The Sun. — London, England, 1840-12-26 00:00:00

1 4, 1 EDiri ON S 1 ;'?- 1 -P , LT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. FRO] d . THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY. (From the Morning Chronicle.) ee so convinced of the truth of the old max ; m, (. cc .es repetita placebit," that we consider it cur du t. y to notice, and, as we hope, effectually to scotch, " eeent hydra-headed argument of our Contemporary Ae Morning Herald, upon - the subject of national • education. We bad thought that the statement of I. Guerry with regard to the appearance of an excess elf criminals in the most instructed departments of Erance, compared with those less instructed, had been :sufficiently often refuted, both with respect to the Let, and to the inference ; for it has been shown first, that the single year upon which he founded his calcu lations was an exception, and that if he had taken eny one or more of the preceding or following years, his conclusions would not have held good ; and, eeconniy, with respect to the inference, that no argument un favourable to educe' ion can be drawn from the feet that a highly instructed community furnishes an exces sive proportion of criminals, if it can be shown that tleese criminals are almost wholly uneducated. And this has been proved over and over again, both in these columns and in other publications. The Herald itself brings forward the proof in the very article to which we refer, although in sin incorrect form, the error of which we must expose. 'Ale are unable at present to turn to the original paper eehich it quotes (the C'ouricr), but it adopts and puts - forwited the following statement that, in France The number of criminals accused was, in 1834, 6,952 ; and iu 1838, 8,014. Of these there were uneducated, i. e., could neither read nor 1334 1635 write . • • . . 4,080 4,469 Imperfectly instructed, i. e. could read and write imperfectly 4,061 702 Knowing to read well . 608 2,587 Possessing superior instruction . 203 276 The inference drawn by the Courier is, that there is " a vast comparative increase of crime, not among the unlettered or imperfectly educated classes, in which there is a positive diminution in 1838, as compared with 1834 ; but in the two classes decently and more highly instructed." This would be true, if the figures were rightly stated, but there is this im portant error, that the numbers in the two classes of imperfectly and well instructed are transposed in 18:38, and that instead of 2,587 persons being able to read well, the correct number is only 702, which is erro neously stated to be the number of those possessing im perfect instruction. This 'Correction being made,. the deductions of the Morning Herald and Courier fall to the ground ; for it appears that the increase of edu cated criminals in the latter year, the increase of the total number being taken into account, is a mere frac tion, which may be nothing more than the consequence of comparing two single years. The par tentage pro portion in the two years was as follows :- 1834 1838 Uneducated Instruction imperfect Knowing to read well Superior instruction .. 2.9 0.4 The proportion of the educated (for the latter class elono are entitled to that appellation) bad increased trom twenty-nine in one thousand to thirty-four in one thousand. But do not these figures prove the falsity, absurdity, of the inference that " crime and educa tion proceed together'?" Where is the evidence of education among these criminals ? Not four in one hundred had received an instruction superior to read ing and writing well ; not more than twelve in one Lun- Arc(' could even read and write well. If any advocate of national education had put forward such a rash proposi tion, that reading and writing would of themselves re etrain persons from the commission of crimes—we have never supported such a doctrine—where is the evidence that these criminals could read and write ? 88 in 100 septet only read and write imperfectly, 56 in 100 restld neither read nor write ; unless, therefore, it son he proved that not more than four in 100 of the ereneral population have received such a suderior degree of instruction as is here attributed to a fraction of the criminals, and that not more than 12 in 100 of the general population can read and write well, it is in cantestibly certain that the criminals in France are be low the standard of instruction in that country, and that the ignorant and ill-instructed classes furnish much more then their quota to the courts and prisons, the gallies and the scaffold. If we turn to England, the evieence is the same. -While the compositor was busy in setting up the article in the Herald, a paper vas being read before the Statistical Seciety of London. in which the author shoved that, upon an average of the last three veers, only 4 in 1,000 of the criminals enniesitted for trial in England and \Vales were edu cated, and only 10 in 10) could read and write tell ; 35 in 100 were wholly destitute of instruction, not being abie either to write or to read, and 54 in 100 possessed the lowest degree of elementary instisie ties, being able to read or write imperfectly. It cannot be doubted that this latter class had not re ceived that amount of insirucion which is ivortltt of the title of education, which, by the nature of the le,- sons con eyed, or by the direction g iven:to the thoughts, could hare hail any permanent good iefluence upon minds and hearts. These two class .s, therefore, or Laarly ninety in a huadretl, must be placed together as persons wholly destitute of moral instruction, and almost ,ie4tittiti of the elementary knowledge by the aid of which it might be acquired. The third ideas had ad vanced a step farther—they could read and write eel:: bet it does not necesserily follow that educ:tion been grafted upon instruction, and that their reason wes convinced, their hearts touched, their hope raised, their faith established, while their intellectual powers were cultivated and developed. Less than this fails short of education, and education cannot be justly charged vti:ll inefficiency to f.?`,!ra,t) crime because a number of hal efiticated persons figure in the table of criminels. No system or institution can be taxed with insam peteney because it fails to produce its intended effect without a suflieien;. trial, or before it has had time to develops and apply its resources. Whether it be t,-ue .or not that the number of criminal offenders has increased in this and other countries contemporaneously will the establishment of schools, and the extension of tae means of education, which we tare not prepared to a.lmit ; and whether it be true or false that the propor- Von of criminal offenders is greatest in d•strices where ins:rue:6li is most prevalent, we deny that any inference tinfa-rourtHe to education can be drawn from the atilr- InAtion of either proposition, because it has been shown dI4L it is not ny the educated that the mass of offime,s is co emitted, jtit by the ignorant, whom the extens el' the system of education has not reached, or by the ill edueteed. with whom the system has not advanced ter rough to produce any effect. With regard to 'he r— etraining iteluecce ef mere instruction the question is del f, rent. Instruction operates upon the mind—education e l : on the heart ; and we know that sin is engendered in tlei begirt. However, we find that even instruction has snout 140,;(1 iereemee. Only 10 in 100 criminals in Englend dam• raj iesiructed ; and we know that instruction meet prepare the way for education, of which it is the It to and the forerunner. " The schoolmaster with his primer must precede " the schoolmaster with his Bible ;" or else either the Bible must be used as a ' trier and teak book, or the instruction of the child be eoefined to oral communication. There is, however, evidence to show, that religious knowledge—and there cannot be a living faith without knowledge—rarely exists without instruction. The chaplain of the Lewes gaol shows in hie report of last year, that out of 846 pi i !:oaers confined during that year, only eight could read and write well. All of these, and none rJ the other 8:33, were acquainted with Christian doctrine ; uthers were acquainted with the history of the S ; of these 49 could read +el! ; out of 541 who were either wholly ignorant, or could only read im perfectly, not more than five were acquainted with the history of the Saviour. At Preston, out of 270 offenders, eleven were instructed in religion ; of these nine could read and write well. In the paper before referred to some very interesting evidence was brought forward on this point. In comparing the proportion of male: and female criminals respectively in Englandi Scotland, and Ireland, it resulted that the proportion of females was greatest where they were the least in wanted ; and they were the least instructed where the amelleat proportion of them was at school. In Scot land the proportion of female criminals is in 23 in 100 ; in Ireland, 21 in 100 ; and in England, 17 in 100. The proportio n of instructed criminals in England is out as great among females as among males. In Scotland and Ireland it is only one-third. In Eng land the proportion of girls at school is about 91 to 100 bays ; in Ireland it is only 72 ; and in Seot lend 68 to 100 boys. Here, then, the excess of , criminality among females in Scotland and Ireland, as compared with England, is traced to a smaller proportion of that sex being at school in the former countries. If, however, instr uc ti on be insufficient to restrain persons from vice and crime, ignorance is still more inefficient for that purpose. Instruction becomes more and more competent as it advances. Education, though not always successful, as no human method can be, is the perfect instrument for the attainment of this object. Let those, then, who object. to instructio n im prove the methods in use, and supply education in its stead—a sound and really efficient education, which will reach the understanding as well as the memory, the heart as well as the hand and eye ; and which, while it teaches the people they have duties to perform to their Maker and their fellow -creatures, will furnish them also with that knowledge which will enable them the more easily and the more efficiently to fulfil one of their du ties to themselves and their families, namely, that of providi ng f or t h e i r temporal wants ; of ra i s i ng them selves above the temptations of poverty and the degra dation of dependence. (From the Times.) There se ems to be a large amount of busybody non sense talked i n E nglish newspapers relating to the for tifications of Paris. The subject, we beg leave to say, is altogether and suite exclusively a French one, When it was first broached by the Government of Louis Philippe, then presided over by that formidable War Minister, M. Thiers, we expressed in few words a pretty decided hint, that the fortifications then pro- ' rcted would Ise completed about the time of the Greek Kalends, or thereaway. But, once more, it is no affair of ours. In neither of the objects cot:ltem= plated by the engineers who have planned these un -vieldy works, or by the Government which has au thorised them, does Ragland either feel, or pretend to that she has the most distant right to intermcddle? If it be the will of the French Crown, its Ministers, and the Legislature to proclaim to the whole world a chronic dread that some foreign enemy may force . a passage through the iron-bound frontier provinces of France, and sit dawn before the capital in the centre of that great kingdom for the formal purpose of besieging it, why, in the name of wonder, ,hould the British Government or the British nation trouble their heads about the matter ? If the French think themselves not yet sufficiently lowered in the eyes of Europe by the extravagances, absurdities, acid almost incredible inconsistencies of which their war charlatans have been guilty during the last six or eight months, why should they not consummate the unfinished task by such a record of pusillanimity as must for ever si lence all future murmurs about " national humiliation" by which Europe has of late been deafened? Little Sperta despised the paltry safeguard of stone walls ; her masonry was her indomitable manhood, shielded by which the Spartan women slept securely, boasting that for gene rations they had never seen the smoke of an enemy's camp, It is one among the many proud consciousnesses of England, that in no part of the United Kingdom is there a single fortified post, save the only two grand naval arsenals. Were the spirit of the British race so fallen, that, although more a martial than a military people, our countrymen were seriously to undertake the scheme of surrounding London with walls and bat teries, we know what would be thought of us by the rest of mankind, and what would speedily befal our arms. We know that other Powers would not long hesitate to insult our flag—we know that the wooden ;calls of England would perish soon after the erection of brick or granite ramparts. On the other hand, were this country so to degrade herself, it would nevertheless be officious and impertinent in surrounding States to in trude upon the people of England their advice or obser vations, or still more, their remonstrances upon such purely domestic undertakings. It is true that Moscow and St. Petersburgh are destitute of all efficient works of defence ; that Vienna and Berlin are equally unprotected. But assuredly were the Russian, Austrian, or Prussian Governments to commence a system of fortifications tor the security of those capitals even on the most for. addable scale, it is scarcely possible that M. Thiers himself could have the effrontery to complain of it. We are therefore slow to believe that, whatever com munications in the nature of mere remonstrance may have been transmitted by the allied Governments to that of France, either since the retirement of M. Thiers or previously, the proposed works for the de fence of Paris can have formed the subject of any of them. Upon the utter futility and folly of such an un dertaking, with a view to the repulse of a foreign enemy, it is needless to say a word. A fortress occupied by a population of nearly a million of souls cannot be effectually defended, except by an army strong enough for the open field. An enemy too weak for siege or storm would suffice abundantly to establish a rigorous blockade, to scour the country throughout a circuit of many miles, cut off supplies of fuel, provision, and other necessaries, throw shells from long distances, to pro duce destructive conflagrations, and thus harass and starve both citizens and troops into an inevitable sur render. But that, again, is no affair of ours. French taxes, not English, are to pay the damage. In conclu sion, we must remark, that if neither England nor the allied Powers can put forward any justifiable pretension to interfere with France because of her thinking proper to defend her metropolis from a foreign invader by means in her own opinion more trustworthy than the hearts of her population or the arms of her troops, and therefore that the construction of a great surrounding rampart may fairly be completed without asking leave of anybody, far less have any strangers a right to re monstrate or find fault with her, for permitting tha King's Government to build a series of detached forts, the sole purpose of which can be to iritiandate the turbulent inhabitants of Paris, and to remove every obstacle to such measures of coercion or repres-eon as he who commands the army may consider to be advisable for the overthrow of all resistance to biz power. The detached forts have an end avowedly dis tinct ruin that of the wall of circumvallation ; they are to put down internal revolt ; they are to crush ail insurrectionary movements ; they are military engines impregnable to popular force—no matter what it is that the people aim at—whether the object be anarchical, or in support of constitutional freedom. Whatever sense or colour the Ministers of the French Crown deem it right and lawful, in their exercise of the king's prerogative, to assign to active movements undertaken by the populace, or by unauthorized citizens, no matter of what class in society, !or obstructing the application of the executive poeer, whether legitimate or despotic, the detached for tresses are well calculated to sustain. Whatever the military commandant of Paris orders, in defiance and forcible opposition, whether to rabble impulse or :o public opinion, that the •• detached works" arc destined to give him the means of executing, in spite of public opinion. If the am ybe with the Crown, this Crown henceforth will enjoy absolute sway over the people. Bonaparte at one time meditated and under ook a measure of this description as a resistless aux iliary to military despotism ; but that deliberate tyrant was cut short before he could accomplish his project. What would the people of England say to twenty tieases bristeieg with cannon, and planted so as at the word of a commanding officer to bombard London cud reduce it to a mess of ruins ? We know that the first hint of such a plot would raise the nation like a single man. However, if' it be the crotchet of our French ceighbou rs to treat " gory" (that is, hatchery) as a eubstance, and civil liberty as a shadow, it needs no ghost to tell us how the matter will end, They will gain the prize of military despotism for themselves they wilt tail in the attempt to force it upon their con ;mental neighbours. But we mutt not be impertinent. It is " no main of our s ." (Front the Morning Herald.) A Correspondent, who writes from Newcastle-on- Tyue, directs our attention to the circumstance that the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Company has purchased a number of locomotive engines made in the United States. Upon this tact, our Correspondent rca eons in the following strain We have hitherto retained cur prc-eminence in ma nufactures by means of the superiority of our machinery. "that supeeiwity has ceabled us to compete wi'.ll foreigin•rs, notwithstanding the low price of labour on the Contmenr." Our Correspondent, then, expresses a hope that this competition on the part of the United States may I. ad to some decided improemnents in the construction of locomotive engines, as well as in the mode of me caging them—the recent railway accidents being, in the writer's judgment, " a disgrace to the mechanical of the age." We agree cordially with our Corre spornient in desiring the removal of that ignorance, or rashness, in which so many of the recent accidents on railroads have taken their rise. This other points at which he has glanced, may, perhaps, give rise to diver sity of opinion. Our Correspondent lays it down (and truly), that our pre-eminence as a manufacturing nation has been made to depend on the superiority of tur machinery ; and our Correspondent is, in all probabi lity, one of those who desire most anxiously to wit ness an extension of that system of manufactures to which Englishmen have, of late, been encouraged to trust, as to the abiding source of the national great ness. 'lle first observation, in reference to the later position, which suggests itself, is, that a manufactur ing system conducted on modern principles, is not only a very narrow, but a very insecure basis on which to rest the prosperity of a great people. When other nations can afford to undersell us, our manufacturirg supremacy must disappear ; and the engineers of the United States can, it should seem, afford to undersell the British manufacturer of railway engines in British markets. So unstable is all foreign trade—so fleeting is the industrial prosperity which is not permanently con nected with the supply of the home and the colonial markets ! Yet to the extension of our foreign trade, all the efforts of our modern law-makers would appear to be devoted. Many of our political economists, moreover, boldly proclaim foreign trade to be the chief—if not the sole—source of national wealth ! The reode of thinking which these doctrines gre-. dually induce, in large classes of men, is curiou-, Our Correspondent furnishes an illustration of this truth when he observes, that " our superiority in machinery has enabled us to compete with foreigners, notwith standing the low price of labour on the Continent." In this sentence, it will be noted, that a " low price of labour" is assumed to be a great national advantage ! Yes ; " cheapness," which is the great object aimed at by free-traders, and by fashionable political economists, means nothing else than " a low price of labour ; and yet these very economists, who loag to witness the establishment of the lowest possible prices for labour, and for all its products, rest the whole of their reasonings on the doctrine, that " labour is the source of all wealth." Most truly, indeed, may labour be pronounced to be the source of wealth ; but assuredly, the obvious and the natural mode of aug menting a nation's wealth, is to increase, not to dimi nish, the value of its labour ! It may be, as our Cor respondent suggests, a distressing thing, that the engi neers of the United States should undersell our own engineers in our own markets ; but it may be doubted whether the true use to be made of this proof of the slippery natur e of a foreign trade that depends on me chanical su P er l"itY, be not, to regard all foreign trade as , in its essence, subordinate to our home and our Colonial trades —and to regard, at the same time, the protection of all native proeucers as amongst the most sa cred duties of our Government ! FROM TIE EVININ6 PAPERS OF YESTERDAY. (From the Globe.) Men of England, ye are slaves, s, and th e H era ld Beaten by policemen's staves " "to yield eSxinhgosrtsonteheofpetohpele CofhaErtongtleopdoeotot with out a struggle to the handcuffs and fetters of a cont:- TU E SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 18401 rental system of gendarmerie—the fit accompa niment of the union bastiles." Here is a curious instance of a train of imagination springing from mere words—a mental phenomenon common enough we believe, but first pointed out by Hobbes, who observes how the mind, beginning with Saint Andrew, may get on to tumult, " and almost from any thing to any thing." Of the Bastile we have only read, but having actually penetrated within the walls of a union workhouse, and come out again not only alive, but uninjured, we can say that nothing therein struck us as being conducted after the manner of that ancient French prison. We have also read the report of the Constabulary Force commission without finding any continental model pointed out as fit to be followed here. But the word " police" belonging to both languages, our Contemporay supposes that the thing must be the same, and that our three Commissioners are but a paraphrase of Fouche, whose system, " with its despotic spirit, its torrorism, and its espionage," is to be introduced into the rural districts. To show the evils of the police, we have examined the Metropolitan Police Act, and do not find any serious encroachment on our freedom either in that of the Tories which established the force, or that of last year, which extended it to fifteen miles round London. The republican Doctor in " Peregrine Pickle" rejoices at the recol lection of having seen a Nobleman's carriage broken to pieces by a brewer's dray, and cites it as a proof of liberty. Perhaps our Contemporary feels aggrieved at not being allowed to trundle a hoop or make slides upon the pavement ; but as these playful freedoms have pro duced several fractures, and we believe some loss of limb, if not of life, we willingly consent to the checking of such exuberances. It would be desirable to know what aggressions on " our liberties, personal and politi cal," have been enacted by law or encouraged in prac tice ; and if the charge of despotism, terrorism, and es pionage cannot be established, we are entitled to ask, what further encroachment has been proposed for the country than that which has already been made in London ? (From the Standard.) In our position, as the conductors of a journal generally opposed to the principles and policy of the Administration, and therefore biassed by party to find faults, it may be allowed to us to advert without suspicion to the proud station which our country holds at this moment among the nations of the earth. For, be the secondary praise due to whom it may —(this is a question which we shall not raise at present)—our first praise and boundless gratitude are surely owing to Him who gives all good gilts. And this is a day when our national blessings (never to be forgotten at any time) ought to be spe cially remembered. For the triumphs of England in arms and arts we ought to be thankful ; but how much more thankful for the advance which she has obtained of the world in that to which, pro perly, arts and arms are subordinate and ancillary—the godlike services of humanity. England has, in the emancipation of her West Indian subjects, set an ex ample which no other nation has yet, at the end of eight years, found courage or generosity to follow. And just now we read in the discussions in the French Chamber of Deputies the arguments of the late admirable Mi chael Thomas Sadler and of Lord Ashley for the in fant labourers in factories. Be it enough to say, that England is carrying commerce, civilization, and the Word of Life, to every tribe and people upon earth, while too many of her neighbours are obstructing instead of aiding her. EXECUTION AT LISBON. On Friday week two of the accomplices in the hor rid murders which took place at Lisbon last year, suf fered the last penalty of the laws at the Cars do Tojo. They were both soldiers in the 7th regiment, had both been brave men, and were rewarded with the order of the Tower and Sword ; but since their return from serving in Spain with the Portuguese auxiliaries, they became connected with the horrid gang of Diego Alves, with whom they were taken up, as parties in the rob bery and murder of Dr. Andre's family, in the Rue de Aleerim. Diego Alves, the principal, and two other accomplices, were still left behind in prison, when the others were led to execution, against which one of them loudly and publicly complained, saying that " the feet were cut off, and the head left behind ; " referring to Diego Alves as the head of the gang, and whose crimi nal process cannot be completed so as to allow of his execution before February or March ; whilst the case of the men executed was completed a little earlier, from their having been tried by the military courts. The men walked barefoot with priests, and a steal! guard of soldiers, from the Limociro prison to the place of execution, about two miles. One of them was very penitent, but the other only confessed, as it is said, at the last moment. An accident took place towards the close of the me lancholy procession by the falling of a wall with a num ber of people, who were upon it to witness the execu tion, and as a great a crowd was passing, some thirty persons were more or less injured, including some very serious cases, of which four have since died, and ethers are not expected to recover. A curious circumstance took place about the same time, in respect to another accomplice in the murder of Dr. Andre, and which caused his apprehension. It appears that two out of the seven known to have entered the house could not be traced by the police ; but that now, upon the eve of the execution, one of them was in the Loreto-square, asking a person to give him a light to his cigar, which the party was about to do, but let his cigar fall into the mud, which was taken as intentional, and punished as an insult by a blow in the face. This caused a dis turbance, and the Municipal Guard took both parties to the guardhouse, in order to sift the matter, which led to the identification of one of the murderers in the party so prone to recent insult. DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRI CITY FROM HIGH PRESSURE STEAM. On Saturday, the 19th instant, Mr. Condie, manager of Blair Iron Works, Ayrshire, performed this new and interesting phenomenon at the above works, in the pre sence of Ludwick Houstcn, Esq., of Johnstone ; -- Cunningham, Esq., of Carnbrae Iron Works ; Thomas Wingate, Esq., Engineer, Springfield, and a number of others, who were all highly saisfiad with the accuracy of the accounts given by the public press of similar ex periments having been made in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, upon locomotive engine boilers. The expe riment made by Mr. Condie was upon the steam issuing from the safety valve of two of the high pressure boilers of the blowing engine, and was simply performed as fol lows : The experimenter placed himself upon an insulated stool (a board resting upon three quart bottles in ab scene of better), and having in one hand a long small rod of iron, with four sharpened points, similar to a lightning conductor ; this he held in the steam issuing from the safety valve. When the points were held about one foot from the valve, electric sparks were drawn by the bystanders' knuckles from those of the experimenter about half an inch long ; but as the pointed rod was raised to about six or eight feet above the valve into the cloud of steam, vivid and pungent sparks were then drawn one and a half inch long, which in fact wore nearly as stunning upon the arm as the shocks of a small Leyden phial, producing a great deal of merriment to the astonished workme❑ who were present, to sec fire and feel shocks from steam—an article they all sup posed themselves perfectly familiar with. In the e vening the experiment was resumed, to see the effects in the dark, when they proved the experi menter to be highly charged with electricity. The board on which he stood, not being rounded, each cor ner had a brush of light two or tbree inches long, like as many tassels, while every point of his dress and hair became highly luminous upon the persons standing near him. On this trial, sparks were drawn fully two inches long, which required some little courage to engage with, from their shocking propensities. These experiments were made upon the steam of two boilers, each thirty-two feet long by six diameter, first with steam equal to 12.1b5. upon the inch, and latterly at 2.slbs,—the increase of pressure adding to the effect, 'However, the experiment was perfectly satisfactorily performed with the surplus steam issuing front the safety valve while the engine was going upo❑ trial. Mr. Condie is of opinion that, from such boilers, with a properly constructed prime conductor, of large surface, sparks may be drawn from six to eight inches long, and large jars charged i❑ a few seconds. The wonder was that the experiments succeeded at all, as the appara tus was alto;ether rude. The floor where the tempo- I stool stood was covered with dust, shavings, &c., j which acted as conductors in stealing away the electri city front the experimenter.—Ayr Observer. STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH INDIA. Up to the Ist September last, when the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company's steamer Oriental started on her first trip to Alexandria, the means of transit by steam navigation between England and that port was as follows : The passenger had to take his passage, in the first instance, in one of the Peninsular mail contract steamers, proceeding to Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar. The passage to Gibraltar by these vessels, in consequence of the number of places they touch at, and the stoppages, generally occupies about eleven days from London, or eight days from Falmouth. At Gib raltar, the passenger had to transfer himself and baggage to a Government steamer, for Malta, where, under fa vourable circumstances, he would arrive in five to six days. At Malta, after a rather uncertain term of de tention for the arrival of that part of the Indian mail forwarded via Marseilles, he had again to embark on board another Government steamer, for Alexandria, which place he would probably reach in five or six days steaming. The whole passage, say from London to Alexandria, including the detention at the Peninsular ports, Gibraltar and Malta, generally occupying rom 25 to 35 days. But this was not the worst of it. The steamer with the outward mails seldom arrived at Alexandria before the East India Company's steamer from Bombay had also arrived at Suez, and the latter is obliged to start immediately the mail arrives : unless therefore, the passenger could make his way through Egypt with the same rapidity as the mails, and thus catch the steamer at Suez (which none but those of the most robust constitutions and active habits could do), be had no remedy but to tarry in the " land of Egypt" for a whole month, to wait the sailing of the next steamer for Bombay. To avoid these inconveniences, and more particularly the last, most passengers for India were in the habit of travelling overland,. through France to Marseilles, and thence embarking in a French steamer for Alexandria, in order to get there some days in advance of the mails, and thus be able to reach in time the Bombay steamer at Suez. In this, however, they not unfrequently as the break down of the French steamers was by no means an unusual occurrence ; and the poor outward bound " Indian," efter enduring a three weeks' purga tory of the slovenliness, discomfort, and incivility of a French steam-packet, found himself, after all, too late for the steamer for India. The uncertainty and tediousness of the route through Egypt, while there is no better conveyance on the Nile than what the Arab boats afford, is sufficiently noto rious. By the East India Company's steamers from Suez to Bombay, the fare is 801. for a first-cabin passenger, the passenger having besides, according to the Honourable Company's regulations, to provide himself with bedding and other necessaries. When this scale of fare and treatment is compared with that of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, who only charge 451. for a first cabin passenger for about an equal distance, say from England to Alexandria, providing the passenger with . _ bedding and every necessary, and conveying him in a much more costly and superior vessel, the advantage to the publio of a communication conducted by private en erprise, as contrasted with aGovernment establishment, s strongly apparent. The tediousness and privations of a journey by Dak from Bombay to the Eastern Presidencies of India, and particularly to the most important one, Bengal, are such that very few attempt it, preferring instead the long and monotonous passage by the sailing vessels, via the Cape of Good Hope. Bengal, Madras, and Ceylon, therefore, can scarcely be said to derive anv benefit from the present steam communication beyond that of getting a somewhat quicker transit for letters. And, as re gards India generally, the East India Company's steamers not being trading vessels, the means of transit for numerous articles, of which a quick and certain conveyance would minister greatly to the comfort and gratification of European residents in that country, is altogether excluded. And now for the homeward route from India via the Red Sea and Mediterranean, as it lately existed, Although the difficulty of reaching Alexandria from Suez in time to embark in the English mail-steamer for Malta, was not quite so great as that of getting from Alexandria to Suez, the boats on the Nile having the stream in their favour ; yet the choice of the passage home afterwards, as between the English or French steamers, being, by reason of the quarantine, only a choice of evils, passengers seldom gave themselves any trouble to embark in the English steamer with the mails, knowing that at Malta, several weeks' imprisonment in the Lazaretto awaited them, before they could proceed further. They therefore generally chose to avail them selves of thelew days' extra sojourn in Egypt, which the time of sailing of the French steamers allowed them, proceeding by these vessels either to Malta or Marseilles, to undergo their quarantine incarceration ; and, under this system of communication, if they reached England in from forty to fifty days after leaving Egypt, they had no reason to complain. By the improved communication already established by this Company, a passenger may, under. ordinary cir cumstances, be ashore in England in the midst of his friends within fifteen or sixteen days from his leaving Egypt ; and by the extension of that communication which is on the point of being effected, he will be able to quit the shores of Bengal and be among his friends in England io less time than it required, under the former mode of communication, to reach England from Alexandria. The " Oriental" and " Great Liverpooi" start from England on the 2d of every month, and the port of Southampton is about to be fixed on as their future point of departure. It is now ascertained, from actual experience, that these vessels can effect the passage to Alexandria in thirteen days steaming, or in about four teen days. including the stoppages at Gibraltar and Malta. The homeward passage is made in about the same time. Each vessel makes the whole voyage out and home. There is no changing of vessels nor quaran tine impediments on the homeward route. The vessels return direct to England in quarantine ; and under thi. precautions adopted, and the other arrangements made by the Company, the time occupied in the homeward voyage is allowed in the quarantine, and the vessels hare been hitherto released within one or two days after their arrival in England.—Anderson's Letter to the Directors, 4.e. WOOLWICH-FRIDAY. ROYAL ARTILLERY. GENERAL ORDER. Woolwich, Dec. 23, 1840 The Master-General has directed the following letter from Lord Hill to Major-General Sir George Thomas Id spier, K.C.8., Commander of the Forces at the Cape of Good Hope, conveying her Majesty'e pleasure on the proceedings of a general Court-martial, held at Gre- ham's Town, for the trial of Lieutenant W. J. P. Wade, Royal Artillery, to be promulgated in General Orders to the regiment. (Signed) H. D. ROSS, Colonel, Deputy-Adjutant•General. " Horse Guards, Dec. 9, 1840. " Sir,—Having had the honour to lay before the Queen the proceedings of a general Coart-martial, held at Graham's Town, Cape of Good Hope, on the 12th July, 1840, continued by adjournment to the 24th of the same month, and re-assembled for revision on the 18th of August following, for the trial of Lieutenan W. J. P. Wade, Royal Artillery, who was arraigne upon the under-mentioned charges ; First Charge—For conduct highly disgraceful and unbecoming en officer and a gentleman, in stating to Major Armstrong, and subsequently writing the same, on or about the 6th May, 1839, that he, on coming of age, was entitled to 3001. per annum by the will of his grandfather, Sir Walter Wade, Dublin, who, he as serted, had left him this property—all of which he (Lieut. Wade) knew to be false. " Second Charge—Also in producing, on or about the 14th July, 1839, a letter, purporting to havo been written by his mother, in which was a paragraph stating him to be entitled to a legacy of 6,0001., with interest amounting to 3601., left him by Dr. Walter Wade, and directing him to cause a power of attorney to be drawn up to remove such sum or supposed sum from the hands of Mr. Phelps, of Jervis-street, Dublin, to that of Messrs. Cox and Co., London ; the said paragraph being a fabrication of his own and an imitation of his mother's handwriting, inserted by him in the body of the said letter above alluded to from his mother, and so done for the purpose of misleading Major Armstrong and others ; and which, in the presence of Major Arm strong, he acknowledged to have said he had done. Third Charge.-For practising gross deceit, by causing a power of attorney to be drawn out, dated 16th July, 1839, according to the aforesaid fictitious paragraph,' as stated in the second charge, and pretend ing that he had forwarded the same to England, but which it appeared he never did, as well from his own avowal as to its never having been acknowledged by Messrs. Cox and Co., as also no letter with enclosures of such size having been put in the Graham's Town Post-office on the day he affected to have sent it—viz., on or about the 19th July, 1839. " Fourth Charge.—For disgraceful and dishonourable conduct in having, at Graham's Town, between the months of July and December, 1839, fraudulently ob tained several sums of moneys, by drawing bills on Messrs. Cox and Co., army agents, London, he Lieu tenant Wade, well knowing at the time he had no funds in their hands to meet such bills, which accordingly camp back dishonoured. " All such conduct, as set forth in the foregoing charges, being scandalous, infamous, unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, and prejudicial to the honour and character of her Majesty's service. " Upon which charges the Court come to the follow ing decision. The Court having duly and maturely weighed and considered the evidence in support of the prosecution, as well as what the prisoner has offered in his defence, is of opinion as follows " As relative to the first charge, that the prisoner is guilty of the whole of this charge. " As relative to the second charge, that the prisoner is guilty of the whole of this charge. " As relative to the third charge, that the prisoner is guilty of the whole of this charge. " As relative to the fourth charge, that the prisoner is guilty of the whole of this charge. " The Court having found the prisoner guilty of the whole of the charges preferred against him, which being in breach of the Articles of War, do by virtue thereof' sentence him, the prisoner, Lieut. W. J. P. Wade, of the Royal Artillery, to be dismissed her Majesty's service. " The Court is revised to reconsider its sentence for the following reason :—The Court having found the prisoner guilty of the crimes alleged against him, as set forth in the charges, have sentenced him to be dismissed the service. " This sentence is at variance with the Articles of War, which expressly declare, that an officer convicted of any scandalous, infamous conduct, unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman, Article 31, shall be cashiered,' leaving the Court no discretionary power after such conviction to mitigate its sentence to dismissal, &c. " It was clearly the duty of the Judge-Advocate to have pointed out the precise bearing of the penalty so distinctly implied by the Articles of War for a parti cular offence, and to have guarded the Court from in advertently falling into the error it has committed by deviating from the precise letter of the law. (Signed) "GEORGE NAPIER, Major-General, Commanding-in-Chief. " Government House, Cape Town, Aug. 18, 1840." " Graham's Town, Aug. 18, 1840. " The Court having re-assembled by order of Major- General Sir George Napier, K.C.8., and Commanding- M-Chief, for the purpose of revising its former sentence, having heard read the remarks of the Commander-in- Chief thereon, and the Court now finding that its former sentence of dismissal of the prisoner, Lieut. W. J. P. Wade, of the Royal Artillery, from the service, was not in accordance with the Articles of War, do now, after having re-considered its former sentence, adjudge him, the prisoner, Lieut. W. J. P. Wade, of the Royal Ar tillery, to be cashiered. " I have to acquaint you, that her Majesty has pleased to approve and confirm the finding, and re vised sentence of the Court. " You will be pleased to acquaint the Master-Gene ral of the Ordnance with the day on which her Majesty's pleasure is made known to the prisoner, as, from the date thereof, he will cease to receive pay in her Ma jesty's service.—l am, &c. (Signed) " HILL, " General Commanding-in-Chief." (From the Courier.) The French Chamber of Deputies is now partially reposing from party-political storms in the consideration of two questions of essentially different complexion, the one relating to the plan for the fortifications of Paris, which is referred to a Committee to report upon with M. Thiers for its President, the other being a Factory Dill, now introduced for the first time to the Legisla ture of France. It is sufficiently apparent that the lat ter measure, which alone we shall now notice briefly, will not be allowed finally to pass without a struggle on the part of the master manufacturing interests, although to judge from the languor with which the discussion is pursued, and the paucity of members who attend the sittings on the occasion, one of two facts might be in ferred ; that is, either that the master interest is suf ficiently predominant to ensure the rejection of the measure in its last Ltage, or such modifications in it as may render it almost inefficient for the end, or that tha friends of humanity and the working classes in the Chambers are perhaps too little suspected of zeal and sincerity in the cause to awaken any apprehensions for the result. And yet if there be one country in the world more than another where the working classes ge nerally, and peculiarly the infant workers, stand inn ed of legislative protection against the heartless and grind ing tyranny, or when, at bust, the indifference to their cuff-rings, and the inattention to their condition, of the master traders, that country is undoubtedly France. CARLOW ELECTION.—A mistake, which is likely to prove fatal to the election of Colonel Bruen. has been made in the return sent to London. The Extermi nators are in a terrible panic. They know that if the battle is to be fought again, they can have no chance of a sue.. cesslul issues. More of this in our neat. —Dublin Even ng Post of last Tuesday. OLD ENGLISH HOSPITALITIES.--A writer of the Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1795, p. 110, gives the following, acc,unt of a cnitom which takes place ant.ually, on the 24th of December, at the house of Sir— Holt, But., of Aston juxta B:rmingham :- 4 6 As soon as supper is over, a table is set in the hall ; a brown lout', a ith twenty silver threepcnees ruck on the top of it. a tankard of sle, with pipes and tobacco; and the two oldest servants have chairs behind it. to sit as judges, if they please. The steward brings the servants, both men and men, by one at a time, covered with a winnow-sheet, and lays their right hand on the loaf, exposing no other part of the body; the eld est of the two judges guesses at the person, by naming a name, then the younger judge, and lastly the oldest again. If they bit upon the right name, the stew ard leads the person back again ; but if they do not, he takes off the winnow-sheet and the person receives a threepence, makes a low obeisance to the judges, hut speaks not a word. When the second servant was brought, the younger judge guessed first and third, and this they did alternately, till all the money was giv , ,-n stray. Whatever servant had not slept in the licuse the preceding night forfeited his right to the money. No account is given of the origin of this strange custom, but it. baa been practised ever since the family settled there. When the money is gone the servants have full liberty to dance, sing, and go to bed when they please." LAMBETII-STREET.—THE LATE MISS LAN- DoN.-oii Thursday Mrs. Moroner, the wife of a Cavain in the merchant service, attended before Mr. Norton, as the prosecutrix in a charge of felony against a fem.-le in mad Mary Campbell. She afterwards made an appllca lien to Mr. Norton for his advice as to how she was to act under the following circumstances. From her state n ent it appeared that Mrs. Moroncr had sailed from this c untry in the same vessel with the late lamented Mrs. M'Lean, formerly Miss Landon, on lee - way to Cape Coast Castle, and both on board, and at her subsequent residence, had agood deal of intercourse and communica tine with that highly gifted lady. She had also been present at the inquiry which took place relative to the sud den and very unexpected death of Mrs. M'Lean, and had taken notes of the proceedings as well as of many circumstances %%Lich occurred during the voyage, as also during the leief existence of that Much-lamented lady in Atriza. On her ( Mrs. Moroner's) return to this country she related to the friends of the late Mrs. M'Lcan the whole of the circumstances attending her death, &c., which had come within her knowledge ; but latterly she had been subjected to very considerebie annoyance by some gen tlemen who had by some means or other discovered the fact of her having such documents in her possession. Those persons in the first place called on her, and almost insisted upon her girli '' 's up not only all the documents relating to the lady she had mentioned, but also the letter she had received from her husband, then at sea. L'he however, refused to comply with their request, as the would neither give their na , nes or addresses ; and on on or two occasions their conduct was, to say the least of it, not at all becoming gentlemen, though they came in their carriage. The object of her application to Mr. Norton was, to know whether she would be justified in the event of their coming again and annoying her, in giving them into custody. Mr. Norton said if they called again, and made use of any threats, she would be perfectly justified in giving them into custody. Yes t-rday, at the conclusion of the examination, Mr. Nor ton asked Mrs. Moroncr if she suffered any further annoy ance? She replied that she had not, as the time had not yet arrived when they said they would call. She said that one of the persons who had called, and who she sus pected belonged to the Press, had been excessively annoy ing to her. He called at a time when she had just re ceived intelligence of her brother's death, and in the fir st place, offered her five pounds for the papers. This she refused, and referred him to her solicitor, upon which lie became rather abusive, and refused to give his name. The others, she had no doubt, were persons of distinction, though they represented themselves as mercantile tra vellers. On her complaining of their:conduct they said they would defy her to find out who they were. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CITY COURTS OF LAW.-Sir Peter Laurie has given notice of motion in the Court of Common Council, " That it be referred to the Committee of City Lands to consider and report the Lest means for improving the construction and accommodation of the Oid Court of King's Bench in Guildhall, and the Courts-of-law in the Guildhall-yaid." It is to be hoped that some regulations will be adopted to prevent the steal ing of hats and coats in the Law-courts which are under the very nose of the Commissioner. Several complaints have been made of the successful labours of the thieves who frequent these Courts, for the purpose of taking advantage of the bustle and anxiety of the several solicitors, clients, clerks, and witnesses, in attendance, but no policernea are stationed in the Courts or avenues. It is said that the Po lite Commissioner objects to allow any cf his Force to at tend, on the ground that it is the business of the Sheriff's Officers to protect the, Courts of Justice, but Sheriff's Officers, it is pretty evident, are not the proper security against the ingenuity of well-dressed plunderers, and no man knows that fact better than Sir Peter Laurie. ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.—ThiS establishment has lately added another feature to its nume rous objects in the shape of an evening exhibition, which is full of advantages to those prevented by business from visiting it in the day-time. Bramah's warm water appa ratus has been most successfully used in the building, every , morn of which is of,:a most delightful temperature. THE MURRAIN. We regret to learn that there is no abatement of this disease among cattle, It has now extended generally over the south and midland counties of Scotland, and has even travelled so far north as the highlands of Perth shire. It is nearly ten days since the disease developed itself in the upper ward of Lanarkshire ; but both there and almost every'Where else the disease has assumed very mild type, and the deaths are not more fre quent than in the case of influenza in the human sub ject. We regret to observe that many persons have abstained from the use of Eni:k and meat from a very groundless terror of the murrain, and that from this cause milk has laden front fourpence to threepence in Edinburgh, even at this seantyseason. This is like ab staining from fruit and soup li i time of cholera, though the event pa i n fa y proved that disease and death came to him who abstained front fruit, as well as to him who partook of it. But mere than this, diseased (tand though the 1 England sh;ce the month of ed March last, we never heard of a hutr.an being who was ( .; i t sr. t I: s e d o has not ve i r n any quantity, either afilliculd with the symptoms, or suffered death ; from the murrain. We "Pe, therefore, that this milk and butter squeamishness will cease and determine. At all events, it is . sat:sfactory to know that the Inspector of Markets is at this time doubly attentive as to the purity of the butcher meat offered for sale in the City. In the llope that this information may be useful, we subjoin an i e n t ir ( , 3r tl a ie received by 3 a gentleman in town, there i disease in the district of slPxleturcitidinaton ;—" Your son tells me you are desirous of information regarding our modeof treatment of the epide mic tpue p h r e e x v p a e le r i i i e t n a c m e e i e n g ti e d a s t n tl l e a . tt .l e k r s , h v a i i v i u i y n e fo y r o t u u n t t e e Iy. to resulto of my observations. The diseas e shows itself at first in a dullness in the eye, a stiffness over the whole body, and a want of appetite. In some cases the mouth and tongue with sma ll p us tules, a great fib bow ecame soresaliva a and blistered, s b te o r t ed, h nose amtm mouth, and the pre vailing symptoms are great stiffness and soreness in tae limbs. In all cases there seems an utter rostra :ion of strength and spirit. I have remarked that those eases whore the soreness of mouth is the chief coin are more tedious in the cure than when the diseas e is confined to the limbs. In the milder cases I have abstained altogether from medicine ; the animals have been kept d r y a nd warm, and I h a ve had oatmeal gruel, i n whi c h li nsee d o il- ca k e i s di sso lved, freely l';'ven them ; an d w h en they wou ld no t drink it of their own ac cor d , it has been administered to t h em tw i ce or thrice 4. - O Y. In more severe cases I have followed this recipe:— lb. Epsom salts, a lb. sulphur, oz. powdered ginger, 1 t will linseed oil. The above, given in t wo quarts of oatmea l grue l, h as genera ll y indeed I "nay say always, acted beneficially. When the disease first made its appearance among my cattle, I administered lib. of Epsom salts without sulphur, but I think the other recipe the better mode of treatment.. When the mouth is very sore it is expedient to wash it with a sponge dipped in a solution of alum and water twice or thric e in a day. In no case have I had re course to bl ood-letting : I have had upwards of 30 cat tle affected, but the whole seem to be in a fair way of recovery. Those first attacked are quite well again. I have still about a dozen that have not had the com plaint, but with every probability of their being attacked. Indeed, I observed the incipient symptoms in some of them to-day. Upon whole, the disease, though distress ing to behold, and hurtful to the condition of the animal, i s in few cases fatal. I apprehend the f ata l cases have been increased rather by too much medical treatment than too little. G reater injury is often done by fretting and teasing the anim a l i n a d m i n i s t e ring medicine, than g ood by its effects i n removing the disorder."—G/as go u t Courier. : :e o c w k in i°linc the ehd a rriages is about had STATISTICS WOR TH KNOWING.—III Great m Britain the number of i n di v id ua l s i n a state to bear arms, f , ag t e ha o t f li6n to 63 of these unions there were only 60, is 2,744,847. The number of and it has been r The number of deaths is about 332,700 yearly, winch ma k es near ly 25,592 monthly, 6,398 weekly , 91 4 daily, and 40 hourly. The deaths a mong the women are, i n proportion to the men, as 50 to 54. The married women live longer than those who continue in celibacy. In the country!, the mean ter m of the namber o f c hild ren p ro duced by each mar riage is four; in towns the proportion is 811VCI1 for every two marriages. The number of marries women is to the general number of individuals of the sex, as 1 to 3 ; and the number of married men to that of all the in d,viduals o f the m ale sex, as 3to 5. The numbe r of wi (lows is to that of widowers, as 3 to 1; but the numbe r of wi dows who marry again is to that of widowers in t he tame case, as 7to 4. Th e i n dividuals who inhabit ele vateelcvated p laces. The half of the individuals die before live longer than those who reside in le ss is to that of ordina ry births, as 1 to 65 . Acc ordin g to c at :d a c ini ud s lantigitountahst,ieoangs'eofseventeen years. The number of tw ins founded upon the bills of mortality, ono indi vidual only in 3,126 attains the age of 100 years. The min - iber of births of the male sex 13 to 01;11: of the female sex , a s 96 to 95. —Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. PUNISHMENT OF DEATH. The fact that Christ never referred to capital pu nishment es an institute for good, ought of itseif to be a reason for setting it aside. But the fact that, both by direct precept and example he did set it aside, makes it altogether a matter of astonishment that it ever was adopted by the Christain world. Under the ministra tion of death, or Old Covenant, the magistrate's porser, in principle and practice, was extended to minor offences. Under the ministration of life, Christ denies its first admission, and the last is impossible ; when a principle is not admitted in its first application, it can not be extended to higher degrees. Its first admission was, " Thou hest heard it aforetime said, An eye for eye, and a tooth for a tooth ;' but I say unto you that ye resist not evil ; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also ; be not overcome of evil, bus overcome evil with good, that ye may be the children of your Father in heaven ; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust ; he ye per fect as your Father in heaven is perfect." The crime of fornication and adultery were sins which came di rectly under the denomination of capital offences under the former dispensation. Our Lord reversed that order by specific precept and example. The Scribes and Pharisees we are informed brought unto him a woman taken in adultery, and said, " Master, Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, what sayest thou ?" The reply was, " Him that is without fault let him first cast a stone at her." The whole penalty enjoined was, "Go and sin no more." Had it been nteuded to admit the principle of Capital Punishment into the present dispensation, our Saviour would not have substituted divorce for Capital Punishment. It is true, that no direct precept is given in regard to mur der ; but murder is certainly included under the diffe• rent degrees of crime which it is the will of heaven to pardon—a fact which affords a more summary way of settling the dispute in the universal adaptation of the Gospel to all and every crime, " Verily, I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men," murder and every subordinate crime included. We could not possibly conceive a case of more aggra vated murder than that of the Saviour himself ; the ma jesty of his person, the innocence of his character, the purity of his principles, the meekness of his deportment, indeed the perfect exhibition of every moral attribut e which he displayed , placed him transcendently beyond the possibility of evil. I et, in defiance of all moral consideration, and every natural impulse which hu manity or justice could prompt, they gave him over to an ignominious condemnation. Instead of that proving a motive to vindictive feeling, it formed the plea for the highest commiseration. Accordingly, he instructed his disciples, in the proclamation of the glad tidings, to be gin first at Jerusalem ; and we know the result was that many of the principal actors in the horrid drama became obedient to the faith. Thus 1 conceive that Capital Punishment formed no element of the Christian system. It is ahhorent to the whole tenor of Christianity, and to every sanctified feeling of the human mind.—Lecture on Capital Punishments, by James M' Ewan. TII E ACCIDENT-RELIEII SOCIETY.—The in crease of accidents since the frost set in has compelled this Society to appeal to the City authorities for assistance. The estimate of the annual number of accidents is 20,000 in the metropolis; and the Society was instituted to give immediate relief to the families of the poor industrious per sons who suffer accidental injuries. It was stated at the Mansion-house, a few days ago, that with only 501. at their bankers', the Committee were giving away weck!y 160 quitrtern loaves, 1201bs. of good meat, and 60 cwt. of coals, besides potatoes in large quantities. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. The Noma, transport ship, with Captain James's company of the Royal Artillery on board, has been obliged to put back to Gravesend, with the loss of one anchor. THE VETO QUESTION. (From the Times.) The clergy of Scotland, with half-a-dozen insignificant exceptions, are Conservatives to a man. But upon the veto question, which at present agitates their Church, they are grievously divided. In favour of the veto, or something equivalent to it, there is a large clerical ma jority, led by Alexander Dunlop, Esq., and supported by a considerable body of lay adherents on both sides of po litics. Opposed to the veto, but not opposed to the principle of non-intrusion provided it can he secured and regulated in a legal way, we find a respectable minority of the clergy, backed by an overwhelming pre ponderance of the Scotch nobility and gentry, as well as by a powerful section of the middle classes, both Conservatives and Whigs. Latterly, the ecclesiasti cal question which divides these parties has acquired such supreme importance in their estimation, as dis poses them to look with indifference opon every other. chus a certain constitutional newspaper in Edinburgh, though zealous in reprobating the general policy of the Whigs, advises its readers to oppose every Parliamentary candidate who declines to go all lengths in supporting the ultra non-intrusionists. In Aberdeen, on the other hand, the divided Conservatives, whose union would have secured Mr. Lindsay's election, have placed that gentleman in some jeopardy, because he is disinclined to become the fettered slave of either party ; and so high does this controversy run in the county of East Lothian, that nearly 30 of the parochial clergy, who voted for Lord Ramsay at the last general election, have ex pressed a hasty determination to oppose any candidate, no matter what be his civil politics, who will not gulp the non-intrusion pledge insisted on by Mr. Alexander Dunlop. That these unhappy differences among our Scotch friends, if they be not wisely and seasonably cast into abeyance, will do considerable injury to the Conservative cause, which is pre-eminently the cause of the Church, must be apparent to everybody. Her Ma jesty's Ministers know this well ; and accordingly, in stead of propounding a plan whereby the spiritual juris diction of the Ecclesiastical Courts may be harmonized with the legal rights of patrons, they permit such irre sponsible understrappers as Mr. Fox Maule and the Lord Advocate to make all manner of delusive promises —promises which they are perfectly aware the present temper of Parliament will not permit them to realize. For our own part, we have given a decided opinion in opposition to the veto ; but, provided a candidate were unexceptionable in other respects, we should never dream of denying him our support simply on the ground that on that particular question his views are contrary so our own ; nor can we hesitate, under existing circum stances, to implore our Conservative friends in Scot land, if not to lay aside their ruinous and unavailing dissensions, at least to refrain from endangering the success of constitutional candidates at the next election, by subjecting theta to en ecclesiastical shibboleth, which, without implying or involving a particle of good for either side of the Church, is merely enabling the com mon enemy to destroy the hopeful promise of the recent Scottish registratisms. Considering the unequivocal deliverance which J oseph . Hume gave upon this question, as the mouth-yiece of the ultra-Liberals ; and considering the explicit decla tion of Sir Robert Peel as indicating the general senti ments of his Parliamentary supporters on the same sub ject. the Whigs are ma nifestly acting on the presumption that, as the extreme views ()idle NOII-Mitt'u6,:uai ms stau(i no possible chance of being carried, promises in their EVEN ING E D iTI 0.14!: fivour may be given to any extent, not orily ~ w ith a. vs. sent advantage to the Ministerial fiction,. .but r pith the hope that, in case of failure, the entire I.,\latne i nay be imputed to Conservative hostility. We earnestly reiterate this advice on two g , -our ids. Ia the first place, apart from the manifest unprorlueti ve ness of these dissensions as regards the special obje . 's of their promoters, the progress of Conservative princ 11 des in the north has latterly been such as, but for thi. un happy dispute, would be highly adv2ntageous to • the common constitutional cause. According to our i dor mation, there is now sufficient strength in the :fries of Perth and Aberdeen, as well as it; the district .con• stituencies of Elgin, Inverness, St. Andrew's, and .Jed burgh, to insure the return of Conservative men - t hers at the next election. From a paragraph which Is .tely appeared in our paper, we also learn, that at a re cent dinner at Cheltenham, Major Anderson (the 130n servative candidate for the Lanark boroughs) not only announced his absolute certainty of unsi Mr. Radical Gillon—a statement which the lat g re gistrations in that quarter completely confirm --but further declared his conviction that no fewer than six seats in the south and west of Scotland w , .tre at present ready to rid themselves of their several . terial occupants. We believe this to be strictly true ; and the seats in question, as we suppose, are these of Argyleshire, Dambartonshire, Kirkcudbright, .together with those of the district boroughs of Ayr, Put dries, and Wigton. Now, with such encouraging pr,;) spects a 3 these, which nothing but the suicidal divuniou of the Scotch Conservatives can prevent from being realized, what conceivable good can accrue either to the vetoisis or to the anti-vetoists from ,their respective endeavours to frustrate them ? By per. tinaciously insisting that the Conservative candi dates shall either pledge themselves to their several views, or else be deprived of their support, an 0;1 3 Y triumph will be secured to the existing Ministerial members ; and thus, without bettering the position of the Church in the slightest degree, the means of the Whigs will be proportionably strengthened not only for subjecting the Church to continued neglect and injury, but for prosecuting those systematic sacrifices to Poperr and democracy which every sound Conservative MU' it be desirous to terminate. 'TRANSLATION OF TILE 818 TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. SIR,—In your paper of i3aturday last appeared a letter signed " the Little Stone," containing some extraordi nary observations on the Hebrew Scriptures. As regards prosecution for blasphemy, I do mot think it prudent ; but I equally disapprove of vilifying the foundation, because some defend it improperly. Will you allow me to remind your Correspondent; that the Old Testament was translated with great labour and leisurely consideration, by men well learned in Hebrew ; that it has since fifty times been sifted by men posses sed of nearly all the knowledge on the sub j ect which can be attained : and, finally, and especially, language is not a thing in which new d iscoveries can be made like a branch of natural philosop h y . I am," Sir, yours, respectfully , that a A CONSTANT READER, M.A., Dec. 22, 1840. FIRST FRUITS AND TENTI3.S. OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. SlR,—Finding that the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were in possession-or certain First-fruits and Tenths before the time of Queen Anne, perhaps you will allow me to amend my question. I would ask, =Were not certain First•fruits and Tenths now in Cam- the oisession of the Univ ersities of O x ford and con ridge surrendered to them b y the Crown on dition of certain lectures being delivered free and open to the public ?—I am, Sir, yours, Ste., Ilfracombe, Dec. 2Z. 1840. TO THE EDITOR OF THE :SUIY. SlR,—Please send me six copies of The Sun of the stem 2d • inst., containing the Map of. China. I hope this sy of illustrating events by charts in newspapers will be fol lowed up. Will you have the goodness to excuse the liberty I take , in making a suggestion. Doubtless eur Governinent will take this opportunity of forcing the China: Go vernment to open up their territory to the World. A suggestion I would make appears at first sight too much, but it is worthy of a second thought; a Rail way from Pekin, - ,t,iroggil Asia and Europe to Lisbon.:—• the beat point of embarkation for America —is a thing, however improbable ever to exist, still less so ttotin a Raiur l way from London to Glasgow was twent y years ago. O influence in China and Turkoy is sufficient to clear anthd e way, as far as these two co untries go, both for leave funds. After these there is only the Phan and /he King of Persia to satisfy and gain over, with every hope of the concurrence of European Governments, when a hlandarin by the train may go from Pekin to Lisbon hi about a week. The Persian and Tartar Monarchs are of less curious than other mcn, and to be able to visit Govern Paris in a week would be very attractive for them. Our ment should be aware of what great a ffairs are at their beck.--.I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,; C. WOOD, Ship-builder. Dumbarton, Dec. 22, 1840. THE MARKETS. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS• Wheat. Barley. Oats. tieani. Pease. Per Quarter.i s. to s. a. to a. s• to a 4 4 . 3. re s. A. A , ing.ion 54 6 6 30 40 2q 24 44 572 44. Andover 54 60 33 41 6 34 Banbury 52 60 27 SI 24 29 Basingstoke 04 27 33 20 3.! 48 5`2 42 49' Cirencester.., 52 61 34 36 '29 32 40 42 . Coventry - 40 Daventry 63 72 38 44 23 31 30 44 Derby ... ... 63 66 30 85 24 31 48 50 1-lowcltn .. - Flungerford 50 62 32 59 .23 33 44 52 ,:39 46 Malton - Maidenhead' 52 75 35 40 25 34 43 5' 42 -- N o ttingham 54 67 25 36 t.. 4 22 47 Wantago. Warwick - Winc h es ter 70 — 4 a) York - ,'• Per Rush el .. d 2 5 1'1! S' d : s : d : g . a r . , (1 4 6 . B' 6. 1 6 d i ‘ 1 ; . g Per Bushel s.d. 5. d. s.d. s. d. s.d. s. d. s. d, s. ci.l B i rm i ng h a m 70 79 30 53 4• 49 5 6 6S ZOINBUROH CORN MARKET. —Dec 23 I ‘Viicat. Barley. 1 uat.. l'ease. '7 .6. Od. 35:.6d. 20s CI. 42a. Od. 60 0 3, 0 '24 .. 38 0 Peaus. ei .od, d 3i- 0 First Second Third Average price of Wheat '2l. 193 6d. PRICES OF PROVISIONS i,C. fleet; per io. ............ 9s. ed. tdis.7d.,, Freth Butter, PI. 0;. 0,1. to 1 : • . 11 mi --...--...... 0 6 0 7 Salt Ditt0—........ 010 I Altai 1 Vva1„.„,,,..„„....,...,,,,,,„, 0 5 10 i Ditto, per .cv.t. —92 0 112 0 ii0,,,,,,__,,,,, 0 5 0 7 Eggs, 'ter doz. —0 0 1 2 Lama, per qr. —., 00 • 0 0 OatStrawtkpl.!.... 7• 0 1.4 0 l'allow, cavt....--39 0 9 0 0 Wheat Ditto,— 6 0 8; 0 Potatoes, tern Loaf .... 0 Sf 0 9 parley Ditto ~...... 5 6 - 7 • • Potatoes, 1-11 h. —.... 0 5 0 0 Hay, I , er 5t.............. 0 0 1 0 .EDINMURGH I,•IEAL MA Ma:T.—Dec; 9.2. • i Per Sack of 2501 b. Imp Per tont.: ot 1910. Jim , . First Oatmeal Second ditto -1 , 1 L . . Barleymem 1 8 0 Barleyt meal Peasemeal .... 18 0 P e ascineal . .................... 00 10 5 Pot Barley from 303. to 50s, per sack. CORNWALL MARKETS. (Calculated.) Wheat. s. d. to r. d. s. d. to s. d. s. to s. - 0 7d— 0 3 Af 0 2 8 9 0 0 4 0 0 3 0 0 7 5 0 3 6 0 2 5 0 8 9 0 4 0 0 3 0 6 6 7 6 3 0 36 0 '2 0 8• • 0 33 0 3 0 6 8 7 8 3 6 4 0 2 4 2 8 6 6 7 4 4 0 4 4 2 4 3 8 Oruro flelstone St. Austell Rocirnin 7...iskeard Launceston Camelford Penzance THE BOMBAY OVERLAND MAlLs.—The three last packets (from Europe) have amounted, in letters and newspapers, to 32,777, 32,273, and 37,391: of these 9,934, 10,897, and 8,877, had to be sorted alphabetically and distributed in Bombay ; many of the others had to be re-directed, from changes in the regiments—all io b?. arranged and forwarded in separate packets for 200 to 220 stations on each day's despatch, and there again sub divided into more packets, to alit the prescribed weights to be carried at a time. For Calcutta, and places eastward of Calcutta, the number of covers, letters, and papers, are stated at 7,464, 7,333, and 9,427 respectively, in the three last mails from England : for Madras 3,065, 2,728, and 3,326, so that five-eights of the mail are addressed to the three Presidencies, and nearly two-thirds come to Bombay, and to stations in India, for which packets go hence direct. —Bombay Paper. REGISTER STOVES, 3 ft. wide, 248.; Brass Poles for Window Curtains, Is. 3d. per foot. Register 'woo, Bd. per inch; elliptic stoves, 4d. per inch; register stoves, with bright fronts, bright an black bars, bronzed ornaments, 100 s. ; brass poles for window curtains, lI inch diameter, Is. 3d. per foot ; 2 inches, Is. Bd. ; a ' 2 inch pole, 3 feet 6 inches long, with ends, rings, and brackts, complete, for I9s. Catalogues gratis, containing the price of every article, in ironmongery. RIPPON and BURTON, Wells-street, OLfo_rd7street. BIRTHS. On the 23d inst., at Blackheath, Mrs. A. de Arroyave, of a the l a dy of B. D. Colvin, Esq., of a son. daughter. i n Cambridge-terrace, Hyde Park, .the () O n o t t h h e e 2 .4 3t t l h in it s t t s . t ,. lady of G. K. Pollock, Esq., of a son. On the 24th inst., the wife of the Rev. G. Everard, Curate of Christ Church, City, of a daughter. On the 24th inst., tha wife of the Rev. W. Pullen, of Upper f Seymour S treet-West, t o ile a uile s i on. On of E. Barker, Esq., Edgeware dof a daughter. ,t: ti, -e MARRIED. On the 22d inst., at Freston, the Rev. A. J. Thorpe, Vicar of Chippenham, third son of J. Thorpe, Esq.. of Chippenham ['ark, Cambridgeshire, to Juliet, third daughter of the late Rev. J. Bond, Rector of Freston, Suffolk. On the 22d inst., at Paris, at the Catholic Church of St. Roc's, and afterwards at the British Embassy, M. Renouf, of Bourdeaux, to Mary, daughter of the late H. Broom, Dig., of Kidderminster. .D/H.D. At Ventnor, Isle of Wight, on Sunday, the 201 h December, of a rapid decline, John Forbes, Esq., eldest son of Sir Charles Forbes, Bart., aged 39, beloved and respected in public and private life by all who knew him. On the 22d inst., at Ingoldistliorpe Hall, Norfolk, Mary Exam, the wife of the Rev. r.. Bellamy. . On the 23d inst. Lieutenant-General Sir W. H. Pringle, G. C. 8., Colonel of the 45th Re g iment, in Stratford-place. On the 20th i ns t., I'. Hill, Esq., of James-street, Adelphi. On the 24th inst., Elizabeth, the wife of Mr. J. Taylor, of College -street, Islington. •.5.! arrommervsarnraras.a.szr“ ,, ALtsekno.6.WHOpiffr , : Printel and 1 , 117RD0 YOUNG, of Yo. 12, Stray.? at 7.11 e Su) , ()ince, I\u. 112, Stra ,, d , in the county of 111iddleies.—;Saturday, December, 26, 1140. 1 y~,';t