The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-22 00:00:00

There is no question that vast sources of wealth
exist undiscovered or undeveloped in our colonies.
Australia had been colonisl a good many years
before the gold diggings attracted thither all wan-
dering soldiers of fortune, and affected the calcula-
tions of financiers and political economists all
through the civilised world. It was not surprising
that the same precious metal should be found to
exist in the neighbouring colony of New Zealand
so that a fresh interest is added to those islands and
the continual war with the 'Modes is likely to lose
its importance. The goldfields of Otago, however,
are not the only gift of nature to New Zealand, in-
deed it may be questioned whether they aie the
most valuable. A very interesting communication
has just been made by a gentleman who was lately
a resident in the colony respecting the native flax
which grows in great abundance and perfection.
This plant (Phornium Tenax) is, he tells us,
to be found in almost every district growing in such
luxuriance that thousands of acres of beautiful fibre
are left to rot in the ground for want of cutting
and gathering. If cut the plant will bear three
fresh shoots in the year. It grows from six to
twelve feet, and each acre of land may be calcu-
lated to produce from six to ten tons. This sur-
prising quantity of material is not of indifferent
quality. The writer of the account in question,
who has himself inspected the plant and studied its
qualities, asserts that paper made from it is supe-
rior to any other; while he suggests that a large
portion of it might be employed in the manufacture
of cordage, sail-cloth, and similar fabrics. It is
surely worth while for our manufacturers to ascer-
tain whether this abundant supply of raw material
ready to hand cannot be turned to some account in
giving employment to our idle mill hands, and in
providing a substitute for cotton cloth, the dearness
and scarcity of which is so generally deplored. It is
not the first time that reference has been made to
this plant, although no steps have as yet been taken
towards profiiing by it; but the statement now
given by a gentleman who took some pains to exa-
mine into the facts of the case, and to verify them
by personal inspection is so clearand conclusive, that
we should hope some experiment would be made
before long.
We are all acquainted with the valuable proper.
ties of flax, and should the quality of this souther❑
plant at all equal the description given of it, it
would certainly be a useful addition to our stock of
raw material, even in times of prosperity, but in
the present season of dearth it would be of inesti-
mable benefit. The mountain flax, which is of a
much finer quality than that grown in the swampy
lands, is more difficult of access, being out of the
reach of water carriage, but its superior fibre ren-
ders it well worth obtaining, and this, the most
expensive in its conveyance, could be, we are told,
imported into England at a much less cost than
Russian hemp, which it greatly exceeds in strength.
It is surely desirable that some public spirited capi-
talist should inquire into this matter, and endeavour
to open up a source of employment for thousands of
his suffering countrymen, as well as to enrich the
markets of his country by the introduction of a
new and useful commodiay. It would require no
great outlay to make the experiment, since neither
tilling nor ploughing is required to test the value of
the plant. The bountiful hand of nature has sown, it
only remains for the enterprising man to reap her
gifts, and ascertain what account he can best turn
them to. " There is here," says the informant, "an
abundance of good useful material, well fitted for
maritime purposes growing to an unlimited extent,
which only requires to be cut down into useful
and valuable fibre without the cost of rent, taxes,
manure, or even ploughing the land." It seems
strange that in the long-continued depression of
the cotton trade so little effort should have been
made to obtain a substitute for the desired material

even of a temporary nature. The same obstinate
adherenoe to American cotton which induced our

manufacturers and millowners to neglect every
other souroe of supply in bygone days of plenty,
appears to have actuated them since its deprivation,
restricting their views and expectations to the
reopening of the old ports. Yet we can
hardly doubt that the opportune reminder
of the large quantity of raw material
" wasting its sweetness on the desert air" of New
Zealand, will induce some energetic manufacturer
to ascertain by practical experience of its qualities
how far this Now Zealand flax is capable of filling
the void, left by the suspension of American cotton
and whether it will not serve at least as a tem-
porary resource to keep our mills going and our
Lancashire population off the rates. Half a loaf is

better than no bread; it is better to manufacture

flax than for the mills to stand idle and the popula-
tion to go to the parish for support. It is better to

work at paper making or rope making than to si

idle, dependent on casual help in waiting for the
resuscitation of the old trade, and certainly a good
many persons of the less wealthy classes will think

it preferable to obtain linen cheap than to bay
calico dear. There may possibly be obstacles or

_ ..
drawbaoks in the way, but at all events the subject
is worth inquiry. The colony is our own, and hi
spite of the Maoris the investigation can be made
with little cost or labour, and should it prove suc-
cessful it will be of the greatest practical service
alike to the mother country and to the young and
promising colony.

BIIIMER AND L. E. L.—One of the latest biogra-
phers of the charming poetess, L. E. L., has
recently remarked—" I wonder if that great novelist, whose
least distinctions are that he is a baronet and a senator—
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton—ever looks backward on that
marriage party, of which he formed a unit, when, on the
7th of June, 1838, he gave away Miss Landon at St. Mary's,
Bryanstone-square, to Mr. Maclean. Doubtless it is to
him one of those memories, both bright and yet tinged with
sadness, which most of us have to look back to, and for
which wo feel all the better if all the sadder."
MADLLE. TIETJENS is now in Paris, and will
make her debut at the Grand Opera before the end of the
month in Valentina.

BOTTESIINI, the well-known double bass player,
is conductor of the orchestra at the Lyceum, Barcelona.

TIIALBEEG and GODEFROND (harpist) have been
very lately delighting the amateurs of Boulogne.
COST OF VIEWING THE MAIN DRAINAGE
Worxs.—Cbeques ;Lave been drawn by the Metro-
politan Board of Works to defray a portion of the expenses
incurred by the late trip down the river, to view the outfall
works at Crossness-point and Barking-creek, of the follow-
ing amounts :—Messrs. Robert Clark and Co., £216 ss. 6d.;
Messrs. Ind, Coope, and Co., £4B 12s. ; and Mr. Charles
Burgess, £75155. 3d. Total, £350 124. 9d. The remain-
ing accounts stand over till the meeting of the finance coni-
wittee.—City Press.

PROFESSOR RENAN'S LIFE OF JESUS.—On the
first Saturday in September, there is to be com-
menced in _Public Opinion an epitome of Professor Renan's
extraordinary work, " Vie de Jesus," which will be com-
piled from the French original, and contain vcrbatia trans-
lations of the most interesting passages, to be followed by
synopses of tha various auswers which have appared is
France i~ refutation cf the ainve production,

THE CONGRESS AT MALINES.
(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)
MALINES, AUG. 20.
There are a good many things worth noting in a
Congress like the present besides what actually
takes place in the hall of the meetings. For the
gathering of three thousand strangers in such a
town as Malines somewhat disturbs its wonted
Flemish placidity. It is a fine old, town, and a
clean one too; but its accommodation is restricted,
and on the f rst days nearly the whole of those who
had come up to take their tickets of admission had
to disperse through the cluster of neighbouring
towns, suoh as Brussels, Ghent, Louvain, Antwerp,
&c. I put up with two companions at an hotel
in Brussels; but we have now progressed, as well
as congressed ; and, thanks to a Malines acquaint-
ance, we are settled is the city itself in a genuine
Flemish inn, where the meals at the table d'hUte,
round which cluster a whole band of congressmen,
form delightful reunions of men of all countries,
considerably amused at the process of being done
Flemish.
We arrived in Malines yesterday morning in time
for the first morning seance, which from 10 to half-
past 12 consisted of the group of five meetings of
the sections on religious works, works of charity,
Christian art, Christian education, the press, &c.
I walked into the hall of the fifth section, i. e„ the
press, which had been also the day before my point
of attraction, But, as compared with the anima-
tion of the first day, it was very quietly going on
under the presidency of the veteran of the Catholic
press in Belgium,
M. Armand Neut. The question
treated was that of petitioning for the reform of the
state of the law which prevents the right of asso-
ciation, granted by the 20th article of the Belgian
Constitution, from having its full force. Some op-
posed any move in that direction as being too gene-
ral, and affecting commercial interests rather than
religious ones
; but in the end it was resolved on,
as the best means of securing by supporting gene-
ral rights those of religious communities and other
property for religious purposes from the vexatious
and wasting interference of Government officials.
It was also resolved, after a very short discussion,
to form a central committee in Belgium to keep up
an international correspondence with committees in
other countries for all matters relating to the
works which occupy the attention of the Congress.
At three o'clock in the afternoon the members met
in general assembly in the great hall of the Petit
Seoainaire, the Minister of State, Count de Then;
taking the chair as vice-president. The two Car-
dinal Archbishops of Malines and of Westminster,
and the various bishops and prelates, were present.
The proceedings began by a report on the Pius Verein,
or Society of Pius IX., which ever since 1843 has
organised annual congresses of Catholics in various
towns of Germany, so as to be the model of the
society now constituting itself in Belgium. The
report was read in French by Herr Linden, secre-
tary of the German Pius Verein, and described the
progress made year after year by the society, and
its drawing to its meetings, first the Swiss, Who
begun in 1857 to hold a congress of their own ;
and, finally, the Belgians, who are now doing the
same.

The President of the Swiss Pius Verein,
Count
Sherer, then came forward, and truly electrified the
assembly by a kind of poem-speech, hailing the
Congress iu the name of the 127 sections of the
Swiss Verein, and giving expression by way of
salutation to three truths, as he said by way of tele.
grams. "We are brothers," he exclaimed, " because,
though we have not the same fatherland, we have
the same Mother, the Catholic Church, and we
want to be united— Volumes !" He then announced
that the sixth meeting of the Swiss Verein would
take place during the following week, on
the 26th and 27th inst., at the Monastery
at Eisledain. He spoke of the possibility,
therefore, of some of the persons present contri-
buting still more to cement Catholic union for good
works by their presence at Eisledein, and alluded to
tile power Catho”licnoatsscocaitahtoiclinc,
except in the as making the
word "impossible
of
instance of opposition to evil and wrong, when the
head and front of Catholicity uttered the Non
Possenzes. As for the children of the Church their
union led to the second telegram of the Swiss
Verein—Possumus! Taking than the illustration of
his own small country, which waters all the great
surrounding countries by the overflowing of its
rivers, the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Ticino, because
the virgin waters of its glaciers are not stationary.
He spoke of the Catholic family, the most ancient
in Europe, as able by its agitation to water all na-
tions with the waters of Catholic spirit, and ended
by summing up his three telegrams as, " Volumus!
Possumus ! Fiat ! Amen." This was the model
address of that day. A report on the Catholic
University of Louvain was read in a very low tone
by one of its youngest professors, a M. Dssfosses ;
and from a rather long statement, not very distinct,
we were enabled, however, to gather the interesting
facts that, during its 30 years of existence, the pre-
sent university had educated 18,262 students, while
its Anglo-American college during a few years'
existence, has sent forth from its walls 23 mis-

I sionary priests.
A young aroeat, of the name of Verspeyen, then
addressed the meeting on the St. Peter's pence orga-
nisation, and described in a most interesting
and eloquent manner the progress of that
organisation, and its success not only in Bel-
gium, but in Poland, Ireland, and Italy itself.
He told, with great effect, the story of the
Polish peasant who came on foot from his
he
village to Rome to console the Holy Father, as
naively sted, and bring him the Peter's Pence of
his neighbours "in twenty-five new forms,” which
the Piedmontese robbed him of; " but they cannot
rob you of our hearts, Holy Father.!" added he;
and the Pope blessed in him the people of Poland,
and his blessing will bear its fruit. Alluding next
to Ireland, the speaker told of the £B,OOO gathered
in one day in Dublin for the Holy Father, and of the
blood of its children having been shed for him at
Spoleto, Perugia, Ancona, and Cestelfidardo. He
called also attention to the immense sum and con-
tributions of jewels gathered in Turin by the exer-
tions of the editor of the Armonia, and he proposed
that the Congress should proclaim that the Abbata
Margotti had well deserved of Catholics. I cannot
follow the young orator further than to say that he
delighted his audience by describing the religious
spirit which animates the youth of Belgium, as
proved by the numbers which went forth to decend
te de 11Ielun then read,
of them:
Pope, and
whoon are
the in a mono-
engaged
the cause
stillpart of 'the
ti
on
nThoiluises service.vtioznc oe
second section of the Congress, on chari-
table works and the freedom of making be-
quests for the support of such works. The
general meeting was suspended at about a
quarter past five, and resumed its proceedings at a
quarter past six as a public meeting, at which
ladies 411.11 othtr pasAas payiDEr, a eaklll contribu.

BOURSE, Aug. 21.—Stock has been offered, and
prices have receded. Threes, for the Account, are
now at 67f. 70c. The Railway Share Market is
heavy, and many of the lines lower. The market
closed as follows :

lt per Cent 5....... 96 65
Do. end month....

3 per Cents -
67 60
Do. end month.... 67 65
Credit Mobilior.... 1103 75

Do. end x»onth 1102 50
Bank shares 3380

Credit 1! oncier 1275

Italian Loan 72 75
Do. end month 72 55
New ditto —
Do. end month 72 75
Russian
Austrian
Spanieh Threes..,
Rome Debt

RAILWAYS.

Cash. Account.
Orleans 1026 25 .. 1022 50
Northern ....
New. ditto
Lyons and Mediterranean 1028 75 .. 1027 50
Geneva..
Southern 715 .. 707 50
Western
Eastern ....
Sardinian 412 50 .. 412 50
Austrian
Lombard
North of Spain
Saragossa 685 .. 681 25
Ditto to Barcelona -

AMERICA.

(REUTER'S EXPRESS.)

The following is President Lincoln's reply to the
ietter of Governor Seymour, of New York, concern-
ing the draft.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7.
His Ernellency Horatio Seymour, Governor of
New York, Albany, N.Y.:--

i‘ Your communication of the 3d instant, has been

received and attentively considered. I cannot con-
sent to suspend the draft in New York, as you re.
quest, because among other reasons, time is too im-
portant. By the figures you send, which I presume
are correct, the twelve districts represented fall in
two classes of eight and four respectively.
" The disparity of the quotas for the draft, in
these two classes is certainly very striking, being
the difference between an average of 2,200 in one
class, and 4,864 in the other. Assuming that the
districts are equal one to another in entire popula-
tion, as required by the plan on which they were
made, this disparity is such as to require attention.
Much of it, however, I suppose, will be accounted
for by the fact that so many more persons fit for
soldiers are in the city than are in the country, who
have too recently arrived from other parts of the
United States, and from Europe, to be either in-
cluded in the census of 1860, or to have voted in
1862. Still, makibg due allowance for this, lam
yet unwilling co stand upon it as an entirely suffi-
cient explanation of the great disparity. I shall
direct the draft to proceed in all the districts,
drawing, however, at first from each of the
four districts—to wit :—the second, fourth,
sixth, and eighth—only 2,200 being the average
quota of the other class. After this drawing, these
four districts, and also 17th and 29th, shall be care-
fully re-enrolled ; and, if you please, agents of yours
may witness every step of the process. Any defi-
ciency which may appear by the new enrolment
will be supplied by a special draft for that object,
allowing duo credit for volunteers who may be ob-
tained from districts respectively during the inter-
val ; and, at all points, so far as consistent with
practical convenience, due credit shall be given for
volunteers, and your Excellency shall be notified of
the time fixed for commencing. a draft in each dis-
trict_ I
trict_

" I do not object to abide a decision of the United
; States Supreme Court, or of the judges thereof, on
the constitutionality of the draft law. In fact, I
should be willing to facilitate the obtaining of it ;
but I cannot consent to lose the time while it is
being obtained. We are contending with an enemy
who, as I understand, drives every able-bodied man
he can reach into his ranks, very much as a
butcher drives bullocks into a slaughter pan
7-no time is wasted, no argument is used.
This produces an army which will soon turn upon
our victorious soldiers already in the field, if they
shall not be sustained by recruits as they should be.
It produces an army with a rapidity not to be
matched on our side, if we first waste time to re-
experiment with the volunteer system, already
deemed by Congress, and palpably, in fact, so far
exhausted to be inadequate; and then more time to
obtain a Court decision as to whether a law is con-.
stitutional which requires a part of those not now
in the service to go to the aid of those who are
already in it; and still more time to determine with
absolute certainty that we are to get those who are
to go in the precisely legal proportion to these who
are not to g 6. My purpose is to be in my action
just and constitutional, and yet practical, in per-
forming the important duty with which I am
eharg“l, of re.ttintaihiog the unity and the free

" A. LINCOLN."
The 'Washington correspondent of the New York
Herald writes as follows concerning the relations of
Russia with the Federal Government :
" The receipt of advices from abroad by the
Arabia has set the occupant of the White House
and the head of the State Department in a flutter.
Most singular rumours are prevailing here with
reference to a complication of the United States
with the imbroglio now prevailing in Europe
touching the affairs of Russia with Poland. Confe-
rences have been held between Mr. Seward and the
President concerning the matter, and in the inner
circles of the Republican leaders there is a very
unusual ferment.
"It would appear, from all that can be learned by
outsiders, that Minister Plenipotentiary Extraordi-
nary Cassius M. Clay has been making for himself
a very extensive chapter in the history of European
politics, and that, with his usual indiscretion, he
has managed to embroil the United States in the
troubles between Russia and the Western Powers.
The secret of the remarkable change of base of
Prince Gortschakoff, from a tone of peace to one
of war, was brought about, it is understood, by no
less a person than our eccentric and hot-headed
Minister in Russia. It will be remembered that
in all the early diplomatic papers touching the
troubles of Poland and Russia, the tone of the Rus-
sian Government was eminently peaceful and con-
ciliatory. In answer to the several representations
from Austria, France, and England respecting the
inviolability of the Treaties of 1815, the Foreign
Minister of Russia condescended to explain matters
to the Western Powers, and to defend the
conduct of his Government by argument.
The joint note of the three great Powers
produced a very different effect, and the
recent reply of Prince Gortschakoff shows
that Russia contemplates the possibility of a war
with equanimity. The puzzle was, what created
this change of feeling; end it now appears, if the
reports that reach Washington may be relied upon,
that it was no less a person than Minister Clay who
has entered into a treaty—so the rumours go on to
say—with Russia, offensive and defensive, assuring
her that, in the event of the Western Powers de-
claring war against her, the United States would
declare against England and France. Russians were
aware from their own ministers in this country, and
from the tone of our public press, that the utmost
irritation existed in the United States against
France, on account of the desire of Napoleon to re-
cognise the Soutb, and because, of the conquest of
Mexico; and against England on account of the
sympathy that nation had felt for the insurgents,
and the aid and comtort it had given them in the
war in arms, and especially in ships to prey upon
American commerce. With these facts patent to
the Russian Government, it was compelled to credit
the announcements of Minister Clay that the
American people only wanted opportunity to de-
clare war against England and France, especially
if there was a fair prospect that the rebellion would
be quelled. Hence the courage of Gortschakoff and
the Russian Government. On land Russia has very
little to fear from the Western Powers, partly
on account of the inaccessibility of its
more important cities and seats of power,
but mainly because its armies, since the result of
the Crimea campaign, have been remodelled and
regenerated and are expected now to be able to
vie in discipline and valour with even the best
troops of France. By an alliance with the United
States Ruesia hopes to be able to humilitate England
en the high seas, as well as seriously to damage the
growing maritime power of France. In short, the
Russians on the strength of the representation of
Minister Clay, hops to be able to create a fire in the
rear of England and France which they little dream
of. Hence the boldness of tone and the gauge of
battle which has been thrown down by Prince
Gortschakoff in the recent reply to the note of the
great Powers.

"There is another reason which has decided Russia
in the course she has taken. The winter season
is approaching, and before war could be declared
and fleets prepared the Baltic would be inaccessible
to the English on account of the cold and ice. As
for the Black Sea, there is no commerce there which
could be broken up to injure Russia which would
not injure England still more—to wit, the great
wheat crops of Southern Russia, which are now
the mainstay for the breadstuffs for Francs and
England.
"One of theireasons, it ;s said, why Clay has urged
upon the Russian Government to take the course
it has done, is that a war between Russia and the
Western Powers will be popular in America, from
the experience of 1854 and 1855, when the stop-
page of the Russian grain trade caused an im-
mense exportation of grain from the United States
and enriched our western farmers beyond measure.
Russia, therefore, had every reason to believe that
Clay was authorised in the treaty, or rather under-
standing, which he was anxious to secure between
himself, on the part of the United States, and
Gortschakoff, on the part of the Russian Govern-
ment.

" Of course this news has set Washington agog, at
least such circles as are enrapt with the State De-
partment and the White House. There are those
who believe that Mr. Seward has had a finger in
the pie. Ho is not the man to forget an enemy.
It will be remembered that Mr. Seward strongly
urged the appointment of Clay to Rusaia in the
very teeth of the fact that Clay had the impudence
and indiscretion to publish a letter in a New York
paper strongly censuring Mr. Seward for his diplo-
matic correspondence, and complaining that Mr.
Seward had given too much of his own correspon-
dence and too little of his (Clay's) to the public. In
the face of this Mr. Seward urged his appointment
upon the Senate. It is believed by some here that
the position that Clay has taken, while not exactly
recommended or approved by the State Depart-
ment, has been winked at by Mr. Seward, partly
with the hope of paying off Clay for his contemp-
tuous letter by the excitement his objectionable

course will create, and partly to scriou;:ly embroil
France and England with Russia, so as to prevent
England from the talked of interference in our
affairs. If this is true, it will show most dexterous
management on the part of our Secretary of State.
If he shall have succeeded in creating war between
Russia and France and England by such an instru-
ment as Cassius M. Clay, it will be a stroke of
statecraft and finesse worthy of a Machiavelli.
"Of course the future of our Government is very
clear. There will be no war with England and
France at present, unless the rebellion should im-

mediately collapse, and the temptation be afforded

ror our President to pay off old scores with those

nations. The probability is, if the war is finished
by Christmas, that by the coming spring our people

will be tempted to try the virtue of the new iron.

clads, and which should not be built without a prac-
tical test of their capacities. The Puritan, Die-

:ator, and Dunderberg, and the other large vessels

of our iron-clad fleet, ought to have a chance with

,he Warrior and Gloire, and unless the people here

are very much mistaken in the sentiments of the
country at large, the temptation for a war with
England or France, or both combined, will be too

strong to b© resisted before many years aro over

In the event of a war between Russia and the
West ern Powers, and in ease our Government should

not feel strong enough to contest the supremacy of
the seas with those great naval nations, the course

of President Lincoln is clear. It would be to recall

Clay, and disavow the proceeding which he is said

.0 have assented to."

SINGULAR AND FATAL ACCIDENT AT FIAMBRO'.

—Oa Monday, a young man in the employ of Mr.
Harrington, of the North Star Inn, Flambro', went to a
field to catch and bring up a horse. Not returning hi pro-
per time search was made, and he was discovered dead iu
a recumbent position, having his feet in a ditch of water,
with a largo quantity of blood near him. The deceased
had a cancer of a dangerous kind on his lip, and for its cure
he had some time previously been partially operated on,
but owing to the peculiar nature of the cancer the knife
could not be used from fear of the patient bleeding to death.
It is supposed that the horse had hit his lip with its head,
and finding blood flowing rapidly from his lip, and know-
ing. the danger attending it, ho had hastened to the water
in the ditch to stop the bleeding or wash his face, and SOon
died of exhaustion. The maa's name was George Dobson.
II was yort.. of age,—Lco4 aorpry,

The Earl of Coventry is expected daily at Croome
Court, his seat in Worcestershire, from visiting the Duke
and Duchess of Richmond at Gordon Castle, near Focha-
bars, N.B. The noble earl intends to entertain a large
party at his counlTy seat during the ensuing week.
The Countess (Frances) Waldegrave and Mr.
Chichester Fortescue, M.P., leave town to-day for Harp-
tree Court, Somersetshire.

Lord and Lady Lindsay and family, who have
been staying with the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres at
Haigh Hall, Wigan, left there in the early part of the week
for their seat in Aberdeenshire.

. .
Baron de Croixmet_ has arrived at Claridge's
Hotel from Paris.

The Right Hon. Sir John Pakington, AT.P., and
Lady Pakington intend to prolong their sojourn in Ger-
many until the end of next month.

Sir Philip de Grey Egerton, M.P., and Lady
Egerton have arrived within the last few days at the hon.
baronet's shooting box in Inrerness-shire for grouse shoot-
ing. Sir Philip will return south in the middle of next
month, in order to attend the annual meeting of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science at Newcastle.
General Sir George Brown, G.C.8., arrived ill
town on Monday from Paris, and to-day will leave for
Dublin to resume his military duties as commander-in-
chief.

Colonel Poulett G. H. Somerset, M.P., and Mrs.
Somerset, leave town today for Malta, by way of Mar-
seilles.

Mr. R. S. Holford, M.P., and Mrs. Holford, who
returned from Vichi a few days ago, have since gone to the
hon. member's shooting quarters in the north of Scotland.

The Late Mr. Joshua Field.

With the deepest regret we announee the death
of Mr. Joshua Field, F.R.S., of the firm of Maude-

lay and Field, engineers. Mr. Field expired at his
residence, Balham Hill, on the morning of the 11th
inst., the immediate cause of his death being thopor
supervening on an attack of gout, his illness ex-
tending altogether over a period of four months.
The deceased gentleman was in the 77th year of his
age, and up to the commencement of the disease
which has terminated so unfortunately he possessed
in the fullest degree all his powers of mind
and body.

His death is too recent to enable us to give as yet
as full a sketch of Mr. Field's life as we could wish.
Of such men data exist and facts are known which
lie dormant and almost forgotten, until time brings
them to light.

The Institution of Civil Engineers owes its
existence to six young men-11. I. Palmer, Joshua
Field, William Mandalay, J. Jones, C. CoHinge,
and James Ashwell—who founded it in 1817.
Mr. Field was one of the earlits t vice-presidents,
holding that office until Jan, 18,1848, when he was
elected president, being the first mechanical engi-
neer who filled the chair. The admirable manner
in which he fulfilled his responsible duties is too
well known to need comment.

To Mr. Field, in connection with Mr. Maudslay,
may be traced, ia a great degree, the origin of ocean
steam navigation. The engines put by these gentle-
men on board the Great Western, in March, 1838,
were so completely successful that they long served
as a model for other builders. On Sunday, April 8,
1838, she started on her first voyage from Bristol
with seven passengers and 50 tons of goods, a.nd
reached New York on Monday, April 23, thus ac-
complishing the 3,000 miles in 13 days and 10
hours.

Mr. Field was not more respected for his talents
as an engineer than loved and esteemed for his
amiable qualities and fine disposition. To know him
as a man of science was an honour, to be classed by
him ac a friend was something beside which even
honour sank into insignificance. His death has
been a blow deeply
the profession. felt by nearly every member of
Mr. Field was interred at Norwood Cemetery on
Tuesday, the 18th inst. The funeral cortege earl"
sisted of nine mourning coaches, containing the re-
latives and more immediate friends of the deceased,
and 14 private carriages. At the cemetery gatEs
were assembled a considerable number of workmen,
principally elderly men, who have been engaged at
the Works for a long period.

DEFARTURE OF THE CHANNEL FLEET FROg
,KIRRWALL.—A correspondent at Kirkwall, writiv g
on Tuesday, says :—" The Channel fleet, which has been
detained for two or three days by thick rainy weather,
left Kirkwall Bay to-day between one and two o'clock-
They intended proceeding through the Westray Firth to
(Le Atlantic, but after being under steam for several hours
they returned to Inganess Bay, on account of the strong
tine being against them. The vessels are now anchored in
the above-mentioned bay, and it is anticipated that they
will work out into the the Atlantic to-morrow."

AN ATOM OF A JOKE IN A MOUNTAIN OF A. COPS.
PumENT.--It has been remarked—says (of all papers
tzt
the world of letters) the lady's newspaper of to
ladies have generally a great fear of lightning, and ,11i8 haB,
been superficially ascribed to their natural timidity; but
the truth is, that it arisa from their con m
seicuess of bei"
attractive, .day--that