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London, England, 1854-10-03 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 3, 1854.

THE WAR.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

CA
.71111 of
76 v
o M^ o

The Royal Albert, her Majesty's screw, 121 guns, is still
at the same moorings abreast of Sheerness dockyard. She
is daily shipping quantities of provisions from the victual-
ling yard here. Captain Sir Thomas Paisley arrived here
on Sunday, and took up his commission temporarily. There
is a rumour that lie is to take her up the Mediterranean,
when Admiral Lyons will hoist lie flag on board, and Cap-
tain Paisley will then remove to the Agamemnon, which
ship he will bring home. We cannot, however, vouch for
the accuracy of the above, but orders have been received
that the crew, who are now living on board the hulk, are
to be turned over to the Albert on the 18th inst.

The Hannibal, her Majesty's screw, 91 guns, Hon. Capt.
Grey, is at her moorings, Sheerness, which she took up on
coming out of the basin; her machinery is fast progressing,
and provisions and stores are being daily shipped. In about
another week she is expected to have all finished, when, if
report be true, she will proceed, with the Valorous, to the
East.
The Valorous, paddle, Captain Buckle, is in Sheerness
basin. Her rigging and repairs of the paddle-wheels are
fast progressing ; 71 of her tars arrived on Saturday even-
ing last by the paddle Janus, 7 guns, from Plymouth.
The whole of her crew may now be said to have returned
to their old ship, with the exception of two or three, who
are detained through unavoidable circumstances. She
Will no doubt be ready by the appointed time, viz., the
9th inst., when there is a report here that she will proceed
to the East, and take with her 100 of the Artillery who
volunteered for foreign service. To-morrow she will
take in her provisions, &c.
The Hornet, 22, sailed from Plymouth on Sunday even-
ing for the Cape of Good Hope and the East Indies, and
the Indefatigable, 50, left on Monday morning for Rio
Janeiro. On nearing Pendlee the wind became light, and
she remained there some time at anchor.

The Faith, screw steam•transport, is now being laden
at Woolwich dockyard, and will embark Artillery under
orders for the seat of war in the East.

APPOINTMENTS.

Master Daniel H. Wilder (1842), recently serving in the
Salamander, paddle-wheel steam-sloop, to the Nankin, 50,
at Chatham.

Surgeons.—William H. Foster, M.D. (1842), recently
serving in the Salamander, to the Ceylon, 2, flag-ship of
Rear-Admiral Houston Stewart, at Malta ; Evan Evans
(1845), borne on the books of the Victory flagship at Ports-
mouth, for service at Haslar Hospital.
Assistant-Surgeon Charles Sproull (1848) to Haslar Hos-
pital.
Mate Robert B. Cay (1853), to the Cossack, 21, screw
steam-corvette, at Chatham.
Second Master Nathaniel B. Herbert (1549), recently
serving in the Dauntless screw steam-frigate, to the Snake,
screw steam despatch gun-boat at Blackwall, and having
her crew on board the Salsette receiving ship, at Wool-
wich.

Naval Cadet H. St. V. Jeukings to the Calcutta, 84, at
Dovonport.

THE RUSSIAN PRISONERS.

The sum of 1,0001. has arrived at Sheerness for distribu-
tion among the Russian and Finnish prisoners of war now
on board the Devonshire and Benbow. Captain Carl Beck,
late in command of the Russian-Finnish bark Carl, has,
through a friend, made an application to the proper
channel for subsistence-money, while enjoying his parole.
He has been granted the same privilege as the officers—
namely, 7s. per day. Captain Beck is in a very precarious
statd of health, which has brought on great depression of
spirits. An Admiralty order has arrived at Sheerness
granting E. A. Hillebard, the steersman of the bark Carl,
7s. per day subsistence money while on parole.
The Netherlands galliot Nijverdal, H. R. Giezen late
master, arrived at Sheernessyesterday, prize to the Cruiser.
Captain Giezeu has brought home some important infor-
mation, as regards the trade carried on by Prussia over the
frontiers into Memel. Captain Giezen has obtained his
parole on the usual terms on an official application being
made in the proper quarter. _

turday, which occupied nearly five hours. Major Bruce,
18th Regiment, was president. Thu prisoner, John
DurnDhy, of the 18th Royal Irish, was arraigned for hav-
ing been found drunk on the commanding officer's parade
at Chatham, on the 15th instant ; this being the fourth
time within twelve months, constitutes habitual drunken-
ness.

The sentence will not be known until the proceedings
are confirmed at the Horse Guards. The prisoner returned
with the regiment from India.

The Dwina schooner, laden with salmon, cod, and had-
dock, cured 'and in bulk, arrived at Sheerness yesterday
afternoon, from Kola, prize to the Miranda, in charge of
Mr. Smyth, the second-master of the Miranda. The Dwina
put into Yarmouth for necessary supplies. She was taken
in tow by the Phenix yesterday at noon from the Mouse,
and cast off at the Nora The Phcenix proceeded up the
'river for WoOlwich.

The Russian prisoners were removed this morning from
Sheerness ; they were put on board a steamer, which
sailed for NeAhaven ; there they are to disembark, and
thence proceed to Lewes gaol, There were about 200, in-
cluding officers

ponderous parcel present itself than an eager rush was
made to the bookstall, and it was only by the utmost
exertion on the part of the proprietor in the distributio❑
of papers, aided by his ample supply of assistants, that
the large concourse of persons was induced to disperse,
and this was not accomplished until the whole of the
first batch of newspapers were disposed of. In conse-
quence of the confirmation of the joyful intelligence, the
bellringers were busily engaged during the day in sending
forth the glorious news from the various church-steeples
by the production of continued merry peals, and every
available spot in which a union jack could be erected was
supplied with that token of English power and liberty.
In some places, however, the English, French, and
Turkish flags were flying in concert, and at the docks the
General Screw Company's fine steamship Argo, which
takes her departure for Australia with the monthly
mails on Wednesday (to-morrow), commemorated this
great victory by at once, upon receipt of the intelligence
hoisting the French flag at the fore, the English at the
main, and the Turkish at the wizen. Business seemed a
secondary consideration, and the capture of Sebastopol
occupied the conversation of every one.

[PRICE SD.

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

The selection of Liverpool for this year's meeting
of the British Association may be regarded as an
indication that our sarans are sensible of the close
ties which bind together Science and Commerce. On
the services which the latter renders to the cause of
human knowledge, by familiarising its votaries with the
varied productions of every soil and clime, it is unne-
cessary to dwell. Nor, on the other hand, do we need
to be reminded, in this age of steam, gas, and electri-
city, how effectually science has repaid to commerce all
that it has received. Learning, after all, has no
more beneficent function than as the minister to mans
necessities. The practical, if not the ultimate, end of
Science—at all events in the sense in which it is under-
stood by the British Association—is to supply, or to
anticipate, the material wants of mankind, and to
improve their material condition ; and the learned
body which has just closed its labours at Liverpool
could not have chosen a fitter seat to symbolise its true
purpose than that great emporium of trade. In com-
mon with the' rest of the world we have watched the
prose-dings of the association with more than a merely
speculative interest. Their experiments on the laws and
phenomena of optics may, possibly, eventually lead to
our enjoying in our midnight labours as white, and al-
most as cheap, a light as the sun gives at mid-day.
From Colonel Sabine's researches on terrestrial magne-
tism we may perhaps learn to bring more completely
under our dominion that mysterious agent which is al-
ready our courier. And there is no saying what useful
moral lessons the world may not have derived from Pro-
fessor Owen's lectures on Anthropomorphous apes, al-
though, perhaps, a disquisition on Semiamorphous An-
thropoi, might have been more immediately interesting
to the ethical student.
While, however, there is no portion of the labours of
the Association which may not be subservient, directly
or indirectly, to the industrial and social progress of the
nation, it is to the statistical section that we more espe-
cially look for the diffusion of useful information and
enlightened views on subjects of immediate practical in-
terest. There is one topic, in particular, of vital mo-
ment to all classes of the community, to which the at-
tention of that section has, we are glad to perceive,
been already directed ; and we trust that it will be
earnestly followed up in future years, until its
importance shall have been practically recognised by
the Legislature. We allude to the question of
Agricultural Statistics, on which an interesting dis-
cussion took place a day or two ago. It cannot
be necessary to urge, either on the merchants
of the second town of the kingdom, or on the
members of the British Association, the great value of
statistical information in general ; and we may naturally
expect that they will be among the first to recognise the
national importance of agricultural statistics, and to
regret the utter want of all such information respecting
the produce of Great Britain. This question is not, in-
deed, altogether new, for the attention of Sir Robert
Peel was already directed towards it while the sliding
scale was still the law of the land. But his retirement
from office suspended its further progress, and it re-
mained, for a while, apparently forgotten. Subjects of
so much practical importance, however, cannot slumber
long in oblivion in a country like this, where commer-
cial enterprise and the diffusion of knowledge advance
rapidly hand in hand ; and it may be safely anticipated
that, at no distant day, we'shall possess a body of agri-
cultural statistics worthy of an age of scientific pro-
gress.
It is true that objections have been urged to the col-
lection of such information, not merely on the ground of
the difficulty or expense of the process, but also upon
general principles. It has been sometimes asserted, for
instance, that we are better without any accurate know-
ledge of the amount of our annual supplies of food, be-
cause ignorance on the subject, by increasing the risks
of agriculturists and dealers, stimulates their enterprise.
Such reasoners would scorn a reconnaissance before a
battle, and if they had steamed into Sebastopol with
Sir George Brown and General Canrobert, they would
have obstinately kept their eyes closed to the
ships in the harbour and to the guns on the forte.
According to them, the allied generals would
be lamentably hampered by an accurate knowledge
of the dangers they had to contend with, while the
success of their plans would be much promoted if they
were based upon a gross exaggeration or a contemptuous
depreciation of the enemy's forces. With the public at
large, however, as well as with those who produce and
those who trade in corn, cattle, and other agricultural
produce, such views will scarcely find much favour.
Steadiness of price is far more beneficial to all those
classes than the "enterprise" which is thus strangely
advocated ; and that steadiness can only be attained by
procuring accurate information of the amount of the sup•
ply which can be brought into the market. The specu-
lator might not, indeed, under such circumstances, make
as brilliant coups as lie does in the existing state of things,
but lie would not Meet with as terrible reverses. The
farmer would neither rush to market in a panic, and
thus aggravate the evil of falling ,prices from which
he seeks to fly ; nor, on the other hand, would be be
tempted, by exaggerated reports of deficient crops, to
heard his produce in the vain hope of fabulous profits
which are never realised. But it is upon the labouring.
classes of the community that faithful agricultural sta-
tistics would confer the greatest benefit. To them
steadiness iii the cost of the necessaries of life is a mat—
ter of vital interest. A high price puts them upon short
coalitions ; and as their appetites cannot contract and
expand with the rise and fall of the market, no succes-
sion of surfeits, after a series of fastings, can compensate
them for the want of that moderate supply which they.
might have obtaisied steadily, all the year round, if the
price had not materially oscillated on either side of 1.1. e
average point.
_

It is obvious that, for the purposes here alluded to,
an account of the animal and vegetable productions of
the soil which are already consumed would be useless.
The information that is needed is that which relates to
the growing or housed, not to the devoured and for-
gotten crops, and to procure it in a satisfactory and use-
ful shape a double process would probably be found
necessary. The extent of land under tillage, and the
nature and probable success of the crops sown, might be
ascertained in the spring ; and these particulars, together
with the favourable or unpropitious state of the weather,
and consequently of the soil, at seed-time, would
form tolerably fair data for an estimate of the quan-
tity of produce which would be gathered in the autumn.
But the experience of the late harvest teaches
that this estimate would, at best, be but rudely ap-
preximative towards the truth. It is well known that
the failure or success of a harvest often depends upon
the state of the weather during the two or three weeks
before the maturity of the crops. For instance, a fort-
night before the wheat was ripe this summer, fears were
entertained, in many parts of the country that the
crop would be below the average ; and those gloomy
anticipations would unquestionably have been realised
if hot weather had not set in at that critical period, and
filled out the ears which bore such meagre promise. A
second survey, taken at this turning point in the fate of
the harvest, would therefore be requisite for the pur-
pose of ascertaining the actual yield ; and there is no
reason why the people of the United Kingdom should
not know, even before the sickle has ceased its labours,
what store of food they will have at their disposal
for the coming year. Those who possess the most
thorough and practical acquaintance with the sub•
Hject are the most confident in asserting that this
information might pe procured, not only with the
requisite despatch, but also with the requisite ac-
curacy. Every person who has had much experi-
ence in the valuation of crops knows how closely
the calculations of independent and uninterested sur-
veyors approximate on such occasions; and similar accu-
racy might be carried into the more extensive valuation
required by the nation. Into this part of the question,
however, it is unnecessary to enter further. As soon as
the intrinsic importance of trustworthy agricultural sta-
tistics shall be generally felt and admitted, there will be
no practical difficulty in devising machinery for collect-
ing them, or in finding funds for setting that machinery
in motiou.—Morning Chronicle.