The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-18 00:00:00

ROYAL ARTILLERY.

WOOLWICH, JULY 17.—The three troops of Royal
Horse Artillery at present in the garrison at Woolwich
proceeded to the marshes this forenoon for practice, and
commenced firing at targets at 600 yards' range, the whole
of the troops being under the command of Lieutenant-
Colonel Bell. After the firing at 600 yards was concluded,
a positi n was taken up at 700 yards' distance, each troop
firing at, a different target about four feet square, and
the practice was excellent, one of the guns of the centre
,roup knocking down the target at that distance. The
firing again took place at 800 yards' range. and the troop
target
gt
eh
te,
andlef left
madebeing
enxecaerl eintt
epractice, n
i knocking
. o a the
ewfinr
firing
neiug concluded the troops encamped on tr,e ground,
pitching their tents and feeding their horses, having as-
simbled in the marshes in fatigue order, with ample pro
cinder of corn and hay for their horses. The battalions
encamped in the marshes on the previous day, and every
care is taken to have whole of the troops in the garrison
in an efficient state, and ready for any emergency on the
shortest n Mice._ _ _

A company of the Royal Artillery leave Woolwich
to-morrow morning for Sheerness, to conduct a series of
experiments on that practice ground. A detachment
of the Royal Slivers and Miners, 25 in number, have
been recently employed there in laying platforms and
constructing temporary accommodation for the artillery-
men, and they have completed their works in so satis-
factory a manner as to call forth the entire approbation
of the officers who have inspected them.

ROYAL SAPPERS AND MINERS.
The 11th Company, under the command of Captain
Jervois, have received orders to leave Woolwich at 10
o'clock to-morrow, to be present at the siege operations
which are to take place at Chatham on the 21st inst.

CITY ELECTION.—Last night no candidate had
officially announced an intention of contesting the repre-
sentation of the City with Sir James Duke, who at
present is the only candidate in the field. A very large
meeting of the principal City Liberals was held yester-
day at the City Registration Offices, to consider what
candidate should be brought forward, but after a dis-
cussion of nearly two hours no definitive determination
was come to. Among the gentlemen present were,
Baron Rothschild, Mr. J. Abel Smith, M.P., Mr. Alder-
man Salomons, and Mr. Dillon. Mr. Bevan is still
talked of as the candidate on the Tory side, but that
gentleman has not issued any address to the electors.
In the event of the Lord Mayor standing for the
City of London, we understand that the Hon. Captain
Pelham, brother of Lord Yarborough, will offer himself
as a candidate for the vacancy that will thenoccur at
Boston.
SOUTHAMPTON, TUESDAY, JULY 17.—Tbe Royal
mail steamer Conway, Captain C. H. Onslow, sailed
this afternoon with the usual %Vest India and Pacific
mails, in charge of Lieutenant Ray, R.N.., Admiralty
agent. MI- route is via Madeira and Barba:loes. She
lead 36 5.9871. specie on freight. and a full
cargo.
.e
eenrisn'sular and Oriental Steam Navigation
pTashs
(3,,,"„y9$ t hip 4iontrose, C,ptain F. Meewt ,n, ;4'
1,,,r &p e, run with I,2guiar Opcir';
.
All the men who have dune thing,; well in life have
been remarkable for deoision of charaoter..—Eliza Ctvies
Jonah

MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD, AND

LINCOLNbIIIRE RAILWAY.

This great tpidcrtaicir,g has at length been completed,
and was opened by the directors on Monday last. The
line was opened for general trail! on Tuesday; and
:here is now, for the first time, a direct and unbroken
railway communication between Liverpool on the west.
ern, and Great Grimsby on the eastern, coast of England.
The length of the direct line from Manchester to Great
Grimsby is 1101 miles, and this is exclusive of the
various branches. The cos!, of the company's lines east
r,f Sheffiel.l, including stations, &c., is cra an average
18,0001. a mile.

03 Monday morning, at 9 o'clock, a number of the
directors resident at Liverpool, together with a party of
the directors of the London and North-Western Rail-
way, left Liverpool by special train, and were joined at
Manchester by the other directors. The train reached
Sheffield about 12 o'clock, and the remainder of the
directors having been taken up, the train proceeded on
the opening excursion to Grimsby.
The chief work on the line i 3 the Trent bridge at
Gainsborough, constructed on the same principle as the
Britannia-bridge at the Menai Straits. The bridge is
333 feet in length and is a noble structure. The prin-
cipal towns connected by the new line between Sheffield
and Grimsby are Worksop. Retford, GLiinsborow.r,b, and
Brigg. These, of course, are exclusive of a number of
villages and hamlets.

The directors' train arrived at Great Grimsby at half-
past two in the afternom, and the directors having been
conveyed on the line into the Grimsby Deck, proceeded
to examine the operations there carried on. The works
continued to 11,4 carried on with unabated ardour. The
directors returned to New Honied, oppodte to the town
of Hull, wh re they dined together at the Yarborough
Arms, along with Mr. John Fowler, the engineer-in-
chief, the chief officers of the company, and a number of
friends. Mr. Chapman, the deputy-chairman of the
company, presided, and, after dinner, proposed the cus
totnary loyal toasts. " The health of the Earl of Yar-
borough, the chairman of the directors," was the next
toast, which met with a hearty response.
The CHAIRMAN shortly afterwards proposed " The
Directors of the London and North Western Railway
Company." " We have." said he, " been lung intimately
connected with them. We occupy the same station; we
travel over each other's lin, s; we have always ch,rished
a good feeling towards each other—(Cheers)—and I am
quite sure that the directors of this railway entertain a
very friendly feeling towards all connect( d with the
London and North Western Railway Company, and that
they are convinced that it is to their interest, as well as
to the interest of the public, that both companies should
work amicably together."
Mr. TooTAL. a member of the London and North-
, Western Board, responded, and expressed hissatisfac-
tion at the harmonious working of the two boards. The
interests of the shareholders in all railways had been neg-
lected on many occasions, but directors gi nerally had of
late had their eyes opened. They did Pot want to ;like more.
from the public than in fairness they ought to pay, and
yet they considered they had a right to a sufficient pro-
fit wherewith to rewind those individuals who have sup
plied the means for accomplishing those great public
undertakings by which all are benefitted—(Hear)—and
he believed in the course of time they would receive a
lair amount of return for their outlay.
The CHAIRMAN acknowledged the toast, and said,
with respect to thee Government Audit Bill he hoped that
all railway companies would unite and do their utmost
to defeat a measure which interfered most unjustly with
the rights of private property.
" The health of the Engineer" sad other toasts were
subsequently drank.
The company rose from the table at half-past six
o'clock, and as soon as the train could be got ready they
started, and reached Sheffield at nine o'clock precisely.
The train shortly afterwards proceeded to Manchester
and Liverpool with the rem,iinsh.r n, the party.

TIIE, AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY

OF ENGLAND.

NORWICH, JULY 17.—As the decisive moment ap-
proaches for testing, by a public exhibition, the resources
of the society, the exitmient and bustle increase. The
broad faces of farmers 4nd the acute visages of imple-
ment makers meet the observant sp,,ctator at every turn
itt the tortuous streets of this ancient city. Cattle and
horses are seen quietly led along by their keepers to the
show-yards, and the whole race of publicans have taken
to " the tented field " with a zeal worthy of a more war-
like cause. The long approach to the exhibition ground
is now lined with booths and caravans, dedicated to
drinking, dancing, and sightseeing; and as each canvas
structure is surmounted with a lag, and placarded with
bills of the most formidable size, the dr-et is sufficiently
imposing. On all sides the din of preparation sounds;
nor does a single taste or want seem likely to be kit
unsatisfied by the assiduous caterers called forth by the
occasion. The judges are still at work in the Implement-
yard, but their labours will not conclude, nor will their
swards be known, until too late for transmission by this
communication.

In the meantime, therefore, and in the absence of
those fuller details which to-morrow's proceedings may
supply, it mny not be out ot place to make some ge-
neral observations upon the implement d•-partment of
the show-yard, with reference to questions of consider-
able importance, aryl which the society must very soon
decide upon. The first of there questions is one which
not only afTrcts the interests of the society and the agri-
cultural implement. makers as a body, but touches closely.
upon toe welfare of agriculture throughout the kingd.m.
'The show yard, as the reader is as are, is divided into
two comp irtments, one de-heated to the exhibition of im-
pletnents, the other to that of stock. nevi Ali to the
foundation ot the society very little attention had been
paid in this country to the adaptation of mechanics to
the purposes of husbandry. Irontounders, blacksmiths,
and wheelwrights engrossed the trade, which was, in
such unscientific hands, left in the rudest and most im-
perfect state. In Scotland they had managed these
things much better—engineers and millwrights had
placed farming machinery upon asuperior and permanent
footing, and under their skill and perseverance the home-
steads of the Lothians en' the other highly cultivated
districts north of the Tweed gradually began to assume
that remarkable degree of arrangement and that happy
combination of details which distinguish them beyond
every other country in the world. The early exhibitions
of the Royal Agricultural Society contained, as might
have been expected under the circumstances, a very beg-
early display of implements for agricultural purposes;
but the vast resources which England possesses for ex-
celling in manufactures of this kind soon began to be
developed by the influence of these annual shows, and
by the increasing intelligence of the farming community.
Implement makers in a very few years became a large, a
wealthy, and a highly intelligent body, and an extra-
ordinary variety of instruments was produced by them
adapted for the cultivation of the soil. Like all
other interests suddenly created by the enterprising
and inventive spirit of the age, they were at the outset
greatly thwarted by their ignorance of the science to
which their mechanism had to be applied, and their
inventions, therefore, were rather more ingenious than
useful; but every day saw this difficulty more and more
diminished, and at last, notwithstanding every obstacle,
the show-yard of the a ciety now exhibits a most satis-
factory approximation to that practical arid economic cha-
racter which forms an indispensable requisite for exhi-
bitions of the kind. Through such impediments, not
only the implement makers but the society have struggled
bravely with that unyielding tenacity ot purpose which
is our national pride. From year to year the imple-
ment-yard has shown a remarkable Inc:ease, and from
the following table it will be seen that in this depart-
tnent the society has shown far stronger and more
vigorous signs of vitality than in that of stock:— . _

Year of Meeting. Locality. Entries of Stock. 3,:iterat o:rs.
1839 ... Oxford ... 249 ... 23
1840 ... Cambridge ... 352 ... 36
1841 ... Liverpool ... 319 ... 312
1842 ... Bri:aol ... 510 ... 435
1813 ... Derby ... 730 ... 508
1844 ... Southampton 575 ••• 948
1845 ... Shrewsbury ... 437 .•• 942
1846 ... Newc,,stle ... 613 •••
_, 785
1847 ... Northampton . ,g,91 ••••••
11,352081
1848 •• York ...
The iinm;nse number of implements which have been
exhibited for the last few years, the large space which
they necessarily occupy, and the expense which the so-
ciety incurs in providing room fur them, has attracted
to this subject not only the serious attention of the
Council, but of all the friends of agricultural impeove
merit. It has been observe d that at each succeeding ex-
hibition this department degenerates more and mor,-
from the charac•er of an " exposition," and approaches
to that of a bazaar. The great implement makers, en-
couraged by the facilities of carriage afforded them, send
an overwhelming number of articles, and fill the sheds
of the yard with a dreadful array of scarifiers, clod-
crushers, pulverizers, and other instruments, not more
formidable in name than in appearance. Not content
with some specimen of each kind, they have perhaps
two or three of different sizes, and with some slight
variation in structure to make them admissible.
The idea of exhibiting new inventions or the best
forms of indispensable implements—an idea absolutely
necessary to be kept strictly in view where prizes are
awarded—is of course lost sight of. The humble but
ingenious machinist sees his little stall overwhelmed by
a wholesale array of articles beside it; arid the great ma-
nufacturer has reason to complain that, having gone to a
large expense, and done all in his power to extend the
taste for the application of mechanical skill to the opt
rations of husbandry, he is rewarded with a few paltry
medals, and the empty honour of a public exhibition,
necessarily necessarily excluding that test of practical ex p er;
of
g
by which alone the substantial support. of zany 1
interest can be won. In this state of thinrgsthe
i to
_ue.eorf;he
most influential implement makers eoskwfehemB
to exhibit
do away with its priz-a, and to Inn ,
such a manner that
their manufactures to the 1)"t".1_,, that ample time may
they may be seen in operation,
ben .
T :society, on the other
be given for the inspection.
hand, are anxious to adhere to the old s' stem, end per-
ceiving that the implement-yard is Outgrowing their
means of accommodation they are anxious to impose a
ground charge on exhibitors, to require from them a
plan of the motile in which they intend furnishing their
stalls, and to adopt such other cheeks us may be neces-
sary to meet the evils of the present system. How the
question will be decided it is at present impossible to
say, but the permanent interests of the society and of
agricultural improvement generally are largely involved
in the prompt determination of it.
There is another question connected with the exhibi-
tion of implements which it is of great importance to de-
termine in a satisfactory manner, and to e hich allusion
may be made in this letter without any impropriety. I
allude to the locomotive and portable charnieer giv.'n to
farm mantling, by the d,,,ire which t'.:' nianictiirera
very nate:ally feel to exhibit their p -0 lactioiia in the
i show yard, of a iteci.:- tin ii,rly. In Seoticrel, r. ht:te
egrixbairal iwproeen7 • ' .. e"e eeeo .:'."Trio? !It) IN ,ligli-mt
pitch, and where, notwithstanding all that may be accom-
plished in particular districts in England, the culti-
veti*a of the toil has been mot thilfully systematized,

such mechanical aids as the steam-engine and thrash-
ing-mill afford are secured by fixed machinery. The
question, therefore, arises between these different
forms of construction, and it is of great importance
now, when the position of the farmers in England must
greatly depend upon the exercise of superior ingenuity
and more scientific modes of culture than heretofore—
when the abolition of the protective system has exposed
them to a wide and formidable competition, that they
should strengthen their hands from the vast mechanical
resources of the kingdom, and do so in the least expen-
sive, the most simple, and the most effectual manner.
The weather to-day looks ominously bad for the show.
The clear blue sky and the burning summer slin have
disappeared, and in their stead come a drizzling rain and
a misty atmosphere, most grateful to the parched-up
soil and thirsty crops; but likely, if continued, to throw
a sad damp over the proceedings of the Royal Agricul-
tural Society.

ROYAL MERSEY YACHT CLUB.
The second sailing match o! this season took place on
the Mersey en Monday last, for the larger class of yachts
exceedieg 35 tons, for a piece of plate the value of fifty
guineas. The course appointed was the "Queen's
Course," to seaward and back. A highly respectable
end numerous assemblage of ladies end gentlemen, in-
cluding many members of the cluh, accompanied the Com-
modore, Thomas Liteledale, El., on board the fine
steamer the " Princess," Captain Jones, to follow and
witness the contesting vessels. The weather was ex-
ceeeingly fine throughout with a, five gaff -topsail breeze
from the S.E. following yachts competed in the
cunteet
Beechante, 80 tons, 13. 11. Jones, Esq.
Queen of the Ocean, 49 Commielore Littledale.
)ri;t, 55 W. C. &S. P. Hope, Esqs.
Vision, 45 Thomas Birchall, Esq.
Water Wyvern, 47 J. E. Stopford, E-q.
The yachts started by signal gun by the Commodore
from the siemmer at eleven o'clock from New Brighton,
the Drift, and Vision taking the lead, followed by the
Bacchante, and the others close together. The Drift and
Vision hung close together. ruunieg oil the wind, until
they began to open the Victoria Channel, where the
Drift shot ahead of the Vision, which might be attri-
buted in a great measure to the large topsail the former
yacht displayed, which was of unusuzl dimensions. In
hauling closer upon Ike wind towards the N.W. light-
ehip, the Drift had still increased her distance, although
to leeward. The Vision muds a better tact and gained
some distance upon her opponent. The Water Wyvern
also held well to windward, and after being for s ileac
time lost among the fleet, placed herself the third in
order. There was some close and beautiful sailing be-
tween the latter 3 acht and the Bacchante, which was the
theme of much admiration to those on board of the
steamer. On arriving at the N.W. lightship the
second time, and the extreme outward distance of the
course, the vessels were timed as follows:
e.
Drift ... ••• ••• 2 20 0
Vision ..• ... 2 28 0
Water Wyvern ... 2 37 0
Bacchante ... ... 2 38 0
Nothing could exceed the beauty of the marine pros-
pect at this time and the contesting yachts, and the
scene was enlivened by many other yachts belonging to
the club joining the fleet. Hitherto the whole race had
been with a leading wind, but on returning the wind
was ahead, and the yachts had to tack to windward.
The Drift kept gradually increasing her distanca ahead
of the Vision, and the fleet arrived in the following
order of time opposite the miniature yacht the Gem, be-
longing to the lion. Secretary, Mr. Melling, which was
the flag-ship, and was gaily decorated with bunting, and
moored just off New Brighton Pier :

11. Pit. s.
Drift ... ... 444 25
Vision ... . . ... 5 1 9
Bacchante ••• 01 • ••• 5 5 15
Water Wyvern 5 10 59
The Queen of the Ocean sailed well at the commence-
ment of she race, and kept tip well with the fleet for a
long time, but when on a wind fell off and was not timed.
A band of music enlivened the day's proceedings, and
many of the ladies and gentle men kept up the spirit of
the dance on the quarter deck of the steamer.
The Drift, from her greater tonnage, had to allow the
Vision three minutes and three quarters, yet still because
the winner by fourteen minutes and two and a quarter
seconds. The result of this contest does not in any way
affect the feriae of the Vision, and to be beat by a sister
yacht of greater tonnage is nothing more than verifying
the old adage, that " power will be served;" and many
experienced yacht sailers were of opinion that if the
breeze had been stiffer the Vision's chance would hare
b,2en much improved. The Drift sailed well throughout,
and her powerful top-sail was well set, and did its duty.
She has proved herself a vessel of great speed.
The prize, consisting of a massive and elegantly chased
silver salver, was presented to Mr. Hopes. in suitable and
complimentary terms, by the Commodore; which were
feelingly responded to by the winnerA. The whole com-
pany discrnbarke.l at the Pririce'. i'ier, atter bring highly
;.;ratified with the day's sport, and the polite attention of
the officers and st wank ~f the &u.).

AQUATICS.
ST. JOHN'S, I UIthELY m i WN, REGATTA.
This regatta came off yesterd,y and attracted its usual
nurnbt rof spectators. The prize was a skiff given by
the inhabitants of liorselydorin. The distance to be
rowed was from Hurselydown 0:d Stairs, round East-
blue Tier, round Battle Bridge Tier, twice and back to
Ilorsel) down Stairs.
The match was won by W. Chapman.
BILLINGSUATE AND CUSTOM-HOUSE, RE-