The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-08 00:00:00

Social Science Congress at Edinburgh.

The se 'smith annual meeting of the National Association
for t'ne Promotion of Social Science opened
2 o'clock in St. Giles's
opened at Edinburgh
yest krday. A sermon was preached at
Ch urch beforeta large audience by the Rev, Dr. Arnot, one
of the incumbents, and in the evening the general meeting
of members and associates took place in the Free Church
Assembly-hall. The Right Hon. Lord Brougham,
President
of the. Association (who arrived on Tuesday evening, and is
the guest of the Lord Provost), occupied the chair, and was
ontb atsiastically received by the crowded assemblage.
Lord
BROUGHAM delivered the following opening ad-
drass :—" We now hold our seventh Congress in the ancient
capital of Scotland, renowned for its services and its sacri-
fices to the independence of the country and the mainte-
mance of her religion ; but famous also for those whom she
-reared as instructors of mankind. Here is planted the
greatest of the Seoteh Universities, and here those illustrious
teachers flourished whose discoveries laid the foundation of
chemical science, whose writings and lectures made an era
in political philosophy, whose toils assisted in restoring the
ancient geometry, and in expounding that of modern times.
They are gone from the scene which they once made famous,
and have been followed by others whose enlightened labours.
and brilliant fancy adorned a later age. Black, Smith, the
Stewarts, Playfair, Robinson, Thomas Campbell, Jeffrey,
are no longer spared to our admiration, but they have left
their example to guide us, their success to cheer. Since
our last Congress the association has sustained the irrepar-
able loss of Sir Benjamin Brodie; and none so great have
we had to lament except that of the amiable and accom-
plished Sir James Stephen, who presided at our second meet-
ing over the department of which the great physiologist was
the other:chairman. When our feelings, mine especially;,to
are
touched by the blank which surrounds us, it is our d
submit, but it is also my consolation, at least to reflectleduan
thatd
the period of separation from those we have loved
lost is drawing fast to a close. I may well say with Cicero
s
when he was younger by a quarter of a
consolabar, existimans, non longin quells/race. 23). In looking
interceury—
, Me
nos digres-
sum et discessum fore.'— de
(Cic;e. what has been done, we
back to the past year, and
have once moreito chide the impatience of well-meaning
but unreflecting men who complain that our progress has
not kept pace with their wishes First of all they underrate
what has been done. TU as mind's eye is deceived by the
desire of rapid progress
the natural eye when, in driving
quickly on the river's bank,e
we suppose the vessel carried
down the stream is
standing still. Next, one great truth
must ever be kept in
in the
minds of all who desire the good
of society—
a
the science of Government and of
human nature—thattrut the people who hasten to improve
their political lot faster than the safety of society permits
are as sure of going wrong and coming to a bad end as
the individual who makes haste to be rich, Anarchy and
await the people as the gibbet awaits the man.
Wslahveernywecast our eyes towards other countries and con-
e:4(ler the progress which social science has there made, we
viewa state of things far from fulfilling the hopes cherished
atUr last meeting. But let us begin with the gratifica-
tion of marking the great step taken by the Emperor of
Russia in furtherance of the important work on which we
have heretofore expressed our approval and our thanks—
the emancipation of the serfs. Encountering as he did
great difficulties from the selfishness of the landowners,
but also from the ignorance of the serfs themselves, he has,
by an act impossible to be too highly praised, given entire
freedom to all the serfs on the domains of the Crowtl—thus
converting 2,000,000 bondmen into unfettered proprietors,
and their labourers into free workmen. It is hoped that
this great measure may have a salutary influence upon
the possessors of other estates, and that the Russians are
full of confidence in the effects of emancipation. It is cer-
tain they have turned their attention to the co-operative
system which has, so beneficially to one labouring classes,
been established in this country. Men from St. Peters.
burg and Moscow have visited our towns where
co-operative institutions are established, that they
might profit by our experience. There have indeed long
exirtel in Russia a rude kind of co-operative unions (what
is tortned .Steles); but the change in the condition of the
peas sntry has enforced the expediency of introducing the
ens Aplete system with all its improvements, Education has
al 40 been greatly encouraged, a vast number of schools
Laving been established for instructing the peasantry.
While we justly commend the Czar's wise and liberal mea-
:sures in his own country—measures so worthy of his kind
stud amiable nature, so well ktown in his visit to England
'when Czarowiteh—it is truly painful to find how the scenes
exhibited in his Polish dominions make it but too likely
that with his succession to the throne his character has
undergone a change. That which mortals covet as the
greatest blessing, but which is the greatest curse both to
themselves and the rest of mankind—the possession of
arbitrary power—has this, besides other evils, that its pos-
s'essor imparts his caprices to his subordinates. But the
tyrant's appointed punishment is fear; and it is a comfort,
though a poor one, to those whom he oppresses that he is
snore terrified than they—

" ' Qui terret plus ipso timet, sors ista tyrannis
" ' Convenit.'
Assuredly his fears are the chief of his qualities which ho
Communicates to his instruments, and their terrors are only
to be allayed by countless treacheries and merciless cruel-
ties. But whether by his own authority or by the zeal and
the fears of his agents—for whose acts he roust be held re-
sponsible at the very least when they come-to his knowledge
—it is on all hands allowed that the unhappy Poles have
been visited with the most grievous inflictions, which almost
unavoidably drove them into revolt. That which in the
eyes of all nations is held the worst of those acts, uniting
as it does the extremes of both treachery and cruelty,
has been the conscription, as it preteuded to be, but which,
in truth, was a proscription, the forcible seizure of the most
eminent men in all c:asses, and transporting some to
Siberia, some to the Russian army—a fate they almost as
much dreaded as the penal servitude of the mines. But
other atrocities have been committed in the barbarous treat-
ment of both sexes and all ranks, the clerical not excepted;
wholesale confiscations of property have laid waste the
land ; and the wretched country is plunged into a civil war,
which is deplored as the measures that caused it are loudly
blamed by the people of every European community, and
by the Governments, too, excepting that of Prussia, the ac-
complice of Russia, and thus sharing in the universal repre-
bation of its own subjects as well as its neighbours. The friends
of social science have viewed these painful scenes with the
feelings they are so well fitted to raise for the sufferers, and
with the alarm they unavoidably cause for the peace of the
world, held as the first of bleasings by all well-wishers to
the best interests of mankind. But deeply to be lamented
as are the sufferings of Poland, andstrongly to be cen-
sured as is the conduct of her oppressors, let us cherish the
hope that the universal opinion of Europe may avail to
obtain her redress, without any
such hostile interference
as unreflecting men, under the influence of their feel-
ings, are prone to recommend. The agitation which per-
vades Germany occasions another danger,
though far
less, to the tranquillity of the Continent. But it is satis-
factory to find that the chief question has arisen respecting
the Constitution proposed by Austria upon very liberal
grounds, and that the only real doubt is to what extent the
sound and long-tried principles of our own constitutional
system shall be adopted. In no part of Germany except
the Prussian States does the Government reject these prin-
ciples, and the people whom that Government at once op-
presses and betrays are heartily opposed to its views and its
policy, both foreign and domestic. Our French neighbours
have, since last Congress, passed through an electoral crisis
without any change in the form of their Government or in
the balance of parties, but with a manifest exhibition of the
popular influence, notwithstanding the constant, indeed
systematic, interference of the executive power with the
elections, and the fetters still continued on the press. The
singularly injudicious conduct of one Minister (who has
blundered into a formal eulogy of absolute power) turned
the elections in some of the provincial towns, but still more
in the capital, against the Government, or, it may be more
truly said, in favour of the Opposition, men being chosen
from no
made
their principles, but merely because they
opposed the
love
de Government. Though a Very small addition
has been to the votes of the Opposition, yet in debating
force it has
largely gained. Nor can any doubt be reason-
a that in the exercise of a sound and en-
ably entertalne
lightened judgment the ruling power will protect itself by
granting greater latitude of free discussion, as well as by
improvements is
the practical administration of the law.
An important
beginning has already been made by requiring
the immediate trial of persons in custody, with a view to
their prosecution. Nothing can be more contrary to justice,
Or, indeed, to
than the existing law and
common sense,
practice by which a person
may be kept in, prison for a
conviction, The
than that for which he could be sentenced on
-v';eti°ll" The code of criminal
Procedure
great defects. The practice of subjecting the accused to an
proc has many very
inquisitorial
'Process by the examination the judge is
quite intolerable, and it as the fear of ita'ge
ts to extend
of
tang into our
procedure that f w repeated attempts rustrated my in our law
to
.criminat eaa,
that great improvement
f parties
of evidence Which - testimony 0-
admits the
in civil suits, hy
cases the option ee gbivie;ug the defendant
d subject,
of course
in criminal
to cross-examination. Thae oexamins , erurged against
this has been the apprehennisirsihYttrheasts°eneheevevei•todeclined to
avail himself of the option do so from
consciousness of guilt. But, 6E:t lettsuppolslecdases of misde-
meanour in which a private
prosecatorin" all cases of misde
ineanour in which a private
versary should have ths prosetor is exa his ad-
versary should have the like power's As , , law now
stands, one party is heard on oath and the oheru'smouth is
closed. The French law is framed to prevent thet p of the
guilty, without a due regard to the safety
ours is in some respec?s too favourableto the gullet
oppressive to the innocent. Except, perhaps, theY' in others
of illescinaneocenetre;
appeal is cases of ,reversing
an acquittal on
misdemeanour (deli t
there is nothing more. censurable in the French criminal
procedure than the uncertainty which is brought into the
law by the jury being allowed—nay, called upon—to con .
eider what are termed extenuating circumstances. As the
law does not define them with sufficient precielon, and as
the verdict does not specify them, the judge is left from his
recollection of the case to award the mitigation of the pun_
hinaemranecoyurcasseetsna ishment. There can benodouthbet tlhaawt
por-
tion of the jury disapproving
by refusing to join in the verdict
exte-
nuating circumstances
~..,
as in England the dissentient jury
without this ad.dia
men often require aonrecommendation to mercy as a condition
of their concurrence,
but that does not operate impera-
tively, like extenuating circumstances iu the French

verdict. A great and, but for its success, a very unpopular
expedition has resulted in the occupation of Mexico by the
French Government, and the foundation of a n onarchi-
cal regimen nearly upon the principles adopt .d in France
both as regards the power of the Crown and the
rights of the people. It is impossible to question
the advantages derived from the change by the
Mexicans, who for so many years had suffered all the
evils of alternate anarchy and the violence and plunder of
petty tyrants. Nor can any friend of humanity and of peace
begrudge the influence acquired by France, or cavil at the
use made of it in favour of Austria. The peace of the Con-
tinent is furthered by whatever brings these two great
Powers into a friendly connection. It would be truly satis-
factory if we could regard the attitude of France towards
Italy in the same light, but the determination seems to con-
tinue unabated of retaining her troops at Rome, ref using
the Italian kingdom the means of completing thetheßomanincorpora-
tion
of its southern provinces, and keeping
from
rpeesotprileettiohnatooffthwehricahpaltheLarpeeral naturally. mostteprevention
desirous—the
gis
ven to
Italye power,
the and
n worst h
ran criminals
greatly
ofof tNhaepslueps.port
Norso escaanndthaelofusrileyndg
wondert ifthebelief
rsheaoturiledtdwaiiltyhtngaina
nstarrrenogwthlimthiatst tahserpeos.
sibis
adlet:gn formed to
the power of her southern neighbour. But the estab-
lishment of Frencheling ninifluetnhcee innoMw,ex,uncohaisplpikiley, is
likely
dto-United
an uneasy feeling
States of America, and may by no remote possibility lead
to an amicable intercourse with the South, not, perhaps,
against the North, but in formal recognition of the seces-
sion and in breach of the blockade. The friends of humanity
would have goad cause for lamenting anything so mani-
festly tending to promote the continuance of the war and
extend its mischiefs. The term "civil war" is now hardly
applicable to this miserable contest. The people of the
South are banded against those of the North exactly as any
two European nations, differing in all respects save lan-
guage, have been banded against each other—the Austrians
and Prussians for example. But give it what name we may,
no one can doubt that it is a cruel calamity to the Ameri-
cans themselves, and, though in a much lees degree, to the
rest of the world, which with one accord joins in reprobat-
ing their conduct while lamenting its effects. Each party,
of course, seeks to cast on the other the heavy blame of
breaking the peace. On one side is the wicked allegation
of property in human beings ; on the other, the hollow
pretext of making war to free America of slavery—her
shame and her curse, as all except slaveowners admit it to
be. Hollow we may well call it ; for those who proclaimed
emancipation confess that it was a measure of hostility
to the whites, and designed to produce slave insurrec-
tion, from which the much-enduring nature of the un-
happy negro saved the country. My esteemed friend the
prelate who exalts by his eloquence and his virtues the name
of Wilberforce, which he inherits, declared that the authors
of the measure cared as little for the black's freedom as for
the white's ; and now they eall for extermination of the one
race to liberate the other. But, whatever may have been
the proximate cause of the contest, its continuance is the
result of a national vanity, without example and without
bounds. Persons subject to this failing are despised, not
hated ; and it is an ordinary expression respecting him who
is without the weakness that he is too proud to be vain.
But when a people are seized with it they change the name,
and call it love of glory. Of the individual we often hear
the remark that, despicable as the weakness is, it leads to
no bad actions. Nothing can be more false; it leads to
many crimes, and to that disregard of truth which is the
root of all offences. Certainly it produces none of the worst
crimes. The man who is a prey to vanity thirsts not for
the blood of his neighbour. How fearfully otherwise is it
when a nation is its slave I Magnifying itself beyond all
measure, and despising the rest of mankind, blinded and
intoxicated with self-satisfaction, persuaded that their very
crimes are proofs of greatness, and believing that they are
both admired and envied, the Americans have not only
been content with the destruction of half a million, but vain
of the slaughter. Their object being to retain a great name
among nations for their extent of territory, they exulted in
the wholesale bloodshed by which it must be accomplished,
because others were unable to make such a sacrifice. The
struggle of above two years, which loosened all the bands
that held society together, and gave to millions the
means of showing their capacity, has produced no
genius, civil or military ; while the submission to every
caprice of tyranny has been universal and habitual,
and never interrupted by a single act of resistance to the
most flagrant infractions of personal freedom. The mis-
chiefs of mob supremacy have been constantly felt, for the
calamity of rational and respectable men keeping aloof from
the management of affairs has resulted in the tyranny of the
multitude. To this tyrant the nominal, rulers have never
withheld their submission, and the press catering for the
appetites of the populace, and pandering to their passions,
has persisted in every misrepresentation which might most
disguise the truth as to passing events, exaggerating each
success, extenuating each defeat, often describing failure as
victory; while the multitude, if the truth by chance reached
them, were one day sunk in despair, another elated in an
ecstasy, almost at the pleasure of their rulers and their
guides. Nor were the falsehoods thus propagated confined
to the events of the war, they extended to all things—to the
measures of the Government and the acts of foreign na-
tions. The public feeling must not be thwarted; the peo-
ple desired to hear whatever gratified their vanity or raised
their spirits, and in this delusion must they live as long as
the war lasts and the rule is in the hands of the mob. The
truth they will never hear, because they desire to hear what
is pleasing, and not what is true. But it would be a great
mistake to charge on their false guides the follies and the
crimes which they chime in with and do their best to perpe-
tuate. The people are determined in their course. Far from
feeling shame at the cruel scenes which modern ages—nay,
which Christian times haveseen nothing to equal, a spectacle
at which the whole world stands aghast—almost to incredu-
lity, they actually glory in it as a proof of their higher nature,
believe themselves to be the envy as the flower of mankind,
and fancy that their prowess;would triumph over the most
powerful States of Europe. In such illusions their chiefs
may not practically join, but the people are, beyond doubt,
a prey to them, and will continue so to the end.

"Hear the just law, the judgment of the skies,
They that hate truth shall be the dupes of lies;
And if they will be cheated to the last,
Delusions strong as hell shall bind them fast "
Cowper—Progress of Error.
The feeling towards England which prevails among the
American people, though arising from the excess of national
vanity and its kindred envy, is certainly in part the remains
of the old quarrel that led to the separation. We are hated
and despised. Neither feeling is at all reciprocal, but among
our kinsfolk it prevails in a degarreceaaulamtoesdtfaamr
wouitnhtainugt
rate-
curring to
mental alienation. ca
tletncat
gnrhuadrgdelyafbethe,
American war, and it
illustratesthesoundness of the view taken by those who have
most considered the great subject of colonial policy, that we
umin that sooner or later
paeanpdaelnitcteaa.
world Son e
mustonsofrgioenvedrlyn otirsettlements as to prepare for a separa-
tionl
terms, alwaysliterary
tassas their
that our colonies are only
have lately maintained the opinion
iwellngd
ex-
pense they entail. This is a great error, and it is not now
a burden, and that they give us no benefits worth the
for the first time that Iso describe it. Sixty yearsab
while residing here, I published a work in which the whole
subject was fully examined in all its branches, and a demon-
stration gives of the benefits, political, social, and commer-
cial, of colonial establishments, with detailed proofs that
their cost falls far short of their benefits, and that the wars
ascribed to them had another origin. The book was very
soon out of print, and I have always refused to allow a
second edition. It might new, however, be of some use, as
the information contained respecting the colonies of all
nations ought to be more generally diffused. The lapse of
60 years has no doubt made great changes, and the work '
is to be viewed as historical with regard to the facts, but the
doctrines have been confirmed by all that has happened;
they are entirely applicable to the present state of affairs,
and are most worthy of attention from the promoters of social
science. Sixty years I ay, indeed, great indeed have been the
changes which in that time have visited our race—changes
which all dominions, principalities, and powers have under-
gone. The destroying angel has stalked abroad in the Old
World and in the New, snapping the ties that bound States
and their provinces t ogether, extinguishing old monarchies
and calling into existence new, hurling mighty sovereigns
from their thrones and replacing them with the humble and
unknown, making revolutions and changes of dynasty no
longer events that startle by their rare cccurrence and ter•
rific aspects, but to be expected in the ordinary course of
affairs, and as things to which habit has reconciled us.
Notwithstanding these mighty changes, all that relates to
colonial policy must ever form in this country
an impor-
tantsubject and a practical as long as—to use
th
epictur-
esque language of Lord Erskine in his noblest oration—
"the
" the restless foot of English adventure is uncesrsting • I en
English character is converting them into flourishing uo
aobfodtha e
en-
croaching on so many deserts, and the tried
vi
of civilised life." So rapid has been our colonial progress
that with our Australian settlement commercial intercourse
has increased tenfold in as many years; and our duty as
well as our interest is so to govern it that its inevitable
in.
dependee may become only a fresh ground of gratitude,
of a lastinncg and hearty friendship. The origin of a colon
the similarity of character and habits, the identity of lan-
guage, will always make the connection natural if the
separation was effected peaceably and amicably; and
whatever in commercial dealings may be the changes from
accidental circumstances, the tendency of emigration will
always be steadily in this direction. We have more than
once at our meetings
encourage had
toheecasrieomnetvoeolbeseirnveecueepsointotillae
ex-
ertions made to
the warnings given by those
per-
sons
who were locally in this way, and to
repeat
well acquainted pith the subject. These
have been attended with effect in most instances, especially
by theromoters of female emigration, who have been made
aware that the mere necessities of the parties are not a suffi-
cient ground without
the possession of such qualifications
for obtaining employment as are required in the now set-
tlement. This too, may be remarked, is the general
,Con ; and it applies not merely canon upon promot.;ng -gr a I
to clerks
zr or workwoman, even
was given, but to the humble wo...kma
last
at thethe unskilled- The attention of our body
and governesses, respecting whom the warning
Con-
gresswas) and indeed ever since has been, mainly occupied
found roily
—nunned by the inquiries to which it has
given rise the option 1861,
with
the Brest subject of convict treatment; and we have
11 formed at the Dublin Congrofh

from a close examination of Sir W. Crofton's whole pro.
i
ceedings,
ill-health
hasgret
universally
choice as his successor of felt at his retirement
owing to u-sal
beenmaterially lessened by the
his friend Capt. Whitty, who had
been under him for years, and who has amply justified the
selection, The great opposition which the introduction of
the system into Great Britain encountered, and the mani-
fest leaning against it of persons high in office, filled all the
friends of social science with alarm. This has happily been
dispelled by the inquiry, first, of the commission under
Lord Grey, and again of the committee under Lord Carnes-
von in the House of Lords. Unfortunately, some of the
most important witnesses were not examined—as Mr. Balme
of Leeds, in neither inquiry, and Mr. Shepherd only in the
Lords', and our distinguished colleague the Recorder of
Birmingham in neither; but both reports, and especially
that of the Lords' Committee, gave the most signal triumph
to the principles which for years, both on the bench and in
the National Association, he had been zealously, though
temperately, inculcating. We are not, therefore, surprised
that he should have heartily joined the Bristol Association
(formed for obtaining an amendment of convict discipline)
in petitioning the Sovereign to promote such measures, both
executive and legislative, as may carry into effect without
delay the great improvements so fully sanctioned by seven
years' experience in Ireland, The principles are shortly
these—every mitigation of a convict's sentence, whether in
treatment, diet included, or in duration of the punishment,
must be earned by himself, not only in abstaining from
offences, but more especially in pursuing a course of indus-
try. On obtaining a ticket of leave he must be placed under
constant superintendence, and the ticket revoked not only
on his misconduct, but on his leading a vagrant life and
not supporting himself by his industry. Convicts whose
sentence has expired are photographed, so as to be recog-
nised in case of new offences, and this, which had beim
originally suggested by Mr. Hill, and adopted by Sir W.
Crofton, has been favourably mentioned in the Lords' re-
port, and confirmed by the governors of the Bristol, Wake-
field, and Leeds gaols, as well as by the experience of the
Irish prisons. The convict is deterred from relapse into
crime by the certainty of his being recognised wherever
he is committed, the photographs being circulated to all
gaols. The dissent of the Chief Justice from the majority
of his brother Commissioners is to be lamented ; but
he evidently had not fully weighed the evidence of prac-
tical men, accustomed to the management of prisons and the
control of criminals—such men as Crofton, Whitty, Organ,
and he appears never to have considered tho opinion so
generally entertained of late years upon the deterring effects
of punishment, and to have regarded these alone, putting
them in contrast to reformatory treatment, as if the two were
distinct and opposite; whereas, any reformatory treatment
deserving the name must of necessity be attended with suf-
fering to the convict. Upon the subject of transportation
the Chief Justice agrees with the majority of the Commis-
sioners, differing from Mr. Childers and from the great meet-
ing held at Burlington-house in February, where our secre-
tary, Mr. Hastings, contended, with great ability, against
the revival of that punishment. One recommendation of
the Lords' committee deserves great attention—that mea-
sures should. be taken for making the treatment, including
of course diet, the same in all gaols. The great diversity
which at present exists in this important particular makes
the same sentence entirely different according to the prison
where a convict happens to be committed. The last session
of Parliament presented few other measures for our consi-
deration. The consolidation of the statute law was, how-
ever, promoted by an act which gave an elaborate statement
of all statutes and portions of statutes which have been di-
rectly or indirectly repealed. This was ably prepared by
the same men—Messrs. Wood and Reilly—the latter re-
commended by our colleague Mr. Bellenden Kea when en-
gaged in digesting the criminal law some years ago, and
afterwards when upon the Statute Law Commission. Both
Houses received the table rather from confidence in those
who prepared it than from discussion of the details, which
must necessarily have been impossible. It is much to be
lamented that nothing has been done to extend the depart-
ment of Judicial Statistics to Ireland. Our colleague, Lord
Clanricarde, when urging this more than once in the
Souse
of Lords, showed that the addition of a single clerk
could supply the great defect which now exists. The
subject of Reconcilement was once more brought for-
ward on my presenting a bill prepared by an eminent
local court judge, Mr. M. Kerr, and free from the main
objection to the former proposal, making the recourse to the
Court of Conciliation altogether voluntary, and not com-
pulsory either on the parties or the judge. The late period
of the Session at which it was introduced, there is
every
reason to think, alone prevented the bill from passing; and
then we should have had the unspeakable benefit of a stop
being put to vexatious and needless litigation, as in Den.
mark, where nine-tenths of the suits commenced are
stopped by reconcilement. The Governor of St. Kitt's,
Sir Benjamin Pine, who framed the new code for the
settlement, introduced reconcilement from the neighbouring
Danish settlements, where he found all classes,
from the
Governor and the Chief Judge downwards, strongly in
favour of it. The close of the Session also stopped the
important measure for extending the great change in
ittel
law of evidence—the examination of parties —to
crim
n
cases on the ground referred to, and, with the restriction
. l
mentioned, in stating the difference between the criminal
procedure of France and our own. It was intended that
Scotland should be included in the bill, where, hawever,
the accused has certain advantages not accorded to him in
England. This would have been on every
acceunt just,
especially considering the great improvements which the
English °
English law and practice have borrowed from the Scotch.of
Of this number are the two most important measures of
I
late years—the establishment of county courts, which
in
propounded upon the express statement of their success
Scotland, and the granting execution on bills and bonds,
unless the debtor takes proceedings for his relief. The
benefits conferred by county courts are such as
it would
be impossible to exaggerate. Between 800,000 and
900,000 suits were brought in them last year for above
two millions, and the year before the number and the
amount were still greater. The actions
brought in the
superior courts of common law were not one-eighth in num-
ber. : The relief to these courts afforded by the local tribu-
nals is manifest; but the great benefit is to the suitors,
who, in so many thousand instances, have enjoyed the ines-
timable advantage of having justice brought to their doors,
and of having their causes tried, which in very many in-
stances, but for these courts, would never have been tried
at all. The other measure borrowed from Scotland has
had thebeneficial effect of stopping many hundreds of causes
which otherwise would have been brought to trial, vexati-
ously and needlessly, and thus relieving the courts of the
trial of numberless undefended causes. We greatly erred in
not adopting the whole Scotch procedure ; it was in the bill
as sent down from the Lords, but the Commons altered it.
The progress of jurisprudence, with the
study of it, since
our last Congress, has been most essentially aided by the
completion of Mrs. Austin's task in editing her deeply and
justly-lamented husband's great work,
by him only in part
published. It is now happily accessible, both in the whole
and in a portion of it, judiciously selected for separate pub-
lication, as containing the more popular views of the sub-
ject of jurisprudence. The friends of Social Science and
of the improvement of our law, which forms so important
a branch of that science, have not a more imperative duty
cast on them than the study and the encouragement of this
truly valuable work. In connection with our National
Association, the Society for Promoting
the Employment
essfully prosecuted
of Women have diligently and suae
their benevolent vocation, and have been most justly
defended against the charge of interfering with the
labour of men; whereas the object is to employ them as
fellow-labourers in those lines which are open to both sexes,
but peculiarly adapted to women. The greatest benefit has
been conferred by this society in preparing and circulating
works useful to women in obtaining
employment. No less
than eight of these have been published at so low a price
that the whole eight coat only Is. I may mention here that
the Dublin and Edinburgh societies for the same object are
still active and successful. The paper of Mr. Chadwick at
our Liverpool Congress, on the application of sanitary
science to the protection of our Indian army, led to a Royal
commission for examining the subject. The report has now
appeared ; it shows that two-thirds of the deaths are pre-
ventible, and that this important advantage is capable of
extension to the rest of the inhabitants by the adoption of
the same means, thus effecting a reduction of 60 deaths or
more in 1,000 persons to 20 or less. We may justly regard
this report as due to the labours of the association. An im-
portant meeting of the Sanitary Section, held last Congress,
led to a most able and useful statement by Dr. Greenhow
on the expediency of legislative interference with the em-
ployment of workmen of certain descriptions in crowded
rooms. The consequence was shown by him to be the pro-
duction of fatal pulmonary disease. Indeed, the average of
deaths in other occupations being 3 in 1,000, it rises to 9, and
even 10, in those employed as the doctor describes. The
further discussion on this subject, as delicate as it is impor-
tant, will it is to be hoped engage our Sanitary Section of
the present Congress. As long ago as at the Bradford Con-
gress, Mr.
Rumsey' of Cheltenham, in two valuable papers,
pointed out defects in the system of registering deaths, and
the want of a record of disease. The committee to whom the
papers were referred framed a series of resolutions for a sys-
tem of sanitary registration, and the council more than
once, with the co-operation of Dr. Farr, the eminent De-
puty-Registrar, brought them before the Government.
During the last year, in further pursuance of a resolution
at the Dublin Congress, the council, in conjunction with the
Irish College of Surgeons and the Dublin Statistical Society,
pressed the subject upon the Irish Government; and though
they cannot be said to be entirely successful, inasmuch as
the
Act of last Session has great defects, yet it is satisfac-
tory
dierlelpylybaenfodrejustly the
lamented Govern m
renriti :
to think that the statement of something more than
neanAdlbetthtagtavtheishteexpteerntsicionn-
faeere registering of deaths being necessary has been brought
e ntlyt
the
ee
setxapteecotfeddo.
domestic
tiics
swe
revl
al
nkt: known thata eliv theere
al
al rs yfi
c nt d
attention
to d
an able and instructive address to the Provident Society for
their protection. The importance of this class is undeniable,
and he represented them as the mgowstasnhu
paper read whichong
be hoped that
rAegrmetetestdin held
derous body of the
subjects
this
sti of trh, Queen.e
which
being unable to a
Department. The there was a most instructive
rc
eu snsui or n,
Socialan d it
Economyn o a may
the subject
iir.isßut
n.tut
theo
subject will
commefeulbedfies
import-
ance of the subject may be estimated from this, that the
number of domestic servants in England is calculated to be
above a million, of whom 100,000 are in London, and 10 000 ,
)

out of place. The improvements, especially in sanitary re-
spects, in the English Local Government Act have been
extended to Scotland through the able exertions of our col-
league, Provost Lindsay, of Leith, who showed, at our last
congress the importance of such a measure, and the Council
petitioned in favour of the bill. It was more than once
urged in our last congress that the invaluable attendance
in French hospitals of Scours de Charite made their estab-
lishment in this country not only expedient, but a kind of
duty. There is great satisfaction in finding that steps have
been taken with much success towards the attainment of
this object. The most important by far is the foundation,
Fbytlehreton(so well k
sister of our colleague,non
for
her Lord
excellentGranvil writings),le, I,ady
Fullerton
of a sisterhood under a Paris superior, in a spacious
building, for which her coadjutor, Miss Easton, has nobly
contributed £5,000. These ladies being Roman Catholics,
their sisterhood is of the same persuasion, and this
somewhat interferes with their attendance in hospitals.
But Miss Brownlow Byron has established another body of
the same kind—the All Saints' Home, in Margaret-street
—and there are no other attendants than these sisters at the
North London Hospital of University College. This is a
great benefit gained ; and undoubtedly the exertions of this
association, and of those ladies especially who are in co-
operation with us, have mainly effected it. It is plain that
the duties of nurses offer a great and constant means of
female employment, as our amiable and able colleague Miss
Hope and her coadjutors in this town have shown, con-
firmed ley the excellent training schools for nurses under
Mrs. Balfour. The Struts de Charite alsora
Ipl earrtefmocreammn
Cannes,
ehesre,
thatstehre-
vicesv when
of
e nn attendingurs i gt hNeLsickdo ra
ot
ct hq
ee, dwellings. ifnugnse.
feeling most generally expressed by all present was thank-
fulness for the comfort which attended the last weeks of his
life from the care of these excellent persons. Surely those
who have introduced this sisterhood into this country are
worthy of all acceptation. They well deserve to be the
countrywomen of Florence Nightingale--and no higher
panegyric can be pronounced. Lady G. Fullerton's fame
as an author, great though it be, is eclipsed by her dis-
tinction as a philanthropist. The progress made in the
department of education during the last year has been
very solid, though less showy, than that recorded at
our former meetings. The half-school system of train-
ing, physical and mental, has been adopted in the army
by the Education Council. The Commission of Inquiry
into the employment of children in various manufactories
have reported in favour of the half-school plan. The
attention of all engaged in the management of schools to
the physical as well as mental training of children has
uo Wilmot,up lately
nas
easbdon eudei
education,
ioaj,tfutiridoeocni cncho. meo
miut
tmhserlene.ynhc resultedah
axenldpd_owu
expounded.
ieftdtkhrteandg rce.
hast er
fullaefHvtu
eelr
oyeifnd power in a most able,
though unpretending, tract by a well-tried teacher, Mr.
f
is
examined
nhra
etoadn
tsethmembv experi-
ence,ael
rta matter
upon
s
of instruction pursued in various seminaries, and the result
of his inquiries has been in many important particular&
favourable to the schools and the teaching in Scotland. It
is to be hoped that our education section may have the bene-
fit of his
attendance. The Educational Institute of Scot-
land, at its last yearly meeting, received an address of its
president, Mr. M‘Master, containing important suggestions
on the training of candidates for examination, and the wil-
lingness of the institution to examine and grant certificates
to teachers. But the objection to all superintendence of
Boards or other bodies authorized by Government on the
ground of expense that might be saved is more than doubt-
ful, and deserves full inquiry in our Education Department,
as does the great controversy between the Privy Council
and our worthy colleagues the Lord Advocate and Mr.
Black upon some points, especially the support refused to
Ragged Schools. It would be wrong to pass over the fact
of the Scotch system having for more than a century anti-
cipated the important step of late taken in England, of
granting substantial advantages to competitive examination.
Reference is here made to the general course of advance-
ment by bursaries in the schools, and by exhibitions in the
Universities, of which there are only a few instances out
of Scotland. These benefits extend to all ranks. A dis-
ti▪
nguished professor in one University had in early years
worked at his father's loom. A learned friend of mine, who
became judge in the Supreme Court, owed his education at
Oxford to an exhibition from Glasgow College. He was a
baronet's son ; but the son of a peasant on his estate might
have gained the same place at Oxford, and then, instead of
being called to the bar, would probably have gone into the
Church. The mixture of ranks in schools, male and female,
has important advantages, both social and political. It is
impossible to avoid remarking the wholly erroneous in-
ference against education drawn by many who have ob-
served with horror the dreadful excesses of the multitude in
what is believed to be the country in the world best educated,
the American States. It must, however, be remarked, in
the first place, that Irish mobs at New York had the prin-
cipal part in the outrages, especially those on the unhappy
negroes; and next, that the Americans themselves
complain of the defective kind of education afforded to the
people. The report of the City Superintendent of Schools
at New York, made only three years ago, dwells upon the
"large masses of ignorance" (these aro his words) " com-
bi▪
ned with destitution and vagabondism which are to be
found in all our cities and towns," and he calls for a com-
pulsory education of the multitude. The effect of education
in this island have appeared most strikingly of late years in
many respects ; but perhaps sufficient attention had not
been given to the extraordinary diffusion of useful know-
ledge, as well as harmless amusement, in cheap publications.
The subject was dwelt upon at our former meetings, parti
cularly at Liverpool, and the progress has since been very
great. In the retrospect of former years it would not be
easy to enumerate all the benefits bestowed on our country-
men wherever the language is spoken, by the admirable
publications of Messrs. Chambers. They have been fol-
lowed by others in the preparation of works inculcating the
purest moral, political, and religious principles, and ex-
plaining the truths of all sciences. The circulation of cheap
works is:now enormous, and the low price marvellous. It
may be sufficient to mention such as the half-crown volumes
of Messrs. Houlton and Wright, sold to the extent of three
quarters of a million; the British IPorkinau, by Mr.
Smithies, at one penny, containing admirable prints. So do
the various publications of our worthy colleague Mr. Cas-
sell. He and his partners, Messrs. Petter and Galpin, have
invested a large capital in this most important and philan-
thropic business, and it is to be hoped that they may soon
receive their just reward in the return of it. Their Educator,
Band of Rope, Quiver, and Pilgrim's Progress have been
well-nigh finished. Of their Bible 211 weekly numbers
have appeared ; the price is ld., and for this are given
eight pages quarto of letterpress and five really beautiful
prints. The number sold is 300,000, and thus when it is
completed there will be circulated no less than 63,000,000
of the weekly numbers. The sacrifice made it is devoutly
to be hoped may only be temporary; and in contemplating
the circulation of this and the other works just mentioned,
Mr. Cassell and his partners may well say that they
have
converted every poor man's house into a school of moral and
religious instruction. These are great things, on which the
friends of social science may rejoice as having been done of
late years for the advantage, moral as well as material, of
the people, and especially of the middle and working classes.
But the most important of all the subjects connected with
their welfare which can occupy the promoters of soci▪
al
science is one which was only briefly alluded to at our last
congress, the progresseef the preceding year not being then
sufficiently recorded. I need hardly say that I refer to the
establishment by the working classes themselves of 00-ope-
ration upon sound and rational principles—in other words,
to the securing of their own independence, and the improve-
ment of their habits and their character with their circum-
stances. This great matter was broached at our Glasgow
Congress three years ago, and enough was shown by our
colleagues—among othersr Mr. Fawcett, Mr. Watts, but
especially that eminent philanthropist the Recorder of Bir-
mingham, Mr. Hill—to prove that the success of the worthy
and enlightened men who many years before laid the foun-
dations of the system at Rochdale had been not only con-
tinued, but amply increased, and that co-operative societi▪
es
had been formed in many parts of the country, more espe-
cially in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. It
is truly gratifying to find that by the reports of the learned
and able Registrar of Friendly Societies,
Mr. Tid d Pratt,
there were in December last 332 of these co-operativeinsti-
tutions, with 90,458 members, having 351,613 shares, and
holding a property in value of £584,766. The sums paid
i
for goods bought in the year 1862 amounted to £2,067,867;
the cash received for goodssold to £2,331,650; and the rea-
lised profit to £165,770. But this is not the whole as it at
present stands, for Mr. T. Pratt informs me by letter,
dated the beginning of August, that the number of co-ope-
rative societies registered by him amounts to 521. The
progress of coeoperation at present may be proved from
this, that of the 90,458 members in December last, 24,308
entered during that year. But to perceive the progress
from the beginning, we have the remarkable origin of the
movement recorded. It began by 40 working men at Roch-
dale raising
among themselves £2B, and their stock was
such that a jealous shopkeeper told them ho could carry it
off in a wheelbarrow. Their weekly sales three years ago
amounted to £2,700. The business transacted by them
amounted to £150,000 yearly. The profits are 20 per cent.
on the capital, of which part is devoted to a library
reading room, and 5 per cent. and
distributed to the share-
holders. Similar results have attended the co-operatives at
Leeds. Well, therefore, might I affirm at our London Con-
gress last year, on a view of this extra7druary progress,
that co-operation was becoming a power in the State. The
Co-operator, a monthly work, most ably conducted by Mr.
Pitman, of Manchester, well deserves the attention of this
association, There were hopes of his being able to attend
the congress, but at all events he will send a paper on the
subject, with which no one is so well acquainted. It must
be observed that co-operation, like all other improvements,
.
whether in physical science or art, or moral and social
science, has been made by
time. Above 60 years ago Robert Owen and his partners i▪ n
spinning the great s steps and in a long course o f
g mills of New Lanark made the work-
people partakers of their profits by educating their children
,
and giving them such instruction as not only fitted them
for the work at the mills, but for any other
employment. Indeed, ho was the founa7 of
infant schools as far as this island is concerned, the only
question being whether Oberlin, in Alsace, had not foundt'd
them a few years betore. The manufacturers of Lowell, in
America, adopted the New Lanark plan in the whole extent
of their great concerns, and the good feelings which pre-
veiled between employers and werkpeopledistinguigled the

inhabitants of Lowell almost as completely as those of New
Lanark, while the education of all classes was as entirely
successful. There wanted only the true co-operative
principle to give the workman confidence in each
other and in themselves by removing the super-
intendence of the employer. In truth this, though a
very natural, is the great step of all, and which the work-
people themselves made. The communication to the work-
people at flew Lanark and at Lowell of a share in the profits
of their labour was effected in the large provision made for
their education and their health; but this necessarily de-
pended upon the employer, and on his change—by death or
other causes—the successor might not have the same liberal
and enlightened views. Tho communistic principles on
which Owen, both in Scotland and at New Harmony, in
America, established his villages were more nearly co-ope-
rative; but there existed this great difference from true co-
operation, that all shared in the produce of the common
labour to a certain degree equally, for all were not only alike
instructed and attended in sickness, but were fed alike; and
though the clear profits, after deducting all expenses, were
professedly divided among families with a reference to the
services of each, there was none of that security to all that
they should reap each the fruits of his labour, which is the
essence of the co-operative plan. Co-operation gives all the
rights and independence of individuals, with all the benefits
of joint labour. The imperfect co-operative principle was
not only the ground of R. 0 wen's villages in Scotland and
in America—it was also the plan of the French emigrants
under Cabet and others, who carried it to the full extent of
dividing equally among all the produce and the profits of
their joint work, like the bees in a hive, who are genuine
co-operators of the imperfect kind.
" ' Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus nnus.'
—&'eorgios IV.
Their toil is common, common is their sleep. If they acted
from reason and not from instinct, each for itself, it is
manifest that the work would not be done at all; and so
such communities are certain to fail. The true co-operative
principle affords a complete correction by counting the
labour of all according to the interests of each. It is impos-
sible to overrate the advantages of this system to the work-
ing classes. Besides the great advantage of obtaining goods
at the lowest price and free from all risk of adulteration or
other fraud, the first, perhaps the most important advantage
bestowed, is the strict economy which is not only incul-
cated but exacted. Each member must possess a certain
number of shares, and a weekly contribution is required
until their number is completed. Then all dealings are for
ready money, the rule being absolute against giving credit.
But a powerful incitement both to economy and exertion of
industry is afforded by the hope of profit in those concerns
which, not confined to the supply of goods, extend to
branches of manufacture carried on by the labour of the
members themselves. Furthermore, besides promoting eco-
nomy and industry, a manifest encouragement is afforded to
temperance in each member, both by the frugal habits
acquired, and by associating with others the bulk of whom
abstain from all excess. It is also a most important consi-
deration that the members must acquire habits of business
connected with the administration of the common concern.
They are generally by rotation all in their turn parts of the
managing and governing body. Now, it is not found in
mechanics institutes or reading rooms that the individual in-
terest of each member in the welfare of the concern is direct
and immediate, as it is in co-operative societies ; for here
he is a partner and the business is his own, whereas in those
other institutions he feels only such an interest as men have
in the community to which they belong. It thus happens
that in co-operative societies such a thing as a difference or
dispute among the managers, or of these with the members,
is hardly ever heard of. At the Rochdale Pioneers Society
16 years had elapsed before the last return without a single
instance of recourse to the arbitrators under the provisions
of the acts. The discussions among the members upon
their affairs, on the state of trade, and the events of the day
have had the happy effect of making them practically fami-
liar with the fundamental truths of economical science, espe-
cially the principles that regulate prices and wages, and
have thus had a salutary influence on their conduct in times
of distress. Indeed, the trams withdrawn during the late
months, both from the stores and from the manufacturing
concerns, afford striking proofs of the beneficial influence of
co-operation. These sums were wanted to prevent the
shareholders from receiving the aid of the charitable
funds, because the feeling is universal among them to
avoid by all means the lot of paupers. It is a most impor-
tant feature in these societies that provision is always made
for the improvement of the members by setting apart a pro-
portion of the savings or gains for the purchase of books an d
support of a reading-room. But this, though beneficial, is as
it:were an accidental result or application of the funds, the
main object and essential principle of the union being
economy and profit. The extending of co-operation to the
agricultural classes, the most important part of the commu-
nity, has already made some progress since the suggestion
was thrown out at our last meeting but one. At Clipston,
in Northamptonshire, Mr. Jarman introduced it above a
year ago, with perfect success, and it has recently been
adopted at Whitfield, in Northumberland. In both places
the workmen inhabit villages the people of which are
labourers on the adjoining farms. Many years ago, in
Suffolk, Mr. Garden allowed 20 working men to occupy a
smelt farm and lent them capital to cultivate it. They did
so, and paid the rent fixed. But when the capital is not
provided by the men themselves, not only is the gain all
alike, being independent of the labour of each, but there is
a great risk of abuse and of neglect; and to this cause is
mainly due the failure of a great London co-operative so-
ciety, almost the only instance of such a mischance. The
co-operative principle has been applied to the use of goods
as well to their purchase ; and this especially in the article
of cookery. The establishment of kitchens from which, at
a cheap rate, wholesome food may be obtained, and of good
dining-rooms wher3 it may be consumed, if not crrried home
has been attended with great advantage at Glasgow and
other towns, so that the working classes may be suppliedwith
food at their own homes, or may resort for it to the rooms
acoording to their circumstances or convenience. Miss
Catherine Sinclair, of Edinburgh, has just added to her other
acts of benevolence and judicious care for the working classes
the establishment of kitchens and dining-rooms for them,
the success of which in a few weeks was complete. The vast
advantages of combination, without risk of its powers being
abused, must be obvious upon the simple statement of the
co-operative principle. No one can have any interest in
perverting its powers, for, great as these are, their confine-
ment/a one object is strict and rigorous, and each individual
is intlrested in their never being for one instant diverted to
other purposes, even if such diversion were practicable. But
though the advantage of combination is obtained, the indi-
vidual is not lost in the mass—his separate existence is fully
preserved. Each gains exactly in proportion to his frugality,
his industry, and his skill, and each benefits in proportion
to his prudence in the use of his savings or his gains. The
idle or the inexpert do not profit by the industry or skill of
their brethren, though those who are in want are sure to bo
helped by those whose circumstances are more fortunate.
Perfect liberty is combined with the advantages resulting
from concert and united action. One may be a co-operative
as regards his expenditure, while he works for an employer
of the ordinary kind ; another may belong to a manufac-
turing concern and not to a store ; while a third may belong
to both, or may belong to some concern different from
'either. There is not in the system or the institutions under
it that balance of good and evil which prevails in other in-
stitutions, that compromise which sometimes in their for-
mation, generally in their administration, is required to
produce harmony—
" When jarring interests themselves create
The according music of a well mixed state."
• —Essay on Han.
All is here natural and necessary harmony, and good,
greater or less, but always good, without drawback or de-
duction. The comfort for the workman in his home is pro-
vided, but the home itself is beyond the reach of co-opera-
tion (unless in so far as wealth, the result of saving or of
speculation, may improve the dwelling), and it has, ac-
cordingly, been deemed expedient to encourage the estab-
lishment of club-rooms, where the industrious, whose
homes are crowded with children, or in any other respect
ill adapted for receiving friends, may be able, comfort •
ably and socially, to pass the hours not devoted to
work, er study, or rest. The institution for the pro-
motion of those places of social relaxation has only ex-
isted during the last year; but it has been attended with as
I great success as could reasonably have been expected, and
at the late general meeting in Burlington-house it was shown
how the working classes benefited by these clubs, without
deserting their homes. It was further clearly proved that
the complaint to which Mechanics Institutes have from their
commencement been exposed, of not descending to the
humblest classes, but being more useful to the middle orders,
can in no respect be made of the club-rooms, for, from the
most remarkable instance—the several club-rooms founded
at Southampton—not more than one-tenth of the 3,000 mem-
bers belonged to the class of shopkeepers and clerks, the
whole of the other 2,700 being day labourers, either skilled
or ordinary workmen, and a very large proportion, about
one-third of the latter, the humblest class of all. The Car.
lisle rule is, of course, almost universally adopted, of having
the government and management exclusively in the hands
of persons who subsist by wages. Nor is it possible to cite
that rule without adverting to the admirable associations
which have been formed under its influence. Our worthy
and learned colleague, Dr. Elliott, has furnished us with
the first numbers of a periodical work, a monthly journal
(the Border City), conducted by the working classes, mem-
bers of a reading-room, and written entirely by working
men. It is only just to add that, ire composition as well as
reasoning, its pages might well stand comparison with the
common run of our periodical publications, and it is greatly
to be wished that other works of a like kind may be under-
taken by the same class in other places. The great increase
of savings banks since last Congress is a most satisfactory
thing, for they are at once an indication and a source of
popular improvement. By the latest returns, the number
of depositors exceeds 1,500,000, and the sums deposited
nearly £38,000,000, of which above £2,000,000 are in sums
not exceeding £lO, by above 700,000 depositors. The
number of accounts of dividend not exceeding £lO at the
Bank of England for the same period was little above 90,000,
and the total about £250,000. A considerable progress has
been made since our last congress in relieving the upper
class of working men from too close and long-continued at-
tendance to their duties. The benevolent and judicious
'n who have devoted much of their time to promote the
earl closing of shops in towns, Ilk especially in London, are
aM/ and their exertions have happily been
e praise,

attended with increasing success. It is impossible for those
who remember London only a few years ago not to be
struck with the change in this important respect. Not only
is Saturday now a half-holiday but most of the shops are
closed at an hour early enough to let those employed in
them have the precious benefit of reading or attending
lectures in the evening. The health of the body as well as
of the mind is incalculably benefited by the sacrifice which
their employers in general have cheerfully made, but which
might be very much lessened were their wealthy customers
to join in the benevolent plan by making purchases at
earlier hours. Nothing can be more selfish than their
refusing this concurrence—unless, indeed, it be mere want
of reflection on the evil they are doing, at least on the good
they are preventing from being done. Let us hope that a
due consideration of the important subject may have the
effect of removing the cause of complaint. Important in-
deed we may well call it when as many as 700 are employed in
one establishment.* All the plans that have been under-
taken, more especially those which the people themselves
first began and then continued with a perseverance we can-
not too much commend, have had a most salutary effect in
improving their condition every way, and their character as
well as their condition ; or, at least, in bringing to light the
improvement which they have of late years received. No-
thing can be more admirable than the manner in which they
have struggled under the heavy pressure of distress during
the last 12 months. It is truly touching to mark, not only
their peaceful demeanour, by their firm resolution of only
accepting when absolute necessity requires the assistance
amply provided by the wealthier classes, and given with
great delicacy—their determination to suffer the greatest
privations before yielding to that necessity. A more con-
vincing proof could not be given of the blessed effects that
havo flowed from their progress in education, and their
habits thus acquired of sober reflection upon the state of
affairs, on their own position in society, and in their real in-
terests as well as duties to the community, of which they
form so important a part. Whoever recollects the very
different conduct of the same classes half a century ago,
when suffering under an incomparably less pressure from
the same interruption of the American trade, will at once
feel thansful for the change, and proud of his countrymen
and his country. With such sentiments may be mingled a
feeling of compassion for those who so long derided the
efforts made by the friends of social science to teach the
humbler orders generally, but especially to inculcate in
them sound views of their social interests. These are the
contemplations and the enjoyments of rational men in
our times ; and they make us rise superior to the renowned
nations of the classical ages, much as we may be their in-
feriors in merely ornamental arts. An association like ours
would have been deemed vain, or puerile, or absurd, by the
ancient sages. But so would they have had no belief in the
merits and the services of the philanthropist—nay, been
unable to comprehend them, or imagine how virtue
" Saw her Howard traversing the globe.
Onward he moves I disease and death retire I
And murmuring demons hate him—and admire."

—Darwin.
Those ancients, indeed, have told us what was their idea
of happiness in the Isles of the Blessed,t where they con-
ceived the lot of the wise to be that, freed from all cire,
their whole existence would be passed in investigation
and gaining a knowledge of nature. How they would
have pitied if not despised us when told that without under-
valuing the pleasures of extended knowledge we yet re •
garded it as the greatest happiness which Heaven could
bestow, to be graciously allowed the solace of looking
down upon the scene of our earthly labours, and seeing
with eyes which age and sorrow can make dim no
more, the great body of those for whom we had toiled
and suffered, exalted by the possession and by the
right use of the gifts we had helped to bestow. Some,
unhappily, there be who will not permit us to indulge
in such hopes ; who believe, at least maintain, that our
death and our extinction happen together. Men, it seems,
have been sent from the South to inculcate this dismal
error, while those who will believe anything oppose to
those who will believe nothing their visions of spiritualism
and direct communications with the departed. The pro-
moters of social science regard such errors with contempt,
only softened by pity. Theirs is the belief held, theirs the
hope cherished by Hale, and Bacon, and Locke, and New-
ton—belief in the " King Eternal, immortal and invisible,
the only wise God"—hope inspired by the study of His
works and confirmed by his revealed Word.
At the close of his address Lord Brougham was enthu-
siastically cheered.
The LORD-ADVOCATE moved, and the Right Hon.
JOSEPH NAPIER seconded, a vote of thanks.
Mr. HASTINGS read the annual report of the Council.
The Right Hon. Mr. ADDERLEY moved the approval,
which was seconded by Lord ARDMILLAN, and carried.
Mr. HASTINGS, Secretary, reported 2,500 tickets issued.
Prince Alfred attended the evening meeting, and was re-
ceived with cheering.
The sectional meetings begin to-day, and continue until
Tuesday next. Great preparations have been made for the
conversaziones of the University and Royal Scottish Aca-
demy, and for the working men's meeting to-morrow (Fri-
day) evening 34,000 applications have been made for the
3,600 tickets. The attendance at the Congress is unusually
large.

* This shop (Shoolbred and Co., Tottenham-court-road)
closes at 7 or 8 o'clock, according to the season, and 4 or 6
on Saturday. The young men have a library of 3,500
volumes, with a reading-room, and 80 of them attend the
drill of a Rifle Corps.
-- -

Ac veteres quidem philosophi in beatorum insulis fin-
gunt, quails natura sit vita sapientium quos cur& omni Jibe-
ratos, nihil aliud esse acturos putant, nisi ut mune tempus
in cuwrendo ac discendo, in naturm cognltione consumant.
—Gie. De. Fin., Lib. V.

Earl Go-to-bed; Or, Rest and be Thankful.

--o--

Our contemporary, the Saturday Review, thus comments
upon the Foreign Secretary's late Finality sentiment that
we should, all of us, in regard to that old matter of Politi-
cal Reform, rest and be thankful. Is was but natural that
Earl Russell should feel this at the bottom of his mind at
the Blairgowrie festival. After traversing all Europe and
America, and dilating on all the political topics of the day,
and surveying his own busy and restless career, he found
that he was disinclined to do more. Thankful for the day's
long work, he prepared himself for bed, smoothed his own
pillow, and addressed himself to grateful sleep. We do not
mean to say that he has not done enough to deserve his
slumbers, but the difficulty is that he seems to suggest that
it is bedtime for all his countrymen too. It does not follow
that all cur eyes ache because Earl Russell cannot keep his
open any longer ; and though he has been a roadmaker in
his time, we are not prepared to admit that the race of
Macadam is to die with him. We may be thankful for the
road, but rest is another matter.
The lassitude and desire of repose which attend the later
afternoon of life,and the natural love of a peaceful euthanasia,
however real, may arise from very different causes. There is
not a more touching or beautiful moral spectacle than the
ripeness and richness of a long and consistent life sinking,
like the sun in his declining strength, "more lovely ere his
"course be run." Bot in this sort of life there is not the
violence and shock of contrast. Earl Russell's sunset may
be golden and thankworthy, but his day has been chequered
enough. No doubt the stormy petrel itself may have a home
and may betake itself to die surrounded by the grateful
attentions of many generations of young petrels, but it is a
bird at whose death-nest few naturalists have assisted. Earl
Russell, too, may talk in a very edifying way of his calm
and grateful desire to repose in the quiet haven where the
winds breathe soft and the tempests cease to roar ; but the
taste is at least, for him, a new one. His life, at any rate,
has been spent in disturbing other people's tranquillity, not
perhaps altogether without a sacrifice of his own quiet. He
has been a Reformer all his days ; and reforming, amend-
ing, improving, cannot be achieved without a certain
amount of agitation, and flurry, and jar. His eulogist on
this very occasion recalls his "strenuous fights," and his
successful efforts to burst this and that " fetter" and
" shackle." But fighting and hammering at hard obstruc-
tive chains are not easy work. Nor is the task of upsetting
Ministries and managing successful intrigues quite con-
sistent with a love of personal ease. We do not mean to say
that all these things may not be, under certain circumstances,
a matter of duty, but one does not look for them in a very
peace-loving man—in a man who pines for rest, who longs
for the hour of sunset. Warwick the King-maker is not
the man from whom one would expect to hear an aspiration
to tired nature's sweet restorer. So, too, the author of the
Durham letter is not one whom it is easy to picture ex-
changing the mustard-pot for the oil-flask. You do not look
forethe assuager of tempests in the cloud-compelling king.
The statesman who curtly and insolently dismissed Lord
Palmerston from office may honestly--yet at the same time
very oddly, and perhaps not altogether without a pang—
parade himself as this very Lord Palmerston's eulogist
and subordinate; and after performing such a feat he may
feel disposed to close the curtains on his own political life.
Again, if Earl Russell's engrossing feeling is for peace
and quietness, it must be observed that the sentiment has
come upon him very suddenly. Why the ink is hardly dry
of his Denmark despatch, which, whatever may be said of
its matter, hardly betokens the man who seeks peace and
ensues it. So also with the tone and temper of all his recent
foreign policy. As regards Russia it may be, and we believe
that it is, our duty and our interest not to bite; but a very
wise dog who has made up his mind not to bite usually saves
himself the superfluous trouble of barking. As far as we can
understand or characterise Lord Russell's diplomacy, it con-
sists of a uniform course of barking and snapping and snarl-
ing—of yelping perhaps in the presence of big dogs, but of
growling ferociously over all the little ones. Witness Den-
mark and Brazil as specimens on one side, and Prince Gorts-
chakoff and Mr. Seward on the other. It is but a day or two
ago that the French inspired organs talked significantly
about the hollowness of English rodomontade, and for this
rodomontade Earl Russell is responsible; and though rodo-
montade may have its occasional functions and uses in the
great economy of political things, it is not precisely the
weapon which the rest-loving statesman would take up.
We can quite understand that the late Lord Aberdeen might
have spoken from the bottom of his heart if he breathed
the prayer for peace. So with the gentle and melancholy
Falkland; but Esrl Russell is not Aberdeen, nor Falk-
land, nor gentle, nor melancholy, nor dove-like. The
birds of prey do not coo. Earl Russell's life has been spent,
and on some occasions most profitably spent, in stirring the
careless, in stimulating the idle, in lashing up Popular pas-
Siena, in appealing to kindling memories, in invoking with

London: Prir..-ed and Pub.:lshod DY WILLIAM ANDREWS,
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SUN Office No. 112;
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the County o
iiilttleour,—.Thursdah OCttber 81:1e63,

" " "

ANGLO..AUSTRIAN BANK._
TTo be 'Limited , a con-
-cession from his Imperialwith Majesty the Emperor ofunder Austria.
Dated sth October, 1863.

Capital £2,000,000, or 20,000,000 florins.
TO be divided into 100.000 Scrip Certificates of £2O or 200
florins each, upon which £2 is to be paid on application and
£2 upon allotment, and a Cill of £2 within one month after
allotment. These Certificates to be exchanged hereafter for
shares to bearer of £2O or £5O each, as arranged with the
ustrian Government, as hereinafter stated. In such ex-
change One Certificate will represent one £2O Share with £6
paid thereon, or Five Certificates will represent two £5O
:hares with £3O paid thereon.
COUNCIL or DIREC7OIIS.
Prince Leo Sapicha, President of the Gallician Diet,
and Member of the Austrian Reichsrath.
:Somerset A. Beaumont, Esq., M.P., London.
Baron Erggelet (Ifenikstein and Co.), Banker, Vienna.
G. G. Glyn, Esq., M.P., Banker, London.
Count Euirene Kinskv Member of the Austrian Reichsrath.
Charles Klein, Es
, President of the Chamber of Commerce,
Vienna.
_Alexander Schroder, Esq. (A. and C. Schroder), Trieste.
Baron Tinti, Member of the Austrian Reichsrath.
• Winteratein, Esq., Member of the Austrian Reichsrath.
Count Etl:nond Zichy, Vienna (President of the Vindibona
and Acker Insurance Companies .
Adalbert 'Lipner, Est, Merchant, Vienna.

No. 22,240.

Now ready, at all the Libraries, in 3 vols.,
OOD SOCIETY.
A..)1 By Mrs. GREY, Author of " The Gambler's Wife,"
"Good Society, in all its various phases, comes in for a
complete anatomization at the hands of our author. That
very many of the characters are sketched from life, can admit
of no doubt. Altogether, to our mind, this surpasses any
of the former works of the writer."—tinited Service Mag.

Hurst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlborouzli-street,

BANKERS AND FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS,
Auefsburo•—M. Paul Von Staten.
Berlin—Messrs. Mendelssohn and Co.
Frankfort 0. M.—Messrs. Grunelins and Co.
Munich—Messrs. Robert Dc Frcelich and Co.
Paris—Messrs. Mallet Freres and Co.
Trieste—Messrs. A and G. Schroder.
BANKERS AND FINANCIAL AGENTS IN LONDON.
Messrs. Glyn, Mills, and Co., 67, Lombard-street, E.C.
SOLICITORS,
Xesers, Bircham, Dalrymple, Drake, and Ward, 45 Parl a-
ment-street, Westminster,

Immediately, in post Bvo., 10s. 6d.,
IMPRISONMENT, AND THE FIRST
J YEAR OF ABOLITION RULE IN WASHING-

TO2Y.

By ROSE GREENHOW.
Richard Bentley, Publisher in Ordinary to her Malesty.

BROKER.
George E. Seymour, Esq., 38, Throgmorton-street, E.C.
GENERAL 'MANAGER IN LONDON.
Francis Brener, Esq. (lately with Messrs. Fruhling and
Goschen).
( Vienna-5, ITabsburg->r Game.
Offices— t London-10, Birchin-lane, Lombard-street, E.C,

TROPICAL POEMS.
Now ready at all the Libraries, crown Bvo., price Os.,
BEAUTIES OF TROPICAL SCENERY,
and Other TROPICAL POEMS. With Notes.

By the Author of " The Nuptials of Barcelona."
" This work contains many beauties."—Morning Post.
"The amatory passages are worthy of Thomas Moore."—
Critic.

PROSPE—CTUS.
The Company is formed under a direct concession granted
by the Imperial Government, for the purpose of promoting
and extending commercial and financial relations between
Austria and England, These relations are daily increasing
in importance under the influence of the ameliorated political
and fiscal system which has been definitively adopted by the
Austrian Administration and Legislature.
The Company will carry on the ordinary business of a Bank
of Deposit, Discount, and Exchange, and all operations con-
nected with Bankingtransactione and Financial Agency. The
head office will be inVienna, with branches at Trieste,Prague,
Brunn, and other towns in the Austrian empire in which it
may be found profitable from time to time to form establish-
ments.
In England, the interests of the Bank will be represented,
and the business conducted by the English members of the
Board, Mes.rs, Glyn, Mills, and Co. being the Financial
Agents and Bankers of the Company.
The Directors point with satt•faction to their having se-
cured the services of Mr. Francis Breuer as th it London Ma-
nager, Mr. Breuer's experience of German Commercial and
Financial business—acquired during 25 years' service with
the firm of Messrs. Fruhling and Goschen—pecu'iarly qualify
"lint for the efficient performance of the important duties to
which he has been appointed.
The Concession has been obtained by the Pirectors, and
Made over by them to the Company, without consideration or
other charge than the preliminary expenses, which will be
limited to the disbursements made, and are of small amount.
The Company has not been brought forward until, by care-
ful negotiation, it has been ascertained that its iormation is
desired by the Austrian Executive, and that, besides the grant
of a direct concession, the Imperial Government will be pre-
Pared to open an account current with the head eflice of the
Bank, and to employ the branches of the institution in a va •
riety of ways, in facilitating the revenue collections and other
operations of the Government, not overlooking the import-
ance of the measures which are being constantly dtrecfed to
the complete re-establishment of the paper currency upon the
eorindest basis.
As some evidence of the satisfactory result of the negotia-
tions which have taken place the directors are authorised to
insert in this Prospectus the following. extracts from a Minute
delivered to the Company by his Excellency M. Von Piener,
the Minister of Finance at Vienna, viz.:—
" Referring to the fact that one of the principal objects of
the establishment of the proposed Anglo-Austrian Bank, is
to faiilitate operations in Austrian Securities, and having
regard also to the desire of the Imperial Government to aid
as far as practicable in bringing about a closer union between
the financial and commercial interests of Austria and England
than at present exists, the Imperial Government intends (so
far as it should appear to itself compatible with the success
of their financial measures—and with any legal direction
Which may ee specially T rescribed in reference to any parti-
cular operation) to give to the Bank the opportunity of under-
taking such financial operations - whether the issue of loans,
placing of bonds or otherwise ; as the Government may de-
sire to effect on the London market.
" rile Government also intends to open an account-current
Ivith the Bank."
' There cannot be any question as to the profitable nature of
the field for the operations of a banking establishment in
Austria, con ducted on sound principles.
There are few recent changes of more importance and in-
terest than the remarkable advance which Austria has made
during the last few years under the influence of its thoroughly
revised policy.
The harmony happily established between the Imperial
Government and the representatives of the different orders of
the State, as assembled in the Reichsrath, has removed most
of the impediments which formerly prevent( d Austria from
enjoying the benefits of its vast commercial and agricultural
resources. Supported by the free debates of the Parliament,
the Government has been enabled to enter with vigour upon
a fiscal policy founded upon tree-trade views ; and to apply,
in many directions, measures specially adapted to develope
the wealth and enterprise of thecountry. River steam navi-
gation has assumed large proportions. The extent of rail-
ways in operation has increased from 1,7( 0 English miles in
1855 to nearly 4,C00 in the present year; and the railway
system has be.n actually completed up to a point which
leaves few of the leading districts of the empire unsupplied.
Still more important has been the marked increase in the ac-
tivity of private trade and in the ma4nitude of individual
enterprise; and that this altered state of things is solid and
real, IS sufficiently attested by the great recovery of the Aus-
trian finances during the last two years. Under the measures
passed in 1,62, the paper currency is in rapid process of re-
form—and since June or that year, the Exchange on Lon ;on
has improved from 140 to 110 in favour of Vienna The rise
in the price of Austrian Government Stock, since the same
date. being equal, upon an average, to 22 per cent.
In the speech delivered by the Emperor, at the opening of
the Reichsrath, in Jute last (1863), he was able to dwell pro-
minently on the improved aspect of affairs, and to state that
the finances of the empire have so rapidly improved during
the Parliamentary recess that the Government will not now
require the twelve millions of florins voted last year to cover
deficiences then anticipated.
Between 1851 and 1861 the export and import trade of
Austria may be said to have doubled ; but even at its present
amount of. say, 50 millions sterling, It is still very far below
the capabilities of the 40 millions of Austrian subjects, who
inhabit provincea extending, to an area of 240,000 square
miles, in the most fertile and diversified parts of Southern
Europe.
When Is proposed, therefore, to extend to Austria the
appliances of Banking, according to sound English rrinci-
p les, it is important to bear in mind that the new institution
is not carried to a field already full or offering, few advan-
tages, but is applied previsely under those circumstances
in which the success of Banks has been most consicuoue—
viz., to a rich country,m and an enterprising peoples ntering
wit'a every encourageent upon the development of their
eledl and their resources.
In the statutes, as passed by the Imper;alGovernment, the
capital is divided into Shares of £5O or 500 florins each ; but,
in consequence of representations made to the Directors, and in order to render the Shares of the Bank more readily nego-
tiable in the Principal money-markets of the Continent, the
Government-has been solicited to authorise £2O as the de-
nomination of the Shares, and an assurance has been received
that such application will be granted.
To avoid delay in the establishment of the Bank, it has
been decided to issue the capital in Scrip Certificates of £2O
each, exchangeable hereafter (at a date to be announced. and
when £6 has been paid thereon) into Shares to bear as above
stated.
Under the revised Austrian Commercial Code, the payment
of £6 p r £2O Scrip Certificate, equal to 30 per cent. of the
capital, will enable the Bank to commence business at once,
with the advantage of limited liability, and without further
demands upon its shareholders.
the
A Copy of the Concession and Statutes will be deposited at
office of the Sol•citors to the Company, 46, Parliament-
street, V% estminster.
The Applications made in London for Scrip Certificates
should be addressed to the Directors in England at the Offices
of the Company ; but no application will be considered, unless
accompanied by the receipt of Messrs. Glyn, Mills, and Co.
for the deposit of £2 per Scrip Certificate on the number ap-
plied for
This deposit will be returned in the event of the application
not being acceded to ; and, it an allotment be made, it will be
applied towards the full deposit of £4 per Scrip Certificate.
Forms of Application maybe obtained and will be received
at the Offices of the Bank in Vienna ; and in London at the
Offices, 10, Birchin-lane, Lombard. street, E.C..
October, 1.63.
FORM OF APPLICATION FOR SCRIP CERTIFICATES.
To the Directors in England of the Anglo-Austrian Bank.
Gentlemen,—Having paid to your credit, with Messrs.
Glyn, Mills, and Co., the sum of £ , I hereby request
that you will allot me Scrip Certificates of £2O each
o ted
eachinthe Ang,lo-Austrian Bank, and r hereby agree to accept
11 t Seri') Certificates, or any smaller number that may be
inc upon the terms of the Prospectus, and to pay
the further deposit of £2 per Scrip Certificate upon the
as
allotted t
May appoint 0 me, at such time and in such manner as you
• _

p 0 L YT E C HNI C.—PATRON : H.R.H. the
PRINCE OF WALES —Professor Pepper's adapta-
tion of the original and most startling Ghost Illusion of
Henry Dircks, Esq., C.E., in three scenes. First Scene—
Reading from Dickens's " Haunted Man," and appearance
of the Ghost and Spectre of the sister. Second Scene—The
Artist's Studio—the ghostly visitor in the form of a rival
artist—the Ghost drinking a glass of water ! (this illusion
muet be seen to be believed)—the living being enveloped by
the Spectre. Third Scene—The reading of the love letter,
and mysterious arrival of the little postman " Cupid." En-
gagement of Mdlle. Cavalho, for her new Vocal, Organopho-
nic, and Ventriloquial Entertainment. Herr Susman's re-
markable imitations of birds and animals. George Hodson's
Irish Entertainment. Stokes on Memory. Open 12 to 5 and
7 to 10 o'clock.

MADAME TUSSAUD'S HISTORICAL GAL-
LERY—Established 27 years at the Bazaar, Baker-
street.—AMEßlCAN WAR. —A Model of GENERAL
M'CLELLAN, in military uniiorm, late Commander-in-
Chief of the Federal Army, is now added.—CONTINUA-
TION of ANCIENT ENGLISH KINGS. Henry V., in the
costume of the period. Open from lt till dusk, and from 7
till 10. Admittance, is ; extra rooms, Gd.

I am, Gentlemen,
Name in full
Address in full
Occupation
Date

THE SOUTRSEA PIER HOTEL COMPANY
(Limited).
Incorporated under the "Joint-stock Companies Acts, 1856
and 1857," and the "Companies Act, 1862," 'whereby the
liability of each Shareholder is strictly limited to the
amount subscribed.

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4„
,00 *Or., ,
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...e.:'

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 8, 1863.

The carter took some hay off the waggon; a crib was put
before the horses, and some hay put into it. The prisoner
stood by the horses' heads. He (Marsh) could corroborate
the last witness with reference to going into the pantry, and
seeing the prisoner emptying one of the bags into the corn -
bin. Marsh said to the prisoner, "Stride, what are you
doing with these bags ?" He replied, "Jim is going to
leave them here till he comes back from London." Witness
was not satisfied with the explanation given by the pri-
soner, and he took him into custody.
Chas. Mariner said in the month of November, 1861, he
was in the employment of Dr. Begg, and acted as carman
to him. He had to take a team to London, and stopped
occasionally at the house of the prisoner, sad recollected
stopping there in November, 1861, with two tons of Swedes,
and some oats and chaff for his horses. Witness was asked
by the prisoner what he was going to give the horses, to
which he replied, " Some corn presently ; I shall put some
chaff with it; there is plenty on the waggon." The wit-
ness corroborated the former evidence of the police-con-
stables, and said that the reason he ran away was because
he did not like to be locked up.

Mr. Sleigh then addressed the jury on behalf of the pri-
soner, contending that there was no intention whatever to
commit a robbery, the bags being merely left at the house
until the carman returned from London. He trusted that
the jury wonld not convict this man, who up to this time
bad borne an irreproachable character, but that they would
immediately restore him to his wife and children.

Air; Edwards, cab proprietor, of Lisson-grove, Edgware-
road, said he had known the prisoner for 5 years, and he
always bore a good character for honesty.
idr. James Dando, of 38,Euston-road, said he had known
the prisoner for 15 years,and during that time he had never
known anything, against him.

A person of the name of Jeremiah Brown, of Bedford-
roirigave the prisoner a good character for 16 years.
Payne then summed up, and
The'Jury returned a verdict of not guilty, considering
that there were very serious doubts in the case.
The prisoner then bowed to the jury and left the dock.

- `‘‘

STAMPED .....sd.

rejoining the main body under Rosencranz, at
Chattanooga, and as up to the 24th ult, no attempt
was made by the Confederates to dislodge thPede-
ral army from its undoubtedly strong position at
this last-mentioned place, it is probable that for
some time at least the Northern General will re-
main unmolested. The Government at IN ashington
are thankful for small mercies, and congratulate
themselves and the public that the army to which
the conquest of the Central States was entrusted .
in comparative safety. The movements of the Con-
federates arc conducted with so much secrecy, and
efforts of the Northern Generals to obtain accurate
information respecting either the position or the
strength of the Southern armies have uniformly
proved so unavailing, that only the scantiest mate-
rials are afforded for criticising the operations of
the Confederate Generals. At the present moment
the Government of Washington are totally igno-
rant what forces composed the army which, under
the leadership of Bragg, has inflicted on the
army of the Tennessee so disastrous a defeat. There
can, however, be but little doubt that Bragg re-
ceived considerable reinforcements subsequent to
his evacuation of Chattanooga, although it was not
at the expense of the army which, under Lee, holds
the south bank of the Rapidan. The Government
at Richmond are far too sagacious to risk the loss of
a battle in Virginia, and the possible seizure of their
capital, for the doubtful chance of obtaining a vic-
tory in Tennessee. For some time past an engage-
ment has been imminent in Virginia, and it rests
with either of the generals commanding the rival
armies to provoke a contest at a few hours' notice.
A portion of the Federal cavalry is reported to have
advanced in the direction of Gordonsville, and some
skirmishing has taken place. If Gen. Meade should
in truth contemplate a general engagement, he will
be compelled to attack the Confederate army at a
considerable disadvantage. Gen. Lee commands
the principal fords of the Rapidan, and, if the wea-
ther in America has at all resembled that which we
have experienced in England during the past few
weeks, that river will he swollen to such an extent
as to render it a very formidable barrier against the
Federal advance. The interval of inactivity per-
mitted to the grand army of the North, since its
exploits at Gettysburg, has been protracted suffi-
ciently long to tire out the patience of Mr. Lincoln's
Administration ; and if the reports in circulation
are to be credited, the Aulic Council at Washington
have directed their general to resume the offensive.
If this be so, it is manifest that, in regard to their
social policy, the fruits of experience are thrown
away upon the Federal Government. The aggressive
movements of the Confederates have been so con-
stantly unsuccessful that there is but little proba-
bility of Gen, Lee assuming the offensive. If this
year's campaign in Virginia is to conclude with
another series of battles, the Confederate General
will take care that they will be fought on ground
of his own selection.
Naval and Military Intelligence.