The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-05-25 00:00:00

,Einprrial parlianunt. .IP. HOUSE OF LORDS.—MONDAY. The Earl of ELLESMERE moved the second reading of the Factory Bill in a speech of great ability, and was se conded by Lord FEVERSHAM. Lord BROUGHAM then opposed the Bill at great length, and having exhausted all the usual topics of political eco nomy which could be brought against the bill, moved that it be read again that day six months. The noble lord was followed by the Bishop of London, the Bishqp• of St. David's, the Bishop of Oxford, and Lord Wharndiffe, who all spoke warmly in its favour. The Duke of Richmond also spoke in favour of the mea sure ; but the bill was ultimately read a second time on a division, in which the numbers were—Contents, 56 ; Non-contents, 11 ; Majority for the bill, 45. -MONDAY HOUSE OF COMMONS In reply to three questions from Mr. Ferrand, the ATTORNEY-GENERAL declared that Parliament had an in herent authority to delegate to any person or body of per sons, whom it thought fit to select, the power of making rules and orders, which should be as binding and authori tative upoin the people of England and Wales as an Act of Parliament. He gave a variety of instances of the appli cation of this power in our courts of common law, in the ecclesiastical courts, and in various other institutions of the country. By the Poor Law Act itself, the people of Eng land were bound to obey as law all the rules and orders which the Poor Law Commissioners issued ; and such be ing the case, all persons committed to prison for disobey - - , oes and orders had not been illegally deprived ing their nu. ;of their liberty There was then a good deal of Poor Law squabbling about Mr. Mott ; after which _ . MeV. , • 7 ••••••••• Lord J.' RUSSELL moved the second reading of the Poor laws Administration Bill. Mr. FE/LELAND delivered a slashing speech in opposition to the Bill, and there was an animated debate, which was ultimately, adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS -TUESDAY The occasion of Lord Brougham's presenting a petition in favour of the Health of Towns Bill led to some obser vations with respect to the corporation of the City of London by the noble and learned lord and Lord Camp bell, which created great laughter in the house. Lord CAMPBELL observed, that the atmosphere of that house and the atmosphere inside Temple Bar affected his noble and learned friend very differently. At Westmin ster he censured the corporation ; in London he was elo quent in their praise. He brought in a bill one year ad verse to the wishes and interests of the corporation of London, and denounced that body in no measured terms, yet the following year he went into the City, and made an eloquent Speech in praise of them. (A laugh.) • . .• l• .1 • A Lord BROUGHAM said, that of all the misrepresenta tions, of all the misstatements of a notorious fact that ever had been uttered by any one, or even by the noble and learned lord—which was going as far as any one could — none had ever exceeded the assertion which the house had just heard. (Loud laughter.) His bill was brought in, but stopped, because he was told that he had not the re motest chOnce of carryin. , it in the other house. Upon that occasion it was said that they would in time yield to the efforts made to reform their corporation, but it would appear that they would yield neither in time nor in eternity. (A laugh.) After a 'few words from Lord CAMPBELL, the conversa tion dropped. On the re-committal of the Army Service Bill, Lord DE Ros moved an enactment, to the effect that any soldier, within six months prior to the completion of his term of limited service or, if under orders for foreign service, within one year, may be re-engaged for six or se ven years, , and again for five years ; which was adopted. The Earl of ELLENBOROUGU moved the insertion of two clauses (after clause 4), which proposed to enact, that if at the expiration of either term of service, a soldier, enti tled to his discharge, on a foreign station, shall not be willing to ye-engage, the commanding officer of the regi ment shall take measures for conveying such soldier to England ;- providing, that any soldier in one of the colo nies claiming his discharge, who shall signify his desire to remain in such colony, shall not thereafter be entitled to a conveyance to England at the public expense. Lord COMBERMERE and Lord STANLEY both urged the latter orpiment as deserving great consideration, and Lord Stanley appealed to the Duke of Wellington for his opi nion upon the point. The Duke of WELLINGTON said it would be extremely Inconvenient to discharge soldiers in India, and to leave them not under the control of military discipline, and above all he deprecated their being sent by sea anywhere without such control. Earl GREY said, after such an opinion from the noble duke, he should no longer oppose the amendment. The prciposed clauses were then agreed to, and the bill, as amended, was reported to the house. . The third reading of the Poor Relief (Ireland) Bill was then proceeded with, various clauses being proposed which were negatived or withdrawn, after which the bill was read a third time and passed. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—TuEsuAY The friends of the narrow guage experienced a defeat. On the question of the consideration of the report on the Birmingham and Oxford Junction, and Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley Railways Amalgamation Bill, Sir F. TRESIGER moved that the bill be referred back to the same committee, with the view of considering certain petitions against the bill ; when, after some dis cussion, the motion was negatived by a majority of 152 ; the numbers being 62 to 214. The report was then agreed to.' Lord Rimy RUSSELL said, in answer to Mr. Hume, that ministers had come unanimously to the opinion that it was desirable, and had so advised her Majesty, imme diately to fill up the office of lord-lieutenant, which had unhappily become vacant. The noble lord, likewise, in answer to Mr. Ferrand, stated that it was not the inten tion of the government to bring in a bill for the purpose of preventing the use of flour in cotton factories. On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, a select committee was appointed to consider whether it is expedient that any measure should be adopted for sus pending further proceedings in all or any of the railroad bills in the present session, and for enabling the parties, under certain conditions, to proceed with the same in a future session of parliament ; and also, whether it is ad visable that any further provisions should be made in the standing orders of the house, relative to bills for the con struction of railways. The adjourned debate on the second reading of the Poor Laws Administration Bill was then resumed by Mr. CHRISTIE, ' who said that warmly approving as he did of all the principles of the act of 1834, he had only one fault to find with the present bill, and that was that it was temporary. Mr. ETWALL condemned both the principle and the ad ministration of the present Poor-law, and contended that one striking proof of its failure was to be found at the present moment in the fact, that in the agricultural districts wages had not risen in the same proportion as the price of food. Viscount COURTENAY stated, that, as chairman of the committee on the Andover Union, the general impression which he had derived from the evidence presented to that committee was, that there had been great mismanagement in the Board of Guardians—that the administration of the law by the' uardians within it had been marked with con siderable harshness—and that that harshness had been greatly aggravated by the general irregularity of the pro ceedings of that board. Further, his impression was, that no evidence had been offered to justify the conduct of the Poor-law Commissioners, either in the manner or in the time of the dismissal of Mr. Parker and Mr. Day from their respective offices as Assistant Commissioners. He then proceeded to declare how far he agreed with the bill be fore the house. To its general principle he was prepared to give his support ; for he believed that it afforded grounds for expecting that the future administration of the law would be conducted with more responsibility and greater regularity than formerly. The debate was adjourned to Thursday. On the report of supply on the votes for the Ecclesias tical Commission, Mr. 'WILLIAMS, on the ground that he thought the expense ought to be defrayed out of the reve nues of the Church, called for a division, when the vote was agreed to by a majority of 68, the numbers being 76 to 8 HOUSE OF LORDS, -THURSDAY The Duke of WELLINGTON called the attention of the house to the importance of a direct railway from Dover to London, and moved that the North Kent, the Stroud to Maidstone, and the Mid-Kent and direct Tunbridge lines, should be referred to the Railway Commissioners. After some observations from Lord BROUGHAM, the motion was agreed to. The Clergy Offences Bill was then read a second time. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-THURSDAY Several members having addressed the house on the Poor Law Bill, _ Lord JOHN RUSSELL called upon the house to consider the state of the law before the Poor Law Amendment Act was passed, and the abuses it was intended to reform, and also to reflect how far that law was liable not only to the charge of corrupting the labourer, and of destroying pro perty, but also to the very objections urged against the Poor Law Amendment Act itself. He then referred to the report of the Andover Union Committee, and re minded the house that on a former occasion he had stated that if a. vote of censure upon the Poor Law Commis sioners should be proposed, in conformity with the reso lutions of that report, he should feel it to be his duty to resist it. -It had not been thought prudent to propose any such vote of censure, and therefore without entering fur ther into the subj ect - matter of that report, he would merely say, that havin g general confidence in the honour, integrity, and attainments a ttainments of the present board of Poor Law Commissioners, he was ready to consider that they had acted with discretion requiring . the resig nation of their two Assistant Commissioners, Mr. Parker and Mr. Day. It had been proved, in the Poor Law Board there was such a division of opinion, f t v e ch p a o wish to set the Assistant Commissioners against Commissioners, that it was almost impossibl e that e a r e o La u w 'ion should not occur among them. On that point, if could believe Mr. Chadwick to be right, he must admit e that it was the duty of both the late and of the present Government to dismiss all the Poor Law Commissioners. It had been said that there was a wish on the part of the Poor Law Commissioners to conceal the abuses of the law under which they acted, and a resistance to check the abuses brought under their notice by their • Assistant Commissioners. • Now, he had read through the evidence taken by the Andover Committee, and had found no proof, nor anything like proof, of such a n assertion. He then adverted to the speech of Mr. Ferranti, but dismissed it very laconically, with the remark that his observations as to the eifecpof the existing law were so extravagant and tuifonndolir that it was quite unnecessary to give any reply to them. He then came to the question, whether the {clan contained in the present bill deserved the sanction of the house ; and that question led to another—" Shall•we have any central control at all, or shall we let the present board expire and leave each union to administer the Poor Law of Queen Elizabeth, and the Poor Law Act of 1834, according to their individual will and pleasure ?" Now there was a general admission from all quarters of the house, that there ought to be a central control to prevent, on the one hand, the oppression of the paupers, and on the other, those abuses of the law which, though appa rently friendly, were really inimical to the paupers. It being agreed, then, that there should be some central con trol, it was necessary to consider next what kind of con trol it should be. As it had become necessary that the Secretary of State should be cognizant of all the proceed ings of the machinery which he directed, it might be as well to consider whether it might not be adviseable that some of the Poor Law Commissioners should be in Par liament to defend their own doings. Mr. DISRAELI observed, that a fallacious assumption ran through the speeches of all the supporters of this bill. Every speaker said that a central control was necessary, and then inferred that that central control must be a me tropolitan control. Now he had never challenged the propriety of exercising a control over the parochial autho rities; but he thought that that control had better be vested in the supreme authority in each county than in the hands of a minister residing in the metropolis. He there fore, wished the house, in dividing, to recollect that not one principle of the Poor Law was now at stake, and that the question was simply one between county and metro politan control. He then proceeded, as a member of the Andover Committee, to vindicate the resolutions to which he had agreed from the sarcasms of Lord J. Russell. He had heard Mr: Chadwick, the secretary of the Poor Law Commission, denounced by Sir F. Lewis, himself an ex- Poor Law Commissioner and the father of an existing Poor Law Commissioner, as one of the most dangerous and unscrupulous individuals with whom he had ever been brought into contact ; and he had heard the same gentle man described by Lord J. Russell as the cause of all the mischief which the Poor Law had suffered ; and he there fore wished to know whether Mr. Chadwick still remained the secretary of that commission ? If he did so remain, perhaps the noble lord would inform the house whether Mr. Chadwick was the depository of some mighty secret of state which made it incumbent upon the Government to retain him in office ? Turning from Mr. Chadwick, he next proceeded to vindicate the moderate and not intem perate amendment which he had proposed in the commit tee to this effect,—that the proceedings of the Poor Law Commissioners were irregular and arbitrary ; that they were not in accordance with the statute which gave them existence; and that they were calculated to shake public confidence in the administration of the Poor Law. He had no occasion to bring any other evidence of the truth mprulment than theb;" of -tion in that a .ne posed by the Government : for if confidence were not, shaken in the administration of the Poor Law, why had this bill been introduced to change the constitution of the Commission. He then adverted to the gross injustice with which Mr. Day had been treated by the Poor Law Commissioners • and after exposing the sophistry with which Lord John Russell bad endeavoured to palliate that injustice, concluded by saying that he should vote against this bill because it was calculated to perpetuate that metropolitan central control which had already in flicted great mischief and excited great discontent among various classes of our countrymen. Mr. P. BORTHWICK then proposed the adjournment of the debate. Lord J. RUSSELL hoped that the debate would finish that evening. Mr. FERRAND observed, that that was quite out of the question, after the very extraordinary speech made by his lordship, to which Mr. Wakley and other members in tended to reply. He then called upon Lord John Russell to explain what he meant by saying that he (Mr. Ferrand) had made " unfounded" statements too extravagant to require a reply. Mr. C. VILLIERS observed, that when Mr. Ferrand as serted that " the Poor Law Commissioners had sent down agents to buy up the people in the agricultural districts and to sell them as slaves in the manufacturing districts," and when he said that " the masters of workhouses were murdering children," he had uttered unfounded assertions. Lord J. RUSSELL observed, that those were the state ments in Mr. Ferrand's speech which he called unfounded. In using that phrase he meant no attack on Mr. Ferrand's character. It was for that gentleman to make what statements he pleased to the house; but when he made statements so marked with passion, and asserted that the Poor Law Commissioners were monsters who murdered children, he (Lord J. Russell) was not using more than the ordinary privilege of debate in designating such state ments as unfounded. Mr. FERRAND declared, that he had never used either of the expressions attributed to him by Lord J. Russell and Mr. C. Villiers. After some further Conversation the debate was again adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-FRIDAY In answer to Mr. Barclay, the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER stated that it was not his intention to pro pose the repeal of such portions of the sugar in Distil lers Bill, as prohibited distillation at the same time from sugar and grain. He was glad to be able to report that three large distilleries, one in Glasgow, another in Dub lin, and a third in London, had commenced working from sugar, which proved that there was not the practical dif ficulties existing, with respect to the change in the article distilled from, or complying with the conditions of the act, as had been suggested. Sir G. GREY, in liiiswer to Mr. Ferrand, on the subject of the alleged sale of the body of a deceased pauper at Sheffield, stated that no representation had reached the home office on the subject, or it would immediately have been attended to, neither did he believe the statement that any such report was current in the town in question. Lord MORPETH, in answer to Mr. Mackinnon, replied that he despaired of being enabled to bring in a bill on the subject of intermural interments, in the present, but had confident anticipation that he should be able to deal with it in the next session of Parliament. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL for IRELAND, in answer to Mr. Stafford O'Brien, expressed it as his opinion that the county constituency of Ireland would no . ; be disqualified from exercising the elective franchise, by receiving relief under the Poor-law Bill, and with respect to borough con stituencies, there was no provision on the subject made in. the Reform Act, which no doubt arose from the circum stance that at the time that act passed there was no poor law for Ireland. The only analogous case was that of re ceiving support from charities, and that had been held as not tending to disqualification. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER intimated his in tention of proposing a further vote for the relief of Irish distress, on Friday the 28th inst. Mr. HUME gave notice of his intention, immediately after the recess, of bringing the affairs of Portugal, as con nected with British interference in the Tagus, under the notice of the house. The adjourned debate on the Poor-law Administration Bill was resumed by Mr. Borthwick, who was followed by Mr. Miles, Mr. Escott, Mr. Wakley, Mr. Villiers Lord J. Manners, and Sir J, Graham, when the house divided, the second reading being carried by a majority of 176, there appearing 218 in favour of, and 42 against the mo tion. The Prosecution and Seduction Bill was read a first time. The report of the Passengers' Act Amendment Bill originated some discussion, after which the house ad journed to Friday next, the 28th inst. SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. EPSOM RACES.—TuEsnA' The CRAVEN STAKES of 10 sous. each were won by Mr. Mostyn's Crozier, (Kitchener,) beating Mr. Greville's Spider, Mr. Worley's Wintonia, and five others. The WOODCOTE STAKES Of 10 sovs. each, with 100 added, were won by Mr. B. Green's Flatcatcher, (E. Edwards,) 1: eating Mr. Payne's Woodcraft, Mr. Neville's Dover, and eleven others. The MANOR STAKES of 5 sovs. each, with 40 added, were won by Mr. R. J. Shafto's Captain Pepper, (Myers,) beating Mr. Minor's Carissima Mr. Minor's Bretwalda, and two others. WEDNESDAY The DERBY STAKES of 50 sovs. each, h ft, for three-year olds ; colts, Bst 71b ; fillies, Bst 21b ; the second horse to receive 100 sovs. out of the stakes; the winner to pay £lOO towards the police regulations of the course. 188 subs. Mr. Pedley's Cossack, by Hetman Platoff (Templeman 1 Mr. Bouverie's War Eagle . W. Boyce 2 Lord Eglinton's Van Tromp (J. Marson 3 The following also started, but were not placed Conyngham, Red Hart, Limestone, Mr. Martin, Halo, Nottingham, Wanota, Oxonian, Planet, Crozier, Gabbier, Signet, Clarendon, Resolution, Delorame, Montpensier, Ahwal, Liberator, Chainbearer, The Questionable, Bing ham, Epirote, Bellerophon, Good Coin, The Admiral, IVlirmillo, Pantomime, (Retort colt,) Christopher, and Old Port. The CAREW STAKES of 5 sovs. each, with 30 added, were won by Mr. Goddard's Ibrahim Pasha, (Whitehouse,) beating Mr. O'Brien's Conceit, and six others. The POLESDON STAKES of 5 sous. each, with 30 added, were won by Mr. Lynch's Lebanon, (W. Abdale,) beating Mr. Drinkald's Mistress, Mr. Dawson's Bretwalda, and another. The BURGH STAKES of 5 sots. each, with 30 added, were won by Lord Chesterfield's Mainbrace, beating Mr. Theobald's Chemise, Mr. Hope's Bletsoe Lass, and four others. THURSDAY The DURDANS STAKES of 10 sovs each, with 30 added, were won by Mr. Mytton's Miles's Boy, (Dockeray,) beating the Hon. S. Heebert's Sir Simon, Mr. O'Brien's Conceit, and seven others. _ The GRAND STAND PLATE of 200 sovs., added to a handicap sweepstakes of 10 soya., were won by Lord Eglinton's Eryx, (J. Prince,) beating Mr. Paris's The Attorney, Mr. O'Brien's The Liberator, and six others. The COBHAM STAKES of 5 sovs. each, with 30 added, were won by Mr. Parr's Icicle, (Whitchouse,) beating Lord Chesterfield's Maid of Saragossa. The DENBIES STAKES of 3 soya. each, with 30 added, were won by Mr. Lord Strathmore's Satyr, (Crouch,) beating Colonel Anson's Treacle, Mr. C. Brewer's Sarah Sykes, and Mr. Drewitt's Clementhe. FRIDAY The OAKS STAKES; of 50sovs. each were won by Sir J. Hawley's Miami, beating Mr. Payne ; s Clementina and 3/Ir. Bowes's Ellerdale. THE DERBY. —It is a remarkable circumstance, that the Derby of last year was won by Mr. Gully, of Ackworth Park, near Pontefract, and that, this year, the prize has been carried off by Mr. Pedley, of Pontefract itself. Cos sack seems to be a worthy a ssoc i ate of Pyrrhus the First. Both have achieved wonders. Th e " prop h e t s " were sadly wrong in their anticipations of this event, only one, Bell's ,Life in London, declaring the winner. THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. FOREIGN .5- COLONIAL INTELLIGENCE. PORTUGAL, The Nautilus, screw steamer packet-ship, Capt. Gor don, arrived at Liverpool on Friday, from Lisbon, bring ing papers and letters to the 15th inst. and having ac complished the passage in five days. Great uncertainty and alarm continued to prevail. The return of Colonel Wylde from Oporto was anxiously expected every hour, and H. M. steam-ship Bulldog had been waiting in rea diness to convey despatches for several days. About an hour before the Nautilus sailed, orders had been received from the admiral for the Bulldog's immediate departure ; and ere this she will probably have arrived at Southamp ton. H. M. ship Canopus, Captain Moresby, had on board eight political prisoners of distinction, who had es caped from the prison, and placed themselves under Bri tish protection. Nothing further had transpired on the subject of Col. Wylde's mission, and no dependence can be placed on the rumours published in the Lisbon journals. RIVER PLATE.—By the arrival off Falmouth of the Danish brig, Ernest Lorenz, Captain Rohrs, we have had a mail from Monte Video, to so late a date as March. 21. The chief news relates to the assassination of Don Manuel Rodriguez, the Bolivian minister to the Argentine republic, which diabolical deed was done in the streets at Buenos Ayres at noon-day, it was stated at the instigation of Rosas. Oribe maintained his 5,000 men at Cerito. The British and French had landed a larger number of marines than they were wont to have at Monte Video. WEST INDIES.—The accounts brought by the Clyde from the West Indies still report favourably of the pro gress of the crops. From Jamaica it is stated that " the prospects of the sugar planter are as favourable as the most sanguine West Indian could desire: From all parts of the island we hear that the crops are abundant, and that the seasons are most propitious for their manufacture. This cheering intelligence, however, is not without its alloy. In many districts we find serious complaints of want of labour. From St. Mary's, especially, these com plaints are loud. On one estate the labourers are said to have shown so much unwillingness to work that canes cut for manufacture have been perilled, if not wholly lost, by an actual deficiency of hands to put the mill about," By a decree of the Ladrath of the canton of Glaris, in Switzerland, all the young men are interdicted from mar riage before they are twenty. AUSTRIA.—The little town of Rohrau, near the Hun garian frontier, has been entirely destroyed by. fire. It was the birth-place of Joseph Haydn and his brother Michael. An article in the Austrian Observer states, in the ports of South Russia in the Black Sea, and the sea of Azoph, that they will be able to supply from the Ist of April to y 3,631 DUTCH POTATOES.—The Commerce states that there has been so great a quantity of potatoes planted in Hol land this year, that if the crop prove a moderate average, one-fourth will be sufficient for the consumption of the country, and the remainder may be exported. A leiter from Hanover, of the Bth instant, states that the royal ordinances forbidding the use of grain and pota toes in the distillation of brandy, and also their exporta tion to Prussia and the grand Duchy of Hesse Cassel, those countries having by law prevented those articles be ing exported to Hanover, have just been published. The largest naval force which the United States have ever had afloat is now employed with the war at Mexico. This force comprises 46 ships, 24 barques, 56 brigs, and 11 steamers, which have been hired as transports, and the regular ships of war added to these make a total of 164 ships. SHIPWRECK AND Loss OF SIXTY LIVES.—On the 9th of April, at eight o'clock in the evening, the French brig La Clarisse, of Granville, having on board 69 passengers, and a crew of 14, was lost in the Philibert rocks, in one of the entrances to the harbour of St. Pierre, Newfound land. The brig had missed the South-east passage into the harbour, having been driven to windward. The vio lence of the waves was such as to preclude the possibility of any assistance from the colonists. The number of vic tims amounts to sixty. A LIE CIRCULATING THROUGHOUT AMERICA. During a speech in Congress on the Wilmot proviso, Mr. Brinkeroff, of Ohio, paused and - drew a half-dollar piece from his pocket, and holding it up so that every member of the houte could see what it was, said—" Sir, look at this, sir,—look at it, and, see its inscription, Liberty' is stamped upon it. Shall we strike it out and insert Slavery,' or shall we hereafter, in the face of the world, continue to use it as a circulating lie ? Yes for a circu lating lie—or shall we make it tell the truth, sir ?" PORT WINE.—We are informed that the Junta of Oporto have resolved that wines of the Upper Douro of the vintage of 1846 may be brought into Oporto until the 20th June next. Upon wine of the first quality a duty of 7,200 reis (about £1 14s. 2d.) a pipe is to be paid, and the owner of the wine is to bind himself to export the same to ports in Europe. Upon wine of the second quality the duty is to be 600 reis (about 2s. 105.,) and on wine for home consumption 6,800 reis (about £1 12s 10d) a pipe. The entrance duty paid on wine of the first quality is to be deducted from the export duty. RAILWAY AFFAIRS. The preamble of the Mold Railway Bill has been de clared proved. The first sod of the Killarney Junction Railway was cut on Wednesday, by the Earl of Kenmare. On Tuesday, an experimental trip was made upon the Southampton and Dorchester Railway. SIGNS OF THE TIMES.—It is said that a great railway man has borrowed £lOO,OOO for two years, at ten per cent. per annum.—Herapath. IRISH RAILWAY BILLS.—The promoters of Irish Rail way Bills have no reason to complain of the facilities afforded to the progress of these bills. This Session no fewer than fourteen have already passed the committees upon merits in the Commons. We find from the Railway Gazette that my Lord the King sways an iron empire of 1,5311 miles in length, with an annual revenue of £2,184,832. When all the lines in the Hudson empire are complete, it is expected that the revenue will be five millions. Six persons were convicted at the Central Criminal Court, on Monday, of having stolen a large quantity of goods from the Camden station of the London and North- Western Railway Company (from the waggons of Messrs. Crowley and C. 0., the carriers), and sentenced to seven years' transportation. MANCHESTER AND LEEDS.—The Board of Management have just resolved to suspend all new works in the West Riding of Yorkshire, which are not likely to be imme diately productive. The (.02) third shares and the West Riding Union shares are consequently relieved of Calls ; those of the fifths will not amount to more than 30s. per share. On Thursday, the bridge of the Great Western Railway at Hanwell was destroyed by fire, supposed to be the act of an incendiary. It burst forth before the twelve o'clock up train from Reading reached it—a most fortunate cir cumstance, as the weight of the train would have proba bly broken through the smouldering rafters, and a great loss of life ensued. THE DERBY DAY.—The Epsom line was so managed, that hundreds got into the trains at Epsom without pay ing; and on their arrival at London-bridge, after waiting patiently whilst fewer than half-a-dozen men attempted to collect tickets and money from 43 carriages (many with 70 people in each), the whole body of passengers opened the doors on the off-side, and marched up the line without paying or leaving their tickets! The Manchester and Southampton, in no wise dis heartened at their second failure, have resolved to go be fore parliament again next year. Mr. R. Stephenson, with characteristic frankness, admitted that the responsi bility of failure rested with him, and said that he would repair the error as well as he could, and would himself bear all the expenses of passing standing orders in the next session. The Railway Chronicle, of Saturday, in an article on the defeat of the narrow gauge party in parliament, states that it sees " nothing to prevent the broad gauge travel ling to the north indefinitely far." The Chronicle is a strong advocate of narrow gauge interests, and concludes its remarks as follows :—" The better cause, in the worse hands, has now lost all chance of success. The cause of uniform gauge in the north is lost." The immediate cause of the stoppage of the Croydon Atmospheric was the condition imposed by the Govern ment Inspector of having a second junction at the point where the Croydon line diverges from the Brighton, be fore he would sanction the opening of the Epsom. He deemed this necessary for public safety. But this was found to be impracticable, unless the Atmospheric was actually taken up at the point. The directors, therefore, had only the option of retaining the Atmospheric and giving up the traffic of the Epsom, or opening the line under the conditions imposed by the Railway Board. SOUTH YORKSHIRE RAILWAYS.—We rejoice to an nounce that the committee of the House of Commons have sanctioned the South Yorkshire Railway, with the exception of the portions of the line projected between Worsbro' and Penistone an& between Mexbro' and Ro therham. But the Committee having also granted the Barnsley Junction (applied for by the Sheffield and Man chester Railway), there will now be a continuous line of rails from Doncaster through Barnsley and Penistone to Manchester ; and it is left to the railway commissioners to say upon what terms the South Yorkshire shall run their trains on the Midland line to Masbro'. These arrange ments provide for Doncaster the westerly communication which it so much requires, and fully open the South York shire Coal Field to the Great Northern, Midland, and Sheffield and Manchester Railways. FALSE PROPHECIES IN 1834.—A Mr. Cort predicted in 1834, only thirteen years ago, as follows, in a work he called Railroad Imposition detected :'—" Long before the Birmingham is ready, such are the improvements now making in canals, not only may the charge be expected to be many times less than the railway, but the time now lost will be considerably saved; and as a proof of the impotency of the Manchester and Liverpool to compete with water lines, it has not been able to obtain at the end of three years, three months and a half, much above one sixth of the whole traffic ; nor even that, without a total failure as to profit. But granting the Birmingham secured only one-half instead of a sixth, the income estimated at £92,820 would be redaced to £46,410. The only chance, therefore, for the latter railway in the waggon department, must be confined to goods requiring extraordina r y expe dition and these, comparatively, are very few. The Great Western, though probably it may reach as far as Bath from Bristol, after having, like a mole, explored its way through tunnels, long and deep, the shareholders who travel by it will be so heartily sick, what with foul air, smoke, and sulphur, that the very mention of a railway will be worse than ipecacuanha, especially when the only prospect they can find the least cheering in the midst of all this derangement of their stomachs, will be a grd'hite tramway, actually in operation, along side of their own dose of ipecacuanha, ready to follow up the black draught, so as to get rid of every particle of obstruction with which the bottoms of their poc kets might be otherwise afflicted." IRELAND. Lord Clarenden has been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. A grocer of Dublin announces in the papers -of that city that he has whisky o n s a l e , w hich was drunk by his Majesty when he was in Ireland. _ . On Tuesday the Bank of Ireland further advanced the rate of discount. The rates now are 7 per cent. on Irish bills, having more than 64 days to run, on the other bills 61- per cent. The accounts from the provinces of Ireland, respecting the growing crops, are very cheering. The corn looks well and healthy ; potatoes looking promising, and the green crops are zealously cultivated, and to an extent which indicates that the peasantry are becoming fully im pressed with their value. The death of the Earl of Besborough furnished a pre text for the postponement of the usual weekly meeting of the half defunct Repeal Association. Some few, however, met on Tuesday, when the rent was £49. John O'Con nell, in noticing a report that they were in a state of bankruptcy, said it was not true, for they had reduced their weekly expenses from £3OO to £3O. Mr. Renny Sheehan, for many years proprietor and edi tor of the Dublin Evening Mail, lately died in England. He was a man of taste and accomplishments, and in the furious party warfare in which he was engaged he never forgot the gentleman. With the members of his profes sion he was always exceedingly popular, and in promoting its interests equally liberal. _ _ RUMOURED DEATH OF MR. O'CONNELL.—The Moni teur Parisien of Thursday evening contained a paragraph stating, on the authority of a letter from Nice, that Mr. O'Connell died upon his arrival at Genoa. The intelli gence, though far from improbable, needs confirmation, however. The last accornts from Genoa merely mention that he had been indisposed in a way which would compel him to prosecute his journey to Rome by land. COMPLIMENTARY LANGUAGE.—Upon a recent occa sion in Dublin, a Mr. Thomas Reynolds said, " There was one wooden-headed fellow named Collett, of Athlone, as mutton-headed a fellow as any that could be found, even in the House of Commons. Well, I asked Mr. Col lett to go down to the house and vote for the Dublin Im pioyement Bill ; and what do you think was his excuse ? `I can't, says he, for I am going to hear Jenny Lind.' And this fellow who does not actually know a note of music, assigns this as his reason for neglecting his solemn duty. I hope the electors of Athlone will give him ample time to see Jenny Lind as often as he pleases." On Monday as Mr. James Watson, of Millbrook, near Killaloe, brother to the editor of the Limerick Chronicle, and agent to Mr. Pardon, of Tinnerana, and Mr. Arthur, of Glenomera, was proceeding to the latter place, about ten o'clock, to hold an office there, when he was fired at, not many perches from his gate, by two villains ; but they missed him: his horse, it is supposed (for no infor mation that can be depended on will any one give who saw the transaction), started at the shots, and threw him, when the assassins beat him about the head and body in a frightful manner, and broke their guns on his head, which is badly fractured, and he to this moment is still insensible ; but little hopes of his recovery are entertanined by his medical attendants. DEATHS FROM DROWNING.-OH Wednesday H. Lipsett, Esq., of Ballyshannon, and Captain Drake, of the 92d Highlanders, stationed there, went to have a sail down the channel, in the captain's pleasure-boat. They had with them one boatman, and a police serjeant. After having gone near the bar, and put the serjeant ashore, they were making homewards, when a sudden gust of wind upset the craft, and all had to make the struggle for the shore. Mr. Lipsett and Captain Drake could make but little exertion, as they were encumbered with great coats ; but the boatman id his jacket, succeeded in reach ing the land. At the time no boats were near, and the only person who witnessed the awful scene was a little boy, angling, at some distance. A particular search was made all night, but the boat and two hats only were to be seen. Rtors.—A turbulent spirit has broken out into overt acts in several parts of Clare, Limerick, and Cork coun ties. On Monday, the police-station at Ardnacrusha, on the Clare side of the Shannon, was besieged by a mob of 600 men ; who had demolished the soup-kitchen ! The police fired, and so drove off the mob ; which threatened to return. Two companies of Infantry, a troop of the Bth Hussars, and a troop of Horse Artillery, were sent from Limerick. Troops had been sent to Kildysart, lower down the Shannon. At Mealick, within two miles of Limerick, assembled 10,000 men, " all armed with knives," (!) and they threatened to kil all the cattle, declaring that they would never accept out-door relief. At Castlemartyr, in Cork, county, the residence of the Earl of Shannon, the people began to demolish a bridge, but were driven away by troops. At Cloyne, the military were needed to sup press a tumult. Preference for public works in lieu of relief " appears to be the motive to these rebellious crimes. In Galway, Kerry, and Tipperary, there have been outbreaks among the labourers recently discharged from the public works. THE FEVER.—The following letter, from a corres pondent of the Dublin Packet, gives a picture not to be excelled by any horrid scene in De Foe's History of the Plague in London :"—" It is my duty to communicate the deaths of two excellent gentlemen, Dr. Soden, of the Mohill workhouse, and the Rev. James Flyn, curate of the adjoining NHL The lives of the clergy and medical men are hourly perilled in the discharge of their onerous duties. The pestilential disease which you have so fre quently described, and raised your warning voice against, is making giant strides in this and the adjoining barony. Human corpses are commonly passing through this po pulous town tied on the backs of asses, the head hanging at one side and the feet at the opposite side of the quad ruped, attended not unfrequently by one poor emaciated individual carrying a spade, who. places the dead a little below the surface. Women are often seen covering their dead infants with earth gathered with their hands. What will become of us when the warm weather shall set in God only knows." This frightful record is from the fertile county of Leitrim, from whence so little complaint of scarcity was heard till an advanced period of the famine in other counties. The estate of Skibbereen, Bantry, and other districts in the south of Cork, appears to be lament able in the extreme. MORTALITY IN THE WORKHOUSES.—The Dublin Journal of Friday publishes the report of the Poor Law Commissioners, relative to the operation of the poor law in Ireland, which contains some fearfully interesting particulars respecting the progress of disease and mortality in Ireland. It appears on reference to the report, that while the total nnmber of cloths which occurred in the union workhouses in Ireland, for the week ending the 4th of April 1846, amounted to 159; the total num ber who died in the week ending the 3d April in the present year amounted to 2,706. A more fearful fact still is the large in crease of sickness, and the large proportion of fever. The number of inmates had a little more than doubled, the numbers being on the 4th of April, 1846-50,861; and on the 3d April, 1847-106,888; but the numbers in the hospi tals increased from 8,121 to 28,239, while the numbers in the fever hospitals increased from 864 to the fearful num ber of 8,931 ! the most alarming fact disclosed by these re turns is the rate of mortality which now exists, and its rapid increase since last November. In April. 1846, the weekly rate of mortality was 3 in every 1,000 inmates. In November it showed a decided tendency to rise. During the four weeks of December it ran up from 7-4 to 8-6, then to 10-3, and then to 11. In January, 1847, it was 12-2 the first week, 13-3 the last. In March it ranged from 22 to 20, and in April it rose to 25—twenty five out of every thousand died m the last week for which there is a return. THE SOUTH-EASTERN PORTS OF ENGLAND Ramsgate, the easternmost of the south ports of resortE steamn g l a n n d oi gp a al s et i b aos e nur e n; pleasure -lsuiekteekinietrsasncesoishcmebeorutchriaeMl point of a loifshv f; ie v ew o n u t rit it of much more important than Margate, principally on account of its fine harbour. Before the establishment of any railways in Kent, Ramsgate kept up a communication with Ostend and other ports, for the conveyance of passengers ; but when the South-Eastern Railway reached Dover, steam-packets were placed upon an efficient footing to run from Dover to Ostend, to the detriment of Ramsgate. When, how ever, the railway company extended their Canterbury branch to Ramsgate, a new phase in the traffic presented itself; the steam-boat company, in connexion with the railway company, removed their Ostend steamers from Dover, and placed them on the Ramsgate station ; and now a well conducted 'competition is maintained from Dover, and from Ramsgate to Ostend, in which every effort is made to bring steaming up to its highest pitch of efficiency. Dover and Folkestone both exhibit the remarkable in fluence of railways upon steamers, which Ramsgate ex emplifies in a smaller degree. Dover enjoys the advan tage of being the great port for continental embarkation, on account of its vicinity to the coast of France ; and cir cumstances seemed to place the town above all reach of competition. But the inhabitants have had to open their eyes to a fact which railways have disclosed to them—the rise of Folkestone from an humble fishing village to an important steam-boat station. When the South-Eastern Company found some years back, that there was likely to be some difficulty in placing an efficient steam-transit in connexion with a railway at Dover ; they bought up Folkestone harbour, cleared it out, built a pier, made a first-class station and refreshment room, procured steam ers, and astonished the Dover people by establishing a daily steam-conveyance from Folkestone to Boulogne and back. It would be difficult to estimate the impor tance of this step. It made the Railway Company to a certain degree independent of Dover; while it gave the inhabitants of that town a strong inducement to do their best to retain their own trade, by accelerating the boats, lowering the fees of embarkation, and removing a few of those annoyances which no one experiences so largely as a traveller. We may run rapidly along the coast from Folkestone to Portsmouth, without stopping along at its several ports : for they are not connected much with passenger-voyaging. Rye, poor old Rye, has become so much choked up with sea-sand, that the harbour hardly knows itself. Hastings, though a fine watering-place, has not much sea-traffic, except for goods and fish : its steaming days have yet to begin, Brighton has such shallow water, that she has had to ask her sister Shoreham to aid in establishing a steam transit to Dieppe.—The Land we live in. [One of the beautiful and fast sailing steamers, built for the South Eastern Company, by our townsman, John Laird, Esq., sails now each tide (or twice a-day) to and from Folke stone and Boulogne, and often makes the passage in an hour-and-three-quarters. The South Eastern Company have lately purchased the harbour at Whitstable, on the North-east coast of Kent ; are completely re-building it, and it is fast becoming an important sea-port. Vessels can get into the harbour frequently and discharge their cargoes, and get off again to sea, while others cannot get round the North and South Foreland. Very shortly nearly the whole county of Kent will be supplied with coal from this port.] CLERICAL INTELLIGENCE. DECORATION OF CHURCHES WITH UNLAWFUL OR NAMENTS.—On Tuesday week the Rev. Chancellor Mar tin, the Rev. Archdeacon Froude, the Rev. Prebendary George May Coleridge, the Rev. Robert. Gee, vicar of Paington, and the Rev. Wilmot Henry Park, rector of Ashcombe sat at the Chapter-house, Exeter, under a commission issued by the bishop of the diocese, to en quire into a certain scandal and evil report, which existed against the Rev. William George Parks Smith, minister of St. John's Chapel, Torquay, as having offended against the laws ecclesiastical, by having, on Sunday the fourth day of April last, being Easter Day, set up, or caused to be set up, in the said chapel of St. John, at Torquay, or naments unlawful, and not according to the ecclesiastical laws of this realm, and to report whether or no there were prima facie grounds for instituting further proceedings. The ornaments complained of were flowers and crosses on the communion table and elsewhere. After a long en quiry the chancellor announced the opinion of the com missioners to be that there were sufficient prima facie grounds for instituting further proceedings. Mr. Gidley then, on behalf of the defendant, stated that Mr. Smith, under the provisions of the sixth section of the statute, would sign a consent that the bishop should pronounce such sentence as he might think fit, without further pro ceedings. MUNIFICENT DONATION OF THE BECKETT FAMILY TO PROMOTE EDUCATION IN LEEDS.—A correspondence has passed between W. Beckett, Esq., M.P., and the gen tlemen to whom the Beckett family have entrusted the distribution which they have made for promoting educa tion, in connexion with the church, in Leeds. Mr. B. writes to Dr. Hook to the effect that his brothers and himself having undertaken the administration of his brother Christopher's affairs, they have considered amongst other charitable donations they shall determine upon, how they can do something in aid Of the church — in accordance with the views which the deceased enter tained. They have therefore resolved that £lOOO be de voted, to assist the church in Leeds, in further efforts for the promotion of education, and more especially in en abling their schools to obtain the benefit of the proposed government aid, and that Dr. H. and two others named should transmit a plan for carrying out the object in view. These three gentlemen have, in reply, expressed their grateful acknowledgments for the liberal donation, and submit three propositions,—of grants for the erection of new schools ; f grants (in order to obtain government aid) in aid of existing schoolmasters' residences, and of grants for the enlargement of the existing schools. Mr. Beckett replies that these propositions will be perfectly satisfactory. _ _ _ THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. — The Venerable Assembly of the Scottish National Church has again met. The proceedings on Thursday and Friday were merely routine and formal, with scarcely an exception. The address of the Lord High Commissioner, on behalf of her Majesty, was in the best spirit, and the reply of the Moderator was every thing that could be desired. The election of Dr. Paul, of St. Cuthbert's, to the Chair of the Assembly, is a just tribute to so learned and distinguished a divine. On Friday, the report of the committee on the colonial scheme was submitted to the assembly. It referred to the paucity of missionary labourers in this noble field of Christian exertion, and we trust that the deficiency will -be immediately obviated by the zeal and energy of the young men in the church, on whom the call is made. The committee earnestly recommended the appointment of a deputation of ministers to proceed to Canada with the view of stimulating and encouraging the members of the church in that colony—a work of the most vital im portance to the spiritual welfare of thousands of our fellow-subjects. The assembly cordially and unanimously concurred in the recommendation of the committee, and proceeded to appoint the Rev. Messrs. Fowler, Ratho, Stephenson, of Dalry and Sneddon, and M'lntosh, of Aberdeen, as a deputation to Canada from the Church of Scotland. POLITICAL GOSSIP, Lord Ashley left town on Saturday for Bath, on an electioneering visit. _ _ Sir Robert - Peel is using great exertions to secure Mr Cardwell's return for Oxford University. _ Alderman Johnson has announced that he will offer himself for the city of London, on the Tory interest. Mr. David Salomons has announced himself a candi date for the representation of Marylebone, in the place of Sir C. Napier, who has been called into active service. Lord Sandon and the Recorder of Liverpool are mem bers of Mr. Cardwell's committee for the Oxford Univer sity election. _ _ _ Ipswicn.—Mr. J. N. Gladstone and Mr. Lane Fox have announced that it is their intention to offer them selves again as candidates at the next election. The latest rumour is that Parliament will be dissolved on the 19th or 20th of next month, if public business ad mits ; if not, the dissolution will not be later than the first week in July. The present members for Sunderland, Mr. Hudson and Mr. Barclay, it is understood, in the event of a dissolution of Parliament, are likely to be re-elected without a show of opposition. LEICESTER ELECTION.—The committee of delegates have, it is said, fixed upon Mr. Robert Gardner as the other candidate with Sir Joshua Walmsley for the support of the Liberal voters. The Cambridge Chronicle, the organ of the university, intimates that a strong effort will be made to oust Mr. Goulburn at the coming election, in consequence of his siding with Sir Robert Peel. NEWCASTLE- UNDER-LINE.-Mr. COIqUIIOUTI, one of the sitting members, some time since gave notice of his intended retirement, and Mr. W. Jackson, of Birkenhead, announced his intention to offer himself. Mr. Muntz and Mr. Scholefield are to be brought for ward by the Liberals for Birmingham ; but the return of Mr. Spooner is certain for one of the seats, as, in addition to the support of Conservatives, he will receive that of Wesleyans and all consistent Protestants. RAILWAY M.P's.—Mr. David Solomons, Chairman of the Reading, Guildford and Reigate, and Bardeaux and, Cette railway Companies, and Mr. John Bagshawe, a Di rector of the latter Company, and of the Eastern Counties' Company, are candidates for the representation of the borough of Marylebone. WAKEFIELD.—The anti-educational mania which has split the Whig party in Leeds, has also caused the rejec tion of Sir E. N. Buxtbn as a Whig candidate at Wake field. The cry of " the Chapel in danger" absorbs every other cry. The Radical is merged in the Dissenter. The consequence in Wakefield is, that a liberal Conservative, Mr. Sandars, will have a good chance of success. THE FACTORY BILL IN THE LORDS.—The following is the minority of eleven who voted on Monday in the House of Lords against the second reading of the Factory Bill : Lord Chancellor Cottenham ; Earls Auckland, Burling ton, Clarendon, Lonsdale, Radnor ; Lords Ashburton, Beaumont, Brougham, Monteagle of Brandon, Wrottesley. Lords Camperdown, Vivian, and Foley paired off against the bill. Earl Grey and Lord Campbell voted for it. John Bowes Esq., has announced his intention of re tiring from South Durham, and one of his reasons is the expense of the contests. He says that no constituency is less open to the charge of corruption, yet that a candidate intending to carry through a contest with any spirit must prepare himself for an expenditure of at least fourteen or fifteen thousand pounds. It is generally understood that James Farrer, Esq., a near relative of the Earl of Eldon, who contested the county at the last general election, will be Mr. Bowes's successor, and as the honourable gen tleman entertains very opposite political opinions to those of the present member, that will be a gain of one seat for the Conservative party. It has not yet been announced whether Lord Henry Vane intends to offer himself again to the electors, but the probability is that he will do so. OxFonn, MAY 18.—A third candidate for the represen tation of the University has been brought forward, in the person of Mr. Charles Gray Round, M.A., of Balliol Col lege (in the First Class in Literis Humanioribus, Easter Term, 1818), the member for North Essex. A paper has been circulated containing the names of Mr. Round's committee, at the head of which is the Rev. the Provost of Worcester ; amongst the names are—the Rev. Dr. Faussett, Margaret Professor of Divinity, the Rev. Dr. Ogilvie, Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology, the Rev. Dr. Bandinel, Keeper of the Bodleian Library, the Rev. Dr. Bliss, Registrar of the University, the Rev. Vaughan Thomas, • 8.D., Corpus Christi College, the Rev. R. Mitchell, B. D., Przelector of Logic, the Rev. W. Sewell, 8.D., Fellow of Exeter College, &c. Mr. Round voted against the Dissenters' Chapels Bill, the Maynooth Endowment, and Free Trade, and resisted Mr. Christie's motion for an inquiry into the state of the Universities. He supported Sir R. Inglis's motion in fa vour of Church extension. ELECTION PARTIES.—The conformation of rival par ties which will be taken up at the approaching general election, constitutes a subject to be now dealt with as one of leading interest. In the vicinity of Brighton we see them already in practical operation, where that sterling Protectionist, Mr. Ellman, sets an example of straightforwardness and unmistakeableness ; while Lord Cantilupe is a sample of the class of candidates that you can never hold to any fixed principle, and Mr. Shelly a pattern of the shilly-shally supporters of all such double dealers. With Peel, as the decoy duck of the past, in connexion with the single affair of free-trade, we have done. Of the future increasing school of Peel and Popery, and what-not, with his ever-shifting maxim of " the time is come," we shall have yet much to do; and Ellman's Socratic system of putting plain questions, and requiring direct answers, must be the invariable policy of electors who do not choose to be " bamboozled." The "move ment party"—moving no one knows whither—is like a floating swamp—without direction, and without basis. MESSRS. GLADSTONE AND CARDWELL.—The claims of both these gentlemen, who are candidates for the rep resentation of Oxford University, are in many respects strong. Whatever may be said in praise of either of them may equally be advanced in behalf of the other. Both are aspiring and rising statesmen : both bear names which are as " household words" in the college halls and academic groves of which, in their day, they were amongst the brightest ornaments. Both carried off the highest honours which Alma Mater has to bestow upon those who most distinguish themselves in their examinations. Let us change the scene from Oxford to Lancashire, and the parallel may be pushed still further, and after a most extraordinary fashion, between the rival candidates. Both have been residents of Liverpool, in the same street, (Rodney-street,) and, what is more curious still, the same house, the family of Mr. Cardwell having occupied it after that of Mr. Gladstone had removed from it. And it is a house of some celebrity, being hallowed, as it were, by the presence of illustrious statesmen within its walls. From its windows the immortal Canning delivered many of those thrilling and delightful speeches which enchanted his admiring friends in this locality, and carried the fame of his eloquence to the ends of the world. THE PROPOSED NEW POOR LAW.—If the Whigs had been as strongly intrenched in power as were once their immediate predecessors, we should not have heard Sir George Grey moving for leave to bring in a bill to amend May 25, 1847. the laws relating to the administration of the law for the relief of the poor in England. But whatever the motive which has dictated it—whether in submission to public opinion, or in deprecation of hostility at the forthcoming elections—we receive with pleasure this great step towards a beneficial change in the new Poor Law system, by the abolition of the Somerset House administration. In stead of the nominal triumvirate but real despotism of a single chief, a new commission is to be appointed by the Crown, on the plan of the Board of Controul for the affairs of India. The president of the board will be eligible, together with one of the secretaries, to a seat in Parliament; and in the case of the former, his not being a member of either house would make his position too unpleasant to be very long tenable. The other mem bers of the Board are intended to be the President of the Council, the Lord Privy Seal, one of the Secretaries of State, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The new Board is to make all its reports to the Crown ; there is to be an increase of assistants under the name of inspectors, and the new system is to have a term of probation of five years, when the whole subject will be again brought be fore parliament. This reform or reconstruction of the superintending machinery of the Poor Law system, is not accompanied by any proposals for interfering with the unions as they now exist; but in committee such clauses must be added, or such powers given to the Board, or shall compel the reduction of the extent of the present Unions, provide for the employment of the inmates in congenial occupations to their former pursuits, and pre pare for enabling them to return again to society as useful members of the community, instead of being as now a permanent burden upon the ratepayers of the district. FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL SUMMARY. It is now generally admitted that money for commer cial purposes is somewhat easier. The bank is beginning to discount more liberally, and good bills at moderate dates are readily passed, whilst loans can be secured even upon six months paper. This improvement has imparted. a firmer tone to the market for our leading staple; cotton —which may be quoted about 4-d. per lb. higher than last week. The sales of the week ended Friday were 29,490 bales. Of this quantity 7500 were for export, and 1850 on speculation. The imports for the week were 40,813 bales. We have little that is gratifying to notice with respect to the market for manufactured goods. The short time working is still continued ; and it is to be regretted th a t, even with the existing high prices of food, attempts_ are making still further to depress the condition of the opera tive classes, by reducing wages. The demand for the country trade is very limited •, and foreign orders are only given out with a sparing hand. It is believed, however, that the ability of the manufacturers generally to sustain the severe demands made upon them is most satisfactory; and that few serious casualties will occur if the pressure abates within any reasonable time, and a moderate amount of forbearance is used. The seasonable weather, which we are now enjoying, has already given confidence to most parties that we have seen the worst ; and we should not be surprised to see a speedy resumption of activity throughout the manufacturing districts. The high price of the raw material, however, is still a serious difficulty to be surmounted. The Corn Markets throughout the country have received a check from the benignant character of the weather which we are enjoying. In our market on Friday the decline on wheat was fully 2d. per bushel, and ls. per barrel on American Flour. We shall therefore, probably, now see the question, as to the stocks in the country tested. Farmers are proverbial for holding too long ; and pressing sales in hot haste when markets are on the down ward turn. From all that we can gather, the stocks in their hands are not large. The ports of the Baltic, how ever, are now opened ; and we may shortly expect an ad dition to our present supply from that quarter, as well as from the Mediterranean. At all events we trust the pinching point is past ; and with the prospect of a fair, and not so very l a t e a h arves t as a f ew wee k s ago was anticipated, we fully expect to see a very material decline shortly. Perhaps it may be found that there is more stock in warehouse than is generally anticipated. We have given, elsewhere, some statements as to the short supply in the hands of growers, in some of the agricultural districts in the north of England ; and we learn that some of the southern counties are similarly situated. Several purchases were made in our own mar ket last week, for the supply of Devonshire, &c., the farmers there having so far sold out as to leave an insuffi cient supply for the consumption of their own popula tion. LAW INTELLIGENCE, IMPORTANT DECISION.—CHILTON V. THE LONDON AND CROYDEN RAILWAY COMPANY.—At the Court of Exchequer, on Saturday, this case, which is an extremely interesting one to all railway travellers, came.on for hear ing, before the Chief Baron. The plaintiff is the emi nent Queen's counsel, who thereby sought to recover compensation from the defendants for trespass and false imprisonment. The defendants have justified their con duct under a plea which was demurred to, and held bad by the court in banco on argument, the case now came before the jury on the plea of " Not guilty." On the part of the plaintiff it was shown that he had travelled on a certain day as a first-class passenger from Sydenham to London, and that having lost his ticket on his journey he had, on the arrival of the train in London, taken to a station-house by a servant of the comPan n Yhr i : his refusing to comply with a demand then made c r by Croy en, by the superintendent for the full fare ft"' After having virtue of an alleged by-law to that been e ffect. the full du resse f or a few m i nutes the p l a i nt iff pa id the full fare and brought this action. At the close of the plaintiff's case, Mr. Kennedy, for the defendants, ad dressed the jury, admitting that the verdict must go against his clients, though the jury had not yet been placed in possession of the full facts of the case. At the suggestion of the Chief Baron the gentleman was about to make an apology, but was checked by his client, who objected on the part of the company to his compliance with the course proposed. The jury, not being able to agree, retired from court to consider their verdict, and, after an absence of nearly two hours, returned with a ver dict for the plaintiff for £5OO damages. THE ANTI-STATE CHURCH LEAGUE.-WHAT ARE ITS OBJECTS ? (From the Birmingham Advertiser.) At the recent sittings of the Anti-State-Church Con ference, in London, certain resolutions are reported to have been carried, which, when divested of their verbiage and reduced to simple propositions, are calculated to ex cite astonishment, if not alarm, in the mind of every one that values religious peace and national tranquility. Let these resolutions be translated into practice, and there will forthwith spring into being an agitation as direful in its effects upon personal excellence, as it must prove in jurious to the cause of truth and piety. It is admitting a great deal, but candour requires it, when we own our in dividual belief, that of all conflicts waged among man kind, those are the most bitter and most relentless which affect religion, and the particular mode of its dissemina tion and support. There is something in the rights of consc i enc e which every candid man will endeavour to respect ; but there are things attempted under the cloak of this principle that would make an angel weep. We admit the right of individuals to select which phase of truth appears most lovely to the heart and intellect, but if truth be embraced on its own account, without ulterior motives and sinister designs, the man embracing it will never seek to destroy the substance, or to enthrone the semblance in its stead. So much as an exposition'of our views upon the great questions of faith and governmen t, which have split the religious family into such innumer able segments, when if truth w ere r i g htl y appre h en d e d, andits influence properly felt and yielded to, the great circle of religious unity would be restored and perfected. It would seem, however, there is something in the genius of Dissent that disdains the peaceful principles of " religious truth. There is not sufficient of excitement, in its quiet but onward progress, to satisfy the restless activity and mental inflation of its votaries, and hence the model of their future proceedings has been selected from the condemned and rejected armoury . of the Anti-Corn L aw T.p.ue. A fund of £50,000 is forthwith to be raised, although the charitable instituti ons o f t h e i r com munity should suffer in consequence ; lecturers are forth with to be despatched throughout the length and breadth of . England ; and the sw o rd i s never to b e sheathed aga i n till the principle of religious endowments be obliterated from the permissive code of Britain, and the Church of of England be for ever separated from the State, of which it has so long been the beauty and support ; for a god less nation is a nation without hope, and the nation that would treat religion as a matter too trivial or too maim- - portant for its rulers-to protect, is beyond all remedy. But our present purpose is rather to elicit truth than provoke hostility. We really cannot think that the object implied by the language we have read, has faithfully presented the intention of the various speakers' minds. If it be so, then, indeed, it is time that Churchmen bestir themselves, or their altars will be overthrown, the vene rated fabrics of our established religion will be usurped by unworthy occupants, and religious anarchy, domestic strife, and rampant infidelity, will overspread our land.- We would, therefore, simply ask the Dissenting leaders, who have recently conferred together, what are their real intentions and purposes ? Are we truly to understand that the Church is to be bereft of her endowments and property ? Is it to be inferred that, because a portion of her temporalities are traceable to a date anterior to the reformation, that her possessions are to be defeased ? What is the object of this religious league ? Is it in tended to divert the funds of the Church from the pur poses to which they are now applied ? Is it thought th,t the fabrics of the Church will be better used and bet ter filled when she is no longer able to support ministry ? Is it presumed that, because the Church may not be loved, or her tenets entertained by every individua l in the State, the legislature will overturn the pious pa: poses of the benevolent and holy men who from day 1° day, since the period of the reformation, have been ex" pending their funds in promoting her efficiency and eir, tending her endowments ? What would be thought el Churchmen if they carried out this principle with thos, that differed from them ? What would then become el their meeting-houses and their various connexional en dowments ? But we cannot think it possible that tn:e. views we entertain can be an accurate representation the motives of this league. With these doubts we as ti for information ; we entreat the Dissenters to tell us whs they purpose. It is essential for the peace of Chriff'of dom, and the co-operation of religious men in wer"_..., charity and benevolence, that we know at once the Pn; pose of this movement. If the object be a religtouM„ volution, and, if under the mask of extended reformr u j the Dissenters are about to do, unwittingly, the WerhLia Papists and Infidels, they may rest assured that truth ‘;', l bo compromised, religion dishonoured, and the ne,tl", l , rent asunder by a commotion more violent than any lou` our chequered annals perpetuate and record.