The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-06-23 00:00:00

imprrial Varliammt. HOUSE OF LORDS.—MONDAY. Their lordships went into committee on the Corn Im portation Tne Duke of BUCKINC HAM moved as an amendment to the first clause that the words " until the let of Fe bruary, 1849," be omitted. On a division, the amendment was negatived by a ma jority of 33, ~ h en the original clause was agreed to; after which their lordships adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-MONDAY The adjourned debate on the Protection to Life (Ireland) Bill ;vac resumed. Sir R. INGLIS and Colonel VERNER severally con demned the delays which had taken place in passing this bill ; but at the same time would support it, having heard since they bad voted for the first reading no reason which should induce them to take a different course on this stage of the bill. Lord J. RUSSELL maintained that this bill was not ne cessary, for if he referred to the increase of crime in Ire land, he found there was nothing which might not be met by increasing the military forces in the disturbed districts, as had been done when the peace of the country was threatened to be interfered with in the manufacturing dis tricts of the north of England. He also taunted minis ters with having adopted all the measures of the Whig administration without having the candour to admit that they were doing so. _ . . Mr. DISRAELI said that the whole nation at once ad mitted that the noble lord (Lord J. Russell) had been harshly and unjustly treated. He then argued at great length against ti,e course pursued by government in re spect to the Coercion Bill, and finally referred to the re ply of Sir R. Peel to the attack made upon him by Lord G. Bentinck of having hunted Mr. Canning to death, al though he had previously avowed to Lord Liverpool that something should be done respecting the Catholic ques tion, and had subsequently in 1829 carried that very ques • tion through Parliament. The reply was, he contended, no answer. Tne right hon. baronet only relic.] on his speech of 1827, taking no cotice of his speech of 1829. But in the speech of 1829 be avowed, according to the re ports in the Mirror qf Parliament, and in the morning papers, that in 1825 he had stated to Lord Liverpool that something should be done with respect to the Catholic claims, and that be would retire from office till the bill were carried. This was his statement in 1829, although the corrected report in Hansard gave a different version of the speech, so far as omitting its most important por tions. The hon. gentleman also quoted passages from a speech of Mr. Canning, in which he treated Sir R. Peel's affected neutrality as open hostility, and expressed his sa tisfaction at finding it at length unmasked. The right bon. baronet bad no right to shelter himself beneath the cover of the courtesy which induced Lord G. Beutinck to designate him in parliamentary phraseology " his right hon. friend." Sir R. PEEL said the whole question turned upon the fact as to whether he had stated to Lord Liverpool in 1825 that something should be done with respect to the Catho lic claims. In that year he had opposed those claims, and asked Lord Liverpool to be relieved from his office, find ing that he was in a minority respecting matters so essen tial to the administration of affairs in Ireland. After such a lapse of time it was not to be expected that be should be prepared to reconcile conflicting reports of what he had said ; but he at once challenged the production of his let letter to Lord Liverpool, and he pledged his honour to the house that if the letter was in existence it should be laid upon the table in extenso, and at once show its nature and object. The debate was then adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS.-TUESDAY The hou=e went into committee on the C.rn Bill, when the Earl of WICK LOW moved an amendment, that a fixed duty of 54. should 132 imposed on foreign wheat, as well for the purpost.s of.revenue as for protection. Lord BROUGHAM contended that a fixed duty would he a po-itive tax, raising the price of corn by the whole amount of the tax. In reference to the motives of those noble peers who supported the bill in the hope that, by a coalition, subsequently, they would displace the govern ment, he expressed his belief that the present government was perfectly safe, and there would be no coalition such as was anticipated. Lord STANLEY disavowed all knowledge of any coali tion whatever. The present bill had been forced on the country by a very strange combination of parties. For his own part he preferred a sliding scale to a filed duty, but would vote for the amendment in order to preserve some porfon of protection until the country should have an opportunity of deciding upon the whole question at the next general election. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE was favourable to a fixed duty, but would sacrifice his individual opinions for the sake of a final settlement of a question of such importance to the country. A discussion ensued, which was chiefly in reference to the meeting at Lord John Russell's, in Cheshatn Place, after which the Committee divided, and the amendment was negatived by a majority of 140 to 107. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—TUESDAY. The house was occupied the whole night in the discus sion of the recommendations contained in the minute of the Board of Trade, of the 6th of June, 1846, on the re port of the Commissioners for inquiring into the guage of railways. The adoption of those recommendations was moved by Sir G. Clerk, and the debate upon them was ultimately adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-WEDNESDAY , Sir C. N API SR, upon the order of the day being read for the second reading of the Naval Civil Department Bill, I stated, that from the working of the Board of Admiralty, and the deterioration evidently fallen upon the service, it was high time that civilians should cease to act as rulers of the naval affairs of this kingdom. ki e could show from the registered opinions of naval commanders, that naval men were wanted to conduct the affairs of the navy. The building of ships was also imperfect. It was impossible that an officer not brought up in a dock-yard could have the requisite knowledge. Here they were in 1846, and they had not not advanced an inch in the science of steam ship building. To prove this, he would refer to the steam frigate Retribution, which only carried fuel for eight days, and could only fire one gun aft, whereas they should be able to bring three guns to bear. There was also the case of the Vulture, respecting which there were two returns, neither of which agreed with the other. The vessels called steam-frigates were really no such thing; they were steam-corvettes, and should be so called. He had exa mined them all, and be could declare that there was not one of them in as efficient a state as it ought to be. They all carried their steam-boxes five and six feet above the level of the water, and the consequence would be, that if a war were to take place to-morrow, and a shot struck the steam-box, every soul below would be killed. If the Lords of the Admiralty would submit to the experiment, and take their places in a vessel of war with her steam on, and the steam-box five or six feet above the surface of the water, and permit him to fire a 24-pound shot through the boiler, he would venture to say that not a single lord of the whole board would be forthcoming afterwards. (Laughter.) The hon. and gallant officer then proceeded to remark upon the inexpediency of " cutting down" ships, and converting large vessels into small corvettes. The average cost of ship-building for the last four years amen , ted to £1,300,000, and for the past year amounted to £1,600,000. (Hear, hear.) He did not think such an outlay was necessary, and he certainly would not, upon a future occasion, vote for similar estimates until he had full and correct returns submitted to him. But this de partment of the service could not be efficiently worked while the Board of Admiralty was constituted as it was at present. The first lord was a civilian, and he had all the patronage ; the first sea-lord undertook the ship-building, another the stores, another the victualling and medical de- partments, another the appointment of the officers. Now, he submitted it was perfectly impossible, from his inex perience of nautical matters, and on account of the multi farious nature of his duties, that the First Lord of the Admiralty could efficiently discharge them, and the con sequence would be that the duties would devolve upon subordinates, as was the case at present. He believed that the best way to reduce the Admiralty to what it ought to be, would be to have it ruled by three men who could not shift the responsibility from one to the other, and who would not be members of the government, and on that account liable to be changed by any alteration of the ad ministration. _ _ _ Lord lNaesrae seconded the motion. 111 r. CORRY stated, at the time of the introduction of this bill, that he could not hold out any prospect of giving it his support ; and he now found that it was not better that he was led to expect it would be. But it was diffi cult to make out what were the - precise objects of the hon. and gallant officer, as he had often changed his views; but now they had a definite plan proposed by the gallant admiral. and be must say that a more objectionable plan could not well be conceived. The house, he trusted, would excuse him from following the gallant commodore into all the details of the performance of ships, the im mersion of paddles in water, &c. These details might be very proper in themselves, but he denied that the govern ment had shewn themselves regardless of the interests of the navy. As soon as the present government came into office, they appointed a commission of scientific men to inquire into the best system of ship-building, and in the course of the last five years fifty-six ships had been or dered to be built, not by the Surveyors of the Navy. (Hear, hear.) With regard to the returns which had been mentioned, he was not responsible for their accuracy. The right hon. gentleman having next adverted to the ob servations which were made by the noble lord the member for Staffordshire, concluded by moving that the bill be read a second time that day six months. On a division, after a short debate, the bill was re jected by a majority of 107 to 11. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—THURSDAY. The early part of the evening was consumed in a discus sion on the remaking resolutions respecting the broad end narrow guages. They were ultimately agreed The CHANCELLOR Of - the EXCHEQUER gave notic e , that on Monday next he would move a resolution conti nuing -the existing sugar duties from the sth of July to the rithof August, in the present year. His reason for pro posing their continuance for a month was, that at present, owing to the length of the debates on the Irish Bill, suffi cient time could not be given to that ample discussion of them, which their importance required, and which must inevitably take place on the various important amend ments which had already been placed on the order book. The adjourned debate on the second reading of the Pro. tection of Life (Ireland) Bill was then resumed, and was again adjourned. In the course of the debate, Lord F. EGE4.'TON observed that there were certain broad facts on record which he could not deny. He be lieved that there way a diminution of crime generally throughout Ireland, but only in one of th e fi ve count i es affected by this ; white is the other four comities, which contained a population equal to one-sixth of the whole population of Ireland, the crimes which this bill sought, to prevent rather than to punish, had increased full 60 per cent. The question to be really considered by the house, before it assented to this bill, was this :—" Were the ordinary powers of the law sufficient to repress the existing disorders ?" He frankly confessed that he thought that they were not. Nay, he would venture to predict, that it Lord John Russell should, as was expected, shortly become minister, and if his benevolent projects for the conciliation and ameliora ion and regeneration of the peo ple of Ireland should lag behind the progress of these so cial evils, which all lamented,—as it was very probable, that without any fault of his they would,—he would be found coming down to Parliament to propose a measure with clauses, either analogous to those of the present bill, or only differing from them in departing more widely from the constitution. There were portions of the pre sent debate to which he had listened with great pain. He did not wish to re-infuse acrimony into a discussion, which for some time past had been conducted with exemplary moderation; but he must express his unaffected regret, that differences on politics had led to the sacrifice of the feelings of private friendship. On the occasion to which he alluded, Lord G. Bentinek had been defended with great zeal by Mr. Disraeli; but be must be permitted to inform both of these gentlemen, that the House of Com mons was not like the Court of Chancery, in which a bad precedent formed a good argument. Precedents might be formed for any nonsense or any violence of language; and therefore he valued little the precedents which Mr. Dis raeli had found for Lord G. Bentinck's application of the term of " paid Janissaries" to Sir R. Peel's colleagues, in the speeches of that able and generous, though not always temperate statesman, Mr. Fox. Mr. Fox had once said that he should not conceive himself safe in the same room with Lord North, and yet he had afterwards sate- with him in the same Cabinets. And who knew that all might not come right yet between Lord G. Bentinck and Sir R, Peel? He then disclaimed the appellation of a renegade, which Lord G. Bentinck had applied to several gentlemen as honourable as any in the house, and amongst others to himself. He concluded by stating that this measure had not been proposed as a cure for the evils of Ireland ; that be did not support it as such cure; but that he did sup port it as the means of putting down certain crimes which were prevalent in certain districts of Ireland. HOUSE OF LORDS.-FRIDAY A petition was presented by Earl FITZWI LLIAM, from a clergyman in Oxford, impressing upon the house the necessity of taking measures to increase the number of bishops in the country, which might be done without any increased expenditure, for the additional bishops might be paid from the surplus incomes, as the petitioner conceived them to be, of the present bishops. The petitioner also suggested that the existing bishops should no longer have the burden of their parliamentary duties, from which they should be relieved, in order that their whole attention might be devoted to their spiritual duties. After a short discussion, in the course of which it was on all hands admitted that the subject was one of great importance, the petition was ordered to lie on the table. The house then went into committee upon the Corn Importation Bill, and The Duke of RICHMOND moved a series of clanses, the object of which was to give tenants a power of giving six months' notice to give up their leases within six months after the passing of the bill, if they should think that they could no longer cultivate their farms with advantage under the new state of things. The Earl of RIPON thought these clauses would give rise to a vast deal of confusion, without giving any equi valent advantage to the tenantry of the country, and he should, therefore, oppose their introduction. The Earl of MALMESBURY was of opinion that the tenantry would be unjustly dealt with if these clauses were nct agreed to, for otherwise they would be placed by the modern le, illation of parliament entirely at the mercy of their landkrds. After some ob:ervations from Lord ASIIBURTON, The Duke of RICHMOND withdrew his motion, and the bill passed through committee. It was then arranged that the bill should be read a third time on Tuesday. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-FRIDAY The whole evening was consumed with a debate on Lord George Bentinck's attack on Sir Robert Peel with reference to the right hon. baronet's treatment of Can ning. Sir Robert entered into a long explanation on the subject, the chief features of which we give elsewhere. Lord G. Bentinck and Mr. Disraeli contended that the charge was sustained, whilst Mr. Goulborn, Lord John Russell, Sir John Hanmer, and others, considered Sir Robert's explanation a most triumphant defence. Lord SAN DON deprecated the course pursued by Lord George Bentinck, as the leader of the great country party, in persevering in those charges after their having been so completely refuted. It was the first time after a Minister of the Crown had denied statements attributed to him that he ever remembered an attempt made to convict him of a falsity. He could have wished that Sir R. Peel bad in terposed the weight of his authority at the time to save Mr. Canning from the persecution directed against him by others, but this charge brought by the noble lord could not be sustained. After sev-ral other members had spoken the subject dropped. In the course of the debate, however, the fol lowing sharp retort was made. Lord George Bentinck said that it was not from pers mai motives, but upon high constitutional grounds, that he now came forward to de nounce the crime of political tergiversation, and to plead the cause of betrayed constituencies. _ _ Mr. B. Escorihere asked the noble lord to name the corbtituejpiciea which had L... Lord BENTINCK, turning with some warmth to Mr. B. Escott. "-You ask me who has betrayed the constitu encies ? I answer you—l have the honour to be one of your constituents, and I know something of what passes at Winchester." The noble lord then went on with his speech. The debate on the Coercion Bill was adjourned to last night. FOREIGN AND COLONIAL. OVERLAND MAIL. The express in anticipation of the Overland Mail reached London on Saturday morning. The dates are, from Bombay, May 12; Calcutta, May, 3; Madras, May 8: Ceylon, May 11 ; and Hongkong, April 23. INDIA A disturbance had occurred at Lahore, on the 21st of April. A guard bad been set to prevent admission to one of the main streets, to facilitate the entrance of some ordnance stores. A drove of cattle endeavoured to force their way, when a couple of cows were wounded by the artillerymen on duty. An uproar immediately ensued ; stones and brickbats flew in all directions; one man is said to have been killed, and several severely injured ; and the shops throughout the city were shut up as if a general rising had been expected. Matters soon resumed tran quility : the leaders in the affray were taken up, and the ringleader is said to have been arreited. Above a hundred pieces of artillery are said to have been discovered concealed in various parts of the town. Two forts near our frontier on the Jullundur Doab side had refused to surrender; and one of these, Kute Kangra is considered by the natives to be impregnable. The gar rison, however, is said not to be numerous, nor the arma ment heavy ; provisions had been laid in for a seige of long duration. It is not easy to understand the feeling by which the governor of the garrison is actuated to re sistance, unless it be that chivalry of which the middle ages supply European examples, that a stronghold such as this should be maintained till captured, that nothing but sheer force can authorise its surrender. Our political agent had sent a messenger in the name of the British Government, while Runjeet Singh sent another on the part of the Sikhs, requiring the place to be given up with. out delay. The reception and reply vouchsafed to the messengers respectively were as pithy and unmistakeable as might be. The first had his face blackened, and both were unceremoniously turned out. The governor of the fortress declined giving a written reply, but stated that he considered Runjeet Singh a dug, held by the Maharajah in contempt, and would not open the gates until Runjeet Singh himself (who died in 1839) came to demand admit tance ; that he defied the British, and would give them a reply when they showed themselves in the pass. No sym pathy with this warlike spirit is manifested amongst the peo pie around. A strong and well-appointed force of 6000 men had been deslsatched for the reduction of their stronghold. The lianee had been dangerously ill, consequent on the administration of drugs to produce abortion. She was at one time reported dead, but the rumour was without foun dation. The country was extremely healthy and pleasant, and the troops in good condition. The climate in our new dominions is said to surpass in agreeableness and salubrity anything India can boast of. Nothing of any importance has occurred in India. The country was tranquil from end to end, except the disturb ance amongst the Ithoonds of Golcondah, to suppress which troops were being dispatched from the neighbouring stations of the Madras presidency. The cause would ap pear to be the interference of our agent for the suppression of human sacrifices, this season carried to a greater extent than usual. Cholera and a scar..ity of water and food were making sad havoc over the country, which could only be relieved by a speedy and abundant fall of rain. The Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of India were still at Sirnlah. The Governor of Bombay did not intend starting for Soonah till after the first fall of rain. COMMERCIAL CALCUTTA, MAY 2.—The money market had been much depressed, but was improving. Large remittances had, it was said. been received from Bombay and China, to meet the prompt of the third opium sale. Government securities continued very firm, especially the 4 per cent. Company's loans which are much sought after. Exchange was dull, and first-rate paper procured with difficulty at 2s. to 2s. id., at ten months' date. Bank Stock was rising, but few sellers in the market. BOMBAY, MAY 9.—Money was not procurable at Bom bay on any terms, and the distress likely to arise from this cause was looked upon with alarm. In cotton manufactures very little has been done during the week, there being very little inquiry for any descrip tion of goods. A few sales only are repor.ed in bleached shirtings, gray madapidlams, and jacconets, at about last week's prices. Of yarn in the gr a y 12,0001b 5 . 20 mu l e are said to have been sold at 6 annas per lb. In metals rather more has been done, but the transactions, with the exception of British bar iron, for which the inquiry has again revived, have been in some measure forced. The cotton trade continued dull. Rates of freights were again improving, there being less disposable tonnage in the market, and the latter was not to be had under 70s. per ton to London and 70s. to 755. to Liverpool; whilst 17 rupees per candy has been paid to China. _ _ _ _ The rate of exchange on London ruled more in favour of the drawer: and on the Bth, first-class paper could not be had under 2s. Id. and 2s. .Id. per rupee, six months sight, with an inclination downwards. THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. CHINA. The only event of any importance that had occurred at Hong Kung was a meeting between Sir John Davis and Keying, at the Bogue, on the 3d April. The greatest secrecy bad been observed on both sides before, at, and subsequent to the conference. COMMERCIAL. The import market, at Shanghae, was extremely dull, and money was scarce. There was much want of confi dence amongst the Chinese. owing to the failure of an extensive teabroker. At Shanghae there had been another stoppage, the party being the second principal native merchant. His liabilities were E mall in comply ison with the preceding failure. There was but little doing in tea. In green there had been a few operations at high rates. Freights were £6 per ton, and not likely to recede, as tonnage was much wanted. BRA ILs.—Her Majesty's packet Swift, Lieutenant Douglas, arrived on Wednesday from the Brazils. Sailed from Rio, April 25 ; Bahia, May 5 ; Pernambuco, May 12. Business at Rto has continued very restricted : a supera bundant supply of almost all descriptions of imports has rendered sales very difficult; our primary article of export has been brought to market in quantities very dispropor tionate to the demand, and the transactions of the money market continue limited as heretofore. THE WEST INDIA MAILS.—The steamer Forth, Cap tain Chapman, arrived at Southampton on Thursday evening at six o'clock, with the usual mails and 130 pas sengers, amongst whom is the Earl of Elgin, Governor of Jamaica, accompanied by his daughter and his sister, Lady Charlotte Bruce. The drought continued to have serious effect upon the crops, and the quantity of rain that had lately fallen was not in the least adequate to the wants of the agriculturists, who, during the last few months, have been exposed to extreme privations in this respect. Jamaica, Barbadoes, and Trinidad, seem to have expe rienced the chief weight of misfortune, though the whole range of islands has not, in any one instance, escaped from the unsatisfactory influence of the dry weather. The re turn of the Earl of Elgin to England on leave is adverted to in the papers. Hi; administration of affairs in Ja maica appears to call forth general praise. The railway has remained in gcod working condition, and the mer chandise traffic has considerably increased in the last month. In Demerara the rain had been sufficient to break up the drought in many quarters, and the manufacture of sugar, after a pause of some months. had been resumed. The estimates of the crop were various, and 20,000 hhds. had been calculated as the probable amount of production. NEW ZEALAND.—By the arrival of the ship Augustine at Penzance, papers front Launceston, of the 28tb of Feb. have been received. Through the medium of Hobart Town, accounts have been received at Launceston, from New Zealand, announcing the capture of the pah occupied by the chiefs Kawiti and Heki, on the llth Jan. after a cannonade which had breached it in several places. The loss sustained in the attack on our part was 12 killed and 30 wounded. The Governor Grey was present at the at tack, and after driving the aborigines out, he published a proclamation offering a general amnesty, which appears to have been accepted by all but Heki, who had burned ano ther pah, and had retreated into the bush with his tribe. We have received additional accounts from New Zealand fourteen days later than this news, from which a e learn that a pah, more strongly fortified than that which had been lately stormed and taken by the British forces, had been purposely set on fire and destroyed by Ileki, who had resolved to take to the bush, as affording better means of protracting the warfare than fortified places, which, whatever the amount of resistance offered, must eventu ally fall into the power of disciplined forces provided with artillery. Brussels and Paris are now united by railroad. General Lind William Russell is lying hopelessly ill at Genoa. The France says :—" We are able to state that in September next there will be a meeting of the three Sovereigns of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, at Vienna." The accounts of the growing crops in various parts of the continent are generally very favourable, and notice the Prevalence of weather corresponding in brilliancy to our own. A Paris journal mentions the following as the probable candidates for the Papal throne :—Cardinal Franzoni, aged 71 ; Cardinal Castruccio Castracane, 67; Cardinal Orioli, 61 ; Cardinal Micara, 71 ; Cardinal Polidori, 68; and Cardinal Mattei, 54. THE OLDEST SOVEREIGN IN EUROPE.—In conse quence of the deatn of the Pope, the oldest Sovereign in Europe is now Earnest Augustus, King of Hanover, born June 5, 1771. The next in age is the King of the French, born October 5, 1773. The body of the late Pope, after being embalmed, was dressed in the usual robes, and laid in state in the chapel of Sextus IV., in the Vatican, during the afternoon of the 2nd instant, and was visited by a large concourse of people. In the evening of the same day it was carried with the urn containing the heart to the parish church of Saint Vincent and Anastasius, and there deposited. __ OPEN TRADE WITH CHINA.—A letter from Ham. burgh, of the 10th instant, states that the first two ves sels which had ever traded with China from that port ar. rived, during the last week (tom Canton. Each vessel brought a large cargo of tea, and the two cargoes had been sold entirely to the house of Hertford, Brothers, and Co., of that city, for 900,000 marks, or .£68,000. The tiara or triple crown now used in the coronation of the popes, is that which Napoleon presented to Pius VII. There is another given by the last Pope Gregory XVI. The tiaras and valuable mitres are kept in the Fort of St. Angelo, whence they are brought on the occasions of co ronation, Ma Li... piftaseest<4 by I.T.poicon its formed of white •elvet, on which the three crown. are wrought in sapphires, emeralds, and rubies. On the top is a very large emerald, surmounted by a diamond cross. It is es. ticnated at 80,000 Roman crowns, or 428,000 f. ROMISH HUMILITY.—The Emperor and Empress of Brazil are on a tour of the provinces of Brazil. Before quitting the city of St. Paulo, the following scene is de scribed-by the " Commissioner of the Journal do Corn mercio :"—" The morning service at the cathedral on Good Friday having been concluded, one of the most sublime and touching scenes took place at the palace. The emperor washed the feet of a dozen poor people and of one priest. This ceremony was performed in the drawing-room, where the throne had been erected, and a number of the first families were invited to be present, and every male or female, decently dressed, admitted. The twelve poor persons were clothed at the expense of the emperor, and presented with money and the towel which had been used in washing their feet. The solem nity of the act, and the humility of the sovereign kneel. ing at the feet of the most misera -le of human beings, thus imitating the bright example of our blessed Re deemer, and the conviction that this religious act sprung from the spontaneous and unostentatious devotion of the monarch, drew tears from the eyes of many of the spec tators." UNIVERSITY 5 CLERICAL NEWS. The Duke of Wellington has appointed Sir Charles Wetherell to be deputy steward of Oxford University. The place is held during life. At his ordination, on Trinity Sunday, the Lord Bishop of Chicester admitted iivn the holy order of deacons, Mr. George Rees and Mr. Willian Edwards, the former of whom had been a dissenting preacher at Worthing, and the latter followed the same occupation at Brighton. WESTLEIGH NEW CHURCH.—The ceremony of laying the first stone of a church, to be dedicated to St. Paul, at Rekley Green, in Westleigh, near Leigh, took place on the 22nd instant; the Hon. and Rev. Horace Powis, A.M., Rector of Warrington, acting for his brother, the Right Hon. the Lord Lilford, patron. The Rev. T. Moseley has unconditionally surrendered the valuable rectory of St. Martin's, Worcester, from no other motive than to have this most important parish placed in the hands of one whose health and physical powers would enable him to discharge the sacred and re sponsible duties more efficiently than himself. . COLONIAL CHURCH.—An interesting church of wood, which is destined for the diocese of Jamaica, has been lately completed by Mr. Thompson, architect, of Lime house. It is capable of accommodating from three to four hundred persons, and consists of a nave and chancel, the latter being furnished with a window of stained glass, which bears the figure of St. James, to whom the church is to be dedicated. The nave is neatly fitted with open sittings, a pulp:t and an eagle lectern. The windows at the eastern extremity of the nave are also of stained glass; that on the north bears the arms of his excellency the Earl of Elgin, the governor; that on the south the family arms of the bishop quartered with those of the see. THE REV. T. D. GREGG AND HIS ASSAILANTS.—The difference between the Rev. T. D. Gregg and the Dublin Evening Packet has been settled by the insertion of the following apology on the part of the Packet, satisfactory to the friends of Mr. Gregg :—" It may be remembered that some time since an article appeared in the Evening Packet, commenting on the conduct of the Rev. T. D. Gregg, at a meeting of the Protestant Operative Society. That article was, we regret to say, couched in strong and unjustifiable terms. A very few days after it appeared, we expressed, on what we meant to be full and unequivo cal terms, our retractation of every offensive imputation conveyed by that article, and the apology we felt we owed fur its insertion. It has, however, been communicat e d t o us by mutual friends of both parties, that Mr. Gregg did not consider our retractation what he intended it should be, full and sufficient. We have read over the article more carefully, and we feel ourselves called upon distinct ly to retract it, and to express our regret that the Evening Packet should have been made the vehicle of such obser vations as that article contains. Our attention h as b een particularly directed to two portions of the article, w hi c h are at le .st susceptible of the construction which we are told has been put upon them : the one appearing to con vey reflections upon the character of Mr. Gregg in his clerical capacity, the other to imply that he had been the subject of ecclesiastical censure. Both imputations, if really conveyed, would be unjust and unfounded. How ever we may differ with him upon the prudence of the course which in some instances he may have taken, we have never failed to appreciate the purity of his motives, and to applaud that spirit of independence which has on all occasions characterised his public conduct. As to the insinuation that Mr. Gregg has been the subject of eccle siastical censure, we do not believe that the writer of the article meant to convey more than that differences existed between Mr. Gregg and the Archbishop of Dublin. It is a subject, however, upon which there should be no mis appiehension, and it is therefore right to say that no ecclesiastical censure has ever been pronounced upon Mr. Gregg. And we never intended to convey that he is ca pable of wilfully violating any rule of the Church of which he is a member. In making this reparation for the effect which such a publication might have upon Mr. Gregg's feelings, admitting, is we do, that his character as a Chri-tian clergyman stands unimpeached, we reserve to ourselves at all times the full right to comment, as our duty may require, upon any act of his, as a politician, which may call for observation." IRELAND. O'Connell's motto is : " Rents carefully collected." The Protestants of Dublin intend to commemorate the great day of the Ist July by au open-air soiree. In the croon prosecution case against the Dub'in Na tion for seditious libel, the jury could not agree and were discharged. The anniversary of the battle of Aughrim (the 12th July) will be celebrated at Enniskillen this year with more than usual grandeur. Is IT POSSIBLE ?—A touching sight may be witnessed at the Public 'Works at Park. a poor young woman, with a child at her breast, employed in breaking stones. So says the Limerick Chronicle. ARRIVALS OF POTATOES.—From the Ist to 15th June, there arrived at Union Quay 33 hookers containing 65,463 weights of 21lbs. of potatces. During the cot re sponding days of the previous year, 30 cargoes arrived amounting to 41,820 weights, so that this year, as com pared with the preceding, there is an excess of 23,643 weights sold at that quay.—Cock Constitution. CHARITY UNCHARITABLY ADMINISTERED.----The relief committee of Tetnnle.ierry, county of Tipperary, have adowed a most extraordinary mode of effecting the charitable designs for which they were constituted. In last number of the Limerick Reporter an advertisement appeals, purporting to have been published at the instance of the committee, holding up to scorn three landed pro prietors, by name. for having declined to contribute. The Dublin Evening Packet intimates that such a course is exposing the individuals to assassination. SELF-DEVOTION.—A. very melancholy catastrophe oc curred on Sunday last at a place called Ballyglass, in the neighbourhood of Woodford. A man named Flanagan, tenant to the Hon. A. Nugent, who had been married only two months, accompanied his wife to their farm for the purpose of milking the cows. While she was thus employed, the husband went to bathe in an adjoining ri ver ; his cries soon attracted his wife's attention ; she ran to his assistance, plunged in, and in the struggle both perished.—Galway Vindicator. DELIBERATE MURDER.—On the night of Thursday, a farmer, Mr. James Fennell, was deliberately shot dead when returning in his car from the fair of Kilkenny. There were seated with him at the time his young son and a servant girl, and two men named Mulhall were in his company, one in front and the other in the rear of the car, but no attempt whatever was made by them to arrest the assassin: A person named Boyle, however. with whom deceased had had a quarrel. having succeeded him in a farm, has been taken into custody.—[Whilst these appalling deeds of blood are committed, the Impe rial Legislature is wrangling and hesitating about the passing of a measure for the better protection of the lives of innocent men !] THE FAMINE tiELusloN.—The accounts received from nearly every part of Ireland contain the most satisfactory statements respecting the supply of provisions, there be ing no scarcity, but a comparative abundance, of food. The following is an extract from a private letter received by a gentleman in this town from a friend at Rockfield, Stranorlan, Donegal !—" I am sure you will be glad to observe how gradually the cry of famine in Ireland has died away. Contrary to all expectation, and all predic tion, the supply of potatoes, and oatmeal, &c. is very abundant, and the price comparatively cheap ; and I am happy to be able to inform you that in the north of Ire land 1 believe there is rather less want and destitution just now, than is usually the case at this season of the year, in consequence of more employment and better wages on railroads. &c. The weather here is all that could be desired, and the appearance of the growing crops most promising." O'CONNELL AND REPEAL.—Our readers are aware that it has been stated by the Dublin Evening Mail, that Mr. O'Connell said at the meeting at Lord J. Russell's, " All he ever wanted was a real union, the same laws, the same franchises. &c. ;" and it was consequently inferred by some, that O'Connell would abandon repeal so soon as the Whigs came into office, and that some compact had been entered into by these parties, either tacit'y or other wise, with this understanding. The Nation of Saturday devotes an article to this rumour, and qa!es that thom , h it has not the authority of Mr. O'Connell to contradict this, still it pronounces the whole a falsehood. From the tone and general spirit of the leading articles in that jour nal, we should, however, say that it was not devoid of fears about a split in the repeal ranks. It urgently warns the people of Ireland to beware of "sham repeilers" and Whig treachery, and not be humbugged by the cry of " beloved Normanhy" and "amiable Morpeth." From this we should th'nk a split in the repeal ranks is at hand. Time will tell. The Mail adheres to its st itsment. WHAT NEXT ?—An advertisement appears in most of the Dublin Roman Catholic papers of this present week, and which is one of the most extraordinary documents that ever met unblushingly the eye of a Christian people. This advertisement is headed "The Catholic Missionary College of All-Hallows, Drumcondra, Dublin." and contains an appeal to " the public" for support to th's institution, which is devo'ed to the education of priests for the foreign missions. Tiie liberality of " the faithful" is earnestly invoked, and, judging from the magnitude of the subscription list, to good purpose, upwards of £B,OOO being already acknowledged ; and a variety of induce ments are supplied to stimulate generosity, and swell the contributions t its funds. The document details first certain privileges to be enjoyed by individuals subscribing a certain sum, and then comes the following, which we print just as we find it, italics and all :—" The holy sa c, ifice of the Mass is offered up every morning for all the Subscriber. and Benefactors—living and dead, and for their intentions; they will, moreover, be entitled to a participation the ineritaf „IA. -v.," estotic - taaours; converisons 9 Masses, prayers and other good works, y which mahe the fruit of this institution, throughout the world to the end of time." And this appears on Tuesday, June the 9th, in the year of grace one thousand eight hundred and forty-six !! REPEAL ASSOCIATION. Alderman Delahunty, of Waterford, occupied the chair at the weekly meeting on Monday. A letter was read from Mr. O'Connell, de nouncing Michael M`Donagh, James Daly, and John Agnow, repeal wardens, at Manchester, as having "im properly and,violently interfered in a difference respecting the ecclesiastical jurisdiction in one of the chapels of that town," and recommended that they should immediately be struck off the roll of the association. The letter con demned the Coercion Bill, and censured the government for not giving Ireland a franchise bill or amended Muni cipal reform.—A. letter was read from Mr. W. S. O'Brien. Mr. Meagher explained the reason of Mr. O'Brien's ab sence. A sense of duty had compelled him to go to London, in order to record his vote against the Coercion Bill. It was rumoured that a change of Ministry was about to take place ; but, whether or not, the principles of the repeal association would remain unchanged. He (Mr. Meagher) alluded to this matter, because it was rumoured abroad that the people were to be purchased back to the support of the Whigs ; but the repeaters now knew their strength, and would pursue an independent policy, seeking for the restoration of their national legis lature. Some observations from this speaker gave rise to a rather angry tone, but the matter was ultimately com promised by mutual explanations, which had been objected to as instilting towards Mr. O'Connell. The rent for the week, which included £3l is. Oil. from Manchester, per the Rev. Dr. Hearne, arid £8 10s. from Liverpool, per Mr. George Smith, was announced to be £lO9 4s. 4d. CURIOUS OCCURRENCE.—A great deal of excitement prevailed in this city on yesterday, in consequence of a report that two men belonging to one of the ships in the river had died of cholera. This is not the fact, although itris true that two men belonging to the Anne Simple, from Liverpool, died under circumstances which have led to the suspicion that their deaths were caused by poison. On Wednesday, Dr. Beveridge was sent to visit a sick man on board the Anne Simple. He found him in the agonies of death, and the same evening he died. His name was Patrick M'Brearty, a native of Killebegs, in the county of Donegal. He was a fine young man, about twenty years of age, and was cook of the vessel. M - . Beveridge found a lad on board who was very ill. He had him removed to the Dispensary in Francis-street, where he applied medical remedies with a very good effect. lie is now in hospital doing well. The second man, who has since died, was the mate of the vessel. Bis name was Robert Tobin, aged 25, a native of Fatrick, county Water ford. He was taken ill on Wednesday evening, and died yesterday, about twelve o'clock. Several others of the crew were attacked with the disorder from which these men died. The symptoms being the same as occur in cases of poiso:,ing, dysentry, vomiting, and convulsions, suspicion was excited, and the inquest was adjourned to Tuesday next, in order to give time for post mortem ex aminations by medical gentlemen of the contents found in the stomachs. The bodies were conveyed to the new city court-house, where they were examined last night by Drs. Lloyd, Beveridge, Parker, and Gelston. From inquiries as to the sort of food used on board, we learn that the men were seized with illness after havinc , par taken of some soup of which bailey was an ingredient.' The captain states that he bad no arsenic or other poison on board, and that the barley was purchased at a grocer's, in Liverpool, and not at a druggist's.—Limerick Ex aminer of Saturday. - - - - LAW INTELLIGENCE. There are in England upwards of 2800 metropolitan and 4000 country attorneys. Joseph Phillia:ore, Esq., D.C.L., has been appointed Judge of the Consistory Court of Gloucester, in the room of Dr. Middy, who has resigned in consequence of ill health. Mr. David Pollock (elder brother of the Chief Baron of the Exchequer) has just received the appointment of Chief Justice of Bombay, the salary of which is £BOOO per annum. Mr. Pollock is now on circuit discharging the duties of commissioner of the Insolvent Debtors' Court, which office be has enjoyed for about two years, having received that appointment on the death of the late Mr. Commissioner Bowen. The salary of the commis sioners of the Insolvent Court is £1,500 a year. Mr. Cooke, the eminent barrister, practising in the Bankrupt and Insolvent Courts, is generally expected to fill the vacancy caused by the removal of Mr. Pollock. A case was beard in the Exchequer Chamber, which came before the court on a writ of error, to try the effect of a clause, usually inserted in life assurance policies, to the effect that the policy became void if the insurer com mitted suicide. The insurer in the present case had ef fected five policies in the Argus-office, for £999 each, and last year, while suffering from insanity, committed suicide. A decision in favour of his widow hail been given by Mr. Justice Cresswell, on the ground that suicide under such circumstances, did not come within the direct meaning of a felonious act. After the ease had been fully argued, the court held that if a man volunta? ily killed himself, it was of no consequence whether he was sane or not, and re versed the judgment of the court below. A MIDSHIPMAN'S OUTFIT.—On Wednesday,an action Was tried at Westminster before Lord Denman. br)ug,lit by Jarvis and Jones, outfitters, against the Earl of Do cie, for £202 18s. 4d. the value of an outfit as midship man supplied to Lord Ducie's son, the Hon. A. A. Moreton, for a cruise in the Pacific, Lord Ducie paid £l6O into court, and resisted payment of the balance, on the ground that the outfit furnished his son was lirger than necessary, and the charges we►e extravagant. Lord Denman summed up, and told the jury that the ques tion they bad to decide was whether the plaintiffs, who had previously supplied outfits to Mr. Moreton, and been paid for them by the defendant, considered Mr. Moreton authorised to gave the order, always recollecting that it would be no advantage to the defendant if his son had been supplied with unnecessary articles. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs, for the sum of £-19 18s. 4d., which, with the £l6O paid into court, amounted to their whole demand. THE C,;URT (5- FASHIONABLE WORLD, The Queen, Prince Albert, and the royal children ar rived at Osborne House on Friday, from Buckingham Palace. His R. H. Prince Albert honoured the Duke of Wel lington with his compsny to dinner on Thursday evening at the Waterloo Banquet given by his Urace at Apsley H ouse. On Wednesday morning, at about half-past nine o'clock, the ceremony of churching the Queen, was performed in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, by the Arch. bishop of Canterbury. There were present only Prince Albert, the Dowager Lady Lyttleton, and the Master of the Household. The Queen Dowager has gone on a visit to the Conti nent. Her Majesty arrived at Ostend on Tuesday. The Marquis of Westminster is suffering from a slight attack of gout at Grosvenor House. The Duke of Cambridge has accepted an invitation to Ravensworth Castle, for the purpose of being present at the Royal Agricultural Show, at Newcastle, in July next. The Grand Duke Constantine took his departure from Spitbead on Tuesday, on board the Russian squadron, for St. Petersburg. Captain and Lady Adela Ibbetson have arrived at Lea mington Spa from bead-quarters of the regiment, the Ilth Hussars, at Coventry. The Daily Ntlas says that Lord Francis Egerton is to be elevated to the peerage by the title of Lord Ellesmere, and Sir James Graham by the title of Lord Preston. The Times calls the statement "absurd." On Thursday, the Duke of Sexe Coburg arrived at Southampton, in the Polyphemus war steamer. Shortly after bis arrival, the Duke and his suite left Southampton for London. Amongst the fashionable gossip of the week is a rumcur that Viscount Seaham, eldest son of the Marquis of Lon- donderry, is engaged to Miss Hall. daughter of Sir Ben jamin Hall, Bart., the wealthy Welsh Ironmaster, and Radical member for Marylebone, Three splendid Cochin China fowls (a cock and two hens), bred at th 4 R,)yal Aviary at Windsor, have been forwarded to Strathfieldsave, es a preQent from her Ma jesty to the Hon. and Rev. Gerard Valerian Wellesley, brother of the Duke of Wellington. The Countess Delawarr had a narrow escApe from drowning a few days since. She was precipitated into the water whilst stepping into a boat for the purpose of hav ing an excursion on the lake in Buckhurst. Park. A la bourer near the spot jumped in and saved her ladyship. . - . TUE WATERLOO BANQUET.—On Thursday, the anni versary of the battle of Waterloo, the Dnke of Welling ton gave his customary dinner at Apsley House, in com memoration of the victory. A large crowd assembled, in order to ca►ch a glimpse of those invited, several of whom were loudly cheered. Among the guests were Prince Albert, Count Kielmansegge, the Hanoverian minister ; Prince Castelcicala, the Neapolitan minister; the Marquis of Anglesey, Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Lord Saltoun, Sir John Vandeleur, Sir Colin Halkett, and a number of other distinguished officers who served in the Waterloo compaign. The arrangements for the banquet were the same as on previous occasions, and are so well known as to render any detail superfluous. After the usual loyal toasts and the health of the Duke of Wellington had been drunk, the Duke proposed `• The army that fought at Waterloo." In the course of his address, he adverted in terms of warm eulogium to the conduct of the army in the recent campaigns on the Sutlej, and expressed his gratification at the success which had attended the British troops under the eye of his old compsnion in arms. RAILWAY 11\i't ELIAUEACE. It is stated that the London and York Railway Com pany will commence operations, by making the loop from Peterborough to Lincoln. Metjor-General Pasley inspected the North British line on Wednesday. It will he opened for public traffic as soon as the authorisation of the Board of Trade is received. A new Narrow Gauge Engine has been tried on the Sheffield and Manchester, named the Goliab, whose power is able to draw 1,000 tons at a speed of 20 miles per hour on a level. The Morning Chronicle states that the number of fish mongers in Birmingham has, since the opening of the va rious railways which now centre in that town (between 1829 and 1845), inceased from 10 to 40 ; and the quantity of fish consumed. from 400 to 3,000 tons annually. The proposed Great Central Station of the London and Birmingham, in Birmingham, will be upwards of 300 yards from east to west, and its average breadth 70 yards. It will occupy five acres. There will be two sets of good stations ; and the estimated expense is £350,000. The directors of the Eastern Counties Railway have signified their readiness to convey labourers a distance of five miles alone. their Una far la_ /mot., ni g ht and mornin g . which will enable them to live at a distance from their work without much expense or inconvenience. From the speed at which the experimental trip was made a few days since on the Great Western Railway, it will be practicable, when the line of railway is open, for a person to leave London, dine and transact business in Edinburgh, and return to the great metropolis on the same day between the hours of six and ten o'clock. SABBATH RAILWAY DESECRATION.—Mr. Peter Dick son, on retiring from the direction of the Newcastle and Cart'sle Railway Company, says, " Another reason which has induced me to retire from the direction is the con tinuance and frequency of the cheap Sunday trains, a prac tice against which I have always protested, but which I ace no reason to hope will be speedily discontinued." RAILWAY TRAFFIC.—From official returns it appears that the amount of traffic for the last week, on nearly 1.800 miles of railway, was £170,396. thus accounted for : —X1,7,707 for the conveyanceof passengers only. £30.026 for the carriage of goods, and a remainder of £32,663 for passengers and good? together, not respectively appor tioned ; being an increase over the corresponding week of last year of £45,282. THE LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM, &C., AMALGAMA TION.—On Tuesday last, the chairman of the committee of the House of Commons, alter a clause had been in serted empowering the board of trade to interfere if the amalgamation should prove disadvantageous to the pub lic, announced that the committee had decided that the preambles of the various bills for amalgamating the Lon don and Birmingham, Manchester and Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, and Grand Junction Railway Companies were proved. CAPITAL FOR RAILW AYS.—A correspondent of a rail way paper observes •—" During the French war, a period of 22 years, the English people lent the Government 6011 millions, being at the average rate of 271 millions an nually—a sum which, if judiciously expended, would be sufficient to construct not only all the necessary railways for the United Kingdom, but for the whole of Europe. More than this, they raised in the year 1815, by tires and loans, 170 millions, a sum much greater tha❑ all the rail ways likely to be sanctioned by Parliament this session would amount to, requiring five years at least to construct them." The Great Western Railway Company met with a se vere reverse on Thursday, the Select Committee of the House of Commons having, after a long inquiry, de clared that the preambles of the Exeter, Yeovil and Dor chester, and the London, Salisbury, and Yeovil Dili; (narrow gauge) were proved, and that the preamble of the Exeter Great Western Bill (broad gauge) promoted by the Great Western Company, was not proved. The re sult of this decision is, that there will be direct railway communication on the narrow gauge princ . ple, in con nection with the South Western Company, between London and Exeter, via Basingstoke, Salisbury, and Yeo vil or, in other woods, by the old mail coach road. PROGRESS OF RAILWAY BILLS.—The Railway Chro nicle, in giving an ace cunt of the progress of railway bills last week, says—" At the rate at which bills have been disposed of this last week, we may almost expect to have a total clearance of the whole multitude be'ore parliament is up, unless, indeed, a dissolution should intervene, with its blight." The following is a summary of the week's work:—ln the Lords—proved: Direct London and Portsmouth ; North Stafford ; Stamford and Spalding. Not proved : Guldford, Chichester ' Portsmouth, and Fareham.—ln the Commons—proved: Alston and New castle; Birmingham and Bristol; Brighton and Croydon Consolidation ; East and West India Docks and Bir mingham Junction ; Eastern Counties Stations Enlarge ment ; Exeter, Yeovil, and Dorchester, except as to Beaminster Branch ; Gravesend and Rochester Canal Purchase; G!asuow and Belfast Union ; Great Leinster and Munster; Great North of England Purchase; Lon don and Birmingham, (Aylesbury Purchase,l (Amalga mation,) (Nuneaton, Ccventry and Nuneaton Branches); London, Salisbury, and Yeovil; Midland, (Oakham Ca nal Purchase,) (Leicester and Swannington Vesting); Midland Great Western, Mullingar to Athlone ; Swansea Vale. Not proved : Ayrshire and Galloway ; Bristol, Birmingham, Asbchurch, &c. ; Chichester, Fareham, and Portsmouth (not to be proceeded with) ; Exeter Great Western ; Irish Great Western ; Leicester and Birmingham (Baxter's line) ; Monkland and Kirkintil loch ; Newcastle and Carlisle (Bellingham Branch) ; Newcastle and Direct Glasgow ; South-Eastern (Chislet to Margate). DOMESTIC. A public dinner to celebrate the presentation of the National Te,tinaonial to Mr. Rowland Hill, for his inde fatigable and successful exertions in the cause of " Penny Postage," took place on Wednesday at the West India Dock Tavern (Lovegrove's well-known establishment), at Blackwall. Mr. Warburton, M.P. presided on the occasion, and about seventy gentlemen were present. The gross sum of £15,725 4s. 81d. has been subscribed, and, after deducting exuenses, there has been paid over to Mr. Hill the s um of .X 13,360 19s sd. The danger of entrusting children with lucifer matches has been forcibly ill ustrate d i n severa l i ns t an ces within the last two or three weeks by several ricks having been destroyed, owing to their mischief on the part of children playing with matches. Another instance occurred on Wednesday, at Wittoh, near Droitwich, where three boys between the ages of five and eight were amusing them selves by making bonfires under a rick of hay, which closely adjoined another, and both of which are set on fir'. And only saved from entire destruction by great ex ertion. June 1.3, 1846: PEEPr TVATING A NAME —A Roman cement manu facturer of Lerby, named Brookbouse, who died and was buried last week, devised a singular mode of preserving Lis memory. A thick I,.ycr of cement was spread at the bottom of his grave, just before the coffin was lowered; the sides and ends were then filled, and another layer of the same material at the top completely hid the coffin from view, and rendered it air-tight. Before it hardened, which the cement d;d in a few minutes, to the consistency of the hardest stone, the deceased's name was traced in the yielding mass, so that if, at some future age, the de posit should be disturbed, the name of the occupier of the interior may be read. ALARMING EVENT.—On Tuesday night, as the mail train from the north was proceeding to London, one of the leading carriages took tire at Kilshy Tunnel, about four miles beyond Rugby, from the falling of a spark emitted by the engine, which set fire to the luggage placed at the top of the vehicle. Mr. Mason, Town Clerk of Doncaster, and Mr. Vickers, of Sheffield, who were seated in the carriage, were exposed to great personal danger. The progress of the fire was so intense and rapid that they were compelled to quit it and seek for safety by standing on the wooden steps ; tbus exposing themselves to a double danger. The train was stopped as speedily as possible, and the fire extinguished by a supply of water from the engine. The luggage of many of the passengers was wholly destroyed or seriously injured. it is a very for tunste circumstance that these gentlemen, placed as they were in this extremely perilous position, were enabled to provide for their personal safety; as, in the course of a few minutes, the roof, with the burning luggage, would have fallen in upon them. The damaged carriage was left at Wolverton ; and the train reached its destination w;thout the occurrence of any other accident.—Doncaster Gazette. BIRMINGHAM MUSICAL FESTIVAL.—We are at length able to announce the completion and arrival of Mendels sohn's new oratorio, " Elijah," a work that will form one of the most prominent and attractive features of the ap proaching Birmingham Musical Festival. In the opinion of the gifted composer himself, it is his chef d'auvre. During the last year Mendelssohn's progress through the German festivals—at each of which be has produced and conducted some of his best compositions—has been one series of successes ; but we expect that the forthcoming performance of this, his new and favourite work, und e r his immediate superintendence, will be his crowning tri umph. We are assured. by competent authority, that it fully warrants the predilections formed in its favour by the composer, and that full of melody, clear in vocal part writing, and rich in instrumentation, it will justify the most sanguine expectations of its success. We are much pleased to find that the Festival Committee have nearly completed their arrangements and selections both of per formances and performers, and that amongst other good things promised to us Beethoven's Mass in D, probably the greatest work of this sublime composer, and which, from its requirements of space and size of choir and band, has never before had a chance of being heard in this coun try in so complete a manner, will be produced, and that its effects will be enhanced by the engagement of the whole Philharmonic Orchestra. 'We may direct the at tentionlof our readers to the liat of principal singers en g ged, which will be found in another column.—Birming ham Herald. PxTTY LARCENY NOT KNOWN IN LAW BOOKS.—A. gentleman in the neighbourhood of Inverness, who rejoices in a beautiful garden, and has a passion for flowers, re ceived lately from the south a rich assortment of seeds, the germs of various floral treasures, new or unknown in our northern region. The seeds were committed to the earth, each being distinguished by the tally-stick and written label containing the name of the plant. To the surprise and dismay of the owner however, the whole of those labels were one day missing. The "tallies" re mained, apparently untouched, in their respective posi tions, but not one of the labels could be discovered. The whole number, amounting to twenty.seven, had been withdrawn from the separate notches, and so dexterously was the feat accomplished, that not a foot-print or trace of violence was visible. Here was irreparable loss and endless confusion 1 How could the names of the flowers he ascertained—what motive could have prompted the theft? After a careful scrutiny the mystery was unra velled. In a pear-tree, close to the flower-beds, was found a bird's nest, partly formed and compacted of the lost treasures. During the quiet of the Sabbath morning a pair of busy and felonious blackbirds had abstracted the learned lines, and very ingeniously interwoven them with the moss, roots, and other materials of their nest, plaster ing over the Latin polysyllables with a careless bat barity worthy of the Goths or any other destroyers of learning. The evil was without remedy, for the florist knew not how to put back the labels in their proper places. Accor dingly the flowers are left to spring unnamed, and the birds retain possession of their spoil.—Jrrerness Courier. AMUSING OCCURRENCE.—During Ibrahim Pacha's visit to Birmingham his highness was informed that the skin of a whale was to be exhibited, and his highness im mediately ordered a car to convey him to the exhibition. The proprietor, who had been previously apprised of his highness's intention to ho n o ur hi m w ith a visit,imme diately determined on making the most of his distinguished visitor. In a short time, the Pacha and his attendants arrived, as they thought, quite privately, and were imme diately conducted into the exhibition-booth. The pro prietor then made his appearance on the outer platform, and with a stentorian voice announced that he had then for exhibition the monstrous whale, with which he judi ciously contrived to couple the name of the Pacha, so as to constitute him a part and parcel of the exhibition. It is needless to say the announcement was successful, and of the all the crowded suchrreoorwpe r before aecdtor tur ot stoodhe cafe spectators.sthi n, e anne m onster eddthoe f p; Money-takers l deep Pacha having a.actvaeiknb egerbecame honoured mw been eer informed ns: with ntiv of the benefit which his visit had conferred upon the show man, good humouredly enjoyed the amusement, and while the crowds were rushing in through the front entrance, he took his departure from the rear of the erection, leav ing the proprietor to settle with the company for the non appearance of one portion of the exhibition which he had ingeniously announced. On his return to the hotel the adventure constituted some good jokes for the evening, which were not lessened by another application from Mr. Showman, for the Pacha to visit him again. A guinea, however, was given as a substitute for his highness's at tendance, and the intended honour was declined. THE WHOLESALE MATRIMONIAL SPECULATOR.—At the New Court, London, before the Recorder, Joseph Mortimer, aged 83, described as a labourer, was indicted for feloniously intermarrying Caroline Wright, on the 7th of June, 1845, his wife, Josephine Langbourne, being then alive. No counsel was engaged for the prosecution; and the prisoner, who was undefended, pleaded not guilty. As soon as the indictment had been read, the prisoner put in a written paper, requesting his trial might be postponed until the ensuing session, in order that he might engage and instruct counsel for his defence, and also that be might be enabled to have certain documents brouzlit for ward that would prove him to be a citizen of the United States, a circumstance that led him to infer the Court, on that ground, had not the power to convict him of an of fence committed in this country ; and again, that he should have a complete answer to the charge from this circum stance, that an agreement was drawn up in New York between him and Josephine Langbourne, that neither party should be at liberty to marry again. whit h, by the laws of United States, is equivalent to a divorce. The Re corder said, that assuming all contained in the paper put in to the Court, it would be no answer, or would b# ofno service to the prisoner, as h e was proved to be a Br i tish subject, and owing allegiance to her Majesty ; and e ven could he prove himself to have been naturaligtd, and be come a citizen of the United States, that would not clear him of an offence committed against the laws of this coun try, where the offence did net have any re ference to the international laws of the t wo coun t r i es . The certificates and oafry. proved, u s n u e 1844 , at St. d indictment charged Susannah h t h e L r e: L e o r fi e vge t ur ii ip e l u on t.i t w‘.h i eis li teh2, a 2o n i 001, o y gvreej stealingao t y e . s The professionall c i t e ffru p r on r , n cireo e y. r :tnean offered xidnai,rigi ai t iods quantity ea f fn, o wt n c ct e ti 0 ,. hro Philip's the marriages e a l C ar interma rrying. r hu a g, verdic tcehs,w Love joy. A witness, named Isabella Cave, who was p res ent at the marrine, deposed to the prisoner being the man and the jury . returned a verdict of guilty. Tne prisoner was tm p o n h r f e ae i: rn w so r e i n e i s en a e d r d ir ii t t e t o g: p eN ie di trh if e so tch rL tel apparel, the property of Al Lo yer. The said the things had partly been given him by prosecutrige and part he had bought of her. The jury found him guilty. '1 he Recorder in passing sentence, characterised the offence as one of the basest nature, and said, that com ment to a man so degraded as the prisoner would F.e use less. For the larceny he should trail , port him f o r seven years, and reserve his judgment on the other indictments until a future day. The prisoner left the dock quite un concerned. WHAT CAN IT MEAN? Not the least strange of the many strange things which we are daily witnessing, is the fact that, at the very mo ment the Corn-laws are being upro , ded, as the Leaguers think, from our legislation, the Times comes out with a skilful defence of the principle ofit amily figesdpedcuutlaytionngcuopro: What does that mea n ? H a s our co n t emporary got a peep again behind the scenes, or, is the course a new Parliament is likely to take on the quell" tion ? There is something exceedingly singular in the appearance of such a recommendation in the leading co lumns of the Times a t thi s cr i t i cal j uncture of public a,- , fairs. It looks as if the Times at least believed that tba, question of the C orn -l aws wou ld not b e fi na l ly d i spose d 01 without the intervention of a new Parliament. Hear bow soberly and how forcibly the writer tears to pieces the so phistries of those economists who whine about the la" quity of a tax on corn : " Where the tax operates to give a monopoly of corn to certain class—where it protects a certain class at the exPe rSe t of the community—where it forbid. people to buy corn sXce the 0 - a few privileged persons—it is justly o b nox i ous to all ' be obloqu, and all the odium of a bread-tax. It professes to . 4 that most invidious of all things —a s t atu t ory er .h ance ment: d the price of food. Tnis has been the plague spot of the old O. 1:, expiring corn-law. It has professed t o k eep u p a ce rtain of prices for a certain set of people. This has constituted its unpopularity and its weakness. No law, with such profestf tf could stand against the indi gna ti on of t h e peo le. Bu t. a ~.b e —a small duty—for State p urposes i s unexceptiona ble• a lightness of the impost levied is ridiculous when regarded:up protection. But the aggregate of many light intposts m ~ed a large revenue. Five shillings a gum t:r (the am-unt soPII. 4 li t e o r . if w e o tu t le o d 2 . ,oo ß o u , t io, Ss o . r to he requited by each wheat.eating man in the kingd oms i s to poor bulwark against foreign ccm a petition, if coml.)" tit ic ' froU r 3 a o i ' a e a d , 007 quarters irn p But it 5 an Income which it mould be absurd to disparage. tit of more for the principle that we contend than for "'leant m , ney to be levied. The same sentiment or the same or which denounces a tax on corn, may denounce a tax on or on sugar, or on any article with wh'th bread is const . r o en n r"_,,o, which cannot be consumed without bread. An agitatt 1: 1 0 7 p h has prevail. d orer one branch of the customs' duties rnag r u- may be over the rest. and thus the resources of the Exehegae sacrificed to the preposterous combinations of lunagi c " l " oartyaetaicrT varying will make suicidal apostaci;.s of party." The Times, it may be remembered, was a W enn ? " advocate o f a fi x ed duty, b.fore the present sweep measure was propounded. The artie'e w e have quote d from appeared in the Times of Thursday.