The Sun. — London, England, 1847-05-20 00:00:00

st. lb. 7 6 7 5 7 4 7 0 6 13 6 8 6 5 6 3 a th• lent „„ "- Bibl e I° st 6 - lb ' I° 4 6 6 7 6 ? 6 7 g 6 U 6 '5 6 0 " 5 3 5 2 it 1314 00' B t . lb. 6 8 „ 6 f 6 6 6 6 • 6 2 ▪ 5 10 5 6 ... 5 6 5 6 . 5 6 ... 5 6 5 3 5 3 LOl lO ). st. lb' rri 6 ii 6 10 6 9 3 6 1 5 6 6 •• 0 • 6 5 • 5 ;0 " 1 n, 5 5 41 3 4 10 lg it . 11, . 9 rs 6 6 6 •• g 4 6 4 ** I r 5 5 5 45 10 evevia aqus ti° by D r ' k . EY ° , i ' b eigb '1 LITERATURE. ADVENTURES OF THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS. 2 Vols. By Wihiam Grattan. Little if anything could be desired with reference to the victorious campaigns of the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula after the masterly vo%imes of Napier. Of a purely historical character nothin , indeed is requi. site after the works that have already been published, but of the anecdotal adventures, of the hair-breadth escapes, and the personal rencontres of that stormy epoch much—very much—remained unchronicled. Mr. Grattan had done well towards the filling up of the hiatus. As Lieutenant of the Connaught Rangers during the days when that valorous regiment was ac quiring its chief renown and covering itself with im perishable glory, he is in a peculiar manner entitled to command our attention when speaking of the military achievements of a body of men whose bravery, and ardour, and audacity, and perseverance, and success have imparted to them the distill. guised title of the Fighting .Eighty Eighth. But Mr. Grattan is no dry didactic narrator of events. lie can describe a siege or a pitched battle with all the pre cision of a Napier and all the minuteness of a Sihorne, if not with the eloquence of a Gibbon or the enthusiasm of a Tacitus. Beyond this, he tells an anecdote with the gusto of Harry Lorrequer—proving himself to be a rare companion over a dish of walnuts and a flask of Madeira. There is an unction, too, about his humorous Passages that irresistibly tickles one into laughter. And all the advantages are "set off" by a winning modesty as regards his own personal movements, and a delightful and unaffected bonhommie. Where, moreover, could a soldier find at fairer field for discursive chat than the peninsula of Iberia and Lusitania, when the marshals of the Emperor Napoleon and the generals of England were contending for the mastery amidst a fruitful vegetation, a delicious climate, and a distracted people ? And where could the lovers of military adventure look for incident, for merriment, for daring, for vicissitude, and for a very forgiveabla rascality, if not to the Con naught Rangers—the Boys—the Fighting Eighty-Eighth? Surely nowhere. Mr. Grattan has chosen a glorious theme, and he has treated it gloriously. The book, though rambling and discursive to an inordinate extent, is enthralling from page 1 to page 675. As Phia-like illustrations to Napier's Peninsular History, these chapters are excellent and invaluable. They testify in a brilliant manner to the indomitable courage, the un repining endurance, and the national peculiarities of the British troops ; but, like the descriptions of all battle grounds, they arc mournful in their very pleasantry, and ghastly .in their very facetiousness. We hanour Mr. Grattan, especially because he shows here and there throughout his volumes that there is a tender core to his Heart of Oak that he has a bosom to feel for the suffering as well as to bear the brunt of the bayonet—that he can, in no maudlin tones of affectation, but with a manly candour and explicitness, lament over the desolations and woes of war as well as exult over its glory and its heroism. In this respect he effects a sort of compromise between Captain Pea and Captain Sword. As a specimen of the drolleries con tained in these adventures, we extract the following characteristic remarks upon Wellington from the lips of a Connaught Ranger with the felicitous name of Paddy Airy : _ " Well!' said he, 'now ids all past and gone, and wasn't it the divil's own dthroll business, the taking that same place; and wasn't Long-nose (meaning the Duke of Wellington) a sure lad to sthrive to get into it, seeing how it was detinded! But what else could he do, afther all ? didn't he recave ordhers to do it ; and didn't he say to us all, Boys,' says he, i ds myself that's sorry to throuble yees upon this dirty .errand;' but we must do it, for all that; and iv yees can get in to it, by hook or by crook, be the powers, id 'ill be the Making ov yees all—and ov me too!' and didn't he spake the thruth Sure,' says he, did I ever tell yees a lie, or spake a word to yees that wasn't as thrue as the Gospil ? and, iv yees folly my directions, there's nothin can bate 11 "?' And sure, afther we got in, was he like the rest, !thriving to put us out before we diverted ourselves? Not be, faith. It was he that spoke to the ' boys' decently. Well, boys,' says he, when he met myself and a few more airing a house ov a thrifle, ' well, boys,' say , he (for he knew the button), God bless your work ! ids myself that's proud to think how completely yees tuck the concate cut uv the Frinch 88th, in the "castel last night.' Why sir,' says I (forgettin to call him my Lord), the divil a Frinch Connaught Ranger ever was horn that the Irish Connaught „ e Rangers isn't able to take the concate out ov;' and ids what a said upon the same, splitting his sides with laffin, that it :elaa thrue for me there wasn't; and blur.an-ouns, boys, aint he the man to stand by? Don't he take the rough and the s mooth with us, and wouldn't it be a pity not to give him dew? don't he expose himself to the wet and the cowld with us, lie out on the grass at night, like any other baste? 7 aint he afthur kicking the French before him, just as _w_ d kick an old foot-ball? Be the powers, whin I see him _Trai . n next or nigh me, my heart gets so big that my body t tu_ big enough to hould it, and it jumps up chine into tny w i Taf---to get room! And don't think that I'm romancin, pra c. l tell yees how he said we tuck the concate out ov the "a h 88th; he said every word ov it, and more too—iv I could repate it in his own words.' replied Cornet' Fagan, what you say is par sfacu:tlay W th hy ' rue ; we ought to stand by him—and didn't we? as 'e thine; remember how Mlsther Mackie ran up the laddher a lifsnl °le as a cat, and poor Misther Martin thought to do e to Ta, till he was kilt ! and didn't Captain Seton owe his whi n " t 3 being so thin that the French couldn't hit him? and lades e ejell thin? a man to direct as, and such officers to us on, and ith opinion of the capacity of their leader, thick and s w hu c i 1 what else can we do but folly them through h an aptitude fur fingering the trigger it is PA r l a u n ßing forward with the pike themselves, arms Ica difficult to comprehend how the British tagoni s t nle predominant over a dejected en ing th e an d estranged commanders. In review- Peni nsi c4 i/iPaigns of the Spanish and Portuguese W as ther; it must never be overlooked that England Strength enabled to concentrate all her militery upon those two countries while France was battling against the leagueret! arms of northern, eastern western, and southern Europe. A very mournful sub ject is brought under consideration in the present work, namely, the anomalous character of the immortal Picton. Though the conduct of that illustrious warrior Was certainly of a very questionable, if' not of an en' irely reprehensible, kind towards the 88th Regiment, it is cer tain that he has entitled himself to the respectful and lasting remembrance of his countrymen by his enter prizing life and his heroic death. Mr. Grattan speaks out boldly, and with apparent reason, upon that General's behaviour to his comrades. We cannot resist the feeling of antipathy we have, however,forthe . contemplationof these doubtful blemishes in the disposition of a popular hero like Picton. The hero of Sindo would have afforded him a very different notion of the care due to privates and subordinate officers—and so also would the hero of To desist, however, abruptly from this painful "Vic, here is a picture for the contemplation of those who taciee only the laurels and not the blood, who hear only triumphal symphonies and not the shrieks and blasphemies,th__. who note only the bauble medals, and not telling i . 41) mused victims of the battle-field and the pillaged It is an incident thus mentioned by the author in about the terrific storm of Ciudad Rodrigo:— "During a contest of such a nature, kept up in the night, supposed, much was of necessity left to the guid ance the subordinate officers, if not to the soldiers them ma'ritnser Each affray in the streets was conducted in the best Pers enal the moment would admit of, and decided more by lie ,. valour than discipline, and in some instances officers " as privates had to combat with the imperial troops. one of these encounters, Lieutenant George Faris, of the . ki nd, an accident so likely to occur in an affair of this ine p t separated a little too far from a dozen or so of his regi reatix fo und himself opposed to a French solc'ier who appa kid it w . as similarly placedwas a curious coincidence, reps e , e nuld seem as if each ;—it felt that he individually was the t ntative of the country to which he belonged; and had I li a rn fate„ :the two nations hung upon the issue of the combat e nntes `. o _ tto describe, it could not have been more heroically th e t) ,e (l , • The Frenchman fired at, and wounded Faris in hi 3l Z;gu, and made a desperate push with his bayonet at at but Faris parried the thrust, and the bayonet only in his leg; he saw at a glance the paril,;of his situation, 04_that nothing short of a miracle could save him ;—the aci`iesn,,gainst him were too great, and if he continued a foal fight he tnust inevitably be vanquished ;he sprang ard, and seizing hold of the Frenchman by the collar, abtaturuggle of the most nervous kind took place; in their 4 : l l nd :I efforts to gain an advantage they lost their caps, they were men of nearly equal strength, it was doubt fuj the issue would be. They were so entangled with e ach other, th e i r wea pons were of no avail, but Faris at length disengaged himself from the grasp which held him, Lad he was able to use his sabre ; he pushed the French nian from him, and ere he could recover himself he laid his head open nearly to the chin ; his sword blade, a heavy, Soft, made Portuguese one, was doubled up with the force of the blow, and retained some pieces of the scull and clotted hair! At this moment I reached the spot with about twenty rnen, composed of different regiments, all being by this time Mixed pelf meal with each other. I ran up to Faris—he Was nearly exhausted, but he was safe. The French gre nadier lay upon the pavement, while Faris, though totter ing from fatigue, held his sword firmly in his grasp, and it was crimson to the hilt. The appearance of the two com batants was frightful !—one lying dead on the ground , the o ther faint from agitation and loss of blood ; but the soldiers 2" 1 3' applauded him, and the feeling uppermost with them :I,l.!that ou r man h a d th e best of it ! It was a shocking Z g_nt, but it wou ld b e rat h er a h azar d ous e xp e riment to begi n n moralising at such a moment and in such a place." oe a tr,te k r i s n . d of companion-story to this very ghastly in a hollo anecdote, eededs ,we give the following account of the execution "At • • eigh t (), clock the division was under arms, and formed was the wprseuare Marshal, dimensions •, in the centre of it arking was the accompanied by his followers, ceteraa fo r tn . ' spades, shovels, and all the necessary et the unfortun they ate out and forming the graves into which delinents were to be deposited as soon as flour received the last and most imposing of military ho sthat of beingafte few moments rwards, the rolling shot to death In pant aids' of the death of muffled drums—this usual accom • ndthe soldiers a l o hn guarded the risoa march—was h n ear in d The divi re_n_ beee ve d a death-like e 7il e e r n e c s e o° as the g prisoners defiled Wards the insideofwasturned to wards the the square ; every eye ratter, ttr ; but Mangin, from his well-known good cha sound of the an object of general solicitude. The solitary t he guard. muffled drums at last died away into silence- 7 Bonersdrew up in the centre of the square, and the pri from "ad, for the last time, a view of their companions th w hom they had deserted, and of their colours which index of orsaken ; but if their countenances were a just the ha had their they seemed to repent greatly the act their , hir "ramitted The three men of the 60th were in Wore th e , t3 ' as Was also Mangin, of the 88th, but Curtis in a l t ht. _ old red rag,' most likely from necessity, having, by no rn i f r ian Probability, no shirt to die in; a circumstance e n ans rare with the soldiers of the Peninsular army. and 'finndinecessary preliminaries, such as reading the crime, General g the sentence, had finished, when the Adjutant. inim,diaat:inounced the pardon granted to Mangin, who was la rear of 031. "Pd4cted away, and placed at a short distance where their e division; the rest staggered onward to the spot their graves had been dug, and having been placed on b anda , ,3 knee s , N their legs hanging over the edge of the grave, a then, withval tied over their eves; the Provost-Marshal c ocked, and a party of twenty musketeers, their firelocks Prisoners the recover, silently moved in front of the giving two reached to within five paces of them, and oth re • er to fire —the f ceive them four men fell into the pit prepared to n. The three Were near' Germans were dead—indeed they of their nerves was before they were fired at! And if the state p 0 p gtui would a criterion to go by, a moderate sized Qum have been aufficiently destructive to have THU: SUN, LONDON,j THURSDAY MORN_ING, MAY 20, 1847. finished their earthly career; but Curtis sprang up, and with one of his jaws shattered, and hanging down upon his breast, presented a horrid spectacle. Every one seemed to be electrified, the Provost-Marshal excerted ; he, I suppose, was well accustomed to such sights, for without any cere mony, he walked up to Curtis, and with the most perfect composure levelled a huge instrument (in size between a horse-pistol and blunderbuss) at his head, which blew it nearly off his shoulders, and he fell upon the bodies of the Germans without moving a muscle. "The ceremony over, the division defiled rourd the grave, and as each company passed it, the word Eyes right' was given by the officer in command, by which means every man had a clear view of the corpses as they lay in a heap. This is a good and wholesome practice, for nothing so much awakes in the mind of the soldier, endowed with proper feeling, the dishonour of committing an action which is almost certain to bring him to a disgraceful end, while it deters the bad man from doing that which will cost him all that he has to lose—for such persons have no character—his life. It was ten o'clock before the parade broke up, and we returned to our quarters, leaving to the Provost-Marshal and his guard the task of filling up the grave. Several Portu guese peasants crowded near the fatal spot, and so soon as all danger was past, they flocked to witness the interment, making, all the time, divers appeals to the Virgin Mary; but whether they were intended for the preservation of the souls departed, or their own bodies corporate, I neither knew nor inquired. " Mangin, the man who had received his pardon, was still in a state of stupor; after the lapse of an hour or so his captain went to see him ; but the shock he had received was too se vere; he had not nerve to bear up against it; he replied in an incoherent manner, soon fell asleep, and awoke an idiot ! Every effort that could be made by the medical men, and every assurance of favour from his captain, proved vain— he became a palpable, irreclaimable idiot, and shortly after wards died of convulsions." In justice to the officers and soldiers who partook in our Peninsular victories and campaigns, and whose services have been so long and shamefully unacknowledged, we transcribe two passages from these volumes. The Duke of Wellington would evince no little anxiety to ingra tiate posterity with his character did he but take a hint from what follows. The author has just mentioned Wellington's applications to the Duke of York and to Earl Bathurst respecting the Waterloo medals, when he proceeds — "Now, is there any disinterested man to be found who cannot, at a glance, discover the cause, the mainspring►, of this wonderful solicitude—this maiden effort of the Duke of Wellington, to obtain a badge of honour for his army, nine tenths of which he had never seen before that day, and who, as a matter of course, had never laid eyes on him ? Is it to be supposed that he who could, and did, quietly accept the immense riches, honours, and titles that were showered on him, and gained for him by the best blood of his Peninsular army, without once raising his voice in favour of a medal for his old and tried veterans,—his companions during six years' terrible war, and victorious in every battle 1 the men who had carried him, it may be truly said, on their very shoul ders, and placed him in the exalted position he now occupies ; is it, I say, to be supposed he felt, or could feel, any interest in an army that he had but just seen, and an army that had fought under his command for little more than as many hours as his Penin sular soldiers had fought for years, except for the gratifica tion of his own personal vanity? If not this—but who can doubt it ?—why did he write to the Duke of York on the subject? Why! because he had beaten the great man in person, and he was determined that Wellington' and ' Waterloo' should be banded about on the breast of his hundred thousand soldiers, more than a half of whom had never seen a shot fired before that day, and many of whom were not only not in the battle, but knew nothing about it for a day afterwards; yet all these men—absentees included —got a medal ! I therefore ask what interest—except to gratify his own ambition—could he take in this Waterloo army, or any other army the world could produce, when he forgot the services, and trampled under his feet the applica tion of an army that made him what he now is? But having written to the Duke of York, as his dispatches avow he did, why did he not say so in his reply to the Duke of Richmond ? Does he not, in point of fact, deny in his speech that which we have, printed by his own authority, in his book of dis patches? and his assertion that since the battle of Waterloo 'not a shot has been tired in Europe' is perfectly contemptible when adduced as a reason for granting a medal for that battle, and refusing one for the Peninsula. Why has there not been a shot (an hostile one we presume the Duke meant) fired in Europe since then? Because Napoleon was properly secured after Waterloo, and had he been so secured after Toulouse Waterloo would never have been fought. But how did the Duke of Wellington know (for I put the good and amiable Duke of York out of the question, as also the Ministers), that there would be no more fighting in Europe? He knew not, nor could he know any such thing; but in a few months after his beating Napoleon (this was the hobby !) we find his Waterloo army with their medals dangling at their breasts." " Had the Duke told the House of Lords," he continues, " and told the army that he had suggested to the Duke of York the expediency of granting this medal to his Waterloo army, he would have told that which a great number of people had never heard before; and he might have added, with the most perfect safety, that if be had asked the same favour for his Peninsular army, it would have been as freely granted as his Waterloo suggestion,—and, his Peninsular army will add for him, that it would be granted even now but for the heartless opposition he gives it. But the whole secret has been already told : Napoleon, the greatest general of this, or perhaps of any other age, was beaten in person; and it would seem that this all-absorbing thought haunted the Duke of Wellington so early as the night of the battle, for Captain Sherer tells us, in his history, that on the night of the battle, when at supper, Wellington re peatedly leaned back in his chair. and, rubbing his hands convulsively, exclaimed aloud—" Thank God I have met him! thank God I have met him."' How different were Nelson's meek but fervid words after his great victory at Trafalgar ! The dying hero's last words were—' I thank God I have done my duty —I hope my country will be satis fiel that I have done my duty But the Duke of Welling ton, according to Captain Sherer, was thinking much more of himself and his beaten adversary than of his country. However, he did not forget his army, for, as has been seen, in ten days after the battle, he begged leave to suggest' (in plain English, he asked the Duke of York to give the medal, ar:d it was given,) the expediency of giving this medal to his army." Mr. Grattan records a multitude of the most inte resting and diversified adventures, savouring sometimes of the romantic, sometimes of the horrible, and always of the remarkable. We scarcely know whether to him the flavour of mulled wines, the smell of gunpowder, the stein of the green herbage, the vermillion lips of a donna, the elastic amble of a horse, or the cheers and rush of a forlorn hope are preferable. Everywhere and in everything he finds matter for disquisition, and he either "points" an episode with an Irish witticism, or •" colours" it, with an English pleasantry. As a decoction of all sorts of ad venture Mr. Grattan has imparted the raciest taste imaginable to the outpourings of his memory ; and he has nobly fulfilled a duty incumbent upon an officer who oan write so well—a duty honourable to his soldier's heart and his soldier's intellect. PRIVATE BILLS-HOUSE OF LORDS. The following important resolutions were on Saturday issued in a printed form, by order of the Lords, xelative to private Bills and business of the House :- 1. 'That the amount of private Bills yearly b rought into Parlia•nent has been continually increasing till the consideration of them has come to form a large propor tion of the business transacted each session, mare than two hundred in one session having sometimes been passed, construction of railways sthrownoutat has var t various stages. 2 . i h a a t n 11 further and more rapidly increased this amount , F 0 Ow the ave raged m the any others of private and local and personal Acts passed dur the three sessions 1840, 1841, 1842, having 'aeon 1 7 8 , there were 171 Railway Bill; brought in durinT the ses sion' 1845, besides common private Bills; and during the present session there have been 212 other Bills and 482 Railway Bills; and in the session of 1845, 241 private Acts were passed, containing 43,624 sections or schedules besides bills brought in and thrown out at different stages. 3. That such private Bills have dealt with an immense amount of property, and with the most important rights and interests of the community. 4. That most of such Bills give the power or com pelling landowners and other proprietors to part ss ith their property, or otherwise suffer it to be interfitred with; many of them inflict great hardships on i adi viduala ; and all of them suspend or abrogate the of the land in particular instances and for special purposes. All of them, therefore, authorise the doing of acts wholly illegal by the ordinary course of the common and statute law, and most of them authorise acts to bo done wholly inconsistent with all natural right. 5. That while the most trifling question arising be tween parties on the state of disputed facts, or the appli cation of known laws to these facts, must in this, and indeed in every country enjoying the blessings of regular Governments, come before tribunals qualified by the learning, skill, and experience of the judges com posing them to deal with such comparatively easy questions, the oftentimes much more import ant and much more difficult questions raised by the consideration of private Bills only come before Commit tees of both Houses, on which professional and ex perienced men hardly ever sit, and which are wholly composed of persons who can have no experience to guide them, inasmuch as each can only sit on one or two cases in the course of a session. 6. That the individual responsibility of the judges who compose the ordinary tribunals of this and all well governed states affords a security eminently necessary for enforcing the due administration of justice, and for giving the community full confidence in their decisions—a security held to be necessary, altheugh it is much more difficult for a judge deal ing with the known and fixed rules of the law to swerve from his duty and pervert the law to the purposes of injustice, than it is for men who are called upon to decide on the provisions of a Bill professedly creating exceptions to th e l aw f or part i cu l ar purposes , an d arbi trarily dealin g with rights according to no known and fixed rules or principles whatsoever. 7. That in Committees of the two Houses, and dealing with interests oftentimes incomparably more important than ever come before Courts of Justice, the Members, guided by no fixed rules, changed in each case, un know to the community, not acting in the eyes either of a watchful public or a jealous profession, wit almost wholly without any individual responsibility; nor can be I prevented, as judges are, at least in this country, from privately seeing psrties behind each others' backs, and proceeding upon information, and listening to reasons, and yielding to motives of a private and personal nature. 8. That the great and increasing mass of private Bill business renders it still more difficult for the two Houses of Parliament to transact such business in a manner at all satisfactory, and that the attempt to transact it proves highly prejudicial to the general political and legislative business of the country. 9. That the delay, vexation, and expense unavoidable in the present mode of transacting or endeavouring to transact such private business lays a heavy burden upon the parties applying for private Acts, and on the parties opposing them. _ . 10. That it is nevertheless inexpedient, in a constitu tional point of view, for Parliament, or either of the !louses thereof, to abdicate its functions and privileges in respect of private legislation ; but, on the contrary, that both the Houses ought jealously to retain their un doubted power of deciding upon every proposed enact ment, and of assenting to or dissenting from such pro posal. 11. That it is highly expedient that the said Houses should obtain the aid of some other tribunal, which may enable them to transact the private Bill business, both more exped►tiou>ly, more economically, and more satis factorily, without at all infringing upon the undoubted privileges of Parliament, or parting at all with the con trol of each House over each enactment. 12. That, with this view, it is expedient to form a Court or Board apart from and independent of the High Court of Parliament, except as regards the removal of its members by a joint address of both Houses. 13. That this Court or Board should consist of five Members appointed by the Crown, and SD paid for their services that the Crown may always obtain the aid of the most respectable members of the legal profession in constituting such Board. 14. That until it be seen how far the said number of commissioners may suffice, or may prove too great, it is expedient, in the first instance, to appoint as two of the members of such Court or Board either Masters in Chancery or Commissioners of Bankruptcy, in order that, if it be found possible, the three permanently ap pointed should continue alone to cause an expense to the country. 15. That each House, upon receiving any Bill, and giving it a first reading, may refer it to the Court before whom parties shall be heard, and which shall have the powers of a Court of Record with respect to oaths, process, and commitment, and the power of deciding all questions of law subject to an opinion of one of the Four Courts of Westminster Hall, in case it shall think fit, and of calling in the aid of a jury on any disputed fact, provided both pa:ties shall agree in asking such issue, and provided the Court shall think fit to grant it. 16. That each member of the Court shall have power to try all matters, and go through the whole considera tion of any Bill, so as aforesaid referred by tither House of Parliament, and to reserve, if either party require it, and he think fit, any question for the opinion of the whole Court, three whereof to be a quorum for this purpose, including the referring member of the Court ; and that any question being raised on receiving or re jecting evidence, such member may proceed to dispose of it himself, saving, if he think fit, the objection, as above provided, for the opinion of the Court. 17. That juries, if an issue be required and allowed as aforesaid, shall be taken from the special jury lists for the county of Middlesex, in such manner and subject to such challenge as in matters before the three Courts of Law of Westminster Hall. _ _ _ IS. That each member of the Board or Court shall have the power of giving costs to or against any party at his discretion, and that no review of his order on this matter shall be permitted. 19. That each member of the said Board or Court shall, at his discretion, and with the consent of all parties, issue a commission for the purpose of taking evidence as to any disputed matter of fact involved in any Bill brought before such member, and that the whole expense of such commission shall be defrayed by the parties, under the direction of the member aforesaid. 20. That the Bill, having been fully examined by such Court, or any member thereof, shall be reported to the House of Parliament by which it had been referred, together with such alterations or additions as may have been determined upon as just, fitting, or expedient ; and that the said House shall then proceed with the conside ration of the Bill so reported, and deal with it as such House shall think fit, either adopting the report, or re jecting it, or varying it, as to the wisdom of such House shall seem meet. 21. That the only stage to be omitted by such House on passing such reported Bill shall be the committee and the report. h eithera t i f m a ni n sye,piatrtT shallsh a b l e l oppose inthe p s o u w c e h r roefp.tohretsidi House before before which such opposition shall be offered to award the costs of resisting such opposition, to be paid by such op posing 2 3. Thatparty ft t , o h t a t i t i e other be aw p fu w i rr r o t r ho parties. co ur Court or Board, b y a majority of the members, to make rules and regula tions for its proceedings, a copy whereof shall be laid be fore both Houses ofrerliament, within one week after thei r being framed, or, if in vacation time, within one week after the commencement of the ensuing session, and that such rules and regulations shall bo deemed and taken to be valid for guiding its proce-dings, unless either House of Parliament shall make any res,lution against them or any part thereof, which resolution shall be imperative on the said Court or Board, and new rules shall be made by it in compliance with such resolution ; the new rules to be laid before both Houses, as before, within one week after they are framed; and these new rules shall be valid to regulate the proceedings of the said Court or Board, unless and until a resolution of the other House shall disapprove thereof in whole or in part. 24. That the Court or Board shall have the requisite number of registers and clerks ti assist its members, under the superintendence of the Lcrds Commissioners of the Treasury. SALE OF THE METROPOLIS ROADS.—On Tuesday the annual sale by auction of the metropolis roads, north of the Thames, took place before the Commissioners of Turnpi ke Roads, at ieir office, No. 2, Whitehall-place, the Earl of Lonsdale in the chair, when there was a full attendance of lessees, from all parts of the country. They were to be let from the Ist of July next, for the term of one year, subject to such conditions as the Commissioners produced at the meeting, one month being paid in advance of the rent crotch lot, as a deposit. The following are the prices which the several lots fetched :—The Tyburn and Uxbridge-roads, put up at 8,5101., were sold for 8,5501.; the Kilburn and Edg ware-roads, offered at 3,263/. 17s. 6d., bought for 3,2731. 17s. 6d. ; the llighgate and Hampstead-roads knocked down for 17,540/., the sum asked was 17,5301., and one bar to be taken off; the City-road, the price demanded 3,050/., disposed of for 3,060/. ' • the Hackney and Lea-bridge -roads purchased for 5,720/., and 5,710/. was the sum named by the Commis sioners. The following were among the lots, but there was no offer for them :—The Kensington, Brentford, and lsleworth roads, 16,170/., being the Commissioners' price; the Stam ford-hill, upper and lower division, the Green Lanes and Seven Sisters- roads, the sum proposed for them being 10,200/.; and the harrow-roads, the tolls of which the Noble Chairman said, in consequence of certain circumstances which had come under the notice of the Commissioners, would be re duced one-half, and which were valued at 1,110/. The lots were bought by Mr. Levy, and there was competition but for one of them We have much pleasure in stating that Lord Clarendon has been prevailed upon to accept the Lord- Lieutenancy of Ireland, vacant by the lamented decease of Lord Besborough. It is rumoured that lie will be succeeded as President of the Board of Trade by Mr. Labouchere, at present Secretary for Ireland. Lord Clarendon will be for mally appointed at the Council to be held at Buckingham Palace to-morrow.—Times. - ARE THE COLONIES WORTHY OF REPRESENTATIOv, BY DELEGATES TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ? (From the Australian Journal.) The talented and benevolent Cowper, in one of his poems, gives vent to his amiable feelings in behalf of his native country, in describing her defects, in these words, " 0 England ! with all thy faults I love thee still !" If England were worthy of this eulogy at such a time, how much more worthy is she in the present day of such a testimony, after having passed such laws as the Slavery Emancipation Bill, with its self imposed fine, for former injustice, of twenty millions sterling ; the Catholic Emancipation Bill ; the aboli tion of the Test Act Bill; the Reform Bill ; the Irish Education Bill ; the Irish Colleges Bill ; and last, but not least, the Corn-law Abolition Bill ? Look 'gain at its magnanimous forbearance towards insult ing France, domineering America, and towards the prostrate conquered city of Lahore ! Conduct like this, a series of magnificent legis lative and executive Acts like these have not been known before in any land. They are acts perfectly novel in the history of Governments, either ancient or modern. And they encourage us to hope that justice, in an important point, will yet be done to the colo nies of England, as the Irish nation are at last calling for the same with a prospect of success ; which call, nevertheless, seven years ago, only created derision ; just as seven years ago the "League," on its first germination, was met with reproaches and ridicule by the landed interest of England, a majority of which has, however, now granted almost all that was asked, and more than the League expected. Why then shall it be thought a wild project to pro pose to form a "League" of the Legislatures of all the British colonies, and presenting a petition en masse, signed by the Speakers of each respectively, and to be presented to Parliament by a well-selected member in each House, with another, of similar im port, to the Queen ? Or why should not a separate petition be passed by each Legislature, and being signed by its Speaker, sent to London, to arrive there in the same month (the month to be previously agreed upon, say January, 1848 or 1849, to meet the new Parliament, which will be more " liberal" than the last), each Legislature appointing its own favourite members to present their petitions, but requesting them to act in conjunction with the others so far, as that the petitions may all be presented on the same day. But what should be the prayer of these petitions ? We answer, that the House of Commons shall alter the constitution, as it did in passing the Reform ail!, by admitting to its councils henceforth as many members, to be elected, not by the legislatures of the colonies, but by the elective constituencies of the co lonies, as the latter may have chosen to represent them in the lower branch of the British Legislature. There are in the Southern Hemisphere eight colo nies, which require a voice in the House of Commons, viz., Ceylon, Singapore, Hong-Kong, New South Wales, South Australia, Port Philip, Van Diemen's Land, and New Zealand. There are many islands in the West Indies ; the smaller might be joined in twos and threes if too small to claim a whole member to themselves. Jamaica and Barbadoes should be al lowed to send two each, and Canada four. Then there are the other North-American colonies. In all, we imagine it would require an addition to the House of Commons of some forty Members. But first let us inquire, as far as the Home Govern ment is concerned, and the House of Commons itself, as to the inconvenience such a change in the Constitu tion of the United Kingdom might bring with it to the Imperial Government : 1. It will be said, that the Irish Members are al ready a faction, a tail of Mr. O'Connell, which is continually embarrassing the Government, and ob structing the passage through Parliament of useful measures ; and that the colonial tail, thus proposed to be introduced, will add to this inconvenience. 2. That it is a change in the Constitution not justi fied by its importance, like the Catholic Emancipa tion Bill, the Slavery Emancipation Bill, the Corn law Bill, ice. &c. 3. That the present large number of Members of which the House of Commons consists has long been found inconvenient to the dispatch of business ; and that the addition of some forty Members would render the carrying on the national business as intolerable as Dr. Reid's new ventilating apparatus is found, in February and March, to be destructive to the comfort and health of all Members except those of an iron constitution, like Colonel Sibthorp and Sir James Graham in the Lower House, and the " iron" Duke in the Upper, who fortifies himself against Dr. Reid's terrible set of bellows by taking a cold bath all through the previous winter. To these objections we shall only give one general answer. That a religious tail, backed by the reli gious world of England, produced the Slavery Eman cipation Bill ; that the Radical tail, backed by the people of England, produced the Reform Bill; that an Irish tail, backed by the Repeal Association, pro duced the Catholic Emancipation Bill and the Irish Colleges Bill, &c. ; and that, last of all, the Man chester, and Birmingham, and Glasgow tail, backed by tha merchants, manufacturers, and shopkeepers of England and Scotland, produced the abolition of the corn-laws. Now we do not dispute the very if ab it le great inconvenien ce that Ministers, one set after another, w ere pu t t o b e f o r e they pr o p ose d these measures, an d a l so a ft er th e y pr o p ose d th em . e os But we have thi s apo l ogy to ma k e f or suc h inconve nience,that had not , previously nenxiisstteerds, could d ld th n a n t to an cinsufferable longer stand it, any more t h an t h e un j ust j u d ge cou ld bear the boring applications of the poor widow, none of these laws would have been passed ; and we should stil be jogging on in the cen u good old system of the seven teenth and eighteens') t • lries—name y, with C atholic slavery, Negro slavery, Iri▪ sh local oppression and educational darkness, rotten boroughs, and some hundreds of protect'v ness, duties in addition to the mother of them all, the dear l bread e protective duty. Therefore we argue,that as the i▪ nconvenience suf fered by D 7 misters by the House, however annoy ing and repulsive to the good old prejudices of 1601 and 1701, have nevertheless terminated in measures which are c ons id ered at this present moment, now that they are th e l aw of the land, e and, the glory of England, and the admir a ti on of surrounding nations; besides preserving that transcendent blessing, peace—peace with France and America, never perhaps to be dis turbed more : so are justifiedwe eae l e n sayinga d prophesying, that the increasedpopulation, prosperity, content, an d loyalty of t) the British colo nies, in both hemispheres, are likely to be so much increased by the proposal of a " colonial" tail of some forty Members, and that solely through the inconve nience which its talkative propensities, alias informa tion, will bring to the House of Commons as at pre sent constituted, that it is worth while to put up with the new " tail" we propose. Laughter and tears are not incompatible with each other. Whoever reads the debates in Parliament when the Australian colonies are before it, if the subject be a vital one (such as the abolition of trans portation, or the raising the price of waste land), or peruses the evidence of those roving colonists and others taken upon these and other deeply-important subjects, will be apt to burst out into tears, and then laughter; and in another minute into laughter and then tears. Such is the fatal nature of the twaddle, the gross ignorance, the venal misrepresentation with which these debates and this evidence too often teem. But still the Cabinet of London will say, "No doubt some little inconvenience to the colonies arises from these mistakes; but for us to be bored by the speeches of forty new colonial orators, fresh front Jamaica, Que bec, and Botany Bay, would bei9tolerahle. No. We must go on in the old way. The wisdom of our ancestors never tolerated such an innovation on the privileges and conveniences of this House. One of these con veniences is, and that not a little one, that at the end of a weary, worrying session, Ministers can dispatch colonial affairs by the aid of a few honest whippers-in, whom we can keep in town for the express purpose. We used to treat Ireland in this comfortable way, and what is the consequence of the new movement in its favour ? Why, that presently we shall have to com mence in December, and sit to September. And if we admit fifty new colonial orators, we shall po s iti ve l y have to sit all the ye ar roun d ! NO, it won't do. The colonies must be contented with our doing the best we can for them with our present muchiuery." Such will be the answer not doubt of Lord Melborne, Sir It, Peel, Lord J. Russell, Earl Grey, or Lord Stanley, whenever our prop osal shall be rnade to th em. F or it will be, and that be fore ten years are gone over n our aa heads, though we see no objecti on t o set about organ ising a " League ' of Coloni a l L egislatures at the prese nt moment. It may be beg un b y our Sydney Legislative Coun cil a pp oin ting a Committee tod draw up two documents : Ist.—An address to all and every Colonial L • egisla- I ture in both h emis p heres. 2d.—A petition to the Queen, Lords, and Com mons respectively, to be signed by the Speaker. Copies of these may be sent in triplicate, to every British Colony, addressed to the Speaker of the Le gislative Assembly thereof, with a request to lay it before the House. A memorandum should be made of the month and year in which it is shall be presented to the Queen and both Houses of Parliament. And the time thus fixed on, should be at a date sufficiently distant, to give the colonies in both hemispheres, ample time to imitate our example, so that petitions from all the colonies may be presented to Parliament simultane ously. 'Would there be anything preposterous in laying down as part of the British Constitution, henceforth. that every new colony, after its free population shall amount to 50,00 inhabitants and upwards, shall be invested with the same privilege as a borough town of England, and allowed to send one Member to Parliament ? What have the inhabitants of the colonies done in expatriating them ' selves, that is to say, what is there in crossing the ' sea to one of the numerous British counties beyond the confines of Europe, which should disfranchise the voyager ? Is not a colony as much a part of the Queen's dominions as the extreme northern counties of Scotland or the extreme western counties of Ireland ? Are not the colonists of New South \Vales, New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land, and South Australia, less intelligent, and less English than they ? And what would render expatriation to be felt no longer such in so great a degree as it is, as to consider a removal from Cork, or London, or Portsmouth to a colony, to be nothing more, in a political view, than a removal to another county ; the new county lying in the West Indies, or the Northern Atlantic, or the South-Western Pacific Ocean, in lieu of Scotland or Ireland ? You cross the sea to go to the latter, and very often to go to the former. You do no more in going to Ameri c a o r Au s tr a lia ; th e only difference is, you are weeks on your passage in lieu of days. B u t w h en at l ast you di sem b ar k , t h ere is the same Monarch in the distant British county ; the same laws fundamentally ; the same Constitution controlling them ; with a Colonial Legislature so called, but which bears a strong analogy to the Cor poration of the English, Scotch, or Irish borough you have just left behind. Since the above was published in our last number, it occurred to us, in order to avoid the obvious incon venience of adding some forty Members to the present very numerous House of Commons, how far the peti tions of the Colonial Legislatures for the representa tion of their constituencies in that House, might, in its final prayer, petition, that in case the Queen and Parliament should refuse their being represented by additional Members, to allow their constituencies to elect from among the Members of the Commons (each Legislature one) representative for the colonies; the Queen and Parliament recognising the double elec tion of such Members so chosen, by recognising their title and standing in the House as Members as well for the county or town in the United Kingdom, which elected them, as for the colony which also elected them. And so allowing such Memb?rs, by reason of such double election, a double vote; such double votes to be received on all questions in the debates, and also on all laws which were not re stricted to the United Kingdom. But on laws re stricted in their operation to the United Kingdom, then, when the question came to be put, " that this Bill be read the first time," (also the second time, and finally the third time,) and then only, such co lonial-elected Members should have but one vote. PARLIAMENTARY LEGISLATION ON THE KENT RAILWAY PROJECTS. SESSION, 1847. We recur to this subject again in order to put on record toe circumstances under which it has been the fate of the people of Kent to have their long-cherished independence endangered a second time by the partial decision of a short Committee of the House of Commons. The Committee had to elect between two lines—the one direct, the other circuitous. The cost of construct. ing each was the same. Instead of selecting such por tions of either scheme which obviously offered superior public advantages of the greatest possible importance, ' the Committee have entirely thrown overboard all con siderations of a public nature, without exhibiting, in any of their decisions, the slightest regard to local feeling or general accommodation. The conduct of the Committee is the more reprehen sible, inasmuch as they have granted extraordinary powers to the South-Eastern Company for charging , higher fares than were allowed last year in the amalga mation Bills of the London and North-Western, the London and York, the North Staffordshire, and other great companies; and higher also than the scale pro posed this year by the Brighton and South Coast Com pany, in the following proportions.— Express trains, 10 per cent. higher. First class, 12} per cent, higher. Second class, 10 per cent. higher. Third class, the same for both Bills. The people of Kent ask for a public inquiry. They are aware, from the evidence submitted upon the question of coal, direction, and population, that all these points have been shown to be greatly in favour of the scheme of the South Coast Company, and inasmuch as it is found that the claim to superior gradients set up by the South-Eastern Company cannot be established, they demand, naturally enough, to know how it was that a Committee of the House of Commons should have so decided against the direct and approved line, and in favour of an inferior line, which altogether leaves the local population. The people of Kent believe that Mr. Stanley's judg ment has been improperly biassed by the opinions of Mr. Stephenson, from the circumstance that Mr. Stanley ' is a director, while Mr. Stephenson is the engineer to the Chester and Holyhead Company. They consider their having interests in common with respect to the Chester and Holyhead Company, is sufficient to ac count for Mr. Stanley's undue leaning towards the opi nions of Mr. Stephenson, in regard to the Kent lines. This is a very natural conclusion. An inquiry, however, into the whole question, must take place in the House of Lords, and on the fare ques tion particularly. A. thorough sifting of the evidence must there be resorted to, in order to expose fully the delusive and deceptive evidence of Mr. Macgregor on this subject. The evidence of Mr. Macgregor was no thing more than a juggle—a bold and unscrupulous attempt to impose upon Parliament, and to obtain, through its excited sympathies, further arbitrary powers to exact unjustly from the public. The attempt was as unwise as it was unworthy of a great company to resort to, and it must, therefore, be dealt with accordingly.— Canterbury Journal. BRITISH AMERICAN LAND COMPANY. A general Court of Proprietors of the British American Land Company was held on Monday, at the London Tavern. The meeting was specially con vened for the purpose of considering the provisions of a Bill now before Parliament, for amending a former Act, and granting the company further powers. The chair was taken by Alexander Gillespie, Esq. Mr. B. BALDWIN, M.P., said he felt bound to op pose this Bill, which sought to confer unnecessary powers. He would ask whether any proxies obtained under the circular that had been issued would autho rise the directors in proceeding with this Bill. He prottsted against engaging in new works in the pre sent circumstances of the company. He trusted that the course taken by the directors would not be sanc tioned. It was his determination to oppose this Bill in every stage. Mr. Biscuorp, solicitor to the company, read a copy of the Bill. In addition to provisions respecting the payment of interest, it provides that new powers shall be conferred upon the company. Clause 5, which provides that the company shall be authorised to subscribe to other undertakings, was the principal matter about which difference of opinion arose in the meeting. It provides as follows :—That it shall be lawful for the said company to subscribe towards, or become shareholders in, any existing or future under taking for making or working any railway, canal, road, bridge, dock, port, harbour, mine, or other public works of like nature in the several provinces and colonies in North America in the said charter re spectively mentioned, or their dependencies, the esta blishment whereof may appear to the said company likely to further the objects for which the said com pany was constituted; and also to make any loan or loans for the purpose of enabling any such public work to be made or worked, &c. Mr. B. BALDWIN and Mr. SAUNDERS objected to conferring such large and extensive powers on the directors. After some discussion, Mr. ROBINSON (ex -governor of the company) pro posed the following resolution :—" That this meeting approves of and sanctions the Bill now read, entitled, Sce.; and that the directors of the company be hereby authorised to take all the necessary steps to carry the same Bill through Parliament." After some discussion, it was proposed, in order to obviate the opposition of Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Saun ders, that words of limitation should be inserted, so as to limit the powers to be conferred on the company to engage in undertakings, and to subscribe only to public works " affecting the lands of the company, and being either within such lands or immediately contiguous thereto." The resolution in its amended form, as proposed by Mr. Robinson, was seconded by Mr. Gould, and was then unanimously agreed to. After some routine proceedings,: the meeting ad journed. FRIGHTFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION.—SEVEN LIVES LOST.—LEEDS, MONDAY.—Phis morning a terrific explosion of tire-damp occurred at a colliery belonging to Messrs. Harding and Co., New Hall, Beeston, about two miles from Leeds, by which seven individuals have lost their lives, and another has received injuries from which he is not expected to recover. The explosion took place about nine o'clock. The miners in the course of their labours broke into an old pit, from which the confined and inflammable gas issued, and this communicating with the lights used in the pit caused an almost instantaneous explosion. Six of the unfortunate persons who were at work in the pit were killed on the spot, and two others were got out alive and conveyed to the Leeds Infirmary. One of them has since died. The names and ages of the killed are as follows :—George Bell, 15; Aaron Bell, 20; George Oddie, 29; William iVester man, 12; Joseph Longstafl; 55; Charles Duck, 14; and John Hall, 10. THE ARCHDUKE CONSTANTINE OF RUSSIA. —The arrival of his Imperial Highness the Archduke Constantine of Russia, who was expected to reach this country to-day, is delayed for a few days. At the date of the last advices re c eived on Tuesday, his Imperial Highness was at Hanover, whence he intended to proceed to the Hague in a few days, Sud thence by way of Rotterdam to London. STATE OF TRADE. THE LACE TRADE.—We have no improvement to report in the market for finished goods; there is a limited trade doing in the way of assorting up coun try traders' stocks, and some foreign orders are in course of execution, but all parties are using the ne• cessary caution as to whom to trust; so that business is confined within the narrowest possible limits. The market for unfinished goods is as quiet as it can be ; and most prudent machine owners are stopping their machines, except where working to order. We have reason to suppose that in twenty-two factories, con taining 1,360 machines, 615 stand, and 745 are at work for the present about half the usual time. It follows, therefore, that probably 2,000 hands of all grades, usually engaged in these establishments, are out of work or under notice, and 2,000 more are only partially employed. The depression in the hosiery trade is felt as se verely as ever, and the stoppage of frames continues to increase. It is asserted by parties who have the means of knowing, that the number of frames re cently stopped by the Nottingham, Derby, Mansfield, and Loughborough hosiers, amount to more than 7,000, and the Leicester trade is even in a worse condition than in this district. The cotton glove trade we believe is not suffering to the extent of the other branches, though considerably depressed.— Nottingham Review. LEICESTER.—Business in all its essential features remains unchanged. A large number of workmen were discharged on Saturday and Monday last, many of whom are parading the streets soliciting charity. We understand that the number of applicants for relief is almost with out precedent, amounting to about 4,000 persons, two-thirds of whom are heads of families ; so that it is estimated there are from 12,000 to 13,000 indi viduals, men, women, and children, dependent upon parochial aid, or about one-fourth of the population. This is a deplorable state of things, and one which we fear will inevitably continue unabated while the pre sent depression remains unchanged, of which we see no immediate prospect. As we have elsewhere stated, the public authorities, magistrates, guardians, ves tries, &c., are taking every possible means to meet the emergency, and we hope their united exer tions will be crowned with success.—Leicestershire Mercury. ACCOUCHEMENT OF THE MARCHIONESS or Won• cEsnat.—We have great pleasure in announcing the safe ac couchement of the Marchioness of Worcester. Her Ladyship gave birth to a son at twenty minutes to one o'clock yes terday morning ; and we are happy in being enabled to add that both mother and infant are going on most favourably. MAJOR-GENERAL SIR HARRY SMITH, G.C.B. The grand military banquet to this distinguished officer will, as already stated, take place on Thursday next, at Willis's Rooms, when upwards of 150 officers of the Light Division are expected to meet the Gallant Hero of Aliwal. There will be a strong assembly of old officers of the 43d and 62d Regiments of Foot, with which Sir Harry witnessed some of his early dangers, as also of the Rifle Brigade, of the 2d battalion of which Sir Harry is now the Colonel-Com mandant. Several of the officers of the 16th Lancers, re cently returned from India, will also take part in the festi val. This corps, it will be recollected, served with the Gal lant Officer during the Sutlej campaign. Among the list of officers who have signified their intention of being present are, the Duke of Richmond, formerly of the 52d Foot, the Marquis of Ailsa, late Aide-de-Camp to the Governor- General of India; Lieut.-General A. F. Barnard, Colonel- Commandant of the Ist battalion of the Rifle Brigade ; Lieut.. General Sir Hercules Pakenham, Colonel of the 43d Foot, formerly of the Rifles; Lieut.-Colonel Macdonald, of the 16th Lancers; Sir George Houlton, of the 43d Foot; Major- General Sir Hugh Ross, Royal Artillery; Major-General Macdonald, Royal Artillery; Major-General Ewart ; Viscount Jocelyn, late of the Rides; Major-General Brown, Lord Blaynev, Colonel Leech, Sir Andrew Hay, the Hon. G. Byng, Acc. It may not, perhaps, be generally known, that Sir Harry is brother to Major Smith, Barrack- M a st e r a t Chatham, who, like his brother, can boast of h av i ng s erved in the Peninsula a nd during the Waterloo campaign. The me mbers of the Junior United Service Club purpose giving a grand entertainm ent to the Gallant General early in the ensuir S month. MOSEY MARKET.—The premium on gold at Paris is 21 per male, which, at the English Mint price of 31. 17s. 10 1 1. per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of 2).5 68 ; and the exchange at Paris on London at short being ~ .5.BTh it follows that gold is 0 . 7 . 5 per cent. dearer in London than in Paris. By advices from Ilarnhurgh the price of gold i s 4374 per mark, which , at the English Mint price of 3/. 17s. 10 1 / d. per ounce for st andard gold, gives an exchan ge o f 13.1 2 11 ; and the exchange at Hamburgh oa London at short being 13.111, it follows that the price of gold is the same in Hamburgh and London. The course of exchange at New York on London is about 1061 per cent., and the par of ex change between England and America being 109 23-40 p er cent., it follows t hat the exchange is 2.83 per cent. against England. But the quoted exchan ge at N ew Y or k b e i ng for bills at 60 days sight, tie intere s t mut t b e d e d ucted from she above difference. REVIEW OF THE BRITISH CORN TRADE. The weather has been uninterruptedly fine during the week, with just sufficient moisture to promote vegetation, and a decided improvement has been wrought in the aspect of the country. More aus picious weather than that lately experienced could scarcely be desired ; and one cause of uneasiness, namely, the backwardness of the crops, has in some measure been removed. Still it is scarcely possible for the next harvest to be an early one ; and it will, therefore, be the more necessary to husband our re sources. What quantity of grain may still remain in the hands of the producers cannot be ascertained with any degree of accuracy, but the more the matter is in quired into, the more general becomes the convic tion that the smaller farmers have long ago thrashed out ; and though some of the more wealthy agriculturists may yet have a fair proportion of their corn on hand, it is nevertheless certain that, as a Imly, the growers hold much less grain than is usually the case at the corresponding period of the year. With regard to the stocks in warehouse at the different large towns information is more easily ob tained ; and we are convinced that there is hardly a town in the kingdom, excepting Liverpool and Glas gow, at which anything approaching a fair stock is held. We do not, therefore, feel much surprise at the course which the trade has taken, and feel some doubt whether the top price has yet been touched. Notwithstanding the extraordinary high prices which have been freely paid of late for wheat the deliveries from the growers have increased but very little; and though hardly any speculation has taken place, the consumptive demand has been sufficiently active to take off all that has been brought forward. The con tinued pressure of the money market has also been against a rise ; circumstances have, therefore, on the whole, been far more in favour of a fall than an ad vance, but actual scarcity has overruled everything else. The improvement which has been brought about by the splendid weather experienced since the beginning of the month, the decrease in the consump tion which has, as a matter of course, followed in con sequence of the dearness of the article, and last, though not least, the caution which buyers have been compelled to observe owing to the contraction of cash accommodation, have all failed to check the upward movement in prices, and a further important rise has been established. The arrivals of wheat coastwise into London have again been very small, only 4,059 qrs. having been reported during the week ending this (Saturday) evening. The quantity brought forward by land carriage samples has been on the same limited scale. On Wednesday the show on the Essex and Kent stands consisted of a few lots left over from Monday ; and though factors insisted on a further rise of Is. per qr., a clearance was effected. Since then hardly a sample has been exhibited, and the want of supplies prevented much business being done on Friday ; but the inclination to buy was fully as great at the close as in the beginning of the week, and the few sales made were at 2s. over Monday's terms. In foreign wheat the operations have been on an extensive scale, and a large propor tion of the recently received supply has already been taken off the market, the greater part of what has lately been bought having been purchased by country buyers. The receipts have amounted to 15,873 qrs. this week, whilst on Wednesday the sales exceeded 10,000 qrs. ; and on Friday large purchases were again made at rates Is. to 2s. per qr. above those cur rent in the commencement of the week. The grana ried stock at this port is now so trifling as hardly to be deserving of notice ; and should the country demand for foreign wheat continue as active as it has been within the last fortnight, we can scarcely expect any accumulation. The top price of town manufactured Flour has re mained stationary at 80s. per sack, and the sale has not been, by any means, brisk at that figure. Ship Flour has met with a fair share of attention at prices cor responding with the value of town trade. American Flour was taken pretty largely on Wednesday at 50s. to 525. per barrel, but the flat accounts which have since been received from Liverpool imparted a some what languid tone to business on Friday ; still there was no giving way.—Marh-lane Express. THE CROPS IN IRELAND. We have most melancholy news to communicate about the crops. A fortnight ago everything looked promising, but a very considerable change has since taken place. It will he understood that we are only referring to the neighbourhood of the town, as we have not had any means of ascertaining the condition of the crops in the distant p ar t s o f th e county. But about Sligo the crops have within the last few days undergone a deplorable alteration. Wheat has turned out very badly. Mr. Wynne, of liazlewood, sowed a large quantity of this grain, and we understand it, at present, presents a wretched appearance. Mr. James Wood, of Woodville, has four teen acres of wheat down, which looks so unpromising that he is hesitating whether he will plough it up, and set barley or not. Mr. Vernon, of Finisklin, is about to re-stt his wheat land with barley. And the wheat crop, every place we have had an opportunity of witnessing it, seems burned up ; it it yellow, .red, any colour but green. But the most distressing intelligence we hive to an nounce is, that the disease has reappeared in the pota toes. The failure of the wheat crop is quite apparent to all, that of the potato requires, in its present stage, more discrimination and judgment, to detect. But, we believe, the existence of the disease is quite evi dent and visible to agriculturalists.—Sligo Champion. We are happy to state that the crops in this neigh bourhood, notwithstanding the unfavourableness of weather during the last few days, appear in a very favourable and cheering condition.—Athlone Sentinel. THE CONVICT BARBER. The Liverpool Albion publishes the following origi nal documents with regard to the convict Barber : "Agricultural-office, Norfolk Island, October 12, 1846. _ " Being about to remove, for a time, from the Nor folk Island, and contemplating the possibility of not returning, I feel it to be my duty, as an act of justice, to leave with William Henry Barber, whose conduct I have had an opportunity of observing for nearly two years, a testimonial of the very favourable opinion which I have formed of his character, in the hope that it may be advantageous to him at some future period. I have observed Barber's conduct in the most trying and humiliating cir cumstances, of what I am convinced (without any reference to his plea of innocence c f the offence of which he stands convicted) was unmerited suffering ; and while I deeply pitied the man, I could but admire his submissive demeanour, patient resignation, and unvariable rectitude of conduct, while his health was visibly suffering, and his frame wasting away under the mental torture indicted upon him by the degrad ing and polluting association into which he was forced, and the unmerited and unaccountable perse cution of which he was the object for many months, by which the sufferings inseparable from this unhappy condition were deeply aggravated beyond that of even the worst conducted convict; while his enemies could not produce even a colourable charge against him. AI losition, as the second civil officer on the island, enabled me, at length, to procure an alleviation of his suffering, by getting him removed from gang-labour to be assistant-clerk in the agricultural office, under my own immediate control, in which situation the undeviating rectitude of his conduct, and a general demeanour worthy, in every respect, of the respectable position which he for merly occupied in society, gained for him my con fidence ; and, on the removal of my principal clerk from the island, I obtained the situation for Barber. Considering his former occupation and business habits as a respectable solicitor, it is superfluous to say that he performed his duties ably and correctly. Ile worked hard fron, daylight in the morning until a late hour most nights, performing the duties of two men without any remuneration or indulgence, ex cept, what to his mind was a most important relief, separation from the other convict. And the rules of discipline prevented me from furnishing him, from my private resources, with even the trifling comfort of a basin of tea or a bit of fresh meat, which I would gladly have done. I have great pleasure in certifying that he has kept himself entirely free from all the contaminating influence of his unhappy situa tion, both in habits and sentiments, as well as prin ciples ; and I can, with great confidence, recommend him as a man whose conduct fully entitles him to the earliest amelioration of which the law admits in his condition, and qualifies him to fill with credit to him self and benefit to society, a place in every respect equal to that from which his conviction removed T him. " GILBERT ROBERTSOIN, " Superintendent of Agriculture." "Norfolk Island, Sept. 3, 1845. " In leaving Norfolk Island, of which I have been for some years the chaplain, I owe to public justice the duty of recording my firm conviction of the per fect innocence of William Henry Barber, now suffer ing upon it a sentence of transportation. Si nce hi s arrival here I have not ceased to follow a series of in quires into the aircumstancei conneclei with his case. In addition, I have heard the reluctant ac knowledgments of Joseph Fletcher,d the guilty e p o l t a i ; e ingb e author f of a thedou doubt a t u h d e s , innocenceyon t o h f e po s sßarber.i- My exertions shall be continued for his extrication. I deeply lament his truly wretched .t condition here, and would gladly have seenngerevaetrer ameliorated. tocs I have never known wretchedness. are l r roefolitchee to have never seen an instance of more dignified suffer ing, accompanied by invariable cansistency of con duct, and nothing will give me greater pleasure than a renewal of his acquaintance under more favourable circumstances. " Given under my hand this 3d day of September, 1844. " T. BEAGLEY NAYLOR, Chaplain." AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS BILL. ' By this Bill it is intended that once in every year ' an account shall be taken for England and Wales of the quantity of land sown or planted with wheat, barley, rve, oats, beans and peas, potatoes, turnips, carrots, beet root or mangold wurtzel, tares or vetches, clover, lucerne, and other artificial grasses, meadow and pasture, fallow, wood, waste and other crops, if any, and also the number of bulls, oxen, cows and sheep. The reg i s t rar - genera l of births, deaths, and marriages, i n E ngland, is to have the care of super intending the t a ki ng o f such account and of making such preliminary inquiries as may be necessary, and to prepare and cause to be printed., for the use of th e persons to be employed in taking such account, such forms and instruc tions as he may deem necessary, and to issue the same to the persons for whose use they are intended. On or before the tw enty - fifth day of :Tune next, and from time to time thereafter, whenever a vacancy shall occur, every super in t en d ent-registrar in Eng land and Wales is to appoint a competent person in each registrar's district under his superintendence to be the agricultural enumerator for suc h district, and to perform the duties therein mentioned ; that every such enumerator is to hold his office during the pleasure of the registrar-general, unless he desire to be discharged. Every enumerator, on or before the tenth day of July next, and on or before the fi rs t day of June in every succeeding year, is to prepare a list in writing of the names of all persons occupy. enumerator, ty within vv in the district ganylandtxc f,r whicheeding three he l acres in ivanti arranged according to the parishes or to •nships, or parts of p a ri s h es or t owns h i ps, w n ith q in such district ; and f or th e purpose o f preparing or correcting such list, every such enumerator shall, at all reasonable times, have access to the several rate books of th e p ar i s h es an d t owns hi ps comprisedin the district of whi c h h e i s enumerator, or into which such district extends. Every such enumerator, on or before the said tenth day of July next, and on or be fore the said first day of June in every succeeding year, is to leave or cause to be left at, or to transmit to the usual or last known place of abode of each and every person named in the said list, a blank form, giving the before -mentioned particulars. Every person on whom any such blank f orm h as been left, or to whom it has been sent, or some person acting under the authority and by the di rections of such person shall, within fourteen days after such blank form has been so left or so sent, fill up the blanks in the same to the best of his power, so far as regards the land in his own occu pation, and shall sign the same; and if he be any person other than the person t o w h om suc h form was. addressed, shall state that he has filled up the sasne by his directions, or under his authority, and shall return the same, so filled up and signed, to the enu merator from whom lie received the same. On the return of the forms the enumerator is to examine them, and cause any defects or inaccuracies which he may perceive therein to be supplied or corrected, so far as may appear possible. Upon the receipt of such forms so filled up, every enumerator is to make out a table, arranged, so far as, may be, according to to the townships comprised in his district, or into which his district extends, and in the form set forth in the schedule ; and is to transmit the same so filled up, on or before the 10th day of August next, and on or before the Ist day of July in every succeeding year, to the superintendent-registrar of his district. The superintendent-registrar is to examine all the accounts so delivered to him, and to satisfy himself how far the enumerators have duly performed the duties imposed upon them, and to cause any inaccuracies to be corrected so far as may be pos sible, and on or before the twentieth d y of August next, and on or before the tenth day of July in every succeeding year, is to return all the accounts which have been delivered to him to the registrar -general for the uie of the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council appointed for the consideration of all matters relating to trade and foreign plantations. The Lords of the said Committee may from time to ti me, b y any order or orders under their seal, alter or vary the forms set forth in the schedules to the Act; and if it appear to them desirable th a t th e i n f ormation sought to be obtained should not be collected in any particular year, they are on or b e f ore th e fi rst day of May in such year to notify the same to the registrar -general, who is thereupon forthwith t o i ssue the necessary instruc tions to the s uperintendent-registrars, in order that no steps for such collection may be taken in that year. The Lords of the Committee of Privy Council are to prepare a table of the allowances to be made to the several enumerators, superintendent-registrars, and other persons to be employed in carrying out the provisions of this Act ; but the allowance to be made to any enumerator is not to exceed the sum of two pounds ten shillings for every hundred occupiers of land within the district for which he is enumerator, and so in proortion for a greater or less number of occupiers ; and the allowance to be made to any superintendent-registrar is not to exceed ten pounds for every one hundred pounds of the total allowance made to all the enumerators within his district, and so in proportion for a greater or less sum than one hundred pounds ; and such table of allowance is to be laid before both Houses of Parliament so soon as the same has been approved by the Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury, if Parliament be then sitting, or if not, then within fourteen days after the opening of the next session of Parliament ; and all alterations in the said table are also in like manner to be laid before both Houses of Parliament as soon as may be after they have been made. The Bill th en provides for the mode of application for remuneration by the different par ties entitled to it under the table of allowances, and then provides that the guardian, or whare there are no guardians the overseers of the poor, are to pay the superintendent-registrar of their district out of the moneys in their hands, as such guardians or overseers, the whole amount of the allowances to shish the superintendent registrar and the enumerators in th at district are severally entitled, or in c ase any such district shall contain parishes or place s , or parts of parishes or places, all of which are not compr i sed in the same union, then so much of the whole amount as, under certain appointments therein mentioned are payable by such guardians or overseers, and each superintendent-registrar is to pay over to the enume rators in his district the allowance s t o w hi c h they are severally entitled according to the table of allowances. It then provides for the mode of apportioning tie amount of the allowances am:ng the different parishes in the sill erintendent-regi,trae t , district, and requires that such payment by guardians, overseers, or trea surer, shall be certified to t le registrar -general within one calendar month. It then imposes a penalty of 5/. on the superintendent•registrar or enumerator, and on occupiers of lands, of 1/. fur each neglect of duty, or a penalty of 51. the latter if they wi fally make any false statements, or w ilf u ll y suppress aay infor mation which by the blank form left with them they are required to supply, or wilfully deface, injure, tear, or lose such paper. But none of these penalties are to be sued for except by dire( time of the Board of Trade, or registrar-general. The remainder of the Bill is confined to the mode of rd co; , •riruz penalties. THE GREAT NORTH OF SCOTLAND RAILWAY.-.. We are happy to understand that the directors of this line are taking active steps towards its formation. From the report of the town council proceedings it will be observed that a communication was laid before them to the effect, that a working survey was about to be made, and the lin:e marked off previous to contracts being advertised for. Fol lowing up this communication, a party of surveyors a.' Aberdeen arrived here on F r id ay last to commence p:1111 tl tions. The engin e e rs h ave a l so been at work in the neigh_ra- bourhood of Fo-r es , mar ki ng o ff the line. The Forres Ga zette says—" The railway enters the town's lards at the east, after crossing the fields near the obelisk, and runs in almost a straight line from that, through the town's parks in the direction of Hedgefleld, and crosses the Findhorn a little below the present suspension bridge. We observe it cuts the roads in the close vicinity of the town, iu five different places, and unless viaducts at these crossings are built, will very seriously interfere with the safely wad comfort of the lieges. The Councillor's walk, the most frequented in the town, is intersected by it in two place,s; so is the Bogton ' road, the Iledgefield-road, and the W=aterford-road, near the Lee-bridge. It is expected that tbe working plans will be commenced in October.—lnverness Courier. ready in a few weeks, and opetatimis, it is calculate d, will be WILD FowL.—The makiy beautiful aqu a ti c bi r d s that, during the last long winter, were to be seen in every vanished to their homes and breeding pl aces on the have a ll bog and creek of the Moray. Beaulv. and Cr omarty f r i ths, Western Islands and hill lochs. All sorts of gay plumaged tribes which switn the broad waters, or dart en their tinny prey from an aerial height, wk.re more than unusually abun dant.geese. the golden eve, velvet grey goo s a a n i d m b er r , ent invi.gan , er, millard, widgeon, and teal; of other kinds there were cormorants, grebes, cootes,solan duck, B F h l e o l c d k r s ak o f e , goose, swai is, herons, guillemots, golden plovers, the redshank, and several kinds of sandpipers. The little auk, or sea dove, from the Arctic rrgions, was among the rarer ,1119• mirrrat . IThe most successful sport in wild-fowl shooting, in this quarter, is generalh got by John Hay Mackenzie, Esq., of Crom ertie ; from his insular little w atch - house, as roans- as fifteen w ild ducks, s ix geese, and numbers of plovers. have been shot in the course of an hour and a half. The author of " The Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands," Charles St. John, Esq., is also in a fine locality for the sport; he shot last winter a swan weighing 191bs , and with extent of wing seven feet seven inches, besides many varieties of ducks and geese H. W. White, Esq., and A. Mackenzie, Esq., have mounted gunning punts—the latter was occasionally seen gliding silently along the water, until the boom of the long gun swept its charge into an unwary flock.—lnrerness Courier. ATTEMPT AT POISONING.—BURY ST. EDMUND'S, TURSDAY.—Yesterday, at the police-office of this town, the young womax, Hannah Rouse, who had beta apprehended on suspicion of being c oncerned in the poisoning of th e en tire family to which ~he belonged. consisting of six persons, was brouuht up before Messrs. Probart and Le Grice, bo rough m agistrates, for examination on th e serious charge. At the close of the evidence, the ketch observed that there could be no doubt that a very wicked attempt had been made on the lives of the family, but there were no facts elicited that would warrant them in detaining the accused; an d, therefore, she would be liberated on entering into her own recognizances to answer any charge that might be hereafter made against her. This was done, and ahe was discharged. PREFERMENT.—We are requested to state that the Rev. W. D. West, 8.A., of St. John's College, Oxford, and curate of Presteigu, has been appointed to the Head Maste r . hip of the Church of Er Eltuld 6C491 at ffackileY. plif a aerate &min gtir t ;ed it or the tekel• ).tice t and Derby sy, and those erg• 7RF' the in ler ;h• ale