course (fine also in shape) are those of the tribe Flits, of the Oulad Sheriff, and of the Puled Sekreud. The best for a march over stony ground, without being shod, are those of the Assassena tribe in Yakoubia. A saying is attributed to Moulay Ismail, the celebrated Sultan of Morocco—" Let my steed have been reared in Mez and watered in the Biaz." Diaz is a place in the country of the Assassena, and the Biaz is the stream kn own b y t h e name o f the Foufet, which flows in their territory. The horses of the Oulad-Khaled are also renowned for the same qualities. Sidi Ahmed Ben Yawed has said, with reference to that tribe, " long tresses and flowing manes will be seen amon gs t you ' till t h e d ay of the resurrection," thus panegyrising their women and their horses. 8. You say to me that you are fold that the horses of Algeria are not Arabian but Berberien—that is, barbs. This is an opinion which recoils upon its holders. The Berbers are genuine Arabs.A celebrated author has said—" The Berbers inhabit Moghebbo; they are all sons of Kaiss Ben Ghilan." It is averred, moreover, that they spring from the two great Hemiarite tribes, the Senandja and the Kettama, who entered with the invader Ifrikech-el-Malik. According to these facts, the Berbers are certainly Arabs, and historians establish the filiation of most of the Berber tribes, and their descent from the Se nandja and the Kettama. The coming of these tribes was anterior to Islamism. Since the Mussulmau in vasion, the number of Arabian immigrants is incal culable. When the Obeidin (the Fatimites) were masters of Egypt, immense tribes passed into Africa, and among others, the Riahh. They spread themselves from Kalroun to Merrakeh (Morocco). It is from these tribes that the Douaouda, the "Slid, the Madid, the Oulad-Madi, the Oulad-Jacob- Zerara, the Djendel, the Attaf, the Minis, the Braze, the Sheba, the Flita, the Medjahar, the Mehal, the Beni Amer, the Hayman, and many others spring. Doubt there is none but that the Arabian horse came with his Arabian rider. In the days of Ifrikech-Ben-Kaif, the empire of the Arabs was om nipotent. It extended itself towards the west as far as Morocco ; as in the days of Chamar the Hemisrite, it extended itself in the east as far as China. Tie ac count of this is given by Ben Konteiba, in his book entitled "El Marif." It is very true that, if all the horses of Algeria are of Arabian blood, many of them are fallen from their nobleness, because they are only too often employed in * A para,alig is about three miles, as will be sees in this very letter of Abd-21.Kacier's, under the head of the 4th question. EVENING, DECEMBER 25, 1851 ____ tillage, in retillage, in carrying, in drawing loads, &c. because the mares have been subjected to the ass; whereas, nothing of that sort was done among the Arabs of cld. Oil this point they say that it is enough for the horse, but to walk over tilled ground to make him lose some of his merit. The following story is told on the subject :—" A man was travelling, mounted on a blood-horse. He is met by his enemy, he also being mounted on a noble courser. The one pursues the other, and he who gives chase is distanced by him who flies. Des pairing to overtake him, the pursuer cries : I ask thee in the name of God, has thy horse ever worked?' He worked once for four days.' Good ; mine has never worked; and, by the head of the Prophet, I am certain to overtake thee.' " Accordingly, he continues the pursuit. Towards the close of the day, the fugitive begins to lose, and the pursuer to gain ground. He soon contrives to come up with, and to fight him whom he had des paired of catching. My father (God have him in his mercy !) was wont to say—" Nu more blessing is there on our country since we have turned our war-horses into beasts of burden and of tillage. Did not God make the horse for the charge and the race, the ox for tillage, and the camel for carrying loads ? There is no gain in amending the ways of God." 9. What are our precepts for the nurture and nourishment of our horses ? Know that the owner of a horse gives him at first but little barley, augmenting his ration by small quantities, then diminishing it again a little as soon as the animal leaves any, and finally maintaining the allowance at that measure. The best moment for giving barley is the evening. Except on the road there is nothing to be gained by giving any in the morning. The saying on this head is— " The barley of the morning is found on the dung hill ; the barley of the evening in the croup." The best manner of giving the barley is to give it to the horse saddled and girthed ; as the best manner of watering him is to water him bridled. They say— " Water with the bridle, barley with the saddle." The Arabs, above all, prefer a horse that eats little, provided he be not weakened in consequence. He is, say they, " a treasure beyond price." To give a horse drink at break of day makes him grow thin ; to give it to him in the evening makes him grow fat; and to give it to him in the middle of the day, keeps him in his condition. During the great heats, which last forty days (sernaime), the Arabs water their horses only once in two days ; and they aver that this practice has the best effects. In summer, autumn, and winter, they give an armful of straw to their horses ; but the chief part of the food is barley, in preference to all other substance. The Arabs have a saying— "lt we had not seen that horses beget horses, we should say that they were begot of barley." Again— " Buy the big horse, barley will make him swift." "Of forbidden meats," say they, " choose the lightest." That is to say, choose the lightest horse : horse flesh is interdicted to the Mussulman. Among their further proverbs are— " A man becomes a good rider only by having his bones broken repeatedly." " Thorough -bred horses have no malice." " The horse trained is the master's honour." "Horses are birds without wings." " There is nothing distant to the horse." " Those who forget the beauty of the horse for that of woman shall not prosper." " The horse knows the horseman." The holy Ben•el-Abbas (may God be pleased with him) has also said :—" Love the horse, care for him, spare not your pains," &c. I have finished the letter of which our friend and companion, the friend of every one, the Commander Sid-Ban-Senna, will be the bearer. Health. General Dautnas, to whom this remarkable epistle was addressed, in reply to inquiries which it specifies, remarks :—" The whole of this letter was written by Abd-el-Kader with his own band ; the original is in my possession, and is certified by the Chef d'Eseadron Boissonnet, who has for three years occupied with honour a difficult and delicate position with regard to the Emir. It is to the Commandant Boissonnet that I owe the translation of this precious document. (Signed) "LE GENERAL E. DAUMAS." I A BAN]) OF YOUNG BRIGANDS AT STOCKPORT. A few days since two boys, named Frederick Jones, aged 17, and 'William Walker, aged 15 years, were charged before the magistrates of Stockport with attempting to rob, and threatening to shoot two females named Harriet Beckett and Ellen Wood, on the highway; the former on the 13th October last, and the latter on the night of the Gth instant. Mrs. Harriet Beckett, a widow lady residing at Levenshulme, stated—On the evening of Monday, the 13th of October, between eight and nine o'clock, I was returning home alone from Heaton Norris, and when I arrived at Blackbrook, between Heaton Norris and Levenshulme, I met the two prisoners coming to wards Stockport. They passed me, and when they had got about one hundred yards, they both came up to me and said, "Are yo going far this way ?" I said " Yes; why do you ask ?" Jones then took a pistol from his breast pocket, placed it close to my bead, and said, " See, its your money we want, and if you don't give it us I'll blow your brains out." I said, "I have got no money ;" to which he replied, " You have—a lady like you to say you've got no money— you have, and if you don't give it without a disturb ance, there's six of us, and we've all got loaded pistols, and we'll shoot you dead ;" he kept holding the pistol to my head, and I walked backwards to wards Mr. Walsh's house. I said I had no money, but if he would go with me to my house I would give him what was reasonable. He asked me where I lived, and I said here (meaning Mr. Walsh's house). He asked me if there were any men in the house; I said "No." He said, "You'll not split; who did you leave in the house ?" and I told him the servant only. I was at that time standing near to Mr. Walsh's house, and seeing a light I called out " Mrs. Walsh." I presently saw Mrs. Walsh close the inside window-shutters. I then became alarmed, and called out several times. Jones then came, and in an undertone said, " If you will give us 4s. it will satisfy us, and we won't harm you." I said, " Oh, yes, most gladly." At this moment Mrs. Walsh and her servant, and two children, came to the door. I called out that there were two boys that threatened to shoot and r o b me . Th e pr i soners w ere then quite close to me. Mrs. Walsh's servant tried to open the gate, but could not ; and on the children becoming alarmed, Jones said, " If you make any disturbance I'll send a bullet amongst you." Mrs. Walsh then desired one of the children to call their papa, on hear ing which the prisoners began to curse, and then ran id entity of The witness was confident as to the of the prisoners, as it was a clear moonlight night, and she kept her face turned to the prisoners the whole of the time. Ellen Wood, a domestic servant to Mr. John Booth, Heaton Norris, said—On Saturday evening, about six o'clock, I was coming out of the entry of my master's house, to go to Stockport. I saw the prisoners opposite. I was in a hurry and ran. The prisoners ran after me about 100 yards. I then began to walk, and on reaching a part of the road be tween Lamb's Fold and Danby-lane the prisoner Walker came in front of me, and put a pistol t o m y face and said, "You must deliver or die." Jones was behind, and placed his band over my shoulder. I screamed out, and presently a man came running up, and the prisoners ran away. Mr. Charles Booth, of Lamb's Fold, deposed, that on hearing a person scream on the night in question he ran to the spot, when he saw the last witness. He went in pursuit of the prisoners, overtook them near the Navigation Inn, and secured Jones, but the other escaped. He took Jones into a house and searched his pockets, from which be took a pistol. Walters, of the borough police, took the prisoner Walker into custody at the house of his brother on Saturday, and upon searching him found a pistol loaded half-way up the barrel, two boxes con taining some shot and percussion caps, a whistle, and a dark paper mask. _ Constable Lee stated that he received the prisoner Jones and the pistol from the witness Booth ; and that upon unloading the pistol it was found to con tain powder, wadding, and a atone about the size of a bean. He also found upon his person a mask of the same description as that found upon the other prisoner, a pistol screw, powder flask, and other articles. The prisoners, who declined to say anything in answer to the charge, were fully committed for trial at the assizes for Liverpool. Some facts were communicated by Mr. Sadler to the magistrates relative to the previous character, habits, and conduct of the youths, from which some practical conclusions may be drawn as to the origin of juvenile delinquency. Walker's mother died in 1842, and his father followed in five years after wards, since which time he has been under the charge of an elder brother in Lancashire Hill, regularly attending the Stockport Sunday School, and working at different places, but latterly at Alderman Fernley';, of Weir Mills, during the last eight months as a piecer for a spinner named Johnson. Jones had re sided at Dew Bank for three years, attended the same school, and for eighteen months was employed the Weir Mills, being moreo ver a p i ecer for this same Johnson, who himself i s no t more than 22 age. Johnson, it als o t urns out, has been ye i a e rs the habit of purchasing a number of pernicious publica tions. All these papers were usually read both by Jones and Walk er , not only while in the mill, but at their own homes ; so much so, that Walker's brother, who i s a conscientious man and a teacher of 'the Stockport Sunday School, has frequently remon strated with his younger brother, and burned the publications whenever he could find them. Johnson, who is morally responsible for the social ruin of these two boys, has been dismissed from his situation. The OR O I n GMl2Vond ay aF even -E in L g E la C st T a ß public METALLURGY. dinner was given at the Waterloo Hotel, Liverpool, to Mr. Thomas Spencer, the discoverer of electrotype, originator of ekctro-metallurgy, and improver of the galvanic pile, on the occasion of his depar ture reside in L on d on . The chair was taken by George Holt, Esq., and among the company were William Rathbone, Esq., and other distin gu ished gentlemen of the vicinity, both patron s a nd pursuit. In the course of the evenieg Mr. Maier, gold smith, placed on th e t a bl e an elegant copy of the cup s o we ll k nown as that lini, and feelingly described the sensation n b ve n u i to _ in Mr. Spencer on first beholding that triuemw b t n o e fs, his d invention. The cup is so exquisite in finishp and accurate in detail, that, with all the assistanc h so optician can bring to bear upon it, the original t e be told from th e copy . "I t was from me, " said cannot Mayer, " that so l ong ago as the year 1837, jrr. Spencer used to purchase his gold and silver to make his experiments with; but I little thought that he was then silently and unceasingly at work upon an idea which his unsubduable perseverance and genius would successfully realise, or that he would raise him self to the high position he now occupies in the esti mation of the scientific men of Europe, and be destined to bear that honourable adjunct to his name, the dis coverer of the electrotype.'" " The Health of Mr. Spencer " was proposed, and received with great enthusiasm, and in the course of the evening a purse, containing 200 guineas, was presented to him, as a mark of the esteem in which he is held by his fellow-townsmen. Mr. SPENCER, in acknowledging the compliment, gave the following graphic account of the origin of those experiments which resulted in the discovery of the art of metallurgy :—" In September, 1837, the British Association for the Advancement of Science met in this town,tand during the week of its sitting I attended the chemical section, where I heard Dr. Bird state that, while he was repeating an experiment of Becquerel's, he had met with a very unexpected re sult. After having passed a feeble voltaic current for a considerable period through a disc of clay mois tened with a salt of copper, he found on breaking it up that the m e t a l contained' in the cupreous salt was reduced, and in a crystalline state in the interior of the clay disc. Now, the remarkable part of this gentleman's communication consisted in the supposi tion that the crystals of copper had originated out of contact with eitberof the metals employed in generating the current. At that time (1837) I had sufficient acquaintance with the leading principles of electro chemical science to enable me to judge of the im portance of this statement, should it be true; while, on the other hand, it was contrary to all analogy-- not to say experience —that I could hardly help sus pecting that the gentleman had :fallen into some mis take. To resolve the doubts I had on this score, I determined to take an early opportunity to repeat the experiments in the manner they were described by their author ; and it was while I was repeating these experiments that I was led step by step to the dis covery of the electrotype. Moreover, the apparatus which I adopted for these operations in 1837 is the same as that now sold in the shops as the 'single cell electrotype apparatus.' I began in September, 1837, and in little better than a month I arrived at a knowledge of that wonderfully plastic power of me tallic depositions which we possess in galvanic or voltaic electricity. It was then that I discovered that branch of metallurgy which has since been de signated the electrotype, but which i m pli es the practical application of electro-chemistry to most of the metals used in the arts. There are several gentlemen now present who saw these experiments in operation at the time ; but as many attempts have been made to deprive me of the credit of the discovery, let me not be accused of egotism in thus distinctly stating the particulars and dates of my proceedings. A statement was made in the Mechanics' Magazine in 1844 (and most indus triously disseminated throughout Europe) to the effect that I had copied my experiments from a letter written by a Mr. Jordan, and published, I think, in the June number of that print for 1839. Nothing could be more absurd than this last charge. In fact, I had never seen the letter until it was thus pointed out; and if I had, I could not have obtained anything practical from it. My claims have been usually ad mitted as dating from May, 1839, because at a public meeting of the Polytechnic Society, held on the 9th of that month, a letter was read from me to the secretary which is entered on the books of the society, and mentions some of the results of the dis covery, and also that I had been engaged in per fecting the process for a considerable period. This letter fact was spoken to by several mem bers then present, some of whom had been made acquainted with my experiments at the first meeting of the society io October previous. Along with this letter a number of voltaic specimens were shown to the meeting, consisting of medals and copper moulds. and specimens of engraving, all of which had been formed by the electortype. In a conversation which ensued I explained the process to the meeting, and further showed some specimens of silver plating and gilding, which I had with me. I had hitherto for borne to give public denials to those statements to which I have referred until this evening. In sup porting a claim of this nature, however, there is a higher principle than mere personal vanity. I feel that my honesty of purpose is involved should I fail in supporting that to which in the first instance I laid claim, and which I never suspected would be ques tioned. I have always felt it to be degrading to science to clog its history with considerations merely personal, yet looking at is past history I fear that controversies of this character must be pronounced inevitable." ..,ONDOIsT AND_ T RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS. Traffic for the week endineDee. 21:— Passengers, parcels,mails, &c. £21,015 6 7 .NORTII-WESTERN RAILWAY. Return of Merchandise ~ Cattle .. "• 1,(7)78 13 8 otal____--- ...£12,366 18 10 T Corresponding week last Year "' 45'200,1,8m Smilas LANCASHIRE AND YonRsIDRE RAILWAY.— l'-`-'-' ----- opeu.)—Traffie for week endin g Dec. 21 £16,259 12 3 year (260 Corresponding week in last miles open) .. ... ... ... .£14,42S 14 1 LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAr.— Amount of Traffic for the week ending Dec. 21 : Passengers ... ... ... £6,948 15 11 Goods *** -- -.. 2,345 4 2 Total ... .. £9,294 0 1 . .... Corresponding week last year... 9,195 2 li NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE RAILWAY.— (Miles open 112.) — Return of traffic for the week ending Dec. 14 :....." ' Railway and canal ..• £4,706 0 0 Corresponding week last . year ... 4,390 0 0 Note.— The above is . exclusive of the receipts available under the agreement. with the London and North-Western Railway Company. TAIL GRRAT NORTHERN RAILWAY._- (iv , i - - 7 k -aa ilea an Work, 241 i) —Return of Traffic for the I% eek ending Dec 14, 1851 : _ Passengers, parcels, carriages, horses, dogs, and mails ... £ 5 , 0 26 13 ti Merchandise and minerals ... 5,827 19 6 Cattle ... ... .. ... 308 19 11 11,163 12 E Total .. ... Corresponding week, 1850 (236 miles) : Passengers, parcels, &c. ... £4,367 2 9 Merchandise, Cattle, &c. ... '2,965 6 9 Tot al ... ... £7,332 9 6 MANCIIESTER, BUXTON, MATLOCK, AND MIDLANDS JITNC. TION Dec. RAI LWAY.—Return of traffic for the week en di ng 21 : Passengers, &e. ••• I}l erch an d s e ••• ••• Total ... £l:2-1 17 6 Corresponding Week last . rear 127 17 4 CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD R AlLWAY.—Traffic for the week ending Dec. 21:— MAIN LOTz. Passengers ... Parcels, H. C. and D. Goods, cattle, &c. Mails ... ... Total -• MOLD. ... £46 13 10 ... 78 3 8 ... £917 7 7 ••• 76 1 7 ... 580 17 1 ••• 5 75 0 0 ... £2,149 6 3 Passengers ... Parcels, H. C. and D. ... Goods, cattle, &c. ... .£3l 12 0 ••• 2 3 0 .« ... 102 19 8 Total ... ... ... £136 14 8 STEAM-BOATS. Passengers . ••• Parcels, 11. C. and D. ... ... £143 14 10 ... 13 17 8 ... £157 12 6 PROFITABLE SPECULATION.—At a final meeting of the shareholders of the Wisbeach. Steam-towing Com pany, held in the Exchange Hall on Tuesday last, 11. M. Esq., in the chair, for the purpose of winding up the affairs, a dividend of 20s. upon the original 201. shares was declared. The above company has been is existence tea years, during which time the shareholders have received no interest whatever.—Lynn Advertiser. PLEASING SENSATION.—MISS D., of New York, says, that the first time a young man squeezed her dress, she felt as if she was in the laud where rainbows come from. How poetic a little hugging makes people. DEATH OF COLONEL DRAKE, C.M.G.—Colona Drake, late of the Grenadier Gnards, died on the 22d inst., aged sixty-nine. His commissions in the army were dated as follows :—Ensign, 1805; lieutenant, 18J6; captain, 1s07; major, 1813; Leutenat-colonel, 1826; and colonel, 1841. In 16:05 and 1806 he served with the army in the Elbe under Lord Cathcart; in 1803-0 in Spain and Portugal, under Sir John Moore; and with the expedition to Walcheren in 1609. Ile was present at Busaco, Fuentes d'Onor, and Nivelle, for which he had received the war medal with three clasps. In 1833 he was nominated a companion of the mili tary order of St. Michael and St. George. Letters from Paris mention that a notice was about to appear in the Moniteur that the Government will forth.. with pa y the claims of th e severa l ra il way companies who sustained damage in the revolution of 1848. The amounts will he 1,200,000 f. to the St. Germains line, 800,000 f. to the Northern, and 300,000 f. to the Rouen. Advices from Oporto mention that the house of Messrs. Quarles Harris and Sons stopped payment in that city on the 11th inst. A meeting of creditors took place on the 16th inst., and the total amount of liabilities was stated to be 89,185/., including 15,222/. bills drawn on Londen. No definite steps could be taken until the arrival of the state ment from the London house, but it was reported the as sets would yield about 55 per cent. Much sympathy was expressed for Mr. J. D. Harris, the partner at Oporto. PARLIAMENTARY DISPATCH. —Mr. Popham, when he was Speaker, and the Lower House had eat long, and done, in effect, nothing; coming one day to Queen Eliza beth, she said to him, "Now, Mr. Speaker, what has passed in the Lower House?" He answered, "If it please your Majesty, seven weeks."—Bac. On Tuesday the box of an emigrant, on board the ship Oregon, 13 ing iu the Prince's Dock, Liverpool, was forcibly broken open and 8001. stolen ; 5701. was in sove reigns; there were also four 50/. Bank of England notes, two, la, and two 51. notes. RAWMARSH COLLIERY EXPLOSION.—RAwmAusa, WEDNESI)Ay.—Our yesterday's report closed with the evi dence of John Roebuck, the engine -driver. After the dis patch of our account Mr. J. C. 1). Charlesworth, one of the proprietors of the Warren Vale Colliery, Mr. NV. Goodison, the superintendent of Merrrs. Charlesworth, and several colliers, were examined. The jury then adjourned to Tuesiay next week. The pit will be in the interim examined by Mr. Morton, the Government inspector. On Saturday Mr. Mor ton will inspect the pit, unattended, except by some of the surviving colliers. On Mouday be wilt also _ r inspect__ a _ it th z- the mine, attended by Mr. Byrom, mining agent of F' E ; Mr. Lo c k e , co lli er y viewer, Barnsley; and Mr. T. D. Jeffcock, colliery viewer, Sheffild. o —The Spanish relative the following details to the Military Gazette gives English who have fallen into the hands of ENGLISH . shipwrecked 16.—The English crew Moorish pirates:— "Melilla, Nov.. PRIsoNSRs IN MO . ROCC . arepower of the people of Riff ; one sailor is dead, remaining ; it was believed that they wou ld speedily be de livered, as whether in naturally or not is unk nown . T here are five the livered, as a merchant vessel freighted by the English consul at Malaga had come to convey them to Gibraltar, but the natives have raised their claim, and now demand 200 dourcs (401.) per head. These poor sailors, since the beginning of their captivity, have slept on th e b are ground, wich is a great hardship in the present season, and after being deprived of their clothes. Their only food is a coarse kind of colts coussou, very different fare front that to which English sailors are accustomed, and which is of no service'in enabling them to support the inclemency of the weather." THE NEW FOREIGN SECRETARY or STATE.— Granville George Leveson Gower, second Earl Granville, and now her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, i s a comparatively young man, having been born graduated at Christ Church, Oxford ; was for a in 1815. t t i ne d subsequently attaché to t? .e British Embassy in Faris, and was appointed under Secretary of State for Foreign *ifs „h e b ir y s ear he succeeded a Railway C ommissioner in 1816, in en -- lis LiuckhollUdE4 July, to the earldom ; Master of the Queen of Trade, May, 1848 ; 1846 ; 'V ice - President of the 1837 to F b from February, , e rnary, was M.P. for Morpethaifrom September, 1841, to Janu ary, ;and sat for Lichfield a Deputy-Lieutenant of Salop, ary, 1846; was appointed Yeomanry . , 1848. Earl 1. 46 ; as _ short m be remembered, Chairman of the Granville /me , it - ,1 Commission of the Great Exhibition of Council of the Royal t zed was a distinguished ' diplomatist; he 185'. 'th e firs second Duke of Sutherland, and was long Lord Granville Leveson Gower. known as Lo IN A PRINTING -OFFICE. — Last night an 111. DEATII rywas taken by Mr. W. Payne, at Mr. Ireland's, Fecal V i - Ftt lane on the body of Henry Lihud, aged Fetter-lane, er- , 'tavern, 9 42. The:deceased was, it appeared, in the service of was . uncle to the Messrs. Pater and Duff, printers, of 3, Crane-Court, Fleet street, as pressman. On Monday he was going down some stairs, when' he fell down from the top. li e „ as found b y some of his fellow-workmen lying on his side, and medical aid was sent for, but before any one arrived he was dead. The partners had done everything ler his, while thus at tacked, but all efforts were unavailing. From the testi money of his wife, who lives in Clement's-lane, Strand, he had long suffered from palpit ation of the heart, and it was further shown that just before his attack in the office he had complained of pain in his side and back. Verdict—. N a t ur al death." MYSTERIOUS OCCURRENCE AT A RAILWAY STA- TlON.—Yesterday morning (Wednesday)a genteellYla" r e e a .. young man, wlio gave his name Solomons, far asked e s e h tca m hhr ieienfmnpugtnes re freshment-rooms r o iboso r ri nni a go tfin o , hrtebetutwoh;t waiter, Lime-street bbtteeuirtrn,hngaot n coasto timetmh eewgaap station, spr : .. Liverpool,Tois reuest d th at it might set entered d and i l r : u la had no suspicion of wasa theny afterwards offered Si. to burn the papers, he suspected all a t w ec h t e i n ve t ' h o e ffi y de municated with the police. a bort ntoinit e rig t h wo t, o ar th c e oin of th S e a p le e m rs ros in vi t a o s e n u o s t t°d th y a so strange in his conduct that a su s s u p r e g e e t o e n d correct one ; but the DI c f e o r u s nd ar t r h i a v t ed t LI in notes, parchments.3o - and doubts are entertained of the l in his right mind. He had about 501. , being in and a large quantity of papers and He gold, to be brougdt up at the police-court . --e bf re M r . Mansfield, the Li ♦erpool b e f( . last evening for. exam i na tio n,, th lar truit of a robbery. i t h e money IS — 0 s ew od asn Eo , l : verpool stipend ) magistrate. 'I il! detectives do not think Ipvaasrty7lid prisoners were removed to Liverpool on Tuesday 1 TIIE APPIN morning. Notwithstanding thi s comm i tta l t h ey A correspondent of the BSA IVA Y ller SB ;,....._ displayed a sort of stoicism as to their fate, and up to the S. S-bastian-gate, drove along the course of the I left Rome by tt e . ireus of oinulus, the tomb of C'swilia the last moment addressed each other by the adopted Appian. lc Way—the l old pavement often showing—palsing Aletella and titles of " Jack Sheppard" and " Dick Turpiti."— 1 i entering up_m the open Campagna, about fo ' • ur miles Stockport P a p er , from the city walls. here begin the new excavations making for the purpose of giving a direct road fr ' Rome to Albano —restoring it nearly to the course o f o h m e old Appian Way. A considerable number of workrEt.‘n have been employed in blasting and destroying those of the frequent shapelesss masses of old unknown tombs which arc in the way, in levelling road, and in carefully excavating its foundations, so that nothing worthy may be buried, in pursuing on either side anything that oilers to tempt the search. Ali that are found of ancient remains are collected and stored up temporarily on the roadside (being numbered for the sake of reference): the best are removed at once to the Vatican: the imper fect and inferior ones ri main till further eesrch may have brought to light other portions; or if still found unworthy of removal, to be built into those sorts of monumental walls by the roadside, suggested by Canova for this purpose, and already made by him in the first part of the Appian 'Way. I remained at the excavations —sometimes wandering about watching the workmen, who each minute would turn up something fresh—here a fragment of a statue, there a frieze—an inscription —a broken column—uncover perhaps a tesselated pavement, or often would break through into a tomb, on looking into which would be seen the bones, cineraria, lamps, &e., in sifii, as first placed. The c ons t ant i nterest of this can be conceived by all, while those who have been to Rome know well how beautiful is the surrounding scenery SORE TV STEAM-SHIPS. The arrival of the Glasgow screw steam-ship at Greenock, in twelve days five hours from New York, with a large cargo and forty-six passengers, has again called public attention to this class of vessels, and the advantages they possess over paddle-wheel steamers ; the more so as the Glasgow has only been twenty-eight hours longer on the voyage than the powerful Cunard steamer the Atlantic, which left New York on the same day. The comparatively cheap manner in which screw ships are worked, and their great capacity for the conveyance of both cargo and passengers, enables them to compete successfully with the more expensive steam-ships for passengers, and with sailing vessels for goods. The success which seems to attend almost every vessel fitted with the screw-propeller, whether on long or short voyages affords great encouragement to all those companies and individuals who are now intending to place ships of this description in the Indian, Aus. tralian, Brazilian, and American trades. Of their ultimate success, the testimony of so many eminent and practical men in their favour, before the House of Commons and i❑ other places, can leave but little doubt, the more so when it is considered that the change only involves the application of steam as an auxiliary power to sailing vessels built upon the most approved models—vessels capable of competing with any of their class, and possessing the advantage of steam in enabling them to overcome the diffi culties opposed to their progress by calms and unfavourable winds. Beyond this, they will be enabled, from their capacity for stowage, and the small amount of room occupied by machinery and fuel, to carry cargoes far exceeding anything that could be stowed by steam-ships of the ordinary construction, and very little, if any, short of that carried by first-class sailing vessels. Such are the advantages pointed out by men of experience as possessed by screw steam-ships. It requires, there fore, but little inquiry to convince the most scep tical that, for the purpose of emigration and the conveyance of merchandise, they will be found su perior to any other class of vessels, and that their success is a matter of great and serious importance to our colonies, especially those now suffering from the want of a more rapid intercourse with the mother country. .... SERIOUS FIRE IR ALANCHESTER.--/k. fire was dis covered yesterday morning about half-past eight o'clock in the warehouse of Mr. George Hodgkinson, quilting and counterpane manufacturer, in Market-street, Manchester. Mr. Hodgkinson occupies part of a block of buildings, which were burnt down about four years ago and some 25,0001. damage done. All around are warehouses filled with costly goods, and the danger at one time was imminent that these would ignite and spread the conflagration. The alarm was , however, given at the police yard, and fire engine s being got to the spot, afte r great exertions the firemen succeeded in overcoming the d evastating element and preventing its about 2,0001., spread. '1 he l oss of property will amount the larger p ort i on of it on Mr. .Hodgkins t o pre abo on's premises, co vered by insurance. —Mr. G. T. v MOTITEL REPRESENTATI ON OF n - PLY Braine, deputy-chairman of the Plymouth Great Western Company, and director the Eastern Steam Navigation of ss to the electors of this borough, Docks, has issued an a v t i ts c tion an represen tation. advocate lioef educationbny matters of general policy, his views are offeri ng stetes tha free trade,taatendfocroni whil e it i h those of the Liberal party ; that he is in accordance w tbhe himselfis as d to the Church of England, and opposed to warmly attach e • • a dedaraedi any concession of spiritual or temporal power to the Church of Rome. According to an advertisement in the New York papers the firm of Hamden and Co., who suspended on the 25th of November at Liverpool, and subsequently at Boston, have made arrangements for the payment o f t h e i r sight draughts which had been issued to Immigrants and others desirous of sending small remittances to their relatives at home. These draughts amounted to an aggregate of 12,0001., and much distress will therefore now be averted. The firm also are making efforts to resume their general business, which, it is thought, may prove successful. The whole of the share and produce markets will main c 1940 in Liyerpoci until Monday next.