The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-19 00:00:00

SCOTCH AFFAIRS IN" 1856.

Under this heading a traveller in Scotland writes in
a morning contemporary of yesterday a rather amusing
medley of facts and inferences :
"The railroad, and steamer, and electric telegraph have
put a new face on Auld Scotland ;' dirt is less sacred,
the English less foreign, and wisdom is not claimed as a
Scottish monopoly. Newspapers here are improving in
tone, though still tremendously ecclesiacal, and town
councils do not devote more than half their time to
theology. Lord Palmerston's letter to the clergy of
Edinburgh, however hetorodox in divinity, has had a
salutary sanitary effect. The closes in the High-street
are occasionally washed down, and the chief streets are
not so perilous to passengers. The Highlands are rapidly
replenishing the lowland towns with unskilled labour.
It is a remarkable and too suggestive fact that the Irish
have been displaced at Greenock and Port Glasgow by
the Highlanders underworking them.
" The Evangelical Alliance concluded its meetings at
Glasgow a few days ago ; the whole thing appears to
have been very dull, though very good.
"The Free Kirk people are building medisuval chapels,
with tapering spires and niches, as if for saints, all over
Scotland.
"The harvest is very promising. The potatoes, how-
ever, are extensively diseased. Labour seems abundant,
and the working classes appear satisfied.
"It is universally understood here that the Duchess
Dowager of Argyll has joined the Roman Catholic
Church, in spite of the advice of Dr. Pusey, of Oxford,
who has been labouring to draw her back. The Duchess
of Buccieuch and the Marchioness of Lothian have also
' gone over' to the Roman Catholic Church. They have
all entered by the porch of the Scotch Episcopal corn-
, munion, which people here regard as the half-way house.
"There is less of ecclesiastical controversy in Scotland
than there used to be.
"The repairs and restoration of the cathedral of Glas-
gow are admirable, and now nearly ended.
"A great battle is being waged in the nevrepapers on
the comparative morality of the Scotch and English.
The Scotch are convinced that they beat the English
hollow. There are two great points. The English beat
their wives, which the Scotch do not. The Scotch get
often blin fon' with whisky, which the English do not.
Is it a perfect equation I Is it better to drink whisky,

- .
or to beat wives ?
"There is great need of a more patriotic and liberal
spirit among some of the heritors of Scotland in reference ,
to the conservation of ancient ecclesiastical remains.
Some of the noblest ruins are crumbling away in the
rains and frosts with scarcely an attempt to arrest the
calamity. A very remarkable instance of this is seen in
the ruin of J,dburgh Abbey. Patt of the nave is en-
closed as a Scotch parish church, with ugly tiers of gal-
leries, the recent flat roof occaQion2.lly descending in
fragments, and the remainder of it, consisting of exqui-
sitely beautiful Norman pillars and doorways, and win-
(lows, is day by day going to pieces.
"The Scottish service, tastefully performed, is really
very beautiful, and its severe psalmody, as in Glasgow
Cathedral, is something impressive in one of these noble
edifices.
" Throughout the counties the little lairds, often
upstarts, imitate the great lairds in religion, habits, and
sympathies. Were the Duke of Buceleuch to turn
Mormon, at least a hundred lairds around him would
turn Mormons too. This habit is nearly universal, and,
as not a few of the aristocracy have turned Romauists,
, we shall see not a few of the aspiring lairds fqilow."

DONCASTER RACES.—(This Day.)

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

DON STAKES.

Artillery
Ellington ...

Melissa .
blincepie,

Two ran.
PARK HILL STAKES.

Three ran.
DONCASTER STAKES
Brinnie Scotland
TAanganese

Six ran.

LATEST BETTING.
DONCASTER CIIP.
6to 4 agst Melissa
2 to 1 agst Fandango
sto 1 agst Wit.lock (offered)
Nothing else mentioned. Lance is scratched.
CESAREWITCH.
20 to 1 agst Cerva (taken)
20 to 1 agst Middleton (taken)
25 to 1 agst Alice Wentworth (taken)
25 to 1 agst Homily (taken)
25 to 1 agst Merlin (taken)
30 to 1 agst Cotswold (taken)
30 to 1 agst Peter Wilkins (taken)
40 to 1 agst Duvernay filly (taken)
50 to 1 art Diego (taken)
DERBY.
14 to 1 agst Tournament (taken)
20 to 1 agst Schiedam (taken)
33 to 1 agst Lambourne (taken)
40 to 1 agst Blue Jacket (taken)
Victoria is scratched for the Doncaster Stakes and
Park Hill Stakes.

TURKISH CONTIATGEN,7' FIELD TRAIN.

Last evening a meeting of the non-commissioned offi-
cers of this corps was held at the Rose and Crown,
Crown-street, Westminster, for the purpose of receiving
a communication relative to the progress of their claims
against the Government.
Mr. E. W. HYDE, a serjeant-major in the force, pre-
sided, and introduced the proceedings by °heaving that
be was glad to see them all once more, to contend for
their claims, as the taxpayers of the country had supplied
the funds to carry on active operations until April next.
(Hear, hear.) A copy of the statement of their grievances
now in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief, by whom
he felt satisfied they would be promptly attended to ;
and he was sorry to say that he had to complain of
the conduct of Commissary Bake, who bad not forwarded
to Lord Panmure the letters of remonstrance which he
(the Chairman) had addressed to him ; but he was happy
to say that a copy of these letters, embodying the sub-
stance of the grounds of complaint on the part of the
corps had been laid before the Commander-in-Chief, by
whom, he was satisfied, they would be read, and who,
he felt convinced, would give it every attention. (Hear.)
He believed that in leaving the matter in the hands of
his Royal Highness they would ultimately obtain justice.
The acting serjeant-major of the corps had stated that
he was satisfied with the conduct of the corps under his
command, and that he should be most happy to do all in
his power for them on his arrival in England, but
that promise had not been fulfilled. On the con-
trary, he had refused to forward to the Secretary
for War a charge against a commissary officer.
His (the chairman's) complaint against Commissary Bake
was, that be was only forty-eight hours in the Crimea
when he struck Serjeant Blanch on the head, and that
he was guilty of other acts which he (the chairman)
considered to be discreditable. He then read the fol-
lowing memorial to his Royal Highness the Duke of
Cambridge, which, it was resolved, at a meeting held on
Monday last, should be prepared and presented to the
Commander-in-Chief :

"MAY IT PLEASE YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS,
" We, the serjeant-coeductors of the field train of the
Turkish Contingent stationed at Kertch in the Crimea,
under the command of G. Bake, Commissary-in-Chief,
earnestly and most respectfully request your Royal High-
ness's attention to thefollowing statement : —Having waited
patiently for nearly three months for the repayment of our
income tax, and there being no sign of Mr. Bake's books
arriving, we most earnestly request your Royal Highness
the favour of issuing an order for our being paid the above,
on each man producing his small regimental book, which
shows the amount of money deducted, as well as the
money we have received ; as many of us have not been able
to obtain a situation since our discharge we are in a state
Df utter destitution ; and this after many of us having
given up past situations and leaving our homes and fami-
lies to go into the service of our country ; that at the tune
of the formation of the field train corps, and of our engage-
ment in the months of October and November;lBss, etea
and every one of us were distinctly promised that the
amount of pay would be ss. 6d. a day while in England, and
upon embarking for our destination each man's pay would
be 2s. more ; but from the time of our embarkation for the
Crimea until our return to England, we have never re-
ceived the amount of such extra pay as promised and gua-
ranteed to us. We have been given to understand and
believe that the officers have received their field amount
of pay. We humbly solicit the favour of your Royal High-
ness considering whether we are not equally entitled, and
at the same rate as the non-commissioned officers of corps ;
that as other corps are about to receive three months' gra-
tuity, and that others have received beyond that amount,
viz., the civil artificers, who had not the arduous duties
to perform that we had, we humbly hope your Royal
Highness will consider us entitled to the same; that money
to a large amount from some has been, as we consider, ille-
gally stopped by Commissary Bake, without court-martial,
and in many instances without an investigation, we pray
your Royal Highness will institute a strict investigation
into the conduct of Commissary Bake, and his general
treatment of the men under his command."

The memorial concluded by enumerating several
charges against Commissary Bake, and by praying his
Royal Highness to direct the payment to them of such
sums as he considered them entitled to.

This being the only matter before the meeting, the
proceedings terminated by a vote of thanks to the chair-
man.

MARKET NEWS.—(This Day.)

La- ELAND,

DUBLIN, THIIRS DAY UORNING.

TELEGRAPH COMMUNICATION WITH AM.ERICA.
The people of Galway have taken alarm at the
start obtained by their southern rivals, and the se.
lection of the port of Valentia for communication
by telegraph with America is .more them likely to
revive the movement in favour of a wes tern packtt
station. A local paper (the Vindicator} says :

" It is rather odd that Valentia should have been se-
lected as the fittest spot for communication with Ame-
rica by electric telegraph, while so important a city as
Galway has been overlooked. We suppose the lord of
Valentin had sufficient interest to bring about such a re-
sult, and exercised it in a proper quarter, whi2e the mer-
chants and authorities of Galway slept carelessly on
their posts. However that may be it is quite certain that
the working of the electric telegraph between Great
Britain and the States must cause an entire revolution in
tke state of things now existing. Our present postal
arrangements will be totally unsuited to the velocity of
communication which the telegraph will have rendered
so desirable. Letters that now take nine or ten days to
reach their destination must, in great measure, cease
when a message can be flashed in a few minutes across
the Atlantic, and the prices of corn or provisions, or of
the funds be received as quick as the lightning can make
response.
"The time has really arrived when our public boards,
gentry, merchants, and traders should bestir themselves.
The electric telegraph will have rendered Liverpool ob-
solete as an American packet station, and the long and
dangerous channel navigation must be scouted by the
whole country. Postal communication with the United
States can only be maintained by a fleet line of steamers
which shall be able to run across from Galway in three or
four days. The necessity of the case, the exigencies of the
times, and the telegraph will at last bring round that
consummation so desirab'e, and Galway, by the force of
circumstances, must be the Transatlantic Packet Station
for Britain."

AN AMERICAN WHALER IN CORK HARBOUR.
The Cork Examiner of yesterday has the follow-
ing paragraph :
"Among the numerous arrivals to our harbour from
all parts of the world it is seldom that the flag of an
American whale ship floats opposite Queenstown. A.
whale-fishing brig, called the W. F. Safford, 172 tons,
belonging to New York, arrived in Queenstown on Fri-
day last, from Nova Zembla. On her voyage, which
was merely an experimental trip, she captured three
whales, from which nearly eight tuns of oil have been
obtained. A new system has been introduced, by which
it would seem that this valuable animal is more surely,
safely, and speedily destroyed than by the old means,
and we understand that the credit of introducing the
present mode belongs to the captain of the W. F. Saf-
ford. Instead of being harpooned as formerly—a course
that was dangerous to life and uncertain in the result—
the fish are now shot, and after the ball enters the flesh
it explodes in the body on much the same principle as a
shell. The effect of the explosion is generally to shatter
that portion of the fish where it has entered, and it sel-
dom fails to reach a vital part. Capt. Roys, the master
of the whaler, is at present in Birmingham, where he is
having some guns of a peculiarconstruction made, which
he expects will be highly effective in the capture of
those fish. As we stated, Capt. Roys is at present
merely engaged in an experimental trip, and his ship is
at present in Cork harbour for the purpose of enabling
him to judge of its suitaillity as a place of despatch for,
the fishing-grounds. It is his intention in the summer
months to fish in the North Seas, and in the winter to
visit the coast of Patagonia, and he is anxious to ascer-
tain whether this harbour would suit him as an inter-
mediate port at which he might refit and replenish his
stores. We believe it is the intention of Capt. Roys to
apply for patents for invention to the Englieh and Ame-
rican Governments."