The Sun. — London, England, 1840-04-17 00:00:00

KT-ENING' EDITION. GELVER ILL REPORT OF COMMIS SIONERS FOR INQUIRY 'INTO NAVAL AND MILITARY PROMOTION AND RE TIRF.gENT. (Continued from The Su n of April 6.) ORDNANCE TAEPORT iFrom the Marines, the. Tourse of our examination 1 , guttural I y led us to the iar vestigation of the position of htbe officers in the Ordnau cc corps which are of a Simi lar constitution, and wli , re the promotion is regulated i entirely by seniority. .1 We had established. the fact that in the Marine ser x ice the Field- Officer v /as rarely required for other than ( home service, that thy ; c ourse of his duty was r a th er t o prepare others of his, corps for active foreign duty, than to pegs any considerable portion of his own service as ), a Field-Officer in a distant colony, and that his situa tion might be vi :wed more as an honourable reward fse or importantrvice rendered in an i n f er i or ran k , t h an i :43 one erseotia ily entailing upon him an arduous and extended L our ,se of duty to b e di sc h arge d a b roa d , as h ore ' or afloat . l'ull'i recognising, as we did, the valuable character 1 of tir c Marine service, and the title which the officers I pl.,s , ,ssed to have a due share of promotion awarded to 1 th e• n for that servi ce , we h ave venture d to a d v i se your ,) i 4jesty to extend the means of promotion to the Ma ) ;;Incs, but did not feel ourselves called upon to suggest that it would be necessary to add any Field-Officers to 1. the effective establishment of that force to afford those In the Ordnance corps, on the other hand, we have ascertained that a very considerable portion of eeery Fie.ld-Officer's Service must, if he is effi sient, he passed in the colonies, and the corn- P'lists whelk we received from the Ordnance Of ''' "rse 'Awn we examined, are more particu- Hy directed to the present inefficiency of a large nutn-. here of the superior efficers to undertake their proper s'nere of those foreign duties, a circumstance which, in she opinion of all the witnesses, was not only prejudicial tO the interests of the corps, but seriously detrimental eo the public service. Upon these representations it appeared to us essen tially necessary to ascertain what the duties of the Field-Oficers of the Ord once corps were, and what might be their presumed efficiency to discharge those duties, as she,can in the opinions of the witnesses, or in the etaterne ets we bad obtained from the Ordnance de partment of their ages and services. We commenced with the corps of Royal Artillery. The, regimental duties on foreign stations are per lorueed by rollster of companies, and the Regitnental IY.teers go abroad in charge of the men they have been acenstomed to drill and to superintend. In addeion to the regimental duties, there are those I of deteched command both at home and abroad, which appointments are tilled almost univereally by Field- Officers ; argil the p: active in peace tine is to nominate an officer for deteclistl command, also by rollster from the general nute'ecr of Feld-Officers. It is shoWn that on the establishment of the Royal Artir,cry, exclusive of ten Colonels-Commandant, there are sixty-two Colonels and Field-Officers, viz , twenty es'imeels and forty-two Lieutenant-Colonels ; and it is :noted that the detached commands for which the Lieu ienant-Colonels are eligible are thirteen on foreign sta tions, on which fifteen Field-Officers are at present employed, and thirteen at home, on which eleven Field- Officers are employed, two, viz. Jers.ey and Guernsey, being filled by Captains. There is a fixed period of service for these commands, viz., in Jamaica, the West Indies, and Bermuda, the efficers only retain their commands for three years ; at all other stations for five years. It appeared from the examination of Sir Alexander Dickson, that the duties of these officers on detached command are extremely responsible. They have the charge of all stores that are Issued from the depot for ' immediate defence. While in store, the Ordnance storekeeper is the accountable person ; but when the materials are issued, tl-ey peas from the charge of the storekeeper to that of the Commanding Officer of Ar tillery. These Commanding Officers have also the charge of the whole of the ordnance mounted, on the works, which involves a very extensive responsibility in your Majesty's different fortifications, and where the whole of the guns, stores, and amunition issued for their Oefence, are under the charge of the officer of Ar tillery filling the post of Commanding Officer. The extent of the responsibility of the officers on •:e!ached command cannot, therefore, be at all mea- L ai . ad by the number of men of the corps there may be r , n the station, as was Shown to us by instances both abroad and at home. At the Cape, with one company of Artillery, the Lieutenant-Colonel commanding has the charge of the tli:ole of the ordnance mounted for the defence of Cape lewn, and also for the works on a long line of frontier. A', Dover, the Commanding , Officer, a Colonel, has a consider a bl e li ne o f coas t defence, a certain charge, and responsibility of stores, but no more than one company of Artillery. Exclusively of these military duties, the officer on detached command is a member of the Board of respec ;lee officers of the station, the two others being the erineipal engineer and the storekeeper. They meet as citen as is required, which is probably weekly, to re gulate the entire administration of the ordnance, with reference to the works of the department, the money required, and various other details of that description. It is evident that the charge of ordnance and stores may involve a pecuniary liability ; and instances are stated to have occurred of officers being placed in great difficulties to extricate themselves from embarrassments growing out of the trust reposed in them. We are decidedly of opinion that duties and respon sibilities of this description not only imperatively require that the officer appointed to discharge or to incur them, should be one possessed of rank and authority, and on that account they properly devolve upon a Field- Officer, but that, in addition to the experience which that position implies, he should be both bodily and mec.- tally qualified for an active service, and for a trust of no ordinary character. The evidence which was placed before us, both erbal and documentary, would, however, show that the con- I dition of the Field-Officers to discharge this service, land to assume thi s t rus t, i s no t suc h as wou ld j us tif y I any expectation of general efficiency. Sir Alexander Dickson stated that there are many inefficient officers in the higher ranks, and that it was essentially necessary to keep the corps effective, to meet the colonial duties now devolving upon it, and to maintain such a body of substantially -efficient officers as would form a basis for any augmentation of the - corps requisite in the event of a war. Lieut.-Colonel Russell, after detailing the ages and services of the officers who have been promoted to be Field-Officers of late years, described them as being, on account of advanced age, generally disqualified for the mental and bodily exertions necessary to perform the duties of their situation. Lieut.-Colonel Mitchell admitted that there were Officers of superior rank in the corps, who were gene rally considered as disqualified for their duties from age or infirmity, but who, nevertheless, occueied their places in the list, not only retarding the advancement of young and active officers, but perpetuating and aug menting the evil under which the corps is suffering ; and he further represented that beyond all former times some corrective had become necessary to give vigour and efficiency to the higher ranks. This verbal testimony, as to a great degree of ineffi ciency existing in the body of Field-Officers, was in our opinion fully confirmed by the returns we obtained from the Ordnance department. We found that the ages of the 20 Colonels ranged from 58 to 66 years, and their service from 42 to 44 years : that the ages of the 10 senior Lieutenant-Colonels averaged 58 years, and of the i 11 juniors, 51 years, while their service ranged from 35 to 41. 'years. It is obvious that in a class consisting of 62 officers cetween the ages of 51 and 66 years, the youngest of whom has been 35 years, and the senior 44 years in the service, that there must be a considerable degree of inefficien c y ; an d t h e necessary consequence would e e, if the rott ster were scrupulously observed, that the ' ;eihl:c service must occasionally suffer disadvanna e -om th e trans f er of a particular duty from efficienti'ne '4 inefficient bands ; or t h at t h e 26 detached employ- ments, which oug h t to be held in succession by all I y a Field-Officers, must constantly be filled by the comps- te y retively small numb er t h at are really efficient, to the manifest prejudice of the corps as depriving it of pro motion to the commissions which would be vacate] by l i the inefficient, but which will s till rema i n i n their hands if any escape from the rollster of service is permitted, • The position of the effective Field-Officers themselves must not be disregarded. Their zeal for the service • may induce them - to undertake a succession of arduous and responsible duties, under every disadvantage of ! circumstance and climate, and to obey the call for i service, however frequently repeated, without murmur t or remonstrance. But we, nevertheless, must consider that an improvement is required in the present ar rangements, which occasion such a distribution of duty as that a portion of the Field-Officers because they are efficient have to undergo all the liabilities of a varied ) service, from which other officers of the same rank, and upon whom the service has therefore the same demands, escape on a plea of inefficiency, though they are still permitted to retain their commissions. This is a consideration to which it is peculiarly ne cesslry to attend in regard to these detached coin mantis, in which only the ordinary routine of duty of l Field -Officers has to he performed in h ur tf u l c li ma t es , or \ in di s t ant co l on i es , so that thoset u b y whom such s it ua tions the . are held are expose d to , tv i by which t h ey are attended :i it g h e o r and in conven i ence e ment in the h oe of securi honour and n nci reputation ng the a I which might resu lt f rom field service. ilt certainly appear s t o us , that the distinction be. 1 tween the efficient and the inefficient should, on grounds of public expediency, be care f u ll y preserved, T at' a small corps like the present Artillery force, which must 1 he considered as a nucleus upon which a larger c a w, ' ii•ihment might on an emergency be framed, it is essen t'al th it all O.:rise who compose the service portion ~f 1 the corps sh . uld be sufficiently effective to perform all t e duties that could devolve upon them in a fair - L4' ,1 course of service, or that they should vacate their com missions in favour of competent successors. From our conviction of the necessity of maintaining a completely effective establishment in every rank of the Royal Artillery, we were naturally led to inquire what provision was made for those who, having served long and meritoriously, might be compelled, in consequence of advancing age or growing infirmity, to quit the ac tive service of the corps. We found that there was an establishment of retired full-pay limited to the following numbers Lieute nant-Colonels, 12 Captains, 8 Subalterns ; that any officer who might be declared unfit for further aervice en the report of a Medical Board, might be placed permanently upon half-pay, in the event of there being no vacancy on the retired full-pay establishment ; and further, that since 29:h August 1836, three Captains, of not less than 24 years' total service, and one Subal tern of not less than 20 yea: s' total service, may be per mitted as an indulgence to retire annually upon half-pay. Examining these provisions in detail, we can have no hesitation in declaring to your Majesty our unanimous opinion that the first, as limited to the existing numbers, is altogether insufficient for the objects in view, viz., a security that the Artillery shall be kept constantly ef fective by the removal of the inefficient officers, which can only be accomplished by an adequate provision 'of retirement for those who may be no longer qualified for service in the corps. It might constantly occur under the present system, that the retired establishment being full, there would be no means of providing for an inefficient Field-Officer, except by placing him on half-pay, and that hence great injustice might be committed in dealing with claims of equal merit. A case, fortunately preferred at a time when the er_ablishtnent of retired full-pay was not com plete, would obtain the best reword that could be given to it ; and another, occurring a short time after from a casualty of service, might obtain no more than half-pay, not because the claim of the last officer was less in value than the former, but merely because the establishment of higher rewards was complete. It may be urged against the course of argument we are offering in this respect, that in the Marines, under the proposed new regulations, end in the Army, this same difficulty may occur, and that therefore the objec tions which we are prepaied to take to a limited esta blishment of retired full-pay in regard to the Ordnance corps, would apply equally to the Army and the Ma rines. But to us it appears that the services are es sentially different, and that the necessities of making pros ision of retirement are by no means equally apparent. In the Marines the duties of the Field-Officers are limited almost entirely to home service, and the rank itself may be rtgardA more-as a position of honourable reward for past service, than as one generally entailing any necessity for Foreign or Colonial duty. In the Army, by the constitution of the service, an escape altogether is open to all officers by the privilege of retirement by sale of commission, and it is not on that account equally necessary that the retired list should exceed certain limits, ;is it is in the Ordnance corps, where the position of the Field-Officer implies an ex tended course of service, from which there is no escape but a retirement on a sufficient pension. For these reasons, we are induced to recommend to your Majesty that the extent of the reti:ed full-pay list in the Ordnance corps should rather be measured by the necessities of the public service, and regulated so as to afford constantly a sufficient number of perfectly ef fective officers on the service portion of the corps, than framed in any proportion to the existing number of offi cers on the establishment ; and we are satisfied that the most expedient course to be taken would be to invest the Master-General with a discretionary power to place a certain number of Field-Officers in each year u-en retired full-pay, proof being afforded that they ere no longer equal to the duties that may be required of them. With regard to the Artillery, our recommendation would be limited merely to this, that the Master-Ge neral should be authorised to allow a number of Field- Officers, not exceeding four, to retire upon full-pay in each year, upon its being duly shown that they are, from age or the effects of service, unequal to any further dis charge of duty. We are fully aware that we are advisinc , your Ma- I jest ) , to extend an unusual privilege to the Ordnance corps, and that the maintenance of this grant may entail a considerable additional charge upon the public reve nues ; but we are quite satisfied that if the Ordnance corps are to be kept, es they ought to be, complete.und fit for duty, it is essential that no inefficient officer should encumber any one of the ranks, but that all alike should be, without evasion, prepared to undertake and satisfac torily to discharge any duty that the rollster of service may impose upon them. We can fully appreciate the feelings to which Lieut.- Colonel Mitchell alludes of strong attachment to the • corps, for which the officer had been educated, and in which he has passed his best days, operating to retain him in the regiment when his inefficiency shall have become notorious, and that he will be slow to seek any retirement from a body to which he is knit by recipro cal ties of affection and esteem ; but the public ne cessities require his removal, and the object should be to effect this in a manner as little discordant to his feelings as possible. To accomplish this, we would venture to suggest to your Majesty that tLe retirement on full pay so caused by ill health cr advanced age should not altogether de stroy the expectation which the meritorious officer had so long entertained of ultimate advancement to high rank, but that, as we have suggested in regard to the Marines, the retired Field-Officers who are on the list. or those who may be placed thereon as Regimental Field-Officers, should be advanced in regular brevet suc cession to the highest rank equally with the serving offi cers of the corps. The reasons we have to offer for this recommenda tion, particularly with reference to the Ordnance corps, are briefly these :—The Field-Officer may be himself conscious that irs inability to meet all the contingen cies of his commission is increasing, and that he must soon cease to offer even the semblance of efficiency ; but he has seen that his predecessors have, under simi lar circumstances, had indulgence shown to them, and that they have been allowed to retain their rank till they were removed by a brevet to the unattached list of General Officers, and he naturally covets the same distinction, secured by the same indulgence, for himself, as a reward to which probably a previous long and un blemished service may give him a fair title. He is, therefore, most unwilling to relinquish his connexion with t'ae corps, through which alone this reward has hitherto been obtained. It appears to us that it would be most expedient, both with a view to the efficiency of the service and to give satisfaction to the meritorious but worn-out officer, to combine a system of retirement and of further brevet promotion, exclusively in seniority corps, so that, though no longer efficient for military duty, the retired officer ' might have the advantage of that ultimate rank to which he has, all his life, been looking forward. In the line, from the facility of exchanging to half-pay, which does not exist in the seniority services, this pri vilege of brevet advancement may be secured by any officer, whom ill-health or the infirmities of service may compel to to retire from active duty, and the Line Offi cer, although on half-pay, may obtain both rank and pay as a General-Officer, after a certain period of ser vice as a Field-Officer. We desire to recommend to your Majesty the grant of a similar indulgence of pro motion to the Field-Officers of the seniority corps, with this difference only, that as in those corps they hate not the privilege of selling their commissions, their re tirement should be full pay, and not half-pay. But to preserve to the Master-General the power of rewarding past service even in this body of retired officers, we would recommend that a limited number only of those retired Field-Officers should be entitled to the min;- mum pay which is granted to Major-Generals of the line, viz., 400/. a year ; and we consider that the ob ject in view of marking past meritorious service, would be sufficiently secured by investing the Master-General with a power to select eight to receive that rate of pay, on their becoming Major-Generals, and that the two seniors so selected should receive 50/. per annum in addition. —_....... We are persuaded that a liberal provision of retire ment such as we have proposed will contribute most materially to free the Master-General from all embar rassments as to enforcing the rollster for service upon all Field-Officers, and that it will tend manifestly to the improvement of the corps, both with regard to its present efficiency, and its capability of receiving aug mentation in the event of more active services being required. Raving reference still to the necessity of facilitating the pr omot i on to the ran k o f Fi e ld-Officer, we would further r ecommen d to your M a j es ty that the Master- Generalm.' should b e au th or i ze d t o admit of the perma nt retirementArti annually of two I f ieut.-Colonels of the Roval . do not suggestry to that t f- t p h a e y s e a t officers their own sho u request ici b e l i ; g i b b u l e for t we .anY further promotion by brevet or otherwise. will operate very extonnsio We have no reason exists with regard to- t. , e h .y, e believe d that t.l Subalterns, arrangement rns b u t onlonly I ell us such a privilege already one Captain bad Captainsavailed from its introduction to Ju i n m e se l l B f 3 o B f it in the two years We have hitherto con , ide el the Field-Officers of the Royal Artillery, th . e b utour condition a t atten tion no-f in a , te of the Captains the . evidence tion was equally directed to the of the corps, among whom, accord s we received, there must he found "rtirtnuy inefficient fur presented e rn st s ahlishmp u t r e s d ha l d ess than active service. We found from the many to us, that of the eighty Captains on t e h t e u served ' of the Royal Artillery,. no one had thirty years, and thAt the thirty-three seniors from [ thirty-five years ; and that their a forty ' eight to more than fifty years. It was quite impossible to consider a body thus con stituted as to age and service as efficient for all duties. A complete class, composed altogether of men w h o h ad passed middle life, containing no portion whatever of youthful vigour, did not offer to our minds a sound basis upon which an efficient fires for active employment could be built ; and whop it is recollected that the win& service of A rtillery iiibei;formeil by rollster of corn- Panics, it appeared to u. aI , • c essential that some open -11,4 should be made b) Will h the inerfiei , nt might pass away from active duty in their present ranks, without THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY. APRIL 17, !Qat endangering our scheme for the improvement of the force in the class of Field-Officers. This evil of advanced age in a subordinate rank was also shown to us to be considerably on the increase from an extract which Lieut.-Colonel Cator produced from a statement published by Sir Augustus Fraser, in 1818. It appeared therefrom that the average set vice of the juniors of each rank at that time, as compared with 1838, was as follows : 1818. 1838. Average Service. Average Service. Colonels 36 years 41 10-12th years. Liestenant-Colonels '24 years ... 34 4-12th years. First Captains Second Captains This adva nce o f age must b e regar d e d as a ser i ous evil, tending t o pro d uce a very b ane f u l e ff ect on t h e efficiency of the corps ; and we think we should be fail ing in our duty to your Majesty, if we did not earnestly press upon your Majesty's attention the necessity of adopting some general system of removing inefficient officers from the class of Captains. The service the pre sent officers eave performed, appears to us to give them every claim to indulgent consideration, and we are therefore disposed to recommend, that provision should be made to empower the Master-General to grant re tired full pay to a certain number of Captains, not ex ceeding four in each year, on the same principle, and subject to the same conditions as to unfitness for ser vice, which we have proposed for the retirement of Field- Officers. Objections may possibly be taken to a retired estab lishment, apparently unlimited in amount, but in an swer we would submit to your Majesty that it is above all things expedient to state clearly what must be the natural result of maintaining any description of force from which there is no escape for old age and infirmity, except to a retired list, viz., that the existence of such a force in a state of efficiency can only be supported by a proper outlet for the meritorious officer, who has been worn out in the service ; and that in our opinion, it is far better that the charge for the effective and non effictive portion of that force should appear on the same estimates, than that any arrangement should be adopted which should transfer a part of the retired charge for one service to the non-effective portion of another. In the preceding remark, we have reference to a proposition much urged upon the Commission, that a certain number of officers of the seniority services, and more especially of the Ordnance corps, should be al lowed to retire annually by the sale of half-pay commis sions in the line. The precedent for this proposition was established for a temporary purpose in 1823, and repee.ed at intervals during the next four years ; and the following teas the mode in which the sales of commissions by officers of seniority corps were arranged. . _ An unattached halt-pay - commission of the rank cor responding to that about to be vacated by the officer of the Arti,lery or Engineers. was sold as a step of pro motion to a full-pay officer of the line, and the money paid by him and his successors in the line for advance ment was handed over to the officer retiring, as the price of his commission. Each sale of commission by a Field-Officer of either of these corps, therefore, created an additional Field-officer of the line on the establish ment of half-pay. The vacancy in the Ordnance corps was filled from the half-pay list of that department as far as it was available, and by promotion throughout the corps when the list was exhausted ; but as, with very few excep tions, a suitable candidate could only be found in an in ferior rank, the general effect produced by the permis sion to sell out, thus granted to the officers of the Ar tillery and Engineers, was to add to the number of Field-Officers of , he Army, without any diminution of the number of officers of that rank in the other services. The proposition for the revival of this system was supported by the authority of the recognised precedent to which we have referred, and was much pressed upon the Commission by the members whom your M ijrsty had been pleased to select from the Ordnance corps— viz , the Master-General and Sir Alexander Dickson. We beg at once to declare our perfect sense of the value of the army privilege, which in this respect was earnestly sought for by the Ordnance Officers, and de sire carefully to secure ourselves from the suspicion of entertaining any opinion inimical to such a privilege, which question we shall, perhaps, feel ourselves com pelled ter discuss more at length in our Report upon that branch of the service where such sales form matter of reguletion. The:Objections which influenced us to reject the pre positicktbat Ordnance or Marine Officers should retire by sale of commission to Line Officers, the latter by purchase obtaining promotion in their own service, may be thus stated : Ist. That it tends to deceive the public as to the real extent of the cast of maintaining those corps, in which no right of retirement by sale is recognised, in asmuch as the retirement granted appears on the non• effective charge of another department in the shape of a fictitious commission. :Id. That it necessarily operates to swell to an em barrassing extent the number of , officers of the higher ranks in the Army, creating candidates for the rank and command of a General Officer to an amount not warranted by the demands of the service. 3d. That it must have a tendency to generate dis content in the minds of the non-purchasing seniors of the Army, and there are several of as lowg service as any in the Marines or Ordnance corps, if they found an arrangement adopted which would ensure promotion to the seniors of those corps, even in cases of sale of commission, without any exnenditure on their part, while the same system of sale and purchase, according to authorised regulations, has operated to keep the non purchasers of the Army in their present position. We do not consider that these objections were re moved by the proposal to bear the charge of the Line half-pay, so to be created, on the Ordnance Estimates. The principal difficulties would still remain, viz., that the arrangement would add unwarrantably to the num ber of Field-Officers of the line, an evil of great mag nitude, and that it would produce a sense of being un justly dealt with in the minds of the non-purchasers of the Army. Acting upon this conviction, we propose ins:ead that the retired establishment of the Artillery Corps should be such as to ensure perfect efficiency in the service portion of the regiment, and to provide a suitable re ward for the wore-out and meritorious officer. In consideration further of the few opportunities that are afforded for the employment of unattached General Officers of the Royal Artillery, and the con sequent limit which is thus placed upon their income while unemployed, to the amount of their unattached pay, we would beg to recommend that, for the pur pose of marking extraordinary merit among such General Officers, your Majesty should empower the Master-General to select from the unattached Generals of the Artillery two whose pay should be made up to 6001. a-year, until they shall be appointed Colonels of Battalions. The small increase of expense which this indulgence would occasion, not exceeding 2501. a-year for the Artillery, might be considered as some compensation to the General Officers of that force for the proportion of garrison appointments, to which they might have laid claim previously to the abolition of the garrisons in 1833 ; and we have no doubt that the selection would be ap preciated as a distinction and a reward for good and faithful service. (TO BE CONTINUED.) PRICE OF SUGAR. EFFECT OF MONOPOLY. Table showing the ex-duty price of West India Sugar in Mincing-lane, and comparing the same against that of Foreign Sugar:— London, April 10. The Gazette of this evening will quote the average price of British Plantation Muscovado Sugar, Per Cwt. exclusive of duty, at 39s. 104 d. The actual quantity of West India sold on account of the im porters, in the week ending the 14th instant, according to the returns made upon oath, by the West India Sugar Brokers, in conformity with the Act of Parliament, and on which quantity the above price is computed, consisted of 959 hhds. 100 tra and 14 barrels. The amount of duty on West India Sugar, received at the Custom-house, at this port, from the 4th to the 10th of April, both days inclnsive, was 21,1211. 4s. Foreign Muscovado sugar is difficult of sale, about 2,000 chests of Yellow Havannahs were offered at auction this week, and were nearly all bought in. We may quote the differ ence of price between Foreign and West India Muscovado Sugars, quality for quality, at about 18s. per cwt. in favour of the latter. Refined Sugar manufactured from Foreign Raw Sugar is being sold in London for exportation at (deducting the charges of shipping) 335. per cwt., being 7s. per cwt. cheaper than West India Sugar. Treacle ad mitted to home use duty free, under the pretence of supplying the poor man with a cheap sweet—but, in reality, oat of fa vouritism to the West Indians, readily commands 33a. 6d. per cwt., while Treacle of a superior quality resulting from the process of refining Foreign Sugars, has been sold in London this week for Foreign Markets, at (deducting shipping charges) 13s. per cwt. ; the pretended indulgence conferred on the poor man by this notable scheme for protecting West India produce, consequently consi-ts in his having to pay 20s. 6d. per cwt. more for bad treacle than he would have to pay for good, provided the monopoly in Sugar, &c., were abolished. Sir Robert Peel has taken good care that the nation should thoroughly comprehend its position, with regard to the humo rous monopolies which now cripple the energies of the many for the benefit of a few. Ile has emphatically announced, that a repeal of the Corn-laws must inevitably lead to an early re peal of the various costly privileges and preferences which in fest , our fizeal laws. All parties who p do not b e l ong to t h e favoured and protected classes are called upon, therefore, to unite in agitating for an unqualified repeal of the bread tax ; seeing that the reward for their generous exertions will be not only a riddance of the starvation laws, but also of those mono polies with which the Tories, chile in power, saddled the country, in order to enrich their friends and-to brie their satellites. The General Steam ,Niligation Company's pac ket Ocean, J. Fife, _arrjrej from Rotterdam yesterday, after a favourable passage of.- hours, bringing the Dutch papers of Wednesday. A GOOD TRENCHERMAN. —A fellow of the name of William Longstaff, of Mickleton, near Middleton-in- Teesdale, on Monday evening, the 30th ult., ate thirty-eight eggs raw, the largest that could be got, twelve of them duck's eggs, of which one was rotten, and afterwards ate of other solids what to an ordinary appetite would be considered a good He ha% made a hit !lett *lt • fir,t. tiro' !!t" is a: tri m will devour five scure of eggs.—Durham Adeertiser. THE DUKE OF SUSSEX. (From the Morning Chronicle.) It will be in the remembrance of our readers that, a short time ago, we tock occasion tit etpose the falsehood of certain statements relative to his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, which, originating with a Dublin news paper, were copied into the columns of one of the London Morning Journals. Our contemporary has again given in sertion to an extract from the same Dublin paper, and has added to it a commentary of his own. In that com mentary it is SIFSer ted that the Duke of Sussex bas, since 1831. and particularly within these last few weeks, exened his energies to bastardize his children by his former mar riage; while, in the article upon which the comment is made, it is asserted that the demurrer of the Attorney- General to the bill filed in 1831 by Sir Augustus D'Este, was not the act of the Prime Minister or of the Attorney-General, but was the act of the Duke of Sussex; and it is insinuated that it was through the in fluence of the Duke of Sussex that Sir Augustus D'Este was deprived, shortly after his bill was filed, of the situation he held in the household of William IV. To the statement of our contemporary we do not feel called upo❑ to reply in terms more courteous than by calling it a gratuitous falsehood. To the assertion of the Dublin paper we answer, that the Duke cf Sussex had nothing to do directly or indirectly, with the demurrer of the Attor rvy-General. His Royal Highness had no knowledge of either the bill or demurrer having been filed, or intended to be filed, until after the events bad occurred. The insi nuation of the Dublin paper is as unfounded as its fact. The Duke of Sussex was neither party nor privy to the suspension of Sir Augustus D'Este from the perfo'mance of the duties of his situation in the household of William V., nor to bis subsequent removal from that situation. The suspension and removal were the personal acts of the King. . To these facts we add another. At the time of the marriage of the Duke of Sussex to Lady Augusta :11wray in 1793, each of them gave to the clergyman by whom th ceremony was performed, a pledge neither to reveal his name, nor permit him to Incur peril on th e i r account. T he Duke of Sussex has kept his word. COURT CIRCULAR. \ViNuscn, TIMPSDAY. - 1 - 16r Arid Prince Aloe,: rode out in a pony phact a to-day, or an litho, in the Great Palk. The whole of the Royal suite drove out in carriages at the sarhe tithe. His Royal Highness Prince Albert drove the Queen, and hit Sei-ene..i-iighness the Heredit.,ry Prince drove the Countess of Errol - . The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland arc expected to arrive at the Castle to-day. The Royal Dinner party this evening will include the Hereditary Prince of Saxe Coburg.Gotha, the Earl and Countess of Errol and Lady Ida Hay, Earl of Uxbridge, Baron de Gruhen, Lord Robert Grosvenor, Countess of Charlemont, Hon. Miss Paget, Hon. Miss Anson. Baroness Lehzen, Lord Byron, Hon. Charles A. Murray, Sir Robert Otvray, Hon. Colonel Grey, Colonel Bouverie, and Mr. Francis Seymour. Her Majesty the Qaeen Dowager, and her Serene Highness the Duchess Ida of Saxe Weimer. took an air ing yesterday afternoon, in a pony phaeton and four. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent took up her residence at Ingestrie House, Belgrave-square, yesterday. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, arid the Prin cess Augusta of Cambridge, attended Divine Service, yess terday morning, in the Chapel Royal, St. James's. The Bishop of London held a Confirmation in the Chapel of toe juvenile nobility and gentry. The Chant was Rus seli's ; the Te Dews: and Jubilate Arnold's, in F ; the Sanctus and Responses, Davy; Sir George Smart pre sided at the Organ. The Queen's Royal Maunday was distributed yesterday (Maunday Thursday), in Whitehall Chapel, with the usual formalities, to as many poor, aged and infirm men and women, as her Majesty is years old. A Procession was formed at three o'clock, at the Almonry Office in Scot land-yard, composed of the Yeomen of the Guard (one of the Corps bearing the alms to be distributed on a large gold' salver), the Dean of Carlisle, the Sub-Almoner, Joseph Hanby, Secretary, and Yeoman of the Almonry, four Chil , iren of the National School, Westminster, and two Children of the Schools of St. George, Hanover square, chosen for their good conduct. The Procession, on entering the Chapel, was joined by the Rev. Dr. Slcath, Sub-Dean, Rev. Dr. Vivian, Rev. J. H. Dakins, and the Rev. Dr. Wesley, Priests of,the Chapel Royal, Messrs. Hawes, Knyvett, Hobbs, Clarke, and Evans, Gent.emen of the Chapel Royal, and also the Boys. The usual afternoon Service then commenced. The Grand Chant was then performed. The first Anthem performed was. " Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy " (Nees), when the Sub-almoner and Officers distributed to each woman 1/ 155., and to each man shoes and stockings: 21 of each sex received the Royal bounty. At the conclusion of the second Anthem, " Hide not thou thy face " (Farrant), the men received woollen and linen cloth. At the cra.clusion of the third Anthem, " 0 Lord,., grant the Q. een a long life " (Child), both me women received purses of m o ney, a w hit e p urse , co in ing 21 silver pennies in the v a ri e ti es o f 4d.. 31., 2d. and pence, being the age of the Sovereign ; and a red purse, enclosing 2/. 'los., of which the sum of 11. lOs. is the amount of the commutation for provisions, which were formerly given to them. After the fourth Anthem, " Who is this that cometh from Edom?" (Arnold), which was sung by Messrs. W. Knyvett, Hobbs, and J. B. Sale, two prayers, especially composed for this solemnity, were read. The National Anthem was performed at the close of Divine Service. Sir George Smart presided at the Organ. On Monday and Tuesday the Royal Minor Bounty of five shillings each, was distributed, under the orders of the Lord High Almoner, by Mr. Hanby, Yeoman of the Almonry, to upwards of 900 aged, poor, and infirm per. sons, of whom a considerable number were blind and disabled. The Duke cf Sussex and the Duke of Cambridge vis;ted the Princess Augusta yesterday, at Clarence Howie, St. James's. Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar arrived at Marlborough House yesterday afternoon, from the Royal Military Col loge at Sandhurst, or, a visit to her Majesty the Queen Dowager.. . _ The Princess Augusta and the Duchess of Gloucester took an airing together yesterday in a carriage. Mr. Alston, M.P., awl Mr. Woolnch, Al P., had an interview with the Marquis of Normanby yesterday at the Home, ffit.e. A Deputation on the subject of Glass, including Mr. Ord, M P., Mr. W,od, the Chairman, and Mr. Dehany, the Solicitor of the Excise, had an interview with the Chan cellor of the Exchequer yesterday in Downing-street Mr. H. Kt able, M. P., Mr. James Patti.:on, M.P., Colonel T. Wood, M P., Messrs. J. W. Shears, H. Pheasant, T. Pocock, Thomas Bish, A. Galloway, J. P. Walker, and the Hon. Secreturv, Mr. Henry Cope, jun., composed the Deputation to Lord MelbJurno on the Metropolitan Bridges on Wednesday. The Speaker of the House of Commons and Mr. Mark Phillips, M. P., had interviews with the Marquis of Nor manby yesterday at the Home-office. Viscount Melbourne left town yesterday for Panshanger, Harts, the seat of Earl Cowper. The Marquis of Lansdowne left town yesterday for his scat Bow•ood Park, Wilts. PRAYERS FOR. THE DEAD. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. SIR,—A correspondent of yours asks, ‘. Are there not prayers for the dead in the Liturgy of the Established Church ?" 1 answer " No." The expression:" Remember not the offences of our forefathers," in the Litany, refers to the Second Commandment, where it is said, " God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation ;" and is merely a deprecation of bcirsg blob of our ancestors. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your faithful servant, FRANK HEWSON, Incumbent of St. Paul's, Worcester. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDPE TOMORROW. Morning C minutes after 3 1 Evening l6 minutes after P. NEW ZEA LAND. To the EDITOR of the MORNING CHRONICLE. SIR,-1 observe in your report of the speeches delivered at the City meeting, respecting New Zealand, that I am stated by Captain Ackerley, " to have 50,000 acres there." I beg to Worm you that lam not, and never have been, individually , tva, proprietor of one single acre. The only connection that I have with that country is as Chairman of the New Z2aland Company, in whom col lectively is invested all interest in the lands which have been required. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, Putney-heath, April 16. DURHAM. MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS, (THURSDAY EVENING.) TIM ES.--A further decline has taken place in Con sols, supposed to be on account of the angry tone mani fested in the correspondence between the British Minister and the Secretary of State at Washington on the boundary question, as communicated in the papers brought by the British Queen. In the Share Market there has been much excite ment. The Great Western rose above Si. since ye's.. terday, but, although the rise has chiefly been in these shares, still, as the others have partaken in the advance, it is supposed that the direction of speculation towards this market is the sole cause of the improvement. Great Western has been done as high as 15 and 16i for the half-shares, leaving off about It lower ; Birm ingham are at 75 to 77 premium ; Brighton at 10 4 1 to 10 discount. The business clone in the foreign exchanges to-day was very ►imited. The rates on Amsterdam and Paris were about the same as last post, on Hamburg a trifle higher. Tt,e British Queen has brought Papers from New York to the Ist of April inclusive. The tendency of the Stock-market was still downwards ; the North American Trust had declined Si per cent. since the previous day, and were at 41k. The United States Bank had declined it, and were at 72. Active busi ness had been done in sterling bills; the supply was equal to the demand, and the rate was 4 77 to SO the pound sterling. On France the rates had under gone no material alteration since the sailing of the last packet. Money on " strictly business paper" could be commanded at 6to 7 per cent.; but at higher rates on other paper. The amount of business paper was small, so that parties indebted abroad found a difficulty in making purchases of bills to the extent which would be the case if money were plenty, and this occasioned the low rate of bills. The New York Journal of Commerce treats of the charge against Messrs. Baring by the papers that are organs of the " United States Bank." It altogether denies the validity of the proofs, that a conspiracy had been formed by Messrs. Baring and Messrs. Prime, Ward, and Co., to break the Bank of the United States, which the Courier and Inquirer is still bringing forward, and considers Mr. Jaudon's letter to the Messrs, Baring as conclusive. Another journal sums up the case thus August, the bank being on the point of bankruptcy, Mr. Jaudon applied to Messrs. Baring for a loan, which was partly promised, but Mr. Jandon so exposed the state of his affairs, winch were sufficient to convince any one of the insolveuoy of the concern, that Messrs. Baring refused to complete the loan. Nevertheless, being largely interested in the state stocks, which would suffer by the failure of the bank,they, in connexion with others, agreed to prop it up for a time, and at the same time, " as in duty bound," told their correspondents of th e perilous state of the con cern, in order to protect them from loss. The ne cessity of this was subsequently proved, for, although the Bank got the loan, she failed both in England and the United States, and her Stock, then at 110, is now at 72. Messrs. Prime, Ward, and King, a day after the intelligence, sold for a Boston house 300 to 400 shares, opening at 105, and closing at 98 per cent. This was followed by a charge of conspiracy against Messrs. Baring in the Courier, and it is said that there is not a post-note bank in the City under the law that does not plead a similar conspiracy against them when they can not pay their post notes. Thus the affair would seem to be finally disposed of in the United States, as it has been long ago in this country. The New York canals appear to have steadily pro gressed. The report of the Canal Commissioners gives a comparison between the years 1838 and 1839. In the former year the amount of property cleared out was $65,746.599, the tonnage 1,333,011, and the tolls were $1,590,911 97c. ; in the latter the amount was $73,399,764, the tonnage 1,435,713, and the tolls were $1,616,382 2c. By this arrival papers from Montreal to the 28th, and from Toronto to the 25th ult., have been received. Much attention was directed in both the Canadas as to what was going on in the United States relative to the boundary question, but it is affirmed that no mili tary preparations are making on the Maine frontier which are not purely defensive, and such as the sud den irruption into the disputed territory last year fully justify. CHRONICLE.—It being now certain, from the answer given by Lord John Russell to Lord Mahon in the House of Commons last night, that the British Admiral, commanding in the Mediterranean, bad re ceived instructions to take such measures as he might deem necessary to obtain satisfaction from the King of Naples for the injury sustained by British merchants engaged in the sulphur trade, in consequence of the in fraction of the treaty of 1816, by the Neapolitan Go vernment, Consols were depressed * at the opening this morning, and continued flat the greater part of the day ; but previous to the close of business the market had recovered. Thereafter some rumours of the un satisfactory character of the news brought by the British Queen having partially transpired, a reaction took place, and the closing quotations were 91i to j, being the same as the opening, but the news had not gener ally spread, and the effect on the Funds cannot, there fore, now be ascertained till Saturday, to-morrow being a holiday. SUN.—A deal of excitement prevailed in the City this afternoon on the receipt of the news by the British Queen, relative to the boundary question, which ap pears from the correspondence that has taken place be tween the British Minister at Washington and the American Government to be in a very critical position. The commercial news from the United States is still not what we could desire; trade was not active, bank ing not sound, and confidence not general. The British Queen has on toard 150,000 dollars in specie. The exchange at New York, on the Ist instant, for bills on London, was 7i to 8, and United States Bank Shares were 724. The Foreign ex c hanges, in consequence of to-morrow being a close holiday, were quoted this afternoon. They were heavy, but much the same as on last post day, viz., Paris 2M. 52c. to 551. ; Hamburgh 13 81 to 9, and Amsterdam 12 1. The Funds closed heavily from the effect of the American news ; Consols for present transfer at 90i to 91, and for the Account, at 91i to 4. The heavy Stocks were also rather lower. Portuguese Bonds were not so firm as in the, morn ing, the New Five per Cents. leaving off at 36, and the Three per Cents. at 24g Spanish Active Stock was heavy at 281, and Dutch Two-and-a-Half per Cents. receded to 521. The Railway Shares were all higher. The Great. Western touched 15 prem., the Birmingham 75 prem., and the South Western, 7il prem. C h i i i e U h ß t C h l e i- c it as A es l o 'E f Rev. the Las t J Monday igg being and the Williamd a y to w Notcutt, di ssen ti ng m i n i s t ers , summoned at the Town-hall, Ipswich, for no t pay i ng C hurc h-rates, stood adjourned, the Magistrates' ro om was crow ded with Dissenters, anxious to hear the Rev. G ent l emen ' s d e fence. They both spoke with considerable force, but of course unavailingly. Orders for payment were made in both cases. Those which stood over from Thursday to enable the Bench to consider the objection that the rate had not been demanded by the churchwardens in person, were next taken, and the Magistrates decided that the obj , >ction could not be entertained. At the meeting of the Geographical Society, on Monday evening, Captain Wash'ngton stated that accounts from Mess.rs. Dease and Sim tion, relative to the progies4 cif ' , u-IV t they might probauly be received belure the next meetii;g. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. SlR,—Will you allow me to address a single remark to to the person calling himself e " Sheffield Churchman," whose letter you published on Tuesday last? He says, the words used by the Church of England, " Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers," contain a prayer for the dead. He adds, " How this can be otherwise explained, I am at a loss to discover." Let me, Sir, ask that " Churchman" if he never read the following words of Scripture :—" I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers UPON THE CHILDREN ?" If he has, what difficulty can be find in explaining that prayer? Query.—Of what Church is he really a " Church. man ?"—I am, Sir, your's truly, York, April 16. ANTI-SOPHIST THE LATE ELOPEMENT. The following extract from the Paris correspondence cf the Timis, dated Monday last, contains some cur:l)ns details, for tne accuracy of which the correspondent of that journal pledges himself:— " It appears that immediately on landing at Ostend Dr. Lardner and Mrs. Heaviside proceeded to Paris by Calais and St. Omer, and took lodgings in the rue Tron chet, where they lived as husband and wife. Captain Hea viside had followed them as far as St. Omer, but there, ►osing all trace of the fugitives, gave up the chase. The latter, nevertheless, took no measures to conceal them selves ; indeed, so much the contrary, that Mrs. Heaviside opened a correspondence with her father, Colonel Spicer, who resides at Boulogne. " On Friday morning last Dr. Lardner and Mrs Heavi side were at breakfast, when they were alarmed by a noise in the ante-room, and by a rush at the door of the salle a-manger. The doctor went to the door to ascer tain the cause. The moment he opened it he was felled by a blow of a heavy stick from Captain Heaviside, who continued to flog him as vigorously as deservedly. " While this was proceeding, the desk of Dr. Lardner was opened by the invading party. All the papers it con tained were seized by them and carried off, as well as Mrs. Heaviside, who endeavoured to induce a rescue by scream ing loudly, and continued to do so until they reached the Hotel de l'Europe. There some sensation was created by the screams of the lady, but when the circumstances were stated to the persons about to interfere, they desisted. The whole party left fur Boulogne in the evening, with the ex ception of the Captain, who remained in order to give Dr. Lardner an opportunity of calling him out, if he should so think proper. The Captain left next day for Boulogne. " Dr. Lardner is not yet declared entirely out of danger. His just punishment will, probably, make him turn his attention in future from adultery to mechanics. " The lady, it seems, is 35 years of age. She is the mother of three children, and bad, until this affair, lived happily with her husband, and after an acquaintance of three weeks only she had suffered herself to be seduced by Dr. Lardner. lam assured that this matter will not come before the French tribunals." HOPELESS STATE OF MR. UNDER SECRE TARY DKUMMONI).—DUBLIN, APRIL 15.—Mr. Drinnmond, the Under-Secretary, is still alive. Mortification set in this morning, and his death is expected hourly ; all hopes of his re covery are abandoned. When the last accounts left the Park the pulse had left the extremities, and life was supported merely by stimulants. DEATH OF THE DOWAGER LADY RODNEY.- It is with regret we announce the demise of the above estimable lady, which took place on Wednesday last, after a short illness, at her residence in Harley -street. Her Ladyship, who was the second (laugh er of the late Right Hon. Thomas Harley, son of Edward third Earl of Oxford, and Alderman of the city of London, was born the 13th of May, 1769, and had cows quently attained the great age of 81 years. In April 1781, her Ladyship married the late Lord Rodney, by whom her Lady ship had a family of fourteen children, five of whom survive her Ladyship, namely, the present. Lord Rodney, Hon. and Rev. Spe ncer Rodney, Hon. and Rev. Henry Rodney, Pre bendary of Hereford ; Hon. Mortimer, and Hon. William. Her Ladyship was sister of the late Countess of Kinnoull, the mother of the present Earl. DEATH OF THE DOWAGER LADY LYTTEL TON.---it is a with a sincere feeling of sorrow that we have to announce the death of Apphia Baroness Lyttelton, in her 97th year. She was the widow of Thomas second Lord Lyttelton, who died in 1779, and whom she has survived 61 years. The deceased Lady died universally respected and regretted by the inhabitants of Great Malvern and the neighbourhood, amongst whom she has so long resided. With means comparatively slender, she was eminently charitable. The charity schools founded by her, the public walks laid out and improved, and the House of Ind-stry, are standing monuments of her benefi cent disposition. In all acts of charity, in all plans for the amelioration of the condition of the poor, her Ladyship led the way. In her the workin,!; classes of Malvern have sustained the loss of a bounteous and justly liberal benefactress. Her love to God was amply evidenced by the goodness she did to man. The power of words is too poor to speak her praise._ Worcester Journal. Mrs. Colonel Sutherland, of Grove-tetrace, Lis son-grove, has transmitted, in aid of the funds of the Royal Frye Hospidal, Greville-street, Hatton-garden, .50/. The Eulp-ror of linsqia has presrinted Mee. Ts 7 ,l;e,, : ~~ '1 here Nvere 400 silver balls on the harness. LONDON: FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1840. It must be admitted by every person that the tone of the correspondence between the British and United States Governments on the Boundary ques tion is waxing so warlike as greatly to weaken the conviction, at first entertained, that the good sense of two countries, whose interest it is to live in peace and in the reciprocation of friendly offices, would render an appeal to the sword for such a common sense affair as the adjustment of a boundary line, impossible. We regret this the more as we do not see, in the proposal of the PRESIDENT to refer the whole question once more to arbitration, any cer tainty of arriving at a definitely satisfactory con clusion, inasmucb as the PRESIDENT himself ad mits that he has no po,Ner to enforce the sentence of arbitration if opposed, as it assuredly will be if impartial, by the State of Maine. In the very last note of Mr. FORSYTH to Mr. Fox, presented to the Senate, and dated the 25th ult., this is distinctly avowed. We refer our readers for proof hereof to the document itself. But to make the whole question at once intelligi ble to the British public, we will tell them in a f e w words how the affair stands at present. The English Minister points out a certain district, in cluding the valley of St. John and the valley of the Aroostook, and he emphatically declares that unless the former be evacuated, and the latter be occupied only temporarily for the purpose of preventing depre dations, troops will be sent to dispossess the settlers, and the American Government will be held responsible for the consequences. The United States Government replies that the said district or valleys shall not, and ought not, to be evacuated, and that should force be employed by Great Bri tain the Federal Government will not shrink from asserting, by a similar demonstration, rights claimed by the State of Maine, and of which, after all, she is, except the question be submitted to arbitration, the sole judge. The following is the pith and marrow of the Note of the British Minister : Her Majesty's Government claim and expect from the good faith of the Government of the United States, that the people of Maine shall replace themselves in the situa tion in which they stood before the agreements of lA.:, year were signed. That they shall, therefore, retire from the valley of St. John an.l confine themselves to the valley of the Aroostook—that they shall occupy that valley in a temporary manner only, for the purpose, as agreed upon, of preventing depredations —and that they shall not con struct fortifications, nor make roads or permanent settle ments. Until this be done by the people of the State of Maine, and so long as that people shall persist in the present system of aggression, her Majesty's Government will feel it their duty to make such military arrangements as may be required for the protection of her Majesty's rights. And her Majesty's Government deem it right to declare that it the result of the unjustifiable proceedins of the State of Maine should be—collision between her Majesty's troops and the people of that State, the responsibility of all the consequences that may ensue therefrom, be they what they may, will rest with the people and Government of the United States. Mr. Secretary FoRsYTH is more elaborately wordy, but he is not less explicit when he comes to deal with the threat of the British Minister : Unless her Majesty's Government shall forthwith arrest all military interference in the question—unless it shall apply to the subject more determined efforts than have hitherto been made to bring the dispute to a certain pacific adjustment, the misfortunes predicted by Mr. Fox in the name of his Government, may most unfortunately happen. But no apprehension of the consequences alluded to by Mr. Fox car, be permitted to divert the Government and people of the United States from the performance of their duty to the State of Maine. That duty is as simple as it is imperative. The construction which is given by her to the treaty of 1783 has been, again and again, and in the most solemn manner, asserted also by the Federal Govern ment, and must be maintained, unless Maine freely con sents to a new boundary, or unless that construction of the treaty is found to be erroneous by the decision of a disin terested and independent tribunal selected by the parties for its final adjustment. Thus stands the Boundary question at the pre ser.t juncture, and it will require great sagacity, good temper, and mutual forbearance, to prevent it from plunging Great Britiiin and the United States into all the horrors of a fratricidal war. For our own part, we hesitate not to avow ourselves decidedly and strongly opposed to any collision with the United States. NITe cannot regard the settlement of a Boundary line so long al lowed to remain without adjustment, in a country where land is of so little intrinsic value, as a sufficient ground for a war between two nations speaking the same language, connected together by the ties of a common origin, a common literature, a common faith, an d t h e a d vantages o f an extensive reciprocal commerce. For the sake of peace we think that our Government would not at all co . United ng m promise the n a ti ona l di gn ity by calmly S to the bovernor of 1 Maine, the importance to us of EVENING EDII I . the disputed territory, as a necessary i. ';nk in the chain of the connection of our possessions i 2-1 Nort h A rnei .i.:a, and offering to cede some tract of ter Titol Y always in our ;:‘ , l4se..ssion for the quiet possession o f all places claimed by us L , requisite to the establisl •-• merit of a safe and commodious boundary. Shoul, such a measure fail, its failure would manifest to • the world that it was not our fault that a necessity arose for settling the question by the sword. It may be objected that our seetni.ug alarm upon this question is altogether needless. We trust that this objection has more weight than we .are at this moment disposed to attach to it ; nor are' we indeed without some hope, that the (food sens,t; of the people of both countries will be exercised calm ing any irritation that may arise, and in av, whatever has a tendency to render an appeal to b tote force inevitable. At the same time, when we s ee, in addition to the belligerent tone of the America ' 3O Journals, such announcements as the following 't which we copy from a New York Paper of the Ist inst., we deem it high time to make the country aware of the extent of the danger by which it ap pears to us to be threatened. This is no laughing :natter . ; and the whole dispute is one of those Tory heir-looms which that faction bequeathed more than half a century ago to the people of England IMPORrANT NAVAL MOVEMENTS.—Orders have recently been despatched to all the naval stations to , have every thing put in readiness for immediate service . The late movements of the British Authorities Lespectit g the Maine boundary line is the probable cause. Commodore Renshaw, of thin station, has r(lea lived in structions to complete the steam frigate now on ti le stocks with all possible despatch, and Captain M. C. Pe rry, late of the Fulton, is to take command of her. Aeditional workmen have been employed, and she is now lily all planked. The Independence and Fairfield, just arrived from Rio, and the Relief, are to be kept in council salon. The Columbia and John Adams, shortly expected I . wm,e from the East Indies, are also to be prepared for sea a t 1 : 81r1 immediately. The ships of war now on the stocks Art. 'to be got ready for launching, and the two seventy-t moored off the Navy Yard, to be prepared at short nos ice. The crews of those vessels just arrived are to be paid oti immediately so that they can spend their money and ''seship again. None of the officers cm have leave of al')- sence, but are to hold themselves in readiness for service. Such is the nature of the ingtru4ons lately received from Weshington, and such has been sent to every Navy Yard. What do they indicate? We have poked through the reports of the pro ceedings of the gentlemen who assembled at Guild hall, on Wednesday, to pass resolutions, and pre pare a petition on the subject of New Zealand, for some justification of the violent abus,t they and their organs have heaped on the Government, but we have looked in vain. The colonial Gazette led the van in the attack, and it was echoed by the Spectator. Yesterday the Post took hold of the Spectator's yarn, and spun it out after iW.ovin flimsy fashion. An evening print, which woOld be a great Tory journal if it could, paraphased the Post in its usual weak style. All the opponents of the Government, and some of its friends, took hold of the New Zealand Land Company's han dle to inflict an undeserved blow on the Ministry. We regretted to see Mr. WARD in such . bad company. Led away by his own at tachment to the WAKEFIELD emigration crot chats, the Hon. Member was induced to give utterance at the meeting to some language wfAch might serve to countenance the calumnies of ti.re Colonial Gazette and the abuse of the rory journals. The question before the meeting related to New Zealand ; and the gist of the complaint" against the Government made by the gentlemen who are extremely solicitous to employ their capital in that direction was, that Government would not colonize that place, nor sanction these gentlemen in colonizing it, and would not, as the petition said, " establish a proper authority in New Zea land." Such being the question and such the charge, Mr. WA RD sought to excite a prejudice against the Ministers by declaring— He was delighted to see in the present meting the proof that a feeling was now prevalent that the Govern ment, in the manner in which it bad disposed of its waste lands in its Colonies, had betrayed its trust—( Hear, bear) —that hitherto they had been made the source of petty jobbing in the Colonial-office, and had been distributed in favour of the aristocracy, for he saw no use in mincing the word.—( Hear.) Those who had influence at head quarters, obtained grants of these lands, in former times. to the exclusion of all others ; but he regarded the present meeting as a proof that the system was broken up ; 63 '1, all emigrants and sp ecu l a t ors , un d er the protection ° Government, should have fair play, and that those nly s " teries of Downing-street which had marred the grestent blessings that any country ever had placed within Its reach, were for ever at an end.—( Cheers.) Mr. WARD knows that these accusations do not apply to the present Ministers, who have do.' e much—though not, perhaps, all that they ouglre to have done—to dispose of colonial waste lands by sale and competition, and it was unjust in hi m to make :Bucli a statement, without a qualification , or place such a cannon in the hands of the Tories, without first spiking it. It is true that the state tent is directly in the teeth o f th e petition, for if the Government were grasping after land to give to the aristocracy, they would surely have eag er) taken advantage " of the frequent and urgent appli cations made to them," by settlers and bodies of Bra' tish merchants, to establish a proper authority in th' fertile island of New Zealand, and parcel it out amongst the aristocracy. W e have long looked with suspicion and distrust at the Government sr propriating, parcelling out, or selling the waste or partially occupied lands in North America And the Pacific Ocean, and if, with our almost innumerable col on i es , w i t h t h e military and naval resources of the empire frittered away amongst sixty or seventy settlements scattered over the globe, the Government have declined or re' fused to sanction the colonization of New Zealei gi ' if it have withheld all countenance from those who have chosen to establish themselves there, we should feel inclined to give it the meed of our approbation' Now, though it may not have yielded to the solici tations of the New Zealand Land Compaq, a nd • - . may have looked shy on a body of gentlemen un dertaking to sell land at the Antipodes, it has , 311 spite of its better resolution, been driven into making an attempt to establish the authority of the English Government in New Zealand. In fact, according to the petitioners them" eseslvt:ebsi,ishthesomGeovkeirnndmeonft authoritybegan, inthelrBol4u,ndte: the dire c ti ons o f t h e Captai n -Gener al an d attempt tern Governor pt Iss of no N t seuwccesSsful South. Io fa h Valcs h the Resident was a pp o i nte d by the Governor o f New South Wales i n 1832 , an d , i n 1838, Lo rd Ne t: too, though o a ug GLENELG re commen d e d t h at his place should be supplied by a C onsu l . I n August, 1839, a Con sul was app o i nte d to t h e N ew Z ea l an d Chiefs , who is also en d owe d w i t h the aut h or i ty o f Lieute nant ' Governor o f certain parts of the islands o f New Zea land, as a dependency of the Governm ent of New British South Wales. It may be true that the Govern ment has not complied with the imperious mandate of STANDISH MOTTE, rSq., of March 4, 183 9, not to delay " for one moment to „confirm the sove reignty of these islands in the Crown of Great Bri tain, by granting a Charter of Incorporation, 54e" to the New Zealand Colonization Company; but it has for some rears taken steps to protect the per sons and property of English residents in New Zealand, and has established there, with the consent and under the protection of the Chiefs, one autho rity after another. It appears from the Blue Book, so unjustly aspersed by Mr. WA RD at the meeting, that her Majesty's Government have for some years past sent a man-of-war occasionally to New Zealand to look after the English settlers ; and since Lord J. RUSSELL has been Colonial ;Minis ter, a force of 100 men has been ordered from New 11 "7:te ` '*l C a; 1! gin s hall have assumed the title of Lieutenant -Go' OBHE NEW ZEALA:::2 JOUR NA k.- 1- F TO- NICitl . P.9W4SATurinAy) will eentain 71 aecom.: csf the GREAT Articles on the Sovv feign::: of New Zealand, News, 4e &c. Price 61 Published by Chambers, 366, StrantT, and may be had of all 'Newsmen. MR. THEODORE HOOK'S NEW WORK. Nlvt ready, in 3 vols. post Bvo., with Portrait of the Author, and numerous Illustrations by Phiz, pitECEPTS AND PRACTICE. SY THEODORE HOOK, ESQ., Author of " ilayings and Doings," &c. • Henry Colburn, Publisher, .15, O:•eat Marlborough-street. To be had at all the Libraries. Great Marlborough-street. THE NEW EDITION OF MR. BUitiCg'S EXTINCT PEERAGE ; comprising, for the First Time, these of SCOTLAND and IRELAND. IS NOW READY, - . In One large Volume Bvo., Of 800 pages, with an Emblazoned Title-page, Portrait, itc.. price 255. bound. Henry Colburn, Publisher, Great Marlborough-street. .* Orders received by all liooksellers. THE NEW NOVEL, In 3 vols. post Bvo., THE MAID'S HUSBAND, IS NOW ItEDY AT ALL THE LIBRRIES. Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street. 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