The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-10 00:00:00

No. 16,867. LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING SU N 7 OCTOBER 10, 1846.

CALEDONIAN EXTENSION RAILWAY.
N. tics is hereby given, that in accordance with a Resolu-
tion passed at a Meeting of the Shareholders of this Company held
to-day, at Gibb's Royal Hotel, Prince's-street, Edinburgh, the sum
of 1/. 15s. per share will be RETURNED to the holders of Scrip on
and after the 15th day of October next; and the holders of Scrip
are requested to deliver or transmit their Scrip Certificates to the
Secretary, at 122, Prince's-street, Edinburgh, four days prior to
the day of payment, each of such Certificates to !,e indorsed with
the names and addresses of the holders of such Scrip.
Bank cheques will be delivered, or, if requested, transmitted by
post, to the holders of the Scrip Certificates four days after their
receipt.

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.
A CHEMICAL LECTURE, by Dr. Ryan, daily, and en
tho Evenings of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Also a
LECTURE on the ELECTROMAGNETIC TELEGRAPH daily.
MACINTOSH'S REVOLVING ENGINE, COLEMAN'S PATENT
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE, FARRELL'S ARCIIIMEDIAN RAIL-
WAY, the ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAY, all is action. HALLETTE'S
ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAY VALVE. The OPAQUE MICROS-
COPE. The OXY-IIYDROGEN MICROSCOPE. A beautiful Series
of DISSOLVING VIEWS. A Selection of MADRIGALS of the
Sixteenth Century will be performed by a Sax-Horn Band, under
tk 3 Direction of Dr. Wallis daily, and in the Evenings.
. .

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

that a grain does not fill a sieve, though it will help its
companion to do it—Grano no hinche arnero, mas ayudu
su companero —and your Spaniard will be paid " down
on the nail " for every ear of wheat, or barley, or rye,
he sends to the Lusitanian. These are the complications
which render the position of Palmella anything but a
happy or an easy one.
POST.—If the meaning of the British Government is
to let no mistake exist about the novel amount of insult
which our " illustrious ally" has provided for us, it must
be wholly conceded that this ingenuous, purpose is well
seconded by a sympathising press. It is not enough that
Europe and America should be told that we have been
choused, cozened, and cheated, out of every one of the
objects with which juvenile Whiggery flattered itself in
its violent interference with Spain; our Ministers are
not satisfied unless the world be made quite aware that,
besides being injured, we are laughed at, and that
nothing remains of the effects of our succour to Chris-
tina, except the privilege of being made game of by
those who co-operated with us in the achievement. "It
is not enough," exclaims a Palmerston print, " for our
Foreign Minister and his Ambassador to be treated
with contumely, their remonstrances (at Madrid) are
met with official silence, and semi-official sneers." Here is
comfortable reflection for a nation jealous of honour ;
a pleasant estimate of the return we have received
for our services in the cause of Liberal experiment
—a reflection, too, suggested by that most modest
and self-diffident statesman who induced us to
the good offices that are so gratefully ac •
knowledged. There is no doubt that our public servants
have been unmercifully outwitted by the anxious pro-
genitor of the numerous hdpeful scions of Orleans.
That model for heads of families whom our Government
delighted to honour, is probably laughing in his sleeve
at the success of this last pretty family settlement,
and "it is not enough" that he should have the broad
laugh against us, but the objects of his merriment must
chime in with reminders how entirely we have been
made the butts of his extensive practical jokes. We do
not think his felicitations will be long unalloyed by
certain of the consequences that sometimes follow, the
happiest efforts of great wits. There 4 gathering
again, in Spain, a nucleus for the dissemination' of
that, loyal spirit which, never extirpated,. awaits but
a favourable opportunity for tleyolopment. The con-
stitutional drama has been worked to such ex-
tremes, that disgust is growing to the height which
often bursts into troublesome action. 'lt is not .teo
much to say that all the Spaniards are indignantly
hostile to the French "importation," and we have it on
the authority of 'the greatest supporter of Liberalism,
that " a Carlist dynasty would be preferred" to the con-
sequences of the Montpensier scheme. This Liberal
authority speaks for that section of the nation which
coincides with his own political theories; there is no
necessity to predicate, of the majority in Spain, their
preference for the natural and independent sovereign.
Thus, troublesome indications may interrupt the festivi-
ties with which Louis Philippe is to celebrate his
triumph over England. But, meanwhile, is it not edify-
ing to hear the Ministers of our proud nation proclaim-
ing the extent of their calamity and humiliation? Sneers,
contumely, insulting silence, are the conditions of our
glorious entente cordiale with the Tuileries. Contumely
and insult were, in old-fashioned English politics, the
conditions and necessary motives to the most active
measures of chastisement—they are now the conditions
on which we are to preserve our relations of " amity!"
They are the terms on which we are allowed to " co-
operate" in the management of Spanish affairs. They
are the results of our heroic efforts to help Spain to a
system she did not want; they are the crowning re-
wards of our patronage of liberty dynasties in Europe.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
- -- -

TIMES.—In another part of our paper to-day will be
found some observations on the subject of the steam
navy of England, which appears to comprise a consider-
able amount of unwieldy impotence. Our fleet has been
somewhat increased in extent, but not in efficiency. Two
or three ships have been built which are merely so many
expensive encumbrances to our naval service. Our docks
are turned into hospitals for incapacitated vessels, whose
fragile frames have been unable to sustain the wear and
tear of a cruise even in fine weather. It seems that the
Retribution and the Avenger, both ships of enormous
tonnage and tremendous nominal power, are lying at
Spithead at this moment in a state of utter incapacity.
If the Retribution were suddenly called upon to fulfil
the purpose implied in its name, or if the country had
experienced any insult that the Avenger might be re-
quired to avenge, it would be found that they had
nothing about them more formidable than their titles.
The Retribution is labouring under the fatal complaint
of machinery too powerful for her hull, so that there is
every probability of her some day tearing herself to
pieces. Her spirit, poor thing, is beyond her strength,
and with her eight hundred horse engines she is in the
predicament of a very high mettled racer we have
read of somewhere, that started off "as fast as it
couldn't gallop." The result is, that the Retribution,
like the steed alluded to, is speedily brought to a dead
stand-still. The ships we have mentioned are not the
only two that have been found unequal to the test of the
most ordinary service. The Bulldog and the Scourge,
both of which are sloops of upwards of eleven hundred
tons, are labouring under some internal complaint which
threatened destruction to their respective boilers. The
Bulldog has been afflicted with what is termed a "giving
out," which developes itself in the scattering of steam
over the officers and crew of the vessel. The Cat-would
be a more appropriate name for a ship that has this
most disagreeable propensity+ to spitting. It would be
awkward if in the midst of an action her
force were t 0 begin to evaporate, through the trick her
boilers have of " giving oat," whieb,- as our corre,
spondent suggests, would be as " giving
in," when their services are required. he nation may
with reason complain that the ships constructed for the
use of the navy are so inferior to those which are built
for the merchant service. If' science had been retro-
grading instead of rap;cily advancing—if we found fre-
quent instances of inefficient machinery in the ordinary
steam-vessels devoted to commercial purposes, we might
regret the want of skill which prevented the improve-
ment of our fleet, but we should not have the mortifica-
tion of feeling, as we do now, that the public interests
are needlessly sacrificed. " How comes it," asks our
correspondent, " that the breaks-down complained of
seldom or never occur but in her Majesty's steamers ?"
We have heard of lawyers looking upon a Chancery suit
as a provision for life, if well worked, and of doctors
who contrive to make a patient a constant source of in-
come, by always keeping him a little indisposed; but we
cannot believe that engineers would think it worth their
while to profit by the infirmities of their engines. We
will not suppose for an instant that the derangement
of the inside of the Bulldog is permitted to exist with-
out being wholly cured for the sake of the fees that
must be paid from time to time for doctoring. There
must, however, have been great cause for blame tomewhere
in giving the Retribution machinery too pcwerful for
her hull, since it was the duty of the builder and the
engineer to have had an understanding relative to the
compatibility of their separate labours. They may,
perhaps, throw the blame upon some higher quarter, by
saying that they received orders respectively to build a
ship of a certain size, and to manufacture engines
of a certain power—an excuse that would shift the
onus of gross mismanagement from their own to some
one else's shoulders. The folly that has been committed
is like that of a man who buys a very large piece of fur-
niture for a very small room, when, after damaging both
of them in order to bring them together, it is found that
one renders the other completely useless. The Retribu-
tion is now lying incapacitated through the violent action
of engines of 800-horse power upon a hull incapable of
sustaining more than a 600 horse power without dan-
ger to its stability. Who would think of fitting up a
Blackwall " bus " with the boiler and other machinery
of a railway locomotive, putting the works of St. Paul's
clock into a library time-piece, or placing a " rule to
compute " in the hands of the Attorney-Geaeral ? Yet
scarcely one of these proceedings would be more absurd
than the folly of fitting up the Retribution with engines so
powerful as to cause well-grounded fears that the vessel
might be hurried to self-destruction.

Admission, Is. ; Schools, Half-price.

By order of the Board;
JOHN MARK, Secretary.
122, Prince's-street, Edinburgh, Sept. 23, 1846.

THE STEAM NAVY of ENGLAND.
The following letter has been addressed to the editor
of the Times :

Sir,—lf the Prince de Joinville lacks food for another
pamphlet, after stirring us into activity and exertion to
organise a steam navy, which we ran a muck to accom-
plish with all possible speed, there is ample scope for his
talents in exposing the ridiculous figure we cut now that
we have got a steam force upon the waters; as it appears
from incontrovertible evidence that although our war-
steamers are the largest in the world, they are the most
inefficient and expensive encumbrances ever introduced
linto the service. There are now lying at Spithead two
striking proofs of this fact—the Retribution, of 1,641
tons,ns anda n
d 650-horseBoo-hore
power;power both new p
and the A
ships—this
he
ingse—r of , t fi
1,444
tons, their
first commission, and yet neither of them is at this mo-
ment fit for service. Both have just returned from a
fine weather cruise. Nor are these the only examples
of inefficiency we have to complain of in the war-
steamers; a week or two back the Bulldog sloop, of 1,123
tons, and 500-horse power, broke down when ordered to
leave this harbour for her destination; after a week's
detention, however, she was got to sea, but again became
hors de combat at Plymouth, where, I believe, she is at
present " fixed." The Scourge sloop, of 1,124 tons, and
420-horse power, was under the engineers' hands at the
same time as the Bulldog, her boilers, or some other
vital part of her organisation, having given out.
Whenever these mishaps have taken place, there have
generally appeared in certain prints sneers at " lame
ducks," and other ironical remarks, aimed at the credit
of the constructor of the vessel ; but the real question of
". Who's to blame ?" has been left untouched. It is to
.aacertain, this important feature, and then provide a
remedy, that I now draw attention' to the Subject. A
" pretty figure" we should cut, truly, with our large
steamers, larger in tonnage than many two-deckers of
72 guns, were their boilers to " give out," Or their
engines to " give in," when their services were required
in action, reducing the officers and crew to the alterna-
tive of being boiled by their own steam, or becoming
food for the fire of their adversaries, without the power
of helping themselves ; yet in this predicament are they
likely to be placed, unless some more effectual and cer-
tain reliance can be placed upon the working of their
machinery than can at present be calculated upon. That
the fault lies with the engines no one can dispute, at all
events as far as the cases before us are concerned. In the
case of the Retribution, the machinery is too powerful for
the hull of the vessel—in short, the ship is not built
with sufficient stability for such immense straining
as she is subject to. It is believed that engines of 600-
horse power would propel her faster and safer than those
at present in her. Who is to blame for this? One of
two persons clearly is; either the constructor should
have known his vessel would be ruined and useless if
such tremendous power were given her, or the engineer
should have known that his engines were by far too
powerful for the vessel, and protested against the waste
of his " strength of materials" by having them placed in
a vessel whose capabilities were not sufficient for their
support. That too much of the fault lies in the parsi-
mony of the Government in contracting for cheap work,
we doubt not, " penny wise and pound foolish" being
the characteristic of men placed in situations where much
money is at their command, but who have an inadequate
amount of knowledge how to employ it. How comes it
that the breaks-down complained of seldom or never
occur but in her Majesty's steamers? I can only ac-
count for it in this way—ghat as the proprietors of mer-
chant vessels have less money than the Government to
spare, they are more frugal in its expenditure, and go to
the best market at once for their commodity; they get
well supplied and their maker well paid, thus both em-
ployed and employe are well served; but put the case
vice versa and you have the exact position of the Go-
vernmentin the matter.

CHRONICLE.—The grand economical evil of Ire-
land is the cottier-tenant system. We were on the point
of calling it the grand moral evil also. Neither the
economical nor the moral evils-Omit of any consider-
able alleviation while that baneful system continues.
This truth is the foundation of the philosopiy of Irish
wretchedness and Irish improvement. It is the one thing
to be known, remembered, and perpetually thought of
by all who concern themselves about that country. It is
the conclusion which almost every one who sincerely and
seriously applies his mind to the matter ends by aiming
at. There is hardly any road whereby a conscientious
thinker can approach the subject of Irish distress which
does not lead directly to it. But it is not always clearly
seen in what the radical mischief of this tenure, as it
exists in Ireland, consists. It is often confounded with
the evil of small holdings. Holdings certainly lefty,
under any system, be too small. But there may be
small holdings without a cottier system; and there may
be a cottier system without small holdings. A cottier
system may be defined, that in which the produce of the
land is divided between two sharers—a landlord on one
side, and labourers on the other; the competition of the
labourers being the regulating principle of the division.
To see this system in the fulness of its pernicious fruits,
two other circumstances must be supposed, both of
which pre-eminently exist in Ireland:—a country over-
reopled, at least in proportion to the efficiency of its
industry, and no considerable outlet for labour, other-
wise than in agriculture. In all countries in which the
labouring population have no property, their condition
depends upon the intensity of the competition for
employmeat. In England, and most civilised coun-
tries, the pressure of this competition is upon capital;
in Ireland, under the cottier system, it is upon land.
In England, over population produces its effect by
lowering wages; in Ireland, by raising rent. Now, there
is a truth so universally borne out by experience as al-
most to partake of the character of a law of nature; and
it is this. Whenever a population,
excessive in propor-
tion to the productive power of its industry, depends for
subsistence wholly upon the occupancy of land, their
competition drives them to offer for the land a rent
merely nominal, a rent greater than the utmost which,
even on the most favourable supposition, they can pos-
sibly pay. A farmer who has capital, who brings some-
thing to the farm, and risks something upon it, will not
bind himself to a higher rent than he thinks he can pay
without, at all events, encroaching on his capital. A
labourer who bids for land, not for the sake of profit, but
for subsistence, and with whom not to have land is to be
without the means of living, will offer anything rather
than be outbid by his neighbour. In such a case, if
there is any limit to the nominal amount of rent, it is to
be found, not in the calculations of the tenant, but in the
moderation of the landlord, his justice, his humanity, or
enlightened perception of self-interest.
HERALD.—We received at a late hour yesterday, by
express, the Peninsular mails, bringing Lisbon letters
down to the 2d of the present month. Our active and
intelligent correspondent at Lisbon has furnished us
with a number of details of the greatest interest to those
engaged in the Portuguese trade, and of a more than
ordinary interest to the general reader. To the three
letters of our correspondent, dated respectively the 30th
of September, and the Ist and 2d of October, we more
especially refer our readers, because many minute cir-
cumstances and facts are set forth in them which it
would be impossible to give in any summary, however
well prepared. Difficulties appear to gather around the
luckless head of the Duke of Palmella; and as that
noble personage is a mere man of routine, without any
original views, and of ao native force or strength of cha-
racter, though an extremely well-informed, sensible,
acute, and accomplished person, it is not to
be supposed he will hare the force or energy
necessary to extricate himself. If by any effort
of suppleness or flexibility—by any ingenious con-
trivance, or dexterous expedient—he can creep out
of the Ministry, and place the responsibility on other
shoulders, he will, no doubt,. .do so ; but this is not
a trick to be played twice. So long as affairs go on
smoothly, and it is all plain sailing, there is no better
minister for Portugal than a Palmella ; but when the
winds howl and the "waters are out," to use the words
of Burke, your Portuguese red tapist is no better than
your English Tadpole or Taper. The Marquis off' Sal-
danha is too ells soldier to take the responsibility off
the shoulders of Palmella. He has repeatedly declined
to take office, and has evidently no relish to oppose
himself to the crash which is sooner or later to come.
It seems to be admitted on all hands that the present
Portuguese Ministry cannot last one month after the
Cortes shall have assembled, and even befbre the end of
this instant October they may be crushed by a financial
difficulty. The monied interests is Portugal—or at
least the directors of the bank, or a majority of them—
are favourable to the Cabralists, and are nut disposed
in any manner to lend a helping hand to the Duke of
Palmella. The authorised suspension of bank pay-
ments ended on the 3d of October, when the bank was
unable to meet its engagements. The directors applied for
a further extension of time, to which the Government
replied by a counter application for a loan of 560 contos,
about 130,0001. British, as the only condition upon which
the required indulgence would be granted. The refusal
he
President Ministers,
was for resigning,
of the bank to grant the loan had very nearly brought
about
re
sidao
ot ministerialof the
Councilof crisis. T
but the other Ministers refused to tender their resigna-
tions before they had made an attempt to raise the re-
quired sum from another quarter. At the date of the
latest accounts the Ministers had not been successful,
though there was a prospect of their attaining their ob.
ject through a private company, with which the Marquis
of Fayal and Baron Falgosio are connected. Borrowing
however, as Shakespere hath it, dulls the edge of hus-
bandry, and when this sum is gone the Ministers will be
more " heinously unfunded " than before. To add to
their difficulties, paper is depreciated and specie scarce.
The very elements have even conspired against them, for
there is a deficient harvest, as with ourselves, and a
consequent necessity of getting corn over the frontier
from Spain. No man knows better than the Spaniard

Besides, I believe the merchant-owner has another
advantage—he holds a bond in a heavy amount with the
maker for the efficient working of his machinery for a
given time, and any defect discovered within that time
is made good at the expense of the contractor. lam not
aware that the Government act so prudently. When
we see the great names of Maudslay, Fawcett, Rennie,
Napier, Seaward, and others equally great in reputa-
tion, upon the machinery of our steam-frigates, we are
apt to associate with them greatness of performance, but
the expectations are not realised. To spend hundreds
of thousands of pounds in making steam-boat machi-
nery, and other hundreds of thousands in making them
work properly, we fancy it is a species of insane foolery,
which even the known softness of John Bull will
not acknowledge much longer. We do not hear
(certainly we have not such facilities of hearing, or
they have better workmen) of the French steamers
continually breaking down. I sup pose because they
are more skilful in their applicalion of weights, or
less improvident with their-1310M. I believe too much
encouragement is given, to exerimentalizing with ma-
chinery ; hence so many failures. How is it the Boulton
and. Watt engines do not, break down, and are mote
durable than others ? Look at the engines of the little
Comet by those famed makers ; they have been in the
vessel ever since she was built, in 1824, and at the pre-
sent time work as easily and as beautifully as ever, and
if a return were called for, it would be discovered she
has not cost the Government 1001. for doctoring during
her existence. In fact, her engines have completely
worn out the vessel. Where, then, are the improvements
in steam-machinery since 1824 ? With regard to
weights, the French Gomer—one of the largest steamers
the Government posses, and which fired our ambition,
or jealousy, to commence steam-frigate building—is pro-
pelled by engines (by Fawcett) of 420 or 450-horse
power, and this is power enough to please even the
steam-invasion fostering Prince de Joinville.

EARL FITZHA.RDINGE AND THE
REPRESENTATIVES OF WEST. GLOUCES-
TERSHIRE.
Mr. Grantley Berkeley, M.P. for West Gloucester-
shire, has issued the following address :
"TO THE INDEPENDENT ELECTORS OF THE WESTERN

DIVISION OF THE COUNTY OF GLOUCESTER.

"Gloucester, Oct. 8, 1846.
" Friends and Fellow-countrymen,—Circumstances
deeply affecting my position, and yours, have arisen,
which render it a matter of imperious necessity. that I
should thus address you ; there never was any conceal;
ment between us, there shall be none now.
"I have a letter, bearing date the 31st of August,
1846, in which Lord Fitzhardinge for the first time in-
forms me,- that he shall discontinue the support he had
for so many years given to my representation of the
county. You will, I am sure, pardon me for not
touching on all the wild passages of that angry letter,
and permit me to bring under your notice the only
Strictly public accusation it contains. In the sin-
cerest sorrow I assure yon, that, were 1 in the present
instance to deem it worth my while to allude to other ob-
jectionable-portions of that remarkable:communication,
I could not do myself-justice in my refutation of them,
without touching with a tenfold deeper tint, certain and
mischievously ruling or predominant shadows, that un-
happily are already too well known as imperiously -ex-
isting in the quarter -whence the aspersion comes.
" Lord Fitzhardinge, then, accuses me. of having
abused the Government patronage.' I could very easily
call on all the members of the Governments,
,past and
present,- to clear me -of -this futile but also tangible
.charge. ;- but I will content myself with laying the plain
and stubborn facts before you.
,His Lordship alludes to
a-cadetship.'
" The first and only cadetship ,I ever asked for or ob-
tained, I bestowed some years since on the son of Mr.
J. Sheppard ; he is a branch ef the family of that name
long known in the county of Gloucesteri, in the vicinity.
"Of Dursley ' arkiember of the great body of Dissenters,
and the author of a very clever pamphlet, published•
some years ago, headed Observations on the Ad-
dress of Sir Robert Peel to. the Electors of Tam-
worth, showing the insufficiemb of his Declaration of
Principles.' I need only further state, that -I have
known and respected Mr. Sheppard fen upwards of
20 years,- and that he is- at this liniment a voter on The
liberal registration of my division. ‘-The promise of a
cadetship,' of which I am directly accused of having more
recently and unfairly obtained, is simply as follows:—
A very gentlemanlike, high spirited, and promising boy,
a visitor and companion of my son's, and also my friend,
was left an orphan in the world, without any immediate
source of obtaining a profession. A lady, a relative of
his, requested me to obtain for him a cadetship. On
receiving that application, I wrote to my friend at the
head of the India Board (Sir John Hobhouse), and told
him I could not ask him for a favour he had some years
before granted, but the letter, containing-the application
to me, I placed in -his hands, with the hope that it would
plead its own cause, backed by my willing testimony to
the worth and gallant bearing of the boy. My friend,
upon the contents of that speaking letter, promised me
that if he had a cadetship to bestow next November
twelvemonth, the boy I patronised should have it.'
"I don't disguise my sincere pleasure in having been
instrumental in obtaining this promise.
" Charges so ill-founded and futile as these scarce de-
serve a public notice, but I will leave the public to judge
between me and my accusers, when words are perforce
' the only weapons to my hand.
"Since I received the first-mentioned letter from Lord
Fitzhardinge, announcing to me the withdrawal of his
support, his Lordship, without giving me any notice of
his intention, convened a meeting at Gloucester, and the
written resolution which he induced that convention to
arrive at run as follows:

" ' A meeting of some of the influential supporters of
the Liberal interest of the Western Division of Glcuces-
tershire having taken place at Gloucester on the 15th of
September, 1846, and a statement having been made by
Earl Fitzhardinge as to his future intentions with regard
to' the representation of the division, it was unanimously
decided to support in every possible way the views and
intentions of Lord Fitzhardinge as detailed to-day, and,
as a necessary consequence, to deprecate every attempt
which may be made to peril the Liberal interest in this
division. (Signed)
"' Thomas Kingscote, Joseph Watts, Edward Jones,
John Probyn, 0. Stoughton, J. Pyrke, R. J.
Purnell, R. F. Jenner, W. Joyner, Ellis.'

" When this resolution was sent to me, involving as I
found it did, a blind adherence to an unexplained plan,
for there are names among themof decided protectionists,
who will not support free-trade principles, or vote for
any man that does, at least so they have assured me; and
that it was in fact a resolution to sacrifice me to what-
soever nominee his Lordship might propose, I demanded
that those same gentlemen should meet me at Glow,
cester on the 6th of October, and to that convention I
invited Lord Fitzhardinge. With one or two exceptions,
on the plea of illness, and with the omission of Lord
Fitzhardinge, they afforded me the presence I required.
Indeed, setting aside all other ties, an Englishman has a
right to call for an,:interview face to face with his ac-
cusers, and having turned •to one side of the question,
they could not refuse to hear the other.
• " Their meeting afforded me all the personal satisfac-
tion the extraordinary Circumstances admitted, but
publicly they gave me note. I don't know now why
Lord Fitzhardinge desertv me, or why they,--the gentle-
men who attended him, have seemed to take a step
sanctioning his desertion, unless it is that he has refused
to pay for the registration of the division if they don't
obey him, and they are 'not prepared to pay far it; and
they further say, if he does not do so, the division will
fallinto the hands of the protectionists.' A sorry comr
pliment to men, to principle, and measure, to deem that
the voice of this great county depends on one man's gold!
But still this can% be it—for the meeting contained pro-
tectionists, who, if sincere in their views, would desire
to see the county in other hands. Since these gentle-
men met me, I have heard one of them declare he
' signed the paper conditionally.' Conditionally or not,
I assign the whole proceeding in the first and primary
aggression, as harsh towards me, uncalled for, uncon-
stitutionally oppressive, and not as yet an agitation
publicly understood !
It then becomes my painful but imperative duty to
resist these aggressive steps towards me, for two reasons.
The first, because no one has a right to wrest to any
privately instilled animosity, the free choice of a free
constituency, because when public party purposes suited
private as well as public design, he assisted one general
registration. In the second place, to withdraw the con-
fidence and support from a representative who was
thought of judgment sufficient to propose a member to
represent the whole county on the question of reform,
and then to represent a division of the county himself
after the reform was carried up to the present time, and
who has from that time to this faithfully guarded his
trust, to the utter defiance of any charge against him, is
in fact a declaration that he has been found unworthy
any longer to hold his place in Parliament.
" I call therefore on the noblemen and gentlemen and
independent electors of the Western Division to convene
a public meeting in the early part of November next,
when and where they please, at which I will attend' to
tender an account of my stewardship, and publicly de-
mand why Lord Fitzhardinge so unconditionally deserts
me. On the field. of politics, I stand precisely on the
spot where he placed me. lam so far and no further,
by his immediate desire, and with bis personal concur-
rence, and, it is fair to presume, that in his
unexplained desertion of me, he either contemplated a
retrograde movement, or he means to jump beyond me,
leave me at a spot to which my obedience to his wishes
led me, and to join the free -traders,to the evident extent
of their wishes. At all events, by every law. of courtesy
and justice, he ought to give me the option of taking
either step by his will !
" A letter from one of my constituents, in the Forest,
who writes for hiniself and others, states, that they
had heard that' his Lordship had withdrawn his support
from me; but they did not know exactly why, but the
fact of his having done so seemed to them to destroy
every remaining hope of my re- electien.• And then they
began to look round and inquire who would be a suitable
man, to bring forward. Many of my able friends, if they
must have some one in my place (which seemed to 'be
inevitable), would prefer a gentleman altogether removed
from the hostile, influence of which my letter complained,
and theirinquiriei were directed not to Berkeley Castle,
but to another quarter.'
" Theis* inqiiiries" refer to a period, long previous to
the ' letter' which my correspondent alludes to as having
received from arie; and I address the very natural in-
quir,y to the paper signed at the meeting Called by Lorci
Fitzhardinge, and ask, who then is it that has already
' placed in peril the Liberal interest,' and who has and
is about to sever the political ties so honourable to the
old Castle? -

" Let. every.gentleman and man throughout the comity
withhold the promise of his support till these doubts are
dispelled ; I am ready to sacrifice myself as I have long
done, for her real interests, but not to an unworthy con-
spiracy, if one exists. lam in no way inclined to com-
mit a political suicide, or to allow my political life to die
by the hand of undiscovered assassination; I call on you
then, upon those friends who have so long reposed their
trust in me—to support me until we differ—or until I
shall have been proved unworthy of the public confi-
dence.—And with sentiments of the highest respect, I
remain your gratified and most faithful servant,
" GRAN'TLEY F. BERKELEY."

A NEW SPECIES or MONOMANIA.—The whims and
caprices of some of the biped race may truly be said to
amount to a species of monomania. At Stratford, in the
suburbs of the metropolis, within the boundary of this
county, resides an old and eccentric personage, possessed
of considerable house property, who has a monomania
for empty houses, and to such an extent-does .he indulge
in this species of madness, that houses which would-
realise an aggregate annual rental of between.6ool. and
'6OO/. per annum he allows to stand empty, tier will the
solicitations and importunities of his best friends induce
him to let them. He is in the daily habit of calling on
some of his neighbours, as he states, for
,a chat to pass
the time -away, but When interrogated about permitting
his hOtksea. to stand empty, he invariably 'replies he has
no time to attend to• that matter. The loss already
sustained in parochial rates, &c., in the parish of West
Ham, from this empty house monomania, is estimated at
from 91e1141 tO twelve hundred pounds,—Essex Standard.