The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-22 00:00:00

PIRACY.-CASE OF THE PRIVATEER.

Minutes of Investigation taken before me at Victoria, this
21st day of June, 1846.
Hector Munro Todd is sworn—l am a seaman on board
the Privateer ; I joined her last Sunday. Wednesday,
the 17th instant, at daylight, got under weigh for
Cumsingmoon, with 202% chests of opium. On
leaving Hong-Kong we had on board fifteen souls—viz.
captain, 1 mate, 1 European passenger, myself, 7 Manilla-
men, Chinese steward, cook, boy, and a woman belonging to
the captain. At three r.m., in passing to the northward of
Lintin some four or five miles, we saw apparently a fishing
boat standing the same way as ourselves, with lines over on
his weather side. I saw but one man in the boat; he waved his
hand for us to go to leeward of him, edging his boat gradually
down upon us the whole time. We were going about three
knots. On passing to leeward of the boat, the captain, seeing
the sails were becalmed and the boat still dropping down on the
schooner, hailed her to keep off. A waive of the hand for
us to keep off was made by the man on board the boat.
Our helm was hard up, but being to leeward of the China
boat, the schooner had no steerage way. Seeing the boat
every momeut coming closer, the captain took up his rifle
and fired ; a shower of spears, at least fifty, were instantly
hove into us. The captain called out for muskets. I went
below with two others to hand them up ; passed up one, which
the captain fired; Before I could get up any more, stink-
pots were thrown into the cabin, filling it with smoke. I
was nearly suffocated, and rushed to the hatchway. The
Chinese cook was before me. Saw a Chinaman make a cut
at the cook's head with a cutlass. Observed the ves-
sel was in the hands of pirates. I crawled into one of
the berths of the cabin. There were four of us in the
berth the Chinese cook, the European passenger,
one Manillaman, and myself. As we were in the
berth, the pi-aces pricked us with long bamboos from
the deck. The cook went on deck. The pirates
afterwards came down in force ; they threatened to
one spoke very good English. I went on deck
to workrder i
locker on the starboard side was covered with blood. Our
mutishe;
schooner.
The captain was missing; the after
Chinese steward and captain's cock-eyed boy were laughing
and talking to the pirates—both were dressed in the cap-
tain's clothes. The boat of the schooner was gone. The
Chinese cook of the schooner and the captain's woman
appeared frightened. The pirate boat had left us ; she
was standing towards Lintin. The schooner was in
charge of 40 men. An English boat hove in sight.
I was shoved below. I heard the boat hail
the schooner. The reply was—" Captain down below
a-sleep." Whilst I was below the second time,
the Chinaman who spoke English said to me "if you pro-
mise not to take the schooner to Hong-Kong till the morning,
I will spare your lives." We promised. A few minutes after
this conversation I heard a heavy crash, then another. Two
boats had come alongside. I think the hour was between
live and six. During this time we were guarded by one man
with a cutlass. Suddenly he dropped the point, and jumped
on deck. The noise then ceased. . •
We looked through the skylight and found the pirates bad
shoved off, taking with them the Chinese steward, cockeyed
boy, cook, and captain's woman. The guns, too, were gone,
two four-pounders, one six-pounder, and one one-pound
swivel. The rigging was much cut; we contrived to get the
stay foresail on her, and steer to Cumsingmoon. About nine
p.m., a schooner from Cumsingmoon hove in sight, and she
took us into Cumsingmoon,
Francisco Antonino states as follows :—I am a native of
Manilla, and a seaman on board the Privateer. After break-
fast in the morning we left Hong-Kong. I was ordered to
draw and clean the guns, three large and two small. I did
so, and oiled them. They were not reloaded. [The evidence
of witness corroborates-the statement of the deponent
Todd, with the exception that he saw two boats instead of
one at the time of their capture near Lintin. ]
Investigation resumed on this date:—

22d of June, 1846.
Rynaldo Gonsalves sworn—l am a native of Manilla, and
gunner of the schooner Privateer. Was on board when at-
tacked by pirates on the 17th instant. Between two and
three o'clock on the afternoon of that day I saw two boats
astern of us. They were standing the same course as
ourselves, and overhauling us fast. I told the captain
they were bad. " No, Jo," he said, .1 only fishing
boats." The Chinese steward belonging to the Pri-
vateer also said, " Never fear ; only fishing-boat."
One boat was far ahead of the other, she came within
fifteen fathoms of our larbour quarter. We kept the
schooner away, the boat did the same, outsailing us. On
getting abreast of us the captain sung out " Wylo,
wvlo "—then came the spear, then came the fire (from
stmlj pots), then came the stones on our deck. The boarding
immediately followed on the fore part of our deck. The
captain was aft, he fired his own musket into the boat, and
I saw bins opposing the entrance of the Chinese into the
after part of the schooner. He had a cutlass. A spear was
thrust at him from the boat, it entered his side, and he fell.
The pirates then boarded in force. Ido not know what be-
came of the captain after he fell. I was wounded with a stink-
pot in the face and fell down. I saw the pirate throw the
mate overboard. They afterwards threw me overboard.
I was picked up by our own boat which we had towing
astern. In the boat I found the mate and three Mandl/s-
-mell. The painter was cut, we pulled away in the boat;
ad
proceeded of a mile only, when the
quarterwere put in separate places
below in the hold of the pirate, two in one place, two in
overtook about a
hands
another place, the mate below the poop—five in number.
It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. I
do not know what took place after this, until some time in
the night—it might be twelve o'clock. The Manillaman
pirate
ns.
with whom I was confined was ordered on deck by the
pirates; shortly after I heard a splash in the water. Ten
minutes after I was called on seek
my arms, above
the elbows, were lashed behind my back. I was also
d at
the wrists. This completed, I was told to
sit down on the rail ; I did so. In broken Eng-
lish anal Portuguese they said " now
you call
drink so much water as you like," and launched me over-
bl floated nearly upright. I succeeded in releasing
t over-
board. an
rd
one of my hands, opened my knife with my teeth, and cut
Chineseti ahne ied lashingath a spot outside Macao, and was taken thither in a
off my arms. At six o'clock in the morning I
eat. At Macao I met John Nacito, Manillaman,
~ne of those retaken with me lathe schooner's boat, but mi-
ll:fed in another place on board the pirate boat from which
I was thrown oel board. The Governor of Macao put John
Nacito and myself into prison ; we were released at the inter-
cession of Heerjeebhoy. There were 100 men on board the
pirate.
a seaman on
John

from Hong. Kong were attacked by pirates near
Cumsingnoon. To avoid" the spears and save my life I
jumped overboard, and gained our boat towing astern.
The,. were five of us in the boat—mate, gunner, two
Manidamen, and self. We cut the painter, and pulled
away from the schooner; were pursued. taken, and put
below in the hold of the pirate boat. My companion in
confinement was a Manillaman, named Sadie. I do net know
what became of him. He was taken on deck before I war.
About midnight I was called up, and asked if I would have
some water. On replying in the affirmative, I was told in
Portuguese that I should have plenty soon. Then they .
bound my hands behind my back, bid me sit on the rail, and
lautched me overboad. I managed to free myself from the
lashings, and made for the shore, which was plain to be seen.
I was in the water two hours.
Hector Munro Todd examined, on his former oath, says,
that the schooner was-taken by surprise. There was another
Chinese boat in sight, but as we passed to windward of her,
cannot say whether she had any band in the business.

LOST OR I‘IISSING, OR SAVED.

Missing—Captain, I ; mate, 1; Manillamen, 3.
Saved—Manillamen, 4 ; European, 2.
Taken away by pirates— Chinese steward, 1; boy, 1;
cook, 1 ; woman, I.
Total, 15.

The Privateer is a small schooner engaged in river traffic,
and has hitherto been considered as safe from piratical
attacks, which have rarely been made unless upon native
boats, and never before, I think, on an English vessel.
But success in the present instance may encourage to greater
boldness in future, unless something effectual be done to
pnt down the pirates. Government lately built one gunboat,
of ridiculously small dimensions, to guard a hundred miles of
a great river, with innumerable islands and creeks, haunted-
by lawless gangs, who have no respect for their own autho-
rities, and are losing all dread of ours. It would have been
better had the thing been left alone than attempted with
such inadequate means. The little gun-boat will soon be
known to all the pirates on the coast, but without striking
terror into them. On the present occasion, she passed the
place where the privateer was taken not an hour before, and
was allowed to be out of sight before the attack was made—
the pirates being thus as safe as a housebreaker in former

times, after a Charley had cried the hour, and givennotice
of his whereabouts, and that the coast was clear for a time
certain.

Another case of piracy is given on Chinese authority :
A case of piracy is reported by the Chinese as having hap-
pened on the 4th of June. Eight small junks, having pas-
sengers and earthenware on board from Canton, bound to
Amoy, had left the Bogue, and were going along at a very
rapid rate, when the foremost was attacked by a fishing-
smack full of men. The others, either frightened, or being
ignorant of what had happened, ran too fast to leeward to
render any assistance. The sailors, however, defended
themselves manfully, and did not yield the deck until six of
them were wounded. Then the pirates jumped on board,
took away every valuable article, and extorted a heavy sum
for their release. Two of the junk men are very dangerously
wounded.

It is to be hoped, as both English and Chinese suffer, that
measures will be adopted for their mutual protection.
Something of the sort was talked of last year; but I believe
our authorities were not satisfied, and demanded better secu-
rity that the Chinese employed would not league themselves
with the pirates.

The Chinese are very active in denouncing piratical prac-
tices, but they are still more supine than ourselves ha adopt-
ing active measures for their suppression. Several edicts
on the subject will be found in the China Mail, communi-
cated by the native correspondent of that paper.

DISCOVERY OF ANOTHER
PACTOLUS.

A Belgian paper gives the following strange tale, the
truth df which it vouches for, and states that more ex-
tensive details are in its possession, and could be given,
only that they might be prejudicial to the realisation of
the enterprise :—" A distinguished French engineer,
who was sent some years ago to Panama, to make geo-
logical researches, and study the question of piercing
the isthmus, has brought back some specimens of gold
which Baron Thenard, after chemical assay, has pro-
nounced to be of the greatest richness. The engineer
states that he had gathered this gold in the sands of a
river of the isthmus. Such are the riches of the grains
if gold which this river rolls along that the natives,
who are occupied in gathering them, gain fifty francs
per day, and that the sands they wash contain still,
after the operation, more than double the quantity of
gold which they had obtained from them. The engineer
had examined with care the course of the river to its
source, and remarked that it traversed an enormons
group of rocks, in the midst of which it must have been
depositing for ages a vast mass of grains of gold. Ac-
cording to his estimates there must be far more than
,ight milliards of francs of gold mineral buried under
these rocks. (One milliard of francs, it may be ob-
,erved here, is equal to forty millions sterling.) When
the engineer made known the result of his researches
and conjectures at home, he met only with incredulous
hearers, and was treated as a visionary. Notwithstand-
ing he has given details so precise, he appears so cer-
tain of the success of a future exploration that several
capitalists have resolved to confide to him the funds
necessary for exploring on a great scale the sands of the
river. For this purpose it was resolved not to form a
company by shares, but to confine the enterprise to a
certain number of capitalists willing to run the risks of
the affair. The capital embarked in this undertaking
will be either entirely lost, or will produce more than a
million per cent. to those who subscribe the funds. The
engineer himself engages not to require any share of the
profits until the enterprise shall have realised three
milliards of francs (one hundred and twenty millions
sterling ! ! !). Here are, as may be seen, all the riches
of Potosi, all' the gold of Pactolus, which it is expected
will be found united between the two parts of America.
The preparations for the undertaking are already in an
advanced state. The dredging machine boat for the
operations is in course of construetipn, and the depar-
ture of the engineers and workmen will take place in
two or three months. If this affair, which has been in
hand for several years, has remained unknown to the
public, the reason is that the parties engaged in it look
upon their capital advanced as being exposed to an ex
traordinary risk, and therefore are anxious to avoid
being held up to ridicule by appearing to have too much
confidence in the result of those researches." Such is
the marvellous story. It is evident, from the length of
years spoken of since the enterprise was first proposed,
that the French engineer was one of those sent out in
the famous bubble year of 1825 to make surveys in
Panama for one of the projects of a canal, for which
several companies were formed in that year, in this
country and elsewhere.

NAVAL AND MILITARY
DEPARTMENTS.
There has just been issued in a printed form, by order
of the House of Commons, an extract from the sixth
report of the Committee of Inquiry into the system of
account and audit in the Ordnance Department, dated
the 6th of December, 1845, relative to the preparation,
audit, and presentation to Parliament of annual accounts
of the receipt and expenditure of the naval and military
departments, together with Treasury minute thereon.
The following is the more material portion of the said
Treasury minute, dated 13th of January, 1846:
" Under these circumstances, their Lordships are of
opinion that the time has arrived for applying to the
naval and military departments, in a uniform and
consistent manner, those principles of account which
have been recommended by the highest authorities on
the subject, and have stood the test of a practical trial,
and for giving them the force of positive rule, and my
Lords will proceed to state, as briefly as possible, what
those principles are, and in what manner they should be
applied.
" 1. According to the immemorial practice of this Go-
vernment, as explained and enforced by the Treasury
minute of 13th of March, ISIS, only such services are to
be included in the estimates to be laid before Parliament
by the executive departments as have been approved by
the Treasury or financial department, either as the re-
sult of previous correspondence, or on a consideration of
the estimates themselves, which are laid before the
Chancellor of the Exchequer previously to their being
submitted to Parliament.
"2. No executive department is authorised to exceed
the sum appropriated by Parliament under each general
head or vote in their respective estimates, or to apply
any surplus which may exist under one vote, to supply
the deficiency on others, without the express previous
sanction of the Treasury, to be given on a written re-
presentation of the circumstances which render the
adoption of such a course indispensable fur the public
service.
" 3. All the votes, including that for works and re-
pairs, are in future to be taken for sums to be expended
during the last year ; and on the last day of the financial
year the annual account is to be closed, and the balance
is to be struck at all the stations at home and abroad ;
and any unappropriated balance that may appear when
the accounts shall have been made up to that day, to
have remained on the aggregate of the votes of any de-
partment, shall revert to the Exchequer, to be reported
to Parliament for the purpose of being applied as ways
and means.
" 4. Provided the expenditure for each work included
in the Admiralty and Ordnance estimates, is confined
within the amount of the total estimate for its comple-
tion, submitted to Parliament in the first column of the
form applicable to this vote, the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty and the Master-General and Board of
Ordnance, will, after the new form of estimate for works
and repairs shall have been fully adopted, be at liberty
to apply the aggregate of their respective votes for
works, in such proportions for each work as the exigen-
cies of the public service may require.
"5. The annual account having been closed as above
described, on the last day of the financial year, eight
months are allowed, according to the existing naval sys-
tem, for the arrival from the different stations abroad of
the accounts of the preceding financial year, and for
making them up previously to the general account being
delivered to the commissioners audit. Whatever period
may be necessary for receiving and consolidating the
subordinate accounts, must in like manner be allowed
to the War-office and Ordnance Departments, but it is
very desirable that the period fix‘d should not be longer
than is indispensably required for the object in view.
The cause of the great delay which has hitherto taken
place in closing the Ordinance accounts, which renders
the accounts, when furnished, of little avail for any
practical purpose, and the proper means of remedying
it have been already pointed out in their Lordships'
minute, dated 3d of December, 1841, as one of the most
important points for the consideration of the Com-
missioners of Inquiry.
" 6. The appropriations credited on the estimates in
aid of ti-.e vets are to he the sum- actually realised, and.
brought to account during the year preceding the esti-
mate, instead of the prospective rict ipts expected to be
realised in the year fur which the estimate is voted.
" The •Credits in Aid' have already been placed on
this footing in the Navy, Ordnance, and Commissariat
estimates, and when a similar change shall have been
made in the War-office estimates, there will be nothing
left to be desired on this point.
-' 7. That detailed audit, the object of which is to
allow or disallow the different items of expenditure,
according as they are or are not conformable with
departmental-rules, or are or are not supported by proper
authorities and youchen, will continue to be eiguiltxted

by and on the responsibility of each department ; but
that higher and more general description of audit, the
object of which is to ascertain and report whether the
grants of Parliament have been duly applied to the pur-
poes to which they have b, en appropriated by the An-
nual Appropriation Act, as explained by the annual es-
timate upon a hich that Act is founded, will be conducted
in future by the Commissioners of Audit under the
superintendence of the Trea-ury.
"8. A detailed account will be annually prepared by
each department for the information of the Treasury,
according to the form in which the annual army account
is now prepared, including, in addition to a comparison
of the expenditure with the grants under each of the
general heads stated in the Appropriation Act, a
statement of the result of the actual expenditure, as
compared with the estimates, under the subordinate
heads into which the votes are divided into the depart-
mental ledger. ; and also an explanation, similar to that
given in the War Office ace unt, showing what the
La'ances a nsist of. This account will be transmitted
by each department to the Commissioners of Audit on
or before a date hereafter to be fixed.
" In making their report on this account, the Com-
missioners of Audit will call the attention of the Trea-
sury to every considerable deviation between the esti-
mated amount and the actual expenditure under the
several subordinate heads into which the votes are
divided in the estimates; submitting at the same time,
any explanations that may have been furnished to them
of the circumstances: which rendered such deviations
necessary. _

" 9. An abstract account will be annually prepared by
each department fur the information of Parliament,
according to the form in which the annual navy account
is now prepared, showing the results und( r the general
votes or heads into which the expenditure is divided in
the Appropriation Act, which account will be transmitted
by each department to the Commissioners of Audit at
I the same time with the more detailed account adverted
to in the two preceding paragraphs.
" 10. The Commissioners of Audit will refer to the
Treasury any question that may arise in the course of
the examination of the accounts which may appear to
require their Lordships' authority or decision.
Their Lordships concur in the opinion expressed by
the members of the Committee of Inquiry and by the
Commissioners of Audit, that the audit check of the
accounts of the four departments of the army, navy,
and ordnance and commissariat, the object of which
is to secure the legal appropriation of the Parliamentary
grants for those services, ought to be established under
the authority of an Act of Parliament ; and as the An-
nual Appropriation Act app, ars to be the proper place
in which to make the necessary provision for this duty, it
is requested that the Committee of Inquiry will prepare
and submit to this Board a draft of such clauses as they
may consider best calculated to accomplish the object in
view, in order that they may be submitted to Parliament
as part of the next Appropriation Act."

LITERATURE.
THE NORTH BRITISH REVIEW. No. X.
So many critical periodicals are now published that
one is almost a repetition of the other. Nevertheless,
even with this drawback, the _North British Review is
peculiarly entertaining. A most elaborate essay upon
the character and writings of the celebrated John Foster
opens die number, and is not unworthy of a noble sub -
j. et. Foster was one of those few men who wrote so well
that we wish he had written more. The scanty frag-
ments which he permitted to appear, after a thousand
emendations, and the most scrutinising supervision, are
evidences of the possession of qualities seldom granted
to one individual. From a most unfortunate fastidious •
ness as to the merits of his own most superb composi
tions the literary greatness of Foster was stunted.
Still, from what little he has left, we can discern the
vastness of his intellectual proportions. Ex pede
Herculem. 'Would that others would take example from
the diffidence in 'publishing-peculiar to that eminent
author ! A rather- dry, though instructive, paper on
" The Jacobites ;" another of those interminable
disquisitions upon ( a most uninviting topic !) " Russia
under Nicholas ;" about the nine hundred and ninety-
ninth review of " Newman on Development ;" an
earnest and deserved eulogium upon Sir James Mackin-
tosh, with articles upon the New Timon, and Baron
Humboldt, make a pleasant number of a pleasant publi-
, cation.. Our opinfols-'holve3rer,;„upt.T its merits judged
bttle number bef rathettme of negative e'en-
mOilation. Thiterc:lusNicklehy" will re-
member that wire ; Lillyvick asks whether his
nepheW's'infant "is a nice baby," Newman Noggs replies
' " Well, it ain't a nasty one !" Just such an ()Pinion do
we feel compelled to give of the !forth British Review.

THE MERCHANT NAVIES OF
FRANCE AND ENGLAND.
(From La Presse.)
At the moment when the principal Chambers of Com-
merce of the kingdom are forming an association which
proposes to itself " the extension of navigation by the
development of the maritime relations of the ports," it is
not uninteresting to sum up, in a few words, the situa-
tion of our merchant navy in comparison with that of
Great Britain. We shall borrow the statistics which
establish on ono side the superiority of the English
navy, and on the other the inferiority of the French,
from the official comments published by the Governments
of the two countries, and recently republished in a pam-
phlet entitled Progress of the Commercial Navigation of
England.
It follows from these documents, that in the year 1820,
the effective of the English merchant navy amounted to
25,374 vessels, measuring 2,648,593 tons, and in 1844 to
31,320 vessels, measuring 3,637,231 tons.
Has there been an analogous progress in France? Very
far from it ! Instead of an increase, as in England,
there is a deplorable decrease, at least the following
figures prove as much. Thus, in 1827, the effective of
our merchant navy was 14,322 vessels, measuring
692,125 tons, and in 1844, 13,679 vessels, measuring
604,637 tons. We ought to add, that out of this num-
ber, of 13,679 vessels, 8,900 measured less than 30 tons(!)
2,852 measured from 99 to 300 tons, and 219 from 300 to
600 tons. There are, definitively, only 652 vessels ca-
pable of navigation on a largo scale, and amongst all
these ships there is not one measuring 700 tons, whilst
England every day dispatches vessels of 1,200 tons bur-
den and upwards. This superiority of the British navy
is no less evidently disclosed in the coasting navigation.
Thus, in 1841, the French coasting trade conveyed. ex-
clusive of the coasting fishery, 2,424.246 tons of merchan-
dise, a traffic which employed 79,483 loaded vessels;
or, to speak more exactly, which oecasic.nt d an c qual
number of passages from one port of the kingdom to an-
other. If to this number we add that of passages on the
east, which amounted to 31,768 vessels, representing a
tonnage of nearly 705,000, there is found, as the entire
movement in the coasting trade in 1841, a general total
of 111,251 vessels and 3,128,802 tons, worked by a naval
personnel which always, taking account of the passages
repeated by the same vessels, represents the service of
crews amounting 'in number to 434,896 men. At this
same period—that is to say, in 1841—the coating trade
of Great Britain was nearly fit e times more c, nsider-
able than ours; it amounted for one of the two move.
ments alone—coming and going—to 11,318,000 tons,
and the passages, which had been 215,000, had employed
more than 800,000 men as crews; and ut least an equal
number are employed either in loading, or in the pre-
servation of the merchandise.
This state of things has not changed since 1841, at
all events, not to our advantage. The French coasting
trade has remained nearly stationary, while that of
Great Britain has increased. It is true that the ma-
jority of the transports effected by our coasters, present,
from one year to another, very few variations. We
allude to woods, materials, salt, wines and brandies,
grain and meal, coal, iron and manure, which form in
weight three-fourths of the cargoes of our coasting
vessels.
As to the steam navy, the ensemble of the movement
of our navigation (entrances and departures together)
amounts, on the average, to 6,545 boats (or voyages),
with cargoes, giving a total of 750,000 tons, whilst in
England the effective of the steamers employed in the
transport of merchandise is thirteen or fourteen times
higher than in France.
The coasting fishery shows, on its side, the same in-
feriority with regard to England. The official tables
give, on an average, 6,431 boats, navigated by 27,286
men, but, on deducting the unable ones, only 22,000 men
can be reckoned, whilst on the English coasts the popu-
lation engaged in the small fisheries amounts to more
than 150,000 individuals. It is true that the English
coasts are more extensive than our own; but in an equal
space, they do not the less offer double the number of
fishermen. It is true that our great fisheries offer more
resources, but that branch of navigation is very far
from being ameliorated; and, for the last seven years,
it presents a reduction of about one-fourth.
These various statistical facts afford a material
proof of the inferiority of our merchant navy. The
inferiority of our " military" (war) navy is an indisput-
able fact .Thus, therefore, in every respect, our na-
vigation is incapable of entering into competition with
the English.
It appertains to the Chambers of Commerce to seek
out the most proper means of raising the state of our
navy. 'We do not doubt the success of their efforts,
convinced, as we are, not only of the goodness of their
cause, but of that want of reform which makes itself
felt on all sides, and which will, we hope, lend a fresh
impulse to the Conservative policy.

ADVANCE IN WAGES. —A HINT TO MASTERS AND
WonxikfEw.—There is now some evidence of a much better
state of feeling than when strikes among workmen were the
order of the day. The operative carpet-weavers of England
petitioned their employers for an advance of wages, which
was granted for six months, on condition that the Scotch
manufacturers would give a similar rise. This was acceded
to with great good will. The English operatives, by letter,
then requested their Scottish brethen to use their influence
with their employers to give a corresponding advance on
wages, and to use every moral means in their power
to be successful, as in the event of want of success the
English weaver would, at the end of six months, lose
the advance, which is a valuable one, being fully eleven per
cent. Accordingly, the Scottish weavers have petitioned
their employers, and already five firms have given the
advance, in a very handsome manner, two firms in Ban-
nockburn, and three in Glasgow. The firm of Messrs. John
Geddes and Sons have deserved great praise in this affair, in
at once giving the advance, and allowing it to come into im-
mediate operation. It is expected that this rise of wages
will become general. It is hoped that the carpet manufac-
turers of Kilmarnock and Aberdeen will likewise give the
advance, which now appears likely to be general, in the
handsome manner that the other manufacturers have done.—
Scotch Reformer's Gazette.
ORIGIN OF TUE UPAS TREE STORY.—A real valley of
death exists in Java ; it is termed the Valley of Poison, and is filled
to a considerable height with carbonic acid gas, which is exhaled
from crevices in the ground. If a man or any animal enter it, he
cannot return ; and he is not sensible of his danger until he feels
himself sinking under the poisonous Influence of the atmosphere
which surrounds him, the carbonic acid of which it chiefly consists
rising to the height of eighteen feet aom the bottom of the valley.
Birds- which fly into this atmosphere drop down dead ; and a living
foWt thrown into it dies before it reaches the bottom, which is strewed
with the carcases of various animals that have Vac dele-
te/WIZ tionTeml 44.4 Artr Mtftgrz

s
.`7/ f1Y11,44,r

GRAND DINNER TO M
IN PARIS.
(For the Journal des Dibats of IN%,w.-
This day the banquet offered to Mr. Cobilmirtil 6t3,
ii ay‘ :4- Kt
ciete des Economistes took place. Besides flfe bmber
the society several members of the two Chambers, merchants,
and other notabilities attended. The Duke d'Harcourt,
Peer of France, who is President of the Societe des Libres
?changes, presided at the dinner. Opposite to the President
sat M. Horace Say, one of the vice-presidents of the Societe
des Economistes. Mr. Cobden was (,:3 the right of
the President. Among those present on the occasion we
observed 31. Anisson-Duperron, Peer of France, M.
Renouard, Peer of France, M. Blanqui, Deputy, bL
Gustave de Beaumont, Deputy, M. Chegaray, Deputy,
M. d'Eicthal, Deputy, M. Leon Faucher, Deputy, M. de la
Grange, Deputy, M. de las Cazes, Deputy, 31. Paulmier,
Deputy, M. Louis Reybaud, Deputy, M. Sallandrouze,
Deputy, M. Vernez, Deputy-Governor of the Bank of
France, the Baron Billing, Minister of France in Denmark,
M. Micheal Chevallier, professor of political economy in the
College de France, M. Joseph Gamier, professor of political
economy at the Athenie, M. Frederic Bastial, author of
"Cobden and the League," M. Perrot, engineer, Messrs. Thayer
and Perrier, Members of the Municipal Council of Paris, M.
Amadie Pichot, M. Dussard, M. Jules Burat, M. Charles
Reybaud, M. Molinari, and several other writers who have
directed their attention particularly to political economical
subjects, M. Cassimir Chevreux, M. Potonie, M. Riglet,
Messrs. Germain and Dumas, and several others representing
the trade and commerce of Paris. The president and most of
the vice-presidents of the Societe des Economistes were not

N

aa‘'
;2.

U)- N

'_

present, several of them being absent from Paris, and others
being unwell. M. Rossi is at Rome. M. Charles Dunoyer,
in the Department of the Lot, M. Hippolyte Passy is confined
to his house by illness.
This banquet is not alone an act of simple politeness to a
man of rare talent, who has shown himself an indefatigable
wrestler during the seven years that the labours of the
English League against the corn-laws has lasted, and who,
more than any one else, has contributed in effecting that
revolution in public opinion in England in consequence of
which we have seen Sir Robert Peel himself solemnly de-
claring in Parliament that in the matter of customs du-
ties he has been hitherto fostering an error, and that the
truth was in the doctrines taught by Adam Smith, the
prince of economists. The Societe des Economistes deter-
mined on feting the man whose sustained labours, in con-
cert with those of his eloquent friends, had achieved that
striking homage to economical science. But the object
of this numerous meeting, among whom were to be found
so many enlightened men, was not alone to show the satis-
faction felt at the triumph of the scence; it was more
especially directed to the object of recommending to the
country the ideas which, in consequence of the prodigious
labours of the English League, have all of a sudden been so
fortunate in England as to upset the whole edifice of prohi-
bition, and to triumph even over the interests of the landed
aristocracy, which appeared to have the perpetual right of
laying down the law in everything in England.
This manifestation in favour of commercial liberty assumes
a real importance from the fact of its havi g been made after
several local manifestations and several isolated professions of
faith. These opinions gain ground. Are we to regret or are
we to applaud this? Is this not liberalism of a good stamp?
Is the liberty of commen_e, applied gradually and at every
moment to a proper extent, riot advantageous to the public
prosperity? Does it not accord perfectly with our other
liberties, and is it not the veritable consequence of them?
Ought it not to contribute to order, and is it not eminently
favourable to the holy and noble cause of the peace of the
world ?

When the founders of the English League commenced the
great enterprise they found themselves surrounded with
inveterate prejudices. Protection, which each person trans-
lated into prohibition of the article which he himself manu-
factured, appeared to be the primary condition of prosperity
and industry. It had become an axiom on the other side of
the Straits as it, is among ourselves, that it was necessay to
be protected against the invasion of foreign products, that it
was a calamity to buy in foreign countries what could be
produced at home, no matter at what price, and that national
labour oughtabsolutely to be guaranteed against the attacks
of other nations. Consequently these persons wished to have
duties which would exclude all foreign produce; and at the
same time they had the pretension and desire to sell a great
deal in foreign markets. The League has finished by making
it clear that these opposite pretensions destroy each other;
that if the people wish to sell a great deal to foreigners it
is necessary to buy as much, for productions are only paid
for by productions, and whether payment be made directly,
or through an intermedium, is of little importance.
In the natural state of things—in the absence of all pro-
tecting duties—each country would give to the general
market those articles in the productions of which it excelled,
and would draw from abroad those which foreign labour
could give at a lower price. The more different nations de-
part from liberty of commerce, and the more each of them
sees closed the openings which it hopes to give to the pro-
ductions in which it succeeds best, the more also is it em-
barrassed by those hot-house industries which produce at a
great expense what a free international interchange would
have procured on excellent terms. With liberty of com-
merce every nation provides itself easily and from wherever
it pleases with such matters as it may require; pro-
duces whatever best suits it; produces as cheaply as pos-
sible, and sells wherever it can do so to most advan-
tage. With prohibition everything becomes complicated
and false, everything becomes difficult, and everything be-
comes dear. People imagine themselves protected because
they are sheltered from foreign competition, which, if
looked at narrowly, would appear in most cases not very
formidable, and they do not see the price at which the pre-
tended protection is bought. They do not calculate how
heavily they are taxed by the protection accorded to
other industries. In short the protective system rests upon
deception and delusion. It is profitable only to a very small
number of branches of human labour, which are directed by
men more able or more powerful than the rest. In Eng-
land it was corn and other articles of food. In Franca
agriculture, in place of exercising a monopoly, is of all
branches of industry that upon which liberty weighs
heaviest. It is other branches of industry, to which every
one may point, that absorb entirely the whole profits of
the system, of which, however, every one who has a field
or a manufactory imagines in his simplicity he is getting a
good part. And besides, what an evil results, in a moral
point of view, from a system which engenders a popula-
lation living by contraband, that is to say, by the viola-
' lation of the laws, and which requires as a means of pre-
vention those examinations of the person to which the wife
or daughter of any of us is exposed at the frontier—a mon-
strosity in which none of us would believe if he read it in
an account of travels among a semi-civilized people. All
the Governments of Europe are rivalling each other in zeal
for the maintenance of peace. Is the peace real when the
commerce which is destined to cement it is subjected to vex-
ations and fetters without number? All countries impose
enormous sacrifices on themselves to improve their commu-
nications, and to cover Europe with a net of railways. Does
any one believe that this is done for the mere pleasure of the
idle travellers who carry their ennui from capital to capital?
Certainly not. For such a purpose the undertaking of
European railways would be an immense folly. The object
of the railways is to favour intercourse, transactions, and
exchange—to permit each to make the most he can of his
soil, of his force, and of his intelligence, and to partici-
pate in the advantages enjoyed by his neighbours. Thus
the force of things drives us towards a system of com-
mercial liberty more and more extended, and towards the
more and more complete overthrow of the prohibitive
system. Up to this day the foundation of all the codes of
custom-house laws among European nations was prohibition.
It was the effect of the prejudices and illusions of sonic, and
of the violent or crafty domination of others. Henceforth
liberty must be the avowed end of all commercial systems.
The prejudices which are opposed to this shall be corrected
among us and everywhere else, as they have been in Eng-
land. Neither cunning nor audacity can prevent this
long. The tariff of England has undergone a complete
revision with a view to liberty, and the consequence has
been that at one blow six hundred articles have been ex-
empted from duty. Ours must submit to a similar ope-
ration. To attain this end we conceive that time will be
required, and we shall nut oppose that; but it is necessary
to begin in spite of vain clamours. It is necessary, in the
first place, to enlighten the public mind, and to make those
pc ells think and calculate who are able to do so, and then
the public voice will demand the revision of the tariff in a
manner not to be refused. It is thus that they proceeded in
England, and it is thus only that we will succeed; and we
draw attention to the banquet given to Mr. Cobden, because
the language used by all the speakers appeared to us to be
calculated to make some impression on all moderate minds,
and on all practical men. The toasts proposed were in gene-
ral warmly applauded. The speech'of Mr. Cobden, which
was very well spoken in French, was particularly inter-
rupted by numerous and animated marks of aperobat ion.
All that he said about France was in very good taste. The
summary refutation of the principal arguments used against
the English League, and which are the same as are now re-
produced in France, was also very successful. It was consi-
dered as showing rare good sense, and in a very original
form. We give the speech at length.
The first toast. was the King, proposed by the CHAIRMAN,
accompanied with the following sentiment:—" May the
establishment of freedom of commerce add a new éclat to a
reign which has been already signalised by so many ser-
vices rendered to the prosperity of industry and the peace of
the world."
M. lionacE iAY, the vice-president, then proposed the
health of " Richard Cobden," and said—Was there occasion
to add one word to the toast? That name was in every
mouth. It gave rise everywhere to the same sentiments,
the same sympathies, the same ideas. It was to them the
picture of feudality crushed in England under the redoubt-
able blows of good sense. It is the emancipation of la-
bourers, who found in the liberty of exchange the com-
pletion of the right of property over the fruit of their labours.
It is the peace of the world by the tie which the liberty of
commerce will establish between all nations. In Mr. Cobden
we find personated that League which, after seven years of
perseverance, talent, and courage, has concluded one of the
greatest revolutions of modern times. The result has been
obtained not only by the abolition of the iniquitous corn-
laws, but besides them, and it is of importance to the whole
world, by the inauguration of the great principle of the liberty
of exchange. The means employed was open discussion
throughout the country—discussion which has enlightened
public opinion, destroyed prejudices, and done justice to the
sophisms continually reproduced in favour of monopoly—dis-
cussions in which the Villierses, Wilsons, Brights, and Foxes
have shown that the highest eloquence is that which sup-
ports truth, and pleads for the sacred cause of humanit y. Let us
rejoice to see amongst us the man who was the real soul of the
League, by his noble cheracter, his powerful language, his
irresilible logic, which more than all others have contributed
to success. To the health of Richard Cobden !—(Cheers.)
Mr. COBDEN replied in French, but the following is a
translation of his speech :—"Gentlemen—lt is to me a source
of great regret that there should be in this company more
than one language, where I am sure there is but one heart.
Under the most favourable circumstances it would be difficult
to give utterance to my present emotions; how impossible,
then, must it be to express my feelings in a language that is,
unfortunately, not familiar to me. Gentlemen, I beg you to
believe thatrl am heartily grateful for the cordial manner in
which you have responded to the much too flattering terms
in which our excellent President has been pleased to intro-
duce my name to your notice. I will, with your permission,
am
sion,
claim for others a large share of his commendatin
but one humble individuul amongst many of far higher merit,
who have laboured long for the triumph of a great and bene-
ficent principle. On behalf of my absent colleagues, let me
thank you for your sympathy. But having disavowed for my-
self any exclusive merit. in the work which has been accom-
plished, I may be allowed without egotism to agree with this
meeting in the views it entertains of the importance of our
victory. Free trade is another clause added to the charter
of human freedom. It is a new land mark erected in the
pathway of nations to illustrate the progress of civilization
in the nineteenth century. We had already achieved the
rights of conscience, the liberty of speech, and the invio-
lability of the press, and now we possess the freedom of
s
in-
dustry. And I must avow that I could not consider_ myself
e_ls.
the citizen of a perfectly free nation so long ae.estb that
badge of slavery remained in the form of monopolies which
derived my countrymen of the right
etonceenioy,
full re-
ward of their labour and ingenuity.
EnG
LisLintenn. 'l4 speak
as
an Englishman,. and of the
rights ofthergcapacity. Ido Rot
ao
title to appear before you atiotio
will 0 us the justice to
stand here as a propagandist- a 40=0114 etrictly withittetly
ackuowledigq thg contuae •

own national limitsin our free-trade agitation. We neither
sought for aid abroad, nor stipulated for conditions with
other countries; nay, I will candidly admit to you that any
admixture of such toreign elements would have only compli-
cated and retarded our movement. Would to Heaven that
every other people were left as we were left, free to carry out its
owu domestic reforms, without the intervention of extraneous
influences. Having said this, you will not suppose, if I add
a word or two upon the proceedings of our League, that I
do it with the view to incite you to imitate us. The League
was organised solely for the purpose of disseminating
amongst the English people those truths which Adam
Smith and your own Baptist Jay had promulgated half a
century before. We wished to make their principles,
which had been confined to the knowledge of the learned
few, familiar to the mass of our countrymen. Our object
was to prepare public opinion for the removal of all those
impediments, which, under the name of protective duties,
prevented the flee exchange of our productions for those
of all other countries. We wished, moreover, to teach
the Government that its duty consisted in abstaining
from all interference with trade. The doctrine of the
League could not be better explained than in the words
of your own great Turbot, written I believe before Adam
Smith published the " Wealth of Nations." "Ce que l'Etat
&tit I chacun de ses membres, c'est la destruction
des obstacles, qui les generaient dans leur indust-
trie, ou qui lea troubleraient dans la jouissence des
produits qui en seraient la recompense. hi ces obstacles
subsistent, les bienfaits particuliers ne diminueront point
la pauvrt te generale, peace que la cause restare tout entiere."
There, gentlemen, all that I have spoken or written in Eng-
land or the last seven years has been only an amplification
of this maxim of your illustrious statesman. The League
rai'ed funds, established its own journal, printed hundreds of
tons weigh of tracts, which were distributed V:roughout the
land, and sent forth its missionaries to lecture in every town.
Copying, in our moral warfare, the tactics of your great
general, we precipitated all our force upon one
division of the enemy. We attacked the corn-laws with
a full expectation (which has been since realised) that if we
carried that position, the rest of the monopolists would
surrender at discretion. I shall not dwell upon the details
of our struggle further than to give you one or two of the
great arguments with which our opponents managed so Iota;
to maintain their ground. If you should find them to re-
semble t hose which you are accustomed to meet with in France,
it will not surprise me, for as truth everywhere wears the
same divine aspect, so error must always disguise itseif in
similar sophistries. Our opponents, the monopolists, pleaded
that they were heavily taxed by the Government, and that,
therefore, they required protection. Our reply was, that we,
the free-traders, were as heavily taxed as they, and that that
was one great reason why we could not afford to pay addi-
tional taxes for their protection, and after a seven years' trial
before the tribunal of public opinion it has been decided that
we were right. Then they urged how dreadful it would be
to be dependent upon foreigners for food—that it it had only
concerned articles of clothing, or wood, or iron, it might
have been tolerated; but what madness to be at the mercy
of foreigners for corn! Well, the people took time to con-
sider this terrible plea, and at length decided that they
would not subject themselves to famine during the time of
peace for the fear of being starved in ease of war. But the
great argument of all is to come. Our opponents set them-
selves up as the representatives of native industry; they
protested that they were the great employers of labour,
the supporters of the revenue, and the main pillars of the
State. We modestly ventured to suggest that au interest so
powerful ought at least to be able to support itself, without
putting its hands into other people's pockets. We were then
assailed as traitors to England, who wished to ruin our native
country to enrich foreigners; we were denounced as the
friends of France, America, and Germany, nay one of the
protectionist journals actually charged us with -being in the
pay of the Emperor of Russia. le vain did we try by argu-
ments and facts to put an end to this ever-repeated tale of
native industry. Oh, the hundreds of dull speeches that I
have been doomed to hear in the House of Commons in de-
fence of restive industry? I shudder when I think
of their length and weight, and wonder that I am
alive to tell you of my sufferings. At last the judg.
ment of public opinion saved me by declaring that
all kinds of industry were equally native industry, mid that
to one portion of it was entitled to any privileges at the ex-
pense of the rest. There was one claws of our opponents, the
most able men in the ranks of the votectiouists, who eeeilie
the impossibility of defending any of these argame ts sought
refuge in an abstraction : We agree with ycu," said they.
" in principle we admit that you are right in the abstract."
To them we replied, that we were not fighting with a
phantom, but with a pretty numerous body made up of
flesh and blood, and which was making free with other
men's property ; we asked them it' they were prepared to
maintain that the eighth commandment was an abstraction.
Oh, give me an opponent who will admit that I am right in
the abstract! We felt that we had nearly finished our
struggle when our ablest adversaries were driven to admit
the justice of our principles in the abstract. I must not omit
to do honour to one class of our antagonists who had the
prudence to resort to prophecies instead of appealing to
the facts and experience of the past. They always argued
in the future tense. 'rimy predicted for seven years without
ceasing, that if the corn-laws were abolished the land of
England would be thrown out of cultivation, and no rent
would be paid to the proprietors. Well the corn-laws are
abolished, and these very men have since been selling and
letting their land higher than before. I am delighted for their
own sakes that they have proved as false in prophecy as they
were deficient in logic. The same men predicted that if we
threw open our ports without stipulation with foreigners, that
other con:ltries would not follow our example; unluckily for
these prophets the last mail from America brings the account
of the passing of a new tariff in the United States almost as
liberal as our own, and I am told his Holiness the Pope is pre-
paring to add his infallible te-timony to the truth of tree-
trade principles, But lam w earying you with these recitals.
Suffice it to say, that our victory was achieved after more than
seven years of discussion had elicited every argument in de-
fence of protection which the ingenuity and the sincere
alarm of the protectionists could devi'e. if you ask me
whether the question is settled for ever. I answer, Yes ; for
in England we Dever recede one inch in the path of reform,
when every step has been gained by the force of reason and
argument. Besides, we have no man deserving the name of
a statesman who would undertake a Government founded
upon the protective principle. Ido not speak merely of Sir
Robert Peel, who has immortalised his name by the part he
took in the emancipation of our cernmerce,or ofLordJ.Russell,
who so nobly supported him, but I mean that there is not one
member of the late or present Ministry who now advocates the
principle of protete ion. One and all have modestly repudiated,
on the part of Government, the right of interfering with the
freedom of individual industry and enteratiee. Gentle-
men, I should not be doing justice to my own feelings, or the
views of those with when I have had the honour to co-
operate in England if I sat down without saying that we
look for far higher results from the universal application of
our principles than those to which I have alluded. Doubtless
it is good to extend commerce, to multiply the comforts of
life, to stimulate industry, and increase the rewards of labour ;
but, valuable as are these physical gains, free-trade is des-
tined to confer a far greater moral blessing upon humanity.
You have joined this evening in drinking a toast to "peace"
—a sentiment which will find a response in every English
free-trader. True, we have now peace in Europe, but at
what cost is it preserved ? Everywhere we see preparations
for war. Peace is neon our lips, but war resounds from our
arsenals. The world sighs for some better guarantee
against that scourge of humanity than is to be found in
enormous and cosily armaments by land and sea; for ex-
perience has, unhappily, proved that the warlike passions of
communities are more likely to be stimulated than sup-
pressed by the threatenings which surround them. To
render peace something better than an armed truce,
we must array on its side such a preponderance of ma-
terial interests as shall prevent the possibility of war. Here,
then, is the mission of the free-traders! Do we believe that
the daily and hourly interchange of mutual services
which must follow from the triumph of our principles
would aftbrd the surest safeguard against national hosti-
lities? Do we believe that free trade, if adopted by all
countries, would make the universal people the negotiators
of peaceful relations with each other, and thus put an end
fur ever to our present system, by which the balance of
peace and war between two great nations trembles upon
the finger of diplomacy ? If we sincerely believe
this, then it is our duty to strive to demolish those barriers
which separate man from his brother man, and which pre-
vent them from interchanging the kind offices of
humanity. Let nations meet face to face in the spirit in
which we meet together this evening, forgettieg that we I
are Frtnehraen and Englishmen, and remembering only
that we are men. This must be the object of every tree-
trader, each in his own legitimate sphere. Gentlemen, I
heartily thank you for the patience with which you have
listened to this imperfect expression of my sentiments, and,
in conclusion, I drink with you to the " Cuion of all
Nations."

This toast was received with great enthusiasm, as were
also several others in favour of free trade, and the ameliora-
tion of the condition of the labouring classes, which were
proposed by different gentlemen.

THE PRICE OF BREAD.—On Thursday, in the metro.
polls, there was a general rise in the price of bread to the amount
of one halfpenny on the quartern loaf; the highest price is NOW, con-
sequently, 9d., and the lowest 6d. The Edingburgh Weekly Journal of
Wednesday states, that " in Glasgow and Dundee, the fine 41b. loaf
Is retailed at id. ; in Edinburgh, the bakers demand for a mired
oar. 7d.
HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.—There were present at
ber Majesty's Theatre on Thursday evening her Royal High-
ness the Duches of Cambridge, accompanied by their Serene High-
nesses the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Meeklenburgh Strelito,
and attended by the Baron Kneseb. ck ; her Majesty the Queen
Dowager's box was occupied by the Marquis and Marchioness of
Clanricardc and party. There was also present his Royal Highness
Prince George 01 Camoridge, the Duke of Wellington, the Marquis
of Headfort, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Baroness isrunnow and
Millie. Olga de Lechner, the Prince Treubetakol, the General de Berg
and Madame de Berg, the Count and Countess de Jarnac, the Duke
de Litta, his Excellency the General Count Bjomstjerna, the Earl of
St. Vincent and the lion. Mrs. Dyce Sombre, the Earl and Countess
of Bective, the Countess of Blessington, the Viscount and Viscountess
Palmerston, the Count de Courcy, Lord Arthur Lennox, the Ladies
Dulicannon, Lord and Lady Carriegtue, Lady Laieley, Lord Ward
Connt D'Orsay, Lied and Lady Shelburne, Lord and Lady _rumple.
more, the Count M. tie Berg, Both Mr. Will aighby, lion.
General Upton, Hon> Foley, Hon. Mr ii. air Join Bur.
goync, &e.
THE LATE ACCIDENT ON THE EASTERN COUNTIES
Itatewar.—in a Parliamentary paper, obtained by Sir H. Inglis, an
account was given of the late accident on the Eastern Counties Rail-
. way, as rendered by the secretary (31r. Roney) to the railway de-
partment of the board ot"frade. Un the 18th of Ju!y the passengers
injured were—Mrs. Payne, leg broken ; Mrs. Wetdeultall, ditto ;
Mrs Bromley, contused ; Mrs. litliooe, concussion of brain bliss
Thiiiiewood, arm broken; Thomas :Millwood, loot
ii• ed.' J h Smith, ribs broken ; Hiram Morrish, foot injured ; lticljaurrd .Murphy,
ley, William Keeler, collar-lame -broken ,e•
Cotton,
stone,
COntu,,ed face; Archer Ryland. leg injured; William shaken ;
Joh, I.•ratads, ditto; William Thorougliwood, ribs brokeini:
W. Preston, knees injured; William Hind, concussion of brLi''it4-
e Atkins, shaken ; Mr. Bromley, fractured leg; Mr. seeone., le'‘, in.
Juredi Mr:le:Slipper; shaken; Miss Crippen, ditto; Juhn Peire:
- dislocated shoulder; Hon. George de Gray, bead cat ; Miss Bur:
Welter, shaken; Rev. U. Wrightson, 'wee broken and cut
eye; Thomas Clifford, aliaken ; 11. Olive, porter, Company'a
service, leg broken ; William Prentice, ditto; and Janies Skef-
linzton, bruised. The following remarks appear on the re.
tun: as made-by the secretary :—" The circumstances were fully in•
vests sated on the tfOth ult., before the magistrates at Ilford, and the
• eagi,e.defeer and stoker, on whom the blame rests, committed for
- trial at the Chelmsford sessions. The sufferers, with the exception
a ma,. Prentice, arc reported to be going on favourably on the
whole. Aug. 12. Mr. hind has since died; an inquest was held, and
the jury returned a verdict of ' Manslaughter' against William Clare,
• the driver. Porter Prentice's leg has been amputated, and he is
now reported to be going on favourably." In the column stating
tae natere of the accident, it is mentioned fhat " the one o'clock
. up-train from Ipswich was discharging its passengers at the Strat-
ford station, when a train, consisting of an engine and some empty
trucks, ran Into it." The cease of the accident is described in the
following terms :—"Disobedience of orders on the part of the engine-
driver and stalker of the trucks' train in discharging signals."
INTENDED VISIT OF HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE
Patocess OF Panssti.—We understand that his Excellency Chevalier
Bunsen has revived official Intimation that her Royal Highness the
Princess. of Pmesta; •consort of Prince William of Prussia, eldest
• brother cut the-King; will visit this country at the close of thiS month,
• with Dia viese of sojourning three weeks here. Her Royal Highness
Is alipsefed to-accompany her Majesty the Queen Dowager and his
Serene,Wghness Prince Edward of aaxe Weimar. -Queen Adelaide.
' and otter inebihone of the family, have been visiting their Serene
'fljefel'ifffseetlfis Gtand Duke and Grand 'Duchess of Saxe Weimar, at
• Wein At*Bl t4le Princess of Prussia ; and the illustrious Princess
revialatheY;Fleen;DowaVer, eri route to England, purpose to pay a0e134
c 'and • Queen of the Netherlands, at the flagne,. where
.• • tinarlifie ertpeeted to stay two days, and, then proc.e.ed tci Rotterdam
; ,Vo,eafbara untr y . The precise day fur Cic embarkation of
"tnewisufit party is sot defillitivay settled, but taller tlie lzsM or
'--1114- it is generally thought, will be selected.

THE

THE ANDOVER UNION.
REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE.
The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the admi-
nistration of the poor-laws in the Andover Union, and into
the management of the union workhouse, and into the con-
duct of the Poor-law Commisioners and their late Assis-
tant-Commissioner, Mr. Parker, with reference to the two
investigations held at Andover, and into all the circum-
stances under which the Poor-law Commis-Toners called
upon Mr. Parker to resign his Assistant-Commissionership ;
and who were instructed to inquire into all the circum-
stances under which Mr. Day was called upon to resign
his offiee of Assistant Poor-law Cemmissioner ; and who
were empowered to report the minutes of evidence taken
before them, together with their observations and opinion
thereupon, to the House; have considered the matters to
them referred, and have agreed to the following resolu-
tions :

RELIEF.
Resolved, that it is the opinion of this Committee,-
1. That it appears to have been the practice of the An-
dover board of guardians to consider and determine upon
cases as stated in the relieving officer's books, without pre-
viously inquiring whether the applicant or any person on his
behalf be in waiting.
2. That when applicants having made application to the
relieving officer have been admitted to the board, on its being
made known that they are present, it has ordinarily been
only on their objecting to the decision in the case; whereas
justice and humanity alike require that every applicant for
relief should have the opportunity, if in waiting, of making
a personal statement before his case be decided upon.
3. That the Andover board of guardians have adopted the
practice of leaving it to the relieving officer to communicate
their opinion to the applicant, a practice of which your Com-
mittee strongly disapprove, it being in their judgment no
less just to the pauper, than expedient, with a view of pre-
venting mistake orfraud, that the decision in each case should
be communicated to the applicant, if in attendance, by the
presiding chairman, in the presence of the board.
4. That in this censure on the practice of the Andover
guardians, the Committee would not be understood as fa-
vouring a practice which may often lead to serious hardship,
of requiring all applicants to attend at the board.
5. That the tree admission to the presence of the board of
applicants for relief was the more important in the Andover
Union, in which it has been proved that the relieving officer's
books have been very imperfectly kept ; columns which
should contain important particulars, e. g., the earnings of
the applicant, and the present cause of seking relief, being
often left entirely blank.
6. That from instances brought under their notice, the
Committee believe that the board of guardians have, in
several cases of applications for relief to them, left to the
relieving officer a large dis:retionary power as to adminis-
tering or withholding it. While they admit that, under
special circumstances, this may sometimes be necessary
(though whether such special circumstances existed in the
cases referred to, the detective state of the relieving officer's
book affords no evidence), the Committee think it right to
record their conviction of the impropriety and inexpediency,
under ordinary cases, of thus delegating to the relieving
officer the discretion which the law has vested in the board
of guardians.
7. That in regard to the non-all.twance of partial relief to
the aged and partially disabled, a principle which appears to
have been generally acted upon in the Andover Union, the
Committee feel bound to express their apprehension, that, if
rigidly carried out, it may lead to various individual hard-
ships, without any equivalent amount of public advantage.
It is just to add, that the boards of guardians have in this
respect only followed out the recommendations of the Poor-
law Commissioners in their annual reports and other publi-
ciitions, trough no order has been issued by the Poor-law
Commissioners to that effect.
8. That on the application of an able-bodied man for re-
lief, on account of sickness ir his family, and also in some
instances where the applicant has been partially disabled,
the Andover board have required, as a condition upon which
such relief is made dependent, that he should perform a cer-
tain task of work at the workhouse, the amount of food to be
allowed to him not being supplied until such task is com-
pleted; and although, as stated by some witnesses to have
been the case, thi, practice may have been only adopted as
regards the able-bodied applicant, and where lie is out of
work, and under circumstances, therefore, which, were it not
tiw the sickness in his family, would render admission to the
workhouse the only relief applicable in that union to the
case, still your Committee think that the annexing this con-
dition to the relief otherwise deemed necessary, and espe-
cially where parties are brought long distances from their
homes, to execute the task imposed, is (except under sus-
picion of fraud or gross imposition) an unduly severe mode
of administering relief.

WORKHOUSE.
Resolved, that it is the opinion of this Committee—
' 1. That on the investigation which took place in Septem-
, her, 180 (as hereinafter stated), before Mr. Parker, many
charges of gross immorality, and of fraudulent appropriatit n
of the workiouse stores, were brought forward against
Mr. M'Dougal, the then master of the workhouse, and were
deposed to en oath by many witnesses; that that investiga-
tion was brought to a close (under the circumstances parti-
cularly detailed in the papers and evidence printed here-
with) by Mr. M•Dougal's resignation of his office, no evi-
dence up to that time having been brought forward by
him in his defence against the greater part of the charges so
preferred.
2. That having reference as well to the necessarily great
extent and variety of the subjects referred to them, as more
especially to their obvious incompetency to complete that
inquiry satisfactorily without the power of administering an
oath, the Committee have thought themselves justified in
forbearing to re-open the investigation referred to.
3. That the Committee at the same time think it right to
state that several of the witnesses examined in proof of the
charges of gross immorality on such previous investigation,
have given evidence before them, as well upon points which
did not come under inquiry in that investigation as upon
some matters which were then deposed to, and that the
evidence so given appears to your Committee entitled to
credit.
4. That this Committee is of opinion that Mr M'Dougal's
conduct while master of the workhouse was marked by
undue severity; that he was, on several occasions, once even
when reading prayers to the inmates, seen in a state of in-
toxication ' • that he was utterly deficient in many of the
qualities which are of essential importance in the difficult
position which be tilled. viz., fairness and impartiality, a due
sense of truth, a well-regulated temper, and proper habits of
self-control.
5. That the Committee cannot refrain from directing
special attention to the case of Hannah Joyce; she appears
to have been presumed by Mr. and Mrs. 111‘DJugal to have
been guilty of child murder, not only without evidence, but
against the verdict of the coroner's jury, and to have been
treated by them, in consequence, with great cruelty. It has
been further proved, that on the day of the inquest on the •
body of her child she was threatened by Mrs. AP Dougal with
being compelled to sleep in the dead-house, where that body
was then lying; and having been confined, apart from the
other women, in the night time, she was forced by Mr.
M'Dougal to carry the body of her own child up the High-
street of Andover to the grave; moreover, on the occasion of
her leaving the workhouse, some days afterwards, Mrs.
11‘Dougal directed some of the female inmates to take pans,
plates, Asa, and make as much noise as they could, on the
ground of her presumed guilt. It also appears that this I
latter proceeding took place at the time when the guardians
were assembled in the board room, and that some of the
guardians, at least, were aware of what was going on ; but
no inquiry appears to have been instituted by the board, nor
any censure passed in consequence of the outrage which had
been committed.
6. That as a farther proof of the ill-regulated state of the
workhouse, your Committee refer to the fact that
commitments took place to the gaol of Andover during'---
for offences against the rules and discipline of the work-
house, a state of things which they believe could not have
existed had the workhouse been properly managed. That
they cannot omit farther to state, that it has been proved
that on numerous occasions individuals were taken from the
workhouse to the borough gaol of Andover, by the direc-
tions of Mr. DPDougal, and were subsequently discharged
therefrom without, on either occasion, being taken before a
justice of the peace.
7. That without going further in this place into details,
fur which they refer to the evidence and papers printed here-
with, the Committee feel bound, upon the evidence given
before them, to express their conviction of the utter unfit-
ness of Mr. M'Dougal and his wife for the situations of mas-
ter and matron, which they respectively held from December,
1836, to December, 1845, and they have therefore learned
with much astonisment that his influence with the board
has been far greater than that which should properly
belong to his office, and the confidence reposed in him seems
to have been unqualified.
8. That the Committee feel called upon further to express
their opinion that no such misgovernment of the workhouse
could have taken place bad the visiting Committee acted re-
gularly and duly in the discharge of their important duties,
as defined in the workhouse rules laid down by the Poor-law
Commissioners (Article 56), and carefully recorded the re-
sults of their observations and inquiries for the weekly in-
formation of the Board.
9. That the Committee believe it to be one of the most im-
portant duties of the Visiting Committee to ascertain from

inmates whether any groundexists for just complaint; to
inquire into such complaints when preferred, and so to
discharge this part of their functions, that the inmates
may entertain a just confidence in the•fairnees of those
under whose charge they are placed; but your Committee
fear that in the Andover workhouse this important duty
of the visiting gudrdiaus has not been satisfactorily per. ,
formed.

10. That the bad administration of the Andover work-
house, and the rigour with which tbe board of guardians,
generally acting in accordance with the frequently published
views of the Poor-law Commissioners, have carried out the
law, have often been the means of inducing labourers to
accept reduced wages in order to avoid the workhouse.
11. That the system, as pursued at the Andover board, of
granting gratuities to the master for boys and girls placed
out to service, without requiring any proper voucher for the
accuracy of the master's statement, was very reprehensible.
WORKHOUSE DIETARY.
Resolved, that it is the opinion of this Committee,-
1. That in the month of February, 1836, several forms of
dietary were 9,•bt down by the Poor-law Commissioners, of
which one, marked No. 8, was selected by the board of
guardians for adoption in the wol:kh,,nse, and sanctioned by
the Commissioners, and has been in use from that time until

December, 1845.
the:2.1,12
Poor-law
ai theirc,)ln osieicsositounl
earnsn ualre
publishedpc)rt,
spixubtol ifsih_oesd
findfi
eltBa3f7y,
r as actuallydi
at Andover, and is is fact a superior dietary.
ersininulielri allvorrekshpoecutsses'frobnul but
formthat No. 3., ,3,aso gsanc-
tioneduchfoin 3a.oslv,'heartfo-otuhreCiroinorioiitrtieees hua.hviechnootanreceeizbdle atnhyomevitdoeenxc.e
plain satisfactorily this admitted discrepancy, and that in the
absence of any such explanation they must infer that the
improvement made in the form No. 3, between its transmis-
sion to the Andover Union, and its publication in the second
annual report, was owing to its being judged insufficient by
the Poor-law Commissioners; they cannot in any case re-
frain from expressing their surprise that the improved die-
tary, as printed in the second annual report, was never spe-
cially communicated to the Andover board.
4. That from toe evidence taken before the Committee, and
from the circumstance that the board of guardians, on the
recommendation of, and in concurrence with the Poor-law
Commissioners, have lately thought it advisable to adopt a
higher scale, the Committee believe, that from the forma-
tion of the union until the last autumn, the general dietary of
the workhouse was, in quantity at least, too low, and more
particularly- that the allowance of bread was insufficient;
and they find that this dietary was often further diminished
by the dishonesty of the master. It is right, however, to
add that on the first inquiry held by Mr. Parker, on the
sth of August, 1845, the medical officers of the union, Mr.
Westlake and Mr. Payne, gave evidence on oath in favour
of the sufficiency of the workhouse dietary to maintain the
inmates in health. But it has been proved before" the Com-
mittee that some of the inmates of the workhouse were in the
habit of eating raw potatoes and grain and refuse food which
had been thrown to the hogs and fowls.
5. That it has been proved that during the continuance of
that dietary, and while Mr. AtTougar was master of the
workhouse, instances occurred in which inmates of the
workhCuse, employed in bone crushing, eat the marrow re-
maining
ititharesh bones whiCh they were set•tctineak.
6. That although the practice of bone-crushing at the An-
clover workhouse Tr ae in operation in the year 1841, and the .

petition from another union complaining of its injurious
effects was presented to Parliament in 1842, it appears that
no order for the absolute discontianance and abolition of the
practice was issued by the Poor-law Commissioners until
November, 1845. As, however, the practice of bone-crush-
ing in workhouses is discontinued in the Andover Union-
bombe, and plohibite,l by a general order of the Poor-law
Commissioners, it does not appear necessary to remark
further upon this point than to say, that by a very irregular
and improper practice the produce of the labour of the
paupers in bone-crushing at the workhouse is stated to have
been disposed of among the guardians, by the chairman
puting up the same at a sort of mock auction in the board-
room.

7. That it is the opinion of the Committee, that this em-
ployment—or in fact any labour which can justly be con-
sidered of a penal or disgusting character—should not be
adopted by boards of guardians, as such a course must tend
to prevent the really destitute poor from entering the union-
house, and is not consistent with a mild and considerate ad-
minisA.ation of the law.

8. That from evidence given before your Committee, they
believe that instances have occurred in which inmates of
the workhouse have not received the extra allowance to
which they were entitled ; and as regards the sick, inasmuch
as it was not the practice of the medical officer of the work-
house to make any such orders for extra allowance in writing,
or to record them in a bpok, as provided for by the work-
house regulations, there has thus been no satisfactory check
upon such abuse.

9. That the Committee are of opinion, that if the medical
officers of the Andover Union had held their appointments
during good behaviour, instead of being exposed to removal
at frequently recurring periodical elections, and had they
been in a position of less dependence upon the guardians, they
would have been in a position to execute the trust reposed in
them with much greater advantage to the interests of the
sick poor, and the abuses which have been exposed before
the Committee would have been earlier disclosed and more
efficiently checked, if not prevented; and your Committee
would refer the House to the order of the Poor-law Commis-
sioners of March 12, 1842 (Article 20), in which, while it
permits an annual appointment, the Commissioners have re-
cognised the principle of the appointment of medical officers,
" until they may die or resign, or become legally disqualified
to hold such office, or be removed therefrom by the Poor-law
Commissioners."

10. That no remonstrance appears ever to have been
made to the Poor-law Commissioners by the chairman, any
member, or nicer of the board, or by any Assistant Poor-
law Commissioner, upon the subject of this omission, or in
reference to any of the instances of irregularity and mis-
management which have been stated in evidence before the
Committee.

11. That the evidence before your Committee leads to the
belief that a general system of laxity has prevailed iu regard
to the accounts of the union ; that many important books
have remained for long periods unchecked; and that in this
respect the board of guardians, and more especially the clerk
of the union, have failed in the due performance of the duties
which they respectively owed to the ratepayers and the poor
of the district.

12. That your Committee cannot omit to mention, as one
contributing cause of the irregularities prevalent in the union,
the circumstance that the clerk has, trom the commence-
ment, been permitted, with the knowledge of the Commis-
sioners, to act by,deputyl a state of circumstances in which
it is obvious that the personal respectability of the principal
affords no security for the due and horeSt discharge of
the duties of the office, and from which, in this case, a
seri, us defalcation in respect to the funds of the union
(subsequently, however, made good by the principal clerk
out of his private funds, for the particulars of which your
Committee refer to Paper No. 3 in the Appendix) appears to
have taken place