The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-06 00:00:00

The Fatal Railway Accident at Margate,

MARGATE, Friday Evening.
After four days' tedious investigation the inquest on the
body of Mrs Lock, killed in the railway collision hero on
Monday, has been brought to a close. Several witnesses
were examined last night after the despatch of our parcel,
and as their evidence had an important bearing on the cause
of the collision, we give it in extenso.
Cteorge Cook, engine-driver to flit., mail train on 151.1e4.7.,
deposed that he started the train from Ramsgate by signal
from the guard, from whom he always took the signals. He
had a stoker with him, and the train consisted of S car-
riages, 3 break -vans,and a horse- box. There was one guard,
but he did not know his name. He did not see any other
guard, nor did he ask for one—but he thought there were
two. There ought to have been two guards, and he did not
know to the contrary until the train got to Margate. Had
he known there was only one he should not have left Rams-
gate. He did not see Marshall at all. They proceeded as
fast as they could till they got to the top of the bank, and
when they got over that he shut the steam off. When they
got to the gate-house he told his mate to apply the:break.
He did so, and the wheels were all " skidding" when they
got near Tivoli-gardens. He found they were going rather
too fast, and accordingly reversed the engine and put the
steam on again. His mate went along the framing of the
engine to the break-van, and put the break on there. He
tried all he could to stop the train, which ran right into the
station.

By a Juror—l did not see the guard during the journey
to Margate. We were 12 minutes doing it on Monday, and
the usual time is 10 minutes. I know Marshall, who has
usually come down in the train, but gone back again.
By the Coroner—We had not break power enough to
stop the train. I have been an engine-driver about 12
months, off and on. I have been 16 years in the company's
service as fireman and driver, and I have been engine-driver
this last time about three weeks; but previously I was an
occasional engine. driver for eight or nine months with
goods trains,
By Mr Towne—As fireman I have been quite accustomed
to use the break, and know when to shut the steam off and
apply the break.

By the Coroner—As I came along to the station I saw a
green flag exhibited, but I did not afterwards sea a red flag
I could not see who held the flag. Had I seen a red flag I
should have stopped if I could. The red flag is the signal to
stop. The signal post was at Caution. I heard no whistling
at the station. To reverse the engine does harm to the ma-
chinery. We have not usually more than four carriages to
the Margate train. The train was larger than usual on
Monday, and was too heavy for the engine. The guard ought
to have seen that he had sufficient break power for the car-
riages, as he does not know the power of the engine. Mr
Henderson ordered me to take that engine, which in my
opinion was sufficient to bring the train from Ramsgate,
but we had not sufficient break power. I had had two guards
until that morning from Ramsgate to Margate. It is Mr.
Darby's duty to put on the proper number of guards for
the carriages. Mr Darby was on the platform, but I did not
speak to him ; he saw the train start. I cannot say why
there were not two guards on Monday.
Mr John Blizard, stationmaster at Margate, said—On
Monday I was at the station on the arrival of the London
train due at 1 35. She was 35 minutes late. I saw her just
before the collision, but did not see any signals given.
My attention was coiled by my signalman's whistle. I
was then in my private office, but came out directly. I
could not tell the speed at which the train entered the
station, for I no sooner saw it than the crash occurred. I
sent off for medical men, and rendered every assistance to
the injured persons. I saw three persons injured, including
the woman who died. They were all in the third class.
The London mail train is usually in charge of two guards,
but it all depends upon the length of the train. I only saw
one guard on this occasion, but according to the length
there should have been two. I do not know why there
were not, but that rests either with the station-master or
inspector at Ramsgate. Generally there are inspectors now
at all junction stations.
By a juror--.The standing carriages prevented me seeing
the train coming in. It is tismal to have that traits on the
down-line, and sometimes in the evening we start an up-
train on the down line. After 3 o'clock in the evening seven
trains are started on that line. It is not convenient to start
them from the other side. There is only an up-line and
one down-line at the station. It was formerly the custom
to detach the engine from the train on the down line, but
this was altered by order of the Board of Trade. Had the
stationary train not been standing there the damage would
have been greater and more fatal than it was. Tho red
flag denotes " Danger," or to stop.
By a Juror—We have 32 trains in and 31 out daily in
this month, The Margate station is sufficient for that
number of trains in and out. But if we had had another
platform I should not have placed the Deal train on the
down-line.
By a Juror—There was a horse-box, and the London
guard should have had charge of it and the bill, but it
afterwards transpired there was no bill, it being for one of
the company's horses.
By Nr Towne—The station would be more convenient ii
we had more room. In the London, Chatham, and Dover
station, next to ours, there is only one line.
By a Juror—lt is my duty to see the trains are properly
guarded from Margate. I do not know of a train being
stopped to put a guard on. Such a thing might occur and
I might not know it. The regulations of the company are
to send one guard to seven carriages, and when there are
more I send two guards. Those instructions are given to
station-masters and inspectors. Our instructions are
peremptory. I have been station-master here three years,
and one year and a half at other stations.
John TrowreD, cffico pater, el' panel awk, wing been

The Index gives the following evidently antho•
rised explanation of the peace correspondenc:3 just
published relative to peace proposals at Niagara
Falls :

It so happened, as it appears, that towards the end of
July there were among the guests at the Clifton House,
three Confederate gentlemen of note and position, the Hon.
C. C. Clay, ex-senator from Alabama in the Federal and
afterwards in the Confederate Congress ; the Hon. Jacob

Thompson, ex-member of the Federal House of Represen-
tatives from Mississippi, and Secretary of the Interior in
President Buchanan's Cabinet; and the lion. J. B.
Hol-
comhe, a oistioguislicc: jurist and. publicist teem Virginia.
It was understood that Messrs. Clay and Thompson had
been entrusted by their Government with a delicate, con-
fidential mission, though by no means that of proposing ,
terms cf peace to President Lincoln. To Mr Holcombe's
mission, as the legal representative of the interests of the
Confederate Government in the adjudication of the Chess-
peaks case before the Colonial tribunals of Nova Scotia,
WO alluded to in theme columns at the time. The presence
of these three gentlemen so near the frontiers of the United
States might well excite curiosity, and Dame Rumour, who
nowhere more than in Yankeedom uses her mythological
attributes did the rest. At all events this auspicious coin-
dence was made the occasion for amusing the Yankee na-
ion with a little amateur diplomatic burlesque, in which
Mr Horace Greeley was selected to play the heavy comic
part, assisted by Major Hay, the private secretary of Presi-
dent Lincoln, with Mr G. N. Sanders es prompter and
stage manager, and Mr W. C. Jewitt, as " generally use-
ful" supernumerary.
These dramatis persona deserve each a brief biographi-
cal sketch. Mr Horace Greeley, editor and proprietor of
the .Areto York Tribune, has long been known by the affec-
tionate soubriquet of the " white-hatted philosopher ;"
but his eccentricities of dress, gait, and manner are as
nothing to the eccentricities of his editorial and political
career. He has in turn, and sometimes altogether, advo-
cated disunion, free love, spirit rapping, communism,
women's rights, abolitionism, and " miscegnation," besides
many other "isms" which we do not at the moment recal.
He was the first man who denounced the " star-spangled"
banner as a "flaunting lie," and his journal once published
some very spirited poetry on this patriotic scheme. He is
the author of the thrilling axiom, "Let the Union slide,"
which in the earEer stages of secession was the standing
motto at the head of the columns of the New York. tribune,
but which when taken down in April, 1851, was succeeded
by daily frantic appeals for "the extermination of the
rebels." Mr Horace Greeley, despite his ill-balanced
mind, his innumerable crotchets and tergiversations, his
utter lack of judgment and childish credulity, is at heart an
amiable and benevolent man, with overflowing affections
for all human kind, and the most honest, perhaps the only
honest, man in the administration party. We can well
believe that his better nature revolts at the atrocities which
he had no small share in bringing about, and that his eager
belief in overtures of peace did only respond to an anxious
wish long and devotedly cherished.
Of Major Hay, who holds the proud position of confiden-
tial secretary to Abe Lincoln, little is known except that he
was the hero of the ill-starred Federal expedition into
Florida, undertaken to procure three electoral votes for his
patron at the ensuing Presidential election, on which occa-
sion Mr Lincoln wrote from the Executive Mansion at
Washington, under date of Jan. 5, to General Gilmore—
"l have given Mr Hay a commission as major, and sent
him to you with some blank books and other blanks to aid
in the reconstruction." This letter, in which the Presi-
dent candidate avows in terms his purpose, and desires
" the thing to be done in the most speedy way possible,"
was brought to light by a Congressional investigation com-
mittee, and will be found in page 300 in our number of
May 12. It is all we know of "Major" Hay.
Mr Geo, N. Sanders is the king of "wags." No man
living enjoys a joke better than he, and no one know better
how to give it universal publicity. He can perform miracles
on the telegraphic wire which would put Blondin utterly to
shame. He has, moreover, the faculty of always lighting
upon his legs, no matter how desperate may be his politico-
acrobatic feats, and dexterous indeed must be the man who
can prove him to be in the wrong, Withal Mr Sanders is a
man of singularly original and inventive mind, and has
held, under the old Government, several honourable and
important positions—no less a one for a short time than that
of consul of the United States to London. Since the disrup-
tion he has figured before tho European public as a con-
tractor in various gigantic enterprises for supplying the
military necessities of the Confederates—among other things
for a great steamship blockade running line, which was
never built, but which in some unaccountable manner be-
came confused, in the over acute perceptions of Historicur,
with the Mersey rams. Over two years ago, wnen on the
very scene of his recent exploit, the Canadian press porn-
pously announced him as the bearer of proposals Dot unlike
those with which he appears to have inspired the New
York press, judging from the New York Herald of July 15,
which says :—" George Sanders telegraphs to us from Ca-
nada that he is in favour of peace. His next communication
to us, to secure any attention, must embrace the announce-
ment that ho has forsworn Jeff. Davis and taken the oath of
allegiance to the United States." There is little prospector of
George Sanders doing this; for neither friends foes—
and the former are more numerous than the latter—would
n
suspect him of disloyalty to the South, or
doubt his zeal to
serve her in his peculiar way. We imusttnot conclude this
imperfect sketch of the centralfigtiro the late negotiations
without mentioning the cleverest joke in the catalogue, and
ono which shows that Mr Sanders may sometimes mingle
with his facetia) the sagacity of a prophet, and be more dis-
cerning than men of more serious turn. Amidst the tur-
moil of that forerunner of secession, the Charleston De-
mocratic Nominatiug Convention, in which Mr Sanders
was a prominent actor, he telegraphed to President
Buchanan that unless ha forgot his private feud against
Mr Douglas, and withdrew his opposition to his nomi-
nation as the Democratic candidate, the party and his

country would split in twain, and be, Mr
bo the last President of the whole United
never been ascertained which disguste d mc,. _
of Wheatland," then in the Presidential
astounding assurance of the suggest' on, or the fat :t that
the telegram, costing some 21 dollars and odd cox 'a. was
not prepaid.
Mr W. C. Jewitt was unknown to fame until. he ap-
peared in the columns of several London newspass?,rs in the
character of a Curtius ready to plunge into the abyss that
separated the belligerent American federations, ens'. in that
volunteer capacity had an interview with the King of the
Belgians, who must have been even more profound is. state-
craft than the modern Nestor is believed to be, if he could
understand what Mr Jewitt wanted, what he proposed, or
by whose authority, expressed or implied, he acted. illy
Jewitt is supposed to be a native of New Eng:and ; but in
his communications to the London press he assumed a local
habitation more neutral, and more befitting a cosmopolitan
philanthropist, and amateur peace-maker-general, by hail-
ing from "Colorado Territory," a region very far in the
"Far West." His functions on the occasion is question
seem to have been confined to the carrying of notes tesween
the par ties.
Such, theii, was the scene, and such the personnel, of this
comedy of errors, which for a moment really electrified the
public of two hemispheres with a hope in which all good
men of all nations and all parties sincerely unite. The
action of the piece begins appropriately with a note from
Mr Sanders, in which ho says rather vaguely that he is
authorised, 6.c. Had Mr Greeley, to whom this note was
addressed, not been blinded by a pardonable, and, to
him, honourable eagerness, he would have detected the
"quiz," in the transparent fact that Mr Sanders included
himself in the proposed commission to Washington, and
styled himself "from Dixie." But even the use of the
familiar nick-name lovingly given by the negroes to the only
home of their race, and immortalised in the well-known
quick step which fs supposed to be the national tune of the
Southern Confederacy, and which under various names, and
with varying words, is dear to the Arabs of the London
streets—even this suggestive word of "Dixie" did not warn
Mr Horace Greeley. He forthwith addresses to the uncon-
scious Southern representatives a proposal which must have
no little astonished and delighted them, as coming from
such a quarter. An invitation to Washington, with a safe-
conduct, given by a trusted friend of the President of the
United States, for the express purpose of treating of the
anxiously looked-for peace was too happy an omen to be
disregarded ; and while they courteously explain to Mr
Greeley the error into which he had been led by the viva-
cious Mr Sanders, they felt in duty bound to accept the
offer on the conditions under which it was possible for them
to accept it, and pledged their beast endeavours, as men en-
joying the complete confidence of the Confederate Govern -
ment to obtain its subsequent sanction of what they raiglA
do in absence of special authorisation. But as soon as it
penetrated the dim understanding of the ex-grog-shop
keeper and ex•village attorney of Illinois that the fares
guests at the Clifton House at Niagara Falls had not come
as suppliants from Richmond to sue for mercy—had, ir, fact
not come at all with any mission to him—but that the fist
overture had been made through a false impre,lsion. en the
excitable imagination of his honest friend Mr C 'real ey, the
natural ferocity, sharpened by imbecile disappoi, atm ent, re-
turned to the man who has publicly boasted that,, when na-
vigating a raft or net boat on the Mississippi iver in his
younger days, he used to amuse himself with se a ing toge-
ther the eyes of the hogs that formed part of ids c:a rgo. The
hero of the Florida President-making expedition,. Mr Major
Hay, is sent with a message to "all whom it may. concern,"
proffering terms of unconditional surrender as ha ughty as
if the incumbent of the White House were a conqueror in-
stead of a vulgar buffoon permitted by a just Pr evidence
to be the unwitting instrument of punishing a natio a's: sins,
and maintained in power by a party machinery, ethro. stery
of lying, and the inertia of a demoralised public opini,
Impartial observers will admit that the reply of ' the
Southerners, who were for a moment betrayed into be-
lieving that a gleam of reason might illuminate the mind
of the President of the United States, is that of patriots and
of gentlemen, and that even the disgust which they could
not but feel does not cause them to forget what is due to
their country and to themselves. They have vindicat44
the earnest, but not craven, desire for peace unanimously
entertained among their countrymen, and they have ad-
ministered a rebuke which, though lost upon Mr Lincoln,
may not be wholly unfelt by the better classes among the
Northern people. We give the correspondence in fuel,
correcting some of the obvious typographical errors whic h
have crept into the text as published by the Norther: a
newspapers. From this our readers may draw the more I
for themselves. If this correspondence effects no otht sr
gond, it will at least have shed a flood of light upon th e
feelings of the honest men of) the North, typified i
Horace Greeley; it will have demonstrated that the mat=

obstacle to peace is a corrupt shoddy Administration,
having Mr Lincoln for its mouthpiece; and it will h wo
added another to the many proofs that the war is not.of the

South's seeking, and that every sincere overture of p MC3 is
always sure of being received by it in a spirit of eorkirteby
and moderation.

EXEGIIT.ION AT /1-YLES-131raY.

I Yesterday morning William John Stevens was executed
iu trent of the Bucks County Gaol, at Aylesbury, /or the
wilful murder of Annie Leeson at Buckingham. It will ho
remembered that Stevens was payia his addresses to the
deceased, that she repelled his advances, and that in a fit of
jealousy he cut her throat with a razor, and then cut his
own throat. The girl died a few minutes oftai-vends, but
Stevens subsequently recovered. He had, how ever, to be
constantly watched, as he had intimated that if the police
officers would leave him alone for five minutes he would
save them all further trouble. At his trial, Baron Bram •
well directed the jury that as there were than five wit-
nesses who testified to previous threats, and the prisoner's
after confession of his intention, they could return no other
verdict than that of wilful murder, which they accordingly
did. The learned judge then, without comment, sentenced
the prisoner to death. In the interval which elapsed be-
tween his sentence and Ms execution, Stevens has betrayed
on the whole a rather sullen demeanour, speaking bat
seldom, and then only in reply to questions from the gaol
officials. At first he refused to listen to the exhortations of
the chaplain, bat latterly he became more attentive to them.
He did not make any writken confession, but he frequently
referred to his crime in terms of the greatest apparent sor-
row, and acknowledged the enormity of his offence and the
justice of his sentence. On the day before his execution
he said to his father and sister, at their parting interview,
that he was quite prepared to die, and that he had
never been so "happy" as he had been far the last day
or so. This parting interview was a brief but deeply
affecting one. His disconsolate mother, although in
Aylesbury, did not see him, partly, we understand, at
his own wish, that she might be spared the agony of a
parting scene. The preparations for the execution were
completed on Thursday evening. No barriers were placed
on the road in front of the gaol to lessen the crush of the
crowd ; but barricades were fixed in front of the union work-
house, which is directly opposite to the gaol, on the brow
of the hill, and no one was admitted on the premises of the
guardians except the reporters, though many earnest appli-
cations to that effect had been made to Mr George, the mas-
ter. The scaffold was fixed on the fiat top of the large and
lofty main archway of the gaol, between the governor's and
chaplain's residences, which forms, as it were, wings to its
front. The crowd, which began to assemble very early, was
generally very orderly. Several were heard to say that they
had walked overnight from Buckingham (the scene of the
murder). It is calculated that from 6,000 to 7,000 persons
were present. Shortly before the appointed hour, 8 o'clock,
the under sheriff, Mr R. B. Baynes, arrived, and was re-
ceived by Mr H. Shirreffs, governor of the gaol: the Rev.
Mr Rawson, the chaplain, and by other prison officials,
and as the time of execution rapidly approached, the under
sheriff, governor, chaplain, and other authorities proceeded
to the condemned cell, where the culprit was found perfectly
resigned to his fate. The prisoner was pinioned, and the
procession formed. A few hisses were raised in the crowd
when Stevens came forward and stood beneath the drop.
Of these, however, he took very little notice. Calcraft at
once proceeded to his task. As Stevens was a slightly built
man, there were a few muscular convulsions of the limbs,
but in a moment or two these ceased. The body was cut
down after the lapse of an hour and placed in a shell, and
then buried within the precincts of the gaol, by the side of
same place.
Moses Hatto, the only criminal previously hanged at the

THE CONDEMNED CONVICT PARKER.--The con.
damned convict Richard Thomas Parker, sentenced
to death at the Notts Assizes for the murder of his mother,
will he executed on Wednesday next, unless a reprieve be
Newark, and Fiskerton to Sir George
obtained at the Home-office. Petitions aro in course of sig-
nature Grey:
prayingat
Nottingham,fora commutation of the sentence. The de-
meanour of the culprit is now very exemplary. Ho attends
with great earnestness to tthe ministrations of the gaol
chaplain, the Uev. W. Howard, and is daily becoming more
alive to the awful position in which he is placed. None of
the prisoner's relatives have seen him since his condemna-
tion. It is said that old Mr Parker says two will die on the
day his son is executed, meaning that he intends commit-
ting suicide.

DEATH OF A CENTENARIAN SOLDIER.—John
Gilliatt, the Brigg centenarian, died suddenly on the
morning of the 31st ult., after rising to breakfast. The
deceased served in the army between the years 1797 and
1814, and in 1848 received a silver medal for the good
soldier-like conduct ho displayed during his service in
Egypt, According to his order of discharge from the
array, and his own statements, he was 1031 years of
age.

ATLANTA.—The city is laid out in a circle, two
mike in diameter, in the centre of which is the
passenger depot, from which radiate railroads to every-quar-
ter of the Confederacy. In the business portion of the city
are many fine blocks of buildings. Before the war these were
filled with consignments of goods from the large cities of the
north and north-west for the supply of the cotton regions.
Now the city is one vast Government storehouse. Here are
located the machine shops of the principal railroads : the
most extensive rolling mill iu the soutlt foundries, pistols,
and tent factories, In addition, the Government have
works for casting shot and shell, making
gun carriages,
cartridges, op, shoes, clothing, 47%—chiefigo

TOE LATES C EDITION of " THE SUN"
supplied, as soon as published every Evening, by
it;NRY BROOKS, Newspaper Agent, 21, Old Cavendish-
street, W.

The Weather—Sun Office, Aug. 6, 1861.

-0-

THERMOMETER.

This day at Two o'clock 79
_

Barometer-30.03.
WIND —S. W. ; moderate breeze and fine,

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 4h. 15m.—Afternoon, 4h. 32m
To-KoalLow.-Morning, 4h. 50m.—Afternoon, sh. sm.

,
.
idigt S

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1864.

Mr. KNIGIITLEY, the other day, at Towcester,
just hitit—when he virtually defined Lord PALMER
STON'S popularity as very much indeed the result of
an extraordinary run of luck. It was hardly cour-
teous, perhaps, to say es much as the hon. member
did say upon the matter in the presence and hear-
ing of the noble lord himself. Bat—regarded at its
worst—Mr. '-NIII. GEITLEY'S explanation of that same
perennial phenomenon, Lord PALMERSTON'S Popu-
larity—amounted, after all, to no more than one of
those left-handed compliments called among our
neighbours a gaucherie. It was meant, of course,
by the hon. member, when so speaking, purely and
simply, as a bit of fun poked across the dessert
table beside which he was speaking, and before
which lee veteran Premier was seated, quietly ob-
servant and listening—a bit of fun poked by Mr.
KNIOHTLEY at Lord PALMERSTON. But, for all
that, as it seems to us, it was so very near, indeed,
to the truth that it amounted to nothing lees than
a gaucherie. For these bantering remarks uttered
by the county member at a sort of careless slapdash
—just as he himself, ne a thoroughgoing foxhunter,
might fly across country in the whirl of one of
the best runs of the season—all these helter-
skelter observations of a humorous character
uttered by Mr. KNIGHTLET, the other day, at
Towcester, were as outspoken as good plain truths,
could well be ! They were to the cad
among other things—That somehow or another
tie public appeared to draw a certain
mystical lie of demarkation between the
nate Premier and his colleagues in the Ad-
ministration ! That because of this—when
ever the
administrative kettle of fish was tot to the
popular liking, the fault of its being so was never
by any chance set down to the chef, but to one of
the scullions ! That—if the little game of Minis-
ters might be defined as having recently been some-
thing very much like a game of chuckfarthing
--whenever in this little game it chanced
to come up heads, that went to the
credit of the Prime Minister—whenever tails,

that on the contrary went to the die-credit of
the noble viscount's colleagues in the Government.
Aecordipg to Mr. KNIGRTLEY'S whimsical way of
putting ic, the public ut largo seemed to be AlWaYe

bent up on giving Lord PALMERSTON all the half-
pence, and his unfortunate colleagues all the
kicks. Never, in truth—there can be little
doubt of this at least in the matter—never, in
simplest truth, has England had installed in power
such a happy-go-lucky Prime Minister as Lord
PALMERSTON. What would be death, political
death, to another, is simply fan to him. If his Mi-
nistry fails utterly, egregiously, notoriously, say in
ita projects of reform, or say again and yet again
in its diplomatic negotiations—What's the odds
(say a good many of the people out of doors and the
majority of the Commons in• doors)—What's the odds
so long a 3 he (Lord PALMERSTON) is happy ? Re-
prehend Lord RUSSELL if you like, but—Lord PAL.
MERSTON! Three cheers—for him! Any number
of groans you please for his colleagues, but three
times three cheers for Lord PALMERSTON ! The
Veteran Premier's still vital Popularity outweighing,
in fact, the whole notorious unpopularity of all his
colleagues put together. Insomuch that—failure,
bungling, meddling and muddling, bounce and
meanness to the contrary notwithstanding—it has
been deliberately decided that Lord PALMERSTON
and his colleagues shall hold office untrammelled and
untroubled for a good half year to come—all this,
purely and solely, thanks:to Lord PALMERSTON'S
run of luck. Yet, while the veteran Premier is going
just now the round of the provinces, receiv-
ing ovation after ovation—once in a way,
there does become audible through the popular
acclamations, certain sinister mutterings, as it
were, as of the voice of a coming NEMESIS !
Instance this—the Resolutions passed on Monday
evening by four hundred of the working men of
Bradford, in the Temperance-hall of that town.
Elsewhere, in our impression of this evening, those
same most significant Resolutions may be turned
to—and they are worth turning to—and examining
very carefully—by reason of their significance!

As the autumn advances, the prospects of the''
harvest become the first consideration, and agricul-
tural meetings rise into some importance. At this
time of the year we generally hear a good deal of
eloquence on rural subjects, since we have already
entered upon those ideas which noble lords and
honourable gentlemen usually devote to the con-
ciliation and instruction of their constituents
and county neighbours. The speech of Lord
JOHN MANNERS at Market Harborough, on
Wednesday, was something more than a mere
routine address, since it contained a very im-
portant and practical suggestion. The meeting
over which the noble lord presided was the
annual assembly of the Leicestershire and Waltham
Agricultural Society, and was very largely attended.
The show was above the average, and of course re-
ceived the usual compliments from the chairman,
who proceeded to remark that the agriculturists
had not had much to complain of during the last
year except the very low price of wheat. Farmers
are proverbial for grumbling, and consequently do
not generally obtain much pity, and certainly they
are not likely to get much sympathy in a trouble
which is of so profitable a nature to other classes of
the community. Lord JOHN MANNERS, however,
took advantrge of the circumstance to suggest to
his audience whether it would not be wise for the
future to depend less exclusively on wheat. He was
not long in showing them where such a crop could
be found, and pointed oat how manufacturing and
agricultural interests were both concerned in the
cultivaticn of flax. The state of the cotton market
during the last few years has naturally given rise
to a considerable increase in the demand for 'voot
and flax. No Leicestershire farmer, remarked Lord
JOHN MANNERS, need be reminded of the increased
profit he has been receiving on his wool. But flax
has been little heeded,and the cultivation languishes,
although there is no reason to doubt that it would
thrive in this country, and although the demand for
it is constantly on the increase. An official report
has lateiy been issued on this subject, and the
gentleman who drew it up expresses a hope
that for the future every English farmer will
grow at leak five acres of flax. We can hardly
expect so rapid an extension of the cultivation ; but
the facts brought forward by the noble lord at the
Leicestershire meeting are not easily to be set aside.
Ia the first place, with regard to the demand, it
appears from the Government report that there is a
great demand for flax linen goods not only in the
United Kingdom, but throughout Europe. " At
the present moment the flax manufacturers in France
are working day and night ; the Irish linen manu-
facturers are crying out for more flax ; upwards of
250,000 new spindles for flax machinery have been
ordered at Leeds a.id Bradford during the last few
months ; and there is amongst those who are con-
versant with the subject an apprehension of a flax
famine." So that there is, at all events, no ground
to fear that the demand is likely to decrease, and
since it is by no means confined to one locality it
does not follow that even the complete resuscitation
of the cotton trade would altogether supersede it.
So far as the present supply is concerned more than
one half of the raw material consumed in the United
Kingdom comes from abroad, and that half repree
seats no less than six millions of money which
might, as Lord JoHN MANNERS very justly
said, be better employed in encouraging
the industry of our own people. The farmers
of Ireland, stimulated to increased exertion by the
increased demand, have within the last year added
6 t,OOO acres to those already under flax cultivation.
And supposing the demand to go on even in a
moderate proportion, the stimulus thus given to
Irish industry will be great. It is by opening up
profitable channels for labour at home that we shall
best check that excessive tide of emigration which
is gradually depopulating the sister country, and
viewed in this aspect the flax cultivation assumes
the highest importance. With regard to the pro-
fit the statistics leave nothing to be desired. Mr.
CHORLEY, a practical farmer, who has for many
years been trying the experiment (in England), has
published the results, and states that the lowest
clear profit was £3 per acre, the highest £l5 10s.,
and the mean profit £9, so that there is, according
to this gentleman's practical experience, no reason
to doubt that the cultivation of flax would prove a
sufficiently remunerative experiment to justify its
being made on a considerable scale. As we have
said, the experiment is one which unites the two
interests not usually supposed t,c(iae harmonious, and
while the agrioulturist finds his reward in a profit-
able cn3ploynaent of his land the manufacturer will
no longer be restricted in his operations for lack
of the raw material. But, in fact, much of that old
' antagonism has died out. It was impossible for
both town and country not to perceive that their
interests were really identical when increased
knowledge and general cultivation cleared away
some obsolete prejudices. Both aro alike interested
in the material welfare of the country, and while
the most ingenious and enterprising manufacturer
would assuredly oome to a standstill without the
physical support supplied by the former, the latter
in his turn would soon feel the difference were he
to be deprived of the thousand comforts and even
necessaries of civilised life provided for him by the
manufacturer. " I believe," said Lord JOHN
MANNERS, in concluding his very sensible and
practical address, "that there is not at the present
moment a manniseturing township in the north •
In

which the transcendant importance of a good har-
vest and of agricultural improvement is not fully
and cheerfully recognised." It is well for all that
the agriculturists themselves are fully sensible of
the value of progress, and, although much remains
to be done, we may well feel gratified at the results
which have been attained within the last few
years.

Lord STANLEY'S remarks on commercial affairs
the other day at Liverpool are well worthy of at-
tention, since his observations include a wide range
of topics, which are of paramount interest and
grave importance. Oa India, in especial, he is an
excellent authority, and it has been a matter of
deep regret to those who studied the affairs of that
country that he was removed from a position which
he occupied with so much credit to himself and so
much benefit to others. The disappointment was
enhanced tenfold by the circumstance of fiis suc-
cessor being in every way so incompetent and un-
fitted for the onerous task assigned to him: Still,
though no longer in a responsible place, Lord
STANLEY has not ceased to occupy himself with all
that relates to the welfare and interest of our
Eastern possessions, and he speaks on such sub-
jects with a readiness and completeness that pro-
claim his competence to form an opinion. The
question of the Customs duties was considered,
because in the report a mention had been made con-
earning them, and regret expressed that an increase
I had taken place in them. Lord STANLEY remarked
that it was a difficult thing to decide upon ; but his
explanations as to the advisability of continuing
them for the present teem unanswerable, It is
always very easy to find fault with any impost,
and to animadvert upon its unequal pressure
and its injurious effects, but it is by no means
so easy to say what will be a better impost,
or even to suggest a practical substitution for the
burden complained of. Those who are so eager to
put a period to these taxes, do not seem to reflect
that something of the sort must be put in force for
the purpose of maintaining the government of the
place and supporting the revenue. As Lord STAN-
LEY truly observed " The millennium of no custom-
houses, and 20 per cent. off the property tax, was
so distant as not to be within the reach of political
prophecy," It is as well now and then to contem-
plate the full scope of the demands and desires of
would-be reformers and political economists, be-
cause we can thus better estimate the improbability
of their schemes coming to pass, and the impracti-
cability of many of their projects which at first
sight seemed feasible enough. Lord STANLEY ex-
plained that one objection against the imposition of
these Customs duties was, that they gave more
protection to the native than to the English manu-
facturer. This, though true in theory, is not exactly
so in practice; because the greater advantages
which we possess, both in capital and skilled
labour, do away with the chief impediments in the
way of competition, His lordship declared it to be
his opinion that, prior to the abolition of these
duties, something should be done to remove the
Indian income tax. This notion is shared by a
good many competent to form an opinion on the
subject. When this tax was first introduced, it
was said that it was only imposed for a short
time, and though it is true that the same was ori-
ginally declared at the re-introduction in this coun-
try of the Income Tax, still it must be borne in mind
that it is very dangerous to make such experiments
in India as may be done here in all confidence and
security. It would be very unpropitious to do such
a thing as disappoint the expeztations of those who
are looking forward with eagerness to the cessation
of an inconvenient and irksome tax, and certainly,
from every point of view this subject has prior
claims on our regard, and ought most assuredly to
receive due attentiou in the proper quarter, when-
ever the fitting time shall ccme for its consideration.
The difficulty of dealing with the native merchants
and traders is very great, and that is another in-
ducement which may be added to those which urge
its cessation, no less for convenience than for
prudence. Lord STANLEY exactly explained the
bearings of the question when he informed his
hearers that these matters of discussion really de-
pended upon the maintenance of peace. This is,
indeed, the secret of success, and unless this deside-
ratum be achieved, it is vain to expect any advan-
tages to accrue, and idle to speculate upon the pro-
priety and expediency of this or that change taking
place. Lord STANLEY approves of the proposal for
reforming the courts of justice at Rangoon, and
with the extended views of one who looks beyond
the material demands of the immediate present,
he declares that he believes it to be a country
for which there is a very great future, and further
added that he "had long looked further to the time
when all that large territory, lying east of Calcutta,
should be constituted into a more independent Go.
vernment, and separate Lieutenant-Governor,"
There is no doubt that if such 9, change were to
be effected the best results woald follow, and many
non-disaffected and
querulously-inclined would be-
come more amenable to authority, and more ha•
clined to take a happier view of their position. Too
much cannot be done to conciliate and encourage
the inhabitants of a land who are often placed in
trying circumstances ; and it is certain that the
more elevated the aims, and the more extended
the objects of the rulers, the more successful will be
their policy and the more beneficial its results,

Ships of War Building for the Royal Navy.

There are at the present time 36 vessels under construc-
tion at the various royal and private dockyards for the
British navy, many of which are in a very forward state
for launching. They consist of 4 iron screw-ships, 2 iron
cased screw-ships, 1 screw iron corvette, 1 double-screw
iron gun-boat, 1 double-screw iron and wood gun-boat, 6
screw frigates, 3 screw ships, 2 screw corvettes, 4 screw
sloops, 1 'addle despatch vessel, 5 screw gull Vessels, and
6 screw gun-boats. The names of these ships, together
with the number of guns, horse-power; and tonnage, and
the place where building are as follow
IRON SCREW-.SHIPS.
Ships. Guns. H.-p. Tons. Port.
Agincourt
Bellerophon
Lord Clyde
Northumberland 26 ..1,350 .. 6,621 .. Mina all.

IRON- CASED SCREW-SHIPS.
•
Lord Warden,. 24 ..1,000 .. 4,067 .. Chatham.
Royal Alfred .. 35 .. 300 .. 4,045 .. Portsmouth.

IRON SCREW. CORVETTE.

Pallas
DOUBLE•SCREW IRON GUNBOAT.
Viper .. 2 .. 167 .. 737 Poplar.

DOUBLE-SCREW IRON AND WOOD GUNBOAT.

__a__
Vixen
SCREW SHIPS, CORVETTES, FRIGATES, &C.
Amazon
Belvidere 39 .. 600 .. 3,027 .• Chatham.
Bittern 4 .. 150 .. 669 .. Devonport, .
Bruiser 2 .. 60 .. 270 .. Portsmouth.
Bulwark
Cherub 2 .. 60 .. 236 ~ Portsmouth.
Cromer 2 .. 60 .. 236 .. Portsmouth.
Dartmouth
Dryad
Endymion
Harlequin
Helicon
Inter . 36 .. 500 .. 2,478 .. Devonport.
Monai
Minstrel
Myrmidon
Nassau
Netley .. 2..60 .. 233 .. Portsmouth.
Newport ...... 5 .. 80 .. 425 .. Pembrok;
North Star.... 22 .. 400 .. 1,857 .. Sheer
-a„,,,' 0rwe11........ 2 .. 60 .. 233 .. p ' ---h Reindeer ...... 6 .. 200 ..
Repulse ...... 81 .. 800 .. 3 -950
Robust ........ 81 .. Choarttshmamou.t .
800 .
,al6 „, Woolwich.
Syevia ........ 4 .. 21--
Tartarus ...... 4
..4 .. : 3,679105 •.. ..
Woolwich.Devonp o r t.
Tweed ' .. 200 .. 695 .. Pembroke.
.39 ~ 600 .. 3,027 .• Pembroke.
Ti- ------____
.4e London and North Western Directors will
probably rommmend a dividend for the past half -year at
I the reto o£s 1,:;4, per cent per annum,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE•

LREUTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

AMERICA.
ARRIVAL OF THE AUSTRALASIAN.

The royal mail steamship Australasian, from
New York, on the 27th ult., arrived at Queenstown
at 9 a.m. co-day. She brings 54 passengers, and
111,608 dols. in specie. She landed 119 sacks of
mails and 11 passengers, aid proceeded at 9.15
am. All well.

NEW YORK, AUG, 24 (Morning).

A desperate engagement was fought at Atlanta
on the 22d inst. The result was indecisive. The
Confederates lost 7,000, and the Federals 2,000

men.
The railroad communication between Atlanta and
Montgomery has been destroyed.
Gen. Sherman maintained a position to the left
of the city within a portion of the fortification.
General Hunter's forces have been defeated, and
compelled to retreat to Harper's Ferry.
A fresh invasion of Maryland is expected.
Gold, 2561; exchange on London, 23 ; money
easy.

Nothing doing in United States Sixes.
Cotton dull, and unchanged,
Breadstuffa generally steady.
NEW YORK, JULY 26 (Evening).
In the engagement on the 22d inst. General
Sherman repulsed all the Confederate attacks;
General Macpherson was killed. Oa the following
day both belligerents buried their dead under a
flag of truce.
General Rousseau is said to have occupied Monte
gommery. Alabama, and cut all the railroads lead-
ing to Atlanta from the west and south west. The
roads east of Atlanta are destroyed.
Early defeated a portion of Hunter's troops, com-
manded by Crook and Avenel, on the 23d and 24th,
near Winchester.
The Federals retreated to Harper's Ferry.
The Confederates have occupied Martinsburg and
commenced destroying the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad.
Preparations are being made to resist any further
Confederate invasion in Maryland.
Avail!, Kelley, and Mulligan are rumoured to
have keen killed.
Smith's expedition has returned to Memphis for
supplies, after defeating Forrest in five engage.
ments.
The situation before Petersburg is unchanged.
Grant has appointed Ord to the command of the
18th Army Corps, and Birney to the 10th Army
Corps.
Secretary Fessenden has appealed to the people
for subscriptions to a loan of 200,000,000 dole.,
seven three-tenths Treasury notes, redeemable in
three years, and with interest payable in currency.
The notes are to be convertible at maturity into
bonds, bearing interest payable in gold.
The Belgian, Marathon, Scotia, and Borussia
have arrived out.

DARTMOUTH, AUG. 6.

The Royal yacht Victoria and Albert arrived off
here this morning. His Royal Highness the Prince
of Wales and party came into the harbour and
rowed round the training ship Britannia.
The yacht then left for the eastward.

FRANCE.

PARIS, AUG. 6.

Advices received hero from Lisbon state that
yesterday being the anniversary of the establish-
tb. n•-•natitntinn. tho r;na. ronn;vreasi thu
municipal authorities. His Majesty said that he
would always maintain these institutions which
contribute to the prosperity of his people.
The Constitutionnel of to-day, in an article cor-
recting the journals which accuse the French Go-
vernment of having allowed an opportunity for
territorial aggrandisement to pass by, says;--
" The only thing true is, that England, with the
object of preserving the possessions of King Chris-
tian would willingly have passed from diplomatic
action to military action. But in a war with. Uer-
many France would have had to bear the iull brunt
and expense. England would have swept the sea,
capturing the vessels belongins
to the belligerents,
and taking a glorious part,
almost costless and con-
venient,"

rionmciosneclnuosrionth,
edeperlaorspesectthoatf
tFerrTarnihtceoerCina:lnvaselrgitglatasdn°driemlipent. " England offered no-
thing•_.France asked for nothing. Neither Earl
ciarendon during his journey to Paris, nor the Bri-
tish Cabinet in its diplomatic despatches ever hinted
at Franco taking the Rhine frontier."
BOURSE, August s.—The market has been firm,
but the announcement of a further decline in Con-
sols has had a depressing effect. Threes, for the
Account. opened at 66f 40c, and are now 66f 35c.
Mobilier have been done at 9951 and 9971 50c.
Railway shares rather heavy, but the fluctuations
in prices are trifling. The market closed as
follows :

41 per Dents 94 60
Do. end month
3 per Cents 66 20
Do. end mr,hth 66 30
Credit M.obilier 9,j8 75
Do. slid month 993 75
Br..nk Shares 3400
Credit Fonoier 1230
Roman

Italian Loan 68 20
Do. end month 68 30
Ditto Threes
New Mexican 55 75
Russian —
Austrian
Spanish Threes _
Rome Debt .. 4B
Deferred
YAM
Cash. Account.
881 25 881 25
980 ...985
990 907 50

RAIL

OfiearLH oo oo • .
Northern • a..
Lyons and Mediterranean
New ditto
Southern ........
Western ......

640 - .. 642 50
515 - • • - •....•

Eastern • . 000000000 a• a 487 50 .. 490 --
Sardinian .... 347 50 .. 846 26
Austrian
Lorpbßrd - .. 533 75
North of Spain . ... 440 .. 442 50
Saragossa 5lO 50 .. 512 50
Ditto to Barcaiona

V.,..,...,....k .. ...1.

INDIA, CHINA, AND AUSTRALIA,
(BY Telegraph from Suez.)
CALCUTTA, JULY 16.
Grey shirtings and mule twist improving; cotton
quiet. Exchange on London, 2s. ld. ; Government
securities, per cent. 951, 5 per cent. 1041, 51 per
cent. 1131 ; freights improving.
BOMBAY, JULT 15.
Cotton, Oomrawuttee, .565 rupees. Exchange on
London, 2s. ld.; Government securities, 1 per cent.
95, 0 per cent, 105, 5,1 per cent. 115; freight dull
and declining.

CANTON, JUNE 30.
The markets here AO es at Shanghai are
unchanged,

MELBOVRN, JUTE 26.

The gold shipped since the departure of the last
mail amounts to 637,70 ounces, Trade is un-
altered, _ _

SOUTHAMPTON, Atm. 6.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam.
614 Delhi, with the above mails, has arrived.
She brings 107 passengers, including Sir Robert
Schomburgh, Her 'Majesty's Consul at Siam ; also
£1,106 in specie, 648 packages of silk, and 194
packages of general werehandize.
_ _ _

The British schooner Edwards, from Mazagan,
had arrived at Gibraltar with 187 passengers.
Several Hebrew families emigrating from Bar-
bary to Palestine NN ere taken on to Alexandria by
the steamer Arasces: .

At Gibraltar, exchange on London, 90 days', was
quoted 50i ; on Path, 51'. 30c,; Genoa, tif. 31c.
Freights increased,

Lord Palmerston and the Working Men of

Bradford.

Some 400 working men of Bradford assembled in the
Temperance Hall of the town on Monday evening, " for
the purpose of reviewing Lord Palmerston's representative
policy, of considering in what manner the unenfranchised
working classes of this great manufacturing community
ought to receive him on his approaching visit, and to deter-
mine what steps should be taken by them to undeceive him
as to the supposed apathy and carelessness of the people on
the important question of Parliamentary reform." After
some discussion, and the proposal of an amendment which
fell through,:the following resolutions wore carried)—
" That this meeting believes that Lord Palmeitston,
although formally pledged to a considerable extension of
the frahchise, not only at Willis's-rooms in London, in the
spring of 1859, but on other occasions, in the House of
Commons has, nevertheless, been the greatest obstruction
to every means of reform, no matter by whom introduced.
" That this meeting—although told that Lord Palmerston
has no direct political object in view in his forthcoming
visit to lay the foundation stone of the New Exchange—
denies that he can, on such an occasion as that even, divest
himself of his political character and influence ; and there-
fcre we, the working men of Bradford, deem it a most
fitting and legitimate opportunity for exhibiting to his
lordship our disapprobation and disappointment at his
breaking faith with the people in not fulfilling those pledges,
and protesting against his assumption that they are apa-
thetic and careless about reform, and content with the ex-
travagance at home, and jealousies abroad, promoted by his
lordship's policy.
"That we, the unenfranchised men of Bradford, as a
method of showing our disapprobation of such political im-
morality and injustice, do hereby pledge ourselves, on the
occasion of his lordship's visit, to observe a dignified but
significant abstinnace from all enthusiastic cheering.
" That an address, couched in a respectful but firm tone,
embodying the spirit of the foregoing resolutions, be pre-
sented to Lord Palmerston; and that the address now read
be presented."

Mr ROSE, the gentleman who proposed the amendment
for the rejection of the address mentioned in the last reso-
lution, gave his reasons for adopting that course. He said
it was of no use being troubled so much about the errors 1
and shortcomings of the past. The proper way would be
to take care to retrieve the errors of the past at the hust-
ings. Working men ought not to look so much to rasord
Palmerston or to any Prime Minister, hut they
,
look to a better Parliament. Their redress ought to
, could only be
obtained from a better House of Corn-
at the present time. They mop' 440/3e than they had
peed to the House of
•is
Commons men who would -
had done. (Hear, bo aot betray their trust as many
-
ss')

THE CORD CHANCELLOR AND THE CHURCH.—
The 't.ihurch of England has had to endure many
,umiliations of late, and the last and not the least is the
speech of the Lord Chancellor on the "Synodical Con-
demnation" of the " Essays and Reviews." It must have
been galling enough to Convocation to know that it was
impotent to give effect to its declared views; but to be told
that, while they were powerless to punish, they had them-
selves run the risk of punishment—to be reminded of the
disagreeable fact that " the statutes have carefully said
that if Convobation shall attempt to pass any koLtence,
any ordinance, or any constitution wit tout the pre-
vious licence and authority of the Crown, they
shall incur the penalties of a prenzunire" —to
be further reminded, i 4 a strain of malicious wag-
gery, what those a•orful penalties are, and to be told
that the prelates 'nave escaped them only because " what is
called a syne,aical judgment is simply a series of well lubri-
cated teams—a sentence so oily and so saponaceous that no
one could grasp it. Like an eel it slips through your
fingers—it is simply nothing, and it is literally no sentence
at all "—all this must be as gravel to the teeth of any
Churchman with a grain of self-respect. That the episcopal
bench should have been thus made sport of in the House of
Lords, and that no lay peer should have come to the rescue,
indicates clearly enough that the Church has lost much of
the political influence which it formerly possessed. The
contempt of politicians will be even mere dangerous than
the assaults of " Liberators."—idiberator.

OUR MINERAL WALTll.—Through the courtesy
of our esteeme'l correspondent, Mr Robert Hunt,
F.R.S., the Jleeper of Mining Records at the Royal School
of Mines, we have been favoured with the statistics of our
miner.' production for 1863, which will be issued to the
Pr:olic in a week or ten days from this time. The value of
the minerals produced was £29,151,976, from which metals
of the value of £36,364,327 were extracted. Of gold quartz
we produced 385 tons, worth ; of tin ore, 15,157 tons
worth £963,985 ; of copper ore, 212,947 tons, worth
£:,100,654; of lead ore, 91,253 tone, worth £1,193,530 ; of
silver ore, 88 tons, worth £5,703 ; and zinc ore, 12,941 tons,
worth £29,968. During the year in question there were
sold 95,376 tons of pyrites, for £62,035; and the rarer mi-
nerals—wolfram, uranium, gossans, ardente, and earthy
rninerals—rai9.o wero the valu4 oe 41,9R6MG_
Items, with the value of 9,101,552 tons of ore, £3,240,890,
and 86,292,215 tons of coal, £4572,645, raises the total to
£29,151,976 which was manufactured into nearly £40,000,060
worth of merchantable produce, To produce these results
direct employment has been given to at least 500,000 men,
so that our mineral industries may be considered as alone
supporting a population of nearly 3,003,000, in addition to
adding much to the general wealth of the kingdom, and
especially to the wealth of those whose capital has been
employed in mining operations.—Nining Journal.

RECLAMATION Or THE WASH.—An important
meeting of the magistrates of the counties of Nor-
folk and Lincolnshire was held at the Globe Hotel, King's
Lynn, yesterday, for the purpose of defining the boundaries
of the counties of Norfolk and Lincolnshire in the large
tract of land called Wingland. It appeared that the re-
claimed land proposed to be divided consisted of about 5,000
acres actually brought under cultivation, and above 1,000
acres as yet only partially acclaimed. This work of reclama-
tion is part of the original scheme of making a new county,
which was to be called Victoria county, and the district
which now presents the aspect of highly-cultivated and
richly productive fields, was but a few years ago a dreary
waste of alluvial mud, over which each tide passed, but
the immediate cause of the reclamation has been the ope-
ration of the New Outfall Act. The magistrates having
agreed to the boundary line, which gives nearly an equal
amount to either county, gave directions for the line to be
marked out. This is to be done by stone posts or landmarks.
It should be mentioned that this is but one portion of a
very large tract of land that is being, through engineering
skill, taken from what has been known as the Wash, but
which would seem to have been ages back dry land, as the
immense submarine forest stretching cross the mouth of the
Wash off Hunstanton indicates. Marty thousands of acres
have also been already reclaimed through the operations of
the Norfolk Estuary scheme.
A SUBMARINE FLEET.—The ironmonger and
Metal Trades ildvert!'ser, in speaking of the trade
of Birmingham, has the following statement :—" The
Messrs Russell are now engaged in the manufacture of an
extensive and very novel order for the Russian Government.
A fleet of war vessels to sail under the surface are now being
constructed in Russia. To afford some idea of the magni-
tude of the Russian enterprise, it may be stated that the
cost of the tubes alone for a single vessel of this submarine
fleet will be nearly £9,000. It will contain no less than 38
lengths of wrought iron tubes of 60 feet each, having a 13-
inch bore, and a thickness of of an inch. The specifica-
tions demand that they shall be capable of bearing a pres-
sure of 2,000 lb. to the square inch, and Messrs. Russell
test every tube up to 2,5001 b. The submarine boat which
these tubes are destined for is of such dimensions that it is
estimated that 200 tons of iron and steel will be used in its
construction. The cost will, it is calculated, reach 275,000
silver rubles, or £27,000, and the expediture of this amount
has been authorised by the Emperor, Each vessel is to have
engines worked by compressed air, and to have a very strong
break, with provisions for attaching large cylinders charged
with powder to the bottom of vessels, to be fired by electri-
city. The parties navigating the vessel will see what they
are doing by means of bull? eyes,' and they will be able
to regulate the depth at which they swim, generally keep-
ing quite close to the surface,"
ARGYLL, MONT4OSE, AND THE HOUSE OF
AinuE.—At the dinner of the Highland and Agri-
cultural Society of Scotland, on Tuesday, the Duke of
Argyll, the chairman, proposed the health of the Duke of
Montrose, who presided at the other end of the hall. He
said—l cannot help remembering that my noble friend and
my ancestors have not always lived in such perfect har-
mony together, and I have discovered by mere accident
within the last few days that the ancestors of my noble
friend and ray own ancestors were connected some 200 years
ago more nearly than I had any notion of in what may be
called agricultural pursuits. I dare say you may all know
that in the good brave days of old we in the Highlands had
a peculiar method of improving our stock of cattle. It re •
ceived a very ugly name, but it really was a very useful
and protitable business--it was cattle lifting. Now, gentle-
men, it does so happen that I have seen an original letter
of the Marquis of Argyll directing a famous raid into some
country neighbouring to his own for this purpose, and it
ran somewhat in this fashion, addressed to one of his vas-
sals of that time, The letter began—" D ,ugal, you will
go with so many hundred men into the country of ray Lord
Ogilvy, and will lift his cattle, and you will drive them to
the Straan Molar." Now, very few of you have seen the
Straan Mohr, but I can tell you it is a narrow glen, into
which if cattle are once driven it is very difficult to get
them out. The letter proceeds thus :—" And ye will go
forward to the hoose of my Lord Ogilvy, and ye will de-
stroy the said hoose, and ye will pull down the yetts.and the
windows, and gin it be langsome ye will firs the hoose."
Now, gentlemen, this is the history of a famous raid,
which is the subject of a song well known to many of you
—" The Bu ning of the Bonny House of Airlie." Now,
what I was about to tell you is this, that I discovered
within the last few days, by mere accident, that the cele-
brated raid into the country of the Earls of Airlie, then
Lords Ogilvie, which was one of the great accusations
against the Marquis of Argyll, and I supposed formed part
of the accusation on which he lost his head, was a raid
actively supported and befriended by the great Marquis of
Montrose.

The Duke .of Beaufort and Mr. Rolt, M. P, ,
. on' the Late Vote of No Confidence,

At the annual dinner of the Gloucestershire So-
ciety, which was held on Thursday night at the
White Lion Hotel, Bristol, the Duke of Beaufort
and Mr. Rolt, M.P. for West Gloucestershire, seized
the opportunity of coming out strongly against the
Government.

The Duke of BEAUFORT, in returning thanks for
the manner in which his name had been received,
said that was a very ancient society, and he was
sorry it was not more supported by the landed pro-
prietors of that county. (Cheers,) One thing had
militated against it, and that was it was hardly un-
derstood whether it was a political society cr
whether it was not a political society. It was esta•
blished, decidedly, as a political society, originating
In a number of gentlemen who wished to bring
about the restoration of the king; and for many
years, until it was thought fit, in the wisdom of.
Parliament, to do away with the colours, it was a
true blue society. (Cheers,) He did not know how
it had gone on of late years, but charity had always
gone hand in hand with true blue politics; and he
might say in the city of Bristol that the yellow had
also done much, perhaps as much as the others.
(Cheers.) However, theirs had always been 11 true
blue society. (Cheers.) That was the first opportu-
nity, as their high steward, he bed had of coming
into the city of Bristol since very important politi.
cal events had taken place, and he might therefore
be pardoned for saying a few words upon the state
of affairs at present. There was hardly a man in
that room but read the 7inzes, and that paper had
represented the position of the Conservative
party at this time in the most unfair manner.
(Cheers,) He
would make a broad assertion
that whatever the
2intes sought to prove,
it did not herf:cata to lie to prove. (Loud cheers.)
A great., et- cal of abuse had been lavished upon the
C
adoservatives of both Houses of Parliament for their

conduct during the present session, and they were
told that, having done nothing until the last moment
almost of the Conference held in London, they came
forward, and without proposing a policy of their
own, tried to displace her Majesty's Government.
He would tell them what the real truth of the mat-
ter was. (Cheers.) When, in the beginning of the
spring—they might also say the end of the winter
—the allied armies of Germany invaded the then
possessions of the King of Denmark, their friends
in both Houses of Parliament were prepared to take
the sense of the house and the sense of the country
upon the conduct of the Foreign Minister. But it
was said to them, " You must not say a word ; ne-
gotiations are going on, and if you say anything
you will upset all the negotiations." Tne hands of
the leaders of their party were tied; but he thought
if they had been in cffice the hands of the Whigs
would not have been tied—(eries of " Shame")—but
for the sake of upsetting their party, they (the
Whigs) would, without hesitation, have put em-
barrassing questions, and made motions in both
Houses of Parliament. (Hear.) But the Conservative
leaders in both Houses of Parliament declined to
put the present Government in that embarrassing
position. A few private individuals got up and asked
questions, but they were always put down with the
same answer. (Laughter.) Matters went on till the
middle of summer, and then came the Conference,
and almost every day some one asked, " What is
going on in the Conference ?" but the answer was,
"We do not know anything." The foreign news-
papers had the details first, but her Majesty's
Ministers could not tell anything. (A. laugh.) It was
thought proper to show the feelings of the Conser-
vative party as to the conduct of her Majesty's
Ministers. If the Foreign Minister had said at
once to Denmark " You must take your own line ;
we wish you success; that is all the good we can
do for you ; we cannot fight for yen; we cannot say
that 40,000 men shall be landed in the Baltic if the
Prussians cross the Scilei"—that would have
been what they ought to have done.—
(Cheers.) But Lord Russell contented him-
self with cheeking both parties—(hear and laugh-
ter)—and they treated him with contempt. When it
came to the end of the Conference their (the Con-
servative) party were winged totaie the sense 01 the
country and both houses as to the conduct of Lord
Russell ; but it was useless their going and enuncia-
ting a policy, and saying, " We will help Denmark
with material aid; we will send a fleet and an army,
if we come into power." It was useless their saying
that because the war would be over before they
could come into office. (Hear, hear.) It was evi-
dent to thinking men that before the Ccnservatives
could take office the whole matter would be over. It
was not as if the Prussians had taken the Dams-
werke and the island of Alsen, and passed the Schlei.
(Hear, hear.) After those events the war was really
over. What they read in the limes was not all
gospel truth. They had not a majority in the House
of Commons in consequence of the defection of some
of their people—in consequence of various combina-
tions. Until there Was a general election there was
no chance of their having a majority. Now, for the
last two or three years, three out of four vacancies
had been filled by Conservatives. Even that very
day the city of Exeter had returned another Con-
servative. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) And
though one was sorry to see the manner in which
every bishopric and lord-lieutenancy, every office of
state, was filled by the present Government, if per-
sons would stick together the great Conservative
party must come into power. Having said that much
he must at the same time make one observation—
though he was an uncompromising Conservative—
(hear, hear)—yet many of his most intimate friends
with whom he associated were men on entirely the
opposite side of politics. He thought his sentiments
were as exactly as possible the sentiments of the
- Gloucestershire Society. (Cheers.) Though he was
an uncompromising Conservative—by which he
meant that if his brother was a candidate for a seat,
and he was of the opposite politics, he (his grace)
would vote against him if he had a vote—he did not
allow private friendship to be interfered with by his
political sentiments. (Cheers.) It would afford him
great pleasure to take the chair at their next yearly
meeting ; and before he sat down he would propose
to them the toast of the evening—" Prosperity to
that ancient and very excellent society."
The healths of the members for the county having
been drunk,

Mr. J. ROLT, Q C., responded, and said that
they had not clone much in Parliament that session,
and it was wise that the institutions of the country
should be interfered with as little as possible. They
had not meddled much that year—(laughter)—
they bad passed some measures of minor import-
ance. With regard to the question of Denmark,
the hon. member said that he bad looked through
all the papers on the subject up to Easter, and any-
thing more humiliating than the disclosures re-
specting this country could not be imagined. Our
basting braggadocio, leaving Denmark at the last
alone was one of the most humiliating things this
country had suffered. (Hear, hear.)

SOUTHERN NOTIONS OF THE NORTH.—The
pri-
soners taken by us (the Federals) in the late ad-
vance upon Baltimore look healthy, are well clothed, and
say that they have had plenty to eat for the last year. They
seem to be in good spirits, and confident of final success,
and were a good deal interested to know if Old Abo or Pre-
moat was to be the next President. They have a very poor
opinion of Grant as a military commander, but entertain
considerable respect for Meade and Hancock. If it had not
been for those two Generals they aro confident that they
would have demolished Grant's army before ho crossed the
James River. They represent the slaughter of Grant's
farces at Spottsylvania and the Wilderness as being most
dreadful, and say that he time and again threw large
masses of men against works that were almost impreg-
nable, and only desisted when remonstrated with by his
subordinate officers, They seem to entertain considera-
ble respect for the Western troops, but declare that the
regiments from the New England States and the large
cities will not fight when they have the slightest show for
running.--New York Word.
THE POISONING OF SEAMEN.—Another telegram
from Spain, which has arrived in Sunderland, an-
nounces that the cook of the ship Ouse, who was charged
with wilfully causing the death of three of the crew of that
vessel by putting poison into their rations, has been ac-
quitted by the authorities of San Roque, as the men bad
been accidentally poisoned. The message did not mention
how the poison got into their fod, but there is no doubt
that very bad meat is often put on board ship in the northern
ports for the use of the crew. The inspector of meat at
Sunderland has recently died at that place, of fever, pro-
duced by the alluvium from casks of provisions which he
seized before they could he got on board a vessel.