The Sun. — London, England, 1845-11-06 00:00:00

ETS• C r ' ml and r Share , )itto, Ps) Burl' Yo Qr .„r l `',o 01, old ow' r 27d. Li s, and e l! P e e er, and - atjockii fl Con t rt rdshire. 51s. t ,tinal l3l° t i, te , 4 VslO 0. 19i. WO O 5) 4by A n a G "and : ce p 2/. Itt' tt if —9 lc 5 A e 4 d SelbY,,,, .sborour t , 140 11 • C, 2 3 A -- Rastricl, m b e rlo 46 r, 2 %*--", —W ern C 61 410 1 4 „,,e1 1 try, I, 2% cf 4- 144° V 3f4' And g et s Soutipl, 5%! rdaen, s oh ind Iloeo1 loeo onian, hire 0.• P.. A ;$ Be "10 'Hatay, b 1 Uliiibuel • -Glase v 64. 3arlisle,i( • hal* gol4 ba i f rth tii, 6 8,- 1 1,4 ntral e'oo -Stiutb 69 k mingei.cl6 O f Count/ C. ( ' rd, 1 5 A4", c ti , aiue J l 'o t e re4t Belf,f,s' :tffo , -TratGor44 3~Ag~ al the Ld° 2d; 1 , capt' nople, hi, s after s e Flag o d . sent tf at ,)' O the P ho 'i , of ye t ' fireM en ' c i ()Sr : t ie od),• vrhe 0 # leas ed 'ore , pro vr4 lo o , chi r " of saurart COW, T CIRCULAR. ‘( WINDSOR, WEDNESDAC—The Queen and Prince Albert took their early morning walk. On the return to the Castle ether Majesty and the Prince, his Royal - Highness and Lord 13 Yron, Lord 'Charles Wellesley, Mr. Anson, Colonel Bowles, and Lient.-Colonel Wylde, went out on a shooting excursion, and returned to the Castle at two o'clock. Her Majesty, and her Royal Cor.sort walked out again this lift , rnoe n . The Royal Family were out for their usual morning airings. Their-R„l'a' Highnesses the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, and the P r i ncess Royal, were taken out in the afternoon in the grounds adjacent to the Castle. The royal dinner party at the Castle this evening will in elude her Royal Highness the ,Duchess of Kent, Lady Anna Maria Da'wson, Baroness de Speth, and Colonel Sir George Cowper. The band of the Grenadier Guards was in attendance dating dinner. ner Majesty's private band afterwards attended in the His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge left town at "vett p'clock yesterday morning, for the . Royal Military Col lege at Sanclia - urst. The. Austrian Ambassador had An Interview with Sir itobert Peel yesterday. The Portuguese Minister transacted business yesterday at the Foreign-office. The funeral of the lite Venezuelan Minister, Mr. For t'clue, took place yesterday. The body of his late Excellency was attended to the Spanish Chapel, in Manchester-square, by ' i s Excellency Don Manuel Moreno, Minister of the Re- Mblie of B uenos A yres; M. M arq ues Lisboa, the Brazilian Minister ; Mr. Mosqueara, Chargé d'Affaires of the Republic ( -, 3 1 new' Granada; Mr. Murphy, the Mexican Minister; ,"en Moncorvo, the Portuguese Minister Mr. M'Lane, United States Minister ; his Excellency General Flores ; Colonel Wright, Lord Charles Beauclerc, Sir. John Rae field, and. Colonel Stopford; The carriages of several of tue .Pereign Ministers and Lord 'Aberdeen attended. . After the service In the Spanish Chapel the procession I , l : ° ved to the Catholic cemetery at Chelsea, in one of the sults of which the body of his late Excellency was finally denosited. rb The Ec c l es i as ti ca l C on i tu i ss i o ners for England had a meet in teg Yesterday. There were present the Archbishop of Can nrY. the Bishops of Liindon, Bath and Wells, Ely, Exeter, 1 1 , 1 d Rochester, the Judge of the Prerogative Court, and the 'Jean of Westminster. L grrd Wharncliffe, Lord President of the Council, has nearly recovered from an attack of gout, and attended yes t'eclaY at the Council-office. . . gr. Dean, Ch a i rman of the Customs, had an interview .srith. the Chancellor of the .Exchequer yesterday, at his offi cial residence in Downing -street. . SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. °NEWMARKET. COURSING MEETING.,—.TUESDAY. •' (EXNING FIELD.). THE DERBY. Air. Moody's Robin beat Mr. Bennet's Witham. ' Mr. Fvson's Father Mathew beat Mr. Dobede's Diamond. Lord Stradbroke's Mac beat Mr. Squire's Omen. - Mr:N.B. Smyth's SpOitiman beat Mr. Vipan's Vampire . Lord Stradbroke's Miles beat Mr. Gillett's Graveney. Lord Stradbroke's Mawworrn beat Mr.. Nash's Cartwright. )4r. Dobede's Dunkirk beat Mr. Fyson's Fairfax. • I.l r..Dobede's Deerslayer beat Mr. Gillett's Guy Mannering. M TAR CUP. Gillette e",•• Ai r, etts Gift (late D ar tford) beat Mr: King's Rhea. r; Nash's Captain beat Lord Strarlbroke's Maiden. Air. Fr soo ' s Figaro beat Lord Stradbroke's Machine. Air. 1 5 ohede's Damask Rose beat. Mr. Bagge's Telltale. Bagge's Tomahawk beat Mr. Nash's Cruiskeen. Mr. FY , son's Farmer beat Mr. Moody's Rachel. V VipaTei V.-Tonica beat Mr. Bennett's Wideawake. " 4 r.Dobede's Duches beat Mr. W. B. Smyth's Sherwood. THE OAKS. Vipan's Varna brat Mr. W. B. Smyth's Silesia. I°rd Stradbroke's Mealev beat Mr. Vipan's Vesta. M r Fyson's Fenella beat Mr. Bennett'S Willing Maid. yson's Favourite beat Mr. King's Rosetta. Dobede's Dew Drop beat Mr. Nash's Cuckoo. Dobe,le's Dowager Queen beat Mr. King's Ruth. 7 r •Oillett's Graciosa beat Mr. Baggt.'s ThetiS. d raw ir e .Gillett's Grundreda ran a bye ; Mr. Squire's Oxygen NEWS FROM PoRTUGAL. (From the Morning Herald.) T g , „ SOUTHAMPTON, Wirnairsnav Moaxisia. 'e 4ueen steam-ship, Captain Russell, arrived this morn .w In •''g at nine o'clock, with the usual Peninsular mails, which sn dispatched to town o ra nges,, eleven o'clock A.3f. train. qu e n e t l i s t ;b a ring s 270 boxes 0f24 barrels of olives, a grapes, 40 cases of eggs„ and about 2,600/. in aPecie, besides a variety of other packages of merchandise. u T ft.he Queen left Gibraltar on the 27th of October; Cadiz, v .'. ; Lisbon, 30th ; Oporto, 31st ; Corunna, Nov. 1; and beg"on the same day. Her Majesty's ship Flamer, and her Yg brig Fautorae, the United States sloop of war Cum -oot, French steamer Gassendi, and the Peninsular and T r h ien tal Company's steam-ship Oriental, were at Gibraltar. port Quiver schooner was off Espchel, and wished to be re- The Baiter was off Cadiz on the 28th ultimo. The Royal ruthern Yacht Club yacht Circassian, the Ganymede (J. H. C i ti n i l lgott, Esq.), and the Anaconda (Sir Charles Ibbet th. a also put in at Cadiz, but left the day previous to ofWeell for the South. The Spanish ship-of-war Soherana, *t ea Me, with the brig Manzanaries, of 20 gans, and At Isabel th e S econ d were also lying at Cadiz. 41 4 A Lisbon was the French brig-of-war Cyque, of 20 guns; 14 ° : ht ' Company's steamer, North Star. The Royal Tar rrived at Vigo on her passage out. fle Queen brings home several passengers. • (moss OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) • p LISBON, Ocr. 80, 1845. 4. a rt • n f - aa, under date of the 18th inst., has been issued r clol the Home Department, and published in the Diario, to forth the terms upon which the Government is willing pog aat t ° any company the privilege of making railways in VI. Those terms are in substance as follows, viz. :- 99 w--li r.. company to be allowed an exclusive privilege for z a ir , 7 , to be reckoned from the completion of each line of the free use of the Crown lands through ' , the re i n. pass, and of the atone, sand, and clay To e ,• ties aa exemption during five years from import 0? all materials and machinery, which it may be neces ninon from foreign countries. An exempti o n from all general or local imports upon e l abours of the company, or upon its shares. ___S• The company to b e allowed, for the first ten years, to wi tabl sh wh a t e ver rates it may think proper for the convey -1!•ee of passengers and goods. At the end of t h at term, how ever, the rates will become subject to the consideration and SPprovai of the Government. 6. The company must engage to begin each line of rail • ,w l k3' within one year from the signing of the respective con • t, and and to complete it within six years from its commence t4ent. 7 . The plan and prospectus of each line shall be submitted to the consideration of the Government. Government dispatches to be conveyed gratuitously. 2• . TroOps, baggage, and military stores, to be conveyed at Vie-fourth the ordinary rates. uma The propelling p ower to be steam, by means of loco v es; but the company will be at liberty to adept the 138 1 3 beric principle, if deemed more expedient. 4 :L. The works to be carried on under the supervisorship of appointed by the Government, for the purpose of pre ,:;!u' any departure from the stipulated conditions. el Government will make certain provisions, which -we be considered as the .complementof the conditions and ,tilacees established, as is done by the French Government in le hie., des charges in contracting for works of this nature. If the company be a foreign one, it will be considered 744ortuguese, with regard, solely, to the obligations of its oft r .aet, and will be, so far, subject to the laws and tribunals 11 13 country a l on e. vot;uro. p A ri t at t i h r e g e a n n d y o ra f i t t r a n y ty to years, and after that, at the end e ..._' v ery fifth year, the Government will have the right of itself, on payment of its just °a 15 which value is to be fixed by arbitrators, upon the sis 15. T he nett revenue of the last five years. fo r th 'be Government will make the necessary regulations 16.e„,ulaintenance and security of the railways. dep o :Abe Company contracting for any line of railway shall the sit with the Board of Public Crddit, as a guarantee for l'ost erfn rlnance of the contract, the sum of 12,000 mitres (in le ague u • of ese such Four or Five per Cent. Inscriptions) for every Iline. .mitts Proposal f or th e co nstruction of railroads will be of thet • ", unless the parties making it give su ffi cient proof 18. r ability to carry the undertaking into effect. proposals are to be presented at the Home-office of the months from this date (18th October). t he 14 ue foregoing terms some appear perfectly fair; bat !p ee , i t h. and 16th are of a nature to put a stop to all railway lasi sta a , t inus in this country so long as they continue to lie reil e :',. l - The deposit required is at the rate of 170/. per %ern e : h utch for the proposed Oporto line would amount to as th•. ere about 150,0001. The trusting such a Government v ery 's with the safe keeping of so large a sum is of itself a ditt o : e ighty objection ; but when to this is added the con eesn, t natjust wh en an y ra il wa y ceases to be a losing con. hoe t h e begins to yield some profit, the Government is to alitg re : e Power of taking it a t a valuation based upon the by l o w receip ts o f t h e last period of five years, which re. oy)o_loe Govelninent itself is to have the right of lessening, sora.h er g the rates of fares, it is scarcely credible that any Y will venture upon such an undertaking. trite Yfurlattd.a.rrangernent w i th the Unias Commercial Company 'nudis t' tequired for the payment of the next dividend* osr. g av e been provided. So far the evil day has been iv e out to a crash it is likely to come at last. The ho w lter„Cent. Inscriptions , which were shortly ago at 75, are • Yes t ,; ( B l ' and their tendency s is still downward. bi aY being the 29th anniversary of the Bing Cou r*, Was a day of great rejoicing. 4t,i;:!REAcH BWINDLING.—SOiIIe parties have been fi elso._ letinr iaing our townsfolk, engaging rooms, regaling them. ""t in ns and other laces and decamping without making an y h Yrne e n r a t. Mr s. Goddard, . P ; the Rose and Crown, Is one of t . e ' 1)0, 44 6% --- • One fellow has ° been caught at March with 21. In h his eat e — o ' r . -We Mention this by way of caution to innkeepers to e a .'°°ll patro nage. —Cambridge Advertiser. for ,RTICULTURAL SOCIETY.— The first meeting ; winter session sou held on Tuesday afternoon at the rooms e llent.st", t. th e ce The chair was taken by R. W. Barchard, Esq., of The Lindley, who is at present actively en. th;"'dilin Ireland on the Government Commission for investiga o tirig a rin zntr "4 " of potatoea. The objects of exhibition w ere f o f it o.us and interesting character, particularly those o f ~ ta ,i P wa es ar ded were Knightian medals to M r. Moore, of t e it o wibert Hanbury, Esq, for a fine blooming . specimen 1,t4, tI.Ya labiate, and Mr. Smith for grapes ; a Bankstan medal f Lawrence for a collection of plants ; and certificates m o — ' l4 l to Mr. C handler, of Vauxhall, nos Chrysanthemums, and r. to od Cheehunt, for some fine egays of perpetual roses In tisterbi°na and scent . The extract from tile Meteorological Re_ kept ~c,1„.,:_... 9tll.barotheattert, h ighest, October from 7 t h O c t o b er t o 4th N o vember, e. p October 23d, 30'516 inch ; lowest, btr , 29 ' 2 95 ; ther mometer, hi g h est, O cto b er 14 t h , 76 , . 4 '39 N t 4 l. 'west, November 3d, 20 deg. F. , and quantity of rain O 11)EA, Tu '`a BY Tree INCAUTIOUS USE OF LAUDANUM la,„, tn esd , r , a Ys Mr. Wakley held an inquest at the Crown and h A st n o c v h i o d r tttiesteykes_g_h..7:„.iPtienee , re e w ar ,..Clerkenwell, on the body of Sara late an, inmate of St. James ' s workh ouse, th at ,:uwell• Prom the evidence of several witnesses, it appea red hQ decewd had b een an inmate of the house for nearly three "c e ` e , r 4and. s uffered c onsiderably from di,ease of the lunge on and etrs,o n'etitv, for Wick she made an application to the paroc h i al day last Wbo prescribed opium and other medicines. On Satur- I . ot th ' deceased went out of tha house, being the fi rst t i me jee- Months, and whilst out she purchased two ounces o u . at a druggist's in the neighbourhood, a portion of e t , s teems she had taken, which ultimately caused her death Hd ,there last. The deceased was a woman of very jocular habits, ot cnere was no reason to suppose that she took it with a view to s. , p roa rt e her life. The bottle, with the remains of the paiscn, was whi b Uee tt to the jury, and, in addition to the name of the druggist • atui th e it to the deceased, there were cross-bones, death's head, atai m e ' Fo nd "Poison " in large letters on the label. Decessed W hen she p urc h ased it. that she was in the habit of taking . 111, It 7 7 cla The surgeon said, there was n o d oubt the deceased tit,a'rood fr y rn the effects of opium, taken inadvert ently. The jury sila sai r : l4 a Verdict, That th e d ecease d h a d di e d from taking a large —4 7 Of litudantlee. ' THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 6, 1845. • existence at Singapore.' It is difficult, we conceive, to find two places whose situation is more aisimilar in every respect. Singapore is a place wherd rent Of land istiemartablY mode.` rate; it is the emporium of an important and valuable trade, with a large and Comparatively wealthy population. Hong-Kong. on the other hand,, is already taxed in ground.rents alone higher than any colony in the world; it has no trade at all, and is the •mere place of residence of Government and its officers, with a few British Merchants, and a very scanty and poor Chinese population. •' When Hong-Kong is as able to bear taxation as Singapore, it may, in our humble judgment, be still a question, whether the heavy,grounikrents ought not to exempt the inhabitants from furthir payments; but whatever may eventually be considered ex pedient, we would wish to impress upon the Government our belief that oppressive burdens laid on an infant trade, and on a new colony, situated as Hong_Kong now is, must inevitably be not only unjust to the early settlers, but ultimately fatal to the settlement itself. " We are bound, as merchants, to speak with diffidence on points of law where we find our views at variance with those of the colonial law officers : but we must still adhere to our opinion, and re-assert our conviction, that Ordinance No. 2 is alike uncon stitutional and illegal. " We quite concur with his Excellency in the wisdom of his having refused to levy a small tonnage duty in Hong. Kong. for as most of the business transacted in this harbour consists in-the mere transhipment of goods Pram one vessel to another, we are satisfied that any attempt to enforce such a charge would merely have had the effect of driving the ships to one , of the adjacent anchorages without the limits of the port. " We also fully concur in the sound policy which has exempted wine, beer. and spirits from duty, inasmuch as any revenue which could have been derived from the limited consumption in so small a community could not have been expected to pay the expense of collection. " That the civil, naval, and military servants of Government are subject to the payment of 8 per cent. as an Income-tax in Hong- Kong, from which the merchants are exempt, we submit does not apply to this as a colonial question, for they are equally liable to that tax at other places, and even on the high seas. . . " It remains for us to notice the remarks of his Excellency iLI Council on what Is termed the trade of Hong. Kong. " The reported increase in tonnage we cannot consider any proof of extended trade, for it shows nothing more than the number of ships that have anchored in Hong-Kong Bay on their way to other ports. " All, or nearly all, the cotton ships from India have stopped a few hours at Hong-Kong before proceeding to Canton, but not a single bale of their cargoes has been landed or sold here; and the same remark may generally apply to the ships from England, but it would be as erroneous to infer from the number of inward vessels, that there is an increase of trade, or indeed that there is any trade at all, as to suppose, because all the English tea.laden ships from Canton call here for their dispatches, that Hong-Kong is the centre of the tea trade. " With regard to the report of Mr. Gutzlaff, that ' 120,000 pieces of cotton goods have been taken away by 13 junks this year,' we are not prepared to deny that this officer may have access to sources of information of which we are deprived; but we submit that setae daft' may be entertained of the authenticity of mercantile statements, which appear to have eluded the ob. nervation of the whole mercantile community. We are quite satisfied Mr. Outzlaff must have been convinced that such a trade really existed, but as we cannot find that his Information has been derived from any of the British merchants, we are apprehensive that he has relied on. the reports of the Chinese junk people—a class by no means remarkable for strict adherence to correctness in questions of statistical detail. _ " Supposing, however, the reports to be correct, it by no means follows that such deliveries of cotton cloths can be deemed part of the trade of Hong-Kong, for nothing is of more common occur rence than for the junk-owners to purchase goods in Canton, deliverable outside the port, at Macao, Hong-Kong, or elsewhere; and if this place did not exist, the business would be carried on •t any other convenient anchorage. " Giving, however, the fullest measure of credit, both to Mr. Gutalatr's informants, and the inference that his Excellency in Council appears to deduce from the report, we venture to remark, that if, after four years' occupation of the colony, the only trade which can be found to exist, after apparently the most diligent in quiry, is an export of 120,000 pieces of cloths, in a place pos sessing all the advantages of a free port, so pointedly enumerated in your letter now under reply, there is yet scarcely sufficient business transacted, or likely soon to be transacted, in the colony, as to justify heavy taxation. " Tbe following tabular statement, taken from official returns, will show the position of the question more accurately, assuming (what as abdie stated, we do not think it would be correct to admit) that the 19.0,000 pieces of cotton cloths belong to the trade of this place. _ d lIIPORT-TRADE " Canton, for the year 1844—tonnage, 83,679 tons; value, 3,883,8281. " Shanghai, for the haltyear ending June 30, 1845—tonnage, 6,578 tons; value, 442,7571. " Hong-Kong, half-year ending June 30, 1844—tonnage, 62,264. YRAR's TIMM " 120,000 pieces of cloth, say at 10s., 60,0001. " In oonclusion, while expressing our sense of the courtesy of his Excellency in Council, in furnishing us with the remarks in question on our memorial, we cannot but again lament that the existing Government appears resolved to disregard the deliberate opinions of the whole mercantile community, and sacrifice to a fallacious appearance of present prosperity the just claims of the colonists and the real interests of the settlement. —We have the honour to b?, Sir, your most obedient servants, _ " A. MATHESON, " GEORGE T. BRAINE, Commlttii. GILI3ERT SMITH, C7RAFORD KEER, " Victorl2, Aug. 9.9, 1845." THE GOVERNMENT OF HONG- KONG. The following Important correspondence' is puis!ishs4 in thi Friend-qf• China of ,Aug. 30 :-- - - " His EXCRLLINCY J. F. DAVIS, Esq., Govsanoa OF Horns. KONG, Ste. " Sir,—We have the honour to forward to your Excellency herewith a memorial addressed to the Right Hon. Lord Stanley, her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies; and we beg to request your Excellency will be pleased to have the same for., warded by the mail of the Ist of September. " And we trust that, under the circumstances stated in that memorial, your Excellency will see St to direct the suspension of Ordinance No. 2, pending the receipt of a reply from her-Majesty's Government. " We have the honour to be, Sir, " Your moat obedient humble servants, . . " JARDINE, MATHESON, and Co. " DENT and Co., &c. " Victoria, Aug. 13, 1845." Tint RIGHT How. LORD STARLIT, Raa litantsres PRINCIPAL SICaRTART Or STATE TOR TOE COLONIES, &C. " My Lord,—The period has at length arrived when, as owners of land and property at Hong-Kong, we tan no longer refrain from addressing ourselves direct to her Majesty's Government, in the confident hope that a plain statement of facts will induce her Ma jesty's advisers to sanction a material modification of the system which has hitherto been in operation, occasioning results alike in. jurious to the 'interests of the mercantile community, and the real and essential interests ofthe settlement. " It will scarcely be necessary for us in the first place to submit, that shortly after the island was first ceded, or taken possession of by her Majesty's Plenipotentiary in China, in the early part of 1841, a public sale of land was held, at which it was stipulated, that the ' terms and tenure of all property would hereafter be de. fined by her Majesty's Government.' " But in a letter of her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, dated 17th June, 1841, a copy of which is hereunto annexed. an expectation is held out that the lands would In granted in fee-simple. for one or two years' purchase, at the rates paid at the public sale; or that they should be charged only with a nominal quit-rent if that form of tenure continued to obtain. _ . —......--- " The, suggestion on the part of her Majesty's Plenipotentiary originated in the well.known fact, that the very limited quantity of ground available for building purposes on the prop): ed site of the present town of Victoria, was the occasion of great competi tion, and the eventual payment of a scale of rent which that officer naturally and truly apprehended would, if enforced, be detrimental to. the progress and prosperity of the settlement. " During the time which intervened between the occupation of the inland by her Majesty's Government in March, 1841, and the treaty of Nankin, in June, 1843, a period of upwards of two years, the local Government of Hong-Kong used every endeavour, both by facilities temporarily offered to early occupants of land, and the threat of penalty of forfeiture of their purchasei to all who did not commence building, to induce the British merehants to remove from Macao to the new settlement, and nothing was, up to that date, said or_ done, to induce holders: of laud to' apprehend either that the promtses of her Majestj's Plenipotentiary would not be strictly fulfilled, or that they would be placed in .a more unfavourable situation than parties similarly circumstanced in other British colonies. - "Large sums were consequently expended in the erection of dwellings and warehouses in the new town of Victoria, to an ex.. tent which would have rendered it injurious to all, and ruinous to many, to be compelled to abandon their property; and it was not until the early put of 1843 that it was notified, that her Majesty's Government did not see fit to recognise sales or grants of land that had been made by or under any authority whatsoever, up to the period of the exchange of the ratification of the treaty of Nankin.' But as her Majesty's Government must have been well aware that the colonists had acted with perfect reliance on the good faith and justice of their Government, this order was so far cittalified, that on the 23d of August, 1843,-It was notified : " ' That an inquiry should be instituted into the equitable claims of all holders of land to a confirmation either permanent or tern. porary of their titles, so far as they could be confirmed consistently with a just regard to the interests of society at large.' " In the early part of 4844 we were, for the first time, made acquainted with the terms on which the Crown lands were to be held ; and Sir Henry Pottinger, then Governer of the island, pub.. haled the !Onus of the leases required to be executed. " The conditions of these leases were universally considered so unusual, and so certain in their operation to be ultimately injuri. ous, not only to the holders of land, but to the future welfare ofthe colony, that we were compelled to protest most solemnly against them in a correspondence. with the Governor, dated in March, 1844, from which correspondence we beg to subjoin the following extract : - • - - " ' We may be - allowed to point out to your Excellency that an adherence on the part of Government to the proposed terms of lease would be eventually the means of placing those who first commenced improving their property in . Hong-Kong, and who from the sums already expended cannot withdraw from the occu pation of their buildings without ruinous loss, on most unfavourable terms; compared with others who have the option of resorting to places where land can be bought or rented, on much more mode rate conditions ; and we submit that it can never be the wish or Intention of her Majesty's Government to place the early occupants of land in such a position.' "No redress has, : however, been - granted ; and disregard ing the tuture prosperity of the settlement, in the desire to raise a comparatively large temporary revenue, the local Government has • persisted in forcing unusually hard condi tions on the landholders, who had been led into a large ex. penditure of money, owing- to their faith in the promises under which the land-was originally sold (promises which were at an*rate tacitly acknowledged by the Government, and not repu diated until after the lipse of three years) ; while at the same time it is no exaggeration to state, that had the existing regulations been promulgated before, instead of after, the outlay of their funds, not one British merchant would have been found willing to become a resident in .the colony. . " We have deemed it - necessary and due to ourselves to enter thus . at length into some account of the formation of the colony, and its progress . hitherto, - with the view of showing—first, the nature of the inducements under which -we were led to abandon our residences at Macao and Canton, where both house-rent and taxation are very light ; which we may illustrate by the fact, that the ground.rent alone of most of the eligible sites in Heng.Kong is (without including rent or interest-of money), a heavier charge than all payments, rent inclusive. - required of the tenants of houses in Macao. _ • Se " And, secondly, to prove that the very onerous terms on which we have been compelled to occupy our property in Hong- Kong have been forced on us, not only against our urgent remon strances, as a question of justice and equity, but in opposition to so what we have always considered and represented to be the true interest of the colony. "Sine the enforcement of these lasses - the measures of the ex isting oovesnment of the island have still further aggravated the evils under which we have been suffering, by making, in a place nominally declared to be a free port, every description of com merce and trade a subject of taxation, or source of revenue, or of monopoly, sold to the highest bidders, thUs driving away instead of encouraging trade in an infant settlement; and, lastly, we have now to complain,of the promulgation of an ordinance, which we submit to "be unconstitutional and illegal, empowering Govern ment assessors arbitrarily to value all household property, with the view of raising a new tax ostensibly for the payment of a police force, there being no municipal body of any kind in the colony to determine whether such tax be necessary, or equitably levied and appropriated. " The result of the system actually in operation for the bud two years, commencini with the proceedings in land sales and leases under the administration of the first Governor, and continued by the financial arrangements of his successor, is sufficiently exem• plilied in the present state of the colony; for; owing to the heavy rents and unsatisfactory tenure of property, the continued arbitrary taxation and impediments to trade of all kinds, and the entire want of confidence, as well on the part of the foreign community in China as of the Chinese themselves, as to the establishment of a better course of policy, there is at this moment, atter four years' oc cupation of the Island, scarcely one foreign resident, except Govern• ment officers and those British merchants and traders who com menced building before the enforcement of the leases ; there are no Chinese merchants, or even shopkeeper!, with any pretension to property; there is neither an import or expert trade of any kind; and, as will be seen by the public papers, even now, when many private dwetlings are temporarily occupied by the-civil and.militaty officers of Government, pending the completion of thepublic build- Ings, several houses have been-untenanted for months past, and the value of all property is daily on the decrease. " It is necessary to bear in mind, that the trade of this part of China has long been accustomed to Sow through other chan nels, that the island of Hong-Song has no natural productions, or consumers of imports, beyond the mere wants of the colonists themselves, and is even dependent for its daily supply of food on the main land ; and that a place so circumstanced, especially in a country like China, proverbially averse to sudden change, can only be-expected very gradually to acquire a trade by facilities and encouragement, instead of being subject to ceaseless and heavy taxation, charges from which places sn its vicinity are moreover exempt. We trust, therefore, we shall not be deeded presumptuous in submitting to her Majesty's Government our urgent entreaty that they will be pleased to direct the abolition of the opium farm, auction duties, and other harassing taxation recently imposed, which have already had the effect of deterring many Chinese from 'settling in the place, and driven away several who were already established ; and been, in fact, utterly destructive of our incipient trade. If this be not conceded, many of the European residents will also be compelled to quit a place totally without commerce, but more heavily taxed, in ground-rents alone, than any other part of China, and remove to those ports where the trade is actually earried'on, abandoning properties en which many have expended their whole fortunes. " We further venture to suggest that the system adopted in other colonic. may reasonably be extended to this distant settlement; and that it is hoped Government will be pleased to authorise the formation of a municipal body, vested with the usual power of deciding on the appropriation of the moneys raised for local pur poses. " We cannot, in conclusion, refrain from urging, that such a settlement as Hong.Knng was never actually required by the British merchants ; and that it has become even less so since the opening of the five Chinese ports, where the foreign residents are free from all taxation, and where the rent of land and houses is generally very moderate. " We submit, therefore, that it will be found as inexpedient in principle, as under existing circumstances we consider it would be unjust in practice, to call on the civil part of the community for any large proportion of the expenses of a colony which is held rather as a military and naval station, giving Great Britain the command of these seas, and as the residence of a feW merchants occupied in extending British commerce along the coast of China, and keepit;g up an active correspondence with the rest of the world, than a place which, under any circumstances, can be expected to possess an extensive trade, or afford any considerable revenue to wards the payment of its own expenses.—We have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient and humble servants, " JARDINE, MATHESON, and Co. " DENT and Co. " MACVICAR and Co. " FOX, RAWSON, and Co. " TURNER and Co " LINDSAY and Co. " GIBB, LIVINGSTON, and Co. " JAMIESON, HOW, and Co. " W. and T. GEMMELL and Co. " FLETCHER and Co. (Per pro.) " MUKROW and Co " CHARLES W. MURRAY. " R. OSWALD and Co. " THOMAS RIPLEY and Co. " DIROM, GRAY, and Co. " HOLLIDAY WISE, and Co. " ROBERT STRACIIAN. " JOHN CARR. " HUGHESDOS and Co. " GEORGE R. BA RTON, M.D. " N. DUUS. " RUED, LANGE. and Co. " JOHN CAIRNS. • " HENRY HOU; ATE. " M. FORD and Co. " L. JUST, Sen. " L. JUST, Jur. " D. LAPRAIK. " J. D. PO it FEE. " GEORGE DUDDELL. " J. PALMER. "CHARLES W. BOWRA. "SAMUEL JOHN COOKE. " Victoria, August 13, 1845." " SALE OF LANDS ON 110NO.ILONO I3LLND. " Macao, June 7, 1841. " Gentlemen, —Having had under my consideration the particu lars of the first sales of lots in Hong-Kong on the 14th inst., :I am of opigion that I shall be consulting the beet interestsof the esti- bli.bment in making immediate public declaration of my purpose to move her Majesty's Government either to pass the lands in fee simple-for one or two :years' Ipurehltre at- the tale rates, or to charge them in future with no more than a nominal quit-rent, if that tenure cOntinUes - to obtain. " " My own object respecting the disposal of lands pending the pleasure of her Majesty's Government was to secure to firms and all other persons (British or foreigners) having permanent interests in the country, sufficient space for their necessities, at moderate rates, with as little competition as might enable parties to accommodate themselves according to their respective wants ; I feel usured, upon attentive reflection, that steady adherence to this rule will be found 'most conducive to the well understood interests of the establish ment, and to the fair claims of persons Upon the spot; parties falling within the description I have specified, not yet supplied with lots, will soon be in a situation to accommodate themselves. " May I request you, gentlemen, to circulate this letter ? " I have the honour to be, " Your most obedient humble servant, "CHARLES ELLIOT, " Chief Superintendent, charged with theiGovernment of Hong. Kong. " To Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., ' and Dent and Co." "To MESIRS. JARDINE, MATHESON, AND CO., MINT AND Co , MACYICAR AND.Co., &D. " Colonial-of f ice, Victoria, Hong-Kong, Aug. 25. " Gentlemen,--I am directed by his Ezeellency the Governor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 23d inst., of your letter dated the 13th, inclosing a memorial to Lord Stanley, and to inform you that the said memorial shall be duly forwarded to hip Lordship, ac cording to your wish. " In the perusal of this paper several observations have occurred to the Governor and Council, which they consider the present a convenient occasion slightly to notice. _ _ His Excellency's predecessor, Sir Henry Pottinger, in con sequence of complaints against the high land rents, similar to those urged in the present address to Lord Stanley, appointed a board of officers to value the lots disposed of at the early sales, with the provision, that should any individual deem his lot over. valued by the board, he should be at liberty to hold it at the ave. rage rate at which similarly situated lots might be disposed of at the approaching public sale. This sale took place not long after wards. The minimum price affixed to the lots was the same as that placed on similar lots previously granted; and the result was, that while the upset price of the lands amounted to 1,3001., they were sold by auction for a rental of 0,0001., proving that the former rates had not been unfair. " The lots disposed of at the latest sales, with the full know ledge of the terms of existing leases, have continued to average as high as at the preceding ones. Lord Stanley remarks in a recent dispatch, that 'it would be difficult, as Sir Henry Pottinger has observed, to apply any better test of value than sale in a fair and open market' " With all the alleged discouragement. and disadvantages, the building of substantial private houses has continued uninterrupted until the present year deprived Macao of its remaining English merchants. If rents are now reduced to nothing at that place, this must arise chiefly from its desertion, as at Canton the rents and prices at that principal seat of the Chinese trade are noto riously exorbitant,• and it is impossible to conjecture what they would have been, but for the outlet and the advantages afforded to the merchants Of warehousing their goods in a British colony. "The - memorial states. that ' in a place nominally declared to be a free port, every description of commerce or trade is a subject of taxation or source of revenue.' The answer to this is the well known fact, that not a single customs duty is levied on the im. pert or export of a single article of commerce or consumption— no package is inspected by a Government officer in either landing or shipping—no custom-house whatever is in existence; and, although advised by her Majesty's Government to levy a small tonnage duty to pay the harbour expenses, his Excellency the Governor has disobeyed his instructions rather than interfere with the freedom of the port by imposing even 6d. a ton, when the harbour dues at the five ports and at Macao are about 3s. " No import duty whatever has yet been levied on even wines or spirits•—a productive source of revenue in other colonies. It would be difficult to show that any direct tax whatever (unless land rent be so termed) has been paid by the English portion of the community. While an income-tax of 3 per cent, is paid by the civil, military, and naval officers of the Government, in common with their fellow-subjects in England, nothing of the kind is known to the richest colonist of Hong Kong. It seems unfair and liar, tial, after the resources of the mother country have been profusely • expended in protecting thil' persons, *and extending the markets, of its mercantile subjects hi China, that the greater part of the future civil expenses of this colony should fall on the British pub lic, as an exception to most other colonies. " The alleged absence of progress in the trade and population of Hong-Kong can only be judged of by an appeal to facts.. The har bour-master's official return shows that the European tonnage of the half.year ending the 30th of June last was 62,264, while in the previous corresponding half.year It was only 49,371. It has been admitted even by those opposed to the Government, that a growing native trade in junks has commenced in,spite of the 13th article of the supplementsiy treaty. Mr. Cluttlaff reports that 120,000 pieces of cotton goods have been taken away by 1$ junks in this year. • "It is little more than a twelvemonth since life and property were constantly endangered by the nocturnal attacks of banditti, and 12,000 rupees of Government money carried off by force, the soldiers who guarded it ►eing murdered.. A strong and effective police, and the rigorous execution of the laws, have put an end to thin, and the consequences are seen in the increased numbers and respectability of the Chinese population. The rapid rise of good native shops in different parts of the town is visible to all, and at the same time only one of the proofs which the Government pos sesses of an increase and improvement which mere allegations can not unsubstantlate. " A rent of just 1,0001. per annum is at present paid for an In different house, which did not cost double that sum in building, The daily and increasing growth of dwellings on all sides, each sur. passing the other in accommodation, must certainly tend to depre ciate such property as this. It is much better that it should, being the natural result of that law by which supply increases with de mend, and , price diminishes with supply, until all has reached a more permanent level. " With regard to the opium and the smaller licensed farms, which (with the exception of Crown rents) form at present the chief sources of revenue, these have been strictly adopted in their details from Singapore—a place generally quoted as a model of free-trade prosperity. " His Excellency the Governor and the Legislative Council will be happy to carry out any alteration which her Majesty's Govern ment may please to prescribe, as to the mode of levying the police rate. As the present ordinance was drawn up with the assistance and advice of the colonial law-officers, it ; may be presumed to be sufficiently correct as a mere legal measure. In reply to the ob jection, that Government assessors are empowered arbitrarily to value all household property, it must not be forgotten that there is an appeal open to these who deem themselves over-rated. The moderation of theassessment (whatever the ,node may be) is best proved by the deduction of 40 per cent. from the gross annual value. In consideration of the exorbitant rents at present paid for houses. The same is to be inferred from the total estimated collection of not more than one-third of the actual expense of the police force— s body whose efficiency has been generally admitted, and whose protection few. are unwilling to enjoy. " It may be presunied, that if the colonial community were to be charged with the management of the pence, it would be re• quired to provide for its entire•outlay, and in this manner the Go. vernment would have both less trouble and less expense. _ .....—_. " His Excellency the Governor and the Executive Council, for the reasons above stated at length, and because the preparatory measures have already •taken much time, see objections to sus pending Ordinance No. 2; and they therefore regret that in this respect it out of their power to meet the wishes of the sub scribers to the memorial: • 0 I have the honour to be,ic., " CAINE,, Officiating Colonial Secretary." " Tag HoN. MAJOR W. CAIN', 011PFICIATINQ, ef:ILONIAL TA RY. " Sir,—We are directed by the parties who signed the memorial forwarded through his Excellency the Governor on the lath inst., to transmit the following reply to the remarks contained in your letter of the 25th inst. " The reasoning by which it is attempted to show that the high rents in Hong-Kong have bees voluntarily paid, we conceive t• be entirely fallacious. The facts connected with the early sales of land have been already adverted to in the memorial. We may, however, observe, in further explanation, that in June, 1841, when , the first sale was held, 100 lots having water frontage, and 100 suburban lots were advertised for sale; but, owing to the very unfortunate selection of the site of the slew town—a matter in which the merchants had no voice—sufficient available ground could be found :o admit of only fifty lots being put up, and great competition was the natural consequence. As no money was paid, or penalty, beyond forfeiture of the land, incurred by non-comple tion of the purchase, it is not a matter of surprise that when a number of lets, insufficient for one-third of the intended buyers, were brought to sale, the biddings should have been unsually high ; but as her Majesty's Plenipotentiary found that these nominally enormous rents were deterring parties front building, he considered it expedient to give the assurance contained in his letter annexed to our memorial. " Neither under Captain Elliot's administration, nor under that of his successor (Sir Henry Pottinger), were any rents at first claimed, or leases published ; and it was only after the holders •f land had been induced, by a variety of promises and encourage ment to expend large sums of money in buildings, that it was found the Government intended to adhere to the scale of rent first paid, and to repudiate Captain Elliot's other engagements. " In the later sales held in the time of Sir Henry Pottinger, still more limited quantities of eligible land—we allude more par ticularly to water frontage, a situation almost indispensable for a mercantile house—were brought forward ; and as at that time it was well known the greater number of the British merchants had made arrangements, rendering their removal to Hong. Kong una voidable, it is not surprising that the false standard originally esta blished should have continued to obtain. " But, of the purchases made at that sale, you, Sir, must be well aware that many of the lots remain unoccupied, and are likely to continue so, as the Government have, we believe, no security under which they can enforce the completion of the agreements. " When the memorialists stated, that the ground.rent alone in Hong-Kong exceeds the house-rent, and all charges attendant on the occupation of a residence in Macao or Canton, they did not allude to the existing rates paid in Macao, which are unusually low, but to what were generally paid three and four years ago, prior to their removal to Hong-Kong, " If the rent of houses in Canton, since the destruction of half the foreign factories by fire,- has temporarily been higher than it was prior to' that event, the circumstance is easily ex plained by the statement, that Sir Henry Pottinger, with the view, it is presumed (indeed, it was at one time openly avowed), of forcing the British merchants to Hong-Kong, studiously neglected to provide by treaty for any extension of the ground allotted to the foreign community in Canton, or indeed for adequate facilities being afforded to build on the space they formerly occupied. Many months were, indeed, allowed to elapse after the retirement of Sir Henry Pottinger, before any steps were taken by his suc cessor to remedy this grave evil ; and even at this moment her Majesty's Consul is residing in a hong merchant's warehouse in Canton. " There cannot be a stronger proof that the high rents and generally unsatisfactory state of the colony deter others from set. fling here, than the fact, that the Americans and all other foreigners remain in Canton and Macao, notwithstanding all the boasted advantages of Hong-Kong as a free port. '• That a particular house was under very peculiar circumstances rented for 1,0001, a year, may be very true, and that in a place where for three years the strange anomaly appeared of a Govern ment offering every inducement to the merchants to commence building, but delaying evon the commencement of barracks for their officers to an extent that rendered it at one time a question whether they should not be billeted on the public, is equally the fact ; but that when Government buildings sufficient to accommo. date their establishment are finished, the rent of houses will be sufficient to pay an interest on the money expended on them, is an expectation which the most sanguine proprietors cannot entertain, while the present system continues in force. " Ile substantial buildings to which your letter• refers were most or all of them commenced many months, and some even two years since; but, although Hong• Kong has been nearly four years in existence, the commencement of new houses of any magnitude can nowhere be seen—a state of matters, we believe, without a parallel in the history of the British colonies. " While the place continues the seat of Government and the head-quarters of steam communication, many English mercantile houses may find it necessary to keep up establishrneats here, and a small Chinese population will remain with them ; but when the present Government and other buildings, long since commenced, are finished, a large proportion of the present inhabitants must emi grate from a place where, from the absence of trade, they can ha►e no occupation ; while the continuance of oppressive taxation will be but too certain to prevent an increase of property or popu lation of any kind. " We are unable to admit the force of the remarks of his Ex cellency in Council, by which it is endeavoured to justify the opium and other, licensed Isrlra, beciSse the sane system is in HONG-KONG. The British merchants at Hong-Kong have been com plaining very bitterly of the sacrifice of their interests by the Government., and have memorialized Lord Stanley in the " confident hope" of getting redress for their grievances. The parties to the memorial are somewhat sanguine to ex -pect relief from the Colonial Secretary on a plain statement of facts being laid before him; and as the local authorities have already discountenanced the application of the mer chants, they are not likely to excite the sympathy of the Home Government. The Colonial-office appears to have a facility of making itself obnoxious to those whose interests are intrusted to its care, and it almost habitually supports the measures and the men that are most distasteful to the colonists. The grievances under which the merchants of llong-Kong are labouring arise chiefly from a breach of faith, by which they. _have been required to pay a comparatively high price. for land, after an expectation of obtaining it at a very moderate rate bad been distinctly held out to them. When the island of Hong- Kong was first taken possession of by Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary in China everything was done to induce the British merchants to remove from Macao to the new settlement. Having got them there, it is alleged that nothing has been done to pro mote their interests ; and the result is, that the merchants are complaining of being subjected to very heavy burdens in a place they cannot conveniently quit, on account of the out lay they have incurred, and where it will not be profitable to remain unless something is done to give life and vigour th the already languishing trade of the new settlement. It is to very little purpose that colonial possessions are acquired if the policy of the Government cripples their facilities for trade, the peaceful and mutually advantageous interests of which are the only wise and legitimate objects of distant acquisitions. The general sense of this country in the present day repudiates the idea of conquest for its own sake, and the termination of the war with the Chinese was not valued as a victory over that people, but as the opening of a new and important channel for English trade to flow into. This was the sole ground of congratulation when it was agreed that there should be a British settlement in China; but it is evident from the com plaints of the merchants of Hong-Kong that the hopes of all. parties have not been realised. The grievances to which the memorialists have called the attention of Lord Stanley are numerous, but the hard terms forced by the local Government on the landowners may be regarded as the chief cause of the diseontentent pre vailing in the. settlement. It is clear from the cor respondence, which we give at length elsewhere, that a pro mise was held out officially in 1841, that lands would be granted in fee simple for one or two years' purchase, or that they should be charged only with a nominal quit-rent ; but in 1843 it was notified that " Her Majesty's Government did not see fit to recognize sales or grants of lands that had been made by any authority whatsoever up to th period of the exchange of the ratification of the treaty of Nankin." This repudiation of the former acts of "any authorit7 whatso ever " may have been convenient to the existing Executive. but must have been very injurious to those who, relying on the promise of the authority for the time being, had taken their measures accordingly. It is allowable enough to change a general system, but to fly off from a particular promise which, when acted upon by one of the parties should be as binding a s a contract, is utterly inex cusable. The only answer that is given on the part of the local Government to this accusation of a breach of faith is, that the lots when sold fetched very high prices, and that "it would be difficult to apply any better test of value than sale in a fair and open market." If it were a mere question of value, this answer would be fallacious ; for we need only instance the very recent example of the railway mania to prove that a thing is not always worth what people are sometimes willing to give for it. The "stagging" system appears to have been oper a ting in the distribution of land at Hong-Kong as well as in the allotment of shares at home, and the allegation that the price offered for an article is a test of its value receives from the merchants in China an answer that would apply almost equally well to some recent cases at the Stock-Exchange : " We may, however, observe, in further explanation, that in June 1841, when the first sale was held, 100 lots having water frontage And 100 suburban lots were advertised for sale; but, owing to the very unfortunate selection of the site of the new town—a matter in which the merchants had no voice—sufficient available ground could be found to admit of only 50 lots being put up, and great competition was the natural consequence. As no money was paid, or penalty beyond forfeiture of the land incurred by non-completion of the purchase, it is not a hatter of surprise that when a num ber of lots, insufficient for one-third of the intending buyers, were brought to sale, the biddings should have been unusually high." The Government advertise more lots than they have to Sell; just as the directors of a bubble company advertise for ditstri;• bution more shares than they mean to issue and the result, in both cases, is an eagerness to make extravagant offers, and undertake heavy liabilities , for the sake of a preference. But the premium is only temporary, for the value is forced and fictitious—a case precisely in point to that of the land at Hong-Kong, which was so eagerly sought after, and subse quently unpaid for by those who fiad agreed to purchase it. The merchants of Hong-Kong remind the Government of that fact in the following passage of their letter to the offici ating Colonial Secretary : " But of the purchases Made at that sale, you. Sir, must be well aware that many of the lots remain unoccupied, and are likely to continue so, as the Government have, we believe, no security under which they can enforce the completion of the agreements." The settlement of Hong-Kong is evidently a failure as far as trade is concerned, and the place seems only to be of, im portance as a military and naval station. The Chinese po pulation is very scanty, and is likely to be rendered more so, unless certain harassing taxes are removed, which it is the object of the memorial of the merchants to protest against The Americans and other foreigner, remain at Macao, and Canton rather than resort to the much-vaunted "free settle ment" of Hong-Kong, where the m erc h an t s - ar e lik e ly to find themselves soon with only each other to traffic with. 'The establishments in which they have embarked their ca pital are too valuable to abandon, and yet are not a source of profit commensurate with the outlay incurred. Their appeal to the Government at home is their only chance, however desperate, o f changing Ho ng -K ong f rom a mere military station, as it now is, into a thriving settlement, as it might and ought to be.— Times. - FOREIGN Msyys.—The folloming are the postal arrangements for the transm issio n of foreign mails :—" General Post-office, St. Martin's-le Grand.—The next mails for Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, the lonian Islands, Egypt, India, &c., via South ampton, will be dispatched hence on the morning of the 20th inst. The next mails for the Mediterranean, Egypt, Ceylon, India, and China, via Marseilles, will be dispatched hence on the evening- of the 7th Inst. ALARMING Cowstort .—The brig Luvius, Captain Cox, from Cardiff for Cork, in running up the harbour at six o'clock last night, was run down by the steam ship Sirius, and sunk in five minutos afterwards. The whole of this crew were saved by the steamer.-I,4rrpool ,Standard. TRIAL BY JURY. .F.I.FTY-F,IRST,ANNIIIIERSARY DINNER TO COMME MORATE THE ACQUITTAL 'OF HORNE TOOKE AND _HARDY. ,. 1 Yesterday about one hundred gentle Men assembled atalin net at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the Strand, to com memorate the fifty-first anniversary of the acquittal of Ilorne Tooke and Hardy. Dr. Bowring, M.P., presided. When the cloth was removed, The CHAIRMAN proposed, as the first toast, " The Sove reignty of the People." In doing so,. lie said he proposed that toast first. because the multitude were • not made for the monarchs, but the monarchs for the multitude. 'ln proposing the health of " The Queen," he expressed a hope -that the Sovereign who was placed at the summit of the Government of this great empire would cause, her reign to be marked by. a desire to consult the happiness of the com munity over which she ruled. The CHAIRMAN said the next toast was " Trial by Jury." —(Cheers.) He would observe, in offering this toast to tte assembly, that all experience had taught mankind that very often great events arose out of discouraging circumstances; and the history of man could point to as many results of great importance arising from light causes, as could the his tory of philosophy for its most valuable discoveries.—(Hear, hear.) What the discovery of attraction and gravitation was in the world of matter, the importance of trial by jury was in the world of mind.—(Hear, hear.) It was the victory of political philosophy that gained , for the people of this country that glorious pri vilege which they knew so well how to value; and which they would never surreuder.—(Cheers.) The great institution of trial by jury was an invaluable boon to the people, and was so regarded by the enlightened portion of the community.—(Hear.) It was that battering-ram which protected individuals against tyrannical penal laws, and which eventually broke them down.—(Cheers.) With these observations, he begged to give them the inviolable privilege of " Trial by Jury."—Drank with all the honours. Time CHAIRMAN, in proposir ' s the next toast, said he had now come to the great toast of the day, the object of which was to bring back their recollections to bear upon the me mory of those great and immortal men who, in the dark days of danger and persecution, had braved the storm, and were prepared to suffer all the consequences of penal enactments in the great cause of public liberty.—(Cheers.) Removed as those whom he now saw around him were from the times in which those illustrious men lived, they could scarcely appre ciate the many hardships, vexations, and persecutions they underwent in their efforts to assert a great principle.—(Hear, hear.) But they-endored all those because they were sup-. ported by public opinion's and. with that, to baci them they were prepared even to " walk through the valley of the shadow of death," 'rather than abandon the position they had taken.--(Cheers.) But the present age was beginning to do them justice ; the future would certainly do so, because time ever tame . to the aid of the grateful recollection of the virtuous and patriotic.—(Cheers.) In the present day there was no doubt en. the public mind as to the positions which Sydney and Hampden should occupy in the estimation of their country. (Hear, hear.) Inquiries had been made as to - Whether - 'Cromwell should have a statue ; but be the result • of that • what it might, no man could deny a statue to John Milton, for he was enshrined in the hearts of the people, and regarded as deserving of a place amongst the best of men, both by Parliament and by people. -,(ClieerS.) On the death of John Milton, a certain writer said that the fame of that great man had gone out like the snuff of a candle, and left no agreeable odour after it; but he (the Chairman) begged to say, that so far from the result verifying that assertion, that "candle" had illuminated the whole world, and the memory of it was held as sacred as that of a consecrated saint. He (the Chairman) had made' those observations in order to show that the people of this country were not slow to consecrate the memory of the great who had passed away, and they looked with a deep and fervid intent upon those who still lived, and who had been associated with them.—(Hear, heir.) There were some few in that room who still well remembered the memorable day they had thisevening met to commemorate, and who had taken a part in the proceedings then going forward ; and it would be the boast and the privilege of the youngest now in this room, to be able to declare, at a future day,.that though they had not the good fortune to live in the times of Hooke and -Hardy, and those other illustrious men, they at least could say those who had mingled with them were not unknown to them, and that they hung with delight upon the accounts they had heard of the manner in which these great men bore up against adversity, had struggled with the waters which were about to overwhelm them, and had arisen from the ordeal invigorated and resolute.—(Cheers.) Such lie trusted would be the conduct of the young men of the pre sent day at any moment when the liberties of the country should be imperilled, or tyrannical laws be attempted to be enforced.—(Loud cheers.) Mr. PARRY was called upon to speak to the next toast, which was " The memory of the three juries who, in 1797, accquitted Hardy, Tooke, and Thelwell on a charge of high treason, and of Erskine and Gibbs, the able and gratuitous counsel of the accused." In rising to propose the toast, he said he felt honoured by having been chosen for the performance of so agreeable a duty. He had only been attending those meet ings for a few years, but he felt convinced that a more im portant public duty he could not discharge, and he also felt gratified for the manner in which he bad always been received at them by those who now surrounded him.—(Hear, hear.) The toast entrusted to him to propose was one which might easily have fallen to the lot of some one more competent to do justice to its merits than lie was. There might be some in that room to-night who still preserved a vivid recollection of all the painful circumstances attending those extraordinary trials—who had witnessed the anxious attention of those three remarkable juries while they were addressed in the powerful and forcible eloquence of the Attorney-General of that day, who called the accused " those great State criminals."—(Hear hear.) The excitement in separable from all the circumstances attending these trials—the crowded and . concerned audience by which the juries and the prisoners were surrounded—the excitement arising from the naturally intense anxiety that existed in the public mind to know what fate awaited men who were on trial for their lives—the excitement of the able counsel who defended the prisoners, and who denounced, as odious and infamous, that law which would jeopardise the lives of men by what was called " constructive treason"—(Cheers) —instead of having laws so plain that no man could mistake, and all might shun the breach of--(Cheers)—that state of excitement which even amongst the jury was so strong, that, when the foreman came into Court to return his verdict, he could scarce articulate it, and when he had done so, fainted away—an unprecedented circumstance—but thereby stamped that verdict as the result of a state of insecurity to the liber ties of the people the memory of which should never die away—(Cheers)—the excitement attendant upon the fact that Erskine and Gibbs, the prisoners' counsel, had de fended them gratuitously, as if to say there never was a time ' when a lawyer could do anything for nothing.—(Laughter.) It was not even all these circumstances combined that made him look back with pleasure to the result of these trials, but it was the additional one, namely, the assertion of that great and eternal principle for which those men had risked all to uphold.—(Cheers.) Men of the present day were so much absorbed by other matters, and had given themselves so little trouble about this, that one would almost imagine the people lived under the very best form of 'government it was possible to have—(Laughter)—and he would venture to as sert that even the present Government • had not•yet deemed the consideration of this great principle of importance.— , (Cheers.) "However, he would beg to remind this meeting that if those assemblies were to be of any real value, they should not only express their approbation of the men whose memories they had met to commemorate, but they should also never lose sight of the necessity for upholding the principle those men fought for. Yes, there would be no use in their meeting there unless they were resolved to folio* up the assertion of that principle, and to adopt the example of those great men who had fought for it so bravely, even unto the very threshold of martyrdoths4Loud cheers: ) The toast was then put from the chair, and hailed with all the honours and protracted applause. Mr. W. J. Fox was called upon to propose the next toast. He said he had been anticipated in a great deal he had intended to say by Mr. Parry, in his very able speech. He concurred with him that if they meant to carry out their object, they should not,only do honour to the men, but to the principle.—(Hear, hear.) The men were bound up with the principle; and though the men whose memory they had met that night to honour were no longer living, yet there were young men rising up around them who, like Mr. Parry, stood as it were in the place of those who were gone, and had the same duty to perform.—(Hear, heat.) He (Mr. Fox) was not present at those trials during that event ful period, but he remembered it well. He was living at Norwich at the time, and the news of the acquittal arrived in that town on the day after it was made known in Lou don. It was announced in one of the churches while a clergy man was in the act of delivering a discourse; and it was hailed by a psalm of thanksgiving, that could not have been 'surpassed in the loftiest cathedral, or by the grandest aspi rations of consecrated eloquence.—(Cheers.) He remem bered well that at that time men who, in their own locality, were esteemed good and virtuous men, were regarded as men of very different character at the seat of Government— as if the change of place changed their character; and they were dragged from their homes and their. beds without being permitted to put on their shces, as if there might be some• thing treasonable even in contact with those articles.— (Laughter.) Tooke, and those who were tried with him, were very near being hanged for saying that the Govern ment was corrupt; and yet, in a little time after, the same bady 'reformed themselves, and in a way, too, that most corrupt bodies effect reformation.—(Cheers, and laughter.) The speaker next alluded to the discussions that had ap peared-in the public prints about certain statues which were to be placed in the new Houses of Parliament; but he trusted that the time was coming when the people would have a Parliament that would not be held in any palace in which there should not be a statue erected to honest Tom Hardy.—(Loud cheers.) He next adverted to aspeech re ported of Lord John Russell upon his receiving the liberty of ' Edinburgh, and commented in a very humorous strain ' upon his Lordship's expressions, to the effect that he was anxious to give the people extensive immunities, bat that lie wished to do it " constitutionally ;" but he (Mr. F.) con tended that no extension of the people's privileges would be worth having while they were still compelled to submit to ecclesiastical tyranny, or be servile to a monarchy. He concluded by proposing the toast, " Radical reform of all abuses, and a fair representation of • the people of the British empire in Parliament,": which was drank with loud applause. Mr. TAYLOR proposed the " Memory of the martyrs who suffered in Scotland in 1794," which was drunk in solemn silence, and which was followed by .several other toasts, and the company separated, after having protracted their sitting to a late hour, and spent a very agreeable evening. DUTCH PAPERS. AMSTERHAH, NOv. I.—We are happy to announce that the herring fishery, which was at first very unfavourable, is now so :preduCtiVsi that there is no record of so many arrivals at ScheVeiatigeh, in the month of October, as this year. No fewer than: eleVen vessels have arrived since the 24th of October, bringing, in all, 647,000 herrings. THE HAGUE, Nov. 3.—Among the many measures adopted b' the Government to procure from abroad a supply of pro visions to make up the deficiency in our crops, especially potatoes, is the following :—" His Excellency the Minister of the Colonies informs the merchants that, by. the King's authority, orders have been given to the Governor-General of our East India possessions to encourage, by all possible means, the exportation of rice to the mother country, and to take care that during the year 1846 Dutch ships, the half of whose cargoes, at the least, consists of rice to be imported into the Netherlands, shall be admitted free into all the little ports of Java, to exempt them-Ist, from the payment of export duties on rice, or to cause it to be returned to them if they have already paid it; 2d, from the import duty on the sacks for the rice ; and, 3d, from the anchorage, convoy, and harbour dues. The captains of ships are only bound to give security to the amount of their dues in order .to insure the importation in the Netherlands. —Dutch Papers, Nov. 4. TiCEHURsT.--TliE SEED -TIME S &C.-11011..pleking is now over; and the farmers a r e ver y busy in stripping and poles, carrying the bines off the ga rd ens, t h rash . g, and sowing wheat, for which op era ti ons t h e s i n t a g c , k r i l n o g u g t h h weather is highly auspicious. Where potato digging is going on, but very few sound bulbs are obtained; and are selling at Bd. and 10d. per gallon in this locality. So scanty is the supply, we are at a loss to tell from whence our seed potatoes are to come. Turnips are ls. Gcl. per bushel; flour is la. 54. ver . gallon.—Dorer Chronicle, • EMILE IL, POl DES CHIENS. We have to armour , --ce .site arrival in this country of an illustrious personage. —his Majesty Emile 11., King of the irlogs.", Bit Majest, who is accompanied by his tutor, M. ,Wallens, _after tS T _.viisg_received the homage of the principal cities or Eiir - Oye, has, arrived - in' Lond on ; lift 'the piirpp 3 e - b1 - procuring the 'recognition of his title by the British people.. And who and what is Emile H. ? the reader may demand. Emile 11. is a shepherd's dog, who, by his woudetful performances . in. Le • Chien.. des Pyrenees, at the Cirque Olympique,. -Paris, . has , been drawing crowded &uses for some 50 nights during the last spring, and who, on the clos ing of the Cirque Olympique at the commencement of the sum , suer, was engaged at the 'Theatre des Vasietes,and there, in the Chien du Contrabandier Was the , psincipal support of -the ,theatre during. the, greater part of the summer. His tutor, M. Wallens, has long been celebrated as the most accomplished instructor of the canine race. Emile 1., the predecessor of the present , Emile, was one of the most wonderful of European dogs, but Emile IL surpasses him: in docility and accomplishments. We have had the pleasure of seeing Emile. 11., and certainly he is the most talented of artists. The converse of the snot -of Talleyrand, with regard. to the -elder branch of the Bourbons, may be applied to Emile. "Il a tont appris mais it n'a rien oublid." No need of any prompter with Emile. - He knows his part perfectly,;' and he thoroughly eaters into the spirit.of it. He has studied it—he. t a reasoned on it he shows - his thoughts and his actions, and the expressions of his features—he is a perfect master of pantomime. He does all but speak ; but, though he cannot speak, he can read and write, and play at cards, and lay out. a. table more adroitly than any waiter. In fact, the difficulty is to say what Emile cannot do. These are accomplishments which cannot fail to gain for Emile the favour of the public; but Emile has higher claims on our gratitude, he has more than once saved human life, and, in 1835, the . Belgian .Government rewarded with a medal of honour his instructor, M. Wallens, for having, by the aid of Emile, saved the life of a person who bad fallen into the river Escaut, at Ghent. Like all true geniuses, Emile is the most modest and kind-hearted of mortals—to the learning of the sage, he adds. the simplicity and playfulness of thein fant. The petted of society, he is not its spoiled child; for, whatever may have been the ease in by-gone years. Emile has not now the remotest approach to puppyistn about him. He is, indeed, Le Rol des Chiens. . THE CITY OF 'EDINBURGH AND LORD JOHN RUSSELL. EDINIVION, MONDAY.-The Lord' Provost, magistrates, ar:'. council of this city having, at their meeting on Thurada last, unanimously resolved-to confer the freedom of the city on Lord John Russell, who, with his lady, is at present on a private visit here, the ceremony of presentation took place to-day in the Music-hall, 'George-street (the largest public building in the town), the Council Chamber- being. considered too small to accommodate the number of inhabitants who were understood to be anxious to be present on the occasion. The hall was crowded, long beffire the hour announced for the ceremony, with a large and respectable audience, composed of men of various shades of politics, and in cluding Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Sir James Gibson Craig, William Gibson Craig, Esq., M.P., Andrew Rutherford; E 9., M.P., Minim Murray, Esq., of Henderland, Professor Trail, A. S. Logan, Esq., advocate, *c. Itc. The Lord Provost, magic. tratee, and council were attired in their robes of office. Precisely at one o'clock Lord John Russell entered the hall, accompanied by Lord and .Lady Minto, and was received with repeated rounds of applause. . The Loan Pacseoso the. rose and - -said :. , -111 the name of the town council and of the citizens of, Edinburgh I have now the , honour of presenting your Lordship with the freedom of our city. The burgesses of Edinburgh have an honest pride in their roll of citisenship, emblasonod with names illustrious in rank, re, nowned its arts and arms, and distinguished in the various walks of science and literature, and we are highly gratified in being now. privileged to Inscribe another honoured name in our burghal re-, cords.---(Great applause.) To you, my Lord, who Nave already reached the most elevated height to which the subjects of a free Government may aspire, this distinction can add nothing. It is, however, the highest mark of approbation we hare to bestow ; but humble as it is, we trust it will not be without its value in your eyes, as being the symbol which conveys to your Lordship the sentiments of gratitude and esteem with which you and your family are regarded by the clpital of Scotland. When I inform your Lordship that the town council, as representing the community, is composed of men of every shade of political opinion, and that they have unanimously agreed to present you with this mark of their respect, it may be held as sufficient evidence that the merit which cal 's forth such unanimity of approbation is of a far higher order than that which is elicited by mere political par tizanship. In you, my Lord, we recognise the worthy son of a race of patriots, who have defended and watched over and fos. tered the glorious plant of British liberty, and watered it with their blood.—(Great applause.) •In you we have discerned the high-toned principles of honour and virtue; from your. earliest career we have been delighted to observe your aspirations after the welfare of your native land, and the constancy with which you have elevated your great talents and untiring energies to diffuse light, and liberty, and happiness, not only among your countrymen, but through the whole family of man._(Loud cheers.) To at. tempt to enumerate these efforts, even if I were competent, would • occupy more time than would be commensurate, and might tempt me to trench on debateable ground but surely it would hardly be justifiable'to pass over your services In getting wiped from the statute-book that blot which made the most sacred ordinance of Christianity a passport to office.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") Presbyterian Scotland, especially, owes you a debt of gra .titude for deliverance from the yoke of the test and corporation laws.—(Loud cheers.) 1 must likewise advert to your great exer tions In another hard-fought field. From the commencement of youi public Mile, we rejoiced to observe you in the foremost ranks of those who struggled for the abolition of the accursed slave trade, and it is the glory of that cabinet of which your Lordship was a dis. tinguithed member that Great.-Britain is no longer chargeable with that &West injustice. In you, the friend of education and morality, have we found a steady friend and able advocate both in your pri -vate and public capacity. We have likewise to acknowledge our obligations to you for the removal of many restrictions on trade, and for additional facilities to the commerce of the country. I may es. pedal:, refer to the abolition of the East India monopoly, and • the opening of the • •trade with China. I cannot enter upon that great measure of Parliamentary reform, with which your ' name must ever be associated in the history of England ; but at a meeting of the Town Council in your presence, it would be unpardonable were we -not to proffbr our thanks for the boon conferred upon.the citizens of this and the other burghs, by which they have now the privi. lege of electing froin their own number those in whom they eats 'onside the management of their municipal affairs.—(Cheers.) Valuable as are the services you have rendered to you'r country— exalted ae is the station in which you have been placed by Provi dence-great as are the talents with which you have been endowed it is not so much for these that we now testify our admiration, as for the sterling and uncompromising honesty with which you have pursued your onward course in promoting what you believe to be for the best interests of your country, although that course should weaken your own position and strengthen that of your opponents.— (Applause.) In conclusion, if it is the mind that constitutes the mast, allow me to claim for our city some share its Lord John Rust. sell, inasmuch as our university had the honour of contributing from its library and philosophic stores to the formation of his en. lightened mind. This, my Lord, is the last act of the existing Town Council ; and surely it could not conclude its labours more gracefully than by testifying gratitude to the statesman Whose Cabinet procured for them • the privileges they now enjoy. My Lord, in presenting you with 'the freedom of our city, I address you as the youngest :burgess of Edinburgh. Long may you be preserved to grace our ancient burgh, and long may you live In the - heart. of your countrymen.—(Applause.) Lord Joist RUSSELL then rose, and was received with enthusi. attic applause. When the cheers had subsided, he said,—My Lord, I beg to return my most grateful thanks to you and the town council of Edinburgh, as representing the inhabitants of this northern rnetiopolia, for the great honour which you have conferred- upon me. ' You may depend upon it that I shall always value it as expressing their opinion of services which I have in. adequately performed, and, at least, as a testimony that they have appreciated the load ° intentions which promoted those services.— (Choc:v.) My Lord, you have most justly said, at the conclusion of your address, that whatever acquirements I may have made in early life, I owe - a great part of them to the education which I re. ceived in the University of Edinburgh.—(Applause.) Gentlemen, I cannot stand here receiving the testimony of your approbation- I can hardly go forth into your streets, without having my mind forcibly recalled to the happy scenes of those days when I was a student within your walls. I cannot but recollect with regret, at . the same time accompanied with gra. tification, the Instruction which I received from a man eminent indeed in science, but not less eminent ham his character—l mean Mr. Professor Playfair. We know that with respect to others, it may be said that they, its following the lighter paths of literature, may have the accomplishments which aresuitable to those paths arid those occupations; but it was re markable in Professor Playfair that while his pursuits were in the abstract sciences, his character, his conversation, and his whole life partook of all that was amiable, of all that was kind, and of all that was engaging.—(Cheers.) After studies and abstract calcula tions on, perhaps, the density of the earth, he would go forth—for ' I have had the pleasure of accompanying him—to enjoy the sub. lime and remarkable landscapes which abound in the neighbour. hood of your city. lie would go from disquisitions with respect, perhaps, to the astronomy of the Hindoos, and to all that was dif ficult in calculations, to be the most cheerful, the melt at ease, and the moat happy of the society of which he was the ornament. I cannot, in entering your city, but reflect upon the days when I had the satisfaction of being under the tuition of such a man. I cannot but recollect also that in this city I heard the lessons of moral philosophy, adorned by the eloquence of Mr. Dugald Stewart. Within your walls, also, there were many others whose society I had then the happiness of enjoying. I had to admire, in Mr. Mackensie, is the extreme of age, that liveliness and that spirit which is usually the accompaniment of youth ; and I likewise had the happiness to enjoy the hospitality of a man whose works, which have since been produced, have become so famous in all parts of the world—on the Inuits of the Don, as on the banks of the Nis sissippi-.in all parts of Europe, in all parts of America ; whose works tend to the enjoyment of intellectual pursuits, and to raise men from the sordid and selfish occupations of sense to the pleasure of intellectual enjoyment. These were at that time among the mess who were eminent in society in Edinburgh ; and you will, therefore, not be surprised that in referring to the time when I was a student here I should recal their eminent merits, and reflect upon the hours, many of them of enjoyment, and mart/ of instruction, which I had the happiness here to par. take.—(Great applause.) I could willingly, if it were not for occupying your time, and because it might seem less proper to the occasion,' refer to others of whom we have not to re gret that they are no longer among us—men still eminent, in whose society I then enjoyed the view of all that was great, acute, and eminent in literature; but I will go now to say a few wor d s on those which have since beets my occupation, and to whic h y our Lordship did me the honour to allude. Since those days t have been engaged the greater part of my life in the occoPaijoila struggles of political warfare and political debate.—(Loud cheers.) 1 I trust that in the midst of that warfare I have not ailed to do justice to my opponents. I trust that, engaged in a party, it has been my object to promote the welfare of my fellow-countrymen of all creeds and persuasions. With me the colour of the negro was no objection to his receiving the rights of a free citizen ; n or could I think that a difference of religious persuasion ought, either on the one hand to deprive men of those political honours and that political power to which they might justly aspire, nor, on the other hand, to deprive them, while so struggling, of the regard and with them in reli g i on, might still s ympathy of those who, differing regard their conscientious persuasion, and grasp M ein wills the hand of Christian charity.—( Loud cheers.) it has been the course of my life, in the many important measures in which I have taken a part, to extend the liberties of my countrymen; and to promote the popular power. I ant not going in this assembly to discuss whether these measures were rightly framed, but' you will permit me here, having received the honour which you have just conferred upon me, to state to you that which I always kept in view in the measures, both those which I have framed, and those in which I have taken a share as a colleague along with other per. sons. I have always kept in view to make measures in which I , here taken a part cons onan t t o th e C onst i tut i on o f E ng l an d . I ' have always endeavoured so to frame those measures, that they as. similate, if I may so speak, with the blood of the existing institu. tions. 'Wherever there were abuses, I thought those abuses ought to be corrected. Wherever the franchise was narrowed by the spirit of former times, or narrowed, perhaps, by the necessity of a contest with some other body, and required fo be enlarged, I have been in favour of enlargement. But I always assumed it to be my bounden duty to endeavour so to • correct those abuses, so to regulate that enlargement, that our admir able Constitution should - not be weakened but strengthened. and, if possible,, perpetuated by sties change. , -(Great ap plause.) Men . differ, as they must do in this ftee eotintry, with respect to the particular'measures that should be pursued. Seine think that the prerogatives of the Crown are too much enfeebled, others that the franchise of the people is not sufficiently exteusted, —(ts solitary cry of "Hear, hear.") Far be it from me to cuter , . • . " .:.;, ~., into any controversy on these topics. What Ido wish to impress on you, at least as my notion—at least, as my eonviction—that in any changes that cup hereafter be mad., the spirit of our Constitu. tiotrshould airways be kept in view ; and this I say, not from any bigoted adherence to that which is established; although with re. - speot - to - okLinatitutlons,-ereirif they were less perfect than other!, it would perhaps be imprudent to endeavour to change, in oicier to roach some abstract Pbrfectlon—but I speak of our institutions. breausein Wring at the history of 'the world-an loeldng at the institutions .of nation, now existing in the world, I and none, I will not say none in which there are not better laws on.par: • ticulat subjects —none in - which there' may not :be -some part of its institutions better than ours—but I and no Constitution so well formed to promote the liberty of man the Constitution under which we hafe the' happiness to live.— (Cheers.). It was accounted ,:by •ai Roman historian a rare felicity of the- partieular time in which he wrote, that he could both think what he pleased and venture to say what he thought. Now that is not only a great privilege and happiness itself, but it is. a mode in which truth can be ascertained, and in which the welfare of the whole community can be best promoted. I will venture to say that in no quarter does there now exist such freedom in foto, hsg opinions, and such freedom in expressing them, as. now exist s in our own country. , I need not, I suppose, allude to those coun tries on the continent of Europe where monarchy is still unchecked by representative institutions. In one of these countries, a frieed of mine, who was endeavouring to pass some books at the Cultism,. house, happened to have some of the books of Plato its Greek. Tee Cu tom-house officers said, " these must be stopped, as there may be something Improper in them." This friend replied that "these were works of an ancient philosopher." The Custom-house officer retorted, "but how do we know that they may not contain' tome thing againgt the Government."—( Laughter and applause.) It not, ' certainly, worth our while to discuss whether, in those countriee, they have greater freedom than we have here; but if we go to free countries, such as France and Spain, where they have representative institutions, we shall find that freedom of expression, and the libertrof the press are checked by laws—it Toby be neer*. sary laws--which have been passed within the list few years. 'But if I leave Europe, and go to a country which many quote as an ex. ample of freedom to all the world—the United States of America-- even there I do not believe there exists that 'uncontrolled power i.t the expression of opinion which we hare the good fortune to enjoy in this country.— (Applause.) It was but the other day that a geat/eman Laving one of those,naases which are not uncommon in that country—a•gentlernan of the name of Cassius Clay—set up a newspaptr, with a view to argue the abolition of slavery—that most 'detestabie,• un-Christian, aria horrible institution of slavery. His press was seized by force. The persons who seized it sent -- it: away, and told him he- was no longer • to venture to print anything against slavery; and he was now endeavour ing, and probably endetiouring in 'vain, to recover damages front those persons. They 'Contend that to set up a newspaper which will argue against slavery as an institution is a nuisance which ought to be suppressed by force and violence. Do 1 as.k you; then; without reason-am I net justified in saying, that, of all Countries en the globe, there are none where is a greater power of foriting public opinion, and of expressing that public opinion, from one extreme to theotber; from the extreme of declaiming against our Constitution as toe democratic'', and proposing to go back to the reign of the Stuarts, and to the other extreme of denouncing the Crown and the aristocracy, and endeavouring to obtain the abOlition of those institutions. I say, from one extreme to the other there Is no latitude of opinion which 'men may net dare to form, and men may not dare to express..—(Applause.) Having given this opinion, my Lord Provost, I wilt not venture to make any observations upon those laws in the discussion of which I have had to take a share, still less upon other -laws which it may be the part of Parliament hereafter to discuss; suffice it for me that, if I am right in what I have, state, public opinion will sift, will weigh, will measure truly--perhaps by a slow'peocess—hut will measure itEtime justly all the proposals of change, of improvement, or, it may be, of restoration, -which various Persons of various political opinions may from time to time propound.—(Applause.) My opinion, arc, that the Constitution of this country admits of the greatest enjoyment, both of civil and religious freedom. Your Lordship has done use the honour to allude to an ancestor of mine, who laid down his life in behalf of the laws of Eing;and, then unjustly suppressed, or tyrauically latest. lam naturally proud of being descended from such an an.. cestor. I believe that his blood was not shed in vain, and that is tended to that revolution which a few years after fixed the repre sentative government—fixed the representation of the people as the governing principle of our institutions ; and that blood will not have been shed in vain if the people of these countries wisely and soberly appreciate the blessings that they enjoy ; will net Lc either deceived or blinded by the detects of these in which abuses or defects prevail, but will go on from time to time amendinlr and improving, as the spirit of the age requires, constitutionally exttnding the liberties and promoting the welfare of the people, and making this country not only happy itself, but an example t. all the nations of the globe.—(Great applause.; My Lord Provos:, I have ventured to make these abservations in answer to the address which you have pleased to make to me. It now remains to ice again to thank you and the town council for the honour you have conferred on me, and to assure you that this day will ever be pre served in my grateful recollection. His Lordship re.umed his sent amidst the most enthusiastic applause. After a pause, the LORD Pitovcrer proposed three cheers for Lord John Russell, which was cordially responded to, A similar compliment haring been given to the Lord Proveat, tt.e meeting separated. • - RIO DE JANEIRO. (mom A CORRESPONDENT.) • The arrival of German and Belgian immigrants at Rio de Janeiro for the purpose of settling in that province, 'particu larly on an estate belonging to the Emperor, called "Correg o SeccO," who has very generously granted the land necessary foi the building of a new city, - to - be called' Petropolis," has given-rise to some animated discussions in the Senate, which gave rise to the following notice thereof being taken iu the Jornal do Commerrio; of the 23d August last :-- "Some of our politicians have latterly suffered themselves to be carried away by their private - interests or party spirit, as to prefer discussions relative thereto, to those of vital portance to the State, uttering frequently in the . bosom .uf the august Chambers of the National, Representation the most shameful falsehoods against their opponents, to the great offence of their-owndignity of the .place which they occupy, and of the .people they legititnately or illegitimately repre sent. These, becoming familiar with such gross misrepre.; sentations, have shown themselves indifferent, placing no confidence in what is advanced justly or unjustly, take no activepart in the affairs of -their country as they ought to do to counteract and correct such disorders, which have a ten dency to bring into diSrepute amongst. ns the Repiesentative System, which already has lost much of its quintessence. The vessel of the State i m p e ll e d b y a tempest of the passions, .and leaky is driven until she strikeis on some, God knows what, rocks. "The press—that power which has such inflaeree over the destinies of Governments, in fact, constitutional countries—.is entirely Abandoned to a party ; or .rather has submitted to .the caprices of one man, who like another Proteus, assumes all maimer of forms and colours to inomote his own interests to the exclusion of every one's else; deluding, to serve his pur poses, the ignorant and incautious; publishing the most atro cious ealtimules against all those who'raise any opposition to the march of his malevolence through the instrumentality of a periodical, which assumes the title of ' The Sentinel of • the Monarchy,' to the great scandal and disgust of the whole nation, because it daily publishes the most offensive articles, and derogatory to the sacred and inviolable person of the Monaich. "'ln the meantime the present Government, as if they under valued the support which a periodical could afford them, which very loyally defends their acts, and re-establishes the truth when perverted, not only does not sustain it, but even allowed the many to perish, who came forward voluntarily to support it. Under such circumstances, of what avail is it that a voice should be raised far and near to inform the pub lic op this or that fact, concerning which it had been •attempted to deceive them, if a voice in the midst of the apathy which prevails should die away like that of a person drowning? " But, notwithstanding', in order that there should exist a protest in black and white against such falsities, whenever our occupation will admit of it, we will undeceive the public, at least, in matters which concern the province of Rio le Janeiro, and we shall continue to offer up our prayers that the day may arrive when every public functionary (in his proper sphere), and all taking an immediate interest in public affairs,• shall concur in establishing a proper equilibrium, this day, which, if as Mignet says, whenever a reform is be come necessary, and the moment arrived for its being carried. into ell'ect, nothing can hinder it ; on the - contrary, everything will promote it.' We trust in God that it will not long delay its dawning. " To make a beginning to the fulfilment of our promise, we shall show to-day the injustice of the accusation made in the Senate against his Excellency the President of the Province of Rio de Janeiro, by Senhores Torres and Vasconcellos in regard to the importation of German immigrants. "Senhor J. J. Rodriguez Torres asserted that the President bad very imprudently entered into a contract for the intro duction of six thousand industrious immigrants without having any work to give them and that he had at the same time in fringed the law relating to such immigrants, which required them to be agricultural labourers. Senhor B. P. de Vascen cellos, seconding these charges, said, 'that he much feared the mode adopted by the President would only serve to bring colonisation into disrepute.' " We cannot but believe this Apprehension on the part of the Noble Senator to be sincere, springing from the great desire he entertains of -banishing from this country, the African race, for, certainly, it was not him who proclaimed, in the Chambers, Africa to be the civilizer of Brazil. IThe Government, by the contract entered into with the house of De la Rue, of Dunkirk, engaged to receive 600 immigrants of different trades and employment, giving a preference to married men. By virtue ofthis agreement there be the probable total nu ns . have already arrived 1,300 immigrants, composing about. 'kW families: What will, therefore , are e r of immigrants advance? imgr an It Is whwhosen e passage s ot required theprovincial auth ori ti es to make any very elaborate calculation to discover the value of this—which cannot exceed 3,000, being less than half the number quoted by the noble Senators. The Law of the 30th May, 1840, No. 224, not only authorises the establishment of agricultural and mechanic settlements, but also in the Bth article provides that the President may, until such settlements take place,- engage 100 families of tradesmen and - mechanics for the public works; that of the 11th May, 1844, No. 333, in the 3d article, likewise concedes authority to the Government to engage in Europe workmen to be employed on. the Canal Cainpos and Macand ; in what, therefore, has the President infringed the law, by ordering mechanic immigrants? Is not such a bharge the offspring of hatred, and intended solely to deprive his Excellency of the good, opinion he at present.anj nye of his compatriots? • ' "The sth Article of the Law of the 30th May, 1-840, say.s.— ' Should it happen that no adventurers nor .companies shall appear for the establishment et such settleMents, the Presi dent. is authorised, in ,order to promote and ,facilitate the prosperity of any of those. settlements, to introduce indus trious immigrants in all branches of useful employ ; and may, in the absence of unowned or national lands, or seams ries duly granted, procure such as are required ft r distribu- Lion Amongst such immigrants, by purchase, transfer, or any other lawful means.' This is precisely what the Government has done—they perceiving that no companies were being formed for the making of such Settlements, and that no Indi viduals offered for that purpose, ordered immigrants to be sent from Europe, lilvanced their passage money, and hart , established a part of them in.' Petroi.olis ;' and propose es tablishing others ou the land ;appertaining to the powder. mills; another portion between Petropolis And Paralliba ; and the remainder on the different works.in pro g re s s throughout the' province —some, as labourers, irk_ rep . airing and pre-,erv ing the old roads of the Estrella; others, ;it the making very important improvements, such as cOrtstrUcting new roads at ltagoally, or Pica, of th o Estrella, of the Policia, of th e (min Cantagallo to the Port of ltodeio, Matto:Grosso, Caxias, &c., in which works about 506 eofitos of 'Fels. are ex. • pended annually. royince. p . " After the above exposition , can any one assert that 8,040 immigrants are too many to be introduced int o t h e and that there is no work for th em ; thaehis Excel lency the President bas violated the law, and that: his made of in troducing iiittnigiants will, bring ciilouiaation into disrepute?` Those who possess a great many 'slaves and .emaucipated negros employeOn such works, only can attempt to intimi date t h e parties to whom are entrusted the . promoting the iininigration of free labourers, becalige it interferei with the Works OR which.theSe slaves ar 1 • d e mpyeo Sir George Murray is' so far recovered from his tate severe rheumatic attack,lhat he was able to to racial 49 ° 11 on Tuezdai, itrthe Ordnince Orartinent. , ryiu ~."~