The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-05-05 00:00:00

tries far the means of subsistence, and the consequent em-
barrassment in which our politics must be involved. It is
always beneficial for a country to have as much of its soil
' employed in the raising of neeesqaries as possible, as that
must undoubtedly diminish the probability of any great
distress among the lower orders. In the most prosperous
state of the Roman empire, Italy, instead of being filled
with corn fields, was but one succession of cities, camps,
gardens, and pleasure-grounds. Its corn was brought
from Sicily, or from Egypt, and its immense population
was consequently dependent on that country for its very
existence. Hence the advice of Aco uterus to his successor
to take care of Egypt, because its possessor always had the
means of commanding Italy. We have seen in Norway,
after the peace, an instance of a caunt►y in our own times,
in which the population was obliged to submit to a Go-
vernment which it disliked, in consequence of the difficulty
of importing provisions.

It is obvious that the necessity of raising corn for our
home Supply must induce the farmers to exert themselves
to the utmost. It must bring ground into cultivation, and
produce improvements, which would not otherwise be
thought of.

Instating this, we do not by any means lose sight of the
arguments on the other side; we admit the disadvantages
of a monopoly in preventing those exertions which are pro-
duccd by competition ; we allow, prima fade, that it is
unfair to destroy, in favour of the agriculturist, the mo-
nopoly enjoyed by the manufacturer, without destroying at
the same time, in favour of the manufacturer, the monopoly
which is claimed by the agriculturist; and we are in hope,
from some late measures, that Government will soon find
means to reconcile these two conflicting interests; but, at
the same time, we consider the arguments which we have
just mentioned as sufficient to make us pause before re-
pealing these laws, and wait at least till we can discover
the means of removing such objections. Nor is this re-
moval in any way to be despaired of. The extent of coun-
try which still remains uncultivated, as well as the im-
provements of which agriculture is susceptible, render it
extremely probable, at some future period, that we may be
able, not only to supply our own market at a cheap rate,
but to export a considerable surplus to foreign countries.
We have already exceeded the space which we generally
devote to an article of this kind, and therefore must reserve
for another occasion our remarks on the alleged over-pro-
duction of manufactured gcods.

CITY, THURSDAY EYRNIXO.

The English Stock Market was in an uninteresting state, and
very few bargains done in it until a late hour this morning, when a
report was circulated that warlike news had arrived from Russia,
and that a declaration of hostilities against the Turks had issued
from the Cabinet of St. Petersburgh. This news had an instan-
taneous effect on Consols, which opened at 78 to;. After this an.
nouneement they declined to 77t, and closed at I, rather buyers.
Exchequer. Bills were 9s. 10s. rm. and the new Scrip to dis.
All the letters that we have seen from the manufacturing districts
speak confidently of returning tranquillity; but just before the
Stock Markets closed, an Idle rumour was put forth that bad ac-
counts had arrived from Manchester, and that probably might have
assisted, with the warlike news from Russia, to depress the Funds
at the close of the day.

South American Securities are attracting some attention, and
they are consequently improving in 'price. Colombian Bonds
reached 41i, Chilian ditto 40, Peruvian ditto 30, and Mexican 6
per Cents. 621. Russian Bonds were a good deal depressed, from
the report of the warlike proceedings of NtcIIOLA9.B Cabinet; and
the anxiety of holders to sell them at one time was very great. The
price was 70i. Greek Bonds were held more lightly, and the
quotation of them 13i.
A courier arrived in Paris on Monday morning, with the ac-
counts of the disturbances in Lancashire. The decline in the
French Funds did not exceed a half per tent.
All descriptions of Securities were lower In Amsterdam, in conse-
quence of the stagnation of trade in this country, and the accounts
received t►ere of the liotows proceedings in Lancashire and Cheshire.
The accounts by the French mail this morning announce the
arrival of the Nancy, merchant vessel, at Bourdeaux from Calcutta.
She sailed on the 13th January, but as she was immediately placed
under quarantine, no papers or letters were this morning received.

Yesterday afternoon, at two o'clock, a Cabinet Council
was held at the Foreign Office in Downing-street, sum-
monses for the assembling of which were issued at a late
hour on Wednesday night. The Council was attended by
the Lord Chancellor, the Earls of Liverpool, Harrowby,
Westmorland, and Bathurst, Mr. Secretary Peel, Mr.
cretary Canning, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr.
ilueltisson, Viscount Melville, Mr. Wynn, Lord Bex-
ley, &c. The Council remained in close deliberation till
half-past four o'clock.
The Adjutant-General, the Quarter-Master-General,
and Sir Robert Taylor, the Military Secretary to the Duke
of York, were closely engaged with his Royal Highness, at ;
hir House in South Audley-street, making arrangements
for the disposal of the troops, &c.
THE 63D REGIMENT.—A paragraph which appeared in
our paper on Tuesday, has been (e regret to learn) con-
strued into a reflection on that gallant portion of the Bri-;
tish army. Nothing of the kind could be in our contem-
plation, nor do we think that the expression, though un-
doubtedly a little obscure, could have fairly conveyed to
any mans mind the slightest censure on the corps in
question. We have, however, the satisfaction of being
able to state, on the most accurate as well as indisputable
authority, that the real facts are these:—Orders were re-
ceived for the ead to march to London, and from thence to
proceed to Manchester; but, on the march, the final des-
tination of the regiment was altered from Manchester to
Windsor, owing probably to the numerical weakness of
it-420, while 800 of the Guards were considered necessary
Extract of a letter from Alexat dria, dated Mess i 10,
1826:—" It is ordered by a firman ut Dts highness, that
the dollar shall be given and received at not more than 15
piastres, anti' in case that any Mussultuan or Rajah shall
transgress such order, he will be subject to the punishment
of the Turkish taws ; and if any European whatever
shortid transgress also the said order, he may he arrested
by the Turkish guard, which will give advice to the Con-
; striate to which he appertains to the end that he may be
attothpaelcd urea** by Wl4 its officers, ter be judged
there, and in case that the Consulate should snake any re-
fusal, he shall be forwarded to Cairo, in the custody of
the Ottoman guard. The punishment of the Turkish law
is, the forfeiture of the nose."

SUSPENSION BRIDGE IN RussrA.—lt is stated, in the
Annales des Mines, that it is in contemplation to build an
iron suspension bridge across the Ncva, at St. PctersburgL.
The proposed span of the arch is 1942 feet, the suspension
chains to have a total section of 400 square incites. The
road for carriages is to occupy the centre, and be 41 feet
stile, bordered by one on each side for carts, of the breadth
of nine feet each, and two pathways for foot-passengers,
five feet wide each.

O'Keefe, in his kxolleelions, gives the following cha-
racteristic anecdote of Tom Carter, the eccentric composer
of the celebrated air " 0 !Jennie." Carter, it seems,
pressed him to take him to one of the rehearsals of The
Castle of Anialusia, which he refused, till he promised to
keep in the dark behind the scen.•s. "In the middle of
the arsal," says O'Keefe, " I felt a slight tap on the
shoulder; I turned round, and there stood Carter, in full
sight in the stage-box, do e behind me. Before I could
express my surprise, he whispered, " O'Keefe, introduce
mo to Harris;" at the same time throwing his leg over the
box, he jumped upon the stage, and began to direct the
banal, applauding, grimacing, shutting his ears, and run-
ning bickwards and forwards along the whole front of the
orchestra, it bring a rehearsal full Land, crying " that horn
too sharp—very well oboe—that passage again—piano Mr.
tenor—bravo crescendo, &c." I was mortified and con-
founded, and soon after missed Dr. Arnold, who had pre-
vious to this been, as usual, diligently attending his duty
with tho band. All alarm, I crossed to where Mr. Harris
stood, in the opposite stage-box, anal remarked, " Why
Dr. Arnold Is gone." "To be sure," returned he coolly.
" when you bring in Mr. Carter to direct his music." This
gave we a lemon lICVCT to bring in Tom Carta:, or any
other acquaintance, behind the scenes.