The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 6, 1864.

rrio 9ERSONS SEEKING LANDED
ATES, TOWN AND COUNTRY RI-BIDENCES,
FREEHOLD AND LEASEHOLD INVESTMENTS, AND
PROPER PIES GENERALLY—
To BE HAD GRATIS, at the principal Railway Bookstalls
throughout the kingdom, or at the Auction and Estate Offices,
No. 67, Chancery-lane, London, Messrs. E. and H. Lumley's
"FREE PROPERTY REGISTER," containing a varied selection
of landed and house properties now in the market, from
the nobleman's mansion, with its manorial domain, to the
cottage with its few acres.
OWNERS OF PROPERTIES Wishing to Sell or Let can em-
brace the opportunity that the medium of this Register
affords, by sending the particulars of their properties to the
Estate Offices, 67, Chancery-lane, London, as the Messrs.
Lumley can in most cases introduce immediate customers,
where the property is of an eligible character, thereby avoid-
ing the disadvantages of delay and its attenuant incon-
veniences.
THERE IS NO CHARGE incurred, unless a tenant or pur-
chaser is introduced through Messrs. Lumley's Agency,
and then only the usual moderate commission.
Auction and Land Offices, 67, Chancery-lane, London.

VURNITURE, CARPETS, BEDDING, and
FLOORCLOTH, CARRIAGE-FREE to any house in
the kingdom, regardless of amount or distance. First. class
goods at second-class prices. Terms peculiarly liberal to
Clergymen and Gentlemen. An immense stock to select
from, displayed in Showrcoms occupying an acre of ground.
Every article warranted.
CLERGYMEN and GENTLEMEN ABOUT TO FUR-
NISH are respectfully informed that Messrs. Cobbett and
Co arc publis'hing an entirely New Edition of their un-
equalled HOUSE FURNISHING GUIDE, illustrated by4lo
adm,^able engravings of every description of Furniture and
geasteads, with prices attached. A copy sent gt atis and
post-free on application. This costly work also contains
complete estimates for furnishing on the following revised
scale :
A Six-roomed Parsonage £74 $ 0
An Eight-roomed ditto
A Ten-roomed ditto ........
A Twelve-roomed ditto

Together with a Price List of purified Bedding, mad a mass
of valnable informationto all requiring househ )1d furniture,
carpets, or bedding. References kindly permitted to Clergy-
men and gentlemen in or near Great Malvern, Southampton,
Chichester. Bury, Ely, Preston, Grimsby, Ryde, Plymouth,
Wells. Oxford, Brighton, Gainsborough, Margate. Kidder-
minster, Wellington, Croydon, Cambridge, Staines, Dorking,
St. Alban's, Worcester, Ipswich, Peterborough, St. David's,
Wrexham, and above 500 other places in all parts of Great
Brita
COB SETT and CO.. General House Furnishers, Deptford-
bridge, London. B.E.

nounced without any proof whatever. If you cross a flock
of Southdowns with a Cotswold ram the effect upon the
meat is not of an appreciable character, bat what is the
effect upon the fleece? Why, suppose you get 5s more for
each fleece that you produce, mid that your flock amounts
to 300, then, in these days of agricultural desolation, de-
scribed by my friend, you will find that at the end of the
year a profit of 5s on 300 fleeces forms an item not to be de-
spised. Nobody supposes that you are going to cross like
as many cousins intermarrying. (A. laugh.) You must
cross with discretion, and you will find that a owe with
a black nose will miter propagate coarse meat. (Hear.)
I have now gone over the Saltbill indictment. I ap-
peal to you with confidence whether I have not replied
to those cha-g2s which have been brought forward.
(Cheers.) I feel confident that, in a very short time,
you will be all of my opinion, that it has been a good
harvest. My test of a good harvest is this—why
is there not a great importation of corn ? (" There
is I") if there were a great importation cf corn at the pre-
sent moment, it is impossible to describe the injurious effects
that it would have upon the public credit and generally upon
the public property of the country. It ought to be some con-
solation to the farmers of this country that by their skill,
under Divine Providence, they have produced such abun.
dant cereal crops that at the moment when the credit of the
country was Ur a most delicate state, and when it was strained
to its utmost, they have saved us from a commercial collapse,
the effects of which would have been of a most deleterious
and dangerous character. (A. Voice—What thanks do they
get for it?) Our farmers may be proud of their position, and
ought to feel a great satisfaction that the crops which have
been produced under their skill has preserved the country
from one of the most severe and serious panics that probably
ever could have-occurred in England. I will now, before I
sit down, refer to the circumstances under which we meet.
This society has had very great success, and at no time has
it been more prosperous than now. These local societies
have spread all over England, which is an undoubted proof
of their popularity and success. The principle upon which
local associations of this kind are founded is of an inesti-
mable character. The local sentiment in man is the strongest
passion in his nature. At this moment there are English-
men in Australia, in India, in China, and in America, toil-
ing with all that enterprise of which Englishmen are alone
capable, learning languages that were never heard of, and
entering into speculations of the most hazardous and difficult
character. Why are they making all these exertionsy Why,
that they may spend their last years in the home where
they were born. This local feeling is the parent of most of
our virtues. It is the best security for our liberty, because
it is the greatest opponent of undue central authority.
It is without doubt the purest source of our domes-

tic affections, which are the most salutary basis of all
good government. But although I entirely appreciate these
local sentiments, and although societies like this should not
only be maintained, but multiplied, still, like all other good
things, they have some attendant disadvantages. Local
sentiment if too much indulged tends to contracted views of
many circumstances and subjects. While therefore I wish
these societies to pursue their course in this important
county, I would increase the area of competition on au the
subjects that interest our agricultural world. The right hon.
gentleman then suggested, with the object of carrying out
this view, that the Royal Buckinghamshire Agricultural
Association, instead of always meeting atAplesbury, should
meet at various parts of the county, and resumed his seat
amid loud cheers.

Mr HERVEY, M.P., also briefly acknowledged the toast.
A number of other toasts were give; and the meeting
parated.

Cotton Supply Association,

At the usual weekly meeting of the executive com-
mittee, held on Tuesday, Oct. 4, a letter was read
from Salonica, reporting that the last advices from
the interior were somewhat unfavourable, the con-

tinuance of drought and the stormy north-west wind
which had prevailed for some days having damaged
the cotton plant, but the opinion formed by the writer
from personal observation is that there will be double
the quantity of last crop. The taxes and tithes are
said to be gathered most arbitrarily, no doubt against
the express orders of the Porte. Cultivators have
been known to sell their green crops at ruinous rates
to meet the exactions of the tax collectors. The
opinion is expressed that nothing could be more
advantageous to the Ottoman-Empire than to allow
every one, without distinction of nationality, to buy
landed property in his own name. By that means an
immense quantity of neglected land would be richly
cultivated, and its value increased tenfold, while the
revenue would be enriched in proportion. Some time
ago the several ambassadors at Constantinople re-
presented to the Sublime Porte the advantages that
would accrue from allowing foreigners to possess
landed property in Turkey ;and, after a full discus-
sion, it was decided in the affirmative, but nothing
more has been heard of the matter. The late Go-
vernor of Macedonia Usni Pasha, bO3 been appointed
Governor-General of Monastir. His impartiality
in the administration of justice, and his severe treat-
ment of abuses, will, it is expected, put an end to
the numberless brigandages and robberies of which
that province has been the scene. He is described
as one of the best officers of the Porte, and one who
feels a real interest in the welfare and progress of
his country, A confident hope is therefore enter-
tained that trade with the interior may be carried on
without the least apprehension. A letter was received
calling attention to an article in the Journal de Con-
stantinople, urging the necessity of an extensive
use of American seed, and of the complete relief of
cotton cultivation from fiscal burdens on the land,
as essential to the full success of cotton growing in
Turkey, and its continuance when the day arrives
for competition with America. A letter was read

from Buenos Ayres, stating that a quilt has been
forwarded to the Association, made from wild cot-
ton, which abounds in the province of Corrientes,
and in that unknown territory, the Gran Chaco.
Millions upon millions of pounds of the raw mate-
rial from which this quilt is made could, it is said,
be gathered at the most trifling cost, but no one
recognises its value or cares to look after it. A
sample of the wild cotton is also forwarded. A
despatch, forwarded by the Colonial.office, was re-
ceived from the Lieut.,Governor of the Bahamas,
on the progress made in the cultivation of cotton in
those islands, and enclosing a report upon this sub_
ject from the police magistrate of the district of
Long Island, which, with St. Salvador, constitute
the principal cotton growing islands in the colony.
The former has an area of 135 square miles, with a
population of 2,571, and the latter has au area
of 101 square miles, with a population
of 2,378. Besides the efforts of some
native inhabitants of Salvador in cotton culture, it
has been further stimulated by an English
COM•
pany, whose agent lived sufficiently long to see a
considerable number of acres, by his indefatigable
exertions, planted with cotton, the shrubs of which
were in blossom when he died from fever. In Long
Island the success of cotton cultivation has far ex-
ceeded all the expectations that were formed. Ins
stead of 130 acres being planted,
as was the case
when the last report was furnished, there are at
which
present between 900 and 1,000 acres.
The island
is literally covered with cotton fields of various di.
mor one person
is
given of
has in the case
others to imitate his example. He planted cot-
ton in March of last year, and had no assistance
instance
stimulated
success
but that of his own children, except for
one day, when he hired a man for 2s. He
sold his cotton for £125, being more than he had
received from anything else for the last six years.
Great scarcity of labour was experienced both at
Long Island and Rum Cay during the whole of
1863, and still continues. Formerly an adequate
supply of labour could be obtained from the adja.
cent settlements, but the labouring portion of the
population (almost all of whom aro proprietors of
small portions of land) now find it more profitable
to grow cotton themselves. The difficulty may be
obviated to some extent by immigration. The
greater portion of one of the largest islands in the
islands in the colony, Inagua, is the property of the
Crown, and well suited for cot! on, which was grown
there when slave labour was available. It has an
area of 657 miles, with a population in 1861 of only
994 persons, which number has since decreased
rather than otherwise. The difficulty experienced
by the present scarcity of labour might it is thought
be remedied by an immigration of the poor white
population of Barbadoes, who are not equal
to the heavy work on the sugar plantations, but
, could undertake the lighter work required in cotton

cultivation. They are of European descent, already
acclimatized to a tropical climate, intelligent, moral
in their habits, and have frequently large families.
Probably £5 a head would be the expense of pas
sage and outfit. The upset price of Crown land in
the colony is lOs the acre. A letter from Tortola,
West Indies, states that the weather has been very
favourable, and that a fine crop of cotton is ex -
pected. A letter was read from Chingleput,
containing details of some experiments made by the
writer with Peruvian and other cotton seed, and stat-
ing his intention to forward a bale of cotton shortly
to the association. Copies of a Franno-Prussian
treaty of commerce, signed at Berlin on the 2d of
Aug. 1862, and of the treaties and tariff, the result
of negotiations with certain States of the ZAlverein,
with a view to the promulgation of the term for which
that union was contracted, were received from the
Foreign.office; and also a translation of that pare
of the new trade law recently promulgated by the
Swedish Government, which regulates the right of
foreigners to exercise trade or any other branch of
industry. Samples of cotton were submitted for
examination from Venezuela and Montserrat. A
grant of seed was made for experiments at St.
Thomas, West Indies. Mr. Consul Skene, from
Aleppo, had an interview with the committee, and
communicated valuable information respecting the
cotton-growing capabilities of his consular dis'.
Una ,in , n which there appears to be encouraging
prospects of still further progress.

the American rail waj authorities was the difference
of guage. The Americans said to them " You limit
your usefulness by your guage beinrs feet 6 inches,
while the American guage is 4 feet 6 inches, so that
you shut yourself out from all the American traffic
unless you incur great expense." He proposed tha:
the American railways should put down a line them-
selves so as to obviate the break of guage, but the
reply was that the American railways had subscribed
£BOO,OOO to the Great Western on the expresk
understanding that it should be constructed on the
American guage. That statement had been looked
into by Mr Swinyard, and the result of
his inquiry had been the suggestion of mea-
sures by which the difficulty could be ob-
viated. Turning to another matter, he had to
state that Mr. Faulcaner and himself had several
long interviews with the president of the Commer•
cial Bank and the cashier. The bank was about
to appeal to the Privy Council here against a judg.
went which had been given in Canada. They would
remember that that judgment was to the effect that
the Great Western of Canada was not liable to pay
more than their shareholders invested—namely,
£250,000, and that any further claim was to be
made against the Detroit and Milwaukie Railway,
for whose benefit the remainder was expended. He
had great hopes that the interview would lead to a
settlement of the affair on this basis, and if it could
be arrived at he thought it would be satisfactory to
all parties. With respect to the Detroit and
Milwaukie Railway itself, he had an oppor-
tunity with his colleague of going over the
whole line in company with the directors and
officers, and he was much gratified by its appear-
ance. The wharves were in perfect order, the line
was well kept up, the traffic was increasing, and he
had no doubt that what might have been some three
or four years ago considered a property of no value
wculd become very valuable, and this company
would get some interest for the money they had
lent them. The surplus revenue for the half•year
ending December, 1863, was 133,415 dole., and for
the hall-year ending July, 1864, it was 186,104
dohs., and after paying all preferential and the cost
of renewals and new stations there was a net re-
venue of 66,291 dole., and this was before the rates
were increased. Since then the receipts in eleven
weeks had increased 55 per cent., and there was,
therefore, every reason to hope that the Detroit
and Milwaukie would be able to pay its debts, and
be a profitable adjunct to their own line, He would
only say, in conclusion, that they had a noble pro-
perty. He had gone over it carefully in the corn.
pany of his friend and colleague, Mr. Faulconer,
and they were much gratified by the marks of in.
telligence and activity everywhere observable. He
begged to n3e,ve that the report and statement of
accounts be received and adopted.
Mr. GODFREY complained that so large a sum
had been left in an American bank without interest,
while they were neglecting their natural ally the
Grand Trunk Railway, with which they were un-
naturally at war. He was disposed to move that
no more money be carried to capital account till
every shareholder shall have received at least 5 per
cent.

PRICE ...... ...4d.
STAMPED!....Sd.

Mr. FILDER expressed his pleasure at hearing
the statement as to the Detroit and Milwaukie line,
but at the same time he must Fay that he by no
means approved of the proceedings and policy of
the board.

Mr. EVANS said that the New York Railway,
which was at one end of their line, paid 10 per
cent,, and the Michigan and Detroit, which was at
the other, paid 10 per cent. Their line was
sciurAzed between the two. He thought they might
find another outlet, and make their line saleable,
Lie thought they ought not to lay do a third
line of rails ; it they did it would be £140,000
thrown away, end ho moved that the eleventh
paragraph of the report be omilted.

Mr GODFREY withdrew hie amendment in favour
of that of Mr Evans.

After some further discussion, the chairman put
be amendment, when there appeared—for it 35,

ogainst it 38.

Mr FILDER demanded a poll.
The CHAIRMAN said it would be necessary to take
a poll on the election of directors, and it would be
butter to take both polls at once, and he therefore
moved that the list of gentlemen in the hands of the
proprietors be adopted as that of the directors of
the company.

Mr FILDER moved, in addition to the directors'
list, the names of Mr Robert Gill, and Mr Weir, of
Glasgow,
Mr VANCE seconded the motion.

The meeting was then adjourned for an hour, and
on reassembling the scrutineers reported that the
result of the poll gave 11,477 votes for the amend.
ment, and 36,369 against it, and that there was also
a large majority in favour of the list proposed by
the directors.

Mr GODFREY moved a vote of thanks to the
chairman and directors, which was supported by
Mr EVANS, and unanimously agreed to.

On the motion of Mr HARTRIDGE, seconded by
Mr S. G. BURTON, a special vote of thanks was
given to Mr Alderman Dakin and Mr Fanleaner
for the zeal and energy they had shown in under.
taking a journey to America for the express pur-
pose of promoting the interests of the company.
Mr Alderman DAKIN acknowledged the compli-
ment for himself and colleague, and the proceedings,
which lasted nearly four hours, then terminated.

ROBSON.—I am looking over an old sketch-book
of mine : not one of your ambitious sketching
tablets—your solid slabs, upon which I occasionally aspire,
with melancholy result, to portray the tints of the forest
and the mountain; nor yet one of your large-leaved draw-
ing-books in which I adventuro upon the caricature or
graver cartoon; but a little book, some seven inches by
four, originally designed, I apprehend, for the keeping of
accounts, but by me used for setting down figures of a
totally different sort. It is an old pocket sketch-book,
solely devoted to drawing in the theatres, and I now turn
over its pages with melancholy interest. 0 register
hieroglyphic of happy hours gone boy, how many friends
whom I have never known, how many objects who have
never dreamed of my passionate attachment, do thy fines
set before me I Here I see the inimitable Box, and no less
inimitable Cox. Here I see Herbert of the sunny hair and
graceful form, whom I loved as one loves his favourite cou-
sin ; and here the time-defying Stirling, for whom I enter-
tained an affection half filial and half fraternal. Here is
Charles, the second of his name, the merry monarch of high
comedy. He was the first of the great actors that I saw ;
from him I first learned that nature and great art are twin
sisters. And now, as I turn the page, I seem to catch a
faint odour of dead rose leaves, a stronger one of orange-
peel ; visions of love in a cottage and passion in a pit rise be-
fore me, visions of maids and magpies, Kenilworth Castle and
Court Favour. Oh I Marie, Marie—ah, well I I never told
my love. And what have we here ? A little crouching figure,
peering cunningly into the face of a man in the costume of
an abbe. Who can this be ? This is he again—the same
figure, but in different guise. A Jaw now, ;an eager,
grasping Israelite truly, but so comic withal—so irresistibly
comic. He holds a knife and a pair of scales—Can this be
Shylock ? If so, bare thy breast, Antonio, without fear.
If he slay thee at all it will be with laughter. Again, but
this time a deformed dwarf, he sits aloft in an orange-tree,
and holds sarcastic colloquy with an apparently terrified
queen. And here an old white-haired man, pinched and
sour-tempered, he crouches in an agony of desperation
against the wall at the head of a staircase. A taller man
in a riding dress looks at him in astonishment. Another
page, and I see him again, this time in the dress of an
ostler, leaning, in most impudent fashion, against a table
at which two gentlemen are lunching. He pays not the
least attention to one of them who is addressing him, but
regards a glass of beer, which he holds in his hands, with
the glance of a connoisseur. And can this be he 2—this
woman in the ample robe, who, with one child in her arms
and another holding to her garment, is descending that
mountain path Once more, and I see a little old porter,in
knee-breeches and a short blouse, wheeling a heavily-laden
barrow. He is evidently very poor; he does not look as if
he had enough to eat : he is not strong enough to wheel that
heavy load; his face looks as if he had suffered, were still
suffering, from some great trouble, yet he manfully
struggles on with his labour, and tries to whistle. I shut
the book—l will look no naoro—.Robson is dead.—London
Society,

ROT:

N EIVSPAPER

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(From the Morning .Mi.)

Mr Anderson, the Wizard of the North, and Mr Tol-
maque, a gentleman who describes himself as a " prestidigi-
tateur," having both asserted that they can produce, by
simple conjuring, the results and manifestations described
as performed by the:Brothers Devenport and Mr Fay, a
challenge hasbeen sent on behalf of the Americans to Messrs
Anderson and Tolmaque. It is proposed that a committee
of gentlemen—consisting of persons whose admittedly high
character will be a sufficient guarantee to the public of their
good faith—shall be nominated to act as referees and judges,
and that the Americans shall in the first instance give a
sdance, in the course of which the results already described
in the newspapers shall be presented, and that at the con-
clusion Messrs Anderson and Tolmaque will be invited to
produce similar results. The operators are to be tied by
the judges, and the conditions are to be in all respects the
same. With regard to i'dr Tolmaque, it may be stated that
—although he produces the ccrtifica'e of Dr Frank Buck-
land,who attests having secured him in a chair in the most
complicated manner he could devise—darkness, or at least
concealment, is an essential condition of the manifestation.
If, therefore, Mr Tolmaque asserts that he unbinds himself
by sleight of hand, or a teat of strength, he ought to explain
to the referees (who would, of course, regard the explana-
tion as private) the suedes operandi fur accomplishing so
extraordinary a feat. Moreover, neither Mr Tolmaque him-
self nor Dr Buckland asserts that the operator, so to speak,
again tied himself up, which is one of the most remarkable
feats of the Devenport Brothers. Admitting, therefore, that
both results are achieved by whet is termed legerdemain,
that accomplished by the Devenport Brothers, is far more
remarkable than that effected by Mr Tolmaque. Since
the publication of the description of what occurred at the
seance on the 28th ult., several persons have offered to do
similar things. One gentleman (an officer in the army) has
offered to take off his waistcoat without taking off his coat;
but on finding that his hands and arms were to he tied dur-
ing the operation, he declined to make the experiment.
Another gentleman, connected with the medical profession,
has offered to untie himself in a minute and a half, but re-
fuses the other half of the condition—namely, that he shall
retie himself within a similar period. Those who believe
in the capacity of the Devenports as passive agents in the
matter have offered 100 guineas to the gentleman who says
he can untie himself in a minute and a half, but as yet the
challenge has not been accepted. The theory of the Ameri-
cans is that by whatever agency they are untied they them-
selves are passive agents in the matter, and that their own
hands in no way contribute to their release. An ingenious
test was applied a few evenings since at a seance which took
place at the Queen's Concert Rooms, lianover-square, to
prove the value of the assertion. To show that the uncord-
ing was not effected by the hands of Americans, some flour
was procured, and after the process of pinioning had been
accomplished to the satisfaction of all present, the fingers
of the brothers were covered with the substance, and they
were required to hold a quantity of it firmly in their hands,
clasped and locked the one in the other. They were at the
time dressed in ordinary evening costume, and it would have
been impossible for them to have untied the ropes, and sub-
sequently tied them again without being covered with flour.
The result was as the Americans predicted it would be.
When the doors of the cabinet were thrown open they were
found with their limbs untied, and in precisely the same
positions in which they had been left, but with no portion
of the flour on their clothes. The doors of the cabinet were
subsequently closed, and after an interval of two or three
minutes were thrown open, when the brothers were found
tightly pinioned hand and foot, and clutching the flour as
before.

The gentleman who writes the London correspondence
for the Belfast News- Lctter was, it seems, one of the party
present at the seance of the 28th ult., of which he gives the
following description with regard to the locus in quo and
th.pasonnel of the party :
" As I happened to be one of the small party invited to
the private,seance which took place on Wednesday evening
last in the front drawing-room of a house near Portland-
place, so graphically described in the Morning Post of the
following day, I may perhaps, be entitled to say a word or
two on the subject, although I am wholly at a loss to dis-
cover the mysterious agency by which the manifestations
were produced. The writer in the Morning _Post does not
identity the precbe locale, nor does he give the name of any
of the persons invited to be present on the occasion. I may
state, however, that his version of what passed is not only
substantially but critically accurate, and that I can add
nothing to it save a few details as to the personnel of the
party. The house in which the manifestation was displayed
is the residence of Mr and Mrs Dion Boucicault ; and one of
the ladies present was the original and inimitable repre-
sentative of the 'Colleen Bawn.' All who have the happiness
and privilege of knowing this gifted and amiable lady are
persuaded that she would be the last person in the world to
allow anything in the shape of a fraudulent deception to be
practised under her roof or in her presence. Among the
other persons present were some shrewd observers of mar
and manners, all intent upon discovering, if possible, the
occult agency by which the manifestations were pro.
duced. The Messrs. Devenport are short of stature, slim
in figure, sharp-featured, intelligent-looklg persons,
They are very like each other, and would be taken at once

to be brothers. They have also about them that sharp
Yankee expression of ' 'cuteness ' which It e are in
the habit of associating with our Transatlantic cousins. Mr
Fay, on the contrary, is a rather heavy-looking young man.
His complexion is light, his frame of rat her solid make, and
his expression composed, if not apathetic. He is said to
be of German descent, but I am informed that the name is
unequivocally Hibernian. Mr H. D. Palmer, who Barnums

the party, is a young man with round face, light moustache
and prepossessing appearance. He looks and speaks like ar:
Englishman, and might readily pass for one. He declares
(and I believe with sincerity) that he knows no more of the
means by which the manifestations are produced than any
of the persons who witness them. Dr Ferguson, the gentle.
man who explains what is about to take place, is a tall,
solemn-looking individual, about 50 years of age, with a
somewhat saturnine expression of face, and a certain twang
running through his pronunciation which at once reveals
his origin. He wears his collar (an old-fashioned one that
ought to stand up) turned down, and a long black frock coat.
In speaking of the Messrs Devenport and Fay, he describes
them as these young men.' The latter are, I should say,
apparently well informed and modest, but unequivocally
addicted to the use of tobacco. There is no affectation of
mystery about them. They converse about the power which
they possess with the utmost frankness, and answer every
question put to them on the subject with perfect candour:
They mention having done many things in America even
more incomprehensible than any which have been realised
on this side of the Atlantic, but express their perfect wil-
lingness to try the experiments again. They describe the
process as exhaustive to the constitution, and explain the
conditions under which the power,' whatever it be, has the
greatest potency. Unlike Mr Home, whose ability to per-
form is uncertain and transient, the Davenports are always
in force, and can always command a certain amount of
force, whatever it may be. They state their conviction that
the power which they possess is a foreign power, governed
to a great extent by the will, but which they consider to be
in a very elementary stage."

THE ROYAL SOVEREIGN.—In justification of the
extraordinary determination taken by the Lords of
the Admiralty in regard to this ship, we are informed that
the Royal Sovereign was never intended for a sea-going
ship. She is a floating battery for harbour defence, capable
of being sent to any port in the Channel ; but not adapted
to cruise with a squadron. She has no masts, and her
decks are too low for a sea-going ship of her tonnage. To
try her, therefore, with the ships of the Channel Squadron
would have been of no practical use. She was sent to Port-
land as a convenient place for trying her turrets and guns
and her behaviour in a moderate seaway. After these trials
had been in progress for some time the destruction of her
hawse-pipe by an accidental shot left her with only one
anchor, and for the safety of the ship it was necessary to
bring her back to a dockyard. Captain Osborne then sent
up a list of defects and alterations, which were ordered to
be carefully examined, and, as they would require a consi-
derable time to make good, no advantage would be gained
by keeping the ship in commission with a large number of
officers and men, with the winter approaching. It was
therefore determined to attach the ship to the Excellent as
a tender, keeping Captain Osborne, the First Lieutenant,
and a sufficient number of men on board to carry on the
further experiments with the turrets and guns that might
be desirable, and also to have the assistance of Captain Key'
and the officers and men of the Excellent in carrying out
those experiments.--Times.

FATAL BURNING IN LIVERPOOL.,—At an early
hour on Tuesday morning a married woman named
Mary Beddew, who lived with her children at 32, Hol-
ford-street, Everton, was burned to death under circum—
stances which are at present mysterious. The policeman
on the beat heard scraaming, and saw smoke issuing
from the house. Hs broke open the door, and found
the poor woman standing in the passage enveloped is
flames. He succeeded in putting out the fire, and had
her removed at once to the Royal Infirmary .-but she died
very shortly afterwards. The room above, in which the
children slept, was found on fire, but the children were got
out before the flames reached them.
FRENCH RECOGNITION 01' SERVICES TO AGRI-
CULTURE.—The Emperor of the French has conferred
the order of the Legion of Honour on F. H. de la
Trehonnais, EEci , of Bicklty Park, Kent, for hia
services to the cause of agricultural progress in France.
Prcbably, however, the French farmers are more indebted
to an English resident in that country for such services
Mr Thackeray, a relative of our late great novelist, who has
laboured unwcariedly in the cause of agriculture in France.
He first made known in that country the advantages of
s drainage, and imported at h own expense in 1846 6,000
drainage pipes, which he had laid down near Montereau
with great success. Since then he imported Ainslie's tilo
making machine, and was awarded a medal by the jury at
the Agricultural Exhibition of 1849. The gentleman was
one of the jurors appointed by the Minister of Agriculture
at the late international competition of steam ploughs at
Roanne, and it seems probable that no very long period will
elapse without some public recognition of his services being
made.

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MR. ALFRED MELLON'S CONCERTS.
LAST NIGHT BUT TWO.
ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA HOUSE, COVENT-GARDEN.
THIS EVENING (Thursday\ a BEETHOVEN NIGHT;
To-morrow(Friday), the Concert will be Miscellaneous. And
on Saturday, positive y the last night of the Concerts, for
the Benefit of Mr. Alfred Melon.

Conductor— Mr. ALFRED MELLON
Promenade, Amphitheatre Stalls, and Amphitheatre, One
Shilling ; Dress Circle, 2s. ed. ; Private Boxes, £1 ls. and
10s. 6d.