The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-28 00:00:00

TRADES

THE TUR

The labourer and the capitalist, in the most logical
sense, represent the same thing. The property of either
is identical ; and. the terms by which it is known, ac-
cording as it is possessed by the one or the other, are
convertible. What is capital, but the labour of yester-
day ? and what is labour, but the capital of to- day ? It
is capital that pays for labour, and it is labour that gives
profit to capital. Of all worldly things, the labourer
should reverence capital, help to accumulate it,
and strain every nerve to increase its profits. Money is
capital, and capital is money. The labourers' wages are
thus paid by capital. The more capital there is in com-
parison to the supply of labour, the higher must wages
become—the greater the supply of labour in proportion
to capital, the less will labour be remunerated
and, therefore, where there is less money than
there are men, money will be of the greater value,and men of the lesser. Hence, in all poor countries
labour is cheap, and in rich countries dear. In Ireland,
where men are more abundant Than money, wages fall
to 6d. ; in England, where there is more money than
men,t)re j
theyand rtihsaento2s.
ploughmen,e d.
in
they America,
r reach
wh.
What
a t u
therenr is
their stupid cant, think they serve the cause of the work-
ingeir
deemed blockheads, then, must those men be who, in
m
men by emptying the vocabulary of Billingsgate
upon that class of the community by whose enterprise,
skill, and activity, wages are found for lab our ; or who,
with tongue set in cheek, and knowing wink, endeavour,
in inflated bombast, to inflame ignorance to madness
against the only hand that can help it, at the bidding
of a Stanhope, the signal of the Morning Post, or the
bribe of Bentinck, or the foolometry of Bond-street.
If all capital were exhausted in wages, where would
there be employment for the next generation of la-
bourers ? To melt all profit down to wages is less an
injury to the employer, than a robbery of the industry
of our posterity, in order to pamper the labourers of
the existing generation. The sooner capital is ex-
hausted, the earlier must employment cease—the more
pro
hembarkihfict r a
cbaopu irt
consequentlyapl r
icdu
in
t hc ee
ms h
e,
uxtstte enws
aigreaterogneso bf e
employment,
theleo.
y m
letn
it temptations
eacin tdial
ittheyo
evident that the higher profits and wages are, or, in
other words, the dearer the commodity is which is
produced, the less it will be bought, the demand will
fall off, and with it, of course, both wages and pro-
fits. It is a self-adjusting process, requiring neither
combinations amongst masters, nor strikes amongst
men. If wages encroach on profits, capital ceases
to employ labour, anti wages fall—if profits encroach on
wages, more capital is tempted to embark in the trade,
the demand fur labour increases, wages rise, and the
balance is re-adjusted. In the silk manufacture, which
is protected by a duty of 30 per cent., neither profits
nor wages are higher than in the cotton trade, which is
unprotected—the monopoly only tempted more capital
to compete with that already embarked, and induced
more weavers to eater the trade. Even the corn•laws
have done nothing for present profits in land. As rents
rose, capital sought investment in the sou, until three
per cent, has become the average profit of landholding.
Let us not be misunderstood. Our labours in the cause
of the repeal of the combination lases, are better
guarantees of our sympathy with the working classes,
than any mere hollow professions or empty asseve-
rations. As to the perfect moral and social
right of labour to strike for more wages, there
cannot be two opinions among sane men. The bakers
strike against the public for a rise in the price of bread
—the farmers at Mark-lane carry back their wheat, or
" hold" it, if the price does not suit, which is just a
turn-out against the millers for a rise in grain. The
tallow, or tea, or sugar merchants, refuse to sell, and
strike for a rise in the gains on their respective specula-
tions ; and the working man, a merchant of industry,
who takes his skill, his ten fingers, his labour to
market, instead of bread, or wheat, or tallow, or sugar,
is of course quite entitled to bring those home again if
the price does not please him, and strike for a rise in the
profits of labour, as other merchants turn out for
a rise in the profits of capital. But, as public
instructors and guardians of popular rights, bound
to do equal justice betwixt masters and men, and much
more, to protect the weak and peaceable against the
violent and the powerful, we must, once for all, declare
our inextinguishable detestation of all monopoly, whe-
ther of labour or of profit—of all tyranny or dictation,
whether of masters and men against etch other, or,
worse still, of men against men—of all invasions of the
perfect liberty of every subject of the State, whether
capitalist or operative, to " do what he likes with his
own." By effecting the repeal of. all protective duties on
domestic production, the class of capitalists have mani-
fested a spirit of justice worthy of all imitation ;
and by the abrogation of all the privileges of mu-
nicipal corporations, and throwing open every
branch of trade, commerce, and manufacture, to
every subject of the realm, instead of confining their
pursuit exclusively to guild brethren and freemen of
chartered companies, the middle classes have done all
that was possible to recognise the commercial equalities
of citizenship. Can this be fairly said of the class of
operative artizans ? Have they thrown
open their re-
spective crafts to the equal competition of their fellow-
countrymen ? Have they abandoned their pretensions
to a monopoly of labour ? We have seen notices posted
upon many factories, prohibiting any man from seeking
work from the master, without previous liberty from the
hands to do so. To say nothing of their dictation to-
wards the employer, what is this but a deprivation of
the right of their fellow workman to dispose of his
labour in competition with their own ? In nearly every
trade the journeymen pass stringent rules, to prohibit
masters from taking more than a certain limited number
of apprentices. But if agricultural labourers earn only
14d. a day, and the batter, or carpenter, or bricklayer,
or tailor, can get ss. for the latter to say to the
former, "We shan't admit you into our trade, or permit
your sons to be taught as apprentices to it," is to commit
a double wrong, by preventing a peasant from improving
his own or children's condition, and by rendering it im-
practicable for agriculture to relieve itself of that glut of
labour which reduces its wages below the means of sub-
sistence. We speak, as we have always spoken, without
either. fear or favour. We have waged an exterminating
warfare-with the exclusive privileges of corporations,
the tricks of trade, the iniquities of protected manufac-
tures, and the monopoly of lanclocrats. It is now time
that we should 'also remind those who have not yet
cleared their minds of the prejudices of the protective
system, and of the stupid crotchets and inflated nonsense
of mouthing, itinerant patriots, that of all oppression the
most cruel, and of all dictation the most intolerable, is that
which is practised, not by the poor against the rich, but by
the poor against the poor. What right has one poor man to
say to another that is poorer, " You shall not be suffered
to ask leave to work?" or one class to tell another, " You
shall not be permitted to learn the mysteries of our craft,
becausewe claim the privilege of keeping the employ-
ment it affords entirely to ourselves?" How shall those
denounce masters, who go from factory to factory, for-
cibly to prevent the hands from any longer following
their avocations ; march up the lines of railway to pro-
hibit labourers from earning their bread, under penalty
of the most dreadful imprecations, meet importations of
workmen from the south at the pier, and threaten them
with murder, if they dare to accept of em-
ployment, or cast vitriol in the eyes, or cast lots for
perpetrating the assassination of those who only desire
peaceably to earn their daily bread ? There is a reign
of terror in Ireland—and exterminating warfare of the
poor against the poor—an atrocious system of dictation
to the orderly and well-disposed, by the turbulent, the
idle, and those who allow liberty only to themselves.
Let us have none of that in honest, free, right-minded,
intelligent England. We have defended men from the
oppression of their masters. We are also determined to
protect men from practising tyranny against each other.
We have said that voluntary strikes are perfectly justis
fiable ; but we must also add, that in our whole expe-
rience, we never knew them to be wise. What turn-out
ever ended substantially in gain to the operative ? From
first to last, the war of labour against capital has termi-
nated uniformly and inevitably in favour of the latter. A
great amount of money has been sprit, wages lost, and
profit prevented from being realised, to the loss of all,
and the final humiliation of the labourer, by the reduc-
tion of wages, conseqeent on the destruction of employ-
ment. C Irk, Dublin, Limerick, have lost large and lu-
crative branches of trade and manufactures, and Ireland
nearly all its mineral commerce, by strikes. Soitalfields
has driven the silk trade to the north by dictating an
Act of Parliament rate of wages to the capitalist. The
trade of Sheffield is rapidly leaving it by the in-
sane tyranny of the artisans. How can it be other-
wise ? Capital owes no allegiance to
any soil or trade,
or manufacture. It cannot be bullied out of its own

terms. It will do what it pleases, and go where it
likes, and has this great advantage over its assailants,
that when it is idle it does not need to be fed. It

may, indeed, be possible to prescribe the conditions on
which it is to be employed, but it is not possible to com-
pel its employment, if it does not accept of those condi-
tions. Presume to dictate to it, and it will insensibly
steal out of the dictator's company, and join a less re-
stricted speculation. Meet it everywhere with fetters on
its use, and it will noiselessly emigrate to some freer at-
it will altogether evaporate, and leave labour without
mosphere. Arrest it, if it be possible, on its flight, and
employment, and its suicidal tyrant without wages.
Strikes in such a country . as this 1 Are there not four
millions of Irishmen starving on sixpence a day, and two
millions and a half totally without employment ? Are
there not a million and a half of unemployed English
and Welsh paupers in our union woikhouses ? Are
there not two hundred thousand Scotch "able-bodied
poor ?" Here are upwards of four millions of the people
ready to fill.up any gap, or to rush into any port of in-
dustry that will shelter them from the storm of poverty.
Until they are all absorbed into the labour market, fairly
paid waon oldrkmehn strike'owusheoabout
thfeoirr aearriss.e ofcolliers strike for wages, infallibly
a rise on 3s. 6d. a day, and large importations from
Ulster instantly displace the recusants, and create a re-
dundancy of labour. Weavers strike in Manchester,
and Mr. Muggeridge draws hosts of emigrants from
Wilts and Dorset to jump into the shoes of the Lanca-
shire operatives. Liverpool bricklayers and carpenters
strike, and shoals of underpaid workmen from Devon-
shire are glad to get the wages which the local hands
despise. British navigators turn out, and a whole
colony from Ireland cheerfully accept of re-
muneration, amounting to seven or eight times what
they can earn at home, and so permanently supersede
the malcontents, when they offer to resume their
work, they are not accepted. Let this system of
strikes go on long enough,, and the wages of the skilful
artisan will sink to the level of those ot the hodmen, anti
those of the highest-paid districts will equalise themselves
with those of the Tipperary serf, or the Dorsetshire
ploughman. Force up wages in any trade, and such a
temptation will thus be held out to labour, that a glut
in the supply of operatives will rapidly beat down the
price. But the higher wages are, the lower profits be-
come ; the inducement to employ capital in the trade
diminishes, the demand for labour consequently falls,
and wages come down. Where, of course by moderate
wages, profits increase, capital is called into the market,
employment enlarges, And wages mount. Let the work-

: ing classes, then, beware of tampering with capital, or
with the customers of the capitalist, by inconsi-
derate turn-outs, or mere experimental strikes. So long
as 4,000,000 of paupers are waiting to be employed, and
capital can live without food, the inevitable result must
be signal discomfiture. If they will venture on the ex-
periment, let them wait until the corn-law is repealed,
and the new tariff passed. The nation will have
50,000,0001. a-year more to spend on manufactures ;
foreig❑ trade will also be extended, and the much
greater cheapness of all the necessaries of life will
enable the labourer to sustain a turn out for a much
longer period, at a time, too, when universal commercial
activity will render his assistance more indispensable.
In the existing stagnation of trade, when the supply of
labour is greater than the demand, common sense will
shew him the necessity of postponing his action upon
the market to a more convenient season, when greater
intelligence and more ripe advice may at least convince
him that his wisest policy with 4,000,000 of competitors,
ready and eager to jump into his shoes, is to let sleeping
dogs lie, to know when he is well, and to keep a good
place when he has got it.—hispatch.

MILiTAR
Y HONOURS.
(Fromsut the Tunes.)
teiVtime informed of the
The army of the
spirit in which its services have been acknowledged by a
grateful nation ; and the troops are now displaying
vanquished country or bringing home to theirP oavnnlhtooresst
the honours and decorations which have been the due reward
of their conduct and courage. Our own tribute of admira-
tion to this army has been neither scantily measured nor
tardily paid. In the absence of information, we augured
nothing but success from the known character of the soldiers
and their chiefs ; and when the first shapeless rumours were
tortured by our contemporaries into tidings of that disaster
and defeat which their ill-omened forebodings had predicted,
we combated, by argument and inference, the credit
and currency which ill news can always too readily
command. It is not in any invidious or ungracious
spirit that we now advert to the subject. Our remarks, we
are quite certain, will but embody the sentiments of nine-
tenths of our readers, and give expression to thoughts and
feelings which half the nation must have involuntarily ex-
perienced. It is in itself no slight consequence of the obdu-
racy which has refused to the Peninsula veterans the recom-
pense of a riband that at the recurrence and results of every
successive victory—of every event which should be the
signal of universal joy—a body of British soldiers should
be forced into a recollection of their own unheeded
services, and a vast portion of the public into an unseason-
able sympathy with their unmerited neglect. It would be
begging the question at issue if we were to endeavour to
collect from precedents what particular achievements were
entitled to decorations and what were not. It seems both
reasonable and necessary to conclude that the intrinsic
merits of the troops should have the foremost place in con-
ferring a claim to such rewards; and instances are not want-
ing, either in our own history or that of the French, where
honours have awaited even the unfavourable issue of a
struggle in which success, though not commanded, has been
deserved. The intensity and duration of the conflict, the
character of the enemy, the nature of the quarrel, the mag-
nitude of the stake at issue, the critical exigencies of the
period, are all considerations which may be fairly added to
those of the personal prowess of individuals or detachments.
A less equitable criterion, perhaps, is taken from the advan-
tage attending the event, when the gratitude of the
nation is measured by the benefits acquired, and
not by the efforts which acquired them. But, whatever
conceivable standard be assumed, we hold it as beyond
all question or denial that the veterans of the Pe-
ninsula are incomparably better entitled to a comme-
morative decoration than any soldiers whom the last
four generations of Englishmen have seen. From the day
when Marlborough was superseded on the Scheldt to the day
when Sir Arthur Wellesley landed at I%londego-bay—a dis-
tance of a century—England fought no great war. If by
such title is implied a desperate struggle between two
mighty nations, systematically conducted with all the art of
strategy and all the force of discipline through a series of
complicated campaigns up to a triumphant issue or an
equitable compromise, modern England has known but two
such—the war of Marlborough in the Low Countries, and
the war of Wellington in the reninsula. The title cannot
be bestowed on our faithful adherence to Maria Theresa, on
our escape at Dettingen, or our efforts at Foutenov ; nor on
our honourable diversions in favour of Frederic li., on the
subsidies we advanced, or the commander we lent him at
Minden ; nor on our grapple with Montcalm in the savage
wilds of America, or our captures of Quebec or Montreal;—

no, nor on our conqueSt of Hindostan. The bravery, and
perseverance, and success of the nation may be abundantly
illustrated from such transactions, but there is no prominent
chapter in English history for the great Prussian war, or
the great Austrian war, or the great American war. None
of these contests called a body of British soldiery into being
which stepped forth at a stride, and at once took place above
every other. Such a feat was never perfohned but twice.
In 1696 we were sneered at by Louis and Villeroi, and in
1796 by Napoleon and Carnot. Ships we might certainly
manage, but as to land-fighting the English were a cipher.
Marlborough and Wellington arose, and in 1713 and 1813 our
troops had fought their way through the armies of the first
military power in Europe to the very frontiers of its terri-
tory. In the coalition against the giant usurper England's
blow was given in the Peninsula. The records of that war
are the records of our share in the delivery of Europe; and
it is fur no less a service than this that a token of acknow-
ledgment has been now asked and refused. It is not for a
battle or a siege that the reward is required, for the passage
of a stream or the capture of a convoy. It is for seven suc-
cessive campaigns, the least of which would supply a battle
equal to any that has ever been blazoned on a medal; the
poorest of which would show a siege such as Vauban
never dreamt of; and the shortest of which, besides its
prominent and deathless glories, witnessed such unrecorded
instances of bravery and sufferings as the Gazettes of years
could never comprise. A comparison between this great
war and any other of the achievements usually re-
fersed to is impossible to be drawn. It can supply a parallel
to any one of them without suffering by the omission. Take
any serge or battle, or advance or retreat, or attack or sur-
prise—take any exploit which has either claimed or carried
off a decoration or reward, and you may match it, step by
step, from any campai.:n of the Peninsula war. Nothing ap-
proaches it but the campaigns of Marlborough. In these—
in their bloody battles, in their desperate storminga, in the
successive overthrows of the bravest French marshals, and
the defeats of the choicest French troops, in the gloomy com-
mencement and the triumphant close—there is a very re-
markable similitude. But such resemblance or rivalry
exists nowhere else; these two contests stand alone. Next
in rank are unquestionably the battles of India; but the
subjugation of Hindostan is not a fair subject for comparison.
It was a mighty contest, but not a great war. Even if
the campaigns of Clive and Coote could be connected with
those of Lake and Wellesley---even if the work had been
achieved in seven years, by a single army, and that
an English one-it could hardly be called so. There
was no well-matched and worthy foe for the British soldier
—scarcely for the British-drilled Sepoy. Few of the early
victories would be memorable, but for their momentous re-
sults and the strange disparity of the force by which they
were won. No partiality can represent Dhoondiah or Holkar
as a Soult or Massena. The mighty enemy was not in the
inhabitants, but in the country. This region and this cli-
mate our troops subdued; and we should be the last to dis-
parage the merit of the conquest. Nothing could have a
greater effect in elevating and ennobling the soldier's cha-
racter than some of the incidents of this Asiatic warfare.
The Indian soldier was an European in a country where
that birthright gave him precedence above millions. The
Indian officer directed districts and gave law to princes at
an age when other ensigns had hardly learnt their
facings. If, personally, the foe was often unworthy of
his bayonet, yet this 'fugitive and wily adversary was in-
trenched behind the most formidable bulwarks of nature.
There was the night march and the ceaseless chase,
through steaming forests and scorching sands, over the deep
ravine and the deadly jungle. Before a road could be
trodden it had to be made. Fullarton's movement against
Seringapatam, when we first shook our swords at Tippoo in
1783—Lake's unrivalled cavalry march upon Furruckabad—
and Smith's famous chase of Meer Khan, when our harassed
dragoons in one month rode over 700 miles of the roughest
country in the world—are exploits without a parallel in their
way. Even the hot and eager rush of Crauford's division to
get in time for the bloody glories of Talavera cannot match
them. We shall not be accused, we are sure, of any inclina-
nation to depreciate the Indian army, or any remissness in
advocating its claims; but in postponing them, to those of
the Peninsular veterans we are doing it neither injury nor
discredit. We are not for robbing one army to reward an-
other. Lord Hardinge and his troops have well won their
decorations. A riband at the breast is no exorbitant re
compense for four savage battles, even though the Seikh re-
doubts and the Sutlej were not like the bloody ford
of the Urumea or the fiery breach of Badajoz.
But could nothing be done for the best service
of all? Could no unappropriated combination of
colours be found—no square inch of riband spared—
no dangling bit of metal devised—to intimate that
the bearer had fought his way through a girdling chain of
forts and armies from Cadiz to St. Sebastian ; that he had
seen the backs of Massena, and Soult, and Suchet, and Junot,
Josephteol d
regimentalaanndd hMi
sa halfr m :
oint
osdnoV,i
over
rt
Frenchmenot rh;
etbhoar tdf6rhroesmohfald,
Spain, r hunted
en andet
—e d Kce
irnpiegednsating
the while his want of supplies by his sagacity and courage,
and learning his way as he went along? For it was in the
Peninsula that these men were formed. The host which

" could go anywhere and do anything" was not carrid into
Spain, but was made there. The history of the British army
is almost identical with the history of this war. It was here
that the different regiments' earned that individuality of re-
nown and character which gives to their otherwise meaning-
less numbers an historical life and a local habitation. Some
few corps had already made steps towards this position—
the 12th and 56th at Gibraltar—the 76th and 78th
in Central India—the 89th as far back as Plessey.
But it is in the records of these wars alone that the
regiments, and brigades, and divisions assume so memorable
a familiarity of aspect; it is from the Peninsula almost ex-
clusively that their titles are traced, and their nobility de-
rived. The war which gave a history to the army, an im-
mortality to the regiments, and a character; to the soldier, is
not permitted to give a riband to the survivors. And why?
Is it because others would ask if these were listened to ?
Does a repudiation of one debt carry with it a quittance
from all others? Is a denial of every obligation the most
reputable mode of avoiding the discharge of any? Would
an act of honourable honesty be so very dangerous a prece-
dent? But the argument is not less unsound than unseemly.
It is extravagant to assert that there are any claims which
even approach these in magnitude. Where are they to be
found ? The campaigners of Egypt and America may have
a claim as against. the soldiers of Amoy and Gwalior, but
none against the men of the Peninsula. If a medal were
asked for Barossa, or a badge for Fuentes d'Onor, a
stand might then perhaps be made for Aboukir and
Blaiensburg. But if Fuentes d'Onor and Barossa had
never been trodden by Englishmen, there would still
be the great Peninsular war. It is useless to appeal to the
usages of the War-office in the days when these exploits
were achieved. Such customs might have been a warrant
for circumscribing the rewards at the time, but are none for
withholding them now. If medals had centinued the ex-
clusive perquisite of commanding-officers ever since the peace
of Paris, there would be less reason to repine. But it was
unfair to change the entire system of honours without regard
to existing interests. It was unjust to place survivors and
successors upon an unequal footing. Of the two courses, the
denial of all decorations till the undecorated race of veterans
had passed away would have been the more consistent, and
the less ungracious. To have left all alike without a recom-
pense would, at the worst, have been but adhering to a cold
and unthankful precedent. To depart from that precedent
on a less imperative occasion—to give to the con-
querors of the Seikhs what is still withheld from the
conquerors of the French--and to range these con-
trasted warriors in the same ranks—is an act of galling in-
justice. Has the claim been too long deferred ? But even
if a plea which is deemed disreputable in a court of
bank-
ruptcy
be admitted in a court of honour, in this case it can
be overthrown. The claim cannot be statute-run, for it has
repeatedly been urged in the interval. Nor is there any
judgment or enactment which fixes the limitation of a na-
tion's liability to a period of thirty years.
is Statues for deeds
of as old a date are erected daily. Itbarely atwelve-

month since her Majesty accorded to a regiment of the line
the privilege of bearing an inscription on their appointments
commemorative of their gallantry two and thirty years
back. A more becoming course would be to turn our cul-
pable remissness to the advantage of the sufferers ; to assume
that a cause so great could only be adjudicated by the less
biassed decisions of after years ; to acknowledge the claims
as more immovably established from the sevenfold searching
and long abeyance, and to proportion at length the reward
and the manner of its bestowal to the magnitude of the
deserts and the treatment they have hitherto experienced.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
THE EXPERIMENTAL SQUADRON OF 1845.
PORTSMOUTH, WEDNESDAY.—The long-looked for report
of Rear-Admiral Hyde Parker (accompanied by reports from
the captains of the respective ships), upon the performances of
the various ships under his command, comprising the expe-
mental squadron of 1845, has at length been printed and
published. The surprise and discomfiture of the detractors
of the Surveyor of the Navy must necessarily be great on
perusing this report, inasmuch as it establishes the complete
success of his ships.
Placing that faith in the document before us which as a
Parliamentary return it is entitled to, we find Admiral Parker's
report agrees with all the succeeding ones in awarding the
palm to the Surveyor's ships. Knowing as we do the anti-
pathy Rear-Admiral Parker was supposed to entertain for the
productions of Sir William Symonds, we are not surprised at
the report being unaccompanied by any " opinion" from the
gallant Commander-in-Chief; but we regret the circum-
stance, as it compels us to take the report merely as we find
it;consequently we can only give the result of the trials of
sailing or speed without reference to the other essential qua-
lities of a ship as an efficient man-of-war; but as all the
trials were copiously reported in the ver • figures
used in the return, and some
nine months before the returns
appeared, we shall only now touch upon that part of the do..
cument before us having reference to the trials which took
place under the superintendence of Ad ir al Parker, the
Rear-
report of which has been hitherto withheld. In a word, then,
the Queen is declared to have been the bestof the three-
deckers, and the Albion and Canopus thebest of-the two-
deckers, in the sixteen trials which took place under Rear-
Admiral Parker's command.
We subjoin a selection from the reports of the respective
captains of the ships upon their qualifications:— -
The Trafalgar, 120, Captain Martin.—" She carries her
lower deck ports longer open than any other ship in the
squadron, except the Rodney, and her rolling and pitching
being less than theirs, her capability of effectively using all
her batteries is proportionally increased. Being extremely
weatherly, having great power of using her lower deck
guns, being very easy, and consequently having little wear
and tear, good stowage, and ample room on her decks, are
the Trafalgar's good points. I believe her defects would be
corrected in a very great degree if her masts were placed
further aft."
The St. Vincent, 120, Captain Rowley.—" The St. Vin-
cent is decidedly a leeward ship in comparison with the rest
of the squadron. She rolls deep, but easily, and does not
jerk or strain anything. I should say she rolled during the
late trial quite equal to the Albion and Canopus. In very
light air before the wind, the St. Vincent would run away
from the whole squadron—except the Queen. My opinion
of the Trafalgar is, that she is a very weatherly
ship, and particularly in bad weather, but the other ships all
fore-reached her. The Queen always appeared to me to be
a remarkably fine man-of-war on all points. In all mode-
rate weather, whether on a wind, going free, or before the
wind, she has no competitor, the Albion being the next
ship to her. With the Queen, Albion, Rodney, and
Canopus, the St. Vincent had no chance. In strong breezes
and a heavy head sea the Queen also proved herself a very
fine ship, standing up remarkably well under a heavy press
of sail, and appearing to pitch easily. The Queen is cer-
tainly much stiffer under a press of sail than the Trafalgar
or any of the squadron, the Albion excepted. The Albion's
superiority over the other two-decked ships, and particu-
larly the Rodney, a ship of her own class, consists chiefly in
her being much stiffer under a heavy press of sail. In strong
breezes on a wind, I did not perceive much difference be-
tween them, except on one occasion, when the sea was
right ahead, the Rodney beat the whole squadron and ap-
peared much easier than the Albion. In moderate weather
and smooth water the Albion is the fastest ship, and off the
wind will always beat the Rodney. Before the wind and in
a heavy swell the Rodney would fight her lower-deck guns
better, and with more safety, than the Albion. The Van-
guard was certainly very much improved from what she was
during the preceding cruize, and, considering how very light
she was, surprisingly stiff under a press of canvass. I could
not perceive much difference between her and Canopus on a
wind, but off the wind Canopus was certainly the fastest ship
although she appeared much more crank under a press of
canvass than the other ships, heeling more with two reefs in
her topsails than the Queen and Vanguard with one. She
is not so weatherly as either the Albion or Rodney, but fore-
reaches considerably. Under easy sail I should say she was
steadier than any of the other two-decked ships. I have
only to add that I have come to this conclusion upon the
relative merits of the several ships after the most careful and
attentive watching during the late cruise."
The Queen, 110, Captain Sir B. Walker.—" I consider the
Queen to be a most magnificent man-of-war, in every respect
superior to the St. Vincent or Trafalgar, or any ship I ever
served in ; she is fast, and bad on the whole a decided ad-
vantage in sailing over every other ship of the squadron.
She is very stiff, very weatherly, rolls and pitches very easily
and without straining ; she steers and works remarkably
well ; her spacious decks are well adapted for working the
guns, as well as for the comfort and health of the officers
and crew. She can stow under hatches seven months' pro-
visions of all species for her war complement, and would, if
the hold was properly stowed, carry at least 550 tuns of
water, and, in my humble opinion, she is the finest ship in
the world."

The Albion, 90, Captain Lockyer.—" I beg leave to state
that the Albion's behaviour during the late trial cruise
proved herself to be a good seaboat during the heavy gales;
when under a close-reefed maintopsail, foretopsail, and
maintrysail, her motion was remarkably easy in the heavy
sea that was then running, and I am fully persuaded no
ship could behave better. In comparison with other ships
which were all near us at times, I consider her behaviour
equally as good as any of them, and they all appeared to roll
equally as deep, though I think she rolls rather quicker
than the St. Vincent, Queen, Trafalgar, or Rodney ; this
perhaps is owing to the want of ballast. Her pitching
motion is remarkably easy, and apparently less than other
ships. With respect to the other ships of the squadron, I
consider the Queen to be by far superior of her class, on all
points, either in fine or bad weather. The Trafalgar is
rather a more weather's, ship in bad weather; but no sailer,
either on or off the wind. The Canopus is equally as quick
in her motion as the Albion in a sea-way ; she is also crank,
as is the Rodney, which is a great advantage the Albion
possesses over every ship in the squadron."
The Canopus, 84, Captain Moresby—" In keeping station
in order of sailing under easy or moderate sail, the Canopus
had much the superiority. In reference to the whole squa-
dron combined, the St. Vincent, in blowing weather or in
strong breezes, showed a great leeward propensity ; the
Queen, as compared with the last cruise, fell into a doubtful
comparison with Rodney, Albion, and Canopus. The Tra-
falgar maintained her extraordinary weatherly qualities,
with want of speed. The Albion, I thought, did not do as
well as, the first cruise. The stability of the Queen, Albion,
and Vanguard, as compared with the St. Vincent, Canopus,
Rodney, and Trafalgar, was very apparent. In chasing by
the wind in such weather as we encountered during the late
cruise, my opinion is that an admiral, having his flag on
board the Queen, would have found Rodney his leading ship,
Canopus next, then Albion, Vanguarti, and St. Vincent,
Trafalgar hanging to windward, and picked up on crossing
tacks."

The Rodney, 92, Captain Collier.—" In the trials by the
wind during the last cruise, all of which were in good
breezes, always with a considerable swell, and sometimes
against a head sea, the Rodney had the advantage of the
whole squadron on the 3d, with the Queen, Albion, Trafalgar,
and Vanguard, against a head sea ; the Rodney weathered
considerably on the Queen and Vanguard, and also on Albion
and Trafalgar, but not so much. On the 6th a gale from the
north-west came on about sunset, and under a close-reefed
maintopsail, fore-staysail, and maintrysail, the Rodney in
twelve hours weathered fifteen or sixteen miles on St. Vin-
cent and Vanguard, and considerably on all the rest of the
squadron, but less than any on the Trafalgar. The Canopus,
from her place in the line, has generally been nearest us.
I consider her, under the 'weather spoken, the next best
ship to the Rodney; the Trafalgar, although weatherly, is
not so much so as the Rodney, and slower. I consider the
Queen the fastest ship both by and off the wind in fine
weather."

The Vanguard, 80, Captain Willes.—" Queen, perfect in
all point& Albion, the same, except she appears to
have a quick rolling motion in a moderate swell, and to
roll deep in heavy weather and before the wind. Rodney,
a fine bold man-of-war ; carries her ports well, even
with a large quantity of provisions and water on board.
Sails well, is generally weatherly, stands well up to her
canvass, and is remarkable for her easy motion in a head sea,
but is slow in stays. The Canopus, fast when it does not over-
blow, is apparently not so stiff under canvass as other ships
of the squadron ; does not stay well in a heavy sea, but still
a fine man-of-war. Trafalgar, stiff and weatherly, but by no
means fast ; requires a strong wind to make her keep corp:
The St. Vincent sails well in light winds and smooth pany well with the other ships, and appears to pitch w
mautcehr,
is leewardly and crank when it blows hard, but apparently
lowerver y easy.deok guns The a
Vanguard,gd i,oHeight
ht nobleoot
of
fatn
well,
hee man-of-war,
water; ; carrying
asrtro)wl hs
g her
considering her magazine occupies the principal part of the
main hold; is best calculated for heavy weight, and which is
required lower down. I consider her superior and faster than
any ship in the experimental squadron. She sails better the
last cruise than the first in consequence of raking the main
and mizen-masts much aft, and borrowing weights from their
fidloossototfhbota,lliafstpfrr
and
n parti prop p
be
of
fl a
sl
the
tc
ee ds toin hold.
sailing counteract
feel theoo
o w e r
properlyh e
stowedl
and
working she would be equal, if
not superior, to any ship of the squadron."
The Superb, 80, Captain Corry.—" In the trials which
have taken place ' off the wind,' the Superb, on each occa-
sion, beat all the squadron," &c.
The Bat, victualling-buoy, and Rocket, steamer, were un-
docked to-day, and the Cambrian, 36, docked for repairs.
The pendant was hoisted to-day on board the Eurydice,
26, Captain G. Elliot, arrived here on Monday.
Rear-Admiral Superintendent H. Parker, C. 8., went on
Admiralty leave yesterday for three weeks. His flag was
struck on board the Victory at sunset. The dockyard duties
will be carried on during his absence by Mr. W. Purdo,. the
Master-Attendant, and those of the Ordinary by Captain J.
Pascoe, of the Victory.
The Echo, steam-tug, embarked to-day on board the
Florentine, freight-ship, at Cowes, four officers and 184 men
belonging to the 14th, 23d, 71st, and 81st Regiments, from
Parkhurst-barracks Isle of Wight, for Quebec.
The Cornwall, freight-ship, to embark detachments of the
45th Regiment for the Cape of Good Hope, and of the 12th
Regiment for the Mauritius, arrived at Spithead to• day.
The Camel, lighter, with stores from Plymouth, arrived.
yesterday. _

The Grecian, 16, Commander Montgomery, sailed from
Rio for Bahia on the 17th of March.— Times.

ARRIVAL OF THE ORIENTAL.—SOUTHAMPTON, MAY
28.—Arrived at the Motherbank at nine last evening, the
Oriental, Captain Joy, with the Indian mail. Her dates are
—Malta, May 14 ; and Gibraltar, May 20 ; with about 170
passengers. She passed on the 22d, off Lisbon, four ships of
war, supposed to be the Russian squadron. On the 24th she
passed the packet-ship Madrid, running for Corunna. The
Oriental would have arrived here on Monday last, but for a
head-wind, which has been dead against her for the last
three days. Her mails have just been landed at the South-
ampton Dock, and will be in London to-morrow morning.
The Madrid is expected hero to-morrow night.
EPSOM RACES.—We believe that the plates and stakes
run for this season exceed those of any former occasion. In addition
to the sum of 3001. given by the ?nee of the Grand Stand, Mr. Dor-

ling(the clerk: of the course), John Ivatt Briscoe, Esq., late M.P. for
East Surrey, the' lord of Epsom manor, has appropriated three-
fourths of the rents of the booths, &c., being in amount nearly
5001., to be run for at the various races during the present meeting,
and which has been his usual practice for many years.

PIGEON EXPRESS. —WINDSOR, EDNESDAY.—lni-
mediately after the race for the Derby, this afternoon, a carrier
pigeon, belonging to Mr. Oxley, the proprietor of the Windsor Ex-
press was tossed on Epsom Downs, with the names of the three first
horses attached in the usual way. Within less than thirty minutes
afterwards the bird alighted en Mr. Oxley's pigeon-house. The
distance from Windsor to Epsomis very nearly thirty miles, straight
acme the country.

I • COMMERCIAL POLIC /741F7T—HE
\ '-
EMPIRE. • 5.,.„t
A copy of the speech of the Gove g gtieral to the
Legislative Assembly of Canada ; rideince J.
relative to certain presumed changes ‘tliTceoritmarcial
policy of the empire, were on Saturda mined fiy Oder . ‘:
of the House of Commons, on motion Lord—fl-'---
Bentinck and Sir George Clerk. The-444M*
extract therefrom, and is the most recent current con-
tained in the return, being a dispatch from the - Right
Hon. W. E. Gladstone to Governor the Earl Cathcart,
dated May 18, 1846.
"My Lord,—l have to acknowledge the receipt of
your Lordship's dispatch. No. 40, of the 28th of April,
transmitting to me a petition to her Majesty from certain
merchants and others, citizens of Quebec, praying that
her Majesty will not sanction the contemplated modi-
fication iu the tariff on wood goods.
" I have laid this petition before her Majesty, who has
been pleased to receive it graciously, but it has not been
in my power to advise her Majesty to assent to its prayer
for the reasons which I shall proceed to state.
" Her Majesty has invited the Parliament to adopt the
proposal to which the petition refers.
" The House of Commons will enter to-night on the
consideration of the Customs' Duties Bill, in which this
proposal is included, at the advanced stage when the Bill
is reported to the House from the Committee of the
whole House immediately before the engrossment and
• third reading. At suck a stage it would I believe,
be most unusual for the House of Commons
to reverse the decision which it has given
on the occasions afforded by the various earlier
stages of the Bill, and by the preliminary committee,
which is required, with respect to all questions of trade,
and in which they ordinarily undergo the most searching
examination. Thus, her Majesty having recommended
to Parliament a particular course, has had no reason, in
the reception which Parliament has given to the recom-
mendation, to adopt any alteration of it.
" But I must not be understood as implying that
this is the principal diffidulty which obstructs a
compliance with the prayer of the petitioners ; there
are others, including some of a higher order :—First,
her Majesty's Government do not doubt the very
yt disposed,hfeoiru ndopinions
t ihoneni
p mogns general
ougbtlrio
huenedrd,so,nkitaoagj
eraset
tat ay ch great weight
to their
e
sions, to adopt and to adheregt'svarGieotyveomf ocmecnat
b -
to proposals unacceptable
to many of the parties immediately affected by them,
notwithstanding their belief in the high integrity of
those parties, and their perfect freedom from any con-
sciousness of an interest that could warp the judgment;
and her Majesty's Government cannot but observe on
the present occasion, that they do not find any reason to
suppose, from the evidence before them, that the opinion
of the petitioners with respect to the impending change
in the timber duties, is shared by the people of Canada,
at large, or by their representatives, who, on the con-
trary, appear to have evinced their intention to abandon
reliance upon the artificial advantages which protective
laws may confer, and to place it upon the natural and
permanent guarantees afforded by the resources of the
province and the energy of its inhabitants.
" Her Majesty's Government mist seriously doubt
whether, if the allegations of the petition were made
good in their whole extent, with respect to the disadvan-
tages entailed upon Canada by her distance from this
country, by the dangers of the St. Lawrence, the suspen-
sion of its navigation during a portion of the year, and
by the inferior quality of Canadian timber, that circum-
stance would have the effect of producing the conviction
in this country that the measure now under discussion
should be either qualified or abandoned, inasmuch as it
would certainly show that the present system could only
he continued at a very heavy cost to the nation.
" But her Majesty's Government do not are the
belief of the petitioners in the existence and in tsh he force
of these disadvantages. They cannot forget the pre-
dictions, the confident, and, without doubt, sincere pre-
dictions of ruin which attended the progress of the
measure of 1842, nor can they fail to contrast with those
predictions the great subsequent extension, and the ap-
parently flourishing condition of the trade at the present
moment.

" With respect, indeed, to the disadvantages of dis-
tance, which undoubtedly affects the competition of Ca-
nadian with that of the Baltic, her Majesty's 'Govern-
ment have not failed to make what they deem to be a
sufficient provision, all things considered, for the charge
which it entails, by proposing to retain a protective duty
of 15s. per load on foreign wood ; and inasmuch as they
can by no means admit that it is the proper office of
commercial laws to attempt in general to secure to places
which are remote all the advantages of proximity, they
trust the petitioners will recognise in the plan as it
actually stands, a proof of their great anxiety to give
every just consideration to the claims of the parties
engaged in the trade, and to those of the colony, so far
as its interests may be conceived to be affected by the
question.

"Her Majesty's Government look forward to an
active competition, under the law as it is proposed that it
should stand, and a competition by no means unfavour
able to the timber and deals of Canada. Nor is it com-
petition alone which her Majesty's Government an-
ticipate ; on the contrary, they conceive, as I have
already had occasion to state to your Lordship, that to no
inconsiderable extent the consumption of Baltic timber
is actually auxilliary to the demand for that of Canada,
and, therefore, that to this extent a measure which
cheapens the first, is likely to cause positive improve-
ment in the market for the last.

" For these reasons, which I need not pursue into
further detail, and for others to which I have thought it
unnecessary on this occasion to refer, her Majesty's
Government have been unable to advise her Majesty to
assent to the prayer of the petition transmitted to me
by your Lordship,
" I have, &c.,
(Signed)

" W. E. GLADSTONE."

ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY.—The monthly meeting for
May took place last evening, at the rooms of the society in Sack-
vine-street, Piccadilly. The object of the society is to inquire into
the distinguishing characteristics, physical and moral, of the varieties
of mankind which inhabit, or have inhabited the earth, and to ascer-
tain the causes of sach characteristics. The secretary, Dr. King,
read a paper on the nature of the inhabitants of Batacalda, Ceylon,
a race of Moors inhabiting a tract of land on the eastern shores of
Lake Batacola, and some villages near the southern end of it;
also a paper communicated by Dr. Tochudi, entitled, " Have the
ancient Peruvians embalmed the dead, or not ?" in which, although
put in the shape of a question, the author contends, and makes out a
strong case, that the bodies have been preserved by the natu-
ral drying of the soil. The secretary said, the question having
arisen, and there being some Peruvian mummies in this countrx-
it would doubtlessly soon be set at rest by examination.
Major-General Briggs read a paper on the Native Races of India, in
continuation of one which he had before produced. The purport of it
was to prove that there are at present existing in India many millions
of a primeval race, who inhabited India long before the incursion of
the Brahminical race, who came in from the north, and were not
originally the inhabitants of that country. In. the first place he com-
menced by confuting the generally-received opinion that the Sanscrtt
was the aboriginal language, and showed, on the contrary, that it
was introduced by the Brahmins as a learned language, and that it was
spoken, now by scattered tribes, or castes, which he would, on a future
occasion, prove to be the primeval race. Major Briggs introduced
the two young Brahmins, who have recently come to this country
to be instructed in medicine, and who have distinguished themselves
by their advancement at King's College. They took part in the dis-
cussion, and defended the Hindoos from the charge of pirating their
knowledge of astronomy from other nations, which was incidentally
suggested in a discussion which our space will not allow us to give at
length. The address elicited great applau;e. The anniversary meet-
ing takes place On this day.

SOCIETY OF ARTS.—A meeting was held yesterday
evening in John-street, Adelphl, Alderman H. Hughes in the chair,
when the recommendations of the committees of agriculture and
chemistry, fine arts, mechanics and mechanical arts, manufactures,
and colonies and trade, were submitted to the members. A correct
list of the successful competitors could not be obtained, as many of the
articles were only authenticated by an initial or a motto. On the
table were a number of beautiful designs for binding covers of Bibles.
The prize specimen was a perfect gem of artistic elegance. So mai.'
of the works of art excited the admiration of the members, that
be
ther consideration, in order that complimentary testimonials mvzr
it was determined to refer the subject back to the committee for Mr-
awarded to the meritorious artists who submitted theiorf
milt
for competition. There were a number of specimens
which gave great satisfaction The design
ewers, water jugs, &c., am a tea service
was most graceful, and of the milk ewer
is be4leved to be modelled from
Vatican. On the subject
an antique vase preserved in the yatic
but
different
of the manufacture of
an interesting of uniform colours.
articles of the •ante form,
explanation was given by the secretary. No
size,
matter how many sizes of any , given article are required, the largest
alone is modelled, which, on being exposed to the tettion of the fire,
osilinnk-shiinchthaesepcmordruisonfoormf one
-.sixth
e odofpirtsbuucelk, and becomes the mould
of this is again dimi-
nished in a similar degree in the comae of the process, and by their
means a series of any extent can be obtained without any addition&
call on the labour of the designer. Two models of quart
eau la viner
lypsl
iendegfeonlieargale,a&pcp.r,oaysailts.
ornaments,
oefnttsh,ewmasw;iartth
jugs with
stalk handle ° v e rs r
ee
ande ivv
ing. 'I he successful patterns will go forth to the public with the
stamp of the approbation of the Society, and are sure
to obtain great
popularity. The time of the meeting was so fully occupied by these
details that no paper was read to the Society.
FATAL AFFRAY 'WITH POACHERS.—On Tuesday
night last a gardener in tile employ of Major Q. F. Winterton, of
Fenwick Lodge, Surrey, was awoke by the barking of a dog kept on
i the premises, and thinking that, thieves were about he ,let the dog
loose. The animal immediately crossed an adjoining paddock
towards an extensive fish-pond. The man followed, and on arri •
ng
at the pond perceived several men in the act of dragging the water
with a net. The dog, a powerful animal of the mastiff breed, at-
tacked the poachers, and got one of the men down. The gardener
ran back to the house for assistance, and shortly returned to the
pond, accompanied by two of Major Winterton's sons and several of
the men servants, when they discovered the dog lying dead, and the
poachers removing the net. The party from the lodge immediately
made a rush at the poachers, who, leaving two of their number to se-
cure the net, closed with the attacking party, and a desperate
struggle ensued. The poachers wielded short bludgeons, and
two or three of carried fire-arms, which, at the the servants
com-
mencement of.the fray, they threatened to use, but were restrained
by Mr. Robert Winterton, who called out to his party net to fire.
However, one of the servants having been thrown down and nearly
throttled by one of the gang, fired a pistol at his opponent, the bail
taking effect
in the groin of the poacher. At last the entire body of
poachers decamped, leaving their nets behind. In the pursuit that
followed a groom, named Robert Staines, overtook and grappled
with one of the poachers, near the end of the fish-pond. In the
struggle the two men tell into the pond locked in each other's grasp.
the water being upwards of twenty feet deep at the spot. Atter a
short interval the poacher rose to the surface, succeeded in reaching
the bank; and escaped. The incident being observed by another of
the servants, an alarm was raised, and the running party having
returned from an unsuccessful chase, means were taken to recover
the body of the groom, which after a time was dragged up, but life
of course was extinct. None of the poachers were recognised as
belonging to the neighbourhood. The wounded poacher remains in
a very precarious state.

FALL FROM A MAST.—Yesterday morning a distress-
lag accident occurred to a lad, named John Eastman, aged 14 years,
'which it is feared will terminate fatally. He was engaged in making
some repairs, on the mast-head of a vessel lying off Mill Dock, Dock-
head, when he missed his footing, and fell to the deck with fearful
he had received a severe wound on the head, and other serious in-
juries. He was conveyed ashore in a boat, and carried to the nearest
when it was ascertained that he had received con-
surgeon's, who, after affording the necessary aid, ordered his removal
to Guy's Hospital,
cussion of the brain. He lies in a very hopeless condition.
D Edwardt T lILI N,
sff MAYde n will 23.
s—lio
cur
Mn. JUSTICE COLERIDGE.—We are happy to hear that
this Learned Judge is daily improving in health
uLreEn a LEGAL.
AtL the bar that R U3MUi Sir
Rt.--- Ara;reeptiOrertfroims
his prdent office, andleave. Ireland. Whatever post he is destined to
fill elsewhere, his loss in, this country can scarcely be repaired ; for a
more upright, fearless, able, or painstaking judge never held the
Great Seal in any part of the United Kingdom. A new distribution
of silk gowns is spoken of in the hall, Mr. Smyly, of the north-west
circuit, and Messrs. Rolleston. Wall, and Christian, of the Leinster
Circuit, are the persons for whom the honour is said to be intended.

ACCOUCHEMENT OF HER MAJESTY.—The chief rabbi
of the members of the Jewish persuasion in Great Britain, the Rev,
Dr. Adler, yesterday issued 4 form of thanksgiving for the safe deli-
very of her Majesty and birth of a Princess, to be offered in all syna-
gogues throughout the United Kingdom, on " Sabbath the sth day o
Sivau, A.M., 5606—(Saturday. May3o.)"
Sir Robert and Lady Peel intend to give a magnificent
entertainment on the 9th of Jane. Lady Peel, the same evening,
will bold an assembly in honour of her Majesty's birthday. It is to
be a full-dress party.