The Sun. — London, England, 1857-10-12 00:00:00

CEIURCE RATES REFUSED. ( From The Monthly Christian Spectater.) It may be within the recollection of most of our readers, that in the month of July last a deputation of noblemen and gentlemen headed by Lord Shaftesbury, waited upon the Premier for the purpose of laying before him certain statements purporting to be based upon the return of " Church Rates Refused," moved for by Lord Cecil, and presented to the House of Com mons in the early part of the present session. Amongst other statements made by the deputation was one to the effect, that only 408 ont of 8,672 parishes in England and Wales, or about " five per cent." of the whole number, were proved to have refused Church rates. This assertion, when first made, considerably surprised all classes of politi cians. It is believed so to have influenced the Pre mier as to have caused him to reconsider his en gagement to bring in a bill for the settlement of thi s q uestion during the current session. Dr. Fos ter, on behalf of the Religious Liberation Society, endeavoured to counteract its effect by exposing the imperfection and inadequacy of the returns. The Church party had a perfect " glorification" over it—Tho Record especially treating its readers to a series of articles, written in a ludicrously jubilistic strain on the weakness of Dissent, and the stanch attachmeat of Englishmen to Mother Church. As to the deputation, they appear to have retired into private life, evidently believing that they had settled the question for ever, and that no one would again dare to lay hands on this great buttress of the Estalishment. Now, we are sorry to , spoil a triumph of any kind, but in this instance tru:. - .th and justice demand it. Since reading the report of the interview of the committee of laymen w;th Lord Palmerston, we have taken the trouble to go through the whole of " 8,072" returns, and we have found them to tell a very different tale to that t which Lord Palmer ston listened. The assertions made by the com mittee of laymen are false in every particular. They have neither given the number of parishes correctly, nor have they stated their case in any way so as to make a truthful impression. Reading the address of the committee, one would imagine that ninety five per cent. of the parishes of England Wales were in favour of church-rates, and that these imposts were still upheld by the opinion of the great body of the people. We find the truth to be in the one case exactly the reverse of this, and in the other so glaringly at variance with the state ment of the committee, as to excite the greatest sur prise that any respectable body of Inert should com mit themselves to such an assertion. How the case really stood at the date of the Church-rate returns will be found from the following summary, in which the parishes are grouped in counties, and the popu lations of both classes of returns giver.). SUMMARY OF RETURNS OF " CHIIRCII RATES REFUSED." &C.. No. FOR. No. AGAINST. Parishes. Popula. Parishes. Popula tion. tion. 57,932 15 39,605 98,752 12 21,873 83,486 18 22,100 67,225 26 37,014 175,347 28 151,994 215,264 36 80,174 113,113 4 4,471 115,615 18 53,079 239,185 31 133,336 79,034 19 29,693 279,350 7 57,105 204,597 30 83,764 208,035 40 121,959 176,641 19 141,216 61,859 6 10,382 95,512 9 17,622 28,426 12 7,996 364,249 22 116,987 175,336 89 1,259,024 102,159 13 70,608 226,144 42 57,738 482,162 40 828,382 91,690 10 74,287 233,120 68 65,461 92,950 32 67,498 133,472 11 123,367 100,612 21 113,028 103,755 15 14,228 15,734 1 530 162,259 3 32,100 266,813 22 59,291 197,094 45 332,602 192,759 45 32,549 231 695 12 84,471 151,145 16 76,969 99,935 28 258,994 30,267 3 19,595 141,416 10 22,479 131,408 16 29,830 631,749 103 1,117,020 COUNTY. Bedford Berks Bucks Cambridge Chester Cornwall Cumberland 9l Derby Devon Dorset Durham Essex Gloucester Hants Hereford Hertford Huntingdon 55 Kent 284 Lancaster lll Leicester Lincoln Middlesex 67 Monmouth Norfolk 316 Northampton Northumberland 64 Notts Oxford 163 Rutland Sdop lB9 Somerset Salford Suffolk 3Ol Surrey Sussex Warwick Westmorland Wilts l9l Worcester l3O York Torus 6,677 6,657,341 997 5,860,301 Wales 423,908 133 265,850 England and Wales 7,090 7,081,249 1,130 6,126,151 This, as will be perceived; gives a widely diffe rent result to that published by the committee of laymen. Instead of only 408 parishes being re turned as having refused church rates, we find no fewer than 1,130 where they were not levied. These places contained a total population, accord ding to the "Blue Book," of 6,126,151; the parishes levying rates containing only 7,081,249. But this is not all the truth. The "Blue Book" on which this summary has been based is deficient in returns from 3000 or 4000 parishes, containing a gross po pulation of 4,720,209. We know for a fact that in many of these parishes Church-rates hare for years ceased to be levied. The returns do sot include Leicester ; they omit a great part of Reading, the greater portions of Southampton, Bristol, and many other large towns, where public opinion is known to be against the continuation of this ini quitous system. Indeed, as far as we have been able to ascertain, the omissions are nearly altoge ther on the bide of Church rates refused, so that we at e justified in saying that Church rates are levied with the consent of only a small minority of the in habitants of parishes. The utmost number that the " Blue Book" accounts for is 7,081,249, the population of England and Wales being 17,927,609. This, we take it, is a little less than nin , ty-five per cant ! The table we have given will be sufficient to in dicate the character as well as the number of the parishes ranged on the two side 3 of this contro versy. It will be noticed that the average popula tion cf parishes approving Church rates is not quite 1,000 ; while the average population of those re fining is rather more than 5,00 g. The intelligence of to .vms being generally pretty fairly proportioned to their population, it will b 3 seen at a glance on which side of the question the more advanced por tion of the community is ranged. As a further illustration of this mode of argument, we subjoin an alphabetical list of the principal towns in the kingdom where Church rates are now abolished. We take them from the Parliamentary Return, where they are arranged according to their coun ties : Aberdare Halifax Newcastle Amersham Hartlepool Nottingham Alberstoke Hitchin Newport, I.W. Alniondbury Hanley Oldham Ashton-under-Lyne Huddersfield Plymouth Aston Illingwortit Poole Blackburn Jarrow Pcrtsca Bolton Kendall Rochdale Bury Keighley Reading Birkenhead Kirkheaton Southampton Bowden Kildwick Stoke Bristol Kirkburton Stroud Buford Leeds ' Stockport (partial) Brighton Leicester Sainford Bradford Liverpool Sheffield Birmingham Leominster Swansea Chelmsford Lancaster Tynemouth Cardigan Luton Trowbridge Carmarthen Manchester Wisbeach Chatham Maidstone Wareham Devonport Middlesborough Whalley Dowlais Melbourne Wigan PP:imeuth Merthyr West Bromwich t'rome Norwich Walsall Gateshead Northampton Worcester And the following amongst metropolitan parishes : Chelsea St. Pancras C!erkenwell Christ Church, Spitalfields St. George's-in-the-East Mile-end Old Town St. Mary, Islington St. Philip's, Stepney It. Paul's, Knightsbridge St. Sepulchre St. Anne, Limehouso St. George's, Southwark St. Margaret's, Westminster These places will be acknowledged to be without question, the most important in the kingdom. They ineAnde almost every county town and large borough, mid they represent the greater portion of the reli gious, the moral, and the intellectual activity of this country. And their politcal power, as we judge Lord Palmerston will be made to feel, is quite equal t o their donbt, will be fou n d amply sufficient eniand, we have no t i to carry a bill for the total and un con di t ional c abo on of church rates as soon as Parliament shalt Meantime, we think it will be adeisall aii : l meet. 6fe order t i counteract the effect of the statement in mittee of the laymen, and to stre ng th en the hands of the advocates of abolition, bath within and with!. cYtit the w .11s of Parliament, to give as wide a cir c a lation as possible to the actual facts regarding the rates now refused. ME HERO OF THE REDAN.—General Windham bad just changed his clothes before going to the colonel's to dine. His servant showed them to me ; they were covered with blood and dust. I followed him to Colonel W " , re hut, and found General Windham walking quickly to and fro in the but, apparently much pre fi",.culted and excited. His eyes emitted flashes of °P• II ,, countenance had assumed its usual majestic dignity, hie lips were parched, his proud "" brow betokened much restlessness, and though his fore head was ectvered with glory, you could perceive through the wreath of laurel which had only a few hours before been deposited there by Mars, a deep shadow of thoughtfulness and care. Ilia phy s i ogno my told a tale. Victory of him mad e a great hero, without having had time to put her final seal to his martial and petulant •dour. Another battle was Yet to be fought.—aire: Culinary Campaign. OUR HUMILIATION. (From, the Examiner.) "An old maiden gentlewoman," says Addison in one of his Saturday papers in the Spectator, " whom I shall conceal under the name of Neme sis, is the greatest discoverer of judgments that I ever met with. She can tell you what sin it was that set such a man's home on fire, or blew down his barns. She has a crime for every misfortune that can befal any of her acquaintance, and when she hears of a robbery or a murder, enlarges more on the guilt of the suffering person than on that of the thief or assassin. In short, she is so good a Christian, that whatever happens to herself is a trial, and whatever happens to her neighbours is a judgment." The leading domestic event of the week has for cibly reminded us of Addison's old maiden gentle woman. Last Wednesday might not improperly be called the day of judgments. Many eloquent sermons were, of course, deli vered, and we could select some good and striking passages from several of them ; but we must lament that the majority of the discourses were ever preached. It was surely no necessary part of the solemn occasion that so many rash tongues should have been unloosed. Was all that hubbub from the pulpit indispensable to the prostration of the public heart ? Would not silence have been meeter homage, where there was so little mature thought to be clothed in words, and so little discretion to govern their utterance ? Is prayer impossible without the sequel of such perilous preaching ? It would seem to be so settled in the Church of Eng land, and what the result is we have now before us in the effusions of too many of our metropolitan pastors. Such a Babel of conflicting opinions, such a wilderness of ill-weaved speculations, such arro gant assumption of intimacy with the plans of Omnipotence, such daring attempts to lift the cur tain that Providence has hung between the present and the future, such a rushing in of divines where diviner beings fear to tread—this was our mortifica tion upon mortification, and an aggravation of our national sins and follies. Were we to take a leaf out of almost any one of the sermons before us, we should announce the precise measure of Divine wrath incur red by the license of reverend tongues, and so much abuse of faculties and functions. We might even be led to count the presumption of spiritual men, and the vanity of preaching, among the transgres sions for which we have been delivered over for a season in India to the tormentors. Were the proper authorities to appoint a second day of humiliation for the country to humble itself before Heaven for all the cant and extravagance uttered upon the first, we should not say that it was ill done. We are not a little disposed, in truth, to be humiliated by our humiliation, and are anything but proud of the simultaneous ser mons of last Wednesday, either as the speculations of an intellectual order of men, or as proofs of the prevalence of rational and sound theology among our English clergy. We did not want the pulpits to tell the country or the Government that the first duty of the crisis is to suppress the rebellion, and visit with meet retribution its unheard-of crimes and enormities. It is satisfactory, no.doubt, to find that the clergy are nearly unanimous on those points ; but they only echo the public determination. Moreover, we must observe, that in dwelling to the degree that many of them dwelt upon the duty of discriminat ing justice from vengeance, in deprecating promis cuous carnage, and the imitation by our troops of the nameless cruelties of the Sepoys, these holy men did the public a wrong, and a wrong also to our troops in India, for we have not heard such re taliatory excesses recommended in any quarter de serving of respect ; and we believe our English soldiery, under the command of Englishmen, inca pable of committing them. The sermon of Dr. Cumming, the eloquent mi nister of the Scotch Church in Covent-garden, is noticeable as being entirely free from maudlin sen timent and mistimed pleas for mercy. He spoke the truth, and spoke it boldly, on this important point ; upon the whole, we consider Dr. Cum ming's sermon the best of all that we have seen re ported. "We had no time or heart to enter on animated discus. aims, as to how far all this might have been foreseen, or who are the parties guilty of culpable blindness and neglect. This is not the time for such inquisition. Nor have we any disposition to discuss. at this crisis what should be the future government of India. This great question will come up in due time. It is our present duty to enlist, on behalf of the powers that be, all the dispos able might and resources of the empire, it possible, in order to enable them to crush this sanguinary insurrec tion—this murderous crusade against helpless babes and unoffending women. We are not demanding vengeance; but, surely, just and due retribution is mercy as well as justice. We invoke not the sword against a single Hin doo or Mahommedan woman or child, but is it unjust to require that every Sepoy found armed against our Queen and her authority in India should meet the traitors' and the murderers' doom ? This is not mere justice to the guilty, it is mercy to the rest of the empire. Here the highest political expediency and the purest justice are one." But with the exception of this, and a few passages in the same strain, we do not see what useful lesson the preachers ou the day of humiliation have taught the public, or those who administer its affairs,. If the Go►ernment sanctified Wednesday in the ex pectation of being directed by the clergy in the path of a wise Indian policy, they have been certainly disappointed. Dr. Croly would raze Delhi to the ground ; Dr. Trench would suppress the opium trade ; another send out a fresh band of missionaries; another introduce the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, into the Hindoo schools ; a fifth, in his wisdom and moderation, would put down all the rites and ceremonies of the Hindoo re- ligion, and including the Mahonimedans in the aline sentence, would found his hopes of a peaceful, permanent Indian empire upon open war with the faith of a population of sixty millions of souls thrice counted. History is so full of encouraging examples of the conflicts of Governments with creeds ! Chris tianity is so consonant with intolerance of human errors ! The policy thus devoutly recommended is se agreeable to the liberty and genius of the people o f England ! The idea that seems to have been uppermost in the generality of the outpourings of Wednesday is that England has incurred the wrath of heaven in India by sinking her Christianity and neglecting what are called her missionary duties. Nine-tenths of the preachers were as confident on this head as if it had been sent down to them out of the clouds written by the divine finger. Dr. Cumming, how ever, took a different and much juster view of the matter, which for its singularity alone deserves to be quoted : "As if providentially meant to enable us to respond to this appeal for India, we have had a bounteous harvest, a lightening of taxation, and plenty of employment. As to the causes of this terrible outbreak, I believe they are not owing to the crimes, nor th e avarice, or the mis government of our country in India—the causes are deeper far. It is the maturity of deep-seated and long ripening elements. The Mussulinan and the Brahmin have seen light breaking in every day and dissipating their respective superstitions—and all kinda of know ledge secular and sacred have equally this effect—and dreading the ebb of their deluded victims and the loss of their own power, they have got up pretended reasons for combining the masses against Christians in India. I see in the horizon the circling dawn of light. With all our sins we have been too gigantic a blessing to the heathen to lose the field for yet greater benefits. Inci dents and interpositions obviously providential have oc curred so often in rapid succession since the first out burst at Meerut, that I cannot help regarding them as prophecies of succeis ; and, taught a lesson from the past, we may, by God's blessing, commence a course of policy in India that will sow broadcast on its sunny plains the seeds of golden harvests of religion, social order, happiness; and peace." According to Dr. Cumming, we have not been such bad Christians among our subjects in India, but with all our shortcomings " a gigantic blessing to them ;" nay, it is to the very extent of our reli gious influence, imperfect as it is, that he traces the gathering together and raging of the h ea th en against us. Ile considers the rebellion as a rising against Christianity. We cannot adopt that opt nion ; but as far as he dissents from the doctrine that Yana Sahib was sent by heaven to punish our backwardness as missionaries by the massacre of our innocent women and children, we are entirely of Dr. Cum.ming's way of thinking. Dr. Cumming, however, we are glad to find, is not alone in bearing witness to the value of our presence in India, at least as far as civil govern ment is concerned. We find the following con current testimonies among the fragments of ser mons before ua. The preacher at St. Margaret's; Westminster, - - " Deprecated the presumption which cluld venture to pronounce upon the present state of theland as a D ivine Punishme n t f or our m i sr ule in India. With a ll its faults, the British tale in India had conferred greater benefits upon that country than it had E ver enjoyed befure. Irrespective of any other considerations, it was the duty of the Britian nation to quell the rebellion, in order to save the quiet and peaceful inhabitants of India from the dreadful miseries and atrocities which they would b e r l e a s a n f l a d l i e a r n s who horrid a d crimes shown their which trheeayl inevitably suffer if they - were delive r ed to the absolute control d haracte o r f b t y ha th r e e bd had committed." Another divine, at the Royal Milit ary Chapel, St. James's, spoke much the same lanugage : “We have thought more of bringing home wealth than of leaving beneficial traces of our footsteps among the people who have created that wealth and enriched us ; of providing for the members of our families than of Bowin g broadcast the seeds of civilization and education, and of morality and religion. Bat still we have done something --God has allowed them this comfort, in 11 coking back upon the past centary we have not governed as the ra tive princes did with tyranny, opproatioa and extcrticn s r 3. O'N -kT —we have not laid waste or depopulated the land as our predecessors in conquest, the Mogul and Mahratta princes, did—we have ruled with justice and mercy ; we have not added bitterness to conquest by the horrible institution of elavEry—•the Hindoo under British rule has always been a free man : we have not drawn a revenue and exacted a tribute to be expended in governing the mother country,but all the revenues have been expended in governing the country itself. We have never treated the superstitions of the Hindoo or Mahometon with dis respect, still less have we made the banner of the cross an ensign of persecution. God forbid we should boast of these things ; but still God permits us to find comfort in looking back to them. I am convinced that, by God's help, we shall not lose India. He has agreat task for us to perform. If we were driven from India we should infallibly leave it to devastation and ruin." We Could cite passages from other sermons to the same effect, and we make such extracts much more willingly than those which we could so easily mul tiply, in illustration of our general objections. grom the opening of Mr. Spurgeon'o discourse we Were cheered with a hope that he was about to thunder at the ♦ulgar fanatical notions on the sub ject of Divine judgments, springing as they com monly do out of an uncharitable spirit, and based as they are on the vanity of men presuming to pierce the skies, and pretending to read the counsels of eternity. Some religionists, he observed, treated every accident which happened to man in the indulgence of sin as if it were a judgment. The upsetting of a boat on the river on a Sunday was in their view a judgment for the sin of Sabbath-breaking. The accidental fall of a house in which persons were engaged in any unlawful occupation was supposed to be a special judgment for the special sin committed. All these were childish notions ; but there were many who carried the opposite doctrine to an ex treme, and who were apt to deem, because God did not usually visit each particular offence in this life upon the transgressor, that there were no judgments at all. And then Mr. Spurgeon went on not only to pro fess his belief in special judgments on a grand na tional scale, but he informed his immense audience that he knew and would tell them some of the crimes for which England was now afflicted. He would be as honest as he could with his audience, and would tell them what were the sins for which, if it were true that God was now punishing us for sin, we were probably suffering. There were, he said, sins openly committed in this community which ought never to have been allowed ; such, for instance, as the infamous nuisance in Holywell-street, and the barefaced indecency which was permitted in the Haymarket, Regent-street, and our places of public resort. If there were a crime for which God would punish England it would be for allowing infamy to stalk our streets in public, exhibit ing itself decked in the robes of a harlot in such a fashion as to insult the modesty of every decent person who approached it. He saw representatives of the press present, and he trusted that through them this frightful evil would be exposed. The press could sting sharply when it chose, and he trusted that it would sting so effectually as to in fuse a little virtue into our gover nors. He then touched upon the nature of our public amusements, and observed with regret that " lords and ladies - frequently sat in theatres to listen to plays which were a long way from decent." Can human presumption go beyond this ? How like the old maid of the Spectator ! We wish the press could infuse a little sobriety into popular preachers, and worthy notions of the Supreme Being ; we should not then be told by Mr. Spur geon that our wives and daughters have been butchered in one hemisphere, because improper books are sold in another, or because a few hundred inhabitants of London go to the opera to witness the Traviata. We are sorry we have to censure the same extravagance in such a cultivated man as the Dean of Westminster ; but he was quite as wild as Mr. Spurgeon, only that his advices from above ara not to the same effect. The Dean is, indeed, more positive on the subject of opium than the fanatical preacher at the Crystal Palace about Holywell-street and the Haymarket. " He could not keep silence," yet silence would have been better than speech, when the speaker had nothing to say sounder in doctrine, or corrector in fact, than what follows : If there was one thing which more than another was the "accursed thing" in England's relations with her Indian possessions it was the traffic in opium. It was a hideous fact that the Government of India raised a re venue of some millions from trafficking in this poisonous dreg, which was so destructive both to the body and soul of millions in the East. The East India Company annually exported 100,000 chests of opium, forcing it upon unwilling nations, upon China above all, despite of their laws and their remonstrances. This was their crying sin, but it was also ours, for the Government of England was so constituted and so responsive to the national views and feeling, that whenever the people of England were resolved that this thing shalt not be or that other thing shall, those who administered their affairs were bound to put the resolution into effect. Is Dr. Trench a member of the supreme cabi net ? When was he let into the state secrets of the other world 7 When was he initiated into the spiritual conduct of this ? His statistics of opium may indeed have been revealed, for he could not have had them from any earthly source of informa tion. Had he consulted the latter he would have found his 100,000 chests reduced to 8,000. The sin is of course independent of the quantity ; but upon that point we shall say no more in this place, having expressed in another (not for the first time) our opinion upon that part of the subject. THE COTTON PLANT. It is extremely interesting—unless, indeed, a term expressive of some deeper emotion should he employed—to remark the views anti proceedings of the manufacturing world at this moment with regard to the cotton supply. This plant is now con sidered, and with perfect reason, as one of the chief elements in the wealth of nations. The mutinies in India set the French journals speculating the other day on the effects producible in the cotton market by the interruption of cultivetiou in Behar, the Americans are seriously apprehensive of being overtaken by the excessive demands of Europe, and our own manufacturers have formed associa tions and established correspondents fur the pur pose of seeking out this precious material in all parts of the world. There is no delusion or mania about all this. What bread is to life cotton is to commerce, for raiment comes next in necessity to food. Wool was once the great staple of this coun try, but wool now gives place to the produce of the cotton plant. On this produce depend our manu factures, and upon our manufactures depend our inexhaustible resources and our national power. The Providential adaptation of the fruits of the earth to the wants of man is nowhere more mani fest than in this signal instance. The plant thus universal in its utility is all but universal in its growth. If cotton could only be raised, like the rarer descriptions of species, in a single quarter of the globe, our position would indeed be alarming ; but, as it happens, the plant will flourish within certain latitudes over an immense extent of the earth's surface. Asia, Africa, America, and Aus tralia appear to compete with each other in pro ductive power, although one country at present has almost a monopoly of supply. Cotton will grow with luxuriance in India, and it could be raised in almost any quantities in Borneo. The French are pushing its cultivation in Algeria, and Dr. Livingston assures that Africa is the very territory for such crops. The capabilities of the West Indies and Guiana in this respect are nolorious, Brazil actually sends us considerable supplies, and we have seen excellent specimens from some parts of Australia. There is no limit, in fact, to the ex pansion of which cotton planting admits, so far as the elements of soil and climate are concerned. Cotton, in other words, can be grown in quantities sufficient to meet all the requisitions of manufac turer, and since manufacturers can well afford to pay for a commodity so remunerative, why, it may be asked, do not the operations of supply and de mand result in a natural adjustment on this print as well as others? To this question we think we can give some reply. As a matter of fact, it must be premised that this adjustment up to a recent period hadactually taken place ; indeed, it is but just now that a posi ive dearth of cotton is appre ended. About the time th it our own cotton manufactures made such enor mous strides the United States of America entered specially upon the work of supply. This, by their energy, devotion, c tpitil, and skill, they soon monopolised, and for years together consumption on this side of the Atlantic and production on the other proceeded at a rate of acceleration tolerab'y uniform. Even now a good crop and a good her vest in the Southern States of the Union woul I provide the Lancashire mills with almost as much provender as they required. Lately, however, the supply has threatened to fail in keeping pace with the prodigious development of the demand, and a variety of circumstances appear likely to increase the disproportion thud first created. The American themselves are work ing up a rortion of their own raw mat Tial, and the manufacturers of the Continent now c into the cotton-watket with more considerable eltmaudi than in times pee. These weishts thrown into the scale tend, of curse, to the further depressio , r of the balance, and the thanches'er people ask what is to be done if America can hardly supply her pee sent customers and is likely enough to hive more ? The apprehension is felt in America itself, who: e, instead of expressing any jealousy,- the South ra journals dilate on the expediency of enlarging the some countries to the fl a i e d ld o f of th s e uP A F m lY e a ri t c jd ans br i i n ng th in e g ir work of provisioning the world. Accordingly, our manufacturers have organized associations for this purpose, and have cast about in all directions for, the means of stock - ' ing the market more satisfactorily. We have b , en favoured with some communications repr,.sentin4 the results of their labours ; we have also received intelligence of our own upon this important sub ject, audit appease to us that the incidents of our- F V fl'vli OCTO ITE R 12. 1857 M fo II A ' present position involve nothing ve r y Lualltiva l or ' extraordinary. The capabilities of various regions in various quarters of the world for the production of cotton have been placed by these inquiries beyond any doubt. There are territories without end from which cotton might be exported, but when it comes to the point in any particular case it is found that something or other is wanting to secure a good and regular amount of production. To understand this we have only to look to America and observe the combination of means by which a large expor tation of cotton is permanently sustained. The Southern States possess not merely a favourable climate—that advantage is shared by many other regions —but capital, labour, skill, and, above all, a comprehensive organization of resources re,ult ing from years of commercial experience and suc cess. The Americans know how to grow cotton, how to pick it, how to dress it, and how to pack it. Ships in abundance are ready to carry it from Charleston to Liverpool, and the whole trade from first to last has been brought into the best operation by long practice and good returns. The case is some thing like that of the wino trade at Bordeaux or Dijon. It is possible that other countries may be capable of producing excellent grapes and excellent wine —indeed, we frequently observe assertions to that effect, accompanied by samples of South African, Australian, or other produce of certified superiority. But Claret and Burgundy have got possession of the market ; they are uncommonly good, the trade is actually established, and if we went any further it is by no means unlikely that we should fare rather worse. Just so is it with the American cotton trade. The cotton c omi ng from Charleston every year 19 as good as we should ever get from any place—probably better ; nor is it at all probable that capital, climate, labour, ex perience, and all the ingredients which go to first rate production, will ever be much more success fully combined than in the Southern States. If, in short, the supply from these quarters answerel the demands of our manufacturers as liberally as Claret and Burgundy answer the inquiries for French wines, we should be under no necessity—saving our opinions about slavery—of looking for any now colt in fields. Here, howeves, ends the analogy between the two cases. The supply is not equal to the demand, and is likely to bee )me less equal than it So the question of the Manchester people recurs with as much force as ever—What is to be done ? It appears to us that if one America is not suffi cient, and we want a second, we can hardly do better than take the first for our model. We know of scores of spots where the soil and the climate are as good as in Georgia, and though, perhaps, cotton of the very best quality is not to be raised every where, or upon the instant, we have great faith in the powers of cultivation. But soil and climate are not enough. Capital, energy, and organization will be called for still, or we shall gat no cotton to speak of, and it happens that in none of the coun tries otherwise fitted for the purpose in question are these requisites to be found among the native possessions. The qualities which enable Ameri ' cans to send out millions of bales every year are not discoverable in Hindoos or Borneans, and as they are not indigenous they must needs be im ported. England, in short, must find money, m.- chinery, and wits, and if these are carried to some well-selected territory, where there is good land and abundant labour, we may soon b e a bl e to dis miss our alarms about the production of cotton.— Times. al.:r.ui„2s9feet ~kizare. The works are to be pleted in four montis. The following appointments have been made at the Admiralty : Lieutenants C. E. K. Brett and E. F. Lodder (additional) to the Vesuvius, fx disposal ; J. B. Rogers, Second Master, to the Wellington. YEAI4II7L ACCIDEVT ON THE SOUTH- WESTERN _RAILWAY. BASINGSTOKE, SATURDAY. This morning au accident occurred by the burst ing of an engine boiler at the Basingstoke station on the South-Western Railway, by which two lives were unfortunately lost. The up goods train left Southampton station on Friday night at 9 o'clock, being a quarter of an hour late. Having a very heavy load, and the wind being also strong, considerable time was lost, and it did not arrive at the Basingstoke station until 10 mi nutes past 1 o'clock this morning, upwards of an hour behind its usual time. The engine driver, after stopping at the first bridge, proceeded on to the water-tank for the purposa of taking in a fresh sup ply of water. The stoker was at the front of the en gine, oiling it, and the driver was attending at the fire. At this moment the internal cylinder of the boiler burst, and the door of the engine striking against the poor stoker, he was forced a distance of 40 or 50 3 ards up the line, while the driver was blown in a contrary direction, and must have gone a considerable height into the air, inasmuch as ho was found at the top of the refreshment room, evi dently having been caught in the stomach by the explosion. The poor fellow was discovered in a frightfully mutilated condition, lying with his face on the ground, his skull completely clown off, toge ther with part of his face. His cap was found some 50 yards further off. The cause of the accident is perfectly inexplicable. Both the unfortunate men were exceedingly steady and sober, and had a thorough knowledge of their business. The engine was ne trly a new one, and considered perfect in its construction. Mr. Beattie, the superintendent of the locomotive department of the line, was tele graphed for, and he arrived on the spot two or three hours afterwards. The names of the deceased are Reuben Thoroughgood and Henry Farrell. Both were married men, and the former leaves two chil dren. At 11 o'clock in the morning an inquest was held at the Queen's Arms public-house, close to the sta tion, before Mr. Shebheare, the district coroner. Mr. Beattie and Mr. Williams, the station-master, were present, and desirous of affording every infor mation to the jury. The proceedings were rendered much more satisfactory by the fact of one of the jurymen—Mr. Soper, of Basingstoke—being a practical engineer. John Hodgkinson said—l am the foreman of the locomotive department on the South-Western Rail way at Southampton. I see to the repairs of the engines, and that they are in a fit state to go at the proper time. The engine which left Nine-elms at 6.15 yesterday morning is numbered 139, and is the same engine which took up the goods train at 8.45 last night. On the arrival of the train at South ampton, as was my duty, I examined the engine and its machinery, when I found that everything was right. The engine and machinery were made by the company's servants, and had been used from that time to the present day. It was almost a new engine. Thoroughgood has been in the service of the company three years ; he was a sober and at tentive man. The deceased Farrell has been in the company's service about the same time as fireman, and was also a sober, steady man. He has been employed on the engine that has exploded ever since it was made, and accompanied Thoroughgood with the up goods train last night. He had never made any complaint as to the engine being a bad one, or that the machinery was in an inefficient state. I considered that there was a sufficient sup ply of water from the appearance of the fusible plugs that are inserted at the top of the fire-box. if the boiler had been short of water these plugs must have given way, as they would have got hot and melted. Mr. Soper—ls there not a possibility of those plugs becoming incandescent ? Witness—l never knew one. There was no in dication of the boiler plates being overheated. I have known the fireman fur more than 10 years. Be was a steady, clever man, and capable of work ing an engine himself. The proper time for the train to start is 8.45, but it started some 15 er 16 minutes late. I cannot say exactly what is the evaporative power of the engine. Charles Binfield said—l am night porter at the Basingstoke station. I got upon the van next to the engine of the up goods train at the arch, and rode with it down to the station. I asked the driver if he could take any goods on, and he said he could hardly get along with what he had got. I then told him to drive on to the water stand. Thatwasall that passed between him and me. On reaching the station I got down. Both Thorougbgood and Farrell were on the engine together. They made no remark as to there not being a proper supply of water. They ar rived here at ten minutes past 1 o'clock in the morning. Their proper time was five minutes to 12 o'clock. The explosion took place about ten minutes after the engine stopped. Both men ap peared perfectly sober. I heard no reason what ever for their more than usual delay. I did not hear them blow off at the safety valve. I heard the explosion. It was just like a sharp clap of thunder, and fire flew in every direction. Every thing was' covered with smoke. I wonder I escaped as I did. I weld to Mr. Williams, the station master. When I came back some one sail, "Here's oue of the poor men." The body had been blown a distance of 45 yards from the engine. The train was about the same as usual ; there were 34 trucks. They said they were so heavy they could not take any more on. Edward Deane, another porter, said—l was at the station when the up goods train arrived this morning. I saw Thoroughgood and - Farrell ou the engine when they came in. They made no remark about the engine being out of order, nor did they g i ve any reason for being late. They stopped at the water column. I heard steam blowing off, but not so much as I have heard it. Within 10 minutes I heard the explosion. I heard one of the deceased call out just before to the guard, "Are you almost ready, John ? That was all I heard. In company with the policeman I found the body of the driver.. We searched for the bodies for some time. We had found one, and at length we thought it was just possible that the other body might have blown ou the top of the refreshment room. That was where we found it. I was putting in a cask and had placed my lamp on the top of Suddenly it was blown off ; there was a tremendous explosion, and the next thing I know about I found myself in the doorway of the refreshment room. How I came there Ido not know. It was then we heard the noise of something falling on the top of the roof, but we thought it might be bricks. James Tandy said—l live at Lambeth, and am foreman of the boiler-makers in the service of the South-Western Railway Company. I have seen the engine 139. I superintended the making of the boiler for that engine. I watch the making of boilers through all their processes. I tested the one in question by steam and water pressure. We turned this boiler out about four or five mouths ago. She has never been in dock since. I have examined the plate ; I perceived a rent, but I can not say how it came there. I cannot give any ac count of the rent. I never saw anything like it before in the whole course of my life. When I examined the plate I found it cimpressed and rented, but I cannot account in any way - for the compression. The boiler is constructed of the very best Yorkshire iron, allowed by all engineers to be the best. My instructions from the company are to carefully examine every plate that is supplied to the company, and in order to do that more effectually I am furnished with a ruaguifying glass. If I detest the slightest flaw before or after it is operated upon I am to return it to the makers. Mr. Soper.—What is the proportion of defective plates you find out of a quantity ? Witness—Very few ; indeed in there Yorkshire plates not more than 3 or 4 per cent. Mr. Soper—Have you over had occasion to take out a defective plate. Witness—Never. Mr. Soper—When was the last time you saw this engine ? Witness—The engines scarcely over came under my notice except they require repairs, and this one has never been under my repair. Some boilers will last from 12 to 15 years. Mr. Soper—What power do you:suppose this engine was ? Witness—l don't know how to calculate the power of a locomotive engine ; but I should say about 120-horse power. Mr. Soper—Have you CDMO to any ccncluition in your osn mind as to this accident ? Witness—lu all my experience I never knew before such an accident. I put the very best ma terial into every boiler. The Coroner—lt seems a mystery. Mr. Soper—Yes; beciuse more than six inches of this plate is torn away from the solid material, Witness—The usual test i 3 1801 b steam on the square inch, and 300 hydraulic pressure. We have never had but one boiler burst before on this I ine while I have been in the company's service, now , ten years, and th a t was not ma d e by the mPany d Eervahts. - - John Smalley said—l was guard of the up goods SoutLa•npton train last night. We arrived at Ba singstoke five minutes after one o'clock. I knew Thorougligood. and Fatrall well. I have known them ever since they have been in the company's .saivice. They both were sober, steady men. I never saw them drink a glass of ale on the line. They both seemed perfectly satisfied with the en gine. I have been with the former driver of this engine, and he liked it very much. We were an hour late. We were 15 minutes behind our time in starting, and I consider that we lost 'the other time on the road. It is mostly up hill, and there was a very strong wind. On arriving at Basing stoke T got out of my van and put out , „ , 0 7 ,-. 0 oysters. Thorougligood called out to me, "Is there anything else, father ?" and I re plied, " No, my son." At this moment there was a terrific noise, like a great cannon going off, and some+ hing came by me like lightning. I supposed afterwards it was the b o dy o f th e driver. The other poor fellow we found up the line, lying face downwardq, with his skull blown off, which we have not b-en able to find. They were both per ferfectly sober. The reason, I suppose, why they refused to take any more tucks was becatFe we were late, and had to get out of the way of the mail train. Mr Beattie, the superintendent of the locomo tive department, here intimated that ho should be happy as far as he was able to give any information ou the subject. The jury expressed themselves perfectly satisfied and said it was clear there could be no blame at tachable to the company, and that the deaths of the unfortunate men must have been caused by E,.c 3ident. The inquiry was then terminated by the jury re. turning a verdict of "Accidentally killed." PERJURY AND THE 'SCOTCH - PUBLIC: .HOUSE ACT. Numerous cases of perjury, committed to conce.' offeuces, have been brought under public notice since the passing of the Forbes Mackenzie Act re stricting the sale of liquor in Scotland. On Thurs , d-ty last an extraordinary case of the same crime being committed, but for a different purpose, viz., to procure conviction, was brought before Sheriff Gordon and a jury at Edinburgh. Two police con stables doing duty in plain cloth es , name d P atr i ck Niven and Niel Stewart, who had been for some time employed in watching houses suspected to sell liquor without license, and particularly at night and morning and Sundays, when the licensed houses were closed, had, instead of merely watching for in fractions of the act, entered into a sch,ine with the wife and sister of Niven to entrap a vegetable dealer into a sale of spirits, and then, by the women giv ing false names in court, and appearing to be un. connected with the officers, to procure a conviction I in the police court. It did not appear whether the constables had any personal motive to gratify or wished merely to show their vigilance ; nor did it appear whether they had habitually acted on the entrapping system. The two constables were charged with subornation of perjury and the two women with perjury. Niven and his wife failing to appear warrants were issued for their apprehension, and their bail bonds for 601. each were forfeited. Niel Stewart and Rose Ann Niven pleaded Not Guilty. It was then proved in evidence that on the night of Saturday, the 27th of June, the girl Rose had beeu sent by the constables to the shop of Robert • Ferguson, vegetable dealer, to ask for whisky (the evidence was contradictory on the point as to whe ther she received it) ; the constables gave informa tion to the effect that Ferguson had made an illicit sale of spirits ; that a charge was issued against him ; and that on the 7th of July he was con victed before Bailie Blackadder in the police court on the testimony of Rose Ann Niven, who falsely gave her name as Mary Harrison, and gave a false address, and who deponed that s h e h a d beer. sent for the whisky by Mrs. Harrison, under which false name Niven 's wife appeared and corro borated her evidence. The officers also supported this false testimony, and Ferguson was ordained t o pay a fine of 11. 15s. (the minimum penalty), or go to prison for four days. The superintendent of police deponed that his instructions to the consta bles employed under the Act were only that they should watch suspected houses, and that the penalty of entrapping or getting up cases was instant dis missal. The magistrate who tried the case deponed that but for believing that the women were uncon nected with the officers and gave true names he would not have pronounced for conviction. Mrs. Ferguson deponed that a few days after the trial witness went through the whole of the neighbour hood to see where the people lived who swore against her husband, but though she knocked at every door, she found no persons of the name of Harrison. Some c'ays later, happening to come up the Fishmarket-close, in another quarter of the" Harrison sittii , g at a stair-foot, and the agent s h e she saw the girl who had called herself Ma r y t e 0 m 7 1 , 0 yed discovered what her real name was, and obtained such information in the case as had led to the present trial. The jury unanimously found Neil Stewart "guilty" of sub orna ti on of perjury, Rose Ann Niven of perjury ; but a large majority I recommended the latter to the leniency of the Court, in respect of her youth and the influence brought to bear upon her. The Sheriff sentenced Stewart to 18 and Rose Ann Niven to six months' imprisonment. He at the same time expressed his perfect satisfaction that the system of entrapping was one to which th e super in tendent gave no coun tenance whatever. Naval and Military intelligence. The Duke of Cambridge has resumed his duties at the Horse Gua r d s after a brief a b sence i s t h e midland counties. The screw steamship Austria, Capt. Heckman, which left Cork at 5 p•ln. last Monday (sth), put back to Plymouth on Saturday morning. She has on board the 94th Regiment, nearly 800, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Mills, and was bound to the E tst Indies. On Tuesday morning she encoun tered in the Bay of Biscay a severe gale, which com menced from the south-west, and veering round from the north-north-west, continued all Wednes day. The Austria lost two anchors and four boats ; her rigging was damaged, bulkheads carried away fore and aft, and one soldier washed overboard. The troops will probably be transferred to a hulk in Ha moaze, and the steamer will go up Cutwater for re pair. The same gale carried away the iron gates of the Plymouth Great Western Docks, which weigh 64 tons each and injured the Millbay-pier ; its effects were experienced all along the southern coast. The following ships found shelter in Plymouth Sound on Saturday :—The bark Golden Eagle, of Cork, Cap tain M`Dowell, from Cardiff for Ceylon, lost boats and incurred other damage ; three of the crew in jured. The Netherlands bark Clio, Captain Wyn mailer, from Glasgow for Singapore ; lost boats and leaky. The Netherlands bark Jan Van Brake!, Captain Verhey, from Newport for Ceylon, leaky. And the Hanoverian galliot Orion, Captain Strack, from Constantinople, with wheat leaky. The fallowing officers belonging to tha Indian depots at the Provisional Battalions, Chatham, have received leave of absence from that garris previously to embarking for the purpose of joining the head-quarters of their respec , ive regiments in India :—Brevet-Major W. J. Ch a d s , 64th Regi ment Lyle, 29th R eg i men t ; Cap -41\13d. Light Infantry, w h o pro ceedslndia ; and E ns i gn F. Pavey, ta in 0 ; Cvi R. r p liv t a a in i t di n r e J t, 0 . 74th Highlanders, who will also proceed by the overland route. appointed Adjutant at the Royal' Engineers' Captain G. M. Stopford, s been establishment, Chatham, in the room of Cap tain F. E. Cox, who has been appointed to the Staff of the Royal Engineers proceeding to India. Ensign Watt, of the 18th (Royal Irish) Regt., has boen presented with a beautiful g o ld wa t c h b y the rom sergeantssergant sergeant-major athatjor of regiment, me corps, on his promotion f, as a token of th e i r high esteem. A Cork paper on Friday announces the departure of the Great Britain from that port, having on board the whole of the B'h Hussars and the 17th Lancers, besides detachments from other regiments. We regret to announce the death of Admiral Joseph Harrison, of Portsmouth, w h o di e d on He WAS a ga ll an t an d He entered th e navy on th e as a first-cla ss vo l unteer on b oard m2 W stt e l hc d h n j e rl s el d lsyp a , y e le l 7t a e9 si ;07E ; c e e d r. . 67 H . the Spider, in which vessel he was made a mid shipman on the Ist of January, 1800, and during the short-lived peace he was employed in the Channel and Mediterranean. In March, 1803, he joined the Aurora frigate, and served on the Newfoundland station until transfeired to the Pallas, 42, Captain Lord Cochrane, in January, 1805. He subsequently served on the West India station iu the Merlin sloop and the Northumberland, 74, flag of the Hon. Sir Alex ander Cochrane. In September, 1806, he was made Sub-Lieutenant of the Grouper gun brig. In May following he was confirmed to the rank of Lieut., and afterwards joined the Eper vier brig, and served under some of the most distinguished officers of the day. In November, 1809, he jollied the Achille, 74, Captains Sir R. King, the Hon. G. H. Dundas, and A. P. Hollis, and was attached to her for nearly six years, during which time, besides commanding a Spanish gunvessel at the defence of Cadiz, he served off Toulon, on the co as t o f Sicily, in the Adriatic, off Cherbourg, and on the South Ameri can station. In 1815 and 1817 he served in the In constant and Semiramis frigates, respectively em ployed off the coast of Africa and at Portnnouth, under the command of Sir J. Yea. He was promoted t the rank of commander ou 14th Sept., 1818, and commanded pro tern. the Challenger, 28-gun frigate. In May, 1829, be was appointed to the command of the Favourite sloop, and served a tdrin iu her on the Coast of Africa station, during which ho was promoted to post rank. He retired with the rank of Rear-A.diniral in 1856. The Leopold stain transport, which takes two companies of R o y a l Artillery from W oo l w i c h , a l so takes the V field b a t tery and the rema i n i ng port i on of the 98 h Regiment from Portsmouth, and will call at Queenstown for the remainder of the 94th, all of whom she will convey to India. The Luci'er steatnvessd, Mr. Allen, master, R.N., of the St. Vi ncent, in temporary comman d , left Portsmouth y es t erday morn i ng f or P em b ro k e, towing two lighters tort end up ou the dredging en gine employed in elearis j out Milford harbour or estuaries. The Rhadamanthus steam transport, Master Commander Brown, arrived at Portsmouth in the night of Saturday, from the westward, and left ag tin yesterday afternoon f",,r Plymouth, with ma- The Ganges, 84 , o!iin-ry fur the D onegal, se-ew, 101, b u ildi ng. Captain ltord, fl ig of Rear- Admiral Bayne s , h as bad her complement made tip by disposage men f rinn the Victory, an d h as tak-n in a number of supernume r ary boys for disposal :im ng h ships ou the Pacific station. She will sail iu a day o r t wo. Tee Diade m , 32 , screw frig tte, Capt. Mo:irsorn, C. 8., is ready t o go to Spitheal, manned. A new batt ery i s about to be erected at Stalling borough,and is nearly Lincoln. It will command the channel above and below, and will mount six guns, madeto traverse on centres embedded in masonry. There will be a par a p e t of brickwork, and the who l e i s to be covered externally with earthwork. Magazines, barracks, a n d out b uildings are to b - ) provided for the accommodatim of two officers 40 men, and one master gunner, an d the area of t h e who l e w ill be THE MILITIA. The Royal Sherwood Foresters (Notts Militia) are now assembled at Newark. The regiment musters more than 900 strong. The 7th (Berkshire) Militia arrived at Alder shot on Saturday from Reading, composed of 27 officers and 600 men, under the command of Lieut.- Col. Bacon. Theyare to be quartered in the South C imp. The Oxfordshire Regiment of Militia will leave Oxford on Thursday or Friday next for garrison duty in the south of England. THE CAMP AT ALDERSIIOr. Never, at the best of times, a cheerful place, the Camp just now looks doubly desolate. The troops have nearly all gone to India, the huts are nearly all empty, the field-days are over, and rain and wind and withered leaves have it all to themselves on the black moor, which can neither be e„,alled mud nor water, though unquestionably containing a deal of both. The long valley where the Court and camp so often met last summer is a swamp black enough and deep enough for the abode of saurians, and looks as if the very hosts of Pharaoh would scarcely afford a mouthful to its tenacious depths of slough. Now and then upon the common stray figures may be observed through the thick sleet, wrapped in drenched cloaks, and struggling man fully against the cold wind to the shelter of the nearest huts. But these irruptions on the general solitude are few and far between, for though some 5,000 men are still in camp, and the huts are after all but cheerless abodes, they are, nevertheless, preferable to the fierce inclemency of the open heath, and the men but seldom venture forth ; so the whole place has an uninhabitable glom upon it, as if it were to let, in chancery, or insolvent, or reminds the spectator of the empty pitmen's bar-. racks at the mouth of a used-up mine. Cove-common, on which about three months ago stood such a picturesque encampment, is of course now like any other portion of the heath—to wit a brown pasty-looking expanse, intermixed with little knolls from which the furze was trodden out by the men, and which, strange to say, are now cover ed with good grass, the first that has ever grown at Al lershot. '1 he marks of the hospitable camp fires are still visible, though they are now mere yawn ing holes, with anything but a cheerful significance about them, with here and there the remains of a turf sentry-box fallen into dilapidation, for the ' men who occupied it are ere this before Delhi, if not inside it. At the extreme south of the camp fair progress has been made with the permanent barracks. The blocks allotted for the reception of the infantry are now quite ready, and the work of fit ting them for the immediate reception of troops goes forward daily. It is not ex pected that either the cavalry or artillery b smacks will be used until next summer, though the quarters for the latter branch of the service are in all respects ready for occupation at a week's notice. The infantry blocks must be used, as nearly two-thirds of the camp huts have now been so long untenanted that they swarm with rats and mice, and smaller vermin, and are withal so damp as to be almost uninhabitable. The troops at pre sent in the camp amount to scarcely 5,000 men of all arms—namely, the 15th, 22d, and 96th Regi ments, two field batteries, one troop of Horse Artillery, the 4th Light Dragoons, the Ist and 6th companies of the Military Train, and a company of Sappers and Miners. To this force an addition will be made to-day by the arrival of the Royal Berkshire Militia from Reading. This regiment scarcely musters 700 rank aed file, though during its stay at Aldershot it will probably be raised to its full numerical efficiency. The advance guard marched in yesterday with part of the baggage, and the main body will march in to-day. As a set-off to this reinforcement to the camp, the 22d Regi ment has received orders to hold itself in readiness to embark for India, and there is every probability that this fine corps will soon receive the route. One field battery has also received similar notice, and tlos 4th Light Dragoons (with the exception of two troops which remain at camp for exercise in the new riding-schoOls) are to march to Colchester. To replace these troops the Royal Wiltshire Militia, mustering 800 rank and file, are under orders to proceed to camp from Devizes on Monday and Tuesday next, and a still further augmentation will take place in the following week by the arrival of the Royal Southdawn Militia, 800 strong, which has also received the route for Aldershot. These are the only Militia corps which up to the present have actually been ordered to join the camp, but it is expected that one or tvi o more militia regiments will be added in the course of the ensuing month, together with the 4th Battalion of Rifles, which is being raised and now at Win chester, mustering between 300 and 400 strong. These important additions will raise the effective force at the camp 'to from 8,000 to 10,000 men, at which strength it will be kept throughout the winter. The other regiments of militia at pre sent called into service in England and Ireland will, it is anticipated, be distributed among the various garrison towns, which in many cases are either wholly without a garrison or only held by two or three companies of a regiment. A very general impression also prevails that early in spring some of the militia will be asked to volunteer for garrison duty at Malta, Corfu, and other places. The latter contingency, however, is supposed to depend upon the, progress made in recruiting for the line, which, according to the most reliable ac counts, is not going on as well as could be wished among the desirable classes. Proficiency in the use of the Enfield and Minie rifles is still most assiduously cultivated at Aldershot, and the men practise at the targets during the greater part of the day. Every fortnight, also, a company of one of the regiments of Guards comes down to camp for the same purpose, and, after two weeks' inces sant practice and instruction, is in turn relieved by another.• This practice, with parade evolutions and shot and shell practice, is likely to form the staple of camp drill. Some fatal accidents have recently occurred at camp. During the evolutions of a field-d ty, when some guns were being dragged up the steep accli vity which leads to Caesar's Camp, one of them un fortunately overturned, killing two men and three horses. On Monday last, also, while Capt. Brand ling's troop of Horse Artillery was out for rocket practice, one of the tubes burst, and drove a large piece of metal through the chest of a serjeant of artillery, killing him instantaneously. An inquest was held at the camp onThursday, which, of course, resulted in a verdict of accidental death, and yesterday the poor fellow was buried with the usual military honours. He was a young man who was remarked even among the non-commis sioned officers for steadiness and good conduct. He served throughout the whole of the Crimean cam paign without being wounded, and had only been married three months before the melancholy acei'' dent eccurre I. Au a cc id en t o f a very s i ngu l ar description, but which for t unately was not attended with fatal results, also took place at camp a short time since. Some dense clouds, heavily charged with electricity, were passing across the north camp at a short distance from the ground. On the brow of the hill over which the electric telegraph from head-quarters passes the wires exercised suffi cient influence to draw down a short flash, which of course instantly passed along the telegraph te head quartets, whe:e a clerk was in the ace of sending a message to Lond on . Th e c l er k rece i ve d a mos t violent shock, th oug h f ortunate l y not so severe as might have been anticipated from such a mass of natural electrecity. He was, lea atever, thrown to the ground stunned, and his face scorched and blackened ; at the same time all the dials of the telegraph apparatus in the office were destroyed and blackened, and the needles de inagneisel Apropos of the telegraph, we may mention that in c ise the camp authorities should want to use it this winter it would be as well to cut away the boughs of trees which rest upon it in numberless places along the road to the Farnborough station. Unless this is done and done effectually, the n"xt message from the War-office on " pipeclay H. K. No. 74,563" may be conveyed to the "listening earth," but most assuredly that important communication will never be conducted to Aldershot. REWARD OF HONESTY.—A poor, hard-working man, to be found daily in the neighbourhood of Castle-equare in the hope of gaining any little ernpllyment, picked up o n Tuesday morning a valuable gold watch and chain. Soon after the owner, a gentleman from Fottingdear, having discovered his loss, retraced his step?, and having regained his watch, nettrotrtly preger,ted the poor man with a soc e !—Er:ghton. , Gazette. [ADVESTISRM&NT.I 0 1 10way'r antment and P Ils.— By the j >i .t action of these two inestimable specifics all cutaneous eruptions are quickly banished from the sy— tern, the worst description of wounds or ulcers are easily eradicated, the inorbific matter whic!s nature finds inju rious to her! iS"thipwn out, and a thoroughly healthy state of the Mood and fluids is the result, restoring a sound mind and body to sufferer?, alter other trealluent has Leen found ineffectual, in many cases savint surrical dperations, and even life itself, by their mi raculous powr.—Sold tsyall Medicine vendoratbr.,ughout the world, at Pr?fessor ktolloway's estabishment,, Strand, Londori,i-and - 80,' MaiilerAane, N ew Y or k ; A. Scamps, Consttntinopla, A. Cr' uidicy, Smyrna ; an-d E. Muir, Malta, Country Markets, DALKEITH GRAIN MARKET—Ocr. 8. Qrs. Best. Current. Infei i o r 363 Wheat "5s Od 1022 Oats '33s Od. 2ls B.ld 214 Od 788 Barley 43s Cd 34s Ord, 24 Od 20 Peas & beans 51s Od 413 3id 32s Od HADDINGTON GRAIN MARKET—OCT. 9. WEIEAY. BARLEY i OATS. I BEAM First 723 Od 43s Od 33s Od IMA Od Second Ors ld 37s 9d i 31s 9d i 483 G'l Third 37s Od 24s Od 1 233 Gcl 40 Od _ - - Total quantity of wheat in market, 536 qrs., 492 sold It to barley „ 516 qrs . , 494 sold oats ,; 228 qrs., 228 sold beans I, 45 qrs., 30 so ld AVERAGES PER IMPIRTAL QUARTER. Wheat, 2/. 15 2 9.l2ths 1 Barley, ll. 17 9 o.l2tha Oat», ... 11. 11 9 11-12ths 1 Beans, 21. 8 6 9-12t1 a SI , 11 , Pl ABERDEEN—Ocr. 9. Potato oats 24s Od to 25s Od 1401bs per 1 - Common oats 21s Cd to 23s 63 Bere 308 Od to 3 .8 Od 1.-- wins Barley 30 8 Od t o 31 s Od , Wheat, red(spring)37 B Od t o 40 s Od 1 621 b ) , wlrte 3 58 Od t o tO s Od 3 " Oatmeal 18s 3d to 19e Od per boll. , Flow 42s Od t 0,433 Od per sack. PROVISION MARKET. Beef, per lb Gd to 9d I Butter, p lb. i s 3d t o 1 s 4d Mutton, per_lb . Ed to 9d Eggs, p doz. Qs 9,1 to 09 11 . 1 Lamb, do., Os 641 to Of, 9d i Hens, p pair 3s Od to 3s 61. Veal, por lb ... 6d to Os 9d Chickces,do. is Gd to 2. 01 Pork, per1b...03 Od to Os Od Ducks, do., Os Od to 2.1 Oil Salmon, per lb .... ..... Os Od Ducklings,do Os Od to 2s 01 Grouse, per brace.., 03 to Os Turkeys, each Os Od to 04 01 Tallow, p stone, Os to —s 01 Potatoes, pr pock, Od to 101 Rabbits, each Od to Od. Butter for exportation (present cure) per cwt. 1088 to 112 s Eggs, wholesale price, per dozen RETAIL PRICES. Od to 2s 4d I Barley flour,l4lb.Os t o 2 s 01 Oatmeal Os Od to is lld „ dust, ..... Os to Os 10d Bereineal ....Os Od to is 8d I , per lb 2d to 20 Peasemeal... Os Od to 2s 4d Sid ' s, 7d Cheese, per imperial stone, 41. Od. to 4s 6d 4-Ib. 10af...8d. 12-Ib. 10af...4d. DUBLIN ; OCT. 9. We had a dull market at our corn exchange today, without any alteration in the currencies of Tuesday. In Indian corn little doing. White wheat, 31s Od to 33s Od ; red ditto, 29s Od to 31s o",t ; ditto new, :?,0s G 1; barley, malting, 17s 6d to 225; grind ing, —s to —s ; oats, old, 15s 6d to 18s; ditto, new, 120 6 , 1 to 14s Gd ; oatmeal, 15s Od to 178; hero, new, 15s to 16s 6d ; rapeseed, 23s Gd to 30 s Od per brl ; bakers flour, 185 Gd to 24s Gd per cwt; Indian corn, 35s 04 to 38i Od per 480 lbs. THE MAN KILLED oN THE EASTERN COUNTIES RAIL WAY.—INQUEST.—On Saturday an inquest was held on the body of a man unknown, who was run over and killed by a train on the Eastern Counties Railway on Wednesday night last. The particulars of the case have alret.dy appeared in our paper. The body of the deceased has not yet been identified. The following description of the deceased has been circulated by the pace -5 feet 6 inches in height, complexion fan., hair light, drab moire antique waistcoat, Oxford mixture trowsers of a grey colour, slight built, wore a truss, and was about 30 years of age. A verdict of accidental death was returned. BIRTHS, OP A sox • • On the 9th inst., at Brighton, the wife of James Beau• mont, Esq. On the 9th inst., at Canterbury Villas, Brixton, the wife of Mr. F. Wyatt Truscott. A DAIIGUTBRa l iOn the 9th inst., at 13, Camden-road Villas, th e w i fe of ltobt. Chas. Croft, Esq., M.R.C.S. On the 10th inst., at 13alhain-hill, the wife of the ROT. Alfred J. Carver, of St. Paul's School. MA n lIIED. ! t r a ti r nh l c e eh f aJohnson,rn, same time near m e B faa q nnl of . On the Bth inst. , at the p aria h church, Blackley, nea r. Manchester, Mr. Th omas J . W hite, of Milk-st ree t, L on• don, to w op e u l a d sre e k, s e t ßr :1 1 a a k g s ig h e. t y e , ; r of o a f I place,zhe SorW, W . H eie o . , Ellen, d a ughter o f M r. Arnold White, Bury, near uthampton. Yea eATnrenH - DIED On the 9th inst., at Trowsell House, Gondburst, Mrs. Pope, aged 90. On the 6th inst., at Margate, William Henry Younger, Esq., of 27, St. James's-square, Loudon, aged 67. On th3Btb inst., Robert Smith, Esq., of Regent's-park terrace, and Furnival's-inn, solicitor, aged 37. On the 7th inst., at Dover, 'Walter Henry Light, Esq., aged 3 t. On the 7th inst., at Heigham, Norwich, 'Francis Gawp Hamilton, Esq., aged 62. On the 6th lust., at James's-place, Hammersmith-road, Louis Holbeck, Esq., aged CB. Drowned, accidentally, in the Ganges, on July 11, in escaping from Futtygurh, Brevet-Major Johnson Phillott, 10th NJ., eldest son of Johnson Phillott, Esq., of Here ford, aged 47. LONDON : Printed and Published by 3113/3.1)0 YOUNG of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at 77ts Sun Office, No. 112, Strand, in t},o Precinct of the Savoy, in the county of Middlesex, Monday, October 12, 1357,, r ~'`