The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-22 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

THE FRENCH EMPIRE.

officers now in the Belgian service was only 27, of
whom 5 had applied for letters of naturalisation.
The credits were then voted without further op-
position.

(Prom the Manchester Guardian of This Day.)
MANCHESTER, DEC. 21.

The ceremony of proclaiming the Empire took
place at Algiers on the 12th. The solemnity was
announced at sunrise by a salvo of 21 guns from
the little isle of the Marine, and repeated from the
battery of the port. At the same moment the
vessels in the harbour were dressed out with flags.
At half-past ten the proclamation was read in each
vessel by the captain to the assembled crew. At
half-past eleven the officers repaired to the Gover-
nor-General's residence, and from that place pro-
ceeded to join, on the Place du Government, the
officers of all branches of the service, and the various
military and civil functionaries. The Prefect of
Algiers read the proclamation with a loud voice ;
and then the Bishop of Algiers, surrounded by his
clergy, raised the Te Deum, during which time a
salvo of 101 guns was fired from the various
batteries. After the Te Deum, the troops filed
off with cries of " Vive I'Empereur !" At
two o'clock the officers again met in the Jar-
din Marengo, and witnessed the solemn inau-
guration of the Emperor's bust. This inaugura-
tion was greeted with a salvo of 21 guns. A
grand dinner took place in the evening, at the
residence of the Governor-General, and a ball was
given by the Superior COmmandant of the marine.
At night the public buildings were illuminated.
The Emperor has extended his clemency to a
great number of persons in the army condemned by
the Courts-martial. Out of 488 such persons under-
going imprisonment, 443 have obtained the remis-
sion of the remainder of their punishment, and 45
a reduction. Full pardon has been accorded to 72
prisoners condemned to the chain and iron weight
on the leg ; and a reduction of punishment to 135
others, subjected to the same sentence. Likewise,
18 soldiers condemned either to death or to five
years' imprisonment in irons, for acts of insubordi-
nation, or to the weight on the leg or hard labour
for desertion, have obtained commutation of punish-
ment. In fine, remission of the remainder of their
punishment has been accorded to four men con-
demned to imprisonment for insurrectional acts.
Thus 717 prisoners of various kinds have already
experienced the Emperor's clemency. Other pro-
positions for similar favours will, says the Moniteur,
be soon laid before his Majesty.
We read in the Patrie " The Morning
Chronicle, under the head of Serious news con-
nected with the property of the Orleans' family,'
announces that it is in contemplation to place a
sequestration to the amount of 100 millions on the
produce of the sales made in conformity with the
decrees of the 22d January last. The Government
renounces the contradiction of the erroneous re-
ports which certain foreign journals appear to take
a pleasure in propagating ; but we can affirm that
the article of the Chronicle is utterly devoid of
foundation."

The receipts of cotton at the American ports con-
tinue to be of great magnitude—in the last week, 113,000
bales against 80,000 in the corresponding week of last
year, whilst the total excess is 304,000 bales • and,
though large allowance is to be made for the effect of
swollen rivers in expediting the receipts, still they
are taken to warrant the inference that the crop is
likely to bear out the general estimate of 3,000,000
bales. In the southern markets prices have there-
fore lost another to lc. per lb, while at New York
business was dull without change in values. Freights
have attained to serious rates, viz., id. from New Orleans
to Liverpool, and id. from Mobile.
The Liverpool market has been quiet but steady to-day.
On our own Exchange, there was a doubtful character
about business during the morning (except in yarns and
goods for the east), which gave place to some increase of
sales, with more firmness as the day advanced, continental
buyers continue to hang sadly in the rear ; but in some
counts of warps they have done a little to-day. The India
and Uhiba houses are still, however, the principal
operators. The advices just received from Calcutta
and Bombay are very satisfactory as to the
position of those markets. The action of the
eastern buyers, has consequently, been felt, yester-
day, and to-day, in a very considerable amount of
transaction, at improved rates for both yarns and
goods, more particularly for the former. The demand
for such cloths has led to purchases of the yarns from
which they are made ; and these again manifest a harden-
ing tendency. For light printing cloths and T's there is
also an increased call ; but domestics are still unmoved,
and the yarns that enter into sale, though quite firm,
do not exhibit any advance.
MACCLESFIELD, DEC. 21.—The near approach of the
Christmas holidays, a period when the wholesale houses
generally take stock, exercises the usual influence on
trade here ; we have, therefore, only a few trans-
actions to report in silk manufactured goods ; but
the weavers are better employed in anticipation
of more active demand shortly. Thrown silks are
still much in demand, and becoming scarcer, es-
pecially the finer descriptions, of which little is to be
had. Raw Silks.—The market is without alteration
in price, with but little doing.
HALIFAX, DEC. 18.—The attendance in our piece hall
to-day has been as slender as has been usual of late, and
the inquiry for worsted goods is anything but encourag-
ing. The tone of the yarn market exhibits more confi-
dence. The conviction that higher prices must be sub-
mitted to is becoming general ; and both the ship-
ping houses and the manufacturers are purchasing more
freely, at advanced rates. Wool is changing hands in
pretty fair quantities, and the quotations are rather
higher. As next Saturday is Christmas day the market
will be held on Friday.
BIRMINGHAM, DEC. 20.—The most extraordinary ex-
citement is still kept up in the iron trade, and expecta-
tions of the wildest nature are indulged. Some go so far
as to confidently assert that merchant bars will shortly re-
alise 151. or 161. per ton. It is difficult to conjecture what
policy will be recognised at the approaching preliminary
meeting, or what will be declared as the nominal
price of iron, but it is a fact that 101. and 101. 10s.
have for some time been readily obtained for bars and
rods, and 11/. 10s. for sheets ; and that even at these
figures many ironmasters are declining to fill their
books with orders, while the demand has not expe-
rienced the slightest check. The chief difficulty that
presents itself is the scarcity and consequent exorbi-
tant price, of materials. The supply of both ironstone
and fuel in this district seems to have suddenly
become altogether inadequate to the increasing re-
quirements of furnaces! and manufactories, and what is
still worse, it is rather diminishing than increasing,
from the immense influx of water which, to use a tech-
nical phrase, is continually drowning out workings
after workings, and bids fair before long most materi-
ally to limit the production. With such prospects, in
the face of an extraordinary unusual demand for our
navy and for our maritime fortifications, with an un-
exampled activity in the export department, and with
the heavy drain that is again setting in for railway
consumption, it would be a difficult matter to controul
the present upward movement. The immense exodus
of population is also telling seriously upon the labour
market, and wages are rapidly advancing beyond all
previous legitimate ratio of remuneration. Under these
circumstances, however detrimental they may ultimately
prove to the steady interests of the trade, we see no
alternative—speculative prices must rule for some con-
siderable time to come.—Aris's Birmingham Gazette.

SWEDEN.

Advices from Stockholm of the 13th, in the
Cologne Gazette, state that the King's convalescence
proceeds rapidly, although his Majesty had not yet
left his bed, and only received his relations and in-
timate friends.

By accounts which were yesterday received by
the Minister of War from Algeria, the capture of
Laghouat had produced an immense effect on the
Arabs. The state of the country continued
excellent.

The Dads has the following on Spanish affairs :
"The new Spanish Ministry is definitively constituted
under the presidency of General Roncali. It is impossible
for us at this moment to form a precise opinion on the
character of this Cabinet, which has neither said nor done
anything, and the members of which took no part in the
last acts of the Congress, or in the proceedings of the oppo-
sition. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that what has just
taken place in Madrid will be favourable to the cause of
constitutional monarchy. M. Bravo Murillo has been over-
thrown because he wished to lay his hand on the constitu- '
tion, and showed himself disposed to undertake its reform,
without the Cortes, if that body should resist him. M.
Bravo Murillo has failed in this undertaking, and before
the movement of public opinion ; that alone is a legitimate
triumph, and we congratulate ourselves upon it. 'We find,
besides, in the names of several ministers, guarantees which
tend to assure us. We have called to mind the prece-
dents of the President of the Council, and we shall
merely add one word on the subject. When Gen. ITrbina,
Minister of War, with M. Bravo Murillo retired, in order
not to second the new policy which it was wished to adopt,
the latter offered the vacant portfolio to General Roncali,
but it was refused. General Lara, who is Minister of War
in the new combination, held that post under the Murillo
Ministry. He resigned it on the 27th of November, three
days before the opening of the session, when he was in-
formed of the projects of reform, and the measures which
it was decided to employ in order to cause their complete
success. The Department of the Marine having been con-
fided to General Mirasol, the new Ministry contains three
generals. They are all men of courage, sincerely devoted
to the person of the Queen, and also to the constitutional
regime : they were and are the friends of Marshal Nar-
vaez, whom they energetically supported during his
Ministry. M. Llorente is very highly spoken of ;he has
formed part of the Congress, and he is remarkable for
the firmness of his character, and the moderation and
loyalty of his principles. The line of conduct of the new
Ministry is traced out by the circumstance, in the midst of
which it has been formed. The Congress is dissolved, and
fresh elections must take place. It is thought that the
Cabinet will act with reserve and impartiality, that it will
only exercise the influence which regularly belongs to it,
and that it will do nothing to impair the sincerity of the
electoral results. It is thought that the great majority of
the Congress will be monarchical and constitutional. The
Congress must now solve the question which has been
brought forward of the reform of the constitution ' • it is
hoped that a compromise, prepared with good faith, will
fix the points on which that reform is to bear, in order that
the constitutional Government, maintained under good
conditions of strength and authority, may resume its regu-
lar course, and secure to Spain that peace and prosperity of
which she stands so much in need."

THE SEWAGE MANURE QUESTION.-MR.

DOVER'S PATENT.

It is now more than two years since we were invited
to the practical demonstration of an experiment for de-
pUtrefying sewage, and the precipitation of the infectious
matter held in solution therein, and its conversion into
a guano of highly fertilising properties, delivered in a
form at once cleanly, compact, convenient for carriage,
and distribution over land. The experiment was per-
fectly successful. The water of the sewage, originally
filty, and filled with fetid material of every kind, was
freed from these impurities, rendered perfectly inodorous,
clear, and fit for household purposes, whilst the residuum
was a guano, in a granular form, also perfectly free from
smell, and clean in the handling, which we were
assured, on the evidence of practical chemists
of standing and reputation, had been subject to analysis
and found to contain fertilising properties admirably
adapted to agricultural purposes. The practicability of
the deputrefaction of the sewage of large and populous
cities and its conversion into manure, for agricultural
purposes, is a subject in which we have never ceased to
take considerable interest, and its importance, in every
point of view, is scarcely to be overrated. As a sanitary
question, the prevention of the sewage from infecting
and from poisoning the water of the Thames, from which
so many hundreds of thousands derive their main supply
for domestic purposes, is one of those great necessities
of the time, which stare us in the face ; and with all
the evidence before us of the last fatal scourge of
the Cholera there is no man, woman, or child in
the kingdom but must know that the magnificent river
upon the banks of which we have a population of two
millions and a half, and which should subserve all the
beneficent purposes for which a merciful Providence de-
signed it, has been converted by the mismanagement of
man into a drain of putrefaction generating plague and
pestilence. Why, the gases which collect in our enor-
mons sewers; and which are oosing unceasingly from the
world underground into the habitable world above,
are known frequently to kill a strong man accustomed to
such impurities. It is a common occurrence. And yet
the population is content to inhale minute doses of this
poison daily and hourly !—infinitesimal doses !—of fu-
ture cholera 1 To remedy this to lay the axe
to the root of the evil it always appeared to
us that the plan proposed by Mr. Dover was
an admirable one, namely, to arrest the passage of
the sewage before it reached the river, and collecting it
in convenient reservoirs, verily and in fact, deputrefy it
—sending into the Thames, the water cleansed of its
impurities, and perfectly fitted for all household pur-
poses ! The Thames is kept clean, and the atmosphere
is relieved of plague !
But the cost ! Aye, the cost is an element worthy of
consideration. Now, it happens, fortunately, with this
as well as many other means of being clean and whole-
some, which God has placed at our disposal, that the
means necessary for this end are comparatively inex-
pensive, insomuch that Mr. Dover stated he was pre-
pared to effect this great good without a shilling cost to
the public ! Nay, the offer has been made over
and over again to the Government ! And how
was Mr. Dover justified in saying this ? Be-
cause he knew how to convert the filth which
is now poisoning the city, into a guano which should
fertilize the country ! and this fertiliser should be equal
to Peruvian guano—which men are foolish enough to
pay 10/. a ton for, to pay interest on money which
ough never to have been advanced—and this substitute
for Peruvian guano, should be ready for delivery and
use at Si. per ton ! Some time since we received a
prospectus, announcing the formation of a company,
with the avowed object of carrying out Mr. Dover's
plans. The capital proposed to be raised was about
50,0001., in 11. shares, and the undertaking was recom-
mended to the support of the public, by the re-publica-
tion, with the prospectus of the company, the favourable
opinions expressed by ourselves and our brethren of the
press, of Mr. Dover's patent. To this we can have no
possible objection. Our opinions were given publicly,
freely, and impartially. We entertained, at the time of the
experiment, a very high opinion of the merits of
the operations proposed ; and a closer investigation of
the subject since, has left a still more favourable convic-
tion on our mind of the value and practicability of Mr.
Dover's plan. Since, however, Mr. Dover has thought
it desirable to support the claims of the company which
he has originated, to the favour of the pulic, by the

The Bourse was firm to-day, and public securities
generally improved. The Four-and-a-Half per
Cents. opened at 106 f. 50c., and closed at 106 f. 45c.
for the end of the month • the Three per Cents.
closed at 82f. 85c.; Orleans Railway Shares, 1,040 f. ;
Rouen, 975 f.; Havre, 535 f.; Great Northern, 901 f.
25c. ; Basle, 367 f. 50c. ; Paris and Strasburg, 835 f. ;
Paris and Lyons, 922 f. 50c.; Great Western, 795 f. ;
Lyons and Avignon, 770 f. ; St. Dizier and Gray,
550 f. ; Caen and Cherbqurg, 635 f. ; Dijon and
Besangon, 575 f.; Bordeaux and Cette, 615 f.; Bank
of Credit Mobilier, 995 f.

THE CONTINENT.

SPAIN.

Madrid journals of the 16th have been received.
The Beraldo, which had. received notice of prose-
cution, since the appointment of the new Ministry,
for publishing the address of the Electoral Commit-
tee of the moderate Opposition, states that it has
made inquiries, and has reason to believe that the
notice was given without the concurrence of the
Cabinet. A Madrid letter states that the initiative
of the prosecution was taken by the Governor of
Madrid, without consulting the Ministers, and that
he is likely to be dismissed from office for this con-
duct. The same letter informs us that M. Martinez
de la Rosa is to be again appointed to the post of
Vice-President of the Royal Council, which he re-
signed in consequence of the unconstitutional course
pursued by the late Cabinet. It is announced that
M. Bravo Murillo is about to quit Spain.
Madrid Bourse.—The Three per Cents., 44 1-16.
Exchange on London, 50 80.

republication of opinions which we expressed two years
ago, and from time to time up to a recent period, we
trust that gentleman will not consider us wanting in
due courtesy to him if we make a few observations on
this subject, in which we have thus incurred some re-
sponsibility, of which Mr. Dover is called upon, as
we think, to relieve us. And in the first' place
we desire to know what actual steps have been
taken by Mr. Dover to bring this great experi-
ment to a practical issue. As far as the public
are concerned for all practical as well as sanitary
purposes, the deputrefaction of sewage, and con-
version of its residuum into guano, is, for all we
know, as far off as ever. Mr. Dover, indeed, has origi-
nated a company, and has taken out a patent for his in-
vention ; but these facts do not advance us one inch in
the practical solution of the question. We want to
know what has been done to bring this matter to a prac-
tical public bearing. And as Mr. Dover is, in fact,
raising money, so to speak, from the public, on the
credit of our indorsement, he is called upon to clear us of
the blame which he is open to, of delay in the practical
realisation of the advantages proposed. We have not heard
of one single sewer in the vast metropolis, being in Mr.
Dover's hands. • Mr. Dover is a gentleman of stand-
ing and respectability, and we anticipate an ample
and satisfactory explanation. If it should appear
that Mr. Dover is, indeed, not responsible for the
public disappointment ; we have a right to ask "whose
carriage stops the way ?"—Railway Record.
[We are quite of opinion that, considering the justly
favourable terms in which Mr. Dover's important scheme
has been'commented on by impartial and competent
judges, it is due to those who took an interest in the suc-
cessful experiments alluded to, as well as to his own cha-
racter, that an explanation should be forthcoming of the
causes of the delay in realising his proposals. Has Mr.
Dover been thwarted, and how so, in his exertions ? or,
has ht been apathetic in working the project to a practi-
cal conclusion ? A frank explanation would certainly be
satisfactory.--ED. Sun.]

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 22, 1852.

T.HE SHARE MARKETS.

BRITISH RAILWAYS.

LINES LEASED AT FIXED RENTALS.

RAILWAYS.

Leasing
Convene.

Closing Prices
this day.