The Sun. — London, England, 1840-03-23 00:00:00

EVEN ENO EDITION . - 1 0. , .,.... LITERATURE. NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE ALONG THE SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, 6 - e. By W. R. TYrLnrc, M.R.I.A. In 2 Vols. Dublin, William Curry and Co. ; London, Longman and Co., 1840. These volumes are the production of a medical gen tleman who, in the autumn of 1837, formed one of a party on a voyage in pursuit of health. He visited Corunna, Lisbon, Gibraltar, Madeira, Algiers, Egypt, Palestine, Tyre, Rhodes, Telmessus, Cyprus, and Greece, and his impressions and remarks upon these places furnish materials for two of the most agreeable volumes that it has been for some time our good for tune to meet with. Though the ground trodden by Doctor Wilde has been gone over a hundred times by rambling tourists and sketch writers, he has contrived to furnish a mass of useful information, for which the reader will look in vain in the pages of most of his pre decessors. He has a plain every day way of looking at objects, and of describing them, without at all dimi nishing his enthusiastic appreciation of the mental associations which they awaken, which acts upon the fancy of the reader like a panoramic exhibition. Of this description is his account of the aqueduct of AL: critara—the ascent of the Teneriffe—the view of Al giers—the night scene at the Pyramids—and the touching relation of the approach to, and state of, the Jews at Jerusalem. Dr. Wilde is not one of those who think the French conquests in Africa either ad vantageous to French aggrandizement or to British commerce. The French, he found, had done nothing for Africa, and his conviction is that they can do nothing for it, because they are detested by the native Population. There is no confidence, and no intimacy, between the French and the Arabs beyond the range of the guns at the blockhouses. Of Mehemet Ali he has, on the contrary, a very high opinion. He describes the reforms which he has effected in Egypt as most astonishing, considering the genius of the people, and he endeavours with praiseworthy anxiety to re commend the continuance of a peaceful policy. The worst evil he witnessed in the dominions of the Paella was the impressment—an evil wholly resulting from the terror in which he is kept by the threats if the Great Powers and the hostile intentions of the Porte. Dr. Wilde's observations on the erection of the Pyramids, and the whole of his account of the site of Jerusal em , are exceedingly curious. He appears to have walked, Bible in hand, through every part of the Holy City, and to have carefully examined all that is worthy of notice in the writings of previous travellers. Thu portion of his travels will not fail to attract the at tion of the religious world. In conclusion, these volumes are handsomely illustrated with wood-engravings ; and in the beauty of their " getting-up "—to use tFe lan guage of the trade—may court a comparison with the newest productions of the London Press. LIFE AND LET7ERS OF CICERO. Mozon, London, 1840. It is idle at this time of day to enter into any length ened analysis of the character of Dr. Middleton's Life of Cicero," for the book has long since taken its proper station in literature, and is justly appreciated by classical scholars as one of the most learned and intelli gent pieces of biography in the language. Yet, vast as is the reach of the Doctor's information, and unwearied as is the diligence, combined with ripe and ready Powers of judgment, that he has evinced in his arduous task, his work is open to this objection—namely, that Where it affects to be critical, it is not merely vague and 'meagre, but shallow, and deficient in original thinking. It throws no new or v i v id li g h ts on t h e su bj ect o f Cicero's peculiarities as a writer and an orator, but merely repeats the current common-places of the last elghteen hundred and fifty years. Thus, in instituting a parallel between him and Demosthenes, the Doctor Says :---" The genius, the capacity, the style and manner of them both were much the same ; their eloquence of that great, sublime, and comprehensive kind, which dig nified every subj ec t, an d gave i t a ll t h e f orce an d b eauty Of which it was capable ; it was that roundness of speak "mg where there was nothing either redundant or defi cient ; nothing either t o b e a dd e d or re t renc h e d ; th e i r perfections were in all points so transcendent and Yet so similar, that the critics are not agreed on w hich side to give the preference." Now, it' we except that happy phrase " roundness of speaking"— w hich, however characteristic of the Roman, i$ certainly not so of the Greek orator—nothing can well be poore r than this criticism ; for, to say nothing of its want of apt and pertinent mean i ng, t h e h ypot h es i s with "Inch it sets out, is false. In the first place, "the style and manner" of Demosthenes and Cicero are so far from being " much th e s ame," that they arc essentially differ ent. Th e former loved concentrat i on , th e l at t er ampli fication, The one pushed boldly forward to his mark, allowing himself to be diverted from it by no intervening object ; the other was fond of halting and looking about " H T. Cicero embellished his arguments with all the aids which a lively fancy, and inexhaustible resources of lan guage, could supply ; Demosthenes gave them in all their stern and naked vigour. The general character of the Roman' s eloquence was grace ; that of the Greek's energy. The former was sparing of epithets ; the other, prodigal in his use of them. Demosthenes was full of va riety, and even negligent, in ' the construction of his sentences ; Cic.ro , careful, harmonious, and too often monotonous, in his cadences, originating in his love of soundin g polysyllabical terminations. To sav—as Doc tor Middleton has said—that their eloquence was great, sublime, and comprehensive," is to say nothin g more than may b e o b serve d w i t h equal truth of Chat ham, Burke, Fox—indeed of every superior orator. We may urge the same objection against the Doctor's phrase " transcendent," which, in a critical sense, is de void of distinctive meaning. In a far shrewder spirit does the learned biographer speak of the writers who succeeded Cicero. Here, his criticism is as acute as it is appropriate. " These men," he tel:s us, " affected a minute and fastidious correctness, pointed sentences, short and c oncise pe riods w i t h ou t a s yll a bl e t o s pare in them, as if the per fection of oratory consisted in a frugality of words, and in crowding our sentiments into the narrowest compass." Sallust was one of the chief patrons of this school, and constantly affected an abrupt, sententious, and elliptical style, studying point on every occasion, no matter at what cost to clearness and distinctness of meaning. Yet, despite the Doctor's sneer, we cannot consent to give up this clever historian, more especially when we bear to mind his subtle and forcible character of Catiline, and his picturesque account of his death on the field of battle. Dr. Middleton, we perceive, makes no men ttonof Cicero' s van it % , w hi c h was great , nor o f hi s courage, which was doubtful ; but represents him throughout as one of the noblest patriots, and most Immaculate of men, that ever existed, reminding us, by such uniform p anegyr i c , o f Old Giff or d , w h o , i n hi s Life of Ben Jonson," has indulged in a similar strain of excessive eulogium. In closing this hasty notice of One of the most learned biographical works in the lan guage, we cann o t om i t t h an ki ng M r . M oxon f or t h e ;.neop and comm o di ous f orm i n w hi c h h e h as re-pub "shed it. These elegant one-volume editions of our standard authors do the spirited publisher infinite credit, a nd,, are ca l cu l ate d to work a most beneficial change in the literary tastes of the day. THE WIDOW MARRIED.-3 Vols. CoMuni, London, 1840. The greater portion of this tale has already made its ill,ropearance from time to time in the pages of the New Monthly Magazine," and been made the subject of several passing notices in The Sun. It is by no means equal to the authoress's " Widow Barnaby," either in the disposition of incident, or the development of character. There is far too much of caricature in it, especially where Mrs. Trollope describes her heroine's presentation at the Court of St. James's, the details of which grossly violate probability. The entire character, too, of the aristocratic old maid, Lady Susan Deemed, is defaced by the same blemish. Nor can we say much in praise of the manner in which the plot is unravelled, which is clumsily and hastily managed, as if the authoress were beginning to weary of her subject, and were glad to get to an end with it. Still the tale will be read with pleasure, if only for the sake of the brawny, shrewd, unscrupulous " Widow," whose dia logues are always characteristic, and replete with food for laughter. The illustrations by Buss, arc, generally speaking, clever, but would have been much improved, had a little more comic spirit been thrown into them. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF TILE NEW ZEALANDERS.-2 roLs. Madden, London, 1840. Mr. Polack—to whom we are indebted for these volumes—has been a long time resident in New Zea land, and his opinions, consequently, are deserving of every consideration. So far as we are enabled to form a notion on the subject, he writes in a perfectly un biassed spirit, and neither underrates nor overrates the advantages which the country holds out to British set tlers. In point of climate, it is, he assures us, unitn- Peachahle ; the soil, too, with some exceptions, is g o od ; but the majority of the natives are still in a sad state of barbarism, the horrid practice of cannibalism being not yet extinct among them. In particular, they have a great taste for hakci heads—an ugly fancy, which we trust will have the effect of keeping our Scottish settlers constantly on the alert, for it would be exceed ingly embarrassing if they were to wake one fine morn ing, and find their heads " done to a nicety" in a New Zealand oven ! We can conceive no situation more Painful, or provocative of dismal reflections. After entering at some length into a variety of details re sPeCting the religious rites of the New Zealanders, Mr. oLech proceeds to describe their marriage cere monies, some of which are curio s enough. He tells us that 0 _" In marriages resulting f rom b etrothal the inclination the te f fem a l e i s rare l y consulted and, d e spit e an y aversion a may conceiv e aga i nst her future spouse, she must sub mit. Alany females at the age of five rears have been af fianced to some old men rather fitted tofill the relationship of gr eat grandparents than lovers inion • •et on arriving a t a age su i ta bl e to native cp, Place. In some instsnects the lady has Whose agility has out s t r i ppe d or set at defiancel that of th e old p an ,,,i on ; 0 but tho ug h una b le cha se after such Gretna Green alliances, y to pursue th e thC espousal s 3 have taken n eloped w i t h a l over, l n aeft imile .....mean s and rank has armed a host in his service of relatives and retainers. On the parties being discovered, each receives a sound castigation, if the lover be of rank ; but should he belong to an inferior family, he is either robbed of all he may possess, or murdered ; the old discarded lover then takes the lady, without being particularly annoyed at the trick played upon his honour." _ Wives do not appear to rank higher in the social scale among the New Zealanders, than they did among the old Romans, who—we have the authority of Gibbon for saying so--used to consider tbem as mere articles of furniture. Mr. Polack continues as follows : " The general and approved form of marriage is extremely simple ; when the proposed union takes place, the lover conducts the lady to his hut, and the wife, thus introduced into her house, never quits it but as mis tress of the place. The property of her husband be comes equally her own, and the same feeling of mutual intercourse follows this primitive ceremony as among ci vilized people. The most singular part of the cere mony follows ; the marriage is no sooner consummated than a party of friends, nearest in relation to both husband and wife, attack the hut, rob the place of every moveable article, and often leave the inmates nearly per sonally naked. A sound drubbing is also bestowed or. both parties." This " drubbing " is, of course, intended as a mark of respect, and reminds us of a humorous scene in Voltaire's Candide, where he represents the great Shah of Persia as being so particularly delighted with the conduct of one of his Ministers, that, in token of ap probation, he knocks him down at a public levee, " whereat," adds the novelist, " all the courtiers were like to die of envy." The New Zealand women have, it seems, a great horror of polygamy, and discourage the practice in their husbands as much as they possibly can, sometimes using remonstrances, sometimes me naces, and frequently, where these fail, their fists ; so that—adds our author---," many of the Chiefs have at length discovered that one wife is more than sufficient." Ghosts and hobgoblins are very common throughout the country, in consequence of which a native never passes a burial-ground without a shudder, however brave he may be in war. Mr. Polack relates one or two ghost-stories, but they are wholly wanting in interest, and have not even the rich—we might almost add, the redeeming—absurdity of our own Cock-lane apparition in which old Sam Johnson was so firm a believer. Speaking of their wars, we arc told that " A thousand persons have been known to be killed on the spot, most of whom were deliberately tievoured by the vic tors, who force the captured slaves also to partake of the bodies of their murdered relatives and companions t The gluttony of the victors has been such, that numbers have sunk under the horrible debauch, unable to recover from their brutal orgies. On the battle field it is scarcely pos sible to distinguish friend from foe, as the limbs become so much mangled, heads dissevered, &c., that it becomes impossible to distinguish individuals of either party; neither sex is spared, and infants and children are alike barba rously devoured by the insatiate monsters." This must be very encouraging to British settlers ; it is but fair, however, to add that cannibalism is by no means so fashionable as it once was in New Zealand, a frequent intercourse with Europeans having tended considerably to the refinement and amelioration of the manners of the savages. They are now, it appears, more anxious to show off as men of business than as warriors ; and who knows but that in process of time, they may come to possess the keenness and fox-like cunning of a London stock-broker ! Mr. Polack gives some entertaining- particulars respecting the luxuriant forests of New Zealand, and closes his work with an appendix full of geological and zoological information. THE COUNTESS. Three Vols. Bentley, London, 1840. In grace and lightness of touch, and still more in the force and spirit of its dialogue, this tale reminds us of one of the best of Paul de Kock. But here all re semblance ceases, for in the characters of its two prin cipal personages, the Countess and the young English man, Claude Wyndham, there is a loftiness and dignity of conception not to be found in the clever, ad captan thiin fictions of the French novelist. Our lighter lite rature has teemed of late with such perverse exhibi tions of low, degraded humanity—has been so sedulously devoted to the delineation of thieves, ruffians, and ragamuffins of all sorts—that a tale like the one before 'is comes on us quite like a surprize, and we give it hearty welcome accordingly. The author's object is to point out the fol.y—not to say the madness of duelling, and this he does through the instrumentality of his hero, Claude Wyndham—a youth of undoubted cou rage, moral as well as physical, chivalrous principles and high accomplishments ; but who having started on his career with a determination never to accept a challenge, no matter how ()Teat be the provocation, is involved in a variety of the most trying predicaments, from which he finally extricates himself, though not without dif ficulty ; and has the satisfaction in the end of finding his character fully appreciated, and himself rewarded by the hand of Ida, the daughter of the Prussian Count Carolan. Among the minor personages of the story, may be mentioned the family of the Digbys—vulgar, travelling English people, whose oddities are hit off with much comic humour, and the young roue, Lord Elkington, whose vices, however, are rather too much exaggerated. But the one great feature of the story is the character of Claude Wyndham, which is brought out in all its phates with infinite skill, and inculcates i‘ most beneficial moral. As a sample of the author's talent for description, we subjoin this sketch : " At length the darkness of night begadta grow less black, and the stars by their " ineffectual fires" showed " the matin to be near." The endless plains, which form the principal scenery between Hamburg and Berlin, be came more visible. A grey light fell coldly in through the whirleddhCial da a p u y d ed e ta t a bweedi m ethnl o t r oa e tnbh s elec a v t .nt i i s olo f i carriage wind ows , p rom i s i ng to M adame Wharton and u In igd the eh r,w hl h iig o c u hh s t e st s hae o p f pvee t a h hr e iecdi b e, la wa c n k ads sometimes sleepy , w heads obtrud e d t h emse l ves, cased in inaosgeebtetosao:iyfnt.htvhiroe of each other than they night-caps, from the windows. Then the early peasants were seen on the road, going cheerfully to their toil, till at length the dusky shadows were fairly put to flight from the sombre earth and now brightening heavens. Shafts of fire shot up from the east through the clouds, which, aroused by these heralds, seemed to awake and bestir themselves at the appearance of the sun. The cold night mists rose from their resting-places in the wide heaths and dank hollows, uncurtaining the silent and almost desert plains, which, even monotonous as they were, had in the eyes of Claude a certain inexpressible beauty, stretching off into azure distance like the ocean. At length, reddening and brightening as he advanced, the sun rose above the sombre circle which had so long hailed his coming, and shed a rosy radiance over the scene." OLYMPIC THEATRE.—After the Ladies Club, which, by the bye, under the able chairwomanship of Mrs. Stirling, still proves as attractive as ever, a new burletta, from the pen of Mr. Bernard, was produced, entitled, The Happiest Man Alive. We hardly know how to describe this piece. The bill calls it a burletta, but it appears to be rather a mixture of excellent comedy and broad farce, with a little dash of tra gedy. The plot, which is founded on a story called " The Reverses," published, we believe, a few years ago, in one of the periodicals of the day, is founded on the moral lesson taught to a young man of fashion, who believes, in consequence of his possessing a fortuno of 80,000/., a mistress devotedly attached to him, and a faithful friend, that he is the " happiest man alive." A lawyer, however, decamps with his money ; he rushes to his friend for advice, and to his mistress for conso lation; but both, for excellent reasons, are out of the MIN'. Imagining that they are deserting him in his misfortune, the " happiest man alive" determines to commit suicide, when he is fortunately stopped by the intervention of his faithful friend, who has pursued the fugitive attorney, and has suc ceeded in obtaining the restoration of his lost fortune. His mistress, too, accounts for her absence, in a plea which no court of love could reject, namely, an intercession with an aunt in her lover's behalf, and the piece is made to conclude with the hero declaring his penitence, Lis unshaken faith in love and friendship, and that he is then in reality the "happiest man alive." The character of Charles Euston, " the happiest man," was capitally played by Mr. F. Vining. The piece w as eminently successful, and was announced for repetition every night without a dissentient voice. - We regret to learn that the world of science has sustained a heavy loss in the death, at Bremen, of the cele brated astronomer Olbers, at the advanced age of eighty-one. He was a member of most of the European learned societies, and the author of many important contributions to the progress of modern astronomy. Letters from Alexandria mention like wise the death of the well-known French engineer, M. Le feyre, travelling correspondent to the Museum of Natural His tory in Paris. He died at Mohammed-Ali-Polis, in S:enaar, in October last—having gone thither commissioned by, the Egyp tian Government to search for the metallic mines supposed to exist in Senaar. While busy with these obituary records, we may mention the death, at Paris, of Doctor Biett, head physi cian to the Hospital of Saint Louis, and a person of great emi nence in his profession, for all the qualities which can render its members the benefactors of their kind. His courage and de votion in the fearful times of the cholera will be long remem bered ; and having, by his unwearied humanity and generous sacrifices, worn out his constitution, and laid himself an a death-bed, at the age of fifty-six—surrounded by the most dis tinguished of his professional brethren, he made his own disease a valuable study for their use, predicting the day and hour of its final struggle—and died, amid the most intense sufferings, with the calmness of a stoic and the hopes of a martyr. Athencrion. PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS.—In that anbarras de riehrsses v‘hieli prevails in our metropolis in regard to public amusements, it is not to be wondered at that our country friends slusuld so often puzzle themselves and their entertainers by the pithy question, " Where shall we go to-day?" —and how often is it that " Echo answers—Where ?" This difficulty is at length very pleasantly remedied by a little volume, en titled " Colburn's Kalendar of Amusements," the design of which is to set forth a sort of rota/vire aisonnee of the public amusements of both town and country, for every day in the year—in fact, an Every•clay Book of Sports, Pleasures, and Pastimes. The idea is an exceedingly happy one, and the re sult can scarcely fail to command extensive popularity. The small price at which this attractive volume is published (53. (3(1. bound, and illustrated by R. Cruikshank) must tend to place it in every one's hands. MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE.—OrI Wednesda last, at St. An n ' s Ch urc h (D ublin), Charles Le Poer Trench, y Esq., second son of the lion. and Rev. the late Archdeacon of Ardagh, the nephew to the late Earl of Clancarty, was united to his cousin, Alin Fanny Trench, fourth daughter of the late Lord Archbishop of Tuam. SERIOUS ILLNESS OF LORD LYNDHURST. It is with extreme regret we hear of the alarming indisposition of Lord Lyndhurst. His Lordship was taken unwell on Toes day, and kept getting worse until Thursday night, when fears were entertained that the Noble and Learned Lord would not survive the night through, but at two yesterday morning the disease took a favourable turn, and his Lord s h i p h as s i nce been getting better. It is an inflammation of the ch es t f rom which his Lordship is suffering. At a late hour l as t evening the Noble Lord was pronounced considerably better by his medical at tendants, who hold out hopes of ., a speedy reco ver y. Her Majesty's ship Conway proceeds in the course of a few days to the Burmese and Tenasserim coast. _ Calcutta Englishman, Sept, 18. TI114: SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1840 INOCULATION v. VACCINATION. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. Sir,—lt is now about thirty years since I availed my self of your valuable columns to address two letters to the late Dr. Jenner, stating my opinion that his dis covery would be found an imperfect protection against the small-pox contagion, and called upon him to answer my objections. I should consider it a great favour if you would grant the inclosed a place in your valuable and independent paper, and, from the rapid progress of Lord Ellenborough's Bill, the sooner you grant me this favour the better. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, THOMAS BROWN. 8, Seymour -street, Bath. [We insert the letter, not from any conviction of the soundness of the opinions it contains, for, in our humble judgment. vaccination is one of the most valuable discoveries ever made, but to gratify a veteran who has combated the Jcnncrians for more than thirty years.] TO SIR HENRY HALFORD, M.D. ETC., ETC. If the reports concerning vaccination, signed by von and other medical gentlemen connected with the Board of the Vaccine Establishment, annually handed in to Government to be laid before .Parlia ment, were to be considered a test of your know ledge and information of the pence and condition of the Jennerian discovery, and the discharge of the duties and obligations you owe to the public, I must be permitted to say, they ace offensively and dreadfully deficient ; and that the public comfort and safety appear to me to be sacrificed for what may he denominated the character of consisten c y in the leading members of the medical profession, and that Le Sage's picture of them is still strictly applicable to those of the present day. You cannot, Sir, be surprised at seeing this ad dress from me, after the repeated exertions I have made to fix the attention of the profession upon the real merits and actual condition of the vaccine practice, or that I should still consider it a duty which I owe to myself and the public, to watch over and attend to everything connected with so in teresting and important a subject. It is now about thirty years since I ventured I distinctly and seriously to impugn the anti-variolous properties of the vaccine disease, and endeavoured to prove from the whole history of the disease given by Dr. Jenner, as well as that of the medi cal profession, and my own extensive experience, that the anti-variolous powers of vaccination would ultimately be found feeble, imperfect, and tempo rary ; and that the truth of this opinion would be come more and more evident and distinct, as well as more disastrous, as our experience of the prac tice became more lengthened and extended. Now, Sir Henry, I assert, without fear of con tradiction, that these results have been long ago confirmed to the very letter, and notwithstanding, the unblushing nature of your Report, and the seem ing authority and dignity of the signatures, there shall not be found a single medical practitioner of experience or respectability, that will come forward and declare their unqualified approbation, either of your Report, or that the vaccine disease, how ever and by whomsoever conducted, can be ren dered capable of bestowing perfect immunity from the influence of the variolous contagion. But on the contrary, such is now the extent of proof against its power of conferring security against small-pox, that there are now, and have been for several years past,more deaths from its failing to give protection than what attended the inoculation of the small-pox ; the cases are innumerable where other bad consequences followed—and what is still more lamentable and distressing, the ravages of small-pox do not fall much short of what they were before vaccination existed. It is evidently quite absurd and ridiculous to attempt getting rid of this last very distressing fact, by saying that it is owing to the neglect of vaccination ; for can it possibly be expected that reasonable beings shall continue to place unlimited confidence in a practice which the most distinct and decisive experience has proved to be an ineffectual and unworthy expedient? Besides all this, the grand reason and claim for rendering this practice universal must now be to tally abandoned—viz., the total extinction of small pox ; for surely, not even the Vaccine Establish ment will dare to contend that this consequence can be accomplished by an expedient that cannot prevent the occurrence of the disease itself. But, Sir Henry, as it is quite impossible to put into the limits of a letter intended for insertion in a daily paper, all the arguments that may be ad duced for proving the deficiencies and failures of vaccination, and for demonstrating the truth of the preceding objections, I shall only observe, and I dis tinctly call upon you, and the other gentlemen who have signed this despicably garbled and deficient Report, to declare that the Reports of the meeting of the members of the medical pro fession at Birmingham—those of Doctor Gre gory, of the Small-pox Hospital, and the ac counts from all quarters of the world, are en titled to no credit or attention, and are all to be ne gatived, cancelled, and swept away by the Report of a few medical men, who, I will venture to say, have no title to do so from superior personal expe rience and information on the subject. I think enough has now been stated to induce both Parliament and Government to pause before they shall take any farther measures for securing the extension of vaccination, but on the contrary, to appoint a Committee of both Houses of Parlia ment to make a strict and impartial investigation, which can only be satisfactorily accomplished by calling upon the evidence of professional men from all parts of the country, who have no purpose to obtain, and rejecting that of those who have already so distinctly committed themselves in the unlimited and indiscriminate defence of its character, or who receive any public emolument for extending its practice. If this plan shall be adopted, I do not hesitate to assert that the inquiry will be found to terminate simply into two queries :—ls it possible to contrive any expedients whereby vaccination can be rendered easy, safe, and permanent? And if not, ought we not to abandon it at once, and return to the practice of inoculation, rather than go on floundering with all the perplexities, disappointments, and private and public distresses which are now found to be involved in the practice of vaccination ? 111 v intention, Sir Henry, is to investigate these two queries ; but as this letter is already too long, I shall defer them until another opportunity. I have the honour to be your obedient servant, THOMAS BROWN. 8, Seymour -street, Bath, March 17, 1840. EAST INDIES. MELANCHOLY LOSS OF LIFE IN THE 16TH REGIMENT OF LANCERS. We deeply regret to announce that advices have just reached the Adjutant-General's Office of a melancholy loss of life on the occasion of her Ma jesty's llith Lancers crossing the Jhelum, on their march hack front Affghanistan. The stream was so rapid as to sweep one troop on a quicksand, where the horses fell. Captain Hilton and nine or ten troopers perished, and Colonel Cureton with forty or fifty more were extricated with great diffi culty.—Benga, Ilurkaru, Dec. 31. Annexed is an extract from a letter from an offi cer of the Lancers, giving a detailed account of the calamities of fording, which' carried away so many of the corps " Camp on the Chenab, Dec. 18, 1839—0 n the 10th December, our regiment forded the Jhe lum, and the fords not being distinctly marked off' by flags, of which there ought to have been a double line instead of only a few long reeds ! the conse quence was that tale leading sections deviated from the true course of the ford, and were carried away by the current. A dragoon in heavy marching order, as you know, is not exactly made for swimming, nor indeed is the horse with all that extra weight to carry ; nevertheless, though the current ran strong, many did, by turning their horses' heads to the stream and giving them the rein, get back to the true line of the ford, and others swam across the deep water to the opposite bank. Our loss was, however, considerable, though to me it was sur prising it was not much greater, everything consi dered. Poor Captain Hilton was drowned, as were also a corporal and nine men, and eight horses. Colonel Cureton had an extremely narrow and most providential escape, being at the head of the regi. ment, which marched in sections of threes, and just in rear of the band, when he and the whole of the men of the band were suddenly swept away by the current, at a point more than half way across, where the course of the ford turned sud denly at right angles up stream. This point ought to have been marked, and the danger of getting below it made known by those whose duty it was to have looked to it. Cureton's horse swam well, I believe, but took fright at an un fortunate camel floating down the stream ; he there fore let go the horse, and swam for it ; when I tell you it was ten minutes before he received assistance, one of our men having stript and swam to help him from the opposite ail: (for the whole advance guard had passed safe over) and all this time the Colonel was encumbered by his sword, belt, and pouch, and his Lancer cap—all of which came out safe with him —you will be aware of the extremity he was in. Lieut. Pattie and numbers of the men had similarly most narrow escapes. I have entered somewhat into this detail thinking it might possess some interest for you, as we are assuredly the first regiment of Dragoons that ever swam through to us (not fabulous) Hydaspes !—Fabulo sus Hydaspis, I think we read in Horace. Alex ander himself passed his army over in boats or in rafts, by adopting the simple precaution of a line of flags ; the horses of the 3rd Cavalry and troop of Horse Artillery were led safely across by their Syces two days after, by which time, however, the Jhelum had fallen three feet." The following extracts relate to Persia, Herat, and Bokhara:--, Letters from Herat to the 2d November confirm the accounts we latterly received from Persia, as to the conciliatory disposition towards England of the Emperor, and state that Mahomed Shah was most anxious to be friends with the English again on any terms. It is said he had recalled the British Embassy, and was about to dispatch his Minister for Foreign Affairs to England. The Government in Persia is represented as totally disorganised, the Treasury empty, and his Majesty the Shah obliged to remain in his palace for fear of his troops, who had long been without pay, while the Governors of the provinces looked only to number one. _ _ The Vizier at Herat had received a letter from Dost aliomed, urging him to get up a religious war to expel the English from Affghamstan, and stating that the gate of Ghuzni had been sold, or it never could have been taken. The Vizier had done all he could to prevail on the Chief of Me shed, and other neighbouring chiefs, to come and take possession of Herat. The former declined his offers, and advised the Vizier to take care of what he was about, else the English would get hold of him ; and the other chiefs, looking on the Vizier's proposals as a trap to catch them, begged to be excused. Prince Kamran had shown more energy l atter l y , an d h a d been out riding with one of the Mission, to whom he complained of hi s b e i ng a mere puppet in the hands of the Vizier ; that his orders were disobeyed, and that net a h orseman or f o ll ower accompanied him, whilst th e Vizier had two thousand. Accounts from Bokhara had been received, which state that Colonel Stoddart was at liberty, and employed in raising a troop of artillery for the Ameer, who dreads a Russian invasion. All the statements agree in mentionin g that the Russians were expected to march on Khiva soon. Colonel Stoddart had the option given him of being put to death, or of entering the Ameer's service, and men were sent to dig his grave before his prison door, which induced him to accept the latter alternative. The cold at Herat is represented as very severe ; hard frost every night. [We regret to learn from the newspapers that Colonel Stoddart, who had been directed to proceed to Bokhara, by order of Government, to form a commercial treaty with the chief of that country, has not only been exposed in the public bazaar there for the bigoted Mahomedans to spit upon, but has, as an alternative, to save his life, been forced to enter the Amecr's service, and train a troop of artillery preparatory to the expected inva. sion by Russia. Jiff-rent sides of the brain, the stronger and sounder will be the mind. If we examine the interior of the alimentary canal, a short time after food has been taken, we shall find it studded with minute pores, by which means all nutriment is conveyed through the different vessels, for the sustenance of the living being. These small pores stand in the same rela tion to the animal as roots to the plant. Indeed, in an animal the roots are reflected inwards, by which contrivance it i s ren d ered capable of lo comotion AlthOlit being separated from the source of its food. The organic life continues its func tions to the end without stopping ; but the ani mal functions get dull by exercise, until many of them totally fail. Sleep is the repose of the senses, rest of the muscles, and may correctly be said to be their food. The organic functions never cease ; if such were the case, death would be the result. The two lives are born at different times : the one may die while the other will live ; and, if the death of the being be natural, the death of one mar be very much sooner than the other. Before animal life exists, the organic life separates the nutritious matter which is necessary to produce the future animal. Th e • child, in the first instance, bet7ays its knowledge of causes only from a perception of their effects ; even adults, when couched for the cataract, are a long time before they perceive the luminary, although they perceive its effects. Death always begins by undermining the noblest faculties of man. Those which are last born are the first to decay. Taste is tile last sense to perish. At length, no sense re maining, death acts upon the brain. The old man ceases to exist in the present, and lives only in the past. The muscles of volition, the servants of the brain, become feeble ; every motion is uncertain ; the hand becomes unsteady, and the step totters. The animal life being extinguished, the man passes a second time through the state of childhood hack to a state of infancy. When he began to exist, he possessed only vegetable life ; and when he is ripe for the tomb, he returns to the state of a plant. This natural conseonence is the history of life.— Dr. Southwood Smith. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY—THE BYNG FESTIVAL. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. Sin—Will you allow a constant reader of your Paper for many years past, and a most sincere admirer of its talents, independence, stern advocacy to the rights of the poor, and devoted consecration to the sacred cause of universal freedom, to trouble you with a thought or two, produced by the magnificent festival of last week in Drury-lane Theatre. That venerable and illustrious patriot, and truly noble man, Mr. George I3yng, pre sents himself to the contemplation of every genuine Reformer, as a rare specimen of political integrity and excellence. If it please the great Disposer of human events, may the worthy senator live yet many years, rigorously and faithfully to contend for those equal rights and immunities of British and Irish citizens, to which he so judiciously adverted in his wise address. Ever; , real Reformer must also highly appreciate the Duke of Sussex's letter, and both the Noble Chairman's and the Duke of Bedford's speeches. Indeed, all the demonstrations of public feeling and sentiments displayed on that interesting and memorable occasion were of a superior order, and worthy of men acknowledging the people to be the legitimate source of power. But, Sir, it was the professed friendliness to the cause of liberty —may it be practical as well as verbal !—which pervaded the effusions of the meeting, that above all other considerations animated and inspired the feelings ' of your humble correspondent, and probably of thou sands more alike minded with himself on that transcend ent subject. Et qum tante fuit Romam tibi cause videndi ? Libertas. Even the Honourable and Learned Member for the Tower Hamlets, maugre his speech on Mr. T. Dun combo's late motion in reference to John Thorogood, declared his judgment on the paramount question of re ligious freedom to the following efiect—" That none should be punished on account of their religious opi nions." This is an axiom worthy the most unfeigned friend of liberty, and especially important as emanating from the mouth of an Ecclesiastical Judge. And I conceive that all then and there present, when and where Dr. Lushington so delivered himself, very cordially responded to the grand sentiment advanced by the learned civilian. To me, considered in itself, proceeding from so high an authority, and proclaimed in the midst of so splendid and influential an assemblage of Lords, Commons, Cabinet Ministers, and others, it was truly exhilarating, for it tended to raise and justify the delight ful expectation that the grand occasion on which the parties mentioned so happily convened, would b.; suc ceeded by an acquisition to the claims of religious li berty. And it is to bo devoutly hoped that such will be the result. You, my good Sir, will, I trust, bear with my plain ness of diction, when I express my doubts that all is not gold that glitters, and that dinner orations have sometimes more of profession than of performance in them. We in rural districts do not make any pretence to metropolitan polish and refinement in the expression of our ideas. But we, too, have our thoughts, and when leisure will allow, indulge in the task of thinking. And when perusing the Drury-lane Theatre speeches, and particularly such portions of them as bore an aspect of freedom—above all, Dr. Lushington's, in which he con tended for exemption from punishment on account of " religious opinions," I should have expected that the blessed phrenzy for liberty that seemed so generally to predominate would have forced some champion of it to start up upon his feet and exclaim, Church-rates, John Thorogood,:Chelmsford Gaol, and fifty things more, in time permitted, all subversive of liberty. But such an exclamation would have been vulgar, coarse, and out of place A true friend of freedom could hardly think so ; for when so honest a being as John Thorn good is pining away under the pressure of prison suffer ing, and, for aught that appears, is destined to rot in Chelmsford Gaol, and all this because of his conscien tious devotion to his " religious opinions," it is not time to be overnice and ceremonious. Indeed I rather wonder that honest Joseph Hume was not instantly upon his legs, and though not appointed to speak, was asking leave to declare his opinion. One cannot help wishin g that lie or some noble branch of the House of Russell, or some other liberal soul, had spoken somewhat after the fol lowing manner—" My Lords and Gentlemen, we now happily luxuriate in the atmosphere of freedom, and the oxygen of that air has produced a delightful state of ex hilaration throughout our whole expanded systems. But as liberty ! liberty ! divine liberty ! is so transporting a theme and matchless an acquisition, let us cast a thou g ht towards those that are so unjustly and cruelly denied its bliss ; and so, exclusively, because of their reli gious opinions.' And particularly let us consider this all-important affair, since the Learned Judge has now and here pronounced that none should be punished on account of their religious opinions.' Let us at once urge Sir S. Lushington, consistently with his expressed deci sion, immediately to get up a measure in the Commons to forward the cause of liberty, to break down the power of oppression, to effect the liberation and save the life of poor Thorogood, and to beatify the Dissenters of Bri tain with the privilege of adhering to their ' religious opinions' without being subject to mulct or incarceration. Let the Hon. and Learned Gentleman pursue so de sirable and agreeable a course, and we will support him in both Houses of Parliament with all our might and influence." Sir, Lord J. Russell had left the company before Dr. Lushington uttered the memorable sentiment already more than once repeated. All that he can say in answer to the cry from Chelmsford Gaol, and the prayer of myriads of Non conformists, is, " The law must be obeyed while it continues on the Statute Book." Still he wished a change ; but mark, a remedy, if possi ble, worse than the disease. Herein Lord John has in flicted a wound on the feelings of his best friends, which I fear can never be healed. But may we not naturally hope that some advantage, practical and emphatical, to the cause of liberty, civil and religious, may follow upon the grand demonstration of the Byng Jubilee ; and espe cially from the principle laid down by the learned civi lian, and responded to by the company, " That none should be punished on account of their religious opi nions ?"—I remain, Sir, your's, very respectfully, AMICUS LIBERTATIS ET JUSTiTI.E. Abergavenny, March 18, 1840. NEW POOR-LAW. The Report of the Poor-law Commissioners on the further amendment of the Poor-laws, just published, gives the following statement relative to the amount of poor-rates for the five years ending 1834, and for the five years during which the Act has existed : The total saving in the expenditure for the relief of the poor since 1834, as compared with the total expen diture in the five preceding years, is 10,933,013/. Ac cordingly, the total saving attributable to the Poor-law Amendment Act, as worked by the Poor-law Commis sion, to Lady-day 1839, was 10,933,013. The total expense of the Poor-law Commission, to Lady-day 1839, was 182,679/. The saving in some subordinate branches of Poor law expenditure since 1834 has considerably exceeded the total expense of the Poor-law Commission. For example, the average expense of Poor-law litigation for each of the two years ending March 1834 was 256,508/ ; and the average expense of the Poor-law litigation for each of the five years ending March 1839 was 132,080/. The saving under this head in the latter five years may therefore be estimated at 662,138/. ; which is more than three times the expense of the Poor-law Commission during the same period. Consequently, if the Poor-law Commission i s expe dient on other grounds, its (a view which , we confess,cxpenseisnotasufficint moneymeans and erroneous), it has b een success ful. It does not follow that an office which costs a con siderable sum of money is on the whole expensive, or that an office which is performed gratuitously, or even produces an immediate gain to the Government, is on the whole cheap. Average Annual Expenditure of the five years 1830-4 £6 754,590 Ditto of the five years 1835-9 Average annual saving - E 186 -„602 REPRESENTATION OF SUTIIILRLAND.--M r. David Dundas, the English barrister, has published an Ad dress to the electors of Sutherlandshire, on the understanding that Mr. Howard, the present Tory . Member, is a b out to retire from Pa r li amen t. Mr. Dundat is a well-known Reformer and will, if returned, give " his cordial support to the pre: sent Government."— Glasgow Chronicle. COTTON MANUFACTURE. -111e length of the thread which is annually employed in the fabrication of cotton goods in Britain, equals fifty-one times the distan ce o f t h e sun from the ear th (fifty- one ti m es thirty-nine millions of leagues), or about two thousand millions of leagues.—Baines The crust of the globe is found to consist of fifty-four different substances, and every form of matter which we see is composed of one or more of these elementary substances. Twenty-two of them only enter into the composition of organic bodies, of which the existence of one, namely, arsenic, has only lately been discovered. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen enter into the composition of all organic matter, and arc, therefore, termed essential elements : the remainder are called non-essential. The bulk of plants is formed of the carbon, oxygen, and hy drogen ; and of animals, of nitrogen. Notwithstand ing the inorganic includes so many elementary bo dies, we find a much greater variety of combina tion existing in the organic than the inorganic kingdom. Thus, there are only 500 species of minerals, whereas upwards *1150,000 species of plants and animals have actually been discovered. Life is a perpetual struggle against th e forma tion of carbonic acid and water. The oxygen whi c h is contained in inorganic bodies is in a state of rest ; whereas, that which enters with the composition of' animal life is constantly in a state of motion. The one remains unchanged, owing to its change o f quietude ; whilst, on the contrary, organic bodies are continually receiving an accession of new sub stances, and giving off those of which they were previously formed. Plants will live in hot springs, and the human body will exis t when liv ing in an at mosphere many degrees above the boiling point ; whereas, when dead, it would soon be destroyed. If we take a crystal and divide it, we find it to be homo geneous throughout ; whereas, organic bodies do not consist of homogeneous aggregates. But no por- Lion of animal organization is placed in place with out some relation to the rest. All the parts of organic bodies are d e pendent u p on eac h other, and any portion destroyed, the rest cease to perform their functions. W e find two species of life to exist in animals, namely, th e organic or vegeta b le life, and the animal life. By far the greater part of the organs which belong to the organic life are si ng i e and unsymmetrical ; whereas those which belong to the animal life are double and symmetrical. Thus the stomach, lungs, and liver are single and not symmetrical. But while the organs of the organic life are thus constituted, the organs of th e an i ma l life arc double and perfectly symmetrical. Th us the brain is a double organ of thought, and the spinal cord, the great organ of voluntary mcion, is perfectly symmetrical. The nerves go off i n pa i rs . The action of the organic apparatus is irregular, a n d -) that without injury to the animal system. But there is nothing more essential to the performance of the functions of animal life than a harmony of action in the two portions of the organs. There is reason to believe that the more closely do the position of the intellectual faculties assimilate to each other on the SINGULAR ILLNESS.—Miss Lucy Harrington, formerly a resident in Amesbury, and daughter of Mr. Moses Harrington, died recently in Conish, N.H., under the follow ing distressing circumstances:—She was sick three rears and a half, and confined to her bed two years and five months. Several months previous to her death her right hip was dislo cated by a contraction of the muscles, while she was sleeping quietly in bed. Immediately after this event her bones began to break, and before her death they had broken nineteen times or more in different parts of her body. At first her ribs broke, then her collar bones, then her lower limbs , her under j aw, and th e b ones o f h er hands and feet. Their breaking was sometimes attended with noise, and at others not ; and was al- ways preceded and followed by the most acute pain. The oink of the broken bones would sometimes for a day or two grate together, on being moved. Upon a post mortem examination, not a sound bone was found. All were so softened, as to be easily cut with a knife. When her bones began to break, the 1 muscles of her lower limbs so contracted that they lay di rectly across her stomach and bowels. In this position she re mained until her death. Iler body was so contracted, that at one time she measured, as she lay in bed, only two feet and four itches. She gradually lost all strength in her limbs, un til she could only move slightly the ends of her fingers. She was 43 years of age.—Aymesbury (America) Transcript. Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituatebut I doubt whether we have not lost more than we have gained by the use of this animal. No on e thin g has occasio ned so much the de generacy of the human body. An Indian goes on foot nearly as far in a day, for a long journey, as an enfeebled white does on his horse, and he will tire the best horses. A little walk of half an hour in the morning when you first rise is advisable It shakes off sleep , and pro d uces other good effects in th e animal e conomy. —Jefferson's Memoirs. WOODSTOCK ELECTION.—This election took place en Friday, when Mr. Thesiger was returned without opposition. BREECHES POCKET LEGISLA TION. Alexander Baring, the landowner, is one of the least arrogant, and perhaps least dishonest, and most clever of the advocates of the Corn-laws. What he said on Friday evening, and what he will hereafter say, will no doubt be considered by the Corn-law men of great importance. He has modesty enough to see that a reason twist be given for plundering the people, and subtility enough to invent very plausible reasons. We think it our duty, there fore, to quote the language of Alexander Baring, th e merchant, that it may at least serve to show, if it be not held to be conclusive against the Corn-laws, that the authority of a man who can so contradict himself is of little importance. Our Corn-law loving contemporaries may say that the experience of age is more to be depended on than the asser tions of youth. We reply, that we prefer even the inexperience of youth to the sinister interests of age. In our extracts from the speeches of Alex ander Baring the merchant, it will be seen that he was not backward in attributing a bias to the land lords from interest : it is because he now has that bias, and as a merc h an t h a d an i n t eres t, co i nc id en t with that of th e w h o l e commun i t y, t h at we pre f er his doctrines when he was a merchant, to his doc trines now that he is a landowner. The very Alexander Baring who stepped forward last Friday as a volunteer in the Corn-laws, was one of the most forward and strenuous opponents of the Corn-law of 1815. Ile took the lead in op posing it—moved amendments—complained of the indecent manner in which it was hurried through Parliament ; and, on June Gth, 1814, gave this forcible view of the effects of those restiictions which he now upholds : " All the petitioners wanted was not to see laws esta blished which should cause them to pay for their bread more than was necessary. It was said that the Bill before the House would be beneficial, in as far as it would have the effect of making the price of bread steady. Now, he could not see that it would have this effect. Steady prices were never produced by restriction. Apply the doctrine of restriction to any one county in England, and it would bo found that the doing so would not have the effect of steady ing the prices in that particular county ; on the contrary, the bread would be alternately high and low according as there was a good or bad harvest in that particular spot, deprived as it would be of intercourse with the rest of the kingdom. As the whole of England was to any particular county in England in this respect, such exactly was the whole of Europe to England. The evident effect of re strictions of this kind was, that ingenious artisans and mechanics would go abroad, and would settle where they could get cheap bread. His object waA to get rid of the question entirely for this Session of Parliament; and if any proposition was made to that effect it should have his support On the Gth of July, in the same year, he thus correctly predicted what would be the effect of the Corn-laws then proposed _ _ _ " Being aware of the importance of this subject, he had taken pains to inquire i:.to the state of the manufactures of the Continent ; and, from what he had been able to learn, it was his opinion, if this duty were continued, that the cotton manufacturers of this country IN ere in very con siderable danger of bring soon driven out of the continental market. " There was no doubt that, from capital and other cir cumstances, we had long been able to undersell foreign ma nufacturers, notwithstanding their advantages in other re spects ; but there was little doubt that in time the persons of this country possessel of manufacturing capitals would emigrate to other countries, where they could be settled more advantageously." On February 15, ISIS, he thus spoke of the landlords : " lie trusted that the same year in which the great pro• prietors of the country were relieved from the burden of the property tax, would not witness their success in inducing Parliament to transfer the burden to shoulders much less able to bear it." On February 17 of the same year, the merchant made these sensible observations : EVENING EDITIONR tries, he could not avoid seeing that the laws protecied: them in a peculiar manner, and gave them a greater ads vantage for their land than was obtained in other parts rt the world. In France, for instance, might be seen per, sons of large landed property, living on the produce of that property, in the manner of the country gentlemen, and even the nobility, in this island in former times. But it was only in this country where landed gentlemen could go to great towns, and have great disposable incomes to spend wherever they chose. Any person who had con sidered the relative situation of gentlemen of landed pro perty in this and in foreign countries, could not but be struck with the advantages they enjoyed here.' Colonel Thompson never more happily pointed out the effects of the bolstering system than did the merchant on the same day, Feb. 22, 1815 : lie hod h ear d t h at one large farmer had been obliged to give up h:s sys tem o f h an d -hoe i ng in consequence of the depression in the value of corn ; but if the gentlemen who supported thi s measure proceeded, a system of hand-raking might also be adopted, and farmers might even, at a future period, find it worth w hil e to employ immense watering pct.s for irrigating th e i r l an d s in seasons when there was a deficiency of rain. But while these experiments were making, the consumer wou ld b e suffering, and the result mistinevitably be to reduce the price of corn that had been raised by these artificial means, to its proper level." Here ar.! some passages from the speech on the same day reflecting on the motives of the landlords, and showing that the bread-tax raised rents without benefiting the farmer H e wished for no evidence but that already before the House in the report of the Select Committee ; for, not w;thstanding the obvious bias with which the witnesses gave their testimony, they had made out a story that would be the ruin of the case they had been adduced to support. lie did not mean to accuse them of b e i ng ope rated upon by any motive that was not extremely natura l ; but no man could read the testimony of a single indi vidual, witho'it discovering the fact, that his inform at i on received at least a colour from the influence of his own interest. " It was vet y easy for any set of gentlemen, in framing a report, to set down any statements they pleased, since no contradiction could at Vie Ville be given ; but he would be glad to hear any Hon. Member rise in the House, and upon his own responsibility, in the face of the country, maintain that the ;:mount of rent paid by the tenant had actually no bearing or r e lati o n t o th e su bject of discussion. In the documents before the House one instance was given of Brodie, a great Scotch farmer, who rented land to the amount of 6,000;-,. per annutt ; some years ago he had only paid 2,000/. or 28s. per gore ; and would it be se riously argued for a moment, that if from the rent of 6,000 which he now paid, he were reduced by the effect of peace to 4,000/ , it would not have a material operation upon the price of corn he should grow ? He was convinced that only a moderate sacrifice on the part of the owners of land would produce all the advantages sought by the pre sent measure ........ . . . 01 the bOs. per quarter he would calculate that the landlord obtained 2W. as his proportion, and the re mainder went to the tenant for profit, and for the dis charge of the expenses of tillage. Suppose instead of 20s. the owrcr of the land were to receive only 155., and the profits and expenses of the tenant were to be reduced in the same proportion, one-fourth, that would leave 00s. as the price that ought to be named after which grain might be imported into the country, that is, if a farm were now let for 2,000/. a-year, that the landlord should only re ceive 1.500/. in future; and it would, he admitted, be reasonable to reduce the profits of the tenant." On Feb. 27, 1815, he repeated the same doc trines : " In most instances he was satisfied the interests of the nation were best confided to its great landholders, but n hen they came to discuss a question so immediately affect ilig their own perional interests as the state of rents, and the value of the produce of the land, it was fit they should be cautioned against taking a narrower view, from the bias they must neecssariiy have, than they were accustomed to take, of the tendency and effect of measures submitted to their consideration." Again, on March 6, he said : ‘• lie entirely concurred in the sentiments stated in that petition (the London petition.) He believed that the measure uow in progress through the House, was substan tially a measure having no other effect but that of raising a considerable revenue from the consumers of bread for the purpose of raising the rents of land.—( Hear, hear.) " The distant parts of the country had been taken by sur prise ; they thought the subject bad been set at rest last year; and many of the towns, from the precipitate manner adopted, had not yet been able to express themselves. It was not enough, in an important question of this kind, in which the whole community were so deeply interested, to have long discussions in that House, it was their duty to give the people time to express their sentiments. To every at tempt he saw to hurry this measure, he should give his de cided opposition. _ Now " he would maintain, for he had had communications from various respectable quarters or, the subject, that the tenantry, and labourers in general felt no interest what ever in the price at which the protecting duty should be fixed.—( Hear, hear. He would repeat it, that the la bourers in agriculture, and even the tenantry, had no inte rest in the present question. He believed the prevailing sentiment among the tenantry was that this was the land lord's affair and not theirs, for they could only pay to the landlord what they could afford after defraying their other expenses. But to talk of the labourer was altogether ridi culous. Whether wheat were 120 s. or 80s. the quarter, he could only expect dry bread in the one case, and dry bread in the other; and he, therefore, had no interest whatever in it." Such an incendiary against the Corn-laws was the merchant considered, that the following cccnc occurred on March 8, 1815, which probably will be imitated in the House of Peers, Baring, the lcndlord, playing the part of Mr. Huskisson : Ma. licsKissoN.—The greatest danger had resulted entirely from the mode in which these debates had been conducted. This night he had heard with indignation, that he could scarcely repress, the basest motives and lowest designs attributed to the supporters of this measure. The Speaker here interposed, and reminded the Right lion. Gentleman that there were several Orders of the Day to be disposed of. Mr. Baring rose with considerable warmth, conceiving that he bad been personally alluded to by the Right Hon. Gentleman who had just sat down. L was the keen reproach of the elder Pitt to Sir Robert Walpole, that experience had brought him no wisdom ; and a Pitt might now say of Lord Ashburton that the experience of the world had annihilated in him the wisdom which nature had bestowed. The creeping avarice of age has not only chilled all his generous sentiments—it has extin guished his mind. He has lived till his own pro phesies are fulfilled, and in the face of them he ds nies his own sagacity. To such wilful self-de struction he adds self-condemnation. The man who in 1815 proved that the landlords wanted " a Corn law to keep up rents"—that they legislated " with a bias"—that they " acted from self-interest"— stands convicted, on his own showing, in 1840, of having assassinated the great reputation of Alex ander Baring, the merchant, from the mean and despicable motive of adding to the rents of Alex ander Baring, the landlord, by taxing the bread of the poor. ORGANIZATION AND LIFE. " With the Right Hon. Opener, he deprecated the no tions which had got abroad, that this question was taken up by the Members of the Legislature merely with a view to their own private interests; but at the same time he could not but observe, that when these were affected, gentlemen most anxious for the good of the community at large were sometimes thought to take a narrower view of the subject under consideration than they were accustomed to take of political questions at other times. He could not help saying that a very peculiar interest must be taken in the value of laud in that House, where the whole of its Members were sworn to be landed proprietors. . . . . That the progress of agriculture had increased its produce, he did not doubt, and he could easily believe that it might be increased still more ; but he doubted very much if it could ever he made to furnish a permanent supply equal to the consumption of its increasing population. if land would not produce corn without greater sums being ex pended on them than the corn was worth, they might be made to furnish a supply which would make us purchase our bread at eighteeripence a loaf, when, if we exerted our in dustry on that same land to raise that which was congenial to its soil, by exchanging its produce against that of the corn lands of other countries, we might get our loaf for a shilling. The whole MASS of the country plight not to be compelled to pay a high price for bread, that the experi ment of cultivating barren lands might be tried. In nothing were the dispensations of Providence more admirable than in the care displayed that the different soils of different coun tries should yield productions which might be advantageously exchanged for each other ; it was much better then that we should employ ourselves in raising that which we might so dispose of, instead of labouring to produce that which other lands were destined to supply. The Right Hon. Gentleman had admitted this in other cases, but not Kith respect to corn. On this subject he had said, what could we do, if, having thus made ourselves dependent on another country, that country, in the day of our greatest need, should close her ports against us ! He would answer— experience had shown that a country could never be starved. Holland was dependent on other countries for a supply of corn, and its price was, and almost ever had, been the aver age price of Europe. " He put it to the Committee, in opposition to what had been said of the danger of depending on foreign countries for our corn, if it could be anticipated that ever a period of greater difficulty would arrive than that which had occur red during the reign of Bonaparte; yet even while he was in power, in spite of his greatest hostility, mere corn (three times over) had been imported into this country than ever had been before within the same time ; since the year 1697, more, indeed, than at any period of our history. To suppose any danger of this sort w:s to suppose a thing wholly out of the question." On February 22d, he explained very clearly the tax which the Corn-laws would impose on the whole community. Nothing has been added to the subject since Mr. Baring spoke : " Knowing the great influence which the land proprietors had in both Houses of Parliament, it was natural for those persons who wet e feeling the effects of this charge to apply for relief from their difficulties. And the question now was, whether upon this representation of the case, the House were to infringe the principle by which the com merce and industry of the country was regulated, and to give the persons petitioning a remedy which would have the effect of deranging the whole labour of the country, and the scale by which alone our manufactures could be enabled to meet others with success in the market of Europe. The question was, whether they were to afford such relief to the agricultural interest as would enable landed proprietors to keep up the rents and value of lands, and the price of food, beyond that at which it would naturally be at. This was certainly an artificial system for the country to be in, though, as seas stated by the Right lion. Gentleman who opened the business, it was not a new system. It was desirable that they should understand the extent to which the Legislature had protected the landed interest of the country at the expense of the consumers. 1-10 would attempt to show this, and what they were called on farther to do by the measure now before them. The population of 'Great Britain, that was, of England and Scotland, he would take at 12} millions. Dr. Adam Smith had stated our consumption of food at nearly a quarter of bread-corn for each individual, and as much of other corn for cattle, and for being converted into drink. Supposing this esti mate of Dr. Smith to be correct, he should say, the price of the quarter of wheat in this country, if there were no Corn-laws, would be something about 455. This was evi dent from the average price of Frsnce and the other countries opposite to us. Wheat might be brought to the ports of Flanders and France, at about 40s. a quarter, On an average of a number of years. it had been, in France and Flanders, about 405., or rather something a quarter for transmission, we under that. Allowing ss. should nave it in England at about 455. if there were no Corn-laws ; because we cc crc so geographically situated that the price of corn here would always be the average of the surrounding countries, from our facilities of water carriage and other circumstances. The present importa tion price was 653. a quarter; and there was a difference of 20s. a quarter, which was paid fur the protectio n of the landed interest. This difference, on tho consumption oi our wl ole population, made a sum of 12, 1 , millions of pounds. But then to this must be added the other corn ' • employed for cattle and for drink, &e,, which was esti- F. mated by Dr. Smith at the half of the former, or oth 6,250,000/. making in the whole IS ' 750 ,000/. This was d's a tribute paid by the consumers for the support of the b l u s ng %, landed intcr st. " He was not going into the but bitty question just now, whether , r , l ;,, o f they put this sum i nto t h e i r pockets, or whether this sum e was necessary t o ena bl e t h em to grow corn. lie was sure, 3Z,,nrintir'ir(iinogests however, he was stating the fact under the mark, when he stated this bounty at about 18,750,0001. The preposition ment what can of now adding 153. to the quarter, or raising the import and most the roughest price from 655. to 803. would give an additional 14 mil- ranee, lions, making in all 32,750,000/. paid by the consumers to criminal propensess the pers ons who crew their food Wheever would The n um b er of acres i n an arable state amounted at least should earnestly set to sixty millions. Every person wbo hed road the reports slough of poverty in would see that if no alteration lock place in the C orn-laws Enable them to become the rent of land must et least be diminished to , the extentk,n true charity—the most e unemplo loved operatives." of los. an acre. But the pasture land must also bet tue and . the honesty of the 1. into the estimate. The question was, therefore, whether the country gentlemen should give up 103. an acre all over the kingdom, or w h e th e r the consumers were to pay to the hat it may not always continue growers a sum of forty or fifty millions a year beyond what hrough s t one wails.," It is no they would pay i n other circumstances. It was impossible len must. seriously act, and endeas to look at this subject without seeing that the growers of om t h e i r most di stress i ng pr i va ti ol , corn in this country received a bo unt y on agrie, elture which ce d s Times. the agriculturists of no other part of the world enjoyed. If he were to look at the condition of the gentlemen who The metropolitan weekly table of possessed great landed property in this country, and to mg on Saturday last, gives a total of 462 compare it with that of landed proprietors in other coum males. The average of 1838 was 520 males MORALITY OF THE POOR. It is a fact very highly creditable to the unemployed poor of Leeds, that during the last season of unexam pled privation and distress, not a single instance has arisen in which one individual among them has been at all criminally imrlicated. This appears from a document address( d to the Recorder, at the Leeds Borough Ses sione, on Tuesday. We think that this fact speaks trumpet-tongued for the morality of the poor. Who knows the extent of the temptations by which they have been beset ? De prived of all comforts ; wanting in the ordinary shelter and warmth necessary for human beings ; with but scanty and insufficient clothir.g ; half-starved and famishing— Homeless near a thousand hontes they stood, And near a thousand tables pined, and wanted food;" and set, thank God, they have been tioNEsT. Huma nity has much soundness and strength in it, after all ; and it is a majestic thing in the constitution of man's nature, that it does not break down utterly under all this load of suffering. We cannot doubt, however, that much injury has been done to the morality of the poor by these six months' sufferings. We are not of those who say that poverty is in any case a thing t o b e d es i re d, or to b e patiently put up with. All th e fi ne arguments we h ave ever heard in mitigation of the evils of poverty, have only proved to us the more clearly that it is an unmiti gated evil ; nor, with all possible charity can we tolerate the impudence of those who, through the loop-hole of Providence, would palliate the vice and wickedness of the bad laws and bad institutions which alone have pro duced it. Long-continued poverty operates as a deadly blight upon the best affections and feelings of human nature. The heart is benumbed into selfishness by the tor pedo touch of extreme want. The constantly find ing the meal come short of the wants and desires of the family—the members of tha t famil y re g ardin g each other - as rivals for that scanty meal—the feeling of diss4tisfaetion and discomfort at the endurance of _hunger, of cold and privations—what can this produ ce f b e to ? the destruction of ev er y l a ng affection Especially on th e e ut l bitter of irritation, genjcss t: t n ui d vonn , ' * does the hand of p overt y fall the most he avily. 11,, qu i r i n g the gentlest nurture and meeting only with the roughest handling and the most scanty nourish ment, what can be its results other than entire igno rance, and most probably the growth of vicious and criminal propensities ? \Vhcever would do the destitute poor a service, should earnestly set about extricating them from the slough sf poverty in which they are now sunk. Enable them to become self-dependent. This is the true charity—the most efficient mode of "relief for unemployed operatives." While we admire the vir tue and the honesty of the poor we must remember that It may not always continue so, for " hunger breaks through stone walls.," It is not enough to admire ; men must. seriously act, and endeavour to set them free from their most distressing privations and difficulties. — Leeds Times. mortality end males and 446 fe and 493 females. 1~ '~,` 11, 'st r r irr Vel ti . 4 t _.:;