The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-27 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES.

The Duke and Duchess of Richmond are sur-
rounded by a numerous family circle at Goodwood-
park, Sussex, for the festive season. The Duchess's
health is quite restored.
The Duke and Duchess of Norfolk have a select
party assembled at Arundel Castle, Sussex. The
Noble Duke and Duchess propose to receive a sue-
cession of visitors up to the close of the ensuing
month.

Wonunx ABBEY.—The Duke and Duchess of
Bedford are dispensing their princely hospitality to a
distinguished circle of guests, including his Serene
Highness Prince Lowenstein, Viscount and Vis-
countess Palmerston, Lord and Lady John Russell,
&c. On Christmas-day there was a large party to
dinner, covers being laid for upwards of. 30 guests.
The Noble Duke and Duchess purpose receiving
company during the whole of next month. Tl.e
majority of the visitors depart early in the ensuing
week, when there will be a fresh accession of guests.
The Duke of Wellington had a large party congre-
gated at Strathfieldsaye, Hants. The Marquis and
Marchioness of Douro, Lord and Lady Charles
Wellesley, Viscount Strangford, the Right Hon. C.
Arbuthnot, and the Hon. George S. Smythe, are
among the guests of his Grace.
The Marquis of Anglesey is receiving a numerous
and distinguished circle at Beaudesert, the family
seat, near Lichfield. His Royal Highness Prince
George of Cambridge arrived there on Thursday last,
and Prince Louis Napoleon joined the circle the same
day. The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, the Earl
of Uxbridge, Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence, Viscount
and Viscountess Sydney, the Earl and Countess of
Sandwich, Lord George Paget, Lord and Lady Alfred
Paget, Viscount and Viscountess Maidstone, Lord
Clarence Paget, and Lord and Lady Crofton, are
amongs the guests met there.
The Marquis of Northampton is entertaining a
large party at Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire. The
Earl Compton and Viscount and Lady Marianne
Alford are staying there.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne are
seeing company at Bowood Park, Wilts.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Westminster have
a family circle at Motcombe House, Dorset, to pass
the holidays.

The-Earl and Countess Spencer returned to Althorp
Hall, Northamptonshire, on Wednesday last, from
Leamington Spa, and are now entertaining a select
party at the above seat.
The Earl of Shaftesbury is surrounded by a family
party at St. Giles's Dorset. The Right Hon. Henry
and Lady Harriet Corry and family, and Mr. and
Lady Charlotte Lyster are there.
The Earl and Countess of Harewood have a party
staying with them at Harewood House, Yorkshire.
The Earl and Countess Howe are entertaining
company at Gopsall Hall, Leicestershire. The Mar-
quis and Marchioness of Worcester, Viscount and
Viscountess Curzon, and the Hon. Captain Curzon,
are staying with the Noble Earl and Countess.
A large party, including the Earl and Countess
of Desart, Viscount and Viscountess Emlyn, Vis-
count and Viscountess Brackley, &c., are passing the
Christmas with the Earl and Countess Cawdor, at
Stacpoole Court, Wales.
Lord and Lady Leigh intend to keep up Christmas
in "the good old English style," at Stoneleigh Abbey,
Warwickshire.The Warwickshire hounds meet at
the Park to-day, when the Noble Lord gives a sump-
tuous breakfast.
DRAYTON MANOR.-Sir Robert and Lady Peel
will receive a distinguished succession of visitors
during the present week. Company will assemble
there to-day.

ROBBERIES IN NEWGATE•MARKET.—ChriStEOSS.,
eve, Newgate and Leadenhall-markets were literally
crowded with people, all seemingly anxious to provide
for the feast. As is usual on such occasions, the thieves
and " market prowlers" gleaned a plentiful harvest, as
many of the butchers and poulterers know to their cost.
The police were plentifully distributed about the market,
but, notwithstanding their exertions, several men lost
their watches, and women their pockets. One poor
woman, by the name of Smeeth, who, for safety, adopted
the foolish practice of carrying her purse in her band,
had her attention called off by a young vagabond, while
another snatched the purse from her hand, and bolted
with its contents, amounting to IL 7s. 6d. The con••
sternation of the poor woman at her loss may be better
imagined than described.
A BREWERY BUILNED.—The famous Castle Bel-
lingham brewery took fire last week. Before the flames
were extinguished the mill and a large quantity of Inuit
orere destroyed.
Tun InoN TRADE.—The first decided step towards
a reduction in the price of South Staffordshire iron has
3/
"• • 103
•
just taken place, the agent of Lord Ward having issued
circulara fixing the price of forged pig iron at
Last quarter day the nominal price was 51., although
little business has hi the meantime been done at that
quotation.

lON THE FINANCIAL AND COM-
MERCIAL PROSPECTS OF ENG F,AND.
(From the New Yiirk Herald of Nov. 30.)
The financial crisis in Great Britain and the fre-
quent changes made in the financial systems of that
country are rapidly reducing the immense influence
it formerly enjoyed in the commercial world, and
throwing into the
_hands of this Government that
supremacy which we have been long striving for.
The revulsion recently realised in England has
been the result of an opposition between the banking
and the commercial interests since the adoption of
the Peel Act in September, IS-1-l. The currency of
the United Kingdom under that Act became esta•
blished upon a pure specie hfisis ; the accumulation
of specie in the Bank of England to nearly
17,000,000/. sterling, and the extension of issues upon
that and Government securities, to more than
30,000,0001. sterling, while the actual circulation was
only about 20,000,0001., gave the commercial classes
the impression that an expansion of credits could
with impunity be brought about, and the operations
of commerce extended to an unlimited extent. With
the 17,000,000/. sterling in the vaults of the Bank, and
about 10,000,000/. of mites in reserve, spoon
lectors and all others di.posed to an inflation con-
sidered there was suMcient leeway for their opera-
tions. The operations commenced and every species
of speculation increased to an enornmus extent. In
the midst of these movements the harvests ‘v ere pro-
nounced deficient, and an importation of food and
exportation of bullion commence,. The Bank met
the drain of bullion by reducing its resei ved notes ;
instead of reducing its actual ci culation, as its bullion
was drawn away, it maintained its issues in the hands
of the public by reducing the amount of notes on
hand. Amidst all the drain of bullion, the actual
circulation has not been reduced altogether more
than 2,000,000/. sterling. With about 7,000,0001.
sterling in bullion, the circulation is nearly the same
as when the bullion on hand was 17,000,000/. sterling.
The crisis was postponed by these movements, but
not reduced ; it was put off, but not prevented ; but,
on the contrary, the revulsion became strengthened
and more extended, and finally spread destruction
over a wider extent. Had the Bank been regulated
in its movements entirely by the movements of bullion,
the pressure would have been for a time more severe,
but it would not have been so general. Prices would
at once have been depressed to the lowest point ; but
the recovery would have been more rapid and upon
a more healthy basis.
The position of the Bank of England, in the midst
of the panic, is by no means of a satisfactory cha-
racter. Its management is sadly deficient in finan-
cial talent, and its course is so fluctuating that the
community generally depending upon it know not
what to expect from one week to another. The
immense money power appears to be in the hands of
a small clique of capitalists in London, who use it
exclusively for their own interests, and have turned
it into a complete speculating machine, using it at
one time to inflate prices of breadstuffs, and at an-
other time to depress theca.—•at another time to
depress prices of stocks, and then to inflate them.
It has, in the hands of these speculators, become
merely an auxiliary for the advancement of their
own interests. The commercial classes are not only
deprived of the benefits of such an institution as the
Bank of England was created to confer, but they
are in reality at its mercy ; they are at one time
deluged with credits and facilities for speculatives
purposes, and at another restricted to the smallest
amount. The rate of interest at one time rules as
low as two per cent., at another at eight; and at
times accommodations of every kind are cut
entirely off. These fluctuations, so ruinous to
the financial and commercial classes generally, which
are ignorant of the matter until they are made, are
the direct cause of the revulsion and panic which is
sweeping daily so many old and once wealthy houses
from.existence. The influence of such an institution
in the financial world is such, that when used for any
purpose it usually carries it, until, when used
illegitimately for any length of time, it gets beyond
its depth, and becomes merely a helpless object in the
current setting so strong to bankruptcy. The
cliques which have used the Bank, which have, in
fact, appropriated its immense capital and credit to
their own interests, abandon it in its extremity, arid
make enormous fortunes out of its ruin.

This brings us to the development of a fact connected
with the recent movements of the Bank of England,
which is destined to have a very important
effect upon financial affairs. It is well known
that the most intimate connexion exists between the
British Ministry and the house of Rothschild, both
politically and commercially—that in the recent spe
culations of breadstuff's the Government played into
the hands of the Rothsctiilds. This shows the power
of the houses when the aid of the Government is re-

quired. It is equally well known that all the depu-
tations to the Government relative to the revulsion
could extort no promise from the Ministry to remove
any of the obstructions to a return of confidence, or
to the adoption of any measure to relieve the com-
mercial classes from the panic which was proving so
disastrons ; and not until the interview between
Rothschild and Lord J. Ru-sell was there the slight-
est probability of any interference on the part of the
Government. That interview lasted two hours, and
the result of it was a virtual repeal of the Peel Act.
The repeal of that Act, or, we might say, the modifi-
cation of that Act was such as to i elieve the great
bankers of London, who held large amounts of Go-
vernment securities ; the commercial and manufac-
turing classes' were not benefited a fraction by this
movement on the part of the Government. It enabled
the Rothschilds to realise an improvement of 3 and 4
per cent. on their securities, and to raise money fur
the purchase of more at the depreciation. The whole
operation was nothing but a stock-jobbing affair
from beginning to end. What can be expected
from a Government that is so connected with these
capitalists' that their interests are protected to the
injury of all others ? Or, of what use is an institu-
tion controlled and used by these capitalists for the
advancement of their individual interests? This is
invariably the result of such a system. The existence
of such an immense banking institution is one of the
greatest curses any country was ever inflicted with.
We found it so here, and the people of England are
fast finding out the same thing. We bought our ex-
perience dearly enough, and the people of England
must pay the same price.
It is impossible to tell where the revulsion in Eng-
land will stop. It must run its race, and in so doing
may sweep away every vestige of the present social
system of the icingdom. It may revolutionize the
Government, destroy the nobility, and work out a re-
form in the institutions of that country greater than ever
anticipated. It may anticipate the more tardy move-
ments of political progress,and bring about at once a state
of things which would not have otherwise been realised
in a century. The recuperative energies of Great 13ri •
taro are nothing compared to those of this country,
and they are by no means sufficient to raise her to
the position she has fallen from. When our revulsion
came upon us we had no public debt ; it is true the
states were heavily indebted, but that had nothing to
do with the general Government. England has a
debt of more than 800,000,0001. sterling, upon the
interest of which thousands depend for their daily

bread. Whatever affects the revenue of the Govern--

ment endangers the income of this large class, and the
failure to pay the interest promptly would ruin thou-
sands.—The famine in Ireland, the increased number

of operatives out of emplcyment in the manufacturing
districts, almost in a starving condition, are sufficient
to create the most alarming apprehensions relative to
the preservation of pence and good order. The seeds
of political revolution are generated among a starving
people ; they take root and acquire strength, where
everything else is drooping and dying. We cannot
conceive a more terrible state of things than what
exists at this moment in Great Britain, and we look
upon any attempt to improve them as weak and abor-
tive, compared with the depth and extent of the evils
experienced.,
The financial affairs of every state in the Union are
daily improving, and the general Government has
nothing in the shape of a debt likely to depreciate the
market value of its stock as a permanent investment.
We have a debt of about 50,000,000 dollars, with a
revenue rapidly increasing. We have an income,
over and above our ordinary annual, expenditures,
large enough to pay the interest on a public debt of
200,000,000 dollars. Eighteen months of war have
increased our debt only 27,000,000 dollars, and
eighteen months more of war would not add one-half
of that amount to the present debt. Our financial
and commercial systems are based upon the soundest
principles, and while we are in the midst of a war of
invasion every element of industry, in every sec-
tion of the Union, is in full activity; our commerce
is rapidly increasing, immigration continues to be
uninterrupted, the sales of our public lands continue
large, and the most healthy prosperity exists in
every department of business. Compared with this,
what a spectacle Great Britain presents to the
commercial world ! We are rich and she is
poor—not only poor, but upon the eve of a revolution,
which may blot out some of her institutions and de-
stroy many of her resources. We hold within our
limits the greatest and most important elements of
wealth in the world. Our_ cotton and corn will at all
times command the precious metals of Europe, which
will flow in from the east ; and while we hold pos-
session of the mines of Mexico, the precious metals
will flow in from the west, in one steady, unbroken
current. The effect of this addition to our currency
of gold and silver must be of the most favourable
character. It will give us, in the first place, a more
valuable currency than we now have; it .will give
us, in exchange for our products, the only recog-
nized evidence of wealth in all parts of the world ;
it will finally give us the power of roplating
prices of our exports, both at home and abroad,
and,give us a position in the commercial world never
before enjoyed. We have; heretofore, alinost entirely
depended upon foreign countries for any material

, .
increase to the national wealth. Prices for our prin-
cipal exporting staples in our own markets have
been regulated entirely by foreign capitalists. We
have been in their power sonmuch that they have been
able at any time to depreciate the value of our cotton
crop millions of dollars. 'Prices of breadstuffs have
even been controlled by them, and we have suffered
something by being so dependent. The times have
experienced a wonderful change. We now consume
more than one•fourth of our entire cotton crop. The
domestic consumption of breadstuffs is so large, that
' a very slight foreign demand puts up prices rapidly,
and foreign consumers have to pay a high price for our
products. The increased consumption of cotton
within our own limits places the manufacturers of
Europe in a position where they will be less able to
compete with us in manufactured goods ; and our mar-
kets will be supplied to a greater extent with our
own fabrics. It operates with twofold effect upon
foreign manufacturers, as it reduces their supply in
times of scarcity, and cuts off markets for their goods.
The manufacturing interests of the United States
were never in a more prosperous, promising condit ion,
and the inerewie in the number is more rapid than
many have any idea of. In every section of the
country mills are springing op as it by magic. The
eastern ststes no longer inonopoliz,.; this business; in
the south, and at the west, the consumption of cotton
is already large, but we have no official returns show-
ing its extent. The consumption officially reported is of
the section of country north and east of Virginia.
Now, that is a very small section of the country, and
if the consumption in it reaches 600,000 bales, the
consumption of the remainder of the country cannot
be less than 200,000 bales, making an aggregate of
800,600 bales. As extraordinary as this may seem,
it will be realized in 1848. 'We are approaching
Great Britain in cotton manufacturing much more
rapidly than is dreamed of even in this country.

SPLENDID RUN WITH THE
NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE HOUNDS.
On Monday last the meet was at Stableford Bridge,
aid trotting on to Swynnerton Old Park, we soon
unkennelled as game a fox as ever ran before a pack.
" Opening the ball" at a clipping pace, he went
through Herleythorn Wood, and the Black Firs
shortly afterwards, crossing the Newcastle road, by
Knowll toll• gate. He next skirted Trentham large
Wood ; having taken the wall and ascendi,:g the hill,
ran close by the monument. At this time nothing
could exceed the beauty of the scene. Beneath us
was the stately hall of Trentham, with its fine lake
overhung with rich and luxuriant oak. In the dis
tance herds of deer were on foot, scared by the
melody of the deep-mouthed hound, while many a
mansion was seen rising amid it 3 " old ancestral
trees." It was a coup which the lover of the
sylvan charms of our own " merrie England" would
have dwelt ,upon with rapture. But the hounds are
getting a-head. Turning to the right, he made over
Tittensor Common to Hill Top Farm, and on to
Berry Bank. The pace was now tremendous, none
but the right sort having a chance, and many good
men having been thrown out. A check of two
minutes here gave us a little breathing time, but
Maiden, having made a beautiful cast, was on his fox
in a twinkling, and crossing the Chester-road,
througn Darlaston Wood, over the Stone. road, at the
Gorsedale's, he made for Walton Heath, over the
Norton-bridge branch of the North Staffordshire
Railway. Then, turning to the right, he pointed for
Shallowford Gorse, which he passed on the left, ford-
ing the river Sow, and crossing the London and North
Western Railway at Shallowford, leaving Yell's
Rough to the left. But the " pace kills" even the best
of us in time, and poor slyboots, seeing that his mo-
ments were numbered, came to the conclusion that as
all who contribute to sport, whether they be the pur-
sued or the pursuers, should have a common sympathy
he would follow out the motto to the last, and die near
his old friend and acquaintance the venerable Squire
Eld, of Seighford, as good a sportsman, and as perfect
a specimen of " the fine old English gentleman" as
breathes. But ere he had" quite accomplished his
task he was run into, after having passed Chebsey
township, in an open field, after a day which is with-
out precedent in the annals of Staffordshire sporting.
The field at the finish was of course select ; among
the chosen few were the Marquis of Stafford, Messrs.
Eld, Adderley, Handcock, and Fitzherbert.
Thus concluded this extraordinary run, having
gone upwards of twenty-one miles in one hour and
thirty-five minutes. The superior style of Madden's
hunting and his " quiet system," which he has been
the first to introduce into the English kennel, told
admirably, and was the :theme of unusual praise.—
Staffordshire Mercury.

CHRISTMAS-BOXES.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—I know not whether to quarrel with your
"Occasional Correspondent" for what I cannot but
call short.-sightedness, or to extend to him the right
hand of fellowship for having called attention to the
nonsensicalities of the soft Christmas-box aboli-
tionists.

He is content with giving as a reason why the
ancient custom should be upheld, the fact that "wages
are regulated with direct reference to the supposed
emoluments receivable from this source in numerous

This fact, so far from being an argument in
'avour of Christmas-boxes, is, I conceive, a very good
reason why the custom should be abolished, if it were
possible ; for then would the servant have to receive
in pay from his master that which he no longer
pocketed as charity from his employer's patrons. But,
Sir, if these very modern Reformers, instead of
wasting their breath and time in the seeking after an
absurdity, were to direct their unite' energies to the
crushing of the villanous system almost innocently
pointed out by your correspondent, it strikes me they
would be the means of setting wiser heads thinking,
and a good might possibly be effected.
It is a monstrous thing that the generosity of the
public should be so grossly perverted—for in truth,
that donation intended by the giver to add to the
comforts of the honest worker goes into the pon-
derous pocket of the bloated employer. It is very
like a great boy stealing a rattle from an infant.
Trusting you will grant me the same favour as that
extended to an " Occasional Correspondent,"
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
F. J. D AMER CAPE.
1, Church-row, Savoy, Strand, Dec. 24.

laces."

EXCESSIVE DRINKING IN
CANADA.

That such excessive drinking prevails in Canada
may be attributed partly to the cheapness of a vile
mixture called Canadian whiskey, and partly to cli-
mate, with a thermometer ranging to 120 degs. and
with such rapid alternations. In Canada, also, man
really conquers the earth by the sweat of his brow ;
for there is no harder labour than the preparation of
timber, and the subduing of a primeval forest in a
country of lakes and swamps. I have an instance of
the effects of excessive drinking daily before my door,
in the person of a man of respectable family and of
excellent talents, who, after habitually indulging him-
self with, at last, the moderate quantum of sixty
glasses of spirits and water a day, now roams the
streets a confirmed idiot, but, strange to say, never
touches the cause of his malady. Are, therefore, not
idiocy, madness, and perhaps two-thirds of the
dreadful calamities to which human nature is subject
here, owing to whiskey ? I have seen an Irish
labourer on the works take off at a draught a tumbler
of raw whiskey, made from Indian corn or oats, to
rcfresh himself; this would kill most men unaccus-
tomed to it, but a corroded stomach it only stimulates.
Canada is a fine place for drunkards ; it is their
paradise—" Get drunk for a penny; clean straw for
nothing," there ! Think, my dear reader, of whiskey
at tenpence a gallon—cheaper than water from the
New River in London. Father Mathew, your
principles are much wanted on this side of Great
Britain. Then, smoking to excess is another source
of immense evil in the Backwoods. A man accus-

toured only to a cigar, gets at last accustomed to
the lowest and vilest of tobacco. I used to laugh
at some of my friends in Seymour when
1 saw them with a broken tobacco-pipe
stuck in the ribbon of their straw hats. These
were men who had paraded, in their day, the shady
side of Pall-mall. They found a pipe a solace, and
cigars were not to be had for love or money. "Why
do you not put your pipe at least out of sight said
I. "It is the Seymour Arms' crest," responded my
good-natured gentlemen farmers, "and we wear it
accordingly." Smoking all day, from the hour of
rising, is, I actually believe, more injurious to the
nerves than hard drinking. It paralyzes exfrtion. I
never saw an Irish labourer, with his hod and his
pipe, mounting a ladder, but I was sure to discover
that he was an idler. I never had a groom that
smoked much who took proper care of my horses ; and
I never knew a gentleman, seriously addicted to
smoking, who cared much for anything beyond self.
A Father Mathew pledge against the excessive use of
tobacco would be of much more benefit among the
labouring Irish than King James his Counterblast
proved among the English.—Bonnycastle's Canada
and the Canadians, in 1846.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND THE BISHOP dr
EXETER.—It may not be generally known that the Bishop
owed the Premier a grudge, which, in some measure,
may account for his recent insolent vituperation. In or
about 1830, Dr.Phillpotts was under a promise, from Sir
Robert Peel's Administration, of the see of Exeter, and
he expected to hold the rich rectory of Stanhope, in
Durham, the tithes of which alone, from the mines of
lead, ore, &c., are worth about 5,0001. a year; a change
of Ministry, however, took place, and Lord John and his
coadjutors frankly declared that they would be no par-
ties to such a monstrous arrangement as to unite a raerct.
tory in Durham with the see of Exeter, 500 nailel;tapuis.
Henri of Exeter was, therefore,
the rich rectory, although he was allowed.th
the hselea,
tit:,
prebendal stall in Durham Cathedral wi ,
rectory being given. to another canon.
Guardian. obliged tOtore.
hold hi,
Newcastle

AMATEUR THIEF-CATCHING.
Angim nolunt loges mutare.

The English dislike to chaUge their laws. Such is
a stupid and dogged sentiment on which John Bull
has prided himself for centuries. No man has less
reason for coming to such a resolution. His laws
are so bad that scarcely any change could be for the
worse. Of his jurisprudence he may say, as was said
of the man who complained that he had lost his cha-
racter, " and a good thing too, for it was a very bad
one." The British people seem to be of King
Charles's mind, that they have nothing to do with
the laws but to obey them. They contentedly sub-
mit to be made mere shuttlecocks for the battledores
of Westminster Hall to knock about as pleases them.
Law is separated from equity. There are the Courts
of Queen's Bench, of' Common Pleas, of Arches, of
Bankruptcy, of Admiralty, of Privy Council, of
Chancery, of the hills, of the Exeliequer, of Insol-
vency, and heaven knows how ninny snore beside,
with separate
,jurisdictions, principles of interpreta-
tion, rules of practice and of evidence, with thousands
of volumes of contracictory decisions, and every day
enunciating dicta so totally oppcoed to each other,
that the glorious unceri eintv ca. the law has become
confusion worse confounded'. Faa i, in the same court
the same judges seem the Cynthia of the r-:mute,
" Everything by tuinc, and nothing loag."
About half the time of every court is talo n up with
motions for new trials, on account of mialireetion col
the Fat of the very judges who grant the rule.
There is not even the ghost of an attempt at cuditi-
cation, ai)d although we have a Sovereign, Lords, and
Commons, a full fledged Legislature, three-fourths
of our whole jurisprudence were never heard of
within the walls of Parliaineut, and have been esta-
blished and bound upon the subjects of the realm no
one can tell how. A man reading " Blackstone's
Commentaries," or wading through the judgments of
our courts, cannot fail to be humiliated by the con-
viction that our laws have bee fbunded on sophistry
so transparent, logic so lame, and reasoning so unrea-
sonable, as that upon which most of the leading de-
cisions of our judges have been founded. The
master mind of Bentham has already made the
wisdom of the Bench ridiculous, and we
are only left to wonder that such an ex-
posure of the narrow-minded incapacity and hum-
drum drivel of our horse- hair- wig legislation has not
opened the eves of an intelligent community to the
gross absurdity and pernicious injustice of our whole
judicial fabric. But what we have more imme-
diately to bring under public notice in this brief
space, is the present deplorable condition of our
climinal law, or rather our criminal practice. We
say nothing here of our strange notions of the .
moral proportions of public offences, as, for instance,
that a starving wretch shall be transported for seven
years for picking a pocket of a kerchief; while a
gang of miscreants who conspire to rob a flat of
1,4001. by a long and intricate scheme of cheating is
only sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment, or
that an area sneak shall be sentenced to the hulks,
while a banker or great merchant who shall
continue to issue promises to pay for ten
years after he was self-consciously insolvent,
shall not evan incur the disgrace of the
Gazette, or even a reprimand from his creditors, for
living like a prince upon other people's means. Our
business just now is rather with the mechanism of
detection and punishment than with the principles of
criminal jurisprudence, and it appears to us that
this has reached a height of folly that calls loudly for
reform, The policy of requiring unanimous verdicts
where real unanimity is notoriously a moral impos-
sibility is, we know, a theme of great self-praise with
us English. It is supposed to be a proper protection
to the accused, when it is forgotten that in the ratio
in which it extends hi- chances, it necessarily defeats
the ends of justice, and that practically it as often
operates to his prejudice as to his safety, by inducing
a majority, who are for acquitting him,
to yield to a stubborn minority, who insist
on finding him guilty. This is very distinctly
proved by the fact that in Scotland, where the
verdict requires (except in cases of treason or sedition)
only a majority, the proportion of acquittals is con-
siderably larger than it is in England ; and that in
England, where juries have to be locked up because
they cannot agree upon the verdict, the ultimate
result generally is, that the verdict is returned for the
prosecution. It will scarcely be believed by the
people of any, other civilised country, and 50 years
hence it will not be credited by our own, that it is
only very recently that we have been, with the
greatest difficulty, prevailed upon to allow an accused
person the privilege of a counsel to plead his case, and
that, while a prosecutor was allowed the advantage of
the greatest orators at the bar, to strain their inge-
nuity and eloquence to the utmost to prove a poor
fellow-creature worthy of the gallows, the wretched
prisoner locked up in gaol from the moment of his
first arrest, not permitted the means of getting at
witnesses to prove his innocence, utterly illiterate,
often of the tenderest years, without advice or assis-
tance, was pushed into a public court with the
acutest intellects in Europe arrayed against him, and
not only no provision whatever made by the commu-
nity for his defence, but a positive prohibition inter-
posed by the law itself against his being allowed to
find it for himself, or his being placed in a position
of equality with his accuser. Such a social idiotism
' as that has only its parallel in this other, that in
England a crime is practically regarded as an of-
fence not against society, but only against the private
individual who sutlers by its committal, and that the
prosecution, detection, and punishment of offenders is
not a duty of the community, but a tax upon their
victims. 'We recollect a gentleman short-sighted
enough, mentally as well as physically, to
pursue a thief who had tugged his gold
quizzing-glass from his neck, who had 261. to pay
for the expenses of the conviction. It is scarcely ne-
cessary to point but the absurdity, as well as danger
of such an intolerable system. It makes it the interest
of every person against whom a crime is committed
"to wipe it up and say no more abbut it." It makes
the counsel given by Dogberry the wisest that a sub-
ject can listen to, when he advises that " when you
do take a thief, let him show himself what he is, and
steal out of your company." It renders an organised
and skilful system of criminal prosecution imprac-
ticable, because each prosecutor necessarily employs
his own attorney and counsel, who proceed upon no
uniform system of either drawing indictments, exa-
mining witnesses, or conducting the necessary pre-
liminary inquiries. It places in the power of
individuals the means of compounding the gravest
offences, not excepting murder itself, so that for
a consideration a prosecution may be purposely
misconducted, an indictment intentionally wrongly
laid, or an important witness intentionally over-
looked. It is recorded in the life of Mrs. Bellamy
that being shocked at the idea of procuring the execu-
tion of a sorry thief who had robbed her house, she
purposely contrived that the prosecution should break
down, and was shortly after visited by the criminal
himself, who extorted money from her on the threat
of informing against her for compromise of felony.
Perhaps a still more startling view of the danger of
leaving to the wronged party the:prosecution of crime,
is to be seen in this, that the payment of his expenses
becomes often contingent upon his establishing a con-
viction, and it thereby becomes directly his interest
to strain a point as principal witness against the pri-
soner, or at all events to suppress any evidence
which he may discover likely to tell in favour
ozif a verdict of " Not Guilty.% The daily ex-
perience of prisoners being placed at the bar,
and no prosecutor appearing against them, or at
least no counsel to conduct the accusation, is another
shameful exposure of the grotesque absurdity of the
whole system. The fact that in the case of the atro-
cious murder of Mr. Bellchambers in the public

... ...
streets of our metropolis, no barrister was instructed
to conduct the indictment, so that a counsel caught
up haphazard in court at the request of a ludge' was
not even enabled to state the case to the jury, has
brought things to a climax, and renders the immediate
institution of a totally new theory of criminal pro-
cedure essential, not only to the vindication of public
justice and the protection of society, but also to the
shielding of the innocent from the purnivisahtemerianddu
indivi-
duals. only to proved guilt. In no country in the
i n. a
world except in England is thedetection
and
punishment ntof crime
is a Minister leftto p
the Imperial France Cabinet, responsible for the
there of Justice
cognizance
of offences. In the neighbouring kingdom of Scot-
landof 00 years EL
j
there has existed for upwards
public prosecutor in every court of ustice, a Lord-
Advocate and his deputies, procurators fiscal, and.
other functionaries,
to theexpresslyctionariesall
of chargedcirme,an, :
ilthletancl u
responsible s
Government and Legislature for
the detection and punishment
add, also for the liberation and safety of the innocent.
‘ \fr t
aeokbi
ns observe, vt ehe ,bv a Minister in the question recently put to the Prime
cognizance house
of
oCfoomflme nocness in Commons,
that
etghleansdublinetect
o
the hand of the Crown atpresent
and we u
seriously undertrst
the consideration of thei Government,
that no time will be lost in bringing to
a period our
present barbarous system, which makes our criminal
Jurisprudence most justly the laughing-stock of
Europe. Our limits remind us that we must defer
what further we have to say on this vital subject to
another opportunity.— Weekly Dispatch.

TENANT-RIGHT.—A correspondent of the Lime-
rick Examiner says, that on the estate of the Marquis
of Lansdowne, near Limerick, where the custom of
tenant-right has been in force for thirty-five years,
there is not a man wanting work on the property ; nor
has a tenant ever entered a poor-house, except one.
ARRIVALS OF SPECIE.—In addition to the arrivals
of specie especially recorded on previous occasions the
following have 6ii,ce taken place :—The Pearl, from.
Sierra Leone, has brought (being, we believe, the first
recent arrival of the hind from that particular place)
one box of gold, addressed to a metropolitan firm ; and
the steam-ship Princess Royalz-from Hamburgh, three
casks of gold, consigned to order.

THE CHOLERA.

A PASTORAL LETTER TO THE CLERGY OF
THE DIOCESE OF LONDON. BY CrIARLES

JAMES BISHOP OF LONDON.
Reverend and dear Brethren,—There is every rea-
son to expect, as far as human judgment can look
forward to coming events, that the cholera, that
fearful and mysterious disease, which is again tra-
versing the surface of the globe, and tracing, in
characters, which even the careless can hardly fail to
read, the power of God and the helplessness of man,
will, before long, make its appearance on our shores.
It is stated in the first report of the Metropolitan
Sanitary Commission, which has just been presented
to Parliament, that, according to information received
from the English Consuls abroad, this pestilence is
steadily advancing upon precisely its former track of
1832.

It appears to me that the near approach of this
fearful malady, while' it gives to all a solemn warn-
ing, suggests certain duties of a special kind as proper
to he undertaken by the ministers of religion, in
addition to what may be deemed the more peculiar
functions of their spiritual office ; and it is to these
that I shall, in the first instance, request your atten-
tion. As on the one hand it is clearly one
of your first duties to impress upon the minds of your
people, whatever be their condition in life, the neces-
sity of an implicit trust in God, and of en entire
submission to his will, so on the other hand you will
discharge an office of real piety and charity in urging
upon them the importance of removing all those
physical causes which invite the approach of disease
and aggravate its malignity ; and in endeavouring to
persuade them that, while we may not look for a
blessing upon the resources or contrivances of human
skill, if they are not employed in humble reliance
upon the power and goodness of God, so neither, if
we neglect to use all probable and practicable means
of prevention and preservation, have we any reason
to expect that He will especially interfere to rescue
us from the conseuuenccs of our own negligence.
* *

Want of cleanliness is the greatest predisposing
cause. An uncleanly person will live in an un-
cleanly habitation ; and that person, and that habita-
tion, will be each a finnes of disease and infection,
when sickness comes ; a centre of contamination and
death to a whole neighbourhood; and with this
additional and fatal peculiarity, that uncleanliness
speedily converts the milder fermi of disease into the
more malignant. The dirtiest neighbourhoods were,
in every case, those where the cholera first appeared,
and where it as,umed the most fatal type : nor were
instances wanting where it broke out, to all appear-
ance, spontaneously, with no discoverable existing
cause but that of extreme filth.

It is stated by the Sanitary Commissioners, that
whereas, "when it Previously visited this country, it
was believed that the most powerful predisposition to
this disease is induced by improper or deficient food,
and that for this reason its chief victims are found
amongst the poor ; it is now universally admitted,
that a far more powerful predisponent is the habitual
respiration of an impure atmosphere ; that the highest
degree of susceptibility is produced where both
these conditions are combined—that is, where
people live irregularly, or on unsuitable diet, and
at the same time filthily ; and that, in places in
which a great degree of cleanliness is maintained,
the poor, as well as the rich, enjoy an exemption
from this disease. That on an examination of
the actual state of the back streets, lanes, courts,
and alleys of the metropolis, it is found that in gene-
ral little or no improvement has taken place in their
sanitary condition since the prevalence of cholera in
1832 ; and that were this disease to break out again,
in the present state of these localities, there is no
reasonable ground to suppose that the pestilence
would not spread as extensively, and prove as fatal,
as on its former visitation."

These statements, which are borne out by abundantly-
sufficient evidence, appear to me clearly to point out
a line of duty fur the parochial clergy, in which they
may render themselves eminently useful, and which
is surely in close correspondence with the nature of
their office as the ministers of a Gospel of love ; fur if
to visit a sick parishioner and to minister to his re-
covery be one of their plainest duties, it is a still
more blessed work of charity to rescue, under the
blessing of God, whole masses of their poorer brethren
from the inroais of disease.

Suffer me then, reverend brethren, to urge upon
you the duty of an active personal co .operation
with the authorities of your respective parishes, or
districts, in carrying out every practicable measure
of sanitary precaution and improvement ; and of
calling there attention to the subject, and inviting
them to form local committees for that purpose, where
you perceive a want of knowledge or of activity-
Your own share of this work of real beneficence will,
for the most part, be the not very easy task of con-
vincing those who are its objects of the advantages of
cleanliness ; and of persuading them, by motives of
the most powerful personal kind, to adopt the sug-
gestions, and to submit to the regulations, which are
intended to promote their safety and increase their
comfort. You possess, from the nature of your
duties, a larger experience than almost any other
persons of the actual state of the dwellings of the
poor, and of the nature and extent of that evil, which is
sometimes no doubt the result of their own ignorance
or carelessness, buy much more frequently, at least,
in the metropolis and other great towns, of deficien-
cies, which they have no means of supplying, and of
obstacles to cleanliness, which it is the duty of other
persons to remove.
The poor of this country are not, by nature nor
inclination, indisposed to cleanliness; on the contrary
it is almost always found that, if its means and appli-
ances be placed within their reach, so as to be acces-
sible without cost or trouble, they gl idly avail them-
selves of them ; and it is never to be forgotten that, if
thousands and tens of thousands of our fellow Chris-
tians are at this moment living, and that too in the
very neighbourhood of our most sumptuous palaces
and halls, in the extreme depths of physical, social,
And moral degradation, and exposed to the most
imminent danger of perishing by disease, that is not
entirely, often not at all, their own fault; but the
fault of those whose duty it is, not only to teach them
the benefits of cleanliness and decency, but to do
something towards furnishing them with the means
of being cleanly and decent, which, under their actual
circumstances, is nothing less than an impossibility.
* * * *

The extreme closeness and inconvenience of the
miserable tenements or apartments oc-nipied by the
poorest classes, at rents, the excessive amount of
which cripples their means of comfort and cleanli-
ness, the inadequate supply of water, the want of
all provision for ventilation, the absence of all con-
veniences for personal ablution and household wash-
ing—these, and the disgraceful state of the sewerage
in the most crowded part of the metropolis, are causes
which engander or aggravate disease, and hurry great
numbers of our fellow-creatures and neighbours to
an untimely grave-
I do not hesitate to express my opinion, that such
an amount of practical and personal attention to the
removal of these evils, as may not seriously interfere
with the discharge of those duties which are of a
more purely spiritual kind, may be not unreasonably
looked for on the part of those whose office binds
them to every exertion of charity, by which they
may promote the present and eternal well being of the
people committed to their care. I lay the greater
stress
upon this point, because it is certain that per-
sons immersed in hopeless misery and filth are for the
most part inaccessible to the motives and the consola-
tions of the Gospel.
Let it then be one object of your pastoral visits to
observe the state of the poor man's dwelling, with
respect both to its internal economy, and to the con-
dition of its immediate precincts. Call the attention
of the proper officers to such cases as may appear to
require their interference; and remind those mem
10-rs of your flock, whom Providence has entrusted
with the means of alleviating the misery of their
fellow-creatures, that a portion of their charitable
expenditure can hardly be more safely or profitably
directed than towards defraying the expense of cleans-
ing and ventilating the miserable abodes of those by
whose labour they are directly, or incidentally, be-
nefited ; and you may add, that a very moderate
outlay, judiciously made, will accomplish a, great deal
in the way of such improvement.
There is another point connected with this subject,
respecting which it is most desirable that you should
instruct and enlighten your parishioners, especially
the poorer classes; seeing that ignorance or misap-
prehension of the real state of the case may lead, as
it has heretofore led, to a neglect of the most obvious
duties of hurnan'lty, an to a grievous aggravation of
all the horrors of an epidemic disease. I allude to the
mistaken opinion as to the supposed contagious nature
of the cholera, to which the Sanitary Commissioners
refer in the following terms
" When cholera first pp appeared in this country, the
general belief was, thcaotintahem
udenl:licetahatserroesnfproefadsthprincipally,
if not entirely, by
with the healthy, and that, re, the main se-
curity of nations, cities, and individualsh consists in
eenufnoirnefected—a
the isolation of the infected from
doctrine which naturally led to the
rigorous quarantine regulations ; the establisehrameenntt of
of
military and police cordons; the excitement of panic.
and the neglect, and often the abondonment of the
sick by their relations and friends. Since oppor.
tutiities have been obtained of a closer observation of
the character of this disease, and of the mode in
which it spreads through continents, nations, cities,
towns, and families, facts have been ascertained
which are incompatible with the foregoing view of its
mode of dissemination, and of its prevention. They
are of opinion that the disease is not, as it was then
generally supposed to be, contagious, and that the
practical application of that doctrine did no good, but
-was fraught with much evil."
It is stated by Mr. Greenhow, as quoted by the
Commissioners, " that when several members of one
Tainily have been attacked, it bas usually been either

so precisely eer nearly at the saute point of time, as
to forbid the belief of one having communicated the
disease to a, other. And that the true principle of the
occurrence of su eh plurality of cases is to be found
in the common existence of predisposing causes,
natural or acquired, and a common exposure to the
efil&ent cause of thole `-a.
" That in the hospitals of Newcastle and Gates-
head, where, were there any such agent as contagion,
it must have been present in its most concentrated
form, no case has occurred of illness arising from at-
tendance on the sick, either in the persons of the
nurses, the resident apothecaries, or the attending, or
numerous succession of visiting, members of the me-
dical
profession.
"That the notions of persons being infected by the
dead bodies of cholera patients appears equally un-
founded, since such suspected cases are referable
to other causes, and those most exposed to contact
with the dead, as medical men, in pursuing post-
mortem examinations, have not, in any instance,
suffered." Other evidence of a striking kind, to the
same effect is produced in the report of the Corn-
missioners, who add, " that the witnesses concur in
stating their belief that the belief in contagion ope-
rated unfavourably both on the sick and the atten-
dants." "I daily see," says Mr. Hooper, " the per-
nicious effects of their belief in contagion. I see
patients affected with typhus, and other epidemic
diseases, neglected, and even abandoned, sometimes by
relatives and friends, and always by neighbours, from
the apprehension that they themselves shall become
the subjects of the disease.'"
I do not presume to hazard an opinion of my own
as to the much-disputed question of contagion ; but I
sin sure that the deliberate judgment of the Sanitary
Commissioners, grounded upon the evidence of able
and intelligent members of the medical profession,
and apparently borne out by facts, may well be con-
sielered to justify you, as friends and advisers of the
poor, in labouring to relieve their minds from an
apprehension, which is calculated to chill and re-
press their natural sympathies at the very moment
when they are most needed, and to make them neg-
lect the discharge of those personal offices of kindness
to their sick friends and neighbours, which are then
most urgently required, to second the exertions of
medical skill. With respect to your own duty in
this particular, I feel that it would be something
worse than superfluous to offer anything in the way
of advice or exhortation. The fearless and untiring
charity manifested by the parochial clergy during the
former prevalence of cholera, in visiting and consoling
their sick and dying parishioners, is too well known
to require from me a single word of commendation for
the past or of direction for the future.
I proceed now to offer some suggestions with re-
spect to what may be more strictly termed your
spiritual duties at the present crisis; and if these
suggestions come last in order, it is not because I
deem them less important than those which I have
already made in the former part of this letter; but
because it seemed to me to be more necessary to in-
vite your attention to the necessity of those charitable
exertions which are only indirectly, as it were, and
contingently, a part of your duty, than to those which
are obviously hound upon you by the very nature of
your office. If I advert at all to these, you will
consider that I do it only in the spirit of friendly
counsel and encouragement, and, as the apostle says,
" To put you in remembrance, though ye know
them, and be established in the present truth."
I have before said that we have no reason, humanly
speaking, to expect an exemption from a second
visitation of the cholera ; and that it is our duty to
use all the precautions which science and experience
have suggested for mitigating the terrors and check-
ing the ravages of that fearful disease. But we are
not to forget, that all events are in the band of
an Almighty and merciful God; that it may pos-
sibly be his good pleasure, contrary to all human
expectation, to spare us that infliction ; and that,
whether it he so or not, it is our plain and unques-
tionable duty to throw ourselves upon His mercy, and
to implore His protection and indulgence. I would,
therefore, suggest to you the importance of earnestly
end affectionately exhorting your people to increased
degrees of seriousness, and vigilance, and self-re-
straint ; and of frequency and fervour in prayer to
God, that it may please Him to avert from us that
calamity, which we most justly have deserved; or,
that if its hould seem fit to Him, in his inscrutable wis-
dom, to lay the scourge upon us, we may submit our-
selves with all humility and meekness to His fatherly
chastisement, and have grace to tnrn it to our profit.
In urging upon the people committed to your charge
this most important duty of deprecation and inter-
cession, you will have many motives to suggest, which
it cannot be needful for me to particularise to those
who are conversant with the promises of God, con-
tained in Holy Scripture ; but I would remind you of
one topic, which appears to me to furnish a special
ground of encouragement to the performance of that
duty on the present occasion.
You are, no doubt, aware of the remarkable fact,
that when, fifteen years ago, this deadly malady was
stalking through the land unchecked, baffling, by its
novelty and sudden force all theresourcee of human skill,
the day of public fasting and humiliation, on which
the nation proclaimed its dependence upon the power
and goodness of God, while it earnestly besought Him
to stay the plague—was immediately followed by a
sensible abatement of the disease ; and that in a very
short space of time its entire disappearance called
forth the voice of thanksgiving and joy.
Now we do not presume to assert that this happy
change followed from, though it followed close upon,
our public acts of humiliation and prayer ; but cer-
tainly the solemnity and apparent devotion which
marked the observance of the day of fasting, were
not more remarkable than the speedy decline and
cessation of the disease; and I hold it to be much
more unreasonable for one who believes in God's pro-
vidence to deny the connexion between the two, than
it is to admit it, and to regard the deliverance which
God then wrought for us in the light of a distinct
answer to prayer; affording solid grounds of thank-
fulness for the past, and of hope for the future.
If the effectual fervent prayer of one righteous
man availeth much ; if the intercession of Abraham
would have sufficed to rescue from destruction the
devoted cities of the plain, had ten righteous men
been found therein ; who shall presume to set a limit
to the efficacy of those prayers, which ascend to the
mercy-seat from the lips and hearts of a penitent and
humbled Christian people ?
Seek, then, to impress upon the minds of those
whom you are appointed to teach, that by earnest and
persevering supplication, in their private devotions, in
the offices of domestic piety, and in the public wor-
ship of the sanctuary, made effectual by His interces-
sion, in whose name and merits they are offered, they
may do much towards the safety and happiness of
those amongst whom they lire, as well as their own.
Teach them to look upon the warnings and visitations
of Almighty God in the light of solemn calls to re-
pentance
and amendment, and of invitations to
strengthen their trust in Him, and to animate their
piety ; according to the Apostle's exhortation, " Let
have
us grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably,
with reverence and godly fear ; for our God is a
consuming fire." Admonish those who are stationed
on the vantage-ground of life, that after the most
strenuous exertions of benevolence on their part to
avert the threatened scourge from their brethren,
they themselves may fall under it, and that the best
preparation for all classes is to do their duty, and to
put their trust in God.
I need hardly remind you, that while you endea-
vour to impress upon your people the duty of a special
attention to prayer, they are also to be admonished,
that no prayers will be effectual but those which are
dictated by truly penitent hearts, and seconded by
godly, self-denying, charitable lives. Increased fer-
vency in prayer will be vain and profitless, if there be
not a corresponding increase in the fruits of the spirit
—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good-
ness, faith, meekness, temperance. If, as is but too
probable, the visitation, which we apprehend to be
drawing near, should actually come upon us, it will
be specially needful to inculcate upon those who are
connected by the ties of family or neighbourhood, the
duty of acting fully up to the spirit of the Apostle's
precept, which, indeed, relates to the sins and weak-
nesses of erring brethren, but is not less applicable to
their bodily wants and diseases—" Bear ye one
another's burden, and so fulfil the law of Christ."

Trusting that the peculiar circumstances of the pre-
sent crisis will be thought to justily me in addressing
to you the foregoing suggestions, and earnestly pray-
ingf that the hands of my fellow-labourers in the
rn 11 istry may he strengthened by larger measures of
grace to meet the increased and increasing difficul-
ties of their sacred calling,
I remain, reverend and dear brethren,
Your affectionate friend and servant,
Fulham, Dec. 10. C. J. LONDON.

EXTENSIVE CONFLAGRATION IN BISHOPSGATE-
STREET.—Yesterday morning, shortly before three
o'clock, a fire, nearly attended with fatal consequences
to the inmates, broke out upon the premises occupied by
Mr. J. St. Losky, importer and manufacturer of cigars,
9, Bishopsgate street Without. The discovery was
made by police-constable Stringer, on seeing smoke issu-
ing from the second floor. After some trouble he suc-
ceeded in rousing the residents, consisting of Mr. St.
Losky, his shoppaan, and a lad, and by the time he had
accomplished that, the escape belonging to the Royal
Society for the Protection of Life from Fire had arrived,
scramble t. Loskyi
n;
and also the police jumping sheet. Wood, the conductor
tothetheBhm°Pachainne,a
ofs the first-named machine, succeeded in rescuing Mr.
St.
riints tehiedier, abnuxti
e f' 'to); t ut (.'-
nat(ly they were caught in
the jumping sheet below,
without receiving much
of the fire was such, that, personali injury. The progress
penetrated the roof and ex-
tended to Nos. 8 and 10 in'tlie same street.h A plentiful
supply of water having been obtained,
d
called into operation, aria the fireme'nt e engines were
were enabled to
encompass the. flames; but notwithstanding the immense
torrents of water distributed upon them, it was nearly
five o'clock before they could be extiegui;h,d.
J

THE EARL OF ELLESMERE ON
OUR NATIONAL DEFENCES.
The following lengthy epistle ~as published, on
Saturday, by the Times :
" Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen !"
Sir,—As the subject of this letter stands for early
discussion in both Houses of Parliament, the propriety
of this intrusion into your columns, on the part of one
who has de jure a voice in the Legislature, may fairly
be questioned. I trust my justification may be found
in the circumstance that the state of my health allows
me no prospect of a de facto exercise of the privilege
I possess.
It is now rather too late to consider whether a
gentleman who assumes the initial of " P " for his
signature has been governed by a wise discretion in
communicating his apprehensions of invasion, and the
grounds of those apprehensions to the public. I
confess myself to be one who, having long entertained
those apprehensions, and having been equally cognisant
with " P " of the facts on which he vindicates them,
have hitherto, for reasons which seemed to me impe-
rative, refrained from publishing them to the world
at large. I have not, however, abstained from stating
them in other quarters, and I do now see reasons for
contributing what support I can to an appeal which,
whether discreetly or not, has been made to the corn-
ruin sense and patriotism of this great country.
Whatever may he the result of these discussions, or
whatever the fate and fortunes of this enormous em-
pire, future historians will have to record and explain
the fact that for a considerable period, of which it is
difficult to fix the precise commencement, the instinct
of self-preservation has been in abeyance and suspen-
sion in this country. It is difficult, I say, to fix the
precise limit of the commencement of this eclipse of
the common sense and foresight which Providence
has given to reasoning man for his guidance—to
the coward alike who flies from danger, and to the
brave and wise who arm themselves to meet it. Some
may date it from the year when the report of a Par-
liamentary Commission first gave scientific assurance
that the Irish Channel might be crossed with equal
safety and with greater speed and certainty by steam
than by canvass. When Sir A. Campbell in
the Rangoon river made use of a war
steamer to convey troops, to batter stockades,
and to run down the war proas of the Bur-
mese, I think it was time for military and naval
men at least to look forward to the further develop-
ment of the agencies so employed. When, however,
Sir R. Stopford made his feint at Beyrout, and Sir C.
Napier dashed across Djouni bay, and effected the
lodgment of the force at his disposal in the teeth of
the hosts of Egypt, I think the reign of judicial blind-
ness had manifestly set in. From that hour to this
the professed economists have pursued their old habit
of pressing for further reductions. Within a few
days of the time I am writing, one who has acquired
no inconsiderable influence over public opinion in this
country, in an address to an important constituency,
has held out to them the old and hackneyed delusion
of the feasibility of making large reductions in the
expenses of the army, navy, and ordnance.
The mere fact that such a topic can be so handled
by a popular orator before an applauding assembly,
at once demonstrates the prevalence and intensity of
the torpor with which a long peace and the absence of
vhible and conspicuous danger have benumbed the
faculties of the nation.
For the man who thus gives the weight of his autho-
rity to such dangerous delusions I entertain, in his
character of political economist, a respect founded on
accordance with his views, as well as on the acknow-
ledged ability which he brings to their advocacy.
With him I look forward with hope and confidence to
the eventual consequences of that increase and multi-
plication of our commercial relations which he
endeavours to promote. Can any man, however, be
sanguine enough to suppose that these results,
whatever their eventual value, will be arrived at per
saltum, or imagine that, when attained, they will era-
dicate evil propensities, obliterate recollections of
former national rivalries, or stifle every cause of fresh
discussion ? It is the failing of successful propaga-
tors of systems that they almost invariably ascribe
universal as well as specific efficacy to the offspring of
their invention, their talent, and their perseverance.
This propensity has now led Mr. Cobden, while he
gravely proposes to denude this country of the
notoriously insufficient means of defence she now
possesses, to descend from the station of a leader of
the intelligence of the people to that of a representa-
tive of its ignorance.
There are tw modes of refutation or consolation
by which Mr. Cobden, and the disciples who cheer
to the echo the dangerous doctine he has uttered, may
endeavour to soothe the apprehensions or confute the
predictions of Cassandras like myself. They may
hold that the attempt at an invasion of these islands
is either absolutely impossible, or too improbable to
be admitted into calculation • or, secondly, that if at-
tempted, this country has already the means to frus-
trate and chastise such attempt. The first mode
appears to be that adopted by Mr. Cobden ; the se-
cond, no person of any authority has yet been rash
or ignorant enough to maintain.
Mr. Cobden's opinion on the naval and military,
question of the possibility of the landing of an in-
vading force in this country, being worth as much
as mine would be on the merits of a new mordant
for printing calicoes, time would merely be wasted
in its discussion. The possibility of such an opera-
tion rests upon authority entitled to as much weight
as human authority can claim. The probability of
such an attempt is certainly one of those political
questions which defy exact calculation, and which
afford no data to the actuary. The expediency of
effecting an insurance, and the amount of sacrifice to
be incurred for that purpose, are to be measured
rather by the magnitude and value of the stake than
by the probability of the occurrence. That stake is
neither more nor less than our capital, our arsenals,
our lives, our property, our wives, our children,
which I, for one, believe a few hours might, in our
present state of military preparation, place at the
mercy of an unscrupulous and resentful enemy. I
do not believe that it would be impossible, in our pre-
sent state of preparation, for a French Minister of
War, favoured by circumstances, to land on British
ground a force sufficient in numbers, discipline, and
equipment, to march in any direction along the turn-
pike roads of England.
That direction might depend on the place of land-
ing—it might be Portsmouth, it might be Chatham,
it might be the capital. In each, in any case, with
our present means of defence, I believe resistance would
be hopeless, and an attempt at armed opposition only
productive of useless bloodshed. To oppose in the
field such a handful of regular troops as we could
muster, scarcely provided with artillery, and totally
destitute of a reserve, to a French army, such as
under my supposition would be brought against
them, would be an act of useless desperation. If the
French were to appear at one end of London, the
wisest movement the Guards could make would be to
march out at the other. For the rest three howitzers
would be sufficient, and the Lord Mayor would soon
be busy with the details of billets, and whatever con-
tribution might be accepted, as a commutation for in-
discriminate plunder.
Let them come, I often hear it said ; they will
never return. Don't let them come, I say ; but if
they do, let them return as soon as they can be in-
duced to do so. I really do not see why they should
particularly wish it. In the present state of this
country 50,000 Frenchmen would find England as
safe and pleasant a domicile as any in which the sol-
diers of Napoleon ever luxuriated; but if not, the
country which sent them here would consider the
mere insult to perfidious Albion cheaply purchased
by their ultimate sacrifice. It is necessary to look
at facts as they are, not as they ought to be, or we
could wish to make them. Thirty years of peace, of
close and pacific, if not cordial, intercourse, ought, I
admit, to hare obliterated the recollection of former
quarrels, and stanched the old sources of bitterness
and In England much of this effect has
been produced. There is neither contempt nor
hatred here for France or Frenchmen. In France I
know not which feeling predominates towards Eng-
land. Both are rife enough. In England, if she
were to be involved in a quarrel with France, which
Lord Palmerston could not justify on the strongest
and most palpable grounds of stringent necessity, a
unanimous vote of the House of Commons would
deliver him over to be torn to pieces and devoured
by Mr. Urquhart. Let M. Guizot tell the Chamber
of Deputies " I have insulted England in a manner
which no nation can be expected to put up with,"
and a war supply would be voted by acclamation, and
the Conservative Minister would be carried home to
his hotel on the shoulders of the people. This is very
unfortunate, but it is neither unaccountable nor un-
natural. In the first place, there is the old standing
grievance of the long and bloody game which was
played between the two countries, and which was
won by England—fairly won, as we think, by pluck
and perseverance—won, as Frenchmen conceive, by
a combination of accidents which can never again
recur. The aspiration to balance this account will
not become extinct with the generation which has
seen the English encampment in the Bois de Bou-
logne. These burning memories of the past are be-
queathed from father to son. It is not confined to
the partisans of any political creed, or to any class
of the community. Rich and poor, Carlist and Phi-
lippiste, alike entertain it—none more than those who
in their own persons, or those of their kindred, shared
the protection and the hospitality of England during
the emigration, and who, Waterloo apart, have in
some instances at least, a kindly recollection of that
circumstance. " Une bonne victoire," said one of
these, "et nous serous les meilleurs arnis du monde."
Is the intercourse with travelling and migratory
England calculated to remove or mitigate these un-
fortunate feelings ? For reasons too many now to
enumerate, and too many of which it is not pleasant
for an Englishman to admit, still less to detail, I can
only answer such a question in the negative.
On these grounds and many others, Sir, I am not
of opinion that the mass of the French nation (I do

not speak, I have not spoken of its sovereign, its
statesmen, or its philosophers—peace to and with all
suc'i) would loath to take the first opportunity to
strike a blow, the deadlier the better, at the vitals of
England. That the present condition of our defences
presents a direct and positive invitation to such an
attempt, rests upon better evidence than I now think
proper to quote. As things stand, the adventure may
be hazardous ; but it would not be deemed mad,
scarcely rash, when the object to be attained is mea-
sured against the risk of failure. It is in our power
to render it both.

The dormant power of England is such as no coun-
try ever yet possessed. Give her time to collect the
inert elements of strength and resistance she possesses,
and against the world, I, who now tremble for the
future, would have no fear for the result ; but the
French, as assailants, are not famous for giving their
enemies time to reelect. My fear is for surprise.
and surprise alone; but for such an operation
the French are as well fitted by natural apti-
tude as, I believe, they are well provided with
the means to effect it. We have ceased to be
an island; we have approximated in the opinion of all
observing and reflecting men to the condition of a
continental state. We cannot afford, any more than
any other member of the European family, to invite
that aggression which our position forbids us to pro-
voke. A wise economy would deter us from incur-
ring the risk of having to do in hot haste, imperfectly,
and at enormous expense, that which should be done
at leisure and with reflection. What is that some-
thing which ought to be done ? I have no hesitation,
bold as it may seem, in answering that question.
First and foremost, add a sufficient increase to that
body of police which you now call the regular army
in these islands. The necessary amount is a matter
of detail for the Government to propose and the coun-
try to discuss. It should be sufficient to enable you,
by the assistance of railroads, to direct upon any
points of the coast menaced or invaded, disciplined
forces of all arms in such proportions to each other
as military experience and science pronounce to be
best suited for co-operation. I say emphatically, regu-
lar troops. I earnestly advocate this increase of the
regular army on every ground of efficiency, of adapta-
tion to its purpose, and even of economy. Compare that
strange and anomalous production, the British soldier,
with his counterpart in any other service. In a
financial point of view he will appear a high-priced
commodity. Look at the service he performs and the
manner in which he performs it, and he will be found
the cheapest article of his class. It is supposed to be
the intention of her Majesty's Government to ree
establish, under such altered regulations as may appear
desirable, that old militia force which contributed so
much to our military resources during the late war.
I wish it every success ; but I shall look on this
measure with grave apprehension if it is to be
adopted as any succedaneum for my own nostrum.
Intermixed with, or behind regular troops, not only
the militia, but still more irregular descriptions of
force—yeomanry and volunteers of all descriptions—
may contribute effectually to the common defence.
Alone and unsupported by that leaven of old, soldiers
whose qualities were so well described by the Duke
of Wellington in the Lords' debate of last year,
they could only encounter a disciplined
French army to their own inevitable destruction.
The annals of war present no instance in which
courage and patriotism, without thorough training,
and unassistel by those accidents of ground or ap-
pliances of fortification which do not exist in Eng-
land, have presented any serious obstacle to regular
troops. The case of the Tyrol affords for obvious
reasons no exception to this rule. I mention it,
however, because the true cause of the failure of that
gallant resistance of a nation of riflemen is in one
solitary respect germane to my subject. Those who
take the trouble to investigate closely the history of
that transaction will find that the immediate cause of
the ultimate failure of that resistance was the want of
a few squadrons of regular cavalry, and a few batte-
ries of regular artillery. Let the Ordnance look to
this ; let that department look to the recent affair in
Switzerland. In that country there were all the
elements of a long and murderous struggle. On the
one hand, there were indeed numbers, but on the
otherthere were positions strong by nature and im-
proved by art, great exasperation, political and reli-
gious fanaticism, and familiarity with the use of arms.
"[he contest was decided, and decided quickly, by
the superior force and weight of metal of the Federal
artillery.
We are neither Swiss nor Tyrolese. We are by
our habits the least warlike nation on the face of the
earth. Increase, then, I repeat, your regular army
to that amount which will make any enemy pause
before he attempts to set foot on the beach of Eng-
land. Reorganize your militia on the best and least
onerous system you can devise. Encourage the yeo-
manry cavalry. Fortify your arsenals, and such
harbours as an enemy may most probably attempt by
surprise to occupy. But remember that parapets
without men behind them, and guns without hands
to work them, are worse than useless.
You will find that all this may be done for an ex-
pense scarcely equal to that which you have annually
lavished, not in the prevention, but in the aggrava-
tion, of the horrors of the slave-trade. Do this, and
you will have some security for the continuance of
peace, unpurchased by the sacrifice of national honour
or interests, but which, otherwise, even such sacrifice
may fail to secure.

EGERTON ELLESMERE.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
DEATH OF ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE PARKER, K.C.B.
—Our obituary records the death of Admiral Sir
George Parker, K.C.8., which took place at an early
hour on Friday morning, at his seat at Great Yar-
mouth, from an attack of influenza. The gallant
Admiral was in the 81st year of his age, having been
born in 1767. Sir George was second son of Mr.
George Parker, of Wexford, who was third son of
the late Admiral Christopher Parker (brother of
the celebrated Admiral Sir Peter Parker, Bart., who
so eminently distinguished himself during the Ameri-
can war), by Miss Gore, a connexion of the Arran
family. He entered the navy at a very early age
under his gallant uncle, Sir Peter Parker, and served
on board the Phenix on the Malabar coast, and took
part at the capture of the Cannanon ; was senior
Lieutenant of the Phcenix at the capture of La Re
solue, French frigate, and of the Crescent in her gal-
lant action and capture of the Reunion in 1793, pre-
vious. to which he brought to England Admiral
Cornwallis's dispatches. He was then appointed to
serve with the squadron under Lord Duncan in the
North Seas. In 1805, when commanding the Stately, in
company with the Nassau, he destroyed, after a
running fight of two hours, a Danish line. of-battle
ship of 74 guns. He was appointed in 1808 to the
command of a squadron in the Baltic. On his return
to England he was appointed to the Aboukir (74),
which he• commanded in the Walcheren expedition.
The gallant deceased had distinguished himself in
several minor engagements, and his services had on
numerous occasions called forth the approbation of
the naval authorities at the Admiralty. He married
in the prime of life Miss Butt, daughter of the late
Mr. Peter Butt, private secretary to the Duke of
Cumberland. In June, 1833, he was nominated a
Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order
of the Bath. The date of his commission was as
follows :—Lieutenant, March 13, 1782 ; Commander,
November 4, 1793 ; Captain, April 7, 179.5; Rear-
Admiral, June 4, 1814 ; Vice-Admiral, July 19 ;
Admiral, January 10, 1837 • and in November,
1841, attained the rank of Admiral of the Red. Up
to his recent attack of toe prevailing epidemic, the
deceased Admiral had enjoyed excellent health, so
that the melancholy event was a severe shock to his
family. By this distinguished officer's decease Vice-
Admiral George Barker becomes Admiral of the
Blue ; Rear-Admiral Sir James A. Gordon, K.C.8.,
Lieutenant- Governor of Greenwich Hospital, becomes
Vice-Admiral of the Blue ; and Captain Manley Hall
Dixon, in command of the Caledonia, 120, attains his
flag rank.
PORTSMOUTU, DEC. 26.—The good service pension
of 150/, per annum, which reverted to the Admiralty
on the promotion of Captain Harvey to the rank of
Rear-Admiral, has been conferred, we are informed,
on Captain F. Marryatt (1825), C. 8., the celebrated
nautical novelist.
Mr. R. Thomas, leading hand of boiler makers at
Woolwich, is appointed foreman of boiler makers at
this new steam factory, with a salary of 1501., to rise
101. a year until it arrives at a maximum of 180/. per
annum.

On Christmas-day the seamen and marines of the
fleet had an extra quantity of their various provisions,
&c., served out, in order that they might make merry
with their friends.
The Inconstant, 36, Captain Sheppard, is not, it
appears, yet manned at Devonport.
The Attrivida, Brazilian bark, detained by the Styx
steam sloop, Commander Ckads, on the 14th of Sept.,
off Mayumba Bay, arrived at St. Helena for adjudi-
cation on the 2d of Sept., in charge of Mr. P. Con-
greve, midshipman, of the Styx.
The Adventureiro, Brazilian felucca, also taken by
the Sty; on the Ist of October, oft' Ambrizette,
fitted with slave equipments, arrived at St. Helena on
Brazilian brigantine, taken by the
the 15th of October, for adjudication, in charge of
Mr. J. Tittock, R.N., of the Styx.
The Sappho,Contest, 12, Commander M'Murdo, off Loango, on
the Bth of October, arrived at St. Helena for adjudi-
cation on the 231 of October, in charge of Lieutenant
Tommy. She was fitted for slaves.
The Venus, Brazilian schooner, taken by the Styx
on the 7th of October, arrived on the 24th at St.
Helena for adjudication, in charge of Mr. T. Stack-
house, midshipman. She mas fitted for the slave
trade.

11 Silfide, Brazilian brig, taken by the Penelope,
commodore's steam frigate, off ',wing°, on the 17th of
October, fitted for slaves, arrived at St. Helena on the
24th for adjudication.
Notwithstanding these captures and others sent

into Sierra Leone, we learn by the' latest advices
that the slave trade Was very brisk to the northward.
The Undine steam tender, Master Commander
Allen, has not taken the First Naval Lord of the
Admiralty to the Isle of Wight, as stated by a con-
temporary. She has not moved from her moorings
since Tuesday. Admiral Dundas has not yet arrived
at this port.
The Swallow steam-vessel, of 70 horse power,
lately employed as a tender to the Madagascar meal
ship, is ordered to be broken up at this dockyard. She
was an old Dover packet.
The Cygnet brigantine, Commander Kenyon,
which arrived on Friday from Sheerness, will take
the first mail, under the new arrangement most libe-
rally and considerately made by the Admiralty, to
the coast of Africa; also 10,0001. in small silver and
copper specie to St. Helena.
We are glad to perceive that Admiral Sir John
West, the Commander-in Chief at Plymouth, has re-
scinded his lately published obnoxious order relative
to the transmission of letters through his office to the
men and officers of her Majesty's ships on foreign
stations. Letters may now be sent, as well as par-
cels, through the but recently closed channel.
The Diligence transport (Martin, master) arrived
on Thursday evening at Devonport, from Pembroke,
bound to Chatham.
The Sinbad, lighter (Follett), arrived at Devonport
the same evening, with stores from Woolwich.
The Gorgon, steam-sloop, arrived at Portsmouth
on Friday from Sheerness, and went into harbour.
She was navigated round by the crew of the Fisgard.
She is to be kept ready for hoisting the pendant at an
hour's notice.
The Sphynx and Driver steam-sloops, fitting at
Woolwich for the pendant, are ordered to have the
following armament—via., one 63-pounder gun, of
90 or 95 cwt., 10 feet ; one 10-inch gun, of 85 cwt.,
9 feet 4 inches, on pivot slides and carriages ; and
four 32-pounder gulls, of 42 cwt., on Hardy's com-
pressor carriages.
The Avon, steamer, Commander Otter, which ar-
rived at Portsmouth on Thursday, and went into
harbour to refit, having been employed during the
summer in surveying the coast of Scotland, will go
to Ireland—Commander Otter and the surveying-
officers remaining to map and complete the works of
the survey.
PORTSMOUTH, SUNDA.T, 5 r.st.—Wind, a moderate
breeze from the E.N.E., with thick hazy weather.
FATAL ACCIDENT TO CAPT. lIAMBLT (1841).—On
the 19th inst., a melancholy accident occurred at El-
fordtown, Roborough, Down, from which Captain
Peter Sampson Hanably, formerly of Longbrook
House, Plympton, met his death. It appears that the
deceased had recently taken lodgings at the above
house (Elfordtown), and on the morning of the above
day he proceeded in a phsetou drawn by one horse, to
Buckland Church, about two miles distant, accompa-
nied by Mrs. Humbly and a servant maid. After
the conclusion of the service the parties returned
home, the horse going very quietly until they had
come to the lodge gates. Here the servant maid got
down to open the gate for the vehicle to pass, and,
fortunately for herself, did not get up again. As soon
as it had passed the gate, the horse set off at full speed
down the hill leading to the house, and the deceased
(who drove) seems to have lost all command of it.
An empty cart happened to be standing in the avenue,
and against this the phaeton struck, and immediately
capsized, throwing Mr. and Mrs. Humbly out on the
path. The former was killed on the spot, while Mrs.
Hambly escaped with only a few bruises. The de-
ceased was a stout, heavy man, about sixty-three
years of age.
Commander Walter Kendall (1845), died on the
15th inst., at the age of 33.
Lieutenant Thomas Hare (1815), who was sub-
lieutenant of the Exertion, and served in her boats at
the capture of several armed vessels in the North
Seas in 1811, for which his name appeared in the
Gazette, died at Plymouth on the 20th inst., aged 62.
THE TREATMENT OF THE SICK DELONCHNG TO
THE SQUADRON AT LISBON.--A correspondent, whose
rank and position in the navy are sufficient guarantee
that any statement emanating from him is scrupu-
lously faithful, has written the following from Sir
Charles Napier's squadron in the Tagus :—" Tagus,
Nov., 1847. I have read, in more than one news-
paper, some very incorrect remarks about the Naval
Hospital here, and I herewith send you a refutation.
I can vouch for the truth of all I state, as I have
visited the hospital sometimes each day successively,
and generally every second or third day. The Naval
and Military Gazette says (copying from a morning
paper) :---‘ The few cases of typhus which manifested
themselves on board the St. Vincent, Avenger, and
Canopus, the Admiral had sent to the Portuguese
Naval Hospital—a step which has caused much dis-
satisfaction throughout the squadron, among the
officers, as well as men ; for although the hos-
pital is not very dirty, yet the attendance is
bad, the method of treatment and the very idea
of the surgeons of the [fleet not being allowed to
attend their own men has caused a general
feeling of annoyance. It is hoped the representa-
tion of this fact in the proper quarter will cause a
better state of things.' The truth is, information was
given that sick quarters were provided on shore.
Two men from the Avenger were sent. The surgeon
of the Dragon then sent three patients—two men and
a boy. None from the St. Vincent or Canopus.
Those from the Dragon were sent because it was
deemed that the quiet, and order, and regimen of an
hospital would tend much to their recovery. One
of the men was labouring under a heart disease, the
other some chronic stomach affection, and they have
both left this for England, having been invalided.
The boy, as well as the men from the Avenger, are
daily improving. Either the surgeon or the assistant-
surgeon from the Dragon went to the hospital every
day. The surgeon saw the treatment, and approved
of it. I can answer for the fact of the whole party
of sick people having always expressed the most entire
satisfaction at their treatment. The hospital is most
clean and orderly. I have visited many hospitals in
England, and I never saw any one I should have
preferred for myself to the Naval Hospital at Lisbon.
I have never heard any officer or any man express
the least disapprobation at the step that had been
taken from the best of motives. I am certain that
it was open to the medical men of the fleet to see
the book kept at the hospital, in which the symptoms
and treatment of the cases are recorded."
THE PASSAGE OF THS COLUMBIA STEAM SUR-
VETING-VESSEL.—We have already announced the
arrival at Devonport of the Columbia, steam survey-
ing-vessel, Lieut. Commander Shortland, from North
America, with Captain (since Rear-Admiral) and
Mrs Owen---the gallant captain having been in com-
mand of the surveying expedition in the Bay of
Fundy during the last five years. The Columbia
had been long expected at Portsmouth, but, inde-
pendently of the length of time she was on her pas-
sage, it was impossible that she could have reached
this country in a shorter period since she received
her orders, in consequence of the time required for
calling together and collecting the different surveying
parties belonging to her which had been detached
to many points at considerable distances from each
other. With reference to her voyage home, we may
say that the condition of the ship, on reaching Devon-
port, afibrded evidence palpable enough of the cause
of delay. Indeed, we scarcely remember to have
seen a vessel actually afloat so much of a wreck, and
we cannot but admire that feeling of gratitude which
induced the captain, officers, and crew of the Columbia,
On Sunday week, at the Royal dockyard chapel, pub-
licly to offer through the chaplain (the Rev. T.
Briggs) their thanks to Almighty God for the pre-
servation of their lives. The following accurate
details of the voyage will show that their presence at
Divine worship on the 19th instant was indeed an oc-
casion for devout thanksgiving. The Columbia is a
steamer which has seen better days and considerable
service in the navy, and most especially so' when in
command of Mr. Henderson, now master attendant at
Devonport dockyard. She is one of the old gun-brigs
which were cut in two by Sir Robert Seppings above
twenty years since, had a pair of engines put in amid-
ships, and was converted, not Penelope fashion, but
accordingC to common sense and " rule of three" cal-
culation, into one of the most efficient men-of-war
steamers of the day. She had run so long, howevsr,
that in May, 1842, when commissioned for survey-
ing service, there was little faith placed in the
soundness of her condition, notwithstanding which
she proceeded to North America. and was there up
to Sunday, the 21st of November last, when she
left Halifax for Portsmouh. After receiving a
temporary refit, having landed her armament,
and taken on board 115 tons of coals, 18 tons of them
on deck, she arrived at Sydney on the 26th, left there
on the 28th, and steamed for two days and a half,
until she got off the banks of Newfoundland, en-
countering heavy weather at the commencement.
Nov. 29. in lat. 47 11, long. 51 20, she unshipped
her paddle-floats and proceeded under sail, the
wind blowing a fresh gale from N.E., accompanied
with snow, but shifting to the N., with drifting ice,
the vessel was hove to. Nov. 30, the ship proceeded
At noon the sky became overcast, with snow, and
heavy squalls with rain succeeded, and the wind in-
creasing to a hurricane at 2 Pee., the vessel was again
hove to under main trysail. Dec. 1, at 6 A.M., she
shipped so heavy a sea that the first gig was stove in.
In the night the head of the funnel was carried away
by the heavy rolling of the ship, and the funnel
was found so corroded that it was not repairable. At
8.15, the force of the wind being 8, the ship
bore away, and the weather moderated. Dec. 2, at
11 P.M., the force of the wind increased to 9, the ship
making a great deal of water, and each watch en-
gaged in pumping. In the course of the night the
force of the wind increased to 11 ; and at 11.45, on
December 3, the ship rounded to under single-reefed
main trysail, and continued until 11.30 P.M., when
she bore away again. December 4, at 5 P.M., the gale
again increased, with squalls, up to 4 A.M. on the sth,
when its force was 10, with a heavy following sea, and
they were obliged to steer the ship by the sea. About

1 r.ax., it moderated to 9, and then gradually lessened.
December 8, it was again blowing very strong, and
the ship was fast making water; s!.e had fro .n 9 re 1:3
inches and at one time up to 17 inches in ht-r hold.
December 11, in lat. 49 13, long. 17 30, she re-shipped
her paddle floats. There were light wind until
evening, when they opened the boiler cocks, and found
the blow•off pipes choked. December 12, at 4 r.m.,
another gale commenced—the sky overcast, squalls, and
heavy rains; they wore obliged to shut the communica-
tion valve of the starboard boiler, engines working at
reduced speed. At this time they found considerable
leakage in the starboard boiler, and stopped them with
wooden plugs. Dec. 13, the force of the wind was 8 ;
and at 4.30 they were obliged to cut away the wreck
of the boat which was stove in on the Ist. At 7.30
the sea stove in the larboard bow ; the ports had been
several times stove in. At 1.40 r.m , they found the
foremast badly sprung under the futtock hook ;
shortened all sail, and at five o'clock in striking the
topmast the foremast gave way and went over the
side, carrying two men who were on the cross trees
looking out for the fid, with the wreck. The lives of
these men were almost miraculously preserved ; they
had just time to stop the engines, but not before one
man was struck and his jaw broken ; the other man
was not hurt at all. Dec. 13, they were obliged to
shut the communication valves of the port boiler,
to clear the cock, they having become choked in
the same degree as those of the other boiler.
The crew were then employed in rigging a jury
foremast and making paddle-floats, and they suc-
ceeded on Thursday, the 16th, at 2.10 P.M., in
making the Lizard ; and on the following day anchored
in Plymouth Sound. The gun-room was flooded
during the entire passage, and not a man in the ship
was dry for an hour. The stern-posts were caulked
in and battened. The decks were cleared of every-
thing ; the paddle-wheels themselves were defective
from old age, and by the washing away of the outsides
of the boxes, they were exhibited in all their skeleton
wretchedness. The compasses, in consequence of their
great vibration, were next to useless.—Herald.

We have already stated that the surveying opera-
tions of the officers and crevv.of the Columbia, under
the direction of Captain Owen, have been in the Bay
of Fundy, including from Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, to
the -West Quoddy Light on the American shore,
embraced in 43 to 47 lat. and 63 30 to 68 long. The
portion which is finished is from West Quoddy Head
to St. John's, New Brunswick, the Island of Campo-
bello, a portion of Gran Manan, river of Annapolis,
and the whole of the river of St. John to Frederick
Town. The first year of the expedition was spent in
determining the meridian distances of the various
points as a basis for the subsequent survey between
Boston, Halifax, Campobello, and the adjacent points.
'We may remark that the difference in the rise of tide
between the head of the Bay of Fundy, Cumberland
basin, and the Bay of Verte, in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, has been laid down in the charts as 60
feet. It is worthy of notice that in the survey made by
the officers of the Columbia, they have found that the
highest tides at Cumberland basin were only 44 feet,
and extraordinary tides .50 feet, whereas at the Bay
of Verte, the rise was only 8 feet, making a difference
in regular tides of only 36 tet, instead of 60. The
officers who have returned to England, belonging to
the Columbia, are Captain (now Rear-Admiral) W.
F. Owen ; Lieutenant P. F. Shortland, who has
commanded her since December, 1844; Lieutenant
Melville G. IL IV. Ross, who has belonged to her
since June, 1842 ; Lieutenant Peter A. Scott, since
July, 1845 ; Lieutenant W. J. S. Pullen (additional)
since February, 1847 ; Master T. W. R. Pike ; Sur-
geon, Dr. J. M. Deas, who have been i❑ her during
the whole term of commission ; and Clerk in Charge,
W. F. Huyghue, since March last. Lieutenant
Kortwright first commanded the Columbia for this
service, and was succeeded by Lieutenant Harding,
who was succeeded on promotion by her present
commander.