The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-23 00:00:00

MONEY MARK'ET.

WEDNESDAY EVENING.—The eagerness which the Bank
Directors manifest on all occasions to throw the entire blame
of the crisis into which we have been brought-upon the
American merchants is anything but creditable to them,
and is far from producing the effect which they intend by
it. Such sophistry is too shallow not to be seen through
at once by our merchants generally. That the great
discount-brokers were the medium of operation, and
threw the first temptation in the way of those extraor-
dinary transactions which were afterwards entered into,
they are ready enough to concede ; but they knew per-
fectly well at the same time that the means for doing this
were furnished by the Bank Directors, who issued, of
course, the very bank-notes which were employed on terms
so easy as to drive both parties into the temptation. They
reflected as little upon the consequences as the mer-
chants themselves did, but with less excuse, because
thty had the whole circulation under their view, and bet-
ter materials for forming a correct judgment than other
men could possibly have access to. Now that the difficulty
has come on, and that they have secured, as they imagine,
their own position, they indulge in insults upon those
whom their own, or perhaps mutual, faults, have placed at
their mercy.
The Bank Directors held another sitting to-day on this
subject, but it is presumed very much to relate to matters
of detail : the principle upon which assistance is to be given
being conceded, there only remains the consideration of the
quality of the security offered. It must not be too hastily
concluded, however, that great perplexity may not arise
from this source alone.

The accounts from Amsterdam bring the particulars
of the new Dutch loan. which is to be raised by sub-
scription. It is to be divided into 19,000 portions, of 1,000
florins each; the whole equal to about 1,500,0001. For
each portion a bond of 1,000 florins is to be given,
charged upon the foreign possessions of Holland, and
bearing interest at .5 per cent., payable half yearly in
Amsterdam, on the Ist of April and the Ist of Octo-
tober, at the Netherlands Bank, and in the chief towns
of the provinces. Each bond will bear interest from the
Ist of April, 1837. The subscriptions are to be opened on
the 10th, 11th, and 12th of April, in Amsterdam, Rotter-
dam, and the chief towns of the provinces. If the sub-
scriptions are filled on the first day, they are not to be
opened on the next ' • but if more than the amount wanted
should be subscribed, the sum will he assigned in proportion
to the subscribers. The amount subscribed will be publicly
declared. The loan to be taken at par, and the payments
will be as follows :—On the 30th of April, 25 per cent. ;
on the 30th of June, 25 per cent. ; on the 10th of Octo-
ber, 25 per cent. ; and on the 10th of January, 1838, 25
per cent. Discount at 5 per cent. will be allowed on the
even months. The original subscribers are to have the
liberty of giving 4 per cent. bonds at 93 ; and i per cent.
commission is to be allowed to all brokers and agents.—
Times.

THE FIRE at MR. SPOT CIS WOODE'S
/ PRINTING-OFFICE.

As soon as the danger had ceased, and the first confu-
sion been somewhat' got over, vigorous exertions were
commenced for clearing out from the ware-room the vast
stacks of more or less burnt newly-printed reams of
paper. The quantity is estimated at 10,000 reams, and
a number of men were in the afternoon after the fire, and
during yesterday, employed in removing it to other pre-
mises where it can be conveniently examined, and the exact
nature of the loss ascertained. From the greatness of the
stock the examination will necessarily be a work of time
and of difficulty, and is rendered more so by the unfortu-
nate circumstance that the stock-book kept by the bead
warehouseman, which contained an account of the work
received into his charge, and of what he delivered out,
has been burnt in the fire. It was in a desk in the ware-
house, which, with all its other contents, is utterly de-
stroyed.
Mr. Spottiswoode was on the premises in the course of
the afternoon after the fire, and after going over the ruins,
and giving a brief expression to his grief on the unfortunate
occasion, gave directions for the work being resumed in
every department, and yesterday, in consequence, the com-
positors, the pressmen, and the machiners were all as fully
at work, as if nothing had occurred.
It is mortifying to know that but for an accident, which
seems to involve a charge of negligence in some quarter,
the fire might have been got under without doing scarcely
any damage. There are two capacious tanks on, the pre-
mises for supplying the steam-engine boilers. By contract
with the Water Company a service-pipe was laid on from the
main, and the tanks ought to be filled every evening. As
a precaution against fire, a pump was fixed on the top of
each tank, to which a length of hose was made to fit.
When the fire was discovered, and while it was 'yet con-
fined to only a corner of the room, the hose was got out
and fitted to the tank nearest the wareroom, but on work-
ing the pump, after the first half dozen strokes the tank
was found to be empty. The, other tank was too far dis-
tant to be of any use.
The insurances on the property are understood to be as
under :—ln the Protector, 2,850/. ; in the Union, 2,8501. ;
in the Guardian, 2,000/. ; in the Sun, 1,000/. ; in the
Hand-in-Hand, 1,0001. All the insurances are on stock,
except the 1,000/. in the Hand-in-Hand.

In the month of January, 1833, Mrs. Ann Blore,
of Derby, published a pamphlet, giving an account of the
abscoudment of her son, Isaac Blore, 14 years previously.
From this it appeared that the latter had been, by his maternal
grandfather, a gentleman of considerable property, bound ap-
prentice at the age of 15, to a respectable silk mercer. Not
liking the business, and being, according to the pamphlet, ill-
treated by his master, he represented the same•to his grand-
father, who, however, refused to listen to him. Immediately
after this, in July, 1819, he absconded, and, up to the latter
end of the past week, was never heard of. In the meantime,
the grandfather having died, and left a very large property,
to a considerable portion of which he was entitled, advertise-
ments were inserted in the papers all over England, but parti-
cularly in those of Liverpool and Manchester, offering large
rewards for his discovery. Yesterday a relation of Mrs.
Blore, who is a respectable resident of this town, had an in-
terview with the individual wbo represents himself as her son,
and the result is perfectly satisfactory as regards his identity.
It appears that he has been residing, during the whole period
of his absence, in the South of France. He will come imme-
diately into the possession of a handsome fortune.—Liverpool
Albion.

IRISH CABINS.—It is possible to imagine any
state of wretchedness which canes up to the reality of
some of the miserable hovels and the families they contain, as
described by the Assistant Commissioners, from their own per-
sonal inspection. Damp, dark, dismal, and unhealthy, these
cabins would not be considered in England good enough to
house cattle in. Nothing is more common than for the inmates
of a cabin all to sleep in the same room, without respect to sex
or age, the father, mother, and from one to five of the younger
children in one bed, the grown-up sons in a second, and the
daughters in a third, although the apartment is so small that
all three beds are almost touching. Instances are even not rare
where, as in cabins of only one room, this is done by men and
women, of all ages, who are strangers to each other, such as
lodgers, &c. ; and it is very usual, from the want of room, but
still more of bedding and covering, for brothers and sisters to
sleep together until they are 15 or 16 years of age, and in
some eases even older. In Leinster, Queen's County, &e.,
the floor of the peasants' hovel is always damp, in consequence
of its being usually from six inches to one or two feet below the
level of the surrounding ground, from the practice of digging
• out the top spit of the ground. and sometimes two spits, both
to lay the floor on the most solid soil, and also to assist to build
the walls of the cabin. Another cause of dampness is the
practice of digging a large hole for the manure of the pig, the
sweepings of the road and house, and other materials for the
dung-heap, close to the door, and generally against the very
walls ; which hole, in wet weather, becomes a pool of water,
or liquid filth, and a constant source of damp to the house, and
of exhalations noxious to its inmates. The habit of feeding
the pig on the floor of the house, and letting him sleep in it, is
another means of keeping the floor wet and dirty. There is
also great inattention to cleaning out and opening the ditches
and water courses near the cabins ; they may frequently be
seen running over with water, and flowing back upon the house
on every side, while an hour or two's work would clear the
' whole channel, and leave the site and vicinity of several cabins
quite dry. Cabins have, in general, chimneys of some kind ;
most are made of bits of timber, or wattles covered with mud.
There are, however, many cabins with only a hole in the roof,
and some with no outlet for the smoke but the door ; none
have grates. Many of the cabins have no window at all ;
others have only an opening, which is blocked up in cold or
wet weather by a window shutter, or straw. The windows
never open, and frequently have no frame, being merely a hole
made through the wall, which is stopped up with a pane of
glass. There are no hinges to the doors, which swing upon
hooks and eyes, and have wooden latches and bolts : few or
none have shutters. The cabins never have any privies. In
and near towns the pigs almost invariably sleep in a corner of
the cabin, and the donkey in another.
The splendid steam-ship Duchess of' Sutherland,
left Inverness on Friday afternoon, and arrived off Downe's-
wharf on Monday, at twelve o'clock, with a bumper cargo,
consisting of 46 prime fat cattle, 200 fat sheep, and upwards
of SO tons of dead meat, principally mutton and pork, besides
corn, fresh salmon, salt fish, salt pork, butter, poultry, and
other produce from Inverness, Rosa, Cromarty, Nairn, and
Morayshire. The value of the cattle, sheep, and dead meat
alone is estimated at nearly 5,000/., thus showing the advan-
tage of steam navigation to the North of Scotland, and en-
abling farmers, cattle-dealers, butchers, and others con-
cerned in trade, to send the produce of land and water to the
metropolis of London in a fresh state, a distance of nearly
700 miles, which, before the establishment of steam to those
northern latitudes, the breeders and feeders of live stock had
no market for fat stock, and were therefore forced to sell them
to be driven over-land to England, which has so reduced the
condition of the animals, that they were only fit to be fed over
azain when sold in the South; consequently many thousands
of stones of beef and mutton were annually lost by the dete-
riorAion of stock by driving, whereas by steam conveyance
little or nothing is lost, and the consumer in London receives
, Scotch beef and mutton in perfection.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS•

The question with regard tcp Sir Francis Burdett's
connection with Westminster one pnrelv of time.
Ever since the defection of the Hon. Baronet to the
Tories, his former supporters have been divided merely
on the point whether Sir Francis should be called on
to resign his seat at once, or Westminster should re-
main inadequately represented till the period of a
general election. Many circurntltances conspired to
render the Constituency reluctan t adoptatroet. H
a His
seiciaidmede
course in the case of the Hon. ion
is as it were identified with the .cause of Reform ;
and when Toryism and corruptiorr were everywhere
triumphant, the men of Westminster,. with Sir Francis
Burdett at their head, gave battle to the enemy of free-
dom, and by their example contributed much to the
spread of the opinions which at last obtained the na-
tional sanction in the Reform Bill. Sr Francis was
truly in those days " the glory of Westminster."
The cause of Reform was not 'merely advanced
by his harangues, which were admirably adapted
for popular effect, but by the co mutenance of a
man of his rank and standing in society. In
this Aristocratic country the public look always
with great suspicion on any cause which is not pa-
tronised by rank ; but at the period to which we al-
lude rank and station were almost everything. The
men of Sir Francis's own class were Oen peculiar));
hostile to the extreme opinions athrocated by Sir
Francis; and we remember the time vs-hen the Hon.
Baronet stood alone in the House of Commons, when
both Tories. and Whigs kept studiously aloof from
him. Few men have the courage to hre.;:ard the loss of
caste as he did; and it is the recollection of Sir
Francis's devotion to the cause of Reform—the sacri-
fices to which he unhesitatingly exposinl himself, for
the sake of that cause, when it was upheld only in
Westminster and its liberties—that rendlers it CO pain-
ful to the constituency to dwell on his present apos-
tacy. Between the Sir Francis of tkuirty years ago
and the Sir Francis of the present.. day there is
hardly a feature of resemblance. His character has
undergone a complete transmutation. However
painful it may be, therefore to the electors of
Westminster to tell Sir Francis am his defec-
tion- to the enemies of Reform xenders it ne-
cessary for them, as honest and ceonsistent men,
to call on him to resign a seat. which he can
no longer with propriety hold, they have no alter:
native. And yesterday evening a meeing of the most
influential electors was held at the Beitish Hotel, in
Cockspur-street, to take into consideraition a letter re-
ceived from Sir Francis, in answer to a. request on the
part of the electors that he would express his opinion
upon certain measures now in
_progress through Par-
liament, in order that no decided step might he taken
without such an evidence of die Honourable Ba-
ronet's defection as might leave no room for doubt on
the subject. In the letter which had been published
by the Honourable Baronet in the Times of yester-
day he says, with respect to the Ministerial measures
on which, as a test, he was called to pronounce an opi-
nion—" I can only repeat my entire disapprobation of
them, and of the whole system of Mblisterial po-
licy, both foreign and domestic ; that the measures now
before Parliament are ill-concocted, unjust in prin-
ciple, feebly sustained, and mischievous to the public."
To allow Sir Francis, after such an expression of opi-
nion, to represent Westminster any longer with their
consent, would be to make themselves responsible
for hii apostacy. The suliject was brought before the
meeting by Mr. Prout, who proposed a series of reso-
lutions ; of which the first was, that the letter just
read from Sir Francis Burdett, coupled with his
,late
political conduct, as 4liowni by his absence on all great
questions that came before Parliament, had a tendency
to destroy their confidence in his usefulness, and that
the meeting felt that they would be precluded from
aiding and assisting him on the occasion of any future
election. Colonel Jones very properly objected to this
resolution that it referred to what admitted of diversity
of construction, while it ought to refer to the letter of
Sir Francis, in which he disclaimed the opinions lie had
formerly supported, and for supporting which he had
obtained the confidence of the electors of Westmin-
ster. Colonel Jones attributed Sir Francis's defec-
tion to the influence of disease on his mental facul-
ties. " It was (he observed) a most lamentable
thing to see a man who had for forty years worked
for the public good,, become, by a calamity of
nature, so impaired in mind as to give up the
principles for the support of which he had bven
once called the glory of his country." This is the
most charitable way of accounting for Sir Francis's
conduct. At a certain period of life, in so:ne more
protracted than in others, men return to asecond infancy,
and in that second infancy the associations of the first
are often found to have great force. In fact, it has
often happened with many persons in the advanced
stage of life, that the whole of the period between the
first and second childhood has passed from the me-
mory, while it has seemed peculiarly tenacious of the
culler impressions. Montaigne's first language was
Latin ; and he tells us that though in after life he
seldom spoke that language, when his mind was im-
paired by disease he returned to it. Sir Francis Bur-
dett had been brought up a Tory, and in his old age
lie returns to Toryism. Colonel Jones spoke with be-
coming feeling of the prostration of mind to which he
thought the Toryism of Sir Francis was attributable.
Mr. Pouncey proposed a resolution in accordance
with the suggestion of Colonel Jones, calling on
the Honourable Baronet to resign his scat and
appeal to the judgment of the electors of West•
minster, which was seconded by Mr. De Vear,
and finally adopted by a majority of 44 to 10. A
Committee was then appointed to announce the reso-
lution to Sir Francis. We may speak of Sir Francis
Burdett as an historical personage, for his part in the
political drama is now closed. He certainly had con-
siderable powers as a speaker' on common and popu-
lar subjects. At Brentford, Palace-yard, and Covent-
garden he appeared to much greater advantage than
in the House of Commons. This arose from the
superficial nature of his education, his want of appli-
cati-m, apparently owing to some constitutional defect,
and the limited range of his intellect. Where there
was room for feeling, or the display of high courage,
Sir Francis appeared to great advantage ; but
tvheu-
ever he ventured to address the House on questions
which required reasoning, his speeches were for the
most part little better than twaddle. We cannot call
to mind a single occasion on which Sir Francis dis-
played either extensive knowledge or powers of rea-
soning. In his earlier days he confined himself to
those questions in which he could appear to advan-
tage ; but latterly he was less prudent, and same-
times ventured to speak on questions of an abstract
and complicated character, in which lie egregiously
failed. It may be true, as Colonel Jones observes,
that Sir Francis Burdett's mind has been impaired
by illness and age ; but we suspect the disease is in
the will as well as in the head. When Sir Francis
began his career it was a distinction to be a Reformer,
and he was proud of being the acknowledged leader of
the Radicals. The success of Reform has introduced
a large body of Reformers into Parliament, most of
them better qualified from their education anti pursuits
to cut a figure on the great questions of the day. Sir
Francis sees himself left far behind in the race ; and
being no longer distinguished as a Retormer, and un-
willing to be altogether unnoticed, he seeks notoriety
by abandoning his old opinions. We offer this, how-
ever, only as conjecture. Whatever be the cause,
gratitude for Sir Francis's former services to the cause
of liberty will restrain all Reformers of feeling from the
expression of any other sentiment than that of pity at
the spectacle which lie exhibits. Poor Sir Francis I
1f a better man had declared " that the measures now
before Parliament are ill-concocted, unjust in principle,
feebly sustained, and mischievous to the public," some
castigation might not have been thrown away on
him. But we abandon Sir Francis to his physician
and his nurse ; and only wish that he may pass his
remaining days in comfort and peace.—Morn. Clzron.
A paragraph, appeared in a Ministerial paper of
last night, which, though but of small size, was meant
to be a pregnant one, and to bear, at the fitting season,
a rich and abundant harvest. It is to this effect,
viz.—that Lord Dulham is coming home from St.
Petersburgh, and that the cause of his return is the
intention of the Duchess of Kent to place the Noble
Lord at the head of the Princess Victoria's establish-
ment on the occasion of her Royal Highness attaining

her majority, which will occur, please God, on the
24th of May ensuing. Was the above advertisement
put forth as a feeler or a. claw ? If a feeler, it was the
least injudicious—if a claw, it was fruitless, for it will
make prize of nothing;. The Duchess of Kent " in-
tends" forsooth ! With all respect for her Royal
Highness, the people a'bout her aught to be given to
understand, what the Duchess herself must be too
well informed to doubt of, that, whatever her relation
may have been toward s her daughter during the mi-
nority of the latter Princess, that relation ceases
when the minority terminates; except in so far as
the natural relatiern of parent and child is con-
cerned ; and that, thank Heaven, remains through-
out every period (,f human life indelible and sacred.
The right, ther:efore, of the Duchess of Kent,
whose conduct has been (and even if it had not
been) that of a t ender, virtuous and exemplary mother
—her right, we say to the filial deference of the Prin-
cess Victoria will be questioned by none but the heart-
less and depraved. The relation, however, between
these Princesses: has been hrretofore of a complex cha-
racter. It has been not only-that of nature, but it has
been, on the pert of the Duchess one of authority and
power over her child. The Duchess of Kent has exer-
cised these laiter attributes by the permission of her
Sovereign 'William IV., who in. his good pleasure
judged it best for the heiress presumptive to his Crown;
that she should reside with, and be, within certain
limits, under the guidance of her mother. The King
did not consider it necessary to interpose that inhe-
rent prerogativte, with which, for high political reasons,
the constituticu of this monarchy has invested him,
between the Duchess and the Princess while an infant.
But when no longer an infant, the presumptive heiress
to the Crown assumes a fresh place in society. Al-
though her cloFiest natural relation may still be with
her mother, her most intimate political relation is with
the King, and it is in the discretion of his Majesty,
and of him alone, to arrange the form and extent
of her future establishment to direct the amount
of income for the maintenance of her rank, which
shall be proposed by his Ministers to Parlia-
ment, and to select and nominate those persons
who (without tl-,e interference of Ministers or of Par-
liament) shall constitute her Royal Highness's house-
hold. There was an attempt made a few months back
(and an impudent attempt it was) to obtrude upon
people of England and on the young Princess herself
some foolish notion that the choice of a consort for
her Royal Highness was an affair in which neither she
herself, nor the King, her Sovereign and uncle, who
has stood towards her, both naturally and politically,
ever since he came to the throne, in loco patris, had
the least particle of concern ; but that it must be in
the supreme dictation of a Prince and Princess of the
foreign house of Saxe Coburg to settle, without her
free consent or that of the Monarch of these realms—
to impose upon her, the heiress to the British empire,
whatever husband it might suit their purposes of family
aggrandisement to provide. We exposed at the time
the mercenary audacity of this revoking pretension ;

and not long afterwards there appeared iit a Belgic
newspaper the very condescending and satisfactory
assurance, thk the match between the Princess Vic-
toria and one of the nephews of the Belgic King
Leopold, which " teas so much wished for by
a large majority of the people of England OW
was, for the present, postponed !" The ab-
surdity and impertinence of these affronts to
the heiress presumptive, as if she was alike devoid of
spirit and discernment, provoked no further remark
from the press than that which we have already al-
luded to. But the temper, as well as the projects,
which they indicated, made a due impression on the
minds of reflecting Englishmen, and the time and
foul) of their re-appearance were waited for without
much disquiet. Thay have re-appeared. By the
former attempt these mountebanks would persuade the
Princess and the country that a Saxe-Coburg. intrigue
Was to supersede at once her Royal Highness's own in-
clinations and King William's paternal rights, and
force" some member of a family, against all of whom
there arc ohjections, not now necessary to enumerate,.
we might almost say, upon the throne of England.
The present attempt is of a less flighty order. It is no-
t hing more than coolly to take for granted that her Royal
glmess the Duchess of Kent is so little cognizant
of her own station in this country and its incidents, as
that she could entertain (which we know she cannot.)
time pr:posterous ambition to play a great part in poli-
tics, and become a species of imaginary Queen

mother or Regent after. her daughters maturity,
and before his present Majesty's dernie. Tide
Duchess of Kent will, on or after, or in con-
templation of, the 24th of May, have no shadow of
title to interfere at all in or with the Princess Victo-
ria's household. It will not be for her Royal High-
ness the Duchess of Kent to nominate ladies of the
bedchamber, or maids of honour, or equerries, or
grooms, or other officers of the new establishment,.
any more than she iris ever chosen them for other
branches of the Royal family. She can no more pro-
mote Lord Durham to an office inn the Princess's
household, than she can make Sir ,John Conroy a
Prime Mi&Aer, should her Royal Flihnes-s, be de-
sirous to transfer the services of that meritorious equerry
to the State. The authority is in the Sovereign, the
appointment rests with him alone. The Whig Minis-
ters have no more to do with such matters than the
Dof•bess. "nw wi,llrs of the Prioc,s ht.rs:_•U. •1;411 nu
tiott':t. I

on.,nited, libera!!v, coneideratek, k:inik,
111(1 2s IS, monilv speakinff,
Iwr ri4ht. Wheth..T his Majesty Hill
appoint Lord Durham, or whether the Princess Vic-
toria has been so trained as to relish the prospect of
having her domestic circle made the focus of inde-
fatigable and inveterate intrigue by political partisans
of one of O'Connell's chieftains like that Noble Earl,
it is not for us to offer even a conjecture. Lord Dur-
ham, with all his talent, is, we are painfully con-
vinced by long observation of him, destitute of that
temper, discretion, and judgment, which are eminently
necessary in the important and delicate office of adviser
of a young Princess. In the meantime, if un4rhamd
faction be at work, we have now done something to-
wards defeating it.—Times.
In addition to Lord William Bentinck's notice of
motion founded on a petition for steam-navigation to
to which we lately drew attention—the urgency
of the question has been pressed upon the Legislature
of the country by two petitions presented on the sub-
ject last night by Mr. Mullins and Mr. Bagshaw ;
and by notices of motion grounded upon them. The
notice by Mr. Mullins is, for " a Select Committee
to inquire as to the most practicable and cheapest
mode of establishing steam-communication with India
by way of the Mediterranean." The other motion,
by Mr. Bagshaw, is distinguished by two peculiar
characteristics ; one is, that it is ‘, a petition from
merchants, shipowners, and traders of the city of Lon-
don, in favour of an accelerated communication by
means of steam-navigation with India ;" and the se-
cond is, that it adopts that view of the subject which
we have shewn to be enforced by the strongest evidence
of argument and fact, expressly stating that the pe-
titioners are " in favour of opening the communication
with India by way of the Mediterranean and the
Red Sea." Having discussed the subject in all
its bearings so recently, and having, on mature
deliberation, come to the same view of the subject
as that taken by the petitioners, we do not consider it
necessary to repeat our argument, nor even to recapitu-
late the various steps of the evidence by which we have
reached that point of the settled conviction on the
subject which we occupy and avow. Not a shadow of
doubt remains upon our mind as to the decided prefe-
rability, feasibility, and superior policy, commercial
and political, of the Egyptian route. We doubt not
the perfect ease and economy with which a steam com-
munication between Suez and the Mediterranean might
be readily opened. We believe that there would be
no difficulty thrown in its way by the present Pacha of
Egypt. There never was any physical difficulty in the
way of opening that communication, except the
pleaded difficulty arising from the south-west mon-
soons, which, as alleged, might somewhat interrupt it
during four months of the year. Nor is there any
real difficulty in that temporary and qualified interrup-
tion which British skill and capital may not readily
surmount. It is only requisite in plain language to
put on more steam power in order to more effectually
and triumphantly grapple with it. Our conviction is
fully made up. To those who require materials for
corning to a similar decision, we recommend the article

WlN:am's wont,

in the Foreign Quarterly Review on Steam naviga-
tion to India, which we analysed on a former occa-
sion. It is based on the evidence and Report of the
" Select Committee on Steam Navigation to India"—
one of the most striking and valuable Reports in point
of erudition, science, research, and highly au-
thenticated testimony, which has ever issued from the
bureaus of British legislation. Volumes might be
constructed out of its valuable and profuse materials.
The article in question searches every point of the sub-
ject as to the comparative feasibility of the three routes.
It leaves no corner of the subject unexplored, in bring-
ing the important matter before the jury of the British
public, and after a careful ahalysis of the whole, sums
up by a deliberate and unqualified decision in favour
of the Egyptian route. We have made these few
comments, not for the purpose of repeating our argu-
ment on the subject, but for the purpose of drawing
attention to those increasing notices of motions which
manifest the interest and urgency which the question
excites in the public mind—and especially to that
notice of motion which confines itself to the recom-
mendation of the Egyptian route. In concluding the
subject, it may not be inexpedient to remark that the
French Papers received yesterday contain.a paragraph
from Constantinople to the following effect :—" The
Euphrates expedition having failed, the remaining
steam-boat is to be sold to the Indian Company. On
the other hand, the Pacha of Egypt has given orders
for the purchase of steam-boats and merchant vessels
with a view of their being employed in the trade to
the Red Sea. His project of an iron railroad from
Suez to Cairo is still in progress. Iron rails and iron-
work for the undertaking have just arrived from Eng-
land at Alexandria."—Morning Advertiser.

Entertaining a high respect for the character of the
Duke of Richmond, as well as towards the order.to
which he belongs, we cannot but regret to see him
standing forward as the advocate and eulogist of the
most objectionable and inhuman law in its operation
which has ever passed the British Legislature. It is
true that an influential member of the House to which
his Grace belongs, holding at the time the office of Lord
Chancellor, threw the powerful weight of his gigantic
mind and inventive genius into the scale in which the
supposed necessity and merits of the proposed measure
were to be weighed, and, as one among other argu-
ments, endeavoured to prove that its adoption was ne
cessary to the preservation of the estates of the aristo-
cracy. This baiT, unfortunately was too strong to
be resisted ; and in an evil hour the House of Lords
gave its assent to a measure, the rejection or modi-
fication of which would have rivetted the gratitude
and applause of all ranks of people. Well, the law
passes, and no sooner comes into partial operation,
than the kingdom, from one end to the other, rings
with loud complaints of its inhumanity and injus-
tice. With every disposition among its promoters
to stifle these cries, the attempt is unavailing, and a
Committee reluctantly conceded, and not very satisfac-
torily formed, is now sitting to investigate its opera-
tion. Yet this is the moment when a man of the Duke
of Richmond's high and estimable character chooses
for stating that " the aged and the infirm and the
truly poor, who required relief, were much better taken
care of under the present than under the old law, and
that he believed that few measures had been of such
benefit to the humble classes of society as the measure
in question." That the Duke of Richmond believes
such to be the case, and that it may be the case in the
particular Union over which he presides, we do not
dispute. But surely his Grace is too sound and com-
prehensive a reasoner to mistake the exception for the
rule, or to assume that because the influence of his
rank and humanity may in one instance blunt the sharp
edge of this legislative sword, the complaints against
its operation elsewhere arc groundless. Are the prison-
like workhouses and their starving dietary—are the
separation of man and wife, of mothers and children
—are the child-murdering bastardy clauses of this cruel
Act, really " benefits to the humble classes ?" We
respect the Duke of Richmond, and therefore the
more do we regret that he should add the weight of his
name and character to fallacies like these. We ate
willing to await in patience the result of the inquiry
now going on, provided it is conducted, as we trust
it will be, fairly and impartially ; but we will yield
, submission to no verdict given without evidence ; and
can only look upon such ex parte opinions as calculated
to injure and prejudice the cause which they profess to
espouse.—Moniing► Herald.
The Morning Herald, in discussing the affair of
the Vixen, sets aside the question of title to the port
• where that vessel was captured, as leading " away
from the real merits of the case ;" but we must take
leave to tell our Contemporary that the whole case
rests on that point, and that all its indignation may be
spared against Russia, provided Russia had the legal
sovereignty and absolute possession. Now we have
shown in a late article that in 1784, territorial limits
were once fixed between the Tatars, Russia, and the
Porte—that subsequently those limits were changed—
that Soudjuk Calessi, by name, was placed under the
dominion of the Porte—and that the right which the
the Porte had to it was transferred to Russia at the
Treaty of Adrianople. The Porte may or may not
have had possession of the rest of Circassia, or the
whole line of the Abassian coast ; but the place
i wherein the Vixen was captured was given up by
name in 17,91, and the Treaty of Adrianople mint I€.
I cancelled, or the cession of that rariicidar place sands
good. IVe waive to-dav the general argument, nnl,
cootine ourselves to the actual possession of the

•
ha,: wherein the Vixen was captured. The Morning
Herald is again wrong in arguing the case as a breach
of warlike blockade. The Russian qoveinment, which !,
must be supposed best to understand its own grievance,
paces, in the official reclamation, the matter on the
two grounds of the quarantine and the custom-house
regulations being violated. The blockade is casually
mentioned, and then spoken of only as a preventive-
service blockade, similar to that exercised by our reve-
nue cruisers on the British coast. If Russia has the
right of sovereignty and possession of Soudjuk Calessi,
it has the right to make certain custom-house regula-
tions, and to confiscate vessels engaged in the contra-
band. The Vixen 'was there, avowedly trying to land
a cargo of salt without payment of duty- ; therefore
she was seized, therefore she was condemned, and
therefore the Cabinet of St. Petersburgl► will make no
concession. We quite agree with the just indignation of
our Contemporary as to the misconduct of the Whig
Ministers in general, and of Lord Palmerston on this
particular occasion. The British merchants may well
arraign them for neglect of their interests in the East ;
but in the instance before us we must take Russia out
of the question, and we are sure our Contemporary will,
on consideration, admit the right of the Emperor to
confiscate a vessel which is caught in the fact of run-
ning goods in a bay in his possession, the fortress
from which it takes its name being actually manned by
a Russian garrison. There is no national question at
issue—the affair is between Lord Palmerston, Mr.
Bell, and the underwriters ; and if we want to mea-
sure strength with the Emperor of Russia we roust
pick a better cause of quarrel than that afforded by the
seizure of the Vixen.—Morning Post.

The execution of the murderer, Lightband, con-
victed at the late Worcester Assizes, is definitively fixed for
Thursday next. The prisoner has since his condemnation
conducted himself in a becoming manner. He displays great
firmness of mind and self-possession, at the same time
he evinces sensibility of the heinousness of his crime, and the
dreadful sentence he must shortly undergo.

FAMILY OF NAPOLEON.--The Bonapartes were
always a most ambitious people. The first of the race known
to history was one Jean Bonaparte, and deputed, in the
thirteeenth century, as envoy to Padua, to procure explana-
tion relative to an armament which that town was fitting out
to act against Treviso. A work, entitled " The Chronique
de St. Mauro," mentions the said Jean as one of the first who
received the order of St. Jacques in Spain. In 1720 we are
informed of a Bonsembiante Bonaparte, as a knight of the
order of Cavallieri Gaudenti, diplomatically employed in the
northern states in Italy. Nordillo Bonaparte was, in 1272, a
syndic of Treviso, and bore a prominent part in the Italian
wars of that period. In 1319 the Chevalier Pierre Bonaparte
was sent as Ambassador to the Court of the Emperor Frede-
rick of Austria, and his son Oderic to Venice. The family
are now supposed to have emigrated,. and here begins the
hiatus marime dejlendus in the Napoleon genealogy. About
this time, it is thought, they became divided in their political
views, one part espousing the cause of the Guelphs, and the
other of the Ghibbelines, and hence those branches of the
family got the surnames of Bonaparte and Malaparte. Louis
Marie Fortune Bonaparte passed over to Corsica in 1612,
during a war with the Genoese, and finally settled at Ajaccio,
which has given rise to the current notion that this race was
originally Corsican.—Letters on Italy by SirA. B. Faulkner.