The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-11-19 00:00:00

LECTURE I feel that the position in which I now find myself placed requires to be accounted for. I will give an account of it in very few words. The week before last an American gentle man, now resident in this town, called upon me, and asked "le to deliver a public lecture upon the life of Dr. Franklin. The request seemed to me a strange one. The subject at first sight did not appear a suitable one ; I was very much occupied, and I wrote a note politely declining it. A day or two afterwardsi received this letter— Liverpool, sth November, 1841 Reverend and Dear Sir,—We the undersigned, citizens of the United States of America, having heard that an applica tion has been made to you to deliver a lecture on the life of Dr. Franklin,. beg to express our hearty 'concurrence in that request, and to add that we hope you will comply therewith if it be consistent with your other engagements. The object which we have in view in making this request is twofold, to render the history of the immortal Franklin useful to your hearers, and to the benefit of the " Printers' Pension Society of London," an institution already well known to you as charitable and deserving. We are assured that you will duly appreciate our desire thus made known to you, and remain; dear sir, with respect and esteem, your obedient servants, PHILIP SCHUYLER, American Consul, GEORGE WRIGHT, JOHN B. MURRAY, New York. SAMUEL C. BLODGET, Providence, AUGUSTUS DE PEYSTER. New York, H. MESSCHERT, Philadelphia, R. J. IsitcuoLs, Georgia, H. ROCHODS, ditto, GEO. A. COLE, ditto, RICHARD KERN AN, ditto, FRANCIS BACON, Boston, HENRY TOBIAS, New York, WILLIAM SRIDDY, New York, FREDERICK TOWNSEND, ditto, GEORGE TOWNSEND, ditto, S. WAsnuunN, Massachusetts. To the Rev. Hugh M'Neile. This letter made the matter a little more serious ; and -in duced me to give it more serious consideration. I remem bered that it is at once the privilege and the duty of the Christian minister to hold himself in readiness to improve every opportunity, not only " in season but also out of sea son, to serve his Divine Master, undeterred either by a sense of his own insufficiency, or by any apprehension of the criticism of his fellow creatures. I have ever been of opinion that a Christian minister's service of his Lord need not and ought not to be scrupulously confined within what are usually and arbitrarily considered professional limits. " The earth is the Lord's, and the fulnessthereof," "all his works shall praise him." Authentic history, whether in its national breadth, or whether confined within the closer but more personally inte resting limits of biography, is but another name for God's works among men. I fancied that if I consented, the op. portunity might be made an occasion of a two-fold good— good, as 1 ventured to hope, from the lecture itself, and good to the interests of the poor, aged, disabled, printers, for whose Pension Society it was proposed that a collection should-be made. Under these impressions, I wrote the fol lowing reply Gentlemen, Roscommon-street, Bth Nov., 1841 I have the honour to acknowledge your letter of thesth inst. Although on many important subjects I am compelled wholly to differ from your distinguished fellow - citizen, Dr. Franklin, and candidly to avow that difference; yet. admir ing, as I do, the energy, industry, and ability of his natural character, and feeling that, as a Christian minister, I can at least honestly aim at usefulness of the highest order while commenting on his history ; willing also to do anything in my power in aid of the benevolent objects of the Printers' Pension Society, I have much pleasure in complying with your request. Permit me, gentlemen, to say that I hail, with sincere gra tification, the opportunity thus afforded me of manifesting (as far as a private individual, or a clergyman of England's national church in his individual capacity can manifest) that unaffected cordiality and brotherly co-operation, which I trust will ever characterise the conduct of England towards her magnificent daughter in the west, and of America towards her venerable mother. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, with the highest respect, Your faithful servant, HUGH M'NEILE. To Philip Schuyler, Esq., American Consul. George Wright, Esq. John Boyles Murray, E sq . &c. &c. For the preliminary arrangements, the comfort of which it is our privilege now to enjoy, we are indebted to Mr. Murray, who, ,I perceive, has not trusted the interests of the poor printers to the result of an appeal to your generosity after the lecture, but has prudently secured their cause by an ap peal to your curiosity betorehand. (Laughter,) To that gentleman I beg to tender my personal thanks for his kind ness and attention throughout the whole of this affair, and I hope that before this meeting separates, a vote of thanks from the whole body will testify the feelings we should all enter tain for the zeal and ability of that gentleman. (Hear, hear.) And, now, in addressing myself to the discharge of the duty which I have undertaken, -I have only further to premise, that although my observations are, of course, open to subse quent scrutiny, yet, if, in the delivery of them I should interfere with the opinions, or. unhappil y, in an y d egree , wound the feelings of any who are here present, I cast my self with unhesitating confidence upon your courtesy as gen tlemen, and your sense of fair dealing as Englishmen, to guard me against any attempt at unseasonable interruption. (Cheers.) Dr. Franklin was descended from an ancient though humble family in Northamptonshire. His ancestors at an early period embraced the reformed religion, and continued, members of the national church till the close of the reign of Charles 11. At that time his father and his uncle joined the nonconform ists, which led eventually to their emigration to America. He says— " My father married young, and carried his wife, with three children, to New England, about the year 1632. The con venticles being forbiden by law, and frequently disturbed at meeting, some considerable persons of his acquaintance de parted to,America, where they hoped to enjoy the exercise of their religion with freedom." Benjainin was the youngest son of his father, and born at Boston, in New England, on the 17th of June, 1706. A liber a l education was unattainable, owing to the straitened circumstances of the family ; and after a very brief and in adequate instruction in the elements of grammar, Benjamin was taken at ten years old to assist in his father's shop. H is father's business was that of a tallow-chandler and soap-boiler. It is interesting when we behold a wide spreading tree, laden with useful fruit, to trace it back to the sapling twig. It is interesting when we behold a noble and useful:river, studded with vessels of all the nations of the earth, to trace it up to its originating stream in the mountain. And it is in. teresting here to trace the man who afterwards made the civilized world his audience, back to the tallow-chandler's shop, and find him cutting wicks, filling moulds, and going er rands as a shop boy in the town of Boston. (Applause.) He disliked this trade very much • and, although he was passionately fond of books, he imbibed the apparently incom patible project of going to sea. His father decidedly opposed this and here is the first trait of this germ of greatness which demands and rewards our attention—submission to parental authority. It is true, that afterwards to avoid the unjust and unkind treatment of his brother, he fled from his home without leave, but for this he expressed his deep regret, and for a long season he repressed his own anxious desire, and submitted to the drudgery and fatigue, first of his father's, and afterwards of his brother's shop, entirely in compliance with his father's desire. His brother James was a printer. His father was desirous of having Benjamin bound to his brother, but Benjamin was exceedingly reluc tant, and had he yielded to his own desires, he would have left home at that time, but he did otherwise and much better. He complied with his father's wishes ; he honoured his father's authority, and signed the indentures which were to bind him to his brother till he should be twenty-one years of age, Nov► I feel disposed upon this point to ask if the subse quent meridian splendour of Franklin's almost unparalleled success has arrested the emulative gaze of any of our rising youth in this place? If so, to ask those youth to look back to the morning twilight, and behold in the boy of Ben jamin's submiss►on to his father, a practical illustration of the language of an inspired Apostle, " Honour thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with pro mise, that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long upon the earth." (Hear, hear.) In his brother's business he had access to books of a more miscellaneous character than any supplied by his father's limited library of controversial divinity. Here he read, not as too many young men read, merely for amusement, nor did he read merely to receive useful information in a passive manner, but he addressed himself with activity and praise worthy pains-taking to acquire the power of communicating information to others. He aimed at not only being a scholar, but at being a writer, and in order-to improve his style in English composition, he adopted a plan which I very gladly describe in his own words, and cordially commend to the adoption of my young friends around me— " About this time I met with an old volume of the Spec tator. I never before saw it, but I thought the writing ex cellent, and wished to imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and making short notes of the sentiments, laid them by, and then, without looking at the book, tried to write them out at length. I then compared what I had written with the Spectator. I compared my Spectator with the ori ginal ; discovered some of the errors I had committed, and corrected them. I then took some of the tales in the Spec tatcir, turned. them into verse, and then turned them back again. By comparing my work with the original, I found many faults, but in certain particulars thought I had im proved, and this encouraged me to think that I might be come a tolerable English writer, of which I was wishful." His habits of study were greatly improved by his habits of temperance, and these were the easy and natural result of what he bad learned under the root of his excellent father. Concerning the domestic management of his father, lie says: " He was fond of having at his table, as often as possible, some friends or well-informed neighbours, capable of rational conversation, and he was always careful to introduce useful or ingenious topics of discourse, which might tend to form the minds of his children. By this means he early attracted our attention to what was just, prudent, and beneficial in the conduct of life. He never talked of the meats which ap peared upon the table, never discussed whether they were well or ill-dressed, of a good or bad flavour, high-seasoned or otherwise, preferable or inferior to this or that dish of a similar kind. Thus, accustomed, from my infancy, to the utmost inattention as to these objects, I have been perfectly regardless of what kind of food was before me; and I pay so little attention to it even now, that it would be a hard matter for me to recollect, a few hours after I had dined, of what my dinner had consisted." _ . . That seems a small thing, but, in my opinion, it is a very great thing for every young man. Indeed, he adds— " When travelling, I have particularly experienced the ad vantage of this habit; for it has often happened to me to be in company with persons who, having a more delicate, be cause a more exercised taste, have suffered in many cases considerable inconvenience ; while, as to myself, I have had nothing to desire." Benjamin could not agree with his brother James. They had several altercations. The result was, that he left his service, and that he could not get employment as a printer in Boston. He went to seek employment at New York. There he was disappointed, but being recommended by an ac quaintance to a printer in Philadelphia, he proceeded to that city. His journey both by land and by water was full of distress of a trifling, but, to a lad in his circumstances, of a most disheartening character. The description he gives of his situation on his arrival at Philadelphia is pitiable in the extreme. However, he got into a printing office, and his su perior knowledge and industry, even at that early age, soon told upon his master, and on the customers who em- ployed him. The boy was taken notice of. Sir William Keith, at that time governor of the province, in the exercise of the most barbarous vanity, professed a patronising re gard for the lad, and actually induced him, under false pro mises of a set of types and other materials for the trade, to take a voyage to England. Franklin came to England, and, in his nineteenth year, he found himself in London, with a very slender purse, with a pennyless friend who was a bur den to him, and the supposed letters of credtt from Keith nothing more than a heartless joke. He exclaims— " What are we to think of a governor playing such a piti less trick, and thus grossly deceive a poor young lad wholly destitute of experience ? It was a habit he had acquired. He wished to please everybody, and, having little to give, be gave expectatiops.". (Laughier.) Yet, in the midst of all this, he nobly does justice to the governor in other respects— " He was in other respects sensible and judicious, a very tolerable writer, and a good governor for the people; though not so for the proprietors, whose instructions he frequently disregarded. Many of our best laws were his work, and established during his administration." Frauklin, however, was not to be discouraged ; he got into a printing-office in London. He got among associates who improved his mind, and though he had no power of improv ing much his pecuniary resources, yet he says, that during his stay in London his mental resources were greatly im proved. He. gives this brief account : " I thus passed about eighteen months in London Working almost without intermission at my trade, avoiding all expense on my own account, except going now and then to the play, and purchasing a few books, But my friend Ralph kept me poor. He owed me about twenty-seven pounds, which was 'so much money lost ; and when considered as taken from my little savings, was a very great sum. I had, notwith standing this, a regard for him, as he possessed many aimable Qualities. But though I had done nothing for myself in point of fortune, I had increased my stock of knowledge, either by the many excellent books I had read, or the con versation of learned and literary persons with whom I was acquainted." It was during this period of his history, that he wrought upon the little press which is here, which has excited so much curiosity, and which is, at this day, looked upon with so much interest through the medium of the subsequent celebrity of the man who toiled over it for his daily bread. This is the link that connects the name and history of Frank lin with the Printers' Pension Society—a society, permit me to say, at this stage, well deserving thanks at your hands, I should say our grateful support ; for let me ask you to what class of the community are we so much indebted instru mentally for our best, our purest enjoyments, and for our highest improvement, personal, relative, national, political, religious ? (Hear.) To what class of the community are we so indebted, instrumentally, as to the printers ? True it is in deed that the human mind, and not the printer's press, origi nates the treasures ; but then it is from the printers, as from the rock of old in the wilderness, that the stream of know ledge flows forth to the mighty host. It is painful to think that in further resemblance to the rock, he who trans mits the sweet soft waters to so many, should himself con tinue dry and hard; that the compositor, upon the result of whose nightly toil thousands daily luxuriate, should, in the premature decrepitude occasioned by his unwholesome toil, be dismissed not only by his employer, who, of course, can not be expected to retain him when he must employ others, but be dismissed by the public without a pang, nay, without a thought. (Hear, hear.) It was to meet this case—it was to animate the public to sympathise with those sufferers, and to support these unobtrusive benefactors that the Printers Pen sion Society was first established—established in London, and I believe a branch of it is now established in Liverpool. 1 am not acquainted in detail with the internal management of it, but suppose it to be managed judiciously, as well as honestly.. 1 would cordially commend it to your grateful and universal support. (Hear, bear.) Franklin returned to Philadelphia in the service of a mercantile gentleman, and in the supposition that he had then done with the life of a printer for ever, but again he was disappointed. Again we find him in the elasticity of his indomitable perseverance, seeking for employment from his old master. He found it, and he was very soon the factotum of the establishment. One of his old master's apprentices, a man called Meredith, had some property, and when his apprenticeship was out he proposed to Franklin that they should enter into partnership, and set up a printing establish ment for themselves. It was considered a hazardous experi ment ; for there were already two printers' shops in Phila delphia, and many thought it was impossible for it third to succeed. Franklin thought otherwise: he entered into partnership with Meredith, and they set to work with a determination which ensured success. Of this part of his history he gives an account, which I very gladly read in his own words, because it connects itself with what I have always thought is the heart's core of the secret of success in every work that depends upon human prudence and human perseverance—and that is early rising. (Hear, hear.) " A friend," he says, " procured us, on the part of the quakers, the printing of forty sheets of their history ; of which the rest was to be done by Keimer. [That was his old master.] Our execution. of this work was by no means masterly, as the price was very low. It was in folio, upon pro patria paper, and in pica letter, with heavy notes in the smallest type. I composed a sheet a-day, and Meredith put it to tie press. It was frequently eleven o'clock at eight, sometimes later, before I had finished my distribution for the next day's task ; for the little things which our friends occasionally sent us kept us back in this work ; but I was so determined to compose a sheet a-day, that one evening, when my form was imposed, and my day's work, as I thought, at an end, an accident having broken this form, and deranged two complete folio pages, I immediately distributed and composed them anew before I went to bed. This unwearied industry, which was perceived by our neighbours, began to acquire us reputation and credit. I learned, among other things, that our new printing-house being the subject of conversation at a club of merchants who met every evening, it was the general opinion that it would fail, there being al ready two printing-houses in the town, Keimer's and Brad- ford's. But Dr. Baird, whom you and I bad occasion to see, many years after, at his native town of St. Andrew's, in Scotland, was of a different opinion, ' The industry of this Franklin,' said he, is superior to anything of the kind 1 ever witnessed. I see him still at work when I return from the club at night, and he is at it again in the morning before his neighbours are out of bed,' This account struck the rest of the assembly, and shortly after, one of its mem bers came to our house, and offered to supply us with arti cles of stationery ; but we wished not as yet to embarrass ourselves with keeping a shop.. It is not for the sake of ap plause that I enter so freely into the particulars of my in dustry, but that such of my descendants as shall read these memoirs may know the use of this virtue, by seeing in the recital of my life the effects it operated in my favour." Encouraged by this last hint of this great man, I will tell you a circumstance that occurred lately in this town. A journey man house painter, who had long entertained infidel senti ments, and was addicted to corresponding bad practises, was employed in his trade upon a house nearly opposite to mine. From his elevated position he saw over my blind into my study, and he observed me at my work. The next morning, at an early hour, he saw the same; this attracted his atten tion, and the third morning he came still earlier, but I was before him. (Cheers.) He ascertained who I was, and he kept watching me over the blind every morning while his job opposite to me lasted. In the meantime, as I learned after wards, he began to reason with himself, saying, " this gen tleman must be in earnest, however, right,or wrong ;"—(hear) and he said, moreover, the result of all this reading and writing so early morning after morning must, I should think, be worth hearing. I will go and hear what he has to say." (Hear, hear.) Accordingly he came to my church. He heard me describe the aching anxieties of the human soul, not to be satisfied with any created thing, but aching still, and longing for repose until it found it in the bosom of the living God. He heard me describe the way in which a God of Holiness can admit a sinner to such repose—the way in which a sinner may enjoy that holy communion. His heart was touched ; the secret cause of his infidelity was detected — it was not a want of evidence in the revelation of God, but a want of willingness in raan to be conformed to the character of God. (Hear; hear.) Before a rising willingness to be holy, all the scepticism of his intellect disappeared; and instead of a sullen infidel, he is, I have reason to hope, a happy, cheerful Christian. (Great applause. _ _ . Franklin was not content with merely performing his duties as a printer. He aimed at more general usefulness; and it was at this period he formed that celebrated club, or junto, as he called it, at Philadelphia, which is thus described by him : " The regulations I drew up obliged every member to pro pose in his turn one or more questions upon some point of morality, politics, or philosophy, which were to be discussed by the society ; and to read, once in three months, an essay of his own composition on whatever subject he pleased. Our debates were under the directions of a president, and were to be dictated only by a sincere desire of truth ; the pleasure of disputing, and the vanity of triumph, having no share in the business ; and in order to prevent undue warmth, every ex pression which implied obstinate adherence to an opinion, and all direct contradiction, were prohibited, under small pecuniary penalties." This exercise prepared Franklin for the next step in his his tory—a step which urged him rapidly into publicity and eminence, and that was the establishmi nt of a newspaper. Just after he began the conducting of the newspaper, an in teresting public question arose upon the subject of paper currency. Franklin distinguished himself on this question, greatly improving his circumstances both in property and reputation. Ordinary men of his origin and habits would have been perfectly content with the condition of reputation and of suc cessful fortune to which he had now attained ; but ordinary men, under his circumstances at the outset, never could have attained it. The same extraordinary impulse of character which had, in despite of many difficulties, brought him so high, urged him onward. He was determined to advance. There was a magnificence about the man's benevolence ; it was mo rally impossible for him to terminate his views with himself. He now aimed at improving all, even the best of his fellow men around him in his own town, and for this purpose he established a public library. The public library he established in Philadelphia had the most' beneficial effects upon the minds of his fellow townsmen. It elevated their taste ;it raised them from the mere drudging routine of business into the purer atmosphere of moral, scientific, and philosophical attainments. Still Franklin not only paved the way, but himself kept foremost upon it. I cannot attempt an enumeration even, much less a com ment upon his various scientific labours ; one point, how ever, is presented to me. All the associations around us conspire to bring it on. The house we are met in, the scene now before me, the platform I occupy—all conspire`to bring to my mind and memory the interesting _lectures and beautiful experiments of Mr. Snow Harris, when the Scientific Society met in this town. (Hear, hear.) His model ship, his conducting wires, his artificial flashes from his little floating clouds filled with electric matter—his whole exhibition, so interesting and delightful—these all now come fresh before me ; and I delight in the opportunity of doing justice to the memory of our American brother, by informing such of this assembly as do not know the fact. that for the discovery of these conductors, for the original appli cation to our houses and ships of that scientific shield against the otherwise destructive fury of bursting clouds in the thun der-gust, mankind are indebted to the philosophical genius of Dr. Franklin. (" Hear, bear," and great cheering.) Why are not conductors generally used ? (Hear, hear.) Why is it that spires without number are to be seen in country and town without conductors ? Is it the expense ? Do men argue that disasters are few, and the expense great? I would appeal to the authorities of Liverpool now present, and I would ask them to compare the expenses of maint lining con ductors for years with the expense they must go to in spring, to repair the two spires that were struck with lightning last summer. (Hear, hear.) J protest I think it a disgrace to a scientific country that after the discoveries which have been made, our spires, and I fear I may say many of our ships, are still without conductors. (Hear, hear.) It was clearly demonstrated by the philosopher to whom I referred, that conductors may be made by breaking rods into pieces, and lapping them over, so as to yield a little to and fro, without ceasing to touch one another ; and thus to adapt themselves to the elasticity of the masts, that they may be placed without in terfering in the slightest degree with the surrounding tackling. Is it possible then, that vessels are allowed to leave our ports without such conductors ? Ido not pretend to be very con versant with such matters, but if so, I do say it would be lawful for the underwriters to charge a higher premium for insuring every vessel that had not conductors at the masts. — ( Hear, hear.) I have said I cannot attempt to enumerate the wonderful works of Franklin, in practical science, or the discoveries that he made—discoveries which astonished the academies of science in Europe, and which well entitled him to the high encomium which Lord Chatham passed upon him in the House of Lords. Franklin was leaning upon the bar of the house when Lord Chatham brought in his plan for an amica ble adjustment of American affairs. Lord Sandwich opposed the plan, and, in a petulant speech, turned towards Franklin and cast some unworthy sneers at him as the secret author of the plan. Lord Chatham, in his reply, repelled with indigna tion the illiberal insinuation that the plan was not his who proposed it : be declared it was entirely his, but at the same time, he said, " if he were the first minister of the crown, he should not have been ashamed to take into the public coun cils, a man so entirely conversant with the affairs of America, a man,"—turning towards Franklin,—" a man, (he said,) whom all Europe respected for his wisdom, and for his knowledge, ranking him with her Boyles and her Newtons — a man who was not only an honour to the British nation, but an honour to human nature." (Great Applause.) It would be extremely gratifying to be able to continue to speak in the same strain of admiration concerning Franklin's philosophy in other and higher departments. But the history of this great man supplies no deviation from the common remark, the great truth, the universal divine truth, that "the world by wisdom knew not God." Upon the contrary, whe ther we contemplate the physical or the moral attributes of the deity, the history of Franklin'supplies but another illus tration of that Athenian worship which was offered to the unknown God. (Hear.) I must quote from a paper of his, written at Philadelphia and afterwards referred to in his life, for the purpose of calling attention to his philosophy, independently of any theological peculiarities. He says : " I believe there is a supreme, most perfect being, author and father of the gods themselves ; for I believe that man is not the most perfect being but one, but rather that there are many degrees of beings superior to him. Also when I stretch my.imagination beyond the planets and fixed stars, and con ceive the field which suns like ours traverse the course of the world around, then this little ball in which we move seems in my imagination to be almost nothing, and myself less than nothing, and of no sort of consequence. When I think this I imagine the vanity that must be in me to suppose that the supremely perfect does regard such a nothing as me. I cannot conceive otherwise than that he, the infinite father, expects no worship from me, but the infinite has created many beings or gods vastly superior to me, who can better understand his perfections than me, and return him a most rational praise. As among men the praises of the ignorant or children are not required by the great and noble, it may be that the gods or the immortal adore him. It is that par ticular wise and good God who is the author of our system that I propose for the object of my praise and adoration." Here, now, "the great supremely perfect," as he calls him, is represented as adopting a plan which characterizes the infirmity of human rulers, who, not being personally omni present, are compelled to employ representatives over dif ferent parts of the rule entrusted to them. He is represented here, as not the Creator of all worlds and systems, but only the Creator, imprimis, of a number of subordinate crea tors, not condescending to require the worship or the praise of such creatures as we are, but infinitely above it. Yet bere he is called "the Infinite . One!" Now, I must ask, where is the philosophy of representing infinity as extending upon the side of what we call greatness, and not extending upon the side of what we call littleness? Surely infinite wisdom perceives, and infinite power upholds, and infinite superintendence directs, the smallest atom that floats in the solar beam as truly and as really as the largest planitary system that revolves round its solar centre. Surely the microscope opens a vista as impenetrable in its deepest re cesses to any finite mind, as any opened by the telescope ! Surely to represent the great Creator as not personally omni present, but away, above, and beyond the displays of his own creation, which he has left to the management of his inferiors, differs little from the Epicurean system of pagan mythology ! But oh, how widely does that differ from the revelation of Him who " guides Arcturus and his sons, bind ing the sweet influences of Pleiades, and loosing the bands of Orion," and at the same time guards the sparrow upon our house tops, and numbers the hairs of our head ' • of Him in whose hand the e a rth is as one drop in a bucket, or the small dust that turns not the balance, whilst his heart of tenderness is touched with a feeling of every the smallest human infirmity ! Dr. Franklin's attempts to attain to an exact morality of living are full of the liveliest interest and most important in struction. His plan is described by himself; he gives here briefly what may be called his practical religious creed : " I never," said he, " was without some religious princi ple ; I never doubted the existence of a Deity—that he made the world and governs it by his providence." You have heard the more detailed view he took of it ; and I should say the paper I have read was written when he was a young man, so young that I should not think it fair to refer to it as a specimen of his philosophy ; but that he refers to it himself at an advanced period of his life, and said he fell back upon the use of it after rejecting the preaching of a Presbyterian minister, whom he names : " I never doubted," he says, " that a most acceptable ser. vice'was to do good to man; that our souls are immortal; that all crimes are punished here or hereafter. These are the essentials of every religion, and being to be found in all religions in our country. I respected them all, though with different degrees of respect, as I found their articles calcu, lated more or less to divide us, and make us unfriendly one to another. About this time I conceived and upheld the ar duous project of arriving at moral perfection, I wished to live without committing any fault at any time, and to con quer all that either inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I thought I knew all that was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other." Here is a candid confession of ignorance from this great man, He did not know why it was that he could not do always the good he wished, and always avoid the evil he wished to shun. It was not for want of zeal, for he was zealous beyond pre cedent in it; but he adds—" I soon found that I had under taken a task of more difficulty than I imagined. While my attention was taken up in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by falling into another. But not deficient of intention, inclination was too strong for reason, and I con cluded at last." Particularly I wish to call your attention to this conclusion .—" I concluded at last," he says, " that a mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipp ing, and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones established before we can have any dependance on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct." I called attention to this reason. I wish you to observe the progress in his state of mind. He found he could not accomplish his moral pur poses, and after being perplexed to know why; he concluded that the speculative conviction was not enough, but that evil habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and esta blished before we can have any dependence upon a steady uniform course of moral conduct. That is, he proposes the breaking off of evil habits, and the acquiring and establish. ing of good ones as a means towards the attainment of a mo ral end. But you will perceive in a moment that these means include the end ; for what has a man done who has broken off all evil habits and acquired and established good ones ? He has, ipso facto, obtained a perfect course of moral odedi ence. Dr. Franklin laid down a plan for himself whereby he endeavoured to succeed in this, and a very interesting plan it is. He says he forms(' a catalogue of the virtues. Tem perance, for example, was one. " I proposed to myself," he says, " for the sake of clearness to write them down with a few words upon each, and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that occurred to me as necessary and desirable ? and annexed to each a short precept which expressed its meaning." The names of the virtues and of the precepts were somewhat as follows : I .—Temperance. Eat not to dulness ; drink not to eleva tion. 2 . — Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation. 3 . — Order. Let all your things have their place. Let each part of your business have its time. 4 . -- Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve. _ 5 .- - Frugality. Bake no - expense but to do good to others or yourself. That is, waste nothing. 6.—lndustry. Lose no time ; be always employed in some thing useful. 7.—Sincerity.' Use no hurtful deceit. S.—Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries. g.—Moderation. Avoid extremes. 10.—Cleanliness. Suffer no uncleanness in body, clothes, or habits. 11.—Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles. 12.—Chastity.. Avoid injnry to your own, or another's peace or happiness. 13.—flumility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates. My intention being to acquire the habit of all those virtues, I judged it yould be well not to distract my attention bytat tenipling the whole of them at once, but to fix at only one at a time, and when I shall be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on till I should have gone through the thirteen. I made a little book, in which I allotted a page to each of these virtues. I ruled this book with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, mark ing each column with the letter of the day. I crossed these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of the line with the letter beginning one of the virtues. In this column I made black marks of every fault respecting that virtue that day." Then follows afac simile of a page of the book ruled for one week. (The reverend gentleman here held up the page, turning it to each side of the house.) This page con tains fourteen black spots. (Hear, hear, hear.) Now, giving Dr. Franklin credit for perfect discernment of him self, so that no fault escaped his notice, and giving him credit for perfect honesty in recording all he observed, so that he was bona fide guilty of only fourteen faults in a week, then comparing him with mankind in general, we have a bright and beauteous specimen of moral excellence. Com paring him with the requirements of one man from another, the requirements made of him by his country, by his friends, by his family, we have an object not only of admiration, but an object of affection. He resembles the young ruler we read of in the Gospel who came to the Lord Jesus Christ, and told of his morality, and concerning whom it is recorded that Jesus loved him. But are these the only relations in which a man stands to his family, his friends, his country, and his fellow creatures? When all these are considered is the subject complete ? Is it reasonably complete for an im mortal, sensitive, intelligent, responsible being ? Surely not. There lacketh one thing—the relation which he bears to his God, and to the moral government of God. The moral go vernment of the Almighty is not confined to man but extends over other who can tell how many other— intelligent beings. It is the government of mind as distinguished from that of matter. The resources of God are infinite. By the attraction of gravitation, the centrifugal impetus, and their sustained balance, be governs the material universe; by the moral law'addresses to the conscience and feelings, the prin- I ciple of moral agents, he gove rn s th e un iverse of mind. The moral law addressed itself' to the two strongest and most comprehensive principles of our moral nature, hope and fear. It addresses hope by promises of lasting rewards made to obedience; and addresses fear by threatenings of tremendous punishment, to be inflicted for disobedience. This, so far, formed a portion of Franklin's creed. He believed that all crimes will be punished, and virtue re warded. The efficacy of the divine law, as a rule or instru ment of government, must be proportioned to the confidence which the subjects of the goverment repose in its promises and threatenings. If the promises be viewed with distrust as to their faithful and exact fulfilment, they will have no power to excite to obedience; in like manner if the threatenings be considered doubtful as to their execution, they will have no power to deter from transgression. Imaginethe first introduc tion of transgression under the divine government; imagine an angel having one single black spot to account for, and all the host, the heavenly host, to see it. The penalties of the moral law, which made no allowance for even one failure, are incurred, and all eves are turned towards the SOVEREIGN. He is put upon his trial before his own creatures, and the result is to prove whether he shall be clear when he is judged. Will he be as good as his word ? Are the threatenings real, or are they only words? If they prove vain ; if the trans gressors remain unpunished, what must be the consequence ? Will not all the intelligent subjects of the government learn to despise the law? Will not, must not, the law lose its power as an instrument of moral rule, and must not anarchy prevail throughout the entire kingdom ? Such must inevita bly be the result if the moral governor allows himself to be actuated by compassion towards transgressors to the sacrifice of undeviating principle, towards the great bulk of his sub jects. In the light of this law, and the relationship which every man occupies towards this government, look back at Frank lin's book. Fourteen black spots, and not a whisper in any of his writings about a remedy ! Not even a speculation as to how such faults could escape punishment, consistently with the unblemished veracity of the law-giver, nay, more, consistently with the real benevolence of the law-giver to wards the countless millions of his intelligent subjects. For, be it observed, that compassion towards any moral creature who has transgressed, such as would relax the efficacy of the law as an instrument of moral government, would bea refine ment of cruelty towards all the moral creatures who had never transgressed. If compassion cannot be shown without relaxing the law, it cannot be shown at all. Hare, I submit, is the ne plus ultra of Deism, the shipwreck, the utter ship wreck, of every human hope based upon the works of the law, unless such works be absolutely universally and perma nently perfect. A public character sustaining an important office of go vernment, a judge, for instance, is not at liberty to act upon his feelings of compassion as a private individual. As a man he may have such feelings, and in his private capacity he may act upon them amiably ; but to do so in his public cha racter, in the execution of his public office as a judge, would be criminal, not amiable; destructive, not benevolent. Even the father of a numerous family is not at liberty to act upon his private personal feeling towards any one of his children without considering the effect produced by such conduct upon the remainder of his family. What then ?—I say it not in harshness—l say it in the penetrated feeling of an affectionate heart towards every man. What can Deism in any of its modifications say ? I see in Dr. Franklin a splen did specimen of it in its best estate ; and I see him, upon his own showing, stained with guilt, and dumb, absolutely dumb, as to any prospect of pardon. (Applause.) The resources of the Almighty are, indeed, infinite and the revelation of those resources in any part, even in that part required by man's necessities, places every created intellect in the position of a little child. The angels desired to look into these things. " Without controversy great is the mys tery of godliness :" " God was manifest in the flesh ~" " seen of angels ;" "in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God ;" " in the full ness of the appointed time the word was made flesh." Thus was constituted our daysman to lay hands upon both ; his hand of infinite Godhead upon the high consistency of heaven, his hand of spotless manhood upon the deep necessities of earth. He achieved the arduous project of moral perfection. The book.of the weeks of his life, from infancy unto death, considered with regard to God as well as man, presents no spot—no, not the minutest speck of failure. Yet he who so lived without transgression, endured the penalty pronounced against the transgressor ! His body en. dured torture under the ruffian violence of man; his soul endured torture and spiritual death under the hands of the great judge, inflicting the righteous penalty of the holy moral law upon the human transgressor! He suffered not for himself, he deserved it not ; he obeyed not for himself ; he required it not ; he suffered as man all the penalties which man incurred as a transgressor of the law, and he rendered as man all the obedience that man was required to render as a subject of divine government. The countless millions of spectators, of intelligent spectators, angelic hosts, through out creation, beheld the astonishing interference upon behalf of man ; and they discovered new depths of manifold wis dom in their God. With wonder, joy, and praise they read that opening bosom of him they loved in the stupend ous work of his manifold wisdom, power, grace, righteous ness, and mercy for fallen man ! Mercy and truth—truth in heaven, and mercy upon earth —are met together! Righteousness and peace—righteous ness in heaven, and peace upon earth—have kissed each other ! Angels behold God maintaining the spotless in tegrity of a legislation over all, and opening the tenderness of a father's bosom towards man ! Fallen man is as an outcast planet beyond the range of the attraction of its system, wandering in space towards the blackness of darkness for ever; the incarnation moral perfection, and vicarious sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, is as a mighty interference from the great centre going forth to seek and to save, showing to th e outcas t wan d erer h ow ev il and bitter a thing it is to be separated from the Great Light, winning the love of that wan d erer by th e con d escens i on o f the love of that interferenc e , and then having entwined the heart of the wanderer around him, returning to the bosom of love he had left, bringing back the wanderer with him, within the hallowed precincts, within the happy harmony of its ori ginal holy sphere ! The atonement is made, that God may approach men (2onsistently with his own government ; and the atonement is preached that men, believing it, may re. turn to the holy God whom they once loved. This is our view of Almighty God dealing with the black spots. If we sin, if we strive as Franklin strove with that high morality, as strive we ought, and if we find as Franklin found, that inclination is stronger than reason, that tempta tion takes advantage of inattention, and if any man be obliged to place a black mark upon his book, as who is not— Franklin placed fourteen in the week, and he has left us a specimen—" If any man sin"—(alas, we read nothing in this man's writings of an advocate with the Father')—but "if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins." The editor of Franklin's Memoirs says of him, that " in every character, whether as a private individual or as a public deplomatist — w hether as a p hil osop h er or a c i t i zen, he con stantly provedin his long and eventful career that his whole aim was to promote, as far as in him lay, the happiness of all mankind." This is true. He rises no higher than this ; and those who think that this is high enough, who think that it is perfection in man to aim at the happiness —the present happiness—of their fellow men, with disinterested benevolence, without a thought, without an aim, without a desire about the eternal happiness of man, or the glory of the living God—to those who set up such a standard Franklin is all but perfection. Invested with wonderful natural powers, drilled, cultivated moralised, with almost superhuman perseverance—alas‘! must we stop here? We must stop here. The Christian student stimulated in his lower walk of moral virtue, by the strenuous example of such a writer as this, drops the book at last with a sigh—" Oh, that we had one authentic chapter more, wherein we might walk with God as friends !" Concerning Dr. Frankin's political principles I shall say nothing—l cannot agree with them, and Ido not anticipate any benefit from a passing expression of disagreement. Concerning his political history, I will merely record the application of a passage of Scripture, which he says his father frequently applied, and which he has very feelingly applied to himself, when he found himself the Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States at the court of France, and honoured with the domestic intercourse of the palace—when he found himself also enrolled as a member of the various scientific societies in France, in Italy, and in R uss i a, h e reeor d s, and was struck with it, his father's saying, that saying of Solomon ;—," Seest thou a man diligent in his business; he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men." And now, I might briefly draw tow ar d s a c l ose. I m i g h t avail myself of the circumstance already alluded to, that the interests of the Printers' Pension Society have been secured beforehand, and a collection, such as is not often made, al ready made in their behalf, so that I am relieved from the necessity of any further present appeal for them. I might now advance to tell you of the death of Franklin ; I might tell von of his epitaph, which he wrote for himself,—and in which I delight to trace a degree of dependence upon the au thority of revelation beyond what appears in any part of his systematic writings. In this epitaph he anticipates the re surrection of the body, one of the truths brought to light by the gospel alone, for however it may be darkly guessed at by the analogies of nature, it was never brought fully to light but by the gospel. The immortality of the soul seems to have been known even by those who knew nothing of the gospel ; not so the resurrection of the body. Franklin's epi taph is, therefore, pleasant, though quaint:— THE BODY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, PRINTER, (LIRE THE COVER OF AN OLD BOOR, ITS CONTENTS TORN OCT, AND STRUT OF ITS LETTERING AND GILDING) LIES HERE FOOD FOR WORMS ; YET THE WORK ITSELF SHALL Nor BE LOST, FOR IT WILL (AS HE BELIEVED) APPEAR ONCE MORE IN A NEW AND MORE BEAUTIFUL EDITION, CORRECTED AND AMENDED BY THE AUTHOR. He enjoyed wonderful health througha long life, which he naturally attributed to his exemplary habits of temperance ; but in the beginning of April, 1790, he was attacked with a fever and a c omplaint of his chest, whi c h term i nate d his existence. An interesting account is given of his death by his friend and physician, Dr. Jones. He died on the 17th of April, 1790, aged eighty•four years and th ree mon ths. I said I might with this conclude, b ut I cannot d o so with out adverting to one topic more. The last public act of Dr.. Franklin was the presentation of a memori a l t o the House of Representatives of the United States, calling upon them to make use of the full extent of the powers witk which they were invested by the constitution, to put an end to slavery. In this I would join heart and hand. (Loud cheers.) In this I would invite all who hear me to join. (Hear, hear.) Upon this subject I would venture in all fidelity and affection, to address the American gentlemen by whom, I have the honour to be surrounded, and say "Where gentlemen, amidst the many admirers of Dr. Franklin, where are his bold and faithful imitators? How long, how long, shall the boast of liberty in the west be checked and silenced, by pointing at the blood-stained whip, and the iron fetter? (Cheers.) I say this more in sorrow than in anger. I remember Well how long the mother country continued the disgraceful, the degenerating system : I remember how long the vested rights of some were pleaded against the natural rights of others, and I cannot wonder that such an example should be long followed; but I would say, let it be the bright and blessed privilege of America, speedily to follow the example of England's practical repentance for her long continued guilt. (Cheers.) She respected vested rights: having given them her sanction she could not withdraw from them her support. She could not tarnish the justice of her conduct towards one class by an admixture of injustice towards another; (cheers,) hut she decreed that those vested rights should no longer be maintained at the expence of human liberty and human blood. (Cheers.) By millions of her own treasures she purchased the glorious privilege of righteously tearing up the charter of the slave holder, of righteously snatching the whip out of the drivers' and overseers' hands and casting it into the fire, a glorious sacrifice. (Loud cheers.) In her earlier struggles concerning the trade in man, I remember Mr. Wilberforce one evening in the House of Commons. The morning papers of the day contained an account of a French ship overhawled wherein negroes were found inhumanly packed between decks. There was no motion before the house, but the members present, and the speaker himself, were so entranced by the negroes' friend, that though he was out of order he met no interruption. The touching tenderness of his voice and manner, the high chivalry of his sentiments, the elevating refinement of his Christian principle, and the known devotedness of his life— all served to give additional power to his thrilling appeals to our common feelings of humanity. Suddenly he stopped ; and after a pause, as breathless to his auditors as to himself, he said, " Sir, I am not speaking to you • Sir, I am not speaking to this house; Sir, I am not speaking to this country; Sir, I am speaking if I can bring a blush up on th e b row o f France." (Chers.) Gentlemen, I say, can Carolina blush? Ought not the face of Virginia and the face of Georgia be suffused with shame ? (Cheers.) Oh, America! our daugh ter. sister, friend, in arts, in commerce, in agriculture, bound to us by a thousand ties of affection, of interest, of duty— ties which no time can relax, which I trust no faction, no treason, no hasty pride, no unadvised misunderstanding shall ever be able to separate. Oh, speed, speed, the glorious con summation, and become our sister, our friend, our d aug h ter , indeed, in the substantial, practical, universal freedom of all thy citizens, of every name, of every race, of every colour, and of every clime! (Tremendous cheers.) Be not content, I would say, until you can respond to the appeal of him you call your immortal Franklin, until you can say with truth and with rapture, " Slavery is no more !" Cheers.) Oh, most degrading of all ills that wait On man, a mourner at his best estate ! All other sorrows virtue can endure, And find in meek submission half a cure. But slavery !—virtue dreads it as her grave— Patience itself is meanness in a slave. But if the will and sovereignty of God Bid suffer for a while, and kiss the rod ; Then wait the dawning of a brighter day, And snap the chain the moment that you may. Nature imprints on everything we see, That has a heart and life in it, BE FREE ! The reverend gentleman concluded the l ec t u r e a t twenty minutes to ten o clock, amid the most enthusiastic demon strations of applause. The delivery of it occupied two hours. Mr. M'NEILE immediately after walked to the front of the stage, and called the attention of the meeting to the progress of the art of printing in Boston. He then exhibited a speci men of what the newspapers used to be in that place in the days of Franklin, and also a number of the Boston Notion, of the date of July, 15 1841. The immense size of the latter, when put alongside the former, created considerable amuse ment. PHILIP SCHUYLER, Esq., the Amarican consul, proposed a vote of thanks to the Rev. Mr. M'Neile, for the able, in teresting, and intelligent address he had just delivered, and that a copy of this resolution be advertised. Mr. J. B. MURRAY seconded the motion, which was car ried by acclamation. Mr. J. B. MURRAY moved that Mr. M'Neile be requested to publish the lecture just delivered in the form of a pam phlet; the proceeds from the sale of which, both in this country and in the United States, to be applied to the benefit of the Printers' Pension Society of London. Mr. SCHUYLER having seconded the motion, it was car ried unanimously. The Rev. FIELDING OULD said he rose to propose a vote of thanks to Mr. Murray for the diligence, activity, and zeal he had manifested in making the necessary arrangements for the lecture. lie ventured to hope that there would not be a second opinion in that great assembly for the justice of the tribute to him, when it was recollected that to him they were mainly indebted for the transcendent treat they had enjoyed in listening to the lecture which had been just delivered. (Applause.) Mr. CHRISTOPHER BUSHELL had been requested to se cond the resolution, and he did so with high gratification, because the gentleman they were called upon to thank had been the means of giving to them the brilliant production which they had just heard from Mr. M`Neile. He felt per fectly persuaded when he heard that the reverend gentleman was about to lecture upon this subject that he would not only make it be ne fi c i a l t o Ch r i st i an lib erty, b ut also to Christian truth. (Applause.) The motion was unanimously carried. Mr. MURRAY, in reply, said it was his desire and it was his intention to have kept himself from public notice with reference to this meeting; and it was only at the request of the reverend gentleman, whom all were delighted to hear, that he had consented even to his name being mentioned.— But he had a motive in doing this ; he had a motive in con senting, which did not only regard himself as a man, but also as an American citizen. He wanted to prove to the English public that an American " born in the eagle's nest," and crowned with " the star-spangled banner," could feel for the poor and wretched, the houseless, the widow, and the orphan, whether they were across the broad Atlantic, there pining a miserable existence, or away in some remote a n d unknown spot in England.' (H ear .) It was a mistaken feeling to say that they looked upon England with jealousy and unkindness. They knew and felt that she was their mother—(cheers)—that they were his brothers and sisters; and if there was one brighter star among the twenty-six, it was that which, upon the birth of America, rose in the hori zon of the east. It had been said that he had other motives for requesting the reverend gentleman to deliver this lecture. His motives were these, and at his request he repeated them. They saw there the relic of his immortal countryman—a man whose birth one could trace, but to use the sentiments of the immortal Irving, whose death one could not trace, because immortality never died. Mr. Murray then repeated the mode in which the Franklin press had come into his posses sion, and stated that it would shortly be deposited in the Philosophical Institute at Philadelphia. Having expressed his gratitude to Mr. Crisp and Mr. Mitchell for their valua ble assistance in preparing the arrangements, he announced that £2O had been received from the exhibition of the press in the Medical Institution, and that the proceeds of the lec ture amounted to very near £250, a statement which elicited loud cheers. Cheers were then given for the Mayor and Mr. M'Neile, and the meeting separated shortly before ten o'clock. The Mayor has since sent a donation of £5 for the Printers' Pension Society. eat 311, 'he to THE REV rig he est ed Rev. Mr. Whitfield HUGH M'NEILE'S LECTURE ON THE LIFE OF DR. FRANKLIN On Wednesday evening the Rev. Hugh IVl`Neile de livered a lecture in the Royal Amphitheatre, Great Charlotte -street, on "The Life . and Character of Dr. Franklin," in behalf of the Printers' Pension Society in London. The circumstances under which the re verend gentleman consented to lecture upon a subject at once so novel and interesting are explained in the course of the report. Too much credit cannot he given to him for the promptitude with which he acceded to the request made to him to appear before the public upon such a topic. The announcement of the lecture, as soon as it ap peared, caused great excitement, and the demand for tickets soon became universal. In fact, had the place been able to accommodate double the number, all the tickets would have been disposed of. At seven o'clock, half an hour after the opening of the doors, the house was densely filled in every part with a highly respectable auditory, including a considerable number of American gentlemen. The stage was appropriately and tastefully decorated with the national flags of England and America. Over the proscenium, on the right, was appended a large British ensign, and on the left the American—the two conjoined in the centre. Other colours, including the British Union Jack, the American flag, and broad pendants of both countries, were also displayed at the back and from the side scenes. The stage was enclosed and carpeted, and a number of reserved seats thereon were appropriated to a limited and select number of ladies and gentlemen. Each box was in charge of one gentleman, who was distin guished by a white' badge, and who rendered every facility which lay in their power in providing the public with seats. The equestrian circle was made to form part of the pit, and was well furnished with seats. The galleries were entirely thrown open, and formed one immense semi-circle, including all the seats above the boxes. No person was admitted to the lecture without a ticket under any pretence whatever, and a body of police was present for the double purpose of enforcing the regulations of the committee, and of affording every possible comfort to the audience. The identical printing press at which' Dr. Franklin worked in London as a journeyman in the year 1725-6 (which for the last three weeks has been gratuitously exhibited to the public by John B. Murray, Esq., of New . York, prior to its being taken to America, and deposited with the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia,) was placed upon the right of the stage, and excited general attention. It was worked for some time before the lecture commenced under the superindendence of Mitchell, Heaton, and Mitchell, of Duke-street, and im pressions of a verbatim copy of a letter written by Dr. Franklin to the Rev. George Whitfield, copied by the afore said Mr. Murray from the original which is in the extensive and valuable collection of autographs belonging to the Rev. Dr. Raffles, were supplied to the audience. The copy was taken on the table which once belonged to Lord Byron, and accompanied him in his travels, (being made to fold up and lie in the imperial of his travelling carriage;) and on which there is every reason to believe he wrote the poem of " Childe Harold." The table is now the property of Dr. Raffles. The following is a copy_ of the letter referred to : ". New York, July 2, 1756 _ " Dear Sir,—l received your favour of the 24 th of February with great Pleasure, as it inform 'd me of your Welfare, and express'd your continu'd Regard for me. I thank you for the Pamphlet you enclos'd to me. As we had just observ'd a Provincial Fast on the same Occasion, I thought it very seasonable to be publish'd in Pensilvania, and accordingly reprinted it immediately. " You mention your frequent Wish that you were a Chap lain to an American Army. I sometimes wish that you and I were jointly employed by the Crown, to settle a Colony on the Ohio. I imagine we could do it effectually, & without putting the Nation to much Expence. But I fear we shall never be called upon for such a Service. What a glorious thing it would be, to settle in that fine Country a large Strong Body of Religious and Industrious People ! What a security to the other Colonies; and Advantage to Britain, by Increasing her People, Territory, Strength and Commerce. :Might it not greatly facilitate the Introduction of pure Reli gion among the Heathen, if we could by such a Colony shew them a better Sample of Christians than they commonly see in our Indian Traders, the most vicious and abandoned Wretches of our nation? Life, like a dramatic Piece, should not only be conducted with Regularity, but, methinks, it should finish handsomely. Being now in the last Act. I begin to cast about for something fit to end with. Or if mine be more properly compared to an Epigram, as some of its first Lines are but barely tolerable, 1 am very desirous of concluding w!th a bright Point.—ln such an Enterprize I could spend the remainder of Life with Plea sure; and I firmly believe God would bless us with success, if we undertook it with a sincere Regard to his Honour, the service of our gracious King, and (which is the same thing) the Public Good. " I thank you cordially for your generous Benefaction to the German Schools. They go on pretty well, and will do better, when Mr. Smith, who has at present the principal Care of them, shall learn to mind Party-Writing & Party Politicks less, and his proper Business more ; which I hope Time will bring about. " I thank you for your good Wishes and Prayers, and am, with the greatest Esteem and Affection, Dear Sir, "Your most obedient humble Servant, " B. FRANKLIN." John Shaw Leigh, Esq., Mayor of Liverpool, accompanied by James Aspinall, Esq., Christopher Bushell, Esq., and many other members of the corporation, took his seat on the platform, about a quarter past seven, amidst general and protracted cheering. There were also present near the mayor, John Moss, Esq., Samuel Sandbach, Esq., the Rev. F. Parry, the Rev. F. Ould, the Rev. D. James, &c., &c. The rev. lecturer on taking his seat was greeted with many rounds of applause. Exactly at half-past seven he rose and delivered the following THE WEST INDIA MAIL STATION Amongst the most important sins of omission attributable to the Council of Liverpool, under whig domination, we can not but regard the want of energy which it has manifested in not pressing more urgently upon government the claims of our port to be selected as the point for the despatch of the West India mail. Deeply interested as are the people of Li verpool in West India property and in West India trade ; deeply interested, in fact, as is the whole of the north of England, and the manufacturing districts especially, in the selection of Liverpool as the West India mail station : possessing as we do the advantages of central position, as regards alike England, Ireland, and Scotland, and furnished with railway and steam communications with all the principal seats of commerce in the empire is abundantly sur prising that, before a committee, appointed to investigate and decide upon so important a subject as the locality of this station, the claims of our port should hare been advocated with an energy so little commensurate with the magnitude of the object to be attained, if it may not even be said to have been overlooked altogether. We have already, by the excellent management of the North American line of mail steamers, the fact established that in a nautical view no port can be preferable to Liverpool for the purposes required by government and the commerce of the empire ; and we are confident that were the selection of a port left to nautical men, or to the owners of the packets themselves, no other port than Liverpool could be selected. No other port concentrates so great a portion of the freight that would pass to and from the West Indies, or so great a portion of the mercantile correspondence; and although, perhaps for the government and the south of England correspondence, a few hours, in tinie, might be saved by the selection of one of the southern ports contem plated, and principally insisted upon, as eligible, before the committee, yet we are satisfied that a perusal of its Report and of the Evidence taken before it, will satisfy any impartial mind that the claims of Liverpool need only to have been prominently placed before it, and backed by the exertion of such influence as the corporation could have commanded, to have been at once, and fully established. That such is the case we purpose briefly to show from documents, furnished to the committee by Mr. Srow, a superintendent of the mail coach department in the General Post-office; and before proceeding to do this we may re mark, that the whole of the evidence of this gentleman, (whose authority must be deemed unquestionable,) has evi dently a bearing towards the adoption of Liverpool as the port, possessing the greatest amount of facilities, to the Post-office establishment itself, and to the whole empire. " Whether the mail is established by a short land carriage or a long land carriage," remarks this gentleman, " is a matter of indifference to the Post-office." And again, although he admits that " he is not prepared to say that LIVERPOOL is the best port for the whole empire," he adds that " taking Glasgow, on the one hand, and Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, with the Railway communication, now all the way to Hull and Newcastle, and Dublin and Belfast on the other, there is no question that letters from the north would reach LIVERPOOL quicker than any other town, but whether it is the best port for the packets, I am not prepared to state ; it appears to me to be a nautical question." In de livering this opinion, it must be borne in mind that the ex amination to which lie was subjected, was aimed to establish the claims of one or other of the southern ports ; for, al though one of the members for Liverpool—Mr. Cresswell— was upon the committee, it is notorious that his hands were never efficiently strengthened, and the claims of Liverpool prominently put forward by the council, which ought to have taken the initiative in a question so important to the inter ests of the town. The following is a Statement of the: Time that would be re quired for the Conveyance of the West India Mails from London to the following Ports. a. st To Falmouth via Devonport ... 25 0 Ditto via Launceston Dartmouth . Plymouth • l6 15 Southampton Portsmouth Bristol, railroad the whole distance. Liverpool, ditto Waterford 3 5 10 0 36 0 By this it will be seen, that so far as London and the go vernment are concerned, only three ports, viz., Southamp ton, Portsmouth, and Bristol, and these by but a few hours, are more favourable than our own. Whether the interests of London and the south of England are alone to be con sulted upon a national commercial question, we leave our readers to determine. By another statement, however, which we give below, the advantages offered by Liverpool to the bulk of our correspondence with the West Indies, viz., that from the manufacturing districts of the north of Eng_ land—(and it must be borne in mind that wills respect to freight, the bulk of the exports likely to be sent by steamers will consist of valuable manufactured articles from Man chester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Nottingham, &c., for which Liverpool is decidedly a more natural port than any we have named) will be still more apparent. Statement of the Time that would be required for the con veyance of the West India Mails from Glasgow, Liverpool. Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham, to the following Ports. From From From From 1 : rom Liver- Mauches- Leeds. Birmingham. Glasgow • pool. ter. H. M. H. M. H. M. 31 20 34 45 26 35 26 30 26 55 18 45 26 45 27 10 19 0 33 40 34 5 25 56 36 30 36 55 28 46 14 30 14 55 6 43 1 15 10 40 4 15 28 15 3 7 10 31 15 M. H. M Falmouth. 53 50 Dartmouth 46 0 Plymouth. 46 15 26 45 Southampton 53 10 - 33 40 Portsmouth Bristol 34 0 14 30 Liverpool Waterford 34 20 26 30 To a comparison of the facilities shown by these state ments, we solicit the earnest attention of our readers. Bearing in mind, that for the commerce of London only three ports offer a saving of time over that of Liverpool, it will be seen that from the manufacturing districts of the north and midland counties of England, Liverpool is shorter in dis tance than any; whilst from London itself it is (although not shown in the statements) shorter than any, with the ex ception only of Southampton and Bristol. That with such a case in their hands the corporation of Liverpool should have failed to insist, in the strongest terms, upon the claim of this port to be the station for these mails, The appointment of the committee is to us inconceivable. itself, and its objects, were not " things done in a corner." The claims of Bristol, Falmouth, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Southampton and other ports, had long, and openly, and eagerly been put forward ; and surely those of Liverpool, deeply interested as are her merchants in the decision of the question, ought to have been asserted with far more force and energy than they have hitherto been—thanks to the supine ness of those eminent local patriots who for the last six years have lay like an incubus upon the energies of the town I At present we trust we have said enough to direct the at tention of our fellow townsmen to the important object to be achieved ; and that a Conservative council will not imitate the " ladles" of its Whig predecessors. The nautical point of the question, not touched upon in that portion of the evi dence which has so far come under our observation, is still to be considered; and believing that in advantages of a purely nautical nature, our port possesses facilities superior to any other—a belief which is shared by many eminently compe tent authorities—we shall in a future publication bring that point before the attention of our fellow townsmen and the public PARTIAL ECLIPSE OF A LOCAL PLANET.--.l3Rt one short week ago it was our melancholy duty to record the extinction of eight shining lights which had hereto fore irradiated within the Council-chamber of our borough ; and now we have the painful task of noticing the partial eclipse of another most resplendent luminary. Eight Radi cal Aldermen have gone down to " the tomb of all the Co pulas ;" and now, alas ! a shade has come over the face of one, which we fervently hoped would shin e for ever— " quasi Luna inter minores"—a comet amongst a galaxy of farthing rushlights—or, at the best, of very common and offensive dips. A " darkness visible" is stealing over him, and already obscures half his lights ; and should the levelling, hand which has thus placed that half in mourning, close up the other—should the whole resplendent face be hung o'er by that gloomy dripery—a suit of sables—how bitterly will the world exclaim, in the pathetic language of Sampson Agonistes, " Total Eclipse ! no Sun ! no Moon !" No alderman of Abercrornby ward ! No nothing—save what is flat. stale, and unprofitable," common and vulgar, witless and unexciting in the council! We trust, however, that such calamity is as yet far off. There are healing powers in me dicine, and as " parmeceti's the sovereignest thing on earth for an inward bruke," why should not its virtues be equally potent when applied to the outer man ? The dark ness., we hope, is only like that of a November fog—danger ovs—leading men to run against lamp-posts, or to come in contact with the poles of cabs and other equally hard sub stances ; and, like a November fog, will pass away, leaving the optics once more clear and beautifully resplendent. ANCASTER.—The inhabitants of this once celebrated place (an importent Roman station) were surprised a few days ago by a carpenter announcing that he had, whilst digging a hole fsr a gate-post at the south side of the town, found several hundred pieces of ancient coin ; on being examined it ap peared they were chiefly of the date of Constantine; being found in a sandy soil they were for the most part very per fect. There was no appearance of an urn. A quantity of the coins are now in the possession of Mr. Eaton, surgeon, of Ancas:er.—Boston Herald. It is a curious fact, and, though a trifle, worth notice, that the tailors and robemakers of Dublin have not been able to supply the demand for court dresses and professional costumes to be worn at the approaching levee. Many ad ditional hands have been employed in London, and large consignments of those articles have been shipped for this city.—Dublin Evening Mail. The venerable Archdeacon Musgrave has presebted the Rev. A. Brown, of Queen's College, to the perpetual curacy of Cross Stone, in the county of York. Our port now presents a more bustling scene than has been remembered for many months. The arrivals, as our ship ping lists show, during the last fortnight have been very ex tensive, and a number of vessels are now unable to obtain dock room. No less than 12 vessels have arrived from France during the last day or two. We may add that the general trade of the city has been gradually improving for some time, and we heartily hope and believe there is a much better prospect before all classes of our fellow citizens than existed at the commencement of last winter.—Gloucester shire Chronicle. WEST INDIA COAL.—The coal raised from the mine dis covered about a year ago, about six miles from Havana, has been tried by the Spanish steam frigates, and pronounced by the engineers to be excellent in quality—superior to the hest English. Analysis shows the coal to consist of the following parts :—Carbon, 71,74 ; oxygen, 6,32 ; hydrogen, 8,44 ; ashes, 13,50-100,00. The railroad from the port to the mine is in rapid progress toward completion. As the bed is 'believed to be very extensive, the enterprising proprietors anticipate handsome profits on their outlay whenever the West India steamers shall regularly call at Havana for a supply of fuel. KESHEN'S PROPERTY.—The following is an account of the property of Keshen, seized by order of the Imperial Go vernment:--Gold, 270,000 taels weight; sycee silver, 3,-100,000 taels weight; foreign money, 2,009,000 taels weight ; land cultivated, 39 king. A king contains 100 mow, or Chinese acres, equal to about one-third of an English acre ; four pawn-shops in the province of Pechele ; two ditto Shingking or Moukden ; 81 banking (or shroff) shops ; 94 large pearls; 1-1 strings of pearls ; eiLlit pearl lamps ; 34 arrow thiunbrings, ma d e o f t h e leathers of the feitsuy bird; 18 pieces of coral ; 24 catties of genseng •, 25 catties of deer's horns; 420 lengths of silk ; 30 pieces of broadcloth and Eng lish can:Ads ; 18 striking clocks ; 10 gold watches ; 21 fur garments; two images of horses, made of precious stones; 28 crystal washhand basins ; one tortoiseshell bed-stand ; four chariots ; 168 female slaves. CONSTANTINOPLE. Ocr. 20.—A few days ago, a Greek merchant, named Kessanli, who was known to be in diffi culties, suddenly disappeared, after changing at a banking house in Galata certain new treasury notes, which proved to be forged. The government was so alarmed at this forged paper (which, being lithographed, may exist to any extent) that it sent off a steamer in pursuit of Kessanli, who is sup vsed to have taken the direction of Smyrna. His debts here to the merchants are said to amount to a million of piasters, or near £lO,OOO. Since then, a Jewish merchant, named Simon Levi, has also stoped payment for £8,000; and it is feared more disasters of the same nature will follow. The latter affects in some degree English houses. Trade is ex ceedingly dull throughout the country. Luckily the shipping interests appear to ho doing better than was anticipated, in consequence of the employment at Odessa afforded by the corn business, A dreadful fire broke out at Varna, on the lath instant, which consumed the custom-house and nearly all the mercantile part of the town, along with the depot of coals of the Danube Steam Company. - The Cyclops steamer started fur Malta on the 13th, and the only British ship of war now here is the Talbot, in station in the Bosphorus. We have intelligence from Tabreez to the 14th September. Our embassy had reached that place, and had been everywhere received in the most distinguished manner. It was set out for Teheran immediately, and after its arrival there we shall see what success Sir John Nl`Neil meets with in his diplomacy. THE RIVER IRK.—An old writer, in enumerating the rivers of this county, says,—" In Lancashire, another river called the Irk, is noted for eels, reckoned the fattest in Eng land, and too luscious for common digestion ; which is as cribed to the grease and oils from the woollen cloths milled in it." AN OBJECTION UPSET. — WhiIe some beautifully-made wheelbarrows were placed before the Prince Royal, one of the Persian noblemen (who always affected to despise Euro pean improvements) said,—" This is all very well, but it will consume a considerable time to empty these wheelbarrows." Sir James Sutherland said to him—" Indeed, sir, it will not ; and if you will only get into the wheelbarrow I will show you it will not. The prince insisted on making the experiment. Sir James trundled him away at a quick rate ; and approaching a muddy part of the square, lie gave the wheelbarrow a cant, and to the great entertainment of the prince and spectators, turned the Persian khan into the mud. —Bridge's Mission to Persia. THE PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC POPULATION OF PRUSSIA.—In Prussia, according to the latest census, it ap pears that there a r e a b ou t e i g h t P rotestants to f i ve Cat h o li cs , while all the other sects compose but one seventieth of the whole population. In Berlin there are more Jews than in any other town, viz., 5,645 ; and in Potsdam 2,576. THE COLONEL LAYS IT THICK ON BROTHER JONA THAN.—" 1 again repeat, and you must bear with the repe tition, that a more agreea bl e , c h arm i ng , communicative people I have neve r me t w ith t h an t h e Americans. Don't look for French grimace or kissing Italians ; but have a little patience with them, be civil and undandified, and you soon find yourself well received and comfortable. I grant there is a little huski ness a b ou t th e i r first manner; but that we ars off, and gives place to friendly co mmunication and good fel lowship. Also, I w ill ag a in re-echo the assertion that I have never seen a beggar nor a drunken man ; and I have ne ver beheld a rude or forward action. The words ' stranger' and ' British officer' act as magic, and are a paste par tout." TRAVELLING IN AMERICA.—And here let me say a fe w words for American travelling. Every thing is arranged lik e clock-work : you start to a minute, and you arrive exactly at the time named. Your baggage is transferred, without trouble and without risk, from one train , to anoth er ; p orters and servants working for you with civil and ki n d aspects and without expectation of fee or rew ar d ! Waiters at inns wait ing u pon you assiduously and serv i ng you faithfully—no half crowns'or half-sovereigns looked for in return.' We left that well-regulated house, the Tremont, without one glance agreed from any of its inmates, but many of kindness ; and to get to this place we paid three dollarseach; with no tippiv of discontented cads, no litigation with insolent porters ; and, to wind up all, 1 have now been a wok and a day in the Union, and I hare neither seen a beggar nor a drunkard!" 9 10 I OUR PORTFOLIO.—No. IX There is a very respectable article-in the last number of the Quarterly Review, on Irish affairs and Irish character, written in a generous spirit, on the whole complimentary, and yet just, towards the inhabitants of the green isle. A number of tableaux, descriptive of the national genius, selected from the works of Carleton, the Rev. Caesar Otway, Lady Morgan, and others, are interspersed, and it is evident that the author is pretty well made up for his subject; but if we are looking for something on which the mind may eventu ally rest—some foundation on which to build our hopes of the country's regeneration, or sows, suggestion of means to that end of which we must approve —w e shall find ourselves in no new predicament indeed; for tht.re is nothing new under the sun, but just as we have felt .a thousand times before, after reading dissertations on the questio vexate what is to be done with Ireland ? The reviewer as.- as a conceded point, that there is an idiosv”- tution belonging to the Irish them from the Anglo-Saxon race, attempt in the way of government or improvein,..._ them, should be done with a suitable regard to that circuit. stance. This is quite true, and certainly one of those fea. tures of the country which has not been sufficiently attended to at this side of the channel ; at the same time, so far as • the reviewer is concerned, it is a truth by which he conducts us to no practical result, or to none, at least, which we can subscribe to as being of that character. The genius of the Irish, he says, is clanish—disposed to the authority of a feudal lord, and through their attachment to a Kavanagh or an O'Brien, might be won, through the affections, to an obedience to the laws, and a demeanour in general conformable to the morale of our institutions, which we should strive in vain to bring about by any system of rule which addressed itself merely to the head. The same warmth of temperament gives existence also to the devotional spirit, and has presented a lever to the cunning artificers of the Popedom, which they have worked with a degree of succ , which only does not forbid all hope of remedy. Here we shall allow, are two conditions in the state and - the people eminently deserving of attp,,,:— hich essentially disti whatever Here, then, I genius of who would avail himself of wh a t i s capable Of being usefully directed in their natural character, and avoid the dangerous error of introducing institutions among them uncongenial with it; but we own we think more credit will be due to the ingenious artist who will show us /tow to work a mine placed in so difficult and unmanageable a position, than to the geo logist who merely informs us of its existence. How is Ireland to be feudalised in the present age in order that she may be trained according to natural propensities ? For the last thirty or forty years the cry of all our philoso phers, quoad Hibernian, has been "assimilate, assimilate ;" that is to say, give to Ireland fully, freely, and fairly, the benefit of all your English institutions; put her on a par with yourselves in every respect, and then, all cause of envy being removed, she will become your most loving, tranquil, and obedient sister. And now, after we have done all t h is— after we have taken the philosopher's au pied de la lettres, and obeyed them in all things, does the Quarterly start up and tell us that we have been egregiously in error all through —that the Irish is " feudal ." and that i n or d er to f a ll i n with its inclination s , we should go back to the times of William the Conqueror, and legislate for the country on the principles of the feudal tenure—restore the influence of baronial lords—encourage absentees to erect castles on tbei. estates and fortify them—and, in a word, make Irei happy by rendering her thoroughly barbarous! We c not perceive at what other practical result them aims. That it would be very much for the adv.. of Ireland that her absolute gentry should build houses ~ themselves, where they have them not already, and reside occasionally upon their estates, we make no question at all; the paradox of certain deep economists, that the people are no worse for their non-residence, we were never acute to comprehend. We grant the benefit which Ita . derive from a resident proprietory, and, if there v disturbing influences, the strong atta which an indulgent and benevolent lan. them might command from his tenantr, but the writer referred to certainly omits to . and expeditious process (unless what we hay. for supplying the desideratum. We are thrown . fore, upon the old lament, "absenteeism," and re, nothing so much as of the magnitude of the evil. possessed of an independence are not usually possesse the same times uf . . l ' - , y V— -- ' - " d would hment and devoted _.—e, s, octently ..ne spirit of martyrun.. and dwell in a country which bears the name of not bet perfectly safe, for the sake of doing goc endeavouring to bring them into that col._ render a sojourn among them equally pleasant anu and consequently the preparation of it for this purpose must be brought about either by the general government or by some other means. And this leads us to the other topic ad verted to by the Reviewer, namely, the religious tempera ment of the Irish people. He does not despair, it seems, of their conversion ; but he shadows forth, rather dimly and obscurely, it must be confessed, (as becomes a prophet,) the sort of machinery which ought, and he says, will be here after employed for the purpose. He thinks that the attempt to convert, or perhaps we should say. re -convert the Irish, has not hitherto been made as it should he made, and that although they have been, and are, frequently solicited to leave the church of Rome, the true Catholic church, has not been sufficiently indicated to them. By the true Catholic church the Reviewer means the Church of England. He is, however, mistaken in point of fact. The clergy of the esta blished church of Ireland have not been so very remiss as he supposes. The claims of the Church of England to catho licity have been frequently put before the people; but it may be true that the work of evangelizing the country has not been taken up and prosecuted by the united church, in its corporate capacity, so energetically as it should have been, or to the extent at which the Quarterly darkly hints. On this head W e make no remark. We shall merely say that we shall be delighted to hear of any plan of operations being put in motion that may be likely to hasten the redemption of the Romanist people from the bondage of superstition. Many of the more zealous of the Irish clergy have certainly con tented themselves, as we believe, with simply preaching the gospel, without adverting much to the doctrine of anostolical d to the people, or [Edon which would succession or any traditional supplement to scriptural autho rity ; and very many converts to the church have unques tionably been made by this primitive mode of proceeding, we hope it may not he necessary to suspend it till the time for revealing the Quarterly's grand secret shall arrive. The Quarterly cannot mean that the Puseyites have some float ing notion of making an essay upon Ireland? Doctor Pusey has lately been residing in the country ; he visited mass houses, and witnessed the ceremony of a young lady taking the veil in a convent, joining devoutly in the prayers used nu the occasion ; and he has been ever since involved in an epi,- tolary warfare with a lioman Catholic priest of Dublin ; but we can collect nothing from this circumstance that favours the supposition to, which we allude. Meanwhile the firm government of Lord de Grey is opening the way to every enterprise of civilization, and let the att em pt b e w h at i t may, if it be one for good, it cannot but find facilities from being preceded by so efficient and judicious an administra tion. MEETING OF THE DOCK COMMITTEE The first meeting of the Dock Committee since the election of a conservative council, was held .yesterday, at the offices, Revenue-buildings. The newly-appointed chairman, Thos. Sands, Esq , presided. Three out of the tour new members appointed by the council were present—namely, Mr. Moly neux, Mr. Nicol, and Mr. Chilton. Mr. Shand was absent. There were also present, Messrs. Horsfall, (deputy chair man,) Barclay, Holmes, Ripley, Tobin, Chapman, Bailey, Aikin, Evans, Sandbach, Holt, S m ith, and Middleton. On the recommendation of the Sub-committee of Works, an additional mooring buoy was ordered to be placed near the south end of Queen's Dock, for the use of vessels moored end on. A letter from Mr. John Clint was read, complaining of the want of stages on the dock quays; and suggesting that additional ones be provided, such as are used at the graving docks. The sub-committee' for the department of the marine surveyor made a similar recommendation, and the commit- tee ordered the requisite stages to be provided. The wages of the captain and mate of the Point of Ayr life boat, during the months of November, December, Janu ary, February, and March, were ordered to be 15s. and 10s. per week. Some repairs wanting at the life boat house were ordered to be made by Mr. Danson, of Voel Nant. The transfer of the lease of the Holyhead Telegraph Sta tion from Mr. Evans to the committee, in consideration of the sum of £2OO, was reported and confirmed. The rent of this station will henceforth cease, except as to a mere nomi nal sum payable to Lord Stanley of Alderley. A complaint preferred by Messrs. Eshelby, Rowett, and gainst the North Harbour Master, and the M as t er o f the Co.,! Waterloo-dock of their ship Camien not being allowed to dock on the 13th September, was investigated at consider able length. Mr. Rowett was heard in support of his com plaint, and Mr. Hodgson, the Harbour Master, in reply, after which, some of the members expressed some dissatis faction at the matter having been allowed to stand over so long. Eventually a resolution was passed, on the motion of Mr. Horsfall, that the committee entirely approved of the conduct of the Harbour Master and the Dock Master. A letter from Messrs. North and Orred, solicitors, to Messrs. Rankin, Gilmour, and Co., was read, stating that they should take legal measures to recover the dues paid on their ship, the Lady Falconer, on the ground that she was refused enteranee into one of the docks, ali hough a written order was prssented for it ; nevertheless, the committee re ceived the dues and refused to return them. As the letter alleged facts of which the committee were not perfectly cog nizant, it was referred to the Harbour Masters' sub-committee to report thereon. The stationary cranes were ordered to be erected on the north quay of George's Dock. The river wall having been injured, as alleged, by the steam ships Adm;ral and Princess Royal, the sub-committee of works was dirt czed to enquire and report. Mt. Alderman Molyneux was elected a member of the Finance Committee, in the place of Mr. Thomas Booth. Messrs. Nicoll, Sandbach, and Middleton, were elected members of the sub-committee of works, in the place of Messrs. Holt, Quaile, and Sands. Mr. CHAPMAN gave the following notice of a motion, for the purpose of altering the present construction of the sub- Committee of Works, and appointing a sub-committee to superintend the dock-yard department. " The persons of the present Sub-Committee of Works, consisting of six members, take charge of and superintend the entire of the Dock Surveyors' department, embracing the examination of Plans of New Works, Alterations or Improvements, ther with estimates of the cost. No contracts or purchase: to be made without the previous sanction, and to be by op en contract or public advertisement, which it can be done with. out prejudice to the works; to examine and certify • the weekly bill of wages, and all other accounts in this depart ment, previously to being presented to the general commit for confirmation ; to inquire into all salaries and together with all payments and other matters relati. management and workiug of the granite quarry at h trick. PROPOSED ALTERATION. A sub-committee , to consist of the chairman of the Doti Committee as " chairman," and six members, to whom shal; be d e legated the superintend ence of the Dock-yard Depart. meat ; to examine and certify the weekly bill of wages, anc all other accounts in this department, previously to being presented to the general committee for confirmation, and lc expedite the works ordered by the general committee,—the present committee of works to be the members of thin committee. A sub-committee of works, to consist of the chairman of the general committee as " chairman," and the members of the Dock-yard Harbour-master's Sub-Committee, to vhom shall be referred the examination of plans for new works, alterations, or improvements, together with estimates of cost; also, the m anagemen t o f t h e G r anite Quarry at Kirk naal;rick. All new works exceeding £2OO to be let by public tender, and executed according to plans and specifications. The chairman of the general committee to be ee o f ficio a member of all other s ub.committees. Letters were read from the Chairmen of the British and 'North American Asssociation and the Shipowners' Assoeia. tion,inchising resolutions of those respective bodies, to the effect that Mr. Gage I=d explained his plans for the intended new dock, arid .that the associations were of opinion that which they were superior to Mr. Hartley's. A long conversat i o n followe d upon this subject, in whic h the faits were mu ch commen t e d upon , that as Mr. Ga g e h ad had at least thre e p lans, the committee could not tell w was r ecommended to their notice, and that the re so l ut i ons of th e two associations were so general that it was i mpossible to t their con asfurnishdirected the to write to t co llect the grounds on which they bad arri ve d a con elusion. ,l l , s i i :rit . i e,, E , % w •e i i t i h tn a all y request the that tthey would Secretary w com mittee with any particulars that might occur to them, and to- assure them that they should be taken into careful ainstdera tion. The committee then separated.