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

EMPIRE.

A copy of the speech of the Governor-General to the
Legislative Assembly of Canada ; and correspondence
relative to certain presumed changes in the commercial
policy of the empire, were on Saturday issued by order
of the House of Commons, on motion of Lord George
Bentinck and Sir George Clerk. The following is an
extract therefrom, and is the most recent document 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 such 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,
awnhdi cihn
hr
iecqhu itrheedy,
owridt n
arespect
undergoto
tqhuee
ms
oosntss
eoafrterha tie,ng
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 difficulty 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
high respectability of the petitioners, and would
to
oe disposed
their
o p,
ionni
ognesneral grounds, to attach great weight
; but her Majesty's Government
have found themselves obliged, on a great variety of occa-
sions, to adopt and to adhere 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 mast 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 share the
belief of the petitioners in the existence and in the 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-:
went 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
inconsidet'ableextent 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 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 look 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 such 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 eountrY
it would doubtlessly soon be set at rest by examination.'
Major-General Briggs read a paper on the Native Races of India, fa
continuation of one which he hadbefore produced. The purport ofit
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 net
originally the inhabitants of that country. In the first place be com-
menced by confuting the generally-received opinion that the Sanscrit
was the aboriginal language, and showed, on the contrary, that it
was introduced by the Brahmins as a learned language, and that !twits
spoken now by scattered tribes, or castes, which he would, on a future
occasion, prove to be the primaeval race. Major Briggs introduce*
the two young Brahmins, who have recently come to this country
to be instructed in medicine, and who have distinguished themselves
tw their advancement at King's College. They took part in the dis-
cussion, and defended the }Undoes 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 ant
chemistry, fine arts, mechanics and mechanical arts, manufactures,
and colonies and trade, were submitted to the members. A correct
list of the successftil 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 beautittil designs for binding covers of Bibles-
The prize specimen was a perfect gem of artistic elegance. So many
of the works of art excited the admiration of the members, that
it was determined to refer the subject back to the committee for fur-
therawar codeinsklwerathtieonm, in otordrieorusthaatrctiosmtspll:.heontasry.bmitestttlemd
uniform 0 urs
onthialseircfmlinao-york7
ewers, water
mwpaettietrio
jugs,ti. Thereac.,
awnedr were a
tea numberterviccouf
nofspeacfmtheensmoill.
ewer i 1
which gave great satisfaction.
On the subject
.he modelled from
articles of the same o ,
frm but different
aun'asanmtiqouste
preservedgyrafiseceili
of the manufacture of
was given by the secretary. Ice
size, an interesting explanation
alone is modelled, which,
i and
i si
n believedth eThN-ra Vatican. n-
matter how many
sinks in the proportion of one-sixth of its bulk, and becomes the mod
sizes
being
gveenx
paorsteidcl et
to
the required, qauictireodn, theof
thelarg testis
on which a second is formed. The produce of this is again dimi-
nished in a similar degree in the course of the process, and by tl4 tr
means a series of any extent can be obtained
oftai them withnedwithout a
any
vineadd tait
itison
call on the labour of the designer. Two mode,,ls,asofpaortuittert uiarjulygspiWeas_itt.
covers received general approval. san
handle and vine foliage, &c., as its ornaments,
big. 'she successful patterns will go Perth to the public with the
stamp of the approbation of the Society, and are sure te• obtain great
popularity. The time of the meeting was so fully occupied by theie
details that no paper was read to the Society.

, FATAL AFFRAY WITH POACHERS.—On Tuesday
night last a gardener in the employ of Major C. F. Winterton, of
Fenwick Lodge, Surrey, was awake by the barking of a dog kept on
the premises, and thinking that thieves were about he let the dog
loose. The animal immediately crossed an adjoining paddock
towards an extensive fish-ponl. The man followed, and on arriving
at the pond perceived sexual 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 severdalthoe
i f
the men servants, when they discovered the dog lying dead, an
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 d,esperat
struggle ensued. The poachers_ wielded short bludgeon.%
two or three of the servants carried fire-arms, which, at the com-
mencement of the fray, they threatened to use, but were restraineg
by Mr. Robert Winterton, who called out to his party not to fire_
gr:aring,ta
fihraesdinagpbiseteoili thrown
hiso
pdpozne
na; dt nearlyb
lloze thronediver, , b one uo
ta effect In the groin of the poacher. At last the entire body of
poachers decamped, leaving their nets behind. In the pursuit that.
en
co ro
ft btel see
followed a groom, named Robert Staines, overtook and grappldd.
with one of the poachers, near the end of the fish-pond. In the
struggle the two men fell into the pond locked in each other's grasp.
the water being upwards of twenty feet deep at the spot. After 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 pursuing party having
returned ftom an unsuccessfhl 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 poach il Tonal= in
a very precarious state.
FALL FROM A MAST.—Yesterday morning a distress-
ing 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-bead of a vessel lying off Mill Dock, Dock-
head, when he missed his footing, and fell to the deck with fearful
violence. He was picked up by the first mate, who discovered that
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
surgeon's, who, atter affording the necessary aid, ordered his removal
to Guy's Hospital, when it was ascertained that he had received con-
cussion of the brain. He lies in a very hopeless condition.

- -
MR. JUSTICE COLERIDGE.—We are happy to hear that
this Learned Judge is daily improving in health

LEGAL t
at
tthße
biZIORthU—D
that Sir
Edward i jili'i N.
S;ugMdeAn37,l3.s—hoArtlyreporetirert i r 0 ism
currLeEn
his present office, and leave Ireland. Whatever post be is destined to
1111 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 ball, 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 a form of thanksgivblgfeor the safe deli-
very Of her Maje.sty and birth of a Princess,,t,o,be in all syna..
gogues throughout the United Kingdom, on Sabbathoif the bth day o
Sivau, .s.st.. 5606 (Saturday, MaY 4:).)"
Sir Robert anti Lady Peel intend
to give a magnificent
entertainment on the 9th of June. Lady Peel, the same eventaz,
will hold an assembly is honour of her Majesty's birthday. It is iFt *
. . ..
be a full-dreal party. • . . -