The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-06 00:00:00

FRIEND of the CLERGY CORPORATION,
for allowing Pensions, not excecdin4 417. per annum, to the
Widows and Orphan unmarried Daughters of Clergymen of the
E,tahlilhed Church, and for arrording terrniorary assistance to neces-
si.ous Clergymen and their families, throughout Egg 'arid, Wales, and
heland.

The next ELECTION of PEN;IONERS will take place at the
London Tavern, Bishops ate-street, on TUESDAY, November 25th,
1i56, at 12 o'cloTk precisely;

. - -
The ltev. JOSEPH BROWN. M.A., in the chair.
The Report of the Proceedings of !he Corporation during the past
}ear, the valance-sheet, list of sot scribers and pensioners, Ike., may
le had at the Offices, 4, St. Martin's-place, Trafalgar-square, where
onations and su,.scriptions will he thankfully received.
The Rev. JOdEPH BROWN, M.A., Hon.
The Rev. JOHN EDMUND COX, M.A., F.S.A., 5 Sees.
HENRY IsRAM A LT., Secretary.

R. HOWARD, Surgeon-Dentist, 52, Fleet-
. I! street, has introduced an entirely new description of AItTI-
ICIAL TEETH , dxed without springs, wires, or ligatures. They so
orfectly resemble the natural teeth as not to be distinguished from
he original by the closest observer; they will never change colour or
lecay, and will he found very superior to any teeth eve" before used.
j'h!s method does not require the extraction of roots, or any painful
.;,eration, and will support and preserve teeth that are loose, and is
raranteed to restore articulation and mastication. Decayed teeth
entered sound end useful in mastication.-52, Fleet-street. At
lonic from ten till five.

.)] 20 MILNER'S HOLDFAST and FIRE-
RESISTING SAFES (non-conducting and vaponrising),
with all the improvemen's, under their Quadrnple Patents of
1840-54,54 and 1.'55, including their Ounpowder Proof Solid Lock
and Door (without which no Safe is secure).
THE STRONGEST, BEST, AND CHEAPEST SAFEGUARD EXTANT.
MILNERS' PIRENIX (212") SAFE WORKS, LIVERPOOL, the
most complete and extensive in the world. Show-rooms, 6 and 8,
Lord-street, Liverpool, LONDON DEPOT, 47A, MOORGATE-
STREET, City. Circulars tree by post.

COAL NEAR LONDON.

The following letter has been addressed to the
editor of the Times :

Sir,—The letters which have appeared in your columns,
and those with which 1 have been favoured privately in
consequence of the insertion of my letter to you of the
28th ult., convince me that a serious amount to miscon-
ception prevalent, even among educated classes, upon
the subject thus brought before the public. Without,
therefore, assuming to teach an abstract science in a few

lines, I feel it incumbent upon me Os the person who,
by your permi.,sion, raised the discu.ion) to call atten-
tion to some of the most serious errors which have thus
been shown to prevail.

In the first place your correspondent " Post the Coal"
and some of the gentlemen who have written to me pri-
vately have been misled into the belief in the existence
of coal deposits rear London by the occurrence of beds
of lignite in the Bagehot sand formation. The history
of the Worpleedoi Colliery Company was a sad com-
mentary upon the eagerness with which these tales of
coal near London are received, and upon the inevitable
disappointment they must bring to those who are foolish
enough to believe that any workable deposits of fossil
fuel are to be found in the strata above the new red
sandstone. In the second place I would observe that
the lignite beds of the Bogshot sand district may perhaps
occur of a sufficient thickness to render it worth while
to work them for local purposes, just as the Bevey coal
is worked in North Devon .; but neither their quantity
nor their quality will be found to be such as to repay
operations upon a large scale, or for tie delivery ct the
material so raised at a distance.
"The circumstance which induces me to believe that
there is a pessibility of finding coal near London is pre-
cisely the occurrence of beds which I have reason to
suppose are members of the new re I sandstone series
nearer to the surface than they were formerly considered
to be. Unlike "Post the Coal," however, Ido not de-
sire to make any absolute assertion on this subject sim-
ply from an inspection of the 'plants en the surface or
the character of the soil and waters. There are far more
things in geology than are, I fear, dreamt of in his phi•
losophy ; and whsn the most able men of the co untry
have been unable to decide upon the me 's° character of
the Highgate beds, after the boring had been continued
in it for a step' la of above 180 fent, it would be very pre-
sumptuous were I to speak positively from the re-ults of
a boring in the red clays only 8 feet deep. It is, however,
the simultaneous discovery of the beds of red clay, so
strikingly like the analogous clays of the new red sand-
stone series, which gives such importance to their occur-1
rence at Highgate and at Horsham, and I de not think
that I am exaggerating when I say there are few geo-
logical problems which it would be more necessary to
solve than that connected with the precise nature of
these beds of red clay. A sum of 3001. would, I think,
suffice to set that question at rest. If it should be found
that these beds were indeed such as I suspect them to
be, it would then be worth while to bore for coal, and
the results of similar operations in the department of
the Pas de Calais have been certainly of a nature to ern
courage such operations ; but it must be evident to every
one who has studied even the rudiments of geology that
no coal can be found until the whole thickness of the
supposed new red sandstone beds shall have been tra-
versed, and even then the operation of boring may fail
to discover the objects of the "researches" for which it
was undertaken. Of the borings recorded by Messrs.
Degoussee and Laurent,
ee refines.
as haven; been executed cf late
years in the 'Valenciennes coal basin, 67 in number,i no
less than 17, or about 1 in 4, gave re eseti
It seems to me that
the landownersguidance
of
thebench
nocfh theof r
Horsham, under the
scri e .er the purpose
would do
fir t experiment, as theyaie directly
of trying the -
the problem.he suni I
eisely if they were to ,ub
ihnatveerensateuellidnwthoeulds,olluttihoinnko,
uthcdf o
rt
„ f purpose,u-ef ) and
h e
at any rate the boring
even if else came
water supply of the district,
might be made.
nothing t
to estimate the cost of further researches coal.
of the matter. At resent it would be folly to attemptirob
p for
artesian boring now in course
of execution at sassy,
which
expec:ed to be at least 1,800 feet deep, will cost
14,0001. ; and I am sure that it the
ewartsnc while riskingredfaudstotie
beds really occur here it would be
even that sum in the ettempt to pass through them.
At any rate, the public may depend upon
it that " no
coal" will be found " near London" unless it be in some
position in which the ordinary laws of
sequence of strata hare been modified ; and that nothing
but small deposits of lignite the geological
are to be found in any of
the more recent strata.
I remain, sir, your obedient servanf,
G. R. BOBS:ELL, C. E.
14, Lincoln's-inn-fields, Nov. 3.

A TONGUE FOR " BIG BEN,"—The county of Darbatia
may fairly claim the parentage of Bz, tee," for we
understand that Mr. G. Hopper, of the Houghton-1e-
Spring ironworks, near Durham, is now engaged in SuP.
plying I,lm
with a tongue. This fine:,pecimen of wrought
iron work is now lying at Mr. Hopper's new ironworks
at Fence Houses, where workmen are now employed in
fitting and finishing it prior to itsing despatched to
London. The part of the clapper width strikes the bell
is composed of a woostPr rplik-roid of solid wrought iron,
he diameter of which is 24 inches. It is expected that
thi-i whole when finished will weigh somewhere about
1,6001 b.

THE NAPOLEON DYNASTY AND TUE
JUDGES OF FRANCE.

The pages of the itioniteur were yesterday de-
voted almost entirely to the publication of the ora.
tions delivered on the previous day at the opening
of the courts of law. Ordinarily these addresses
have little more than a professional and legal inte-
rest; the present occasion, however; has been turned
to political account in a very remarkable manner.
The jtidges in a body proceeded to the Ste. Cha-
pelle and attended mass, which was performed by
the Abb6 Surat, Archdeacon of Ste. Genevieve,
and after the service repaired to their respective
c< urts. In the Court of Cassation, the First Presi-
dent Troplong presiding, M. de Royer, the Procu-
re ur General,.delivered the opening speech, the sub-
ject of which was the judicial and legislative reforms
of LomsXIV. In the Imperial Court M. Vaisse, the
Procnreur-General, delivered nal address, which
the French papers state " was freeently inter-
rupted by the plaudits of the assembly." M. Vaise
commenced thus :--
Among the duties imposed on the magistracy there is
none more essential to its institution, and more necessary
to the well-being of the state, than that which binds it and
obliges it towards the sovereign. The regard for the good
of the public, which everybody pretends to, is but a vain
word, era lie, if it begin by.excluding tespect for him who
is the most exalted and most legitimate representative of
the public weal. •

After maintaining that this is a truly French
sentiment, and thoroughly reconcileable with judi-
cial independence, and then condemning those
magistrates who, in past times, have nourished a
spirit of faction under pretence of zeal for reform,
M. Vaisse told the judges :
The danger exists not only in isolated and particular
offences, in that uniform succession of transgressions which
•ach year brings with it ; another danger for the social
state is found in the dissolving action of party spirit, and
in the want of conviction and intelligence as to the worth
of our political institutions. In Franca we too easily give
way to the spirit of criticism, and to the words of those
who speak only to blacken and blame both persons and in-
stitutions. Let me dare, without departing from that mode.
ration which becomes this assembly, to proclaim a few
wholesome truths. Let ins vindicate to our government
the nationality and grandeur which are its own. The
authority of your presence will supply what is wanting to
my words, and will perhaps make what is a mere custo-
mary discourse an act useful to the public cause. We shall
not bo diverted from our design by that false maxim which
more than once has fallen ou our ears, "The judges shall
not meddle with politics.."

Here the Proeureur-General makes a subtle dis

tinction between the politics which are forbidden to
the judge and those with with which he may pro-
perly concern himself. He then proceeds :

Without reverting to the utopias of the 18th century, we
may affirm that in morality and justice the consent of a
free people is tho legitimate and reasonable foundation of
government. The will of God has laid upon us in this
matter only the law of obedience to powers regularly esta-
blished. As to the Divine choice, there has been manifested
in this century—we ourselves have seen it--two memorable
examples of it, two great occasions in which a man has
risen up to lay hold on abandoned power, and show
himself a true chief and leader of a nation, guiding the
bewildered generations into the promised land of obedience
and duty. The providential exigency, the consent of the
people, services rendered—such are the legitimate conse-
cration of all new power. It appears, however, ths.t it is
neither in the destiny of man nor the will of Providence

that the same bloo.l, transmitted from race to race, shall
give the same nation sovereigns for the duration of its
existence. Men may persist obstinately in asserting that a
royal race should lose its original in the night of time if it
would retain its prestige; but their words will not change
the laws of Providence, nor avert the rise of dynasties
which establish themselves by great services recently per-
formed. To say of a dynasty that it is new, is only to say
that it is and should be so much the more dear to the
nation, as it is nearer to the timet in which pnhliegratitisd3
consecrates it. Its title is not in its antiquity, but in its
work accomplished.
What work is greater in its results, more marvellous and
more worthy of a crown, than the work of Napoleon ?
What founder of a new dynasty like this man, who
held, like Caesar, the sword and the pen ; who com-
manded like Alexander, who governed like the Auto-
nines? What glory, what prestige, surrounds this name,
so often repeated in the homes of the people and the
palaces of kings? By what sign are we to recognise a
consecration by Providence, if we deny it to this legisla-
tor, this captain, this statesman, who has given to France
laws which all nations envy, and a glory which will re-
main immortal, end who only sinned against humanity by
the excess of his genius ?
Yes, lee was the founder of a dynasty; and it were al-
most a blasphemy against the laws of Providence not to
desire for this founder that ho might have descendants,
and enjoy, like all the great men' who have preceded him,
the supreme glory of transmitting the empire to the heirs
of his name. Let us disengage ourselves for an instant
from contemporary prejudices, and ask ourselves what had
been the sentiment of posterity, astonished with the gran-
deur of this reign, if Providence, belying itself, had no t
accorded successors to this new Charlemagne. Ala ! let us
not leave to posterity to be only just. Let us accept with
gratitude the descent of a great man, whom glory and mis-
fortuno have doubly consecrated. We are yet too near
that great epoch to enable the historian who recounts it,
though finding his excuse in the severity even of his con-
temporaries, to reckon up the wounds which the war has
inflated on its, and indicate, with jealous care, the rare
weaknesses of genius. The modern taste inclines more to
memoirs than epopees. But if Providence ever accord to
Napoleon what Alexander passionately desired—a poet to
recount, or rather to celebrate, the prodigies of his reign,
never will poem more marvellous and complete have struck
the minds, and charmed ,the imagination of man. One
must place oneself at this distant and grand point of view,
in order justly and truly to appreciate the Napoleonic
epopee, and the prestige which mast one day environ the
commencement of that dynasty. .

Bat a great trial is imposed on the new dynasty. Its

illustrious founder dies in exile. He leaves the field
free for the two experiments of 1814 and 1830, and at the
end of these trials the Franco of 1818, exhausted for
thirty years in the inanity of her internal contentious,
has no longer strength against anarchy. She is about to
perish, unless she find a saviour. To what quarter turn
the popular regards and hopes? What name, what ser-
vices, are found uppermost in the great candidatureship
submitted to the ballot of December, 1818? Politicians
who regulate iu your cabinets the destinies of empires, it
is not you who shall indicate the preserver of France. The
instinct of the people turns to one who, nevertheless to tha
hour, had but the recommendation of his name. But the
prince who would show himself worthy of so high a des•

tiny must not be merely elected. His actioas should jus•
tify his title.

Recall now in your memory those mournful days where-
in France, as if fascinated by a date, viz., that of the exs
piration of the powers of the President, waited the crisis
of 1852, as the patient resignedly expects the mortal stroke
which terminates his existence. What was to be done?
The nation, through its councils-general, demanded, as a
transition to a more assuring and stable order of things,
the prolongation of the President's authority. If the poll •
tic men who had rendered such great services in reconsti-
tuting the party of order, and resolutely placing themselves
at its head, had united without hesitating in support of the
vote of the councils-general the solution would have been
found. But the cry of France was responded to only by
irresolution and division. This was the moment marked
by socialism for letting loose its armed bands on all parts
of the country. Our intestine divisions and anticipatory
fear delivered us, without defence, to an enemy so much
t he more formidable in that he had already made essay
of his
strength, and had vowed that his prey should no longer es-
cape him. It was then that—fatally decided and morally
convinced—the executive chief believed it his duty to have
recourse to one of those great measures of national safety,
the j udgment of which must be left to posterity. Posterity, I
am firmly persuaded, will class it in her judgtnent with the
coup d'ctat of 18 Brumaire. The suffrages of the nation have
already forestalled the verdict of history. Nothing but
the most obstinate persanal prejudice can harden itself
against the irresistible authority of eight millions of suf-
frages. Let us acknowledge that at no epoch was there
made a delegation of power more complete, unanimous,
necesse,ry, imconstrained, and, consequently, more legiti-
mate. It remained, nevertheless, to France to consolidate
by a moro stable form of government the conquest she had
made over herself. That is what she desired, what also
she accomplished with an enthusiasm and concourse of
suffrages still more considerable, in the ballot of 1852, re-
lative to the declaration of the Empire.

The orator next recounted the great things which
the first Napoleon had done for the judicial body :
Looking round ono, and observing these crowded ranks,
this sovereign toga, this bar so dignified—in a word, all
the apparatus of justice, I cannot but recal that it is the
genius of Napoleon which has raised us up front the dust
of district courts, who has given us titles, insignia, and au-
thority, and who, after organisiug us, has beo,ueathed the
laws which we have to apply.
Let the idea of Montesquieu indicate to us the part w e

have to fill in the constitution of tie empire. Lot us range
ourselves aroundthe throne, that by our means it may re-
ceive strength, lustre, and that influence which it has the
right to expect from great judicial bodies. We should fail
of onr constitutional mission were w e to choose to shut our-
selves always and obstinately within our office as judges.
For groat judicial companionships there are a goverhmen-
tal attitude, an exalted sentiment d political loyalty, a con-
stant and well- um-lerstood desire to work together for the
general good, things which are not matters of choice and
taste, but duties. Such a spirit animated the ancient
French magistracy; let it be ours if we would remain
faitkful to the traditions of our order, and the essential
conditions of our institutions.
M. Vaisse then proceeds to give his view of the
actual stateof
politic.- In France, and dwells
with elaborate severity on that spirit of opposition-
which manifests itself in what the orator stigmatises
as "a little wretched warfare carried on by means of
false reports, malignant insinuationollusions, and
epigrams"—a warfare of words, not deeds, having
nothing real or deep about it, and involving nothing
serious, except it be the result of "creating a false
public opinion—a public opinion calculated to deceive
alike government and people, leadinggovernment to
believe+ that it ought no longer to place reliance on
the people, and the people that it can no longer
look for protection from government. M. Vaisse
then passes by an easy gradation, from this mere
vulgar war of epigrams and euvY, to the hostility
of those abler and more dangerous foes " who," as
M. Vaisse assures his hearers, " would unhesitat-
ingly side with the government if the government
could consent to accept their services." This sec-
tion of his Imperial Majesty's opposition—(" au
temps de la Fronde," says M. Vaisse, "on les ap
pellait le parti des Importans ")—comprises many
persons of considerable ability, who under various
governments have formerly been employed in pub-
lic affairs. The orator proceeds as follows :
It would be too much to expect from the weakness of
human nature that they should approve of what has been

done, and is doing, after them and without them. They
feel a degree of impatience which, in their place, we
should, no doubt, feel equally, at seeing power and ad-
ministration in the hands of those whom they naturally
regard as exceedingly incompetent, and they lose no op-
portunity, public or private, direct or indirect, of mag-
nifying themselves by comparison, and consoling them-
selves by criticism. They affect, moreover, to take under
their especial protection the cause of liberty. Doubtless,
it is a high game to play; but we must first understand
clearly what the word Liberty means. When the aristo-
cracy of old [tome had lost its hold on the assemblies of

the people, it took every opportunity of proclaiming that
liberty was uo more; and for a long time it succeeded by
the aid of its orators and historians in imposing this belief
on the world. Modern times, however, have taught us to
comprehend ancient times, and we now know what the
word liberty meant as employed by the friends of Pompey.
Let it be conceded to governments founded on the basis of
as aristocracy, whether patrician or mercantile, that they
aro well adapted to produce, and more especially to pro-
mote and encircle with notoriety—men of distinguished
parts; that these men are habituated in the noise that is
made about them to find the principal evidence of the free
political life of a nation; that there is thus formed in and
around the press, the tribune and the higher regions of
power of species of political life, which is no doubt suffi-
ciently active, and admirably well adapted to conceal from
view the real hollowness and factitiousness which underlies
the animation and bustle of parliamenttry existence. This
is what we have seen during the last reign, and we will not
say that, like so many others, we may not ourselves have
been so far seduced and carried away as to mistake this
imposing spectacle for a real manifestation of political life.
Bat when these ;rest actors abruptly quitted the scene,and
a secondary class of agents, feeling the weight of responsibi=
lity which rested on them, sought everywhere for support,
and nowhere found any—neither in the government, nor in
the army, nor in the constituencies, then it was that all re-
cognised that the base of that system was too narrow and
confined, that the nation had never entered heartily into
it, that she spent her force in seeking to manifest to herself
her own existence, until organiad. and disciplined, she ac-
quired the right of suffrage to make her will known, and a
single chief to carry that will irate execution. A people
and an Emperor—that is what the nation wanted—that
in two words, the political constitution of France.

It is very sublime this constitution, says M.
Vaisse, but we must not shut our eyes to what aro
alleged to be its dangers. Anong these dangers—
which M. Vaisse only alludes to with the greatest
caution—are, it seems, to bereckoned that want of
facile mechanism, elastic morement, and easy self-
adaptation which characteriseparliamentary govern-
ments ; it requires implicit confidence between go-
vernor and governed—a community of sentiment
being the indispensable condition of the unity of
power. But, says M. Vaisse, if this system has its
dangers, it has a stability also which no other form
of government has ever equalled.
AS an organisation of social powers, comprehending not
a fraction alone of the country and a given category of citi-
zens, but the whole country in its entirety and all Glasses
of the ci,,izens without distinction—it possesses a power
and a reality which oven regarded theoretically loaves no
ground for regretting the fictions of the Parliamentary
system.
M. Vaisse then proceeds to exemplify the bene-
ficial results of this system in the material and
moral progress which he represents France as hay-
ing made since 1852. He exhorts the members of
the bar to show themselves the ministers of order
and peace. If their liberal t endencies incline them
to the cause of popular freedom, they ought, he re-
minds them, to remember that liberty, like all the
other gifts of God, " ought to be proportioned to
our strength and the necessities of the time." He
quotes from the famous address on the opening of
the Session of 1852 the memorable words that " on
the day after a revolution the first guarantee for a
people consists, not in the immoderate exercise o f
the press and the tribune, but in the right of
choosing such government as it pleases." '

That right (continues the orator) you have exercised in
its plenitude. You live under a Government founded
"on the people, the source of all power; the army, the
source of all strength ; and religion, the source of all j us-
tice." With institutions established on such bases, liberty
cannot be wanting. The pledge of this is to bo found
in those words, which France, as stored in her memory, and
which I have no hesitation in repating on this solemn oc-
casion. "To those who regret," said an august voice,
that a greater measure of freedom has not been conceded,
I would reply, Liberty has never taken part in founding a
durable political edifice. She comes to crown the work
when time has consolidated it." (Address of the Em-
peror at the opening of the session, 1853.)
Let these noble expressions, said M. Vaisse, in
conclusion, " form the appropriate termination of
my discourse. Let us all labour, laying aside party
differences, at the great work of public peace ; this
will be the means of raising ourselves towards that

liberty which is the sure crowning grace of the
completed edifice."—Daily News.

SPANISH RAILWAYS.

From returns lately made in Spain to the Govern-
ment concerning the railways conceded and at work in
that
open
in 1856, it appears that the whole of the
lines
public, including that from Madrid to
country re
the
Saragossa conceded to the Spanish Credit Mobilier, gave a
length of 1,955 kilometres (1,222 miles). In the concession
granted to that company of the two sections of the rail-
road from Madrid to. Valladolid, and from Burgos to the
frontier of France, the first section will leave Madrid, pass
by Avila, Arevola, and Medina del Campo, and will stop
at Valladolid, whore it will join the section already traced
passing by Miranda
die l'Ebre, Tolosa,
out f;om Valladolid to Burgos. The third section will
(tiitthev station
jttoorfia, theAliassatsutr nd
Andoain, and San , and,
Sebastian, will terminate at the French frontiers. The
works from Madrid to A.vila aro to be terminated and
opened to &rculation within a deki.y of five years; those
from Avila to Valladolid, to Burgos, and from Burgos to
Vittoria, in four years; those from the latter town to the
frontiers in seven years, dating from the 15th October,
1e56. The works are to commence in three months. The
Spanish Credit Mobilier is thus master over the whole
Northern line, the extent of which is not less than 621
kilometres. If we add the 110 kilometres of the line from
'
Alar to Santander, it results that tho said company has
undertaken to construct in the north of Spain 731 kilo-
metres (451
from
(I 5 miles)
of mil. The lines from Barcelona to
llßarcelona to Granollers, from Jativa to Va.'
lence to the port of Grao, are at work throughout their
whole extent. On the hue from Xeres. to the Trocadero,
the provisional brul-,;es of the section from Puerto Santa
Maria to the Troeatiero, are terminated, and have been
subjected to the usual trials. All that flow remains is the
official reception. The commission which had proceeded
from. Madrid to the frontier, to fix the point or junction
of the Spanish line with that of France, has returned,
after having attained the object, of its journey. The two
lines are to be joined tq;,:.thei a little beyond Torten', two
miles distance from liestalrien.

Na,val and Kilicary Intelligence.

The visit which his Royal Highness the Duke of Cam-
bridge intends making to Chatham is now understood to
be fur the purpqs,,e of brigading the whole of the troops
belongirg to the different branches of the service stationed
at Chatham garrison with the view of testing their effi-
ciency and their ability to act together. The review of
the troops will take place on the Great Lines, and preps.

rations are being made by the troops in anticipation of the
visit of the Commander-in-Chief. During the alernoon of
yesterday and the previous day the duty men belonging
to the several depots, comprising the previllonal batta-

lions under tlae command of Col. H. Jervis, were

marched on to the Lines, where they were joined by the
corps of Royal and the East India Company's Engineers,
under the counnand of Col. H. Saudham and Col. H.
Savage, and the troops belonging to the Royal Marine
Light Infantry, under the commana of Col. J. A. Philips,
the whole forming a brigade of about 3,000 men under
the command of Col. W. H. Eden, commandant of the
garrison. After each battalion had taken up its proper
position, with the regiments of the line in the centre,
various movements were executed with considerable cele-
rity and precision, and the manoeuvres that will be per-
formed on the occasion of the visit of the Duke of Cam-
bridge were rehearsed by the whole of the troops. The
visit of his Royal Highness was fixed for to-day, but a
telegraphic deppatch was received last night at Chatham
announcing that unforeseen circumstances compelled him
to postpone it.

Lieut.-Col. E. W. C. Wright, Deputy-Assistan'
Quartermaster-. General at Portsmouth, succeeds Lieut.
Col. Dalgetty in the appointment of Assistant-Quarter
master-General of the South-Western District.

An inspection of the troops belonging to both cavalry
and infantry regiments stationed at St. Mary's barracks,
Chatham, to the number of nearly 1,700 men of all
ranks, took place yesterday, for the purpose of selecting
those noncommissioned officers and men who are to re-
ceive their discharge, agreeably to instructions received
from the Horse Guards. The number selected is 150,
belonging to nearly every regiment in the service.
The 50th Regiment, in Kilkenny, which received a
letter of readiness on Friday, got the route by Saturday's
post directing them to leave yesterday for Belfast.
The screw steam-ship Alma, Capt. Potts, put in at
Portsmouth yesterday, owing to strong easterly Rinds
and defective machinery, from Constantinople and Malta
for London, having on board 150 non-commissioned offi-
cers and men of the Polish Legion. She has had a very
long and tedious passage.

Two of the transports (Culloden and Sultana) taken
up by the Government for the conveyance of the British
German Legion to the Cape of Good Hope, will be
ready at Portsmouth dockyard to-day at noon, and the
embarkations will take place to-morrow.

Her Majesty's paddlewheel steamsloop Vesuvius,
Commander Hore, from the Mediterranean, arrived at
Woolwich on Tuesday night, and was yesterday morning
despatched on a trial trip lo Greenhithe. The Vesuvius
having completed her term of commission is ordered to
return stores, and will be paid off at Woolwich.
The freightship Norman Morrison is ordered down to
Woolwich to receive Ordnance stores, and to embark
Major Tupper's company of the 13th battalion Royal
Artillery for Bermuda.
The Maid of the Isles has been chartered by Govern•
ment, and is to commence shipping ammunition today
from the Ordnance department, Woolwich, for Algoa-bay.
No. 34 wooden mortar float, having been stripped of
her mortar bed and fittings, was yesterday morning
towed down to Woolwich to be appropriated for the con-
veyance of steam machinery.
The following appointments were made yesterday at
the Admiralty :

E. M. Tupper, Midshipman, to the Impregnable ; A.
T. Collier, Midshipman, to the James Watt; C. A.
Hayward, Midshipman, to tho Indefatigable ; W. H. T.
Pengelley and F. G. D. Bedford, Midshipmen, to the
Monarch.