The Sun. — London, England, 1847-06-25 00:00:00

ago, at which a resolution was passed condemning the I Present poor-law, and art amendment proposed by Mr. Fergus O'Connor, to the effect that, in the opinion of the Working people, they would receive no redress either in or out of Parliament unless the charter became the law of the land, which was equivalent to universal suffrage. There was a large number of persons, moving in a higher walk of lite, present, but. nevertheless, eight of ten of those pre , ;ent, held up their hands in favor: o' the amendment. What caused all this dissatisfacticia ? Twenty years ago they Laird nothing about the charter, but as the Reform Bill. for which the Whigs taught the People to cry, " the Bill and nothing but the Bill," de- Prived the people of their franchise, they thought it would be well to give them some compensation, and they proposed the New Poor-law Bill ; but if the same feel. leg of dissatisfaction continued, the Government would find it a far from easy matter to preserve the peace of the country. Year after year he had explained the grievance to the House, but still them and their peti tions had been treated with silent contempt ; and the same treatment which was pursued in the Andover Union, also prevailed in other unions throughout the Country. Why, it was only the other day that he was shown over a poor- house, which was stated to be a Model—as a place in which the people were well fed and well treated—but he found that the rules Of the Poor-law Commissioners were disre garded when the directors found the poor suffering from them, and that they had been complained of for u▪ oing so ; and it appeared that a gentleman was sent down by the Poor law Commissioners, who walked round the house but never entered it. No sportsman in Great tritain or Ireland would allow his dogs to be treated in the same way as the poor were treated under this law. Medical men, for instance, were paid fourpence for attending a case. He asked the Hon. Member for Finsbury (Mr. Wakley) if a medical man could properly Perform his duties for a fee of fourpence or sixpence ? medical man in his part of the country had told him that he could save a man's life with ease by giving him proper medicines, but that if he bad done so it would have cost him the Whole of his salary. Did they . think that the poor 'Would not brood over such cases—in their club-rooms, at their meetings, and in their shops ? He wished to have some pledge from the Government that the children of the poor would not be treated in the same way as at present, as it was now the practice to send children to the manufacturers, whenever they applied for them—a Manufacturer was, for instance, in the habit of saying, " Send me the number you have, their ages, sex, health, and I will send a person to look at them ;" and he h .weuld, ne doubt, send an overlooker, who " took s tock." They were, no doubt, taken to be " absorbed," for that was the term in the factories—children who had been reared in the open fields, ,and villages were taken from the union workhou s e s, to oe destroyed in the manufacturing districts. But the Government, in the face of the opposition of the people, were prepared to carry the Bill by a large majority. He wished to know how the Noble Lord, and the other Members of the Government could meet the people at the ensuing election, if they passed this Bill without modifying any of the provisions of the old law. After laying that the Ten Hours' Bill had been carried by the agitation of the people, and that he had abstai n e d from taking a part in an extensive agitation, which was proposed for the Whitsuntide holidays, on the ground that it would not be respectful to the Government, some of whom supported a Ten ttours' Bill, he proceeded to say that he believed no man, with the exception of the Hon. Gentle 'nsn the Member for Finsbury, possessed more of the Confidence of the people than he did, and yet, notwith atanding all he had urged against the poor-law, no alte !Mien was to be made in it, and the only notice taken of „ilia statements by the Noble Lord at the head of the Government was, that the statements which he had brought forward were unfounded. He repeated this ob servation of the Noble Lord to the 2,000 or 3,000 who comprised the meeting at the Crown and Anchor , and on l • calling upon them to say whether the statement was tru e or false, they all held up their hands in the affirma tive. That House. however, did not represent Fi t e people ; the Reform Bill deprived t hem of , 41 0 franchise, and when the present freemen expired, instead of sending one hundred and twenty Members to that House they would not send one ; and when they bowed and scraped to them upon the hustings, they would recollect that, at the close of the session a ques , tiOn of the most vital importance to an immense mass of lhe people was brought before them, and that they re used redress the grievances of which they had com ? Cued during the last 20 years—that the poor had still '•° walk forty miles to obtain relief; as the unions were !till of an outrageous size ; that the pay to medical men , or attending them when ill was at a rate which a man Would not pay for the treatment of his dogs ; that the a ged and infirm were still driven into the workhouse when _tuey sought relief ; and that their furniture was stolen i man's them, for he held that the compulsory sale of a poor furniture before he could receive relief from his 'llion was nothing more than a theft, and that men were s eparated from their wives, and children from their Parents. How could they meet the electors and non electors? But did they think that a Parliament elected s ,_' 3l l the universal suffrage principle would pass such a measure as the one they were now discussing? The B arden of the song of the Poor-law Commissioners to t he Hon. was " We have saved your money ;" but the Hon. Member for Finsbury had shown that the very Zulverse had taken place. They saved it by starving Tls poor to death, a fact which was recorded in the ver ets of coroner's inquests, and if the verdicts of juries Were to be set at nought, they had better be given up, and the expense avoided, but they had proved that the Nor had been murdered by this law. Sir JOHN CAN.I lIOBHOUSE—By the order of the k4 Mlinissioners? Mr. FERRAND—By the order of the Commissioners. : ) te would give a case. He attended a coroner's inquest In his neighbourhood upon a woman who was starved to death. H e was present w h en the jury returned from stated the b o dy, an d i n rep ly t o the coroner, they :..ated that the d ecease d was a mere "bag of bones. The child of the dead mother could hardly give her e vidence from the state o f distress in which she bbd been plunged. She said she had gone to 2 relievin g - o ffi c er, and that he had refused to w ho h er an d h er m other any assistance. The man a° was present admitted that this was so , and in t he mo atl, insulting manner he put his hand into the poc k et of s sporting jacket, and producing a paper said , " This is re ' v y authority." It stated that he should not pass out of li g: boundary of his parish ; and this poor woman did not %la c more than twelve yards on the other T he of the brook which terminated its boundary. e verdict was that the woman was starved to death, an d ' he said that she was murdered. She had committed ° frence, and yet because she lived a few yards from foodoundary line, she was allowed to die from want of thi s cr y in g How long was this to continue ? How long was ~;s crying evil to continue ? If he used violent lan ; age, the treatment of which the poor had complained p e as .. also violent ; and he, for one, would never be a the m to the oppression of the poor, and then expect re c to to be loyal. Had not the poor cause to pray for a Asolution whilst this treatment was inflicted upon them? ‘ ,,°3' change must be for the better for them. This be suffered the state of England, and ho trusted that it would suffered no longer. Year by year it was growing re dressed and he warned them to take care, for unless t he y them ressed their grievances then they would have to redress ,e after going through the horrors of a revolution. q would, therefore, second the amendment proposed. Mr. ROEBUCK said that one would suppose that they were discussing the new poor-law, whereas they Were only discussing that portion of it which required a Ce r t a in number of gentlemen to form a commission f or th e administration of those laws. By the present system three gentlemen were appointed to carry the A ct into effect, and by this measure it was proposed to tabstitute ono acting commissioner, and certain nominal co mmissioners, and the acting commissioner was to ,re a seat, if he could get it, in that House. The . onl) f , C hange they were discussing was as to the formation of the Board of Commissioners, and he asked what course i n ',„iseussion had been pursued by the Hon. Member h r -oinsbury, and the Hon. Member for Knaresboroug digs Honourable Member for Finsbury had dragged into Cushion the principle of the whole law ,and had entered into the details and operation of that law whi ch in its int egral, state was not before the llouse. With re g ard t 1 ,; the charge which had been brought against the coin „'ssioners, he did not think that there was any cause of l it "ronlaint against them for adhering too strictly to the t W , e its elf but for vacillation and for yielding too much th the pressure from without, and to the observations of CO ° press. Charges had been brought against those t tul t nlnissioners in that House when they had no oppor httitY of defending themselves ; and the most violent setts and strongest vituperation had been put into tteration against them. Under the new system these b e al. ges would no longer be made, for the answer would Wo rld, on the instant. Those who read the accusa tion in the same paper, read the defence, and th • ° °Yrnous slander would no longer be sent to 41 press to b e published, as the most insta nt 11 E immediate refutation would be given. He d i d 4 ' 4 complain of these charges, for, standing as he did im ilfi l the midst of that circle, governing, as it did, by its e v une, the whole world—the sligh tes t a ccusation, beenthe utt erance o f th e grea t es t slander upon this sub ' became beca me so i m p or t an t, that they could not, and dared beerefuse to listen to it. He would ask wheth er it was tee %,t:fling in a Member of that assembly—a Member of b ee ornmons of England—to assert that the people had sea murdered under this law, and to bring f orward • es which were not substantiated, which went forth to ' n world and increased the cry which was alread y °i V A charge had been made against a gentleman aff on, gto a generous profession—a surgeon—of an a tin 'co which approached nearly to murder, and certainl y m ounted to manslaughter. In the name of the Corn England, he demanded the name of the person a uad so conducted himself? By the law of England, ✓ person was required to give "the relief that was I ttuxed bll those who sought relief under its pro sonlng• If" the statement had been made that a per *h. had not administered that relief to a dying person tee Hon the law compelled him to administer, why did not Cu es Gentleman, who was himself a m a g istrate, at hr kt e ae cognizance of so gross a breac h of the law. statement equally strong had be en made L the s Hon. Member for Knaresborough. The dr it7stances were flagrant, and the order of Is. Poor-law Commissioners was state d to iv?n ' been brought forward in ju stification. th . if she had gone to the wrong overseer , c onsiderin g t hunger did not kill except by slow process, there / tag ti t h e „toe for her t o h ave gon e to the right officer. But ohs Gentleman charged with murder the high ugh rs of the Crown a crime which was only less than ,treitSoD. He would be amazed if shame , that feel ors °'.ala ingenuous bosom, did not rise at the assertion such a . calumny. He would take one of the cases mentioned by the Hon. Gentleman. Ile told the House that 2 WO man near her accoucheinent had engaged a lodging , d elive a surgeon, an d a nurse , but she was eh red while alone. Why, the very description Wed her to be no pauper. But the Honourable THE SUN: The House then divided, when there appeared— For the third reading lO5 Against it Majority —7o The Bill was then read a third time. Mr. srooNEa then moved the following clauses: — Clause 19. Provided always, and be it declared and enacted, that no rule, order, or regulation of the Poor law Commis,ioners heretofore made, or hereafter to be made, prohibiting the granting of relief to any able bodied person, except within the workhouse or union, shall remain or continue in force or effect from and after the passing of this Act. Clause 20. And be it declared and enacted, that it shall not be lawful for the commissioners appointed uteler this Act to make or issue any rule, order, or regulation, prohibiting the granting of relief to any able-bodied person requiring the same, except eithin the workhouses of the union. Clause 21. And be it declared and enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act, it shall be lawful for every board of guardians of the poor, and they are hereby respectively empowered and required, to set to work, out of the workhouse of the union, all such able-bodied persons as shall lawfully require relief from any parish within such union; and to grant such relief as to the said guardians of the poor shall seem fit, out of the workhouse of the union, to all such able-bodied persons so set to work as aforesaid. There was no one who had a practical knowledge of the pauper system, but would say that their prisons were conducted on a far more liberal system, in point of food, clothing, and education than their work houses. He would not detain the House at any greater length, but, he must say that he objected to the labour test, as it was at present carried out, but more parti cularly so, as they were now arrived at the last week not of a session, but of a Parliament. The question was deserving of a much fuller consideration than they were now able to give it. The country had frequently spoken upon this subject, but their voices had not been heard in that House. He trusted, however, that the House would now do the people tardy justice.—(Hear.) Sir GEORGE GREY said, if the clause of the Hon. Gentleman were adopted, it would be tantamount to a repeal of the existing poor-law ; and as it did not directly relate to the administration of the law, he could not consent to its introduction into the Bill. The Hon. Gentleman seemed to think that the workhouse test was introduced for the first time by the Act of 1833 ; but he begged to remind the Hon. Gentleman, that so far back as 1772, the principle was in operation in the country, and sanctioned by a Legislative enactment. If the Hon. Gentleman's clause were adopted, he was afraid it might have the effect of inducing the labourer to rely more upon support from the poor-rates than his own exertions, and that was another reason why he called upon the House not to agree to it. The Hon. Gentleman, in his warmth, spoke as if the order of the Poor-law Commis sioners, a 3 to the workhouse test, applied to the poor, generally ; but he could assure the Hon. Gentleman and the House that it only applied to the able-bodied poar, and not to the aged and infirm. Under these cir cumstances, he trusted the House would not think it necessary to pass the Hon. Gentleman's clause.—(Hear.) Mr. BANKES said the present rule of the Poor-law Commission did not apply only to able-bodied persons, though the order to be established by the future Com missions might ; but the House would bear in mind that a long interval might elapse before the provisions of this Bill were carried into effect. Mr. B. FERRAND said he could state from his own knowledge that in the vast majority of the workhouses of this country the test was applied to the aged and infirm poor as well as to the able-bodied, but if the rule did not apply to the aged and infirm why not introduce a clause into the Bill that should remove all doubt upon the matter?—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. and Learned Gentleman the Member for Bath had thrown out some insinuations against him, and he called upon the lion. and Learned Gentleman if he had any regard for his own character to speak out boldly and tell the House what he meant, because he (Mr. Ferrand) denied that there was any foundation for the inuendos of the Honourable and Learned Gentleman. The House would remember that, on a for mer occasion, the Hon. and Learned Member sought for the protection of that House ; and ever since then the Hon. and Learned Gentleman had been making these attacks with impunity, under the protection of the House.— (Hear, hear.) He was prepared to give the name of the medical officer he had mentioned to the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Home Department. When that medical officer gave him information, as to the cruelty and oppression of the poor-law, he told him that the cost of the drugs he had to provide for the poor exceeded the salary allowed him under the rules of the Poor law Commissioners. —(Hear, hear.) With regard also to the statement he made as to a woman being starved to death, he was prepared to give the name of the Coroner to the Right Hon. Gentleman, and to render him every assistance, if he were desirous of seeking further information upon the subject.—(Hear, hear.) After a few words from Sir C. BURRELL, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER appealed to those who had acted as guardians to bear him out that the statement of the Hon. Member for Knaresborough, that aged persons were forced into workhouses, was un founded.—(Hear.) He had acted as a guardian of the poor for several years—in fact since the law came into operation, and except under very special circumstances no person above sixty years of age had, in the union with which he was connected, been sent into the work house against his will. He had, it was true, ordered persons above sixty to be taken into the workhouse ; but the special circumstances of each case warranted him in doing so ; for instance, in order that they might obtain better care and attendance than they could out of the workhouse. Capt. PECHELL reminded the Right Hon. Baronet that the report of the Committee on the Andover Union stated that it was the custom in that union to make persons seeking relief perform a certain quantity of labour before they acceded to their request—whether in the, shape of money or food—and that Committee was of opinion that such a system ought to be abolished, as it inflicted the utmost hardship upon the poor, and besides was an objectionable mode of applying the test. An instance occurred of a man com ing a distance of ten miles to seek relief, but he was not allowed to carry food home to his family until be had performed a certain quantity of work which had been assigned to him. He was sure this never was the inten tion of the law. Mr. WAKLEY repeated that old persons were forced into the workhouses against their will, and that they were refused relief except in the house. Under the 27th clause of the Poor-law Act, infirm persons incapable of working who objected to enter the house, were to be maintained out of it; but in the face of this, old persons were refused relief except within the walls of the work house. He would relate an instance: an old man, wholly incapable of working for his living, applied to the guardians of his parish for relief; he was, however, re fused, unless he consented to come into the House. He went before the magistrate, and Mr. Waddington, the surgeon, afforded him temporary relief. He received out-door relief from his parish for a week, but at the expiration of that period, they refused to continue it. He returned to the magistrate, who told him that they could not furnish him with any more relief, and that his remedy was by action against the guardians. This was one of the cases, which, as soon as her Majesty Govern ment became Poor-law Commissioners he intended to brillg before the House. Zr. CHRISTOPHER said he should support the amemdment. He said there were instances in which out-door relief was given to persons who were neither disabled nor infirm, and who were moreover under the age of sixty. This showed that one general unvarying rule could not be applied to all parts of the country, and that the Poor-law Commissioners and the boards of guardians should be invested with discretionary power. —(Hear, hear.) He hoped the Government would take the whole subject into their serious consideration, and in the next session remodel the law as he had pointed out. Mr. ETWALL said aged persons had been forced into the Andover workhouse in opposition to the law. Mr. SPOONER explained. The gallery was then cleared, and the House divided, when there appe ared— For the clauses Against them Majority against the clauses — 72 Lord G. BENTINCK moved that the House de now adjourn. Lord JOHN RUSSELL thought that was most un usual. They were near the end of a Bill, which the House had agreed to read a third time this night. But there were some amendments to be considered, which would not take long, and he thought it was most unusual in the Noble Lord to more, before twelve o'clock, that the House do now adjourn. Mr. BANKES reminded the House they were to meet to-morrow at twelve o'clock. After a few words from Mr. Henley, Sir G. Grey, and Mr. Ferrand, Captain EGERTON said he thought it would be very unfair to adopt the course recommended by the Noble Lord, as it would interrupt public business. Colonel SIBTIIORP thought this a very unreasonable motion. Lord G. BENTINCK having stated that he would withdraw his motion. Mr. BORTHWICK then moved the following clause: Provided always, and be it enacted, that when any two persons, being husband and wife, both of whom shall be above the age of sixty years, shall be received into any workhouse, in pursuance of the provisions of the said recited Act or of this Act, or of any rule, order, or regulation, of the commissioners appointed by au thority of this Act, such two persons shall not be com pelled to live separate and apart from each other in such workhouse. Sir G. GREY thought the clause would be produc tive of very great inconvenience, and he could not accede to it. Mr. ROEBUCK entreated the Right Hon. Gentle man to give way. He was sure that two old persons who had passed their whole lives together felt the sepa ration as most painful. Sir G. GREY explained that the whole objection arose from the inconvenience in the case of the House being full. Mr. FERRAND and Mr. HUME hoped the clause might be passed. Mr. B. DENISON hoped the clause would not pass, as it would give the paupers those advantages which they were not entitled to. They must have a right thereby to claim a room by day and by night for themselves. Mr. BROTHERTON recollected that when he was an overseer several years ago, he saw an old couple very needy, whom he asked into the house. Why, said the old man, my old woman and I have lived together these forty year 3, and if we were separated now, it would break our hearts. He (Mr. Brotherton) thought the clause ought to pass. Lord GEORGE BENTINCK was surprised to see his Hon. Friend who was returned for the West Riding of Yorkshire upon an Anti-Poor law cry, resisting a proposition for mitigating the severity of the poor-law. Gentleman attributed the consequences all to the opera tion of the law. The law!—why it arose from that shame willt which society had chosen to brand the woman who had yielded at a moment of temptation, and she refused under these circumstances to reveal the true circumstances of the case. This was a case which the lion. Gentleman (ear. Wakley) quoted, to show the ill consc.quet,ces that followed the bastardy clauses, titihich he said led to murders and great mise ri.s. hot he (11r. Roebuck) asked whether it was the law that led to child murder in any single instance. Was it not the shame with which society'branded the crime ? The woman that was care less, that was insensible to shame, was just the person who would go into the house and make use of it.—(Mr. Waklev here intimated that the food was inferior.) lie (Mr. Roebuck) did not know any class in the country who were subject to worse diet than the agricultural labourers of Dorsetshire. He pledged his word and his authority on that against the word of the Hon. Gentle man opposite. But the Hon. Member for Knaresborough seemed to have. been startled at the word absorb. He seemed to have all sorts of fancies stirred by . the word. Now what was the meaning of it ? Why, in some of the counties of England labourers were found not earn ing half sufficient to sustain life, and as in such a county, such as Lancashire, their might be a demand for labour, the gus •diens were at the expense of having the poor people removed to a sphere where they might earn 20s. or 30$. a week. That was what was meant by absorb ing ; but the Hon. Gentleman seemed to think that the guardians must have swallowed the poor people.— (Loughter.) The Hon. Member for Knaresborough. however, indulged in portraying an aged courple of " three score years and ten," who had gone into the workhouse, and were separated ; nor only so; but that on being detected talking to each other, were incar cerated for it as an offence. Now if this was not mere declamation. The Hon. Gentleman ought to have traced out the case, and to have had it investigated be fore the country. But he feared that the Honourable Member was too much accustomed to indulge in declamation, perambulating an inflammable part of the country, perhaps with a view to rising upon the backs of the people to a high place in the Hosse of Commons. But, the last time he (Mr. Roebuck) heard of him, he understood the people of England were about to be rid of him—(Laughter)—that he was going to Dublin.—(Laughter,) Well, he must say to the Right Hon. Gentleman that, in the estimation of the sound thinking people of this country, careless declamation, wild expressions, and infuriated boisterousness, were proofs either of insufficiency of intellect, or a want of the love of truth.—(Cheers.) Mr. FERRAND wished to explain, merely in refer ence to what had fallen from the Learned and Hon. Member, as to the right the surgeon had to b 3 paid out of the poor-rates, that the payment was so small that gentlemen could not attend to the cases. He the❑ quoted from evidence taken before a Committee on the Poor-law, in 1834, when Mr. Guthrie said that the salary was so insignificant, that no person qualified to have the trust could attend to the sick, and any one who did attend them, did it merely to keep out an interloper. Mr. ROEBUCK explained. Mr. HENLEY said the statement that had been made by the Hon. Member for Bath was so much at variance with the truth that he felt bound to say a few words. The fact was, that the sum paid to the medical doctor, was for medicine and attendanco. He thought her Majesty's Ministers were making import ant alterations in the law,—(Hear, hear.) Why, since the alteration of the law, any person who was acquainted with the subject, must know that child-murder had increased, and so great was the evil, that the Government were obliged to come forward and make an alteration in the law, giving the woman a remedy against the putative father; but the law, even with this alteration, was found to be wholly inoperative. He thought that the change in the law left what was vice entirely untouched. Captain PECHELL said he thought that they should know who were to fill up the places which were to be made vacant by this measure. But upon this subject the Government was entirely silent. The officers who were to be dismissed, were to be discarded without any reason being assigned. He could not help expressing his sorrow that these poor-law offi cers, whose services had proved so valuable, should be so unceremoniously, and so unjustly treated. This vs as particularly the case with respect to Mr. Chadwick and Mr. Parker. It was said of the latter gentleman that he was not fit fur the public service. Was that conduct that should be pursued towards a gentleman, through whose means, in conjunction with the other gen tleman, most valuable information had been ob tained. He hoped that the change would give the country men perfectly efficient, and who would be able to deal with parochial matters. If he voted against this Bill, however, it was not upon the ground of the dismissal of the poor-law officers, because he thought, after the evidence brought before the Andover Union Committee, that it would be impossible for any Government to retain these gentlemen in office. Mr. P. BORTHWICK said, if the Honourable Member for Bath were correct in his accusation of the Honourable Member for Knaresborough, that Honourable Member was slaying the slain. The Honourable Gentleman had said that complaints were not made against the Poor-law Commissioners for acting up to the strict letter of the law, but for allow ing themselves to be acted upon by other influences. The present Bill was brought in to remedy that evil, and he (Mr. Borthwick) thought that it would do so to a certain extent. The present proposed Bill would be a remedy in part, but he thought that it was neither so deep nor so comprehensive a one as the House had a right to expect upon this subject. The Bill did not at all affect the question of the law of settlement or the general tenor of the Bill itself, but merely referred to an alteration in the administration of the existing measure. lie thought that it was a question fairly to be raised that this Bill did not go far enough in apply ing a remedy to the existing grievances. It was a great evil that medical attendance in workhouses was supplied by contract, and that in that contract was included medicine. An Honourable Member had stated that a medical officer had declined giving proper remedies in a certain case, on the ground that.if he were to give medicine in every case he would run through the whole of his property. If that fact were so no one could doubt that the medical officer had been guilty of a great crime, but how much more was to be attributed to the law which permited, and in a certain degree enforced, such harsh and inhuman measures. If the union entered into a contract for medical attendance and supplied the medicine itself, Mr. Borthwick) thought that this enormous evil would be obviated. He, him self, could give an instance of the cruelties under this law. In a country union, the name of which he would not give unless required, a labourer had maintained him self all his life. He was married and had one :child. The mother died, and the child was left with the father, who was afterwards compelled to go into the workhouse. The father fell ill in the workhouse and the aunt applied for admission. She was shifted from one person to another, until, at length, she found the father dead and the child dying, the child (who was nine years of age, never having been allowed to see her father in his last moments). These were the evils arising under this law, and he would only ask the House whether it was safe to allow their imaginations to be led away by the eloquence of the Honourable Member for Bath in support of a law under which such Acts as these could with safety be perpetrated, He, for one, could not rest until a proper and salutary altera tion of the present law had taken place. Mr. BANKES said that he thought it justice to dis cuss in that stage those clauses which he objected to in this Bill. Sir G. GREY said that they had not as yet been pro posed.—(Divide, divide.) Mr. BANKES said that he thought that this was the proper time. He should discuss the Bill, as it stood, stating that it was not the Bill he referred to. Ho wished to know, in the first instance, what were the duties that he assigned to these Commissioners which they proposed to elect, and whether the Govern ment thought that the present was a proper time of the session to bring forward a motion of this importance. He argued the great difference between the proposed commissioners and the President of the Board of Con trol. In the one case the Government proposed to make the official a legislator, in the other he was no legislator —he made no laws. But this was the proposal by which the Government proposed to remedy the evils complained of. What he thought they ought to do was to increase the power of the local authorities, and to throw the responsibility on the president, then if error was found in the working they would know where to throw the blame. The Member for Bath was wrong, when he said the question was, whether thiswas ahe l t t te vr r a s a ys w te h m eth th er an they the other ; that was not the question. could found a third sy a better than both. The Bill l h a a: t l h b o e e u n r th nearey. brought g m h months ,ew f e o l r a e a s t e h s e , w H h o i e u h s e t . h e A y t w the ere add o t a b s i a m r i d d i e a r e a t a o s o t hge these. Bi 11, and He t hweoyald ere a ti p about t h t o e p to reve threeamend ba m o e b n t t — h s h a a n t dthe leaveß Bill 1 thebe read Government a third ti t m o e b r t i h n i g s day . the In timefact of it was the ward a better system in a new session. not, perhaps, worth the trouble or after llou allset,o afisginhtthaebocuasteit, of fortho tihteauGvrovearnßmilel,nthamreighnto, e serious not without intension to o pe that proceed his with suggestionthe r a n Yew wouldclause s b . e ac ceded to, and he felt convinced that if was, itwothauldt b t e h a e great improvement in the Bill. He thou g ht present Bill was no essential amendment on the existing d eotitle one, and being of o pinion that the country was to a much better one, he would most certainly oppose the present.—(Divide, divide.) Col. SIBTHORP thought that the present mode on o e. f administering th e p oor l a w was an unconstitutional He always objected to the system of centralisation, ontt ground that loc a l governme nt was infinitely better. The present Bill prop ose d on ly t o change two of th e Commis sioners, and put in t wo f res h ones, just in the same mode as was adopted w h en h e use d to exhibit his humble person in the country dance, where he was called upon , to change sides, down the middle, • and back again. There was nothing good in the present Bill, and he should certainly do his utmost to prevent its further pro gress. The Bill was a trickery Bill, a Government pa tronage Bill, an ad captandum Bill, a Bill meant for the hustings, and not to pass through the House ; it was a Bill proposing to amend the former one, but making it infinitely worse ; it was nothing more than a Govern ment shuffle, and he thought with the Hon. Member for Dorsetshire. that the country had better put up with the present Bill than pass the proposed one for five years. The new Parliament might perhaps be able to propose some better Bill, but he did not know what sort of a Parliament the new one might be ; the present was, if he might be permitted to use the expression, " a very dirty one," and he really had his fears that the next one might be even still more " muddier." —(Laughter.) He should give his most hearty vote in favour of the motion for rejecting the Bill. Sir G. GREY said that he had stated upon several oc -1 easions the principle of the Bill, which was, that of esta blishing a general system of superintendence over the country. LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 25, 1847. His Hon. Friend told them that persons above sixty years of ego were invariably relieved out of the work house. How small then would be the accommodation to be provided if this clatrie were agreed to.—(Hear, hoar.) They knew very well that soldiers and their wives lived together in the same apartment, and therefore he thought there was not the slightest pretence for resisting this modifioation of one of the Severities of the law. Lord JOHN RUSSELL said he believed the Poor-law Commissioners had endeavoured to embody the rule proposed by this clause; but, from tile difficulties men• tioned by the Hon. Gentleman the Member for the West Riding, it had not been fully carried out. If, however, it was thought desirable to introduce the matter into this Bill, he should have no objection to agree to the clams., provided words were introduced into it to place the discretion of putting it in ford in the hand.] of the guardians. Mr. WAKLEY said the Ilon. Gentleman the Member for the West Riding had given them the declaration of the chairman of the board, and that afforded the House a most decisive evidence of the impolicy of adopting the suggestion of the Noble Lord. He did earnestly entreat the Government to agree to this clause without altera tion, for he firmly believed that many of the aged poor had absolutely died of starvation, rather than go into the workhouse to be separated. Mr. HENLEY agreed in the view taken of this clause by the Hon. Gentleman the Member for Salford. Captain PECHELL did not see any difficulty at all in carrying out the arrangement proposed by the clause. Dr. BOWRING thought that it would not be right to leave this subject in the discretion of the boards of guardians. It was a point upon which the Legislature ought to decide. Mr. P. BORTHWICK hoped that the Noble Lord at the head of the Government would not object to the clause as it stood. _ _ Lord J. RUSSELL felt it his duty to propose his amendment. Mr. BANKES would be glad to see the Noble Lord leave the whole question of the poor•law in the discretion of the boards of guardians. Mr. ETWALL supported the clause as it originally stood. Strangers were then ordered to withdraw, when there appeared— For the original clause 7O For the amendment 55 Majority in favour of the clause as originally proposed • —l5 On the motion iliat the clause be read a third time, Sir J. PAKINGTON opposed the clause; he did not anticipate anything but contusion from the operation of the clause. Mr. ELLICE supported the clause. Lord JOHN RUSSELL said he wished to insert the words he had proposed, in the clause, in the same sense in which the existing rules of the Poor-law Commis sioners were interpreted. One of the provisions in the poor-law was to the effect that as it might be desirable, in some instances, to depart from the rules laid down for the government of workhouses with re spect to married couples, they should be at liberty to have a sleeping apartment set apart for them specially, and separate from the other paupers.—(Hear.) He, therefore, did not wish to throw upon the board of guar dians the odious task of making a selection as they were empowered to make such an order themselves, and to place it on their minutes, and to send it to the Poor-law Commissioners for confirmation. He wished to take away this necessity, but if the clause was to be agreed to without such a limitation as the one he had proposed, he was not certain that it would have the humane effect which those who voted in the majority seemed to suppose. The Honourable Gentleman the Member for the West Riding had stated that the system would become most inconve nient where a number of persons were admitted. Then the guardians were empowered to say they would relieve them out of the workhouse ; but he was not sure that that was desirable in every: case. Married Per sons, of seventy years of age, without friends or relations might, for instance, find themselves more comfortable in a workhouse than out of it — (Hear, hear)--but when they were admitted those mar ried persons might demand a separate apartment. This, he was afraid, would be the effect of the clause as it stood ; but he did not think it would be desirable to take another division upon the clause, in order to amend it as he had in the first instance pointed out. Mr. S. WORTLEY did not see the difficulty which the Noble Lord pointed out, as these aged married per sons might be either taken into the house, or have relief afforded to them out of it. _ Lord GEORGE BENTINCK explained that what he said was that married soldiers slept with their wives in the barracks. If there was any indecency in the work house with which the Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Pakington) was connected, it must arise from the bad management of the Hon. Baronet and his colleaguesin their directions ; he bad known instances in which four or five married couples slept together in one room, in a barrack, and he never found that they were guilty of any indecency, or that they violated the rules of decorum.—(Laughter.) The clause was then read a third time. On the motion of Mr. ETWALL, the following clause was agreed to:—That all meetings of boards of guardians be opened to the ratepayers of their respec tive unions. _ _ -.---. Sir GEORGE GREY said he had no objection to the insertion of the clause. _ Mr. WAKLEY thanked the Right Hon. Baronet for his ready acquiescence to this clause. The Right Hon. Baronet had done more service to the poor by adopting the clause, than he was probably aware of, and he (Mr. Wakley) was sure it would be productive of great good. After a few words from Mr. FERRAND and Mr. HUME the clause was agreed to. Mr. BANKES moved the insertion of a clause, pro viding that all the present rules and orders of the Poor law Commissioners should cease after the expiration of six months, and the same or others adopted upon the re sponsibility of the new officers. Sir G. GREY opposed this claust. Mr. HUME said he thought it was not right to inter fere with the operation of the new commissioners in the manner proposed. After - a f - ew words from Mr. SPOONER, who sup ported the clause, Lord J. RUSSELL said it was the intention of the new commissioners immediately to consolidate the exist ing orders and rules. Mr. FERRAND said if that were so, they ought to know who the new commissioners were. Some time ought certainly to be named when they should become responsible for the new rules and orders that might be issued from the offices of the Poor-law Commissioners. Mr. HINLEY thought, with the Hon. Member for Birmingham, that the House should have some security for the consolidation of these rules. The gallery was then cleared, and the House divided when there appeared— For the clause 95 Against it 7l Majority against it —36 Mr. T. DUNCOMBE moved the insertion of a clause to the effect that the appointment of the President and Secretary should be vested in the Crown, and the salary mentioned in the Bill. After a few words from Sir G. GREY, The House divided, when there appeared— For the amendment Against it Majority against it —39 Mr. WAKLEY moved an amendment limiting the Bill to one year. Colonel SIB rHORP hoped, if this amendment was carried, that no salaries would be allowed these com missioners during that year.—(Laughter.) Too much money had been spent already on the poor- law. Sir GEORGF GREY reminded the House that this amendment hari already been before them and nega tived, and thought it was unnecessary to divide upon it again. After a few observations from Mr. HuME and Mr. SPOONER, Mr. president liUNeO was Mß to be F Ebegged to know what the salar y of the The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, the opportunity for that question would turn up to morrow night, when the estimates for the Poor-law Commissioners would come on with the first vote. Mr. BANKES said by Vasil time the Bill would have passed. It was, therefore, desirous that they should know now what the salary vvill be. After a few words from :Mr. FERRAND, Mr. IIUDSON said ho would more the adjournment of the House unless Government would disclose what would be the probable expense of carrying out this Bill. Lord J. RUSSELL said the Goverment would be prepared to state to-day wh at the salaries would be, and then would be the proper time to discuss them. Lord Ingestre, Lord G. Bentinck, and Mr. T. Dun combe contended that the passing of the Bill ought to be postponed till the salaries are disclosed. Lord J. RUSSELL said there would be no increase upon the expense of the present Commission. The House then divided, w hen there appeared— For the motion Against it - 7 l 7l Majority The Bill was then passed.. THREATENING LETTERS BILL. This Bill was read a third'. time. REMOVAL Oa? THE POOR. Mr. BODKIN obtained leave to bring in a Bill to amend the Act 9 and 10 Viet., c. 66, for amending the laws relating to the removal: of the poor. The Tithe Commutation Bill was read a third time and passed. Mi.. MONAHAN obtained leave to bring in a Bill to limit the time for taking the poll at elections of Members to serve in Parliament for eDunties of c i t i es, counties of towns and boroughs in Ire land, and for the University of Dublin. The orders of the day 'sore then disposed of, and the House adjourned at Half-past Two o'clock. We are enabled to state, on the best authority, that Lord John Russel'i., Mr. Patteson, Sir George Larpen, Bart., and Baron Lionel Rothschild will seve rally stand for the repre: w ntatio❑ of the city of London at the ensuing election. Mr. Masterman and Mr. Ald. Johnson, late Lord May•c)r, are to come forward in the Conservative interest, we Imay expect a keen contest for the first city in the word. Doubts are expressed whether Baron Bothichild could take his seat, in the event of his being returned. There 4 3an be no question that he could vote in the election of a ;3pf;aker, as that ceremony takes place before the oath is a dministered. Whether, as in the case of Mr. Pease, th e Quaker Member, the usual oath would be dispensed with on Baron Rothschild's being sworn, it is impossi 7 ole to say. But there can be no doubt that, should Ise be returned for the City, the question of the Jewish d Nobilities will be brought for ward under circumstance is which can hardly fail to pave the way for their remo' /al. The result of the coming contest for the City witl be looked forward to with gceat Lam:A.—Advertiser, THE LATE DR. LYNCH. We gave a prominent plqce, in our columns of Satur day, to a communication from one of the first medical authorities in this country, on the progress of epidemic disease in the metropolis. Yesterday we re corded the death, at the early age of :38, and after a few hours' illness, of one of the ablest and most energetic advocates of sanatory reform, Dr. Lynch, of Farringdon strt et. The cause of death was inflammation of the throat, which, from the ace 'tints we have received, we conclude to have been of an endemic character, or at least to have been aggravated by the tendency which at present exists in the atmosphere to generate affecti 'as of that nature. In ordinary years they are not common . ) , dangerous, unless to delicate females, or persons of ad vanced age. But during the past year the bills of mor tality have shown a large increase of deaths from this class of diseases, amounting to nearly double the ordi• nary proportion. The last quarterly returns of the Registrar-General state, that "in the summer of 1846 the mortality was greater than it had been in any quar ter of the last seven years ; and in the last winter quar ter, ending March 31, 1847, no less than 56,105 persons died in the districts which make the returns; a number greater than has been registered in any corresponding quar ter, and 6,035 (or nearly 11 per cent.) above the cor rected average." In the next paragraph the report pro ceeds—" the registrars in their notes ascribe the in creased mortality generally to inflammation of the lungs and air tubes, to typhus, and other diseases, and to the effects of cold upon the aged ;" inflammation of the lungs and throat being placed foremost among the ag gravating causes. We notice this case, not only to tes tify our regret for the untimely loss of an indefatigable worker in the cause of sanatory reform, but likewise because the most determined effort yet made to awaken the City authorities to a sense of the awful respon sibility they are incurring, by a neglect of the sana tory condition of the City, was due to the exertions, and sustained by the professional testimony of Dr. Lynch. It is precisely a month (25th May) since the churchwardens of St. Bride's, St. Dunstan s, and other parishes in the ward of Farringdon Without, gentlemen who, as they stated, had personally inspected the dwellings of the poor, waited on the Lord Mayor, to re present the awful condition of that " worst of the thirty six metropolitan districts." Dr. Lynch was the spokes man on the part of the churchwardens; and we know no document containing a more powerful and comprehensive statement of the sanatory condition of the City, and the dangers resulting from its present state, than the elo quent address which he delivered on that occasion. A brief abstract of it appeared in our next day's publica tion ; but we are not aware that a full report of it has been published in a separate form—an omission on the part of those more immediately concerned which is much to be regretted. Now, not a month has elapsed, and this eloquent denouncer of City filth and City negli gence is struck down by the invisible enemy whose for midable presence he denounced. The cause of his death might be summed up in one of his own expres sive sentences on the occasion referred to, that amid atmospheric influences such as he described, "the most simple diseases become malignant." The petition which these churchwardens of the parishes comprised in the ward of Farringdon Without put up to the City authority was lucid enough, and easy of execution. In the words of Dr. Lynch, " they en treated his Lordship to name an early day for the consi deration of the public health, included in the memorial of the ward, urging the Corporation to adopt sanatory measures for the benefit of the poor." (And just in the same proportion, we conceive, for the benefit of the rich; and the latter, we may hint to the worthy church wardens, being an argumentum ad hominem, is likely to be not the least effective with corporators.) Dr. Lynch continued, " The gentlemen of the inquest"—(an appro priate term that; for what was the scrutiny into the filth of their neighbourhood, which at such peril to themselves these gentlemen carried out, but a coroner's inquest on the wholesale murders, committed, say at the rate of 100,000 per minute, by persons in authority, from Lord Morpeth down to the Lord aiayor, and from the Lord Mayor down to refractory dustmen, who refuse to eleanse the out-offices of the poor, unless they treat them to extra drink—who know their duty, but will not do it?)—" suggest to his Lordship the propriety of calling a Common Council, as soon as possible, to apply to Parliament for a short Bill, empower ing the City authorities to enforce the abolition of cess-pools, and other nuisances which were of mortal injury to the community, to compel landlords to trap and open the drains of every house into the sewer, and to appoint an inspector to take care that this law was enforced. They indulge the hope that the Govern ment will render every facility in the laudable endeavour to accomplish such good." After further details of the peril that was daily incurring, and of the precautions taken at Liverpool and elsewhere, the appeal continued— " every precautionary measure which science can sug guest ought to be had recourse to, to prevent the spread of such an appalling calamity amongst us. To delay, in such a moment of imminent danger, would be criminal in difference to the safety of society." Alas 1 . it was easy for him who uttered these powerful appeals to the authorities to indulge in hopes ; but it is the reverse of easy to make any real impression—any impression that will induce to action—on Lord Mayors or Lords Com missioners of her Majesty's Woods and Forests. The Common Council have taken, so far as we are aware, no steps like those so impressively urged upon them. They have asked for no " short Bill." On the contrary, they and the great majority of their class, intra-mural and extra-mural, in the Mansion-house and in Mary lebone, have protested against all sanatory measures, long and short, that threatened to "Molest the ancient solitary reign" of immemorial uncleanliness. Perhaps, however, the City authorities, though they heeded not the voice of the living, will pause at the mute appeal which is made by the dead to their better sympathies as well as their fears. Dr. Lynch, by virtue of his political activity, as well as his professional skill, enjoyed considerable popularity, if not with the immediate authorities of that Corporation whose abuses, as well as all other social evils, he sought to reform, at least with great numbers among the most influential and respectable of his fellow-citizens. It is strange, however, if anything connected with this subject could be strange, that Lord Morpeth, in ascertaining what the wishes of the City were as to the measures which he had brought forward, did not apparently make any account of this appeal, publicly addressed to the City authorities by the churchwardens of a whole group of parishes in the most crowded part of the City. Surely this one voice, uttered, and by parish authorities too, in behalf of the stifled, poisoned poor, had a better right to strengthen his Lordship's wavering purposes than the minatory growls of these aldermanic dogs-in-the-manger, who will neither wash themselves nor let other people wash them, ought to have had to wring from him concessions which in his heart he knows to be not only weaknesses on his part, but actual sins, which, ere the year is over, most prohab wilytthh h o t us e a i n r d lv s i o e f s._ his ciionicie. fellow-subjects . will have to expiate CHARGE OF FRAUD AGAINST THE MAYOR OF LIMERICK.—The Limerick Reporter contains the follow. ing extraordinary statement:—" By order of the Go vernment informations were exhibited before the bench of petty session in this city on Friday, against Thomas Walnutt, Esq., mayor of this city, as one of the firm of Stein and Co., for having defrauded the finance commit tee by substituting a different description of Indian corn for that sent to their mill to be ground. The facts are already before the readers of this journal. They are briefly these:—dir. Walnutt is charged with having ab stracted a portion of the sound corn, and substituting in its stead, and mixing with the remainder, unsound and damaged Indian meal of his own. The informations in clude those of the Messrs. Stein, the other two partners of the firm. Mr. Walnutt had left town on the previous day, and we believe has not yet returned. This is a sad blow, and we trust fur the character of Limerick, and for his own, that the mayor will be able to vindicate himself at the assizes. It seems strange that he should be the only member of the firm who knew anything about the transaction, though so much engaged other wise in virtue of his office." FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE CROYDON RAILWAY.— An accident of a very distressing nature occurred .near the Anerley station of the above railway, at about a quarter before six o'clock last evening. The Anerley Tavern and Tea Gardens form a picturesque object on the right of the Croydon Railway. They are tenanted by Mr. Buckmaster. The son of this gentleman is the victim of the unfortunate occurrence, and the manner in which the accident took place may be thus briefly de tailed:—lt appears that Mr. Buckmaster holds some land on the opposite side of the railway to that on which the tavern is situate. On this land some labourers were em ployed yesterday in hay making, the son of Mr. Buck master, a remarkably fine young man, aged only nineteen years, superintending their operations. At the hour above mentioned the deceased was in the act of crossing the railway, i from the tavern into the field, when a pilot en gine on its way to town passed the station at a rapid pace, and before the unfortunate young man could clear the line he was struck by the off buffer and thrown a distance of several yards, falling with great violence on the back of his head, and fracturing his scull to a frightful extent. The accident was observed by the driver of the engine, who immediately brought up , and, assistance flaying been procured, the deceased, who still breathed, was placed on a truck and brought immediately to the London-bridge terminus, whence he was removed on a stretcher to Guy's Hospital. Mr. S. Abershaw, the house-surgeon, on making an examination, at once pro nounced the unfortunate man to be quite dead. ANOTHER, ACCIDENT ON THE BISLIOPSTOKE AND SALISBURY BRANCH OF TUE SOUTH-WESTERN RAIL WAY.—WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23.—This morning a ponde rous mass of earth suddenly gave way about a quarter past nine, at the clay cutting within three miles of Salis bury, burying several of the labourers there at work. Two of the poor unfortunate workmen were some time before they were extricated. When they were got out, f b r o o t m h w t h e e r t e found r mouths, n b o e s de t r r il a s , d B, f u c l y ; they werecrushed, blood p lae e fl d o w i n i n g a o t rnu beinge k an examined x t a a m k i e n n e d t o b t y h e t hien surgeons,tirm ary at one w as Salisbury , fou n w where, ith a dislocated anc le, and the other with his knee cap forced from its socket, besides other external injuries. It is hoped that they have not suffered internally so much as was first feared. Fortunately, there being many men at work on the spot, their united exertions rescued the poor fellows before they were suffocated. This is the unfortunate cutting where so many accidents have occurred during the progress of the works for the South -VV estern Company, although the utmost care is taken to prevent such happening. THE WATERLOO DINNER.—We regret to find that Major-General Sir Alexander Cameron, K.C.8., Colonel of the 74th Highlanders, was unable to attend this festi val from severe illness. The eallact General came every year from his seat in the Highlands expressly to join his distinguished friends in the commemoration of the glorious victory. Sir Alexander served with marked distinction in Egypt and throughout the Peninsula cam paign, and at Waterloo, with the Rift) Brigade, where he was very severely wounded.—Observer. LITERATURE THE POETICA'L LANGUAGE of FLOWERS. By Thomas Miller. Beautiful Annuals, and Keepsakes, and Drawing room Scrap-books, we have seen in abundance, but a little volume more dainty in its conception, more exquisite in its embellishment, more delicate in its binding, or more unaffectedly poetical, and natural, and graceiul in its literary contents, we cannot call to our remembrance. Thomas Miller has recounted his Pilgrimage of Love with a heart alive to tha sweets and glories of that :Nature which he has so often apostrophized in verse. Herrick yearned over the blossoms of the field, and so does Ali Hen Burns sighed for the daisy " crushed amang the stour," and cried out, as if in the sorrow of his soul— " To save thee now is past my power, Thou bonny gem ! _ . . Miller would have leaned over the shafts of his plough as pensively had he been a working farmer. Perdita laments in the Winter's Tale— " 0 Proserpina, For the flowers now that, frighted, thou let'st fall From Dis's waggon Daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty ; violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, Or Cytherea's breath ; pale primroses That die unmarried e'er they can b e h o ld Bright Phoebus in his strength • bold ox-lips and The crown-imperial ; lilies of all kinds, The fleur-de-lis being one ! 0 these we lack ! " Thomas Miller would have sympathised with Perdita, and he would have hearkened tenderly to the mad song of Ophelia—" There's fennel for you, and columbines :—there's rue for you, and here's some for me." Robert Nicoll in a similar strain, though not so melancholy withal, carolled thus of the wild flowers— " Beautiful children of the woods and fields! That bloom by mountain streamlets 'mid the heather, Or into clusters 'neath the hazel gather — Or where by hoary rocks you make your bields, And sweetly flourish on through summer weather— /. /ove you all I" Those words we feel are echoed in the heart of Thomas Miller. So earnest indeed is the affection of our author for flowers that we suspect he draws from them a subtle philosophy, such a philosophy as 'that of Herrick when he lamented to the daffodils— " We die, As your hours do; and dry Away Like to the summer's rain, Or as the pearls of morning dew, Ne'er to be found again." Finding sermons not in stones, or books in the running brooks but in the green leaves and the young buds, we can fancy the joy poor Thomas Miller had before his eyes failed him and he grew blind, in wandering through the lanes and among the brambles, seeing may-be the sweet verse of Bryant realised— " When beechen buds begin to swell, And woods the blue-bird's warble know The yellow violet's modest bell Peeps from the last year's leaves below." Stumbling now about the meadows he might think like Thomas Campbell of the days— " When daisies and buttercups gladdened his sight, Like treasures of silver and gold." As the utterance of the author - 's love of flowers, this book is touching and grateful to us; the thoughts it contains have a perfume about them of poetry. And of the graceful manner in which Thomas Miller defines the origin of the symbolic language of his favourite blossoms we cannot speak too highly. Here is one description :—tracing the attributes of humility to " broom," of constancy to " blue-bells," of purity to " water-lilies," and of remembrance to " rose mary." " Who can tell what sad feelings hung about the heart of the fair Saxon Princess Rowena, when standing in the twilight on the broom-covered steep hill side, she saw from the distance the fires kindled by the hands of tl-e desolating Dane, and beheld the flames which devoured the home of her childhood reddening the evening sky ? It might be, that whilst she found a couch amongst the waving gold of the wild, surrounded by her houseless attendants, and pillowed her beautiful head upon the broom, she selected it as the emblem of humility. And when she saw the waving blue-bells spring up on the very spot where the stormy sea-kings had encamped, where the tide of battle had raged, and swollen and subsided, leaving no other trace of its course than the silent ridges which had heaved up over the dead. She selected the blue-cupped flower as the true image of constancy, which, though crushed, and bruised, and buried, for saketh not the chosen spot where its beauty first bloomed. That, when she sat mournful beside the moorland lake, wearied through carrying water to quench the thirst of the brave Saxons, who had been wounded in battle, she saw the pale water-lilies sleeping upon their darkgreen velvet leaves, spotless as the clear ele ment upon which they floated, and leaving no vestige of the gross earth from which they sprung ; and she thought how the heart of a woman, ennobled by virtuous deeds, might become so purified that, if looked into by the eye of an angel, he could not discover within either blot, or blemish, nor aught that varied from his own divinity but the fond humanity of love. Musing, she might conjure up some grey old Saxon abbey, nestling amid the silence of a green sequestered valley, with its quiet graves, around which the rosemary grew, hal lowed the more in its remembrance through having been brought by holy men across the pathless sea ; and she might think that, even as that plant put forth its flowers in the dead midnight of winter, so through the deep clouds which hung over and darkened her native land the morning of peace might yet break, and see many a battle-field again overgrown with flowers." The plates, drawn and coloured by James An drews, are exquisite compositions ; they cannot be mentioned in language of too much eulogium. From the frontispiece—a dainty conceit, expressive en tirely of the purport of the volume, being a sketch of the antique group of Cupid and Psyche exchanging the hymeneal kiss, and partially concealed in a maze of honeysuckles, blue-bells, lilies and roses—down to the final embellishment—a bunch, consisting of the crocus, the pimpernel, the Lancaster rose and the cowslip, and representing the sentiment, " Your youthfulness causes me to fear that you may change : once united I shall be no longer pensive"—every line has a graceful truth, every hue is brilliant as in na ture. For the satisfaction of our lady-readers, we will catalogue a few of the most usual flowers in our parterres and orchards, so that, without having robbed the book in any flagrant manner through our columns, they may be enabled to talk very prettily without speaking when roving in their gardens, or when strolling through the meadows " when the bloom is on the rye." Apple-blossom Preference Apricot-blossom Doubt Balsam Impatience Bindweed Insinuation Bramble Fnvy Buttercup Ingratitude Canterbury Bell Constancy Convolvulus Repose Cowslip Pensiveness Crocus Youthfulness Daisy Dandelion Foresight Eglantine or sweet- briar Poetry Fuchsia Taste Harebell Happy retirement Heath Solitude Ivy Friendship Jasmine Amiableness Jonquil Desire Lilac First emotions of love Lily of the Valley Return of happiness Marigold Grief or pain Mignionette Unconscious beauty Myrtle Love Nettle Orange Blossom Chastity Pansy Thought Pimpernel Assignation Primrose Forsaken Rose Beauty Rosebud, Nloss Confession of love Snapdragon Refusal Snowdrop Youthful hope S weetpea Pleasure Tulip Declaration of love Violet, Blue Modesty Violet, White Candour Wallflower Fidelity i❑ misfortune Wild Plum Blossom lndependence Withered Leaves.. Sadness Yellow Day Lily Coquetry Knowing these rudiments in the science of the symbolism of flowers, it may become a question at law possibly whether the presentation of a particular nosegay does not render a man liable to an action for " breach of promise," especially if the nosegay should consist of myrtle, a moss rosebud, a white violet, a snowdrop, and a tulip. It may become a question, again, whether a scrap of pimpernel may not signify " half-past seven in the Temple Garden ;" or whe ther a presentation of ivy, retorted by a sprig of fuchsia, may not justify the offering of a yellow day lily ? This charming volume by Thomas Miller is suggestive of a multitude of similar conjectures. As a pocket companion in the green fields, as a favourite decoration of the boudoir, as the resource of continual amusement, this book, explanatory of the " Language of Flowers," is one of the gems of the season. BRITISH AND FOREIGN SCHOOLS.--Yesterday the fortieth annual examination of the boys (600 in number) educated in the above schools, was held in the School house, in the Borough-road, St. George's, Southwark, the Earl of Chichester in the chair. There was a nume rous assemblage of ladies and gentlemen present, amongst whom were Lord and Lady Ebrington, S. Gur ney, Esq., and many popular friends to the p ro motion of education. The N o bl e Ch a i rman briefly ad d resse d the meeting, expressi ve o f hi s continued attac hment and approval of the system of education pursued in the esta blishment. The examination of the younger classes classes in - 12 prose a n d verse, and the higher clas tal es arithmetic, and \ map drawi ng , genera l hi s t or y, men their spe c i mens (500 in number ) drawings, was of the most satisfactory cited the warm approbation of t fac of figure and othery nature, and eli• tor he Noble Chairman and those present. The proceedings closed with singing several pieces of music on ii.ullah's system, and which were admirably executed. 4 11: - -i'z ,/,-,,..W COURT CIRCULAR. The Queen held a Court yest e rd a y afterno4a4 ingham Palace. Ve-4- 07. If Count de St. Aulaire, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from Lis Majesty the King of the French, had an audience of her Majesty, on his return to his Embassy at the British Court. His Excellency was introduced by 'Viscount Palmerston, G.C.8., her Majesty's Princ:pal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and conducted by Colonel the lion. Sir Edward Cost, K.C.H., her 'Majesty's Master of the Ceremonies. The Queen was attended by Lori Byron, Lord in Waiting, and Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, Groom in Waiting. . Viscount Palmerston had an audience of her Majesty yesterday. - - The Queen and Prince Albert visited her Majesty the Queen Dowager yesterday; at Marlborough Douse. The Equerries in Waiting, Lord Alfred Paget and Colonel Buuverie attended on horseback. Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians visited her Majesty the Queen Dowager yesterday, at Marlborough House ; the Duchess of Gloucester, at Gloucester House ; and the Duke and Duchess of Cam bridge, at Cambridge House. Their Royal llighnesses the Duchesss of Gloucester and the Duke of Cambridge visited their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians yesterday, at Bucking ham Palace. The Royal dinner party at Buckingham Palace yes terday included their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians, the Belgian Minister and Madame Van de Weyer, the Duchess of Sutherland 'and Lady Caroline Leveson Gower, the Countess Vander s t raten , t h e E ar l Spencer, M. de Moerkerke and Dr. Carswell. The Band of the Coldstream Guards was in attend ance during dinner, and performed the following pieces : Overture—" Leonora"—Beethoven. Waltz—" The Garland"—Kcenig. Quartetto and Semi-Chorus " No, no, ahirad (Joseph)—Mehul. Quadrille—" The Phantom Dancers"—Jullien. Polka—" The Presburger"—Snoboda. The Queen had afterwards an evening party. Their Royal Highnesses the Hereditary Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar arrived at nine o'clock, accompanied by his Serene Highness Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, and attended by the Countess of Assenburg, Count de Beust, and Baron de Ziegesar. His Royal_Highness Prince George arrived soon af terwards. Thdir Royal Highnesses 'the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at ten o'clock. attended by Lady Augusta Cadogan and Mr. Edmond Mildmay. Her Majesty's private Band attended. The following had the honour of receiving invitations: —His Serene Highness Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, his Serene Highness Prince Lowenstein, Princess and Princess F. Leichtenstein, the French Ambassador and the Countess de St. Aulaire, the Austrian Ambassador and the Countess Dietricbstein, the Netherlands Minis ter, the Saxon Minister and Baroness de Beust, the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, the Ladies Mary and Adeliza Howard, the Marquis and Marchioness of Dou -1 glas, the Marquis and Marchioness of Westminster, Lady Carolina Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor, the Marquis and Marchioness of Abercorn, the Marquis and Mar chioness of Worcester, the Lady in Waiting to the Queen Dowager, Lady Augusta Cadogan, Mr. Edmond Mildmay, the Countess of Assenburg, Count de Beust, Baron de Ziegesar, the Countess of Mount Edgecumbe, the Misses Macdonald, the Earl Howe, Viscount anti Viscountess Palmerston, Count Potocki, the Right Hon. Sir John and Miss Hobhouse, Lord and Lady Alfred Paget, Mr. G. E. and the Hon. Mrs. Anson, Lady Harriet Anson, Lord and Lady Colborne and the Hon. Miss Ridley Colborne, Lord and Lady Beauvale, Lord Edward Howard, Lady Adelaide Paget, Lady Elizabeth and the Misses Dawson, and Captain Francis Seymour. Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Gloucester and the Duchess of Cambridge visited her Majesty the Queen Dowager yesterday at Marlborough House. - The Duchess of Gloucester honoured the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort with her company at dinner last evening, at their residence in Arlington-street. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, attended by Lady Augusta Cadogan and Baron Knesebeck, honoured Viscount and Viscountess Combermere with their com pany at dinner yesterday evening, at their residence in Belgrave-square. Bishop Wilson had an interview with Earl Grey yes terday at the Colonial-office. A deputation consisting of Mr. Macgregor Laird and Mr. J. I'. Clay, on behalf of the Birkenhead Dock Com pany ; Captain Charlwood, R.N., on behalf of the Cheshire Junction Railway ; Mr. Rigge, on behalf of the Chester and Birkenhead ; and Mr. Davies, on behalf of Mr. Vyner, had an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday. The Hon. William Temple transacted business yester day at the Foreign-office. Mr. P. S. Carey had an interview with Sir George Grey yesterday at the Home-office. Sir Robert Price, Dr. Bowring, and a deputation, had an interview with the Right Hon. Edward Strutt yes terday. The following Ministers were present at the Cabinet dinner given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Wednesday :—Lord John Russell, the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of )pinto, the Earl of Clarendon, Sir George Grey, Viscount Palmerston, Earl Grey, Earl of Auckland, Sir John Hobhouse, Lord Campbell, Viscount Morpeth, Marquis of Clanricarde, the Right Hon. T. B. Macaulay, and the Right Hon. H. Labouchere. The Ecclesiastical Corns general meeting yesterday. Dispatches were sent off yesterday evening from the Colonial Office for the Governors of Hong-Kong and Ceylon. ?ra for England had a ROYAL COMMISSION of FINE ARTS The exhibition of the oil paintings sent in pursuant of notices issued by her Majesty's Commissioners of Fine Arts in 1844, will be thrown open to the public on Monday next. The exhibition, as on former occasions, will take place in Westminster Hall, the interior of which has been ap propriately fitted up for the reception of the paintings. The notice - issued by the Commissioners required that all pictures sent in for competition should be delivered during the first week in June, 1847. The terms of this notice were strictly observed, and the intervening period has been occupied by the Commissioners in arranging the various subjects, and determining on their respective merits. The final arrangements were only completed on Wednesday last, and yesterday afternoon the judges met to award the premiums, which, as our readers are doubt less aware, consist of— Three prizes of 5001, each, Three prizes of 3001. each, and Three prizes of 2001. each. . .. The following is a list of the successful artists:— In the First Class, 5001.—Mr. F. B. Pickeragill, 8, Leigh-street, Burton-crescent; Mr. G. F. Watts, 48, Cambridge-street, Edgware-road ; Mr. Edward Armitage, 13, George-street, Adelphi. In the Second Class, 3001.—Mr. John Cross, 85, Fetter-lane; Mr. Paul Falconer Poole, 1, St. John's place, Lisson-grove North; Mr. Noel Paton, Wooer's alley Cottage, Dunfermline, N.B. In the Third Class, 2001.—Mr. James Eckford Lau der, 35, Upper Charlotte-street, Fitzroy-square ; Mr. Charles Lucy, Tudor Lodge, Albert-street, Mornington. crescent; Mr. John Calcott Horsley, The Mall, Ken sington Gr av el- pits. Only two Royal Academicians, Sir William Allen and Mr. Henry Howard, have competed on the present occasion, but there are many contributors whose names are a sufficient guarantee for the excellence of their works. . The exhibition contains altogether 120 paintings, many of them of very large dimensions. The pictures excluded by the Commissioners are understood not to have been very numerous. No official announcement of the awards having as yet been issued, we are unable to give a complete list of the successful subjects. A few have, however, trans pired; and among them we may mention those of Mr. Pickersgill, who has chosen for his subject " The Burial of Harold, at Waltham Abbey, A.D. 1066;" of Mr. Ed ward Armitage, who has selected "Th e B a t t l e o f M eeanee (Sinde), fought on the 17 th of February, 1843;" of Mr. Cross, who has delineated the incident of " Richard Coeur de Lion forgiving Bertrand de Guerdon ;" of Mr. Poole, who illustrates an historical incident in the life of King Edward during the siege of Calais in 1346 ; of Mr. Lucy, whose picture de scribes " The Departure of the Primitive Puritans," or " Pilgrim Fathers " to the coast of America, A.D., 1620 ; and of Mr. Horsley, who has chosen the incident in the life of Henry V., when he, while Prince of Wales, believing the king his father to be dead, takes the crown from the cushion, and places it upon his own head. " The Banishment of Aristides, illustrative of the injustice of Democracy," the latest effort of poor Hay don, has been admitted to the exhibition by the Com missioners, though not strictly within the conditions of the notice. _ _ The exhibition also contains three pieces of sculp. ture, executed respectively by Messrs. Marshall, Fo ley, and Bell, who, it will be recollected, were suc cessful in that department of art in the competition which took place in 1845. Mr. Marshall's work is the only oue completed, the two others being merely plaster models. Her Majesty the Queen and the Prince Consort, and the King and Queen of the Belgians, will honour the exhibition with a visit this afternoon previous to the private view, which is arranged to take place to morrow. THE CROPS AT EXETER. —Any decisicn as to disease havi ng t a k en place in the English crop of pota toes must be considered at present premature. The Agricultural Society of Ireland have decided against its existence ; and it has been foun d in some cases in this county, that plants partially struck with the disease, and from which-the most disastrous consequences were fore boded to the whole crop, have recovered from the atack This suggests the possibility of the disease being on the wane. It looks as if the root was rec overing strength, and shaking off its foe. Should the potato crop prove a moderately favourable one, it will, co-existent with the magnificent prospect of a corn harvest here, as well as throughout the whole continent of Europe and Ame rica, cause imports, especially in corn, as a natural con sequence, to be lessened, and exports to increase ; and thus there will be a tendency to an influx of the precious metals into Great Britain for the purchase of her manu factures, whilst the speculators in grain having realised large profits by their former conversions of funded and railway property for the former purpose, are likely to re-invest in such securities. now that they are at so low s value.—From the circular of Mr. R. Tripp, share. broker. We learn by the Levant mail that Dr. Bell, the physician of the English Embassy in Persia, had died at Erzerouna, on his way to Lnglancl, for the recovery of big kola). S f 3 ~- ~_- v SAtilTa