The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-23 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

Lord Heytesbury had an audience of the Queen yes-
terday.
Her Majesty and Prince Albert, accompanied by the
Pi incess Royal, took an airing in an open carriage and
fo,lr yesterday. The Equerries in Waiting, Colonel Ar-
buthnot and Lieutenant-Colonel Seymour, attended on
horseback.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent and the
Luke of Cambridge visited her Majesty yesterday.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert rode out on horse-
li::ck yesterday, attended by Lieutenant-Colonel Seymour.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, Prince
A:fred, and the Princess Alice took an airing yesterday.
in the garden of the Palace.
Her Majesty and Prince Albert, accompanied by the
Prince of Leiningen, honoured the performance of the
French Plays with thtir presence yesterday evening.
The royal suite included the Countess of Desart, Hon.
Miss Devereux, Lord Byron, Colonel Arbuthnot, and
Lieut.-Colonel Seymour. Her Royal Highness the
Duchess of Kent also honoured the performance of the
French Plays with her presence, attended by Lady Anna
Maria Dawson, Sir George Cowper, and Captain the
Hon. James P. Murray.
Sir William C. Ross, R.A., had the honour of taking
a second sitting yesterday for a portrait of her Royal
Highness the Infant Princess, by command of the
Queen.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge and the Hereditary Grand Duke and Grand
Duchess of Mecklenburgh Strelitz. attended by Lady
Augusta Cadogan, Lonoured the Russian Minister and
the Baroness de Brunnow with their company at dinner
yesterday, at their Excellencies' residence in Dover-
street.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent took an
ailing yesterday in a carriage and four.
Intelligence of the demise of Lord George William
Russell, G.C.8., was received in town yesterday
morning. The Cabinet dinner, intended to have been
given by Lord John Russell yesterday evening, in
t.)hesham-place, was, in consequence, immediately post-
poned. Lord John Russell left town for Wimbledon.
Lord Ingestre and Captain Warner had a long inter-
view with Lord John Russell and Viscount Palmerston
on Tuesday, at the official residence of Lord J. Russell,
in Downing-street.
A deputation of Merchants of Liverpool, trading to
Brazil, had an interview with the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer yesterday, on the subject of the duty on sugar.
Tae deputation consisted of Mr. J. Cramley Moore, Mr.
Charles Saunders, and Mr. Edward Johnston, and were
accompanied by Viscount Sandon and Sir Howard
Douglas.
Mr. Wise had an interview with Earl Grey yesterday,
at the Colonial-office.
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England, had a
general meeting yesterday. There were present, the
Bishops of London, Bath and Wells, Chichester, Oxford,
and Rochester, and the Earl of Devon.

The Earl of lleyon had an intereiew with Sir George
Grey yesterday at the Home office.
Lord Clive had an interview with the Chancellor of
,he Exchequer yesterday. The Chairman of the Excise
had also an interview with the Eight Hon. Gentleman.
Mr. Edward Eyre hml an interview with Earl Grey
yesterday. Mr. G. W. Jerningham had also an inter-
view with the Noble Earl.
Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-
,ffice from the Governors of the West India colonies.

The Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch left their resi-
sidence, Montague House, Whitehall-gardens, yesterday,
en route fur Scotland.

TO THE LORD JOHN RUSSELL, &c.
My Lord,—ln this crisis of colonial affairs, the conduct of
the Government being again vested in the leader under
whom we achieved that which should have been a wide
and general blessing—the abolition of slavery—l address
you in the hope that it is not too late to amend your colonial
policy.
I object to the measures you have proposed, as unjust to
the colonists, and not in accordance with those liberal prin-
ciples in the maintenance of which it has so frequently been
my pride to rank myself as your humble supporter.
You tell us that the promised and present supply of sugar
from the British colonies is inadequate to meet the home con-
sumption ; that as we, the colonists, cannot produce enough
sugar to answer the demand, the difficulty is to be grappled
with; and ask whence is the deficiency to be supplied but
by the admission of foreign and slave-grown sugar? You
hope that when the trade is open to the competition of the
world it will raise such a spirit of emulation in our breasts,
that we shall proportionably increase our production, and
benefit the public and ourselves by industrial exertion.
Your hope, my Lord, so far as regards the continental colo-
nies under the present inadequacy of labour, is utterly vain
in no
hbneloel
ttiheeno
er ,a ba
\u,
et r
ystl•
vi ta
sh
eep
ehsaerdd I ah andd cs rtxu ee
al
tfaatce
st .
\h e
and
rli nn deal
tp
iy of
estates
eshald'hpetree weredae about
produced
anet
isitiatvhees
thoseacopnentintietre,mta,lacaotlioi
in-
come of from three to seven thousand a year. I hold those
properties now.
Under your guidance I assisted to tight the great battle of
emancipation ; for though well aware that I must lose by
the abolition of slavery, still its existence could not be con-
scientiously defended by reasoning, human or divine.
At the time of its abolition, and subsequently, your Lord-
ship may perhaps recollect that I urged upon you a system of
wide and general free labour, and prayed that its first intro-
duction might not be confined to the Mauritius, but that, ac-
cording to the general and generous principle of affording to
the labourer the best market for his hire, the whole of the
\Vest India colonies might be thrown open to those who,
guarded by the Government as strictly as necessary, might be
inclined to better their condition. All classes might then
have shared in the blessings contingent on, and not impos-
sible to, the liberal and comprehensive scheme embraced by
emanicpation.
The admission of free labour, which ought to have gone
hand in hand with emancipation (a more beautiful conjuno-
tion can scarcely be imagined), was, however, neglected. It
was refused, or ultimately saddled with such injurious re-
strictions that, so tar as the colony of Berbice is concerned,
up to the present time the shadowy boon has been completely
valueless.
I particularly call your Lordship's attention to the locality
or my estates (better known as Benfield's estates), simply
that by the true picture of my distress I may leave you to
judge of the tenfold misery of others who have nothing to
support their state and station in society, or to find them in
daily bread, but their colonial possessions.
Since the abolition of slavery my estates have returned no .
income. They have been a heavy debt, and an annual loss
of more than from 1,000!. to 1,200/. a year. The original
prime cost of the property, before a clearance in the bush
was made, amounted to 160,0001. I do not, under present
circumstances, return one hogshead of sugar to this country ;
afford me but the free labour I am honestly willing to pay
tor, and I can return 1,000 hogsheads. Judge, then, the ge-
neral fact of the cause of the " deficiency of supply " by the
instance I set before you.
The compensation I received on the abolition of slavery
was about 14,000/. Is that a " liberal compensation" for the
less of all income and superadded debt ?
Another fatal mistake has been made in bygone legislation
—let it be avoided for the future. It is, that no distinction
has been drawn between the necessities of the island and
those of the continental colony. The same rules cannot be
applied to both.
In the island the labourer, or the man that should be the
labourer, is circumscribed—his means of living without in-
dustry are more compressed—he is abut up and within the
influence of civilisation, and he is, to an extent, constrained
to do as others do.
Not so on the continent, not so in Berbice. In Berbice
civilisation is surrounded by a vast wilderness, the soil un-
occupied, and vegetation so luxuriant, that a month's labour
in the bush will afford vegetable subsistence enough to the
squatter or negro for the year's consumption. The rivers
and the woods supply him with deer, with fish, flesh, and
fowl, and free of society, lie needs no clothes; he is above
the necessity of labour. The proprietor and planter has
become the real slave to neglect and oppression.
You have, my Lord, in the continental colony, given the
negro an unlimited, and therefore a dangerous, freedom,
without surrounding him early enough by circumstances
that should keep him temporally and religiously useful to
himself and to the mother country. In Berbice you have
taken from the proprietor the sole value of his luxurious
the real worth of that possession, to obtain which he once
had British encouragement and support. The British planter
in Berbice is left to perish, and succeeding Governments of
this country, in establishing and recognising the glorious
achievement of emancipation, have sullied its purity by pee;
nwyhtnile.
miffing the existence of a monstrous and unjust evil, ank
foreign to the interests of liberality and compassion.
eroprietor
The slave being freed from his shackles, and b
than ever
now being a greater slave to injuriousmoppression
an ear the one in-
tcehproprietor's cries upon this
has beetnheproonveedstiarvn mesa'
stances
the
een
ofcoetrhsceterod,
tei labourertresainvtisedva:Eaoiviine.esim:
in the other.
reffossrdsedhoutoldtnhnednaesgrwoliling
As your Lordship's follower in your general line of policy,
sctoaunnetery.
as was
ar:da
I protest against your present colonial proposition—not to
-.he ultimate design, but to your immediate method. Give
to the ruined colonist the means of cultivation open to us
here in England ; enable him to compete with the rest of
the world, and to be aroused into that state of industrial
emulation you say you hope to see supervene upon his pre-
sent helpless and forced inactivity. Give us, give me, the
simple labour I require, the power of paying for the fair and
remunerative day's work, and carry out your system of free
trade all over the world. Put us first into a position to ac-.
cept your free-trade principles—and you can only do so by.
the importation of labour, ample, speedy, and deenavehese just grounds I will still be, as I have been, your
vn t
--auct
humble but faithful fellow-labourer and follower,
GRANTLEY F. BERKELEY.
Berkeley-house, July 21.

FORTUNATE DISCOVERY OF FIRE. AT WOOLWICH.—.
Between three and four o'clock yesterday morning, a police-
man upon going on board the Aric:l steam-packet, lying in
the basin at Woolwich Dockyard„ perceived a locker below
to be on fire, and immediately eAtinguished it. The origin
is at present a mystery, withou;c the slightest clue to its so-
lution. The opportune diF;eovery was most fortunate, as
the Ariel was lying alongsi'.ie the Growler steam-sloop, and
there were many other ve.,ssels in the basin so situated that it
the fire bad grown to any head, the consequences would
have been most disastrous. Only a few weeks since the late
Board of Admiralty called the attention of all the establish-
ments to their instructions with respect to fire, and its spon-
taneous ignition.
'm SNUBBED ONE.— Sir Culling Eardly Smith
raver alluded once at Edinburgh to the British Lion. Thia
neglect from one who, on every former occasion, clung to the
lion's mane, and pinched his tail to make him roar, met with
its due reward. Sir Culling was thrown out. Yet we can-
not help thinking, that if he had thrown himself boldly on
the British Lion he would have been brought in. If Sir C.
Eardley Smith had only let the British lion loose, we are
sure he would have carried everything before. him.—Punch.
We have observed a paragraph going the round of the
newspapers, in which It is stated that Sir Culling Eardley
Smith, w2W
ately canvassed this city, is a nephew of the 'Jake of Wellington.
This is a mistake. Sir Culling Smith's grand' uncle had one so*.
Culling Charles, who married Lady Anne Fitzroy, a sister of the
Noble Duke. The Honourable Baronet's connexion with the family
of his Grace is not much nearer than what in this country would be
termed a ' Highland cousin."—Caledonian .Mercury.
MADAME LAFFARCE.—The heroine of the romantic
eivise celcbre,.so notorious a few years. ago, has for some time
been in a vicate of ill-health that prevented her quitting her
cell. On. Sunday last, however, she went, in the penitentiary
dress, to hear mass in the prison chapel. Madame Lafftarge,
having asked as a favour to be allowed to devote harsalif to
the service of the sick, she has been charged with the super-
inteuda,nce of the infirmary.
The election for St. Ives took place on Mond!i/_-_
'here
of waseieveixt
nolao.ppositioit to Lord Powlett, brother of L
Duke A
T

'biro Mbttton

SUN OFFICE, Seven o'clock.

NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN
CONNECTING RAILWAY.
SPECIAL MEETING (THIS DAY).
A special meeting of the shareholders in this line took
place this day at the Landon Tavern, under the provisions
of Lord Dalhousie's Dissolution Act, in order to determine
upon the propriety of winding up the affairs of the Company.
There was rather a numerous attendance of the proprietary
present.
The chair was taken, at half-past one o'clock, by Mr. E.
Scard.
The Sacs=aux read the advertisement convening the
meeting.
The CsiarabLor said he had received a letter from Mr.
De Burgh regretting that he was unable to attend the meet-
ing of the Company, in consequence of a domestic affliction.
It did not behove him to state very much to the meeting ;
he would merely observe that they were all aware of the
rejection of the Bill in the House of Commons, and
likewise of the action in the Court of Chancery
commenced against the directors. He was happy to say that
the plaintiffs, Messrs. Castendeeck, Perring, and Swinton,
had consented that the money be withdrawn from the Ac-
countant-General's hands, and placed in the hands of two of
the directors, Mr. Edward Scard and Mr. Johnston, and two
of the plaintiffs, Mr. Castenddeck and Mr. Swinton. He would
conclude by observing that they would do their utmost to
discharge their liabilities in a manner satisfactory to the pro-
prietary at large.
Mr. FRANCLS begged to move that the Company be dis-
solved.

Mr. CORBET seconded the resolution.
Mr. CLARKE desired to have a statement of the accounts
before he would proceed to act as a scrutineer.
Some very disorderly and irregular conversation here en-
sued, and Mr. Daniel, one of the scrutineers, refused to act
with Mr. Clarke. After some further noisy discussion, the
resolution was carried for a dissolution of the Company, the
number voting being 456 flares, assenting to a dissolution
without bankruptcy, and 510 remain neutral.
The meeting then separated.

DIRECT WESTERN RAILWAY
COMPANY.—(THIS DAY.)
The adjourned meeting of the shareholders, for the purpose
of determining on the dissolution of the Company, was held
to-day at the King's Head Tavern, Poultry, at two o'clock.
Mr.AldermanCHALLShaving taken the chair, apologised for
not being present at the appointed hour, having been detained
by magisterial duties, and then read the clause of the Act under
which the adjourned meeting was held.
The SECRETARY read the advertisement convening the
meeting.
The ,CHAIRMAN then said, the gentlemen present would
recollect from what occurred at the last meeting that the whole
question was simply whether they should go on, or whether
they gould dissolve the Company? and, if so, whether they
would declare a bankruptcy, or consult, perhaps, their inte-
rests, more efficiently, by leaving it in the hands of the com-
mittee. He had told them at the last meeting that the effect of
going into a Court of Bankruptcy would be that the concern
would be referred over to a Master in Chancery, and
it might not be settled in the course of two or
three years. He said, however, if the Company would he
referred to any official tribunal in the country; with a pros-
pect of ready settlement, the Committee would be very glad
to get rid of it. He made these remarks because he took
the chair to-day, as he had done before, only with a view
to yield to every proprietor every reasonable satisfaction on
any matter connected with the present failure—for failure it
had been; and just because it was so, the suspicions of
proprietors would be most naturally excited against
the Provisional Committeemen. For his part, he
had actually sought for objections among his friends, and
the amount of these, he would be candid enough to tell
them, was that the committee had spent a large amount
of money on engineering, when they knew that the pub-
lic would not take up their shares. But this objection
arose out of ignorance of what actually occurred. It
was only in the month of October that the shares were
issued, and they were all issued at the same time.
Now if it was considered that by the month of Feb-
ruary following the committee had to place the Company
in a fit position to make their deposits, so that between
October and February they had to originate a working com-
mittee, get up surveys, and prepare sections for 150 miles of
railway, within the space of six or seven weeks—if this was
taken into account, it must appear that the Provisional Com-
mittee had only done what they would have been most
culpable, indeed criminal, if they had neglected. Another
charge against the Committee was that they had not used any
diligence in getting in those deposits which had not been paid.
But he asked what right, till the present hour, the Committee
had to go forward to those persons with an account of ex-
penses, and a calculation of the proportion for which they
were liable, and demand payment? Now, however, it was
different, and the Committee pledged themselves to use every
means to make these persons pay up, which they could
do, he was sure, more efficiently new, even in law,
than they could before. He was of opinion that the
Company was in this respect in a more favourable
position than any other company which had hitherto
dissolved and its claims stronger ; for no promise
had been made at starting which had not been fulfilled,
nothing had been held out which was not afterwards made
Indeed, next week they were as ready as at first to
roZILa meeting, and to tell the merits of the proposed line ;
they wanted nothing but money to enable them to go
on. The only other objection which he would mention
arose from a mistake made in the report of the last meet-
ing by, he believed, the Railway Times, in stating the
number of shares written for to be but 400,000, instead of
1,400,000, which was the true number. _The mistake, how-
ever, had been the occasion of his receiving several letters
from the country, altogether arising from a casual error of
the press. The proposal of the Committee, he said, was, that
they should pay over to the shareholders immediately the
balance in hand, about 265. a share, the Provisional Com-
mitteemen standing aside till they got in money from the
Provisional Committeemen who had not paid up, and the
allottees.
The Solicitor of the Company stated, in reply to a question
from one of the proprietors, that the number of committee-
men who had not paid upon their shares was thirty. three.
A PROPRIETOR asked to have a list of those thirty-three
;arsons who he said had acted so unlike gentlemen, and re-
pudiated their just and legal debts.
The CHAIRMAN said, he and the committee thoroughly sym-
pathised with the indignation that had been expressed against
those who had connected themselves with an undertaking
while its prospects were fair, but had abandoned it so soon as
these had changed. He stated that they would use their en-
deavours in every way to recover the debts, as indeed they
. had done already, having issued writs against several, and
holding over them the shame of exposure of their conduct.
A PROPRIETOa moved that a list of the names of those on
the provisional committee who had not paid should be fur-
nished and published.
The CHAntsaArr said that it was not regular, according to
the Act of Parliament under which they were met, to intro-
chic° other business at present. But what would answer the
same purpose, the Committee pledged themselves to intimate
to the persons in question that, unless they paid up, their
names should be printed and sent round to all the share-
holders.--(Hear. hear.)
The CHAIRMAN, in reference to a remark which fell from a
person in the meeting, said the Committee still had the power
by law, and more power than before, to make these parties
pay up,
The scrutineers having completed their task,
The CHAIRMAN intimated that the votes for dissolution
were 3,785, neuters 10, against dissolution none, for bank-
ruptcy none, and in the room but did not register 100. The
number of those who voted at the previous meeting for dis-
solution, and whose votes must be reckoned in addition to
the numbers of to-day, was 2,985, being some hundreds more
than the Act requii ed of them.
The CHAIRMAN, after declaring the vote, expressed his
high gratification at the result.
Mr. BLEADEN moved a vote of thanks to Alderman Challis
for his conduct in the chair, and for the upright way in
which he-had conducted himself throughout the whole pro-
ceedings.
Mr. DEANE seconded the motion, which was carriel unani-
mously.
Mr. Alderman CHALLIS expressed his gratitude for the
kindness with which they had listened to him on this un-
fortunate affair.
The meeting then adjourned.

RAILWAY COMMITTEES
(T HIS DAY.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.
Room A.

COILNIVALia.
The members of this Committee re-assembled to-day at eleven.
Mr. Rows, on the part of the Central Devon and Cornwall line,
applied to the Committee with the view of obtaining permission to
proceed with evidence to show that the bridge which the Cornwall
Company proposed to construct over the river Tamar, at Saltash,
was so low as to impede the navigation of the river.
""This,.. led to a discussion between the respective counsel, and the
Committee decided with respect to the construction of the bridge in
question, that it was a matter that rested:solely with the Admiralty,
In whose hands the responsibility should remain.
The witnesses against the Diu having been exhausted, a delay of
considerahis length ensued, tin fresh witnesses could be
The Committee having, then, swornin.
heard some additional evidence, ad-
journed.