The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-03 00:00:00

EVENING, J NUAR l 3, 1

many. to sieges, &e., and, telling the whole force to
spend its Christmas or !Slew Year in Fez, must by
this time be pretty v.elltnvineed of their presump-
tion and folly. , •

DECEMBER 22.

Very high winds all night ; a strong Levanter.
The mail due yesterday did not arrive—a great dis-
appointmenv always in a camp, where letters and
papers are eagerly awaited as' the chief of the few
. pleasures obtainable. General Prim's division is
just marching out of camp on its way to Monte
Negro, a mountain abot'it six:miles on this side of
' Cape Negro, and consi :rably beyond Caltille;os.
I understand that as . :the army advances upon
Tetuan, 22 steamers la n with stores and provi-
sions (they take 500,000 rations), besides the war
steamers, will pursue a parallel progresS. I should
mention, if I have not done so bllore, that Castelijdh
is the name given to two small Square white houses,
having the appearance of stunted towers, which
stand some distance ;Tait on nearly the last of the
slopes to be traversed before reaching the level
ground on the way to Cape Negro, and considerably
beyond our lines. Nearly all the field artillery has
arrived. The siege train will not be landed here.
Gen. Prim takes with him 'six battalions, some
hussars. and four batteries. He is going to blow
up some pieces of rock that encumber the road in
that direction, and will, return in the afternoon.
Troops are thrown outlin support and line the
heights in frouruttifTeral*s de ()land's camp.
There have been three or four shots just fired, but
the Moors do not yet show, and it is not expected
they will make
rmuch Oposition, although they
will doubtless follow up the troops as they retire.
Everything seems to indicate an approaching move
of the army.

Advices from Morocco, via Gibraltar, received at
Southampton by the mail steamer China, contain no
later intelligence from the seat of war than that
already to band by way of Madrid.
The Gibrattar Chronicle of Dec. 15th has the

following :
" Moorish accounts represent the action of the
12th inst. as a more serious affair than th© Spanish
official notice of it would had us to infer. In this

conflict, as in the preceding ose, both sides claim
the victory. This is not perhaps surprising when
we consider that in all these engagements, after
contesting the field with great gallantry on both
sides, as is proved by the number of casualties, each
retires at the close of the day to his own ground
The following is a history of the 12th as given by
the Moors :—At an early hour a division of the
Spanish army (Prim's corps, as we learn from the
Spanish statement) advanced to apiece called Merso
del Fneedak, which is about five miles distant from
Ceuta and on the seashore. Here they commenced
the construction of works, apparently with the ob-
ject of establishing themselves at this point• A
body of about 7,000 infantry and 150 horse, under
. _

the command of Kaid Abbas Emkished, Governor
of Riff, was immediately detached from the Moorish
Army for the purpose of attacking the Spaniards
and dislodging them from the position they had
taken up. In this the Moors assert that after a sharp
struggle they were successful • that they drovQ the
Spanish forces back upon their positions before
Ceuta; and that reinforcements sent out by the
Spanish General failed to arrest the retreat until
the Spaniards had reached the Ssrrallo. The works
it Merso del Fnectlak were destroyed, the sandbags
emptied, and the bags carried off to the Moorish
camp. In its main features, as regards the actual
movement, this account does not vary much from ,

that we have received from Ceuta; in the latter it
is admitted that Prim's corps, after making an ad-
vance, retreated upon tie Spanish positions, with
the object, it is alleged, of drawing the Moors
within range of the Spanish artillery. There are
vicient discrepancies as to the killed and wounded.
he Moors give their own loss as 15 or 16 killed
Ind about 40 wounded, and allege that the line of
retreat of the Spaniards from Merso del Fneedak to
the Serail° was strewn with Spanish dead. The
Spanish account represents their killed at four,
and wounded 46, and the losses of the Moors as
immense. •

" The conviction seems daily gaining ground
tmong persons of intelligence who have watched
this a►ntest from its commencement that an inva-
•lion of Morocco from Ceuta is attended by difficul-
ties' little appreciated by the greater part of the
Spanish nation Who so eagerly urged their Govern-
!nent to declare war. The nearest and only accessible
point from Ceuta is Tetuan, a distance of eight
leagues ; but the lino of much to Tetuan is hemmed
in by the sea on one hand and Sierra Bullones on
the other, leaving, therefore, little room for strate-
gic combinations. Moreover, no road exists pass-
ible by artillery or heavy stores ; and at this season
if the year heavy rains may at any moment render
the ground impracticable for military -operations.
En the meantime the Moorish host assembled in

the neighbourhood of the Straits is receiving
'Lally accessions. Sierra Bullones affords Inis-
iailable positions, whence wild hordes of irre-
gulars would operate upon the flank and rear
A' the Spanish army, should it advance, and
threaten its communicatioa with its base of
operations at Ceuta should it capture
I'etuan. O'Donnell's movements form, therefore,
at the present moment a subject of the deepest in-
terest. Whether with an army the effective
Arength of which does not probably exceed 40,000
he can commit himself to au advance into the ix-
teller, in the teeth of the fierce resistance and the
numbers of his enemies, the unfavourable nature of
the ground, and the difficulties of Commissariat and
hozpital administration, is a matter of grave doubt.
The Madrid journals describe the state of the pub-
lic mind as one of feverish anxiety for news of a
more decided character from Africa; but we are
glad to observe that the journals themselves incul-
cate patience, and seem fully to understand that in
war there are difficulties which, even with the
bravest troops and ablest commanders, can only be
surmounted by time and prudence."
The Chronicle of the 20th says :
" The following is the Moorish account of the
action of the 15th instant During the night of
the 14th the Spaniards marched, in great force, to
the Aoyats, a small stream which falls into the sea
at a point about midway between Fneedak and the
Serrallo. Fifteen hundred irregular horse, com-
manded by Sidi A'isalam Ben Ouda, the Governor
of Algarb, who had only just arrived at the scat of
war, and 1,200 Kabyles, advanced to attack them
the following morning, but had no sooner com-
menced fighting than they were driven back, partly
by the overwhelming superiority of the enemy in
numbers, and partly by a more than usually effec-
tive fire of shell from three or four steamers which
supported the Sp mish operations on shore. The
Spaniards charged the flying horse, and would no
doubt have inflicted on them very heavy losses had
it not been for the Kabyles, who advanced boldly
to the front, and, making a most gallant stand
against the fearful odds by which they were as-
sailed, successfully covered the retreat of their
brethren. In the sharp hand-to-hand encounter the
Spaniards are said to have had many men put hors
de combat. The loss on the part of the Moors was
trifling. Some Spanish muskets and ammunition,
as also an ambulance cart, fell into the hands of the
mountaineers, and 10 prisoners are said to have been
marched to the Viceroy's Camp in the neighbour-
hood. While the fighting was going on in the
Tetuan direction the Tangier division of the Moorish
troops, under the command of the Governor of
Riff Kaid Abbas Einkished, attacked the Spanish
encampment at Jama Burbash' (which is the most
westerly point yet taken by the Spaniards, and is
called after an old ruined marabout, or Saint house,
situated at the foot of the high ground occupied by
them), drove the enemy back, and took possession
of his earthworks. The Spaniards returned to the
charge during the morning, regained the earth-
works, but were immediately after again repulsed
from them. A sharp fire was exchanged between
the contending parties for the rest of the day, arid,
although the Spaniards charged three times, the
Moors held their ground until after nightfall when
they retired quietly to their own ramp. The
Moorish loss on this occasion amounted to six men
killed and 15 wounded.

" In comparing this with the Spanish account we
must bear in mind that, of the two attacks men-
tioned, the first was on the Spanish left and the
second on the Spanish right. The former appears
to have been repelled without much difficulty by
Ros de Olano's division. The latter was sustained
with greater v;gour. The assertion by the Moors
that they gained possession of the Spanish earth-
works is not correct. At least they never advanced
so far as the Spanish redoubts.
" Another action was fought on the 17th, of
which we subjoin the Moorish account. The Spanish
report has not yet been received :—' The Spaniards,
who had during the preceding night occupied
Fneedak in force, were attacke soon after day-

break by the Kaid Ben Ouda (who had sworn that
he would this day retrieve the defeat he suffered
with his cavalry on the 15th) at the head of 5,000
men, of whom 500 -were horsemen. Exposed 'to a
galling lire of shot and shell from the Spanish
steamers that accompanied the expedition, the
Kaid fell upon the enemy, and atter a three hours'
combat succeeded in driving him back upon
Hamar,' the boundary of the Spanish Camp on the
Tetuan side. Here the fight continued till sunset,
when the contending parties retired quietly to their
respective positions. As a diversion, an attack was
made by 3,000 mountaineers, under Kaid Abbas
Emkished, on the Spanish right Lt Jama Burbash.
The Moors gave their loss on the 17th as 19 killed
and 50 wounded.'
From this account we perceive that the Spanish
army is operating; in the direction of Tetuan. The
actions both of the 12th and 17th would seem to
prove that 'Marshal O'Donnell intends to occupy.
Fneedak, and we are anxious to receive the Spanish
account of the affair of the 17th, in order to learn
whether the Spanish force has established itself
at that point."
We take the folloWing remarks on the tactics of
the Moorish forces, and the relative capabilities of
the rival armies, from the Chronicle of the 17th
ult.:—

" The conflicts that have taken place before Ceuta
since the Spanish army landed have been numerous,
but so similar in their general character that we are
now able totform a toler ably clear idea of the na-
' time of the warfare the §panish invading army will
have to encounter. The Moorish tactics consist
simply in mustering in large masses under cover of
the rocks and woods that screen them from obser-
vation, making a rush upon what appears a weak
or vulnerable point of their enemy ; and, if they
are not driVen. bra, but succeed in surprising and
cutting up a detachment, they retreat to their moun-
tain fastnesses with the booty they can lay their
hands on. Private letters from the Spanish camp
fully admit the reckless bravery with which the
Moors rush up to the very muzzles of theirliguns ;
and, indeed, the very fact that they still persist in
taking the initiative by attacking the Spanish
army which occupies a strong position, covered by
a chain of redoubts, armed with the rifled ordnance,
shows that their valour is far ahead of their pru-
dence. Such attacks can only have one result,—
the repulse of the Moorish forces with greater loss
than they can hope to inflict on.their enemies. At

the same time the casualties inflicted on the Spanish
army, though unimportant in each particular com-
bat, become serious in the aggregate, from the fre-
quency of the assaults. We may expect that the
Moors will gradually desist from their attacks on
an intrenched position whero the terms on which
they fight are becoming daily more unequal by the
completion and more perfect armament of the
Spanish works.

" The Spanish troops, though chiefly composed of
young soldiers, are described as having been from
the first remarkably steady in the presenco of
the enemy, whose mode of attack was both

novel and-fierce. The strangeness is daily wear-
ing off, and the superiority the Spanish soldier
derives from discipline and more effective arms
must continually increase. Tho Moors, at least, the
irregulars who have been hitherto engaged, have
no bayonets to their firelocks, and consequently,
though individually brave they never stand a
charge. Indtel, we are told they at once recogniAr
the Spanish bugle-call for the charge, and when
they hear:it face about and make off. The Spaniards
can thus always clear their front by a charge,
though they cannot succeed in closing with their
enemy.

" We may expect, therefore, that the Moorish
forces will never meet the Spanish in a general
action. If the ability of the Moorish commanders
is equal to the bravery of their men, they will not
be induced to offer battle unless in circumstances

that countervail the superior discipline and i;Cii;
of European troops. Though inferior in organisa-
tion, the Moors can, however, oppose to an invading
army a resistance of the most formidable character.

In a country where every man can use a gun, and
has a natural talent for guerilla warfare, the casual-
ties caused by general actions form the smallest
portion of the losses sustained by an invading force.
The experience of the Peninsular War of Indepen-
dence on this point must•be fresh in the memorfof
the Spinish nation. In that war the losses the
guerillas inflicted on the French army by intercept-
ing its convoys, interrupting its communications,
and, falling on detaeliments, exceeded the casualties

occurring in battles between the regular crudes."

2 lIE NA V

A correspondence has taken place between the
Admiralty and Admiral W. Bowles, C. 8., Com-
mander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, relative to the
papers which have been published in connection
with the case of the Princess Royal. In answer to
questions from the Admiralty, Admiral Bowles has
stated that those papers were published with his
sanction, and he at the same time tendered his re-
signation in case their Lordships disapproved the
publication. The gallant Admiral's resignation has
been attepted by their Lordships, and it is pro-
bable that Admiral Bowles will be relicYed from
his command at Portsmouth on the Ist of March
next.

The magnificent three-decker the Howe, pierced
for 121 guns, now in course of construction in Pem-
broke Dockyard, is so nearly completed that she
will be ready by March next, and will be launched
in the early part of the spring. The following are
the chief dimensions of this first-rate, which is the
largest vessel of her rating in the navy—viz.
Length over all, 300 ft ; ditto between perpendicu-
lars, 260 ft ; ditto of keel for tonnage, 229 ft ;
breadth, extreme, 61ft ; ditto for tonnage, 6011 2in ;
ditto moulded, 5911 4in ; burden in tons, 4,236.
he Howe is the same length as the Victoria, re-
cently launched at Portsmouth, but is of greater
beam, and is also of heavier burden by 110 tons
thin the Victoria.
The Queen Charlotte, commissioned at Ports-
mouth by Captain R. S. Hewlett, C. 8., as gunnery
ship at the port, will in future bear the name of the
Excellent., and the ship that has borne that name
for so many years will, it is expected, be broken up.
The same course was followed with this latter ves-
sel when she became gunnery ship at the port, her
name having been previous to that time the Boyne.
The following named ships were yesterday char-
tered by the War Department to receive military
stores :—the Young Marquis, the Storm Nymph,
the May Sprout, the Cherub, and the Iris; the
Llewellyn and Jabez ; the Palestine, for Barbadoes ;
and the Biton. The screw steam transport Sir
William Peel, having shipped a complete battery
of 9-pounder brass guns and 200 tons of war stores
at Woolwich, for China, yesterday proceeded to
Deptford to complete with Tower stores, &c.
The steam sloop Hydra, 6, Commander Hamilton,
at Plymouth, is shipping stores and provisions for
North America and the West Indies. She will pro-
bably convey some artisans with their families to
Bermuda, for service in the dockyard there.
The steam tender Avon, G. bay, master, was
under orders to leave Plymouth yesterday (Mon-
day) for Pembroke, with Mr. Paull, assistant mas-
ter attendant, and a party of riggers and seamen,
30 in all (from the Royal Adelaide), who will navi-
gate the screw steam sloop Espoir, 5, to Plymouth.
The Ardent, 3, Commander Parish, at Plymouth,
having been repaired, will proceed shortly to South
America.

A dismasted Danish schooner, coal-laden, having
sought refuge in Plymouth Sound on Sunday morn-
ing, the Royal Albert signalled Port Admiral Sir
B. Reynolds, who instantly ordered steam to be got
up on board the l^lj dra. Meantime the Royal
Albert's launch went into Cawsand Bay to.the dis-
abled vessel, and she ultimately obtained shelter in
Catwater.

Her Majesty's steam storeship Himalaya, Capt.
John Seccombe, yesterday commenced preparations
for the embarkation of the Armstrong guns and
batteries, &c., some time under orders for China.
According to present arrangements her powerful
cargo of men and stores will be conveyed from
Woolwich to Purfleet, where she has been moored
since Friday last, from the presumption that her
progress further up the river might be attended
with danger, and where it is at present arranged
that.all her cargo is to be taken in. The entire
cargo is stated to be between 2,000 and 3,000 tons.
The Himalaya is ordered to be in readiness for sea
on or about the 15th inst. Letters complaining of
the trying position in which they were recently
pkced have reached Plymouth from some of the
crew-Of the Himalaya. The men complain that
they were detained for eight days idle in the Sound
within sight of their homes, where their families
had to "enjoy" Christmas separated from them, be-
cause the ship was under what is termed " sailing
orders" for a foreign port.
A batch of 40 labourers taken on at the dock-
yard, Woolwich, for a survey of the stores on Mr.
Pier's assumption of his new appointment as Store-
keeper in July last, were yesterday discharged, the
survey having been completed.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty E. S. Sotheby, C. 8., to

PRICE P. STAMPED, P. I

the Conqueror, vice- Capt. Willcox, who has been
superseded at his own request ; Commander P. De
Saumarez to the Dasher, vice Commander More,
whose, period of service has expired; J,olt,Moody
Smith, promoted to be chief engineer; George J.
Starr to the Nile; Frederick O. L. Patch, assist.-

paymaster, to the Nile; Henry C. T. Medder and
W. H. Martin, cierks, to the Nile; and Thos. For-
-der, assist.-clerk, to the Nile.

TILE AR31.1%

From intelligence which has been received at
Chatham from the surveying and exploring expe-
dition of the Royal Engineers despatched some time
since to liritish. Columbia, to be employed in sur-
veying and engineering operations in that colony,
the whole of the officers and men ai-e in excellent
health, and busily employed in the object for which
the expedition left England. The working parties
are occupied chiefly in opening up roads in the best
parts of' the country, erecting houses and buildings,
and felling and preparing timber. Considering the
large body of men composing the expedition, the
party behaves exceedingly well, and complaints are
almost unknown. At the dare of the last despatch
a numerous party were employed in the erection of
a theatre at their head-quarters, Queensborough,
for the amusement of the officers and men, all of
whom exhibit a great taste for theatrical represen-
tations. The officers and men forming the survey-
ing portion of the expedition have pushed forward
into the interior, where they have to undergo
numerous hardships and enjoy a rough life. Each
man is armed with a six-barrelled revolver in case
of being attacked. They have completed the survey
of a considerable portion of the Oregon boundary.
The climate is described as exceedingly healthy,
very similar to that of England, without its draw-
backs. The scenery throughout nearly the entire
district is spoken of as being of the most romantic
character. The men subsist chiefly on game, which
is very abundant. Notwithstanding that every-
thing is exceedingly dear,:most of the men have
contrived to save some money, many of them lay-
ing by £BO or £lOO per annum, considerable sums
having been made by them purchasing parcels of
ground and reselling them at large prots.
Information has been received at the invalid
depot, Chatham, that several ships are now on their
passage home from India with sick and wounded
and discharged troops.
The Durham Militia Artillery are under orders
to remove on the 10th inst. from Fort Gomer to the
Isle of Wight. On the 11th inst. one wing will
proceed on duty to detached forts. The head-quar-
ters to be at Parkhurst.
The Waterford Militia Artillery will remove from
Haslar and occupy quarters vacated by the Durham.
The Tipperary Militia Artillery will remove from
detached forts in the Isle of Wight, and occupy
quarters vacated by the quarters.

MR. CAR DWRF.L AND NIS CON-

STITUENTS.

Last night the Ancient Order of Druids of Ox-
ford held their usual annual festival in the Town
Hall of that city. It is the castoin for the members
for the city to attend these dinners, and embrace
the opportunity they afford of addressing their con-
stituents on the state of public :affairs apropos of the
opening year. The present occasion was no excep-
tion to the established rule. The Right Hon. F.
Cardwell came from Ireland to be present at the
festival, and Mr. Langston, M.P., his colleague, as
well as Mr. Neate and Mr. Sergeant Gaselee, both
of whom have stood as candidates for the represen-
tation of Oxford. The company, which was up-
wards of 300 in number, also included the Mayor
and many other members of the local magistracy
and corporation. Mr. Henry Carter, the head of
the Oxford or 59th Lodge of Druids, presided.
The usual loyal and patriotic toasts having been
duly honoured,

The CHAIRMAN, in eulogistic terms, gave the
health of " The Members for the City." The toast
was drunk with cordiality.
Mr. LANGSTON, as the senior member for the city,
had the precedence in responding. Having ex-
pressed his thanks for the compliment which Itatt:
been paid to him and to his hon. colleague, the hon
gentleman remarked that, whether the projected
continental Congress took place or not—and the
Times seemed to suggest the possibility that it might ,
never come off after all—he was sure it was the de.
sire of every Englishman that Italy should be free.
He congratulated the country on the fact that in
the present year it would experience a relief from
its burdens to the extent of nearly £4,000,000 ster-
ling. Indeed, the Chancellor of the Exchequer had
once led them to expect that they might see the
end of the income-tax altogether this year. For his
o ism part, however, ho had no confident anticipa-
tion that he would ever live to witness the total
abolition of that impost. (A laugh.) Still he would
be glad to see even a part of it remitted. Referring
to the Volunteer movement, which he regarded as
one of the most important events in the year that
had just closed, he traced its origin to the feeling
which had recently been brought home to English-
men, that if they wished to be secure in their free-
dom they must not refuse to help themselves. We
had seen in the late Italian campaign what gigan-
tic efforts a'neighbouring potentate, at the head of
a great military nation, was able to make at any
moment. And although from the conversation
which had recently been reported in the Times as
having passed between a very distinguished per-
sonage in France and an Englishman, who were
supposed to be the French Emperor and Mr. Cob-
den, that great potentate might not have any pre-
sent cause of quarrel with England, yet it would not
do for us to make sure that a ground of difference
would not any day arise. (Cheers.) Passing to the
subjects likely to engage the attention of the legis-
lature during the ensuing session, the hon. gentle.
man adverted to Parliamentary reform, observing
that all parties were now agreed on the necessity
of settling this question. The country had been
scandalised by the recent electioneering disclosures,
and it was manifest from the accounts which had
reached the public that the corruption was pretty
equally practised on both sides. The existing law
for the prevention of these evils had clearly failed,
and ought to be effectually amended. We had a
talented Ministry now in power, which would do a
great public service if it turned its earnest atten-
tion to the removal of this plague spot upon our
representative system, and succeeded in achieving
a task which had hitherto baffled the skill of pre-
ceding Governments. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. CARDWELL, on rising to respond, was re-
ceived with loud cheers. He said,—Gentlemen, I
return to your chairman my sincere thanks for the
kind manner in which he was pleased to speak of
me, and to all of you for the kind reception you
were pleased to give to the mention of my name.
The chairman has alluded to the inconvenience to
which he supposed your members might be put in
attending this festival. Gentlemen, I agree with
my hon. friend and colleague that with the free in-
stitutions under which it is our happiness to live
there is no place where the representative of a free
constituency should more rejoice to be present than
at these large assemblages of those who return him
to Parliament, and enable him to render any ser-
vice in his power to his country. My hon. friend
and colleague has entered upon that review of the
past, and those anticipations of the opening year in
which it is our custom to indulge on these occasions.
In most of his remarks I cordially concur. The great
event of last year, no doubt, was that conflict of two
great Powers on the plains of Italy which has left
behind it for solution questions of unparalleled im-
portance. In the first place, that conflict was sig-
nalised by events which will ever render it memor-
able in history. Like things modern as contrasted
with things of ancient date, it was gigantic in its
scale and brief in its duration. The slaughter was
counted by tens of thousands, although the succes-
sive stages of the struggle were measured but by
weeks. It has left behind it two great questions,
the one political, the other practical, and having
a more immediate bearing on our own interests.
In that great political question, the future of Italy,
we have, perhaps, no direct and individual concern.
But, gentlemen, we have this feeling wherever the
human intellect is quickened by exertion and
stimulated by industry—wherever there is com-
merce, wherever there is liberty, there we know
there will be sympathy with England. (Cheers.)
And accordingly we cannot be indifferent to the
future fate of Italy. We cannot but feel our pulses
throb with sympathy for the land of Dante and
Galileo ; we cannot but desire to see her material
prosperity advance, her social progress facilitated,
and Italy herself re3uming an honourable place in
the great confederation of European nations.
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, the other question at which
I have hinted is more practical, because it has a
closer relation to ourselves. I allude to the great
subject of our national defence. My hon. colleague
has indicated the dangers which may possibly as-
sail us. For my part, I feel no apprehension of any
present danger from any quarter whatsoever. (Loud
cheers.) I believe that we enjoy a good under-
standing with all the nations of the world, and
that our position is one not only of peace, but of

. „.„
security. (Renewed cheers.) Rut i '
e 4. 2/
son why we should be blind to the ar.s.; 2„
perience, or deaf to the admonitions orvtitinip
• C 1
drawn from the events as they pass before iare . .L 7
If we have seen that the armoury an 'whiCh /dna-
tions have relied up to the pre: eat period has be-
come entirely antiquated—if we - have found- that
the march of improvement has ,not been limited to
the arts of peace, but has also extended to the arts
of.war, is it necessary' for this great country to be
'first and foremost in determining that on no sym-
pathy with foreign nations,.and on no good under-
standing with them, but on her own right arm and
her own resources, she will at all-times denen4 fcr
the maintenance-of the prosperity with which Pro-
vidence has endowed her? What, gentlemen, is
the principle on which each of you pays the annual
premium on the insurance of your houses Not be-
cause you believe that you will all be burnt out
during the year on which you are entering. -You
have no expectation or apprehension of that
sort. But this you say--" 1 will not live that
slavish life of continual anxiety. I will have
calm assurance, I will have tranquil enjoyment :
I will be master of myself and of my posses-
sions by placing myself superior to the risks of fate
and fortune." That is your principle in private life.
So, too, it is the true principle for this great empire
to rest on her own resources, and to own no patron
but herself. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, when I was a
bey an American gentleman came over to this coun-
try who had invented a steam. gun. He thought
he had discovered a machine by which he could
discharge so many bullets in a minute that he could
destroy a whole regiment almost the very moment
it made its appearance on the field. The invention,
however, Lited. But the name that its author gave
it was the "pacificator," his reason for doing so
being, as he said, that the possession of so formidable
a weapon would render war for the future wholly
impossible. (A•laugh.) Let us apply that reason-
ing •to our national preparati;;...... ..;,...Then we aro •
undefended there may be a temptation to assail us. -
But when England has once assumed her panoply
—when her army, her navy, and her other defences
are in the state in which, by the exertions of the
country and the wisdom of Parliament, they will
speedily be placed—peace becomes a matter almost
of necessity. (Cheers.) It is scarcely possible that
our security should ever be put in hazard tor a mo-
ment. No doubt, as you have been told, the people
of the United Kingdom have been contributing a
large amount of income-tax, especially in the present
half-year. My hon• collsauge, sanguine man, anti-
cipates that the day will soon come when the
Government will be able entirely "to remove that..
impost.
Mr. LANGSTON-0, I beg your pardon. I said
I feared I should never live to see it removed. (A
laugh.)
Mr. CARDWELL—Then my hon. colleague and
I share the same ankcipation. (Laughter.)
What, however, I wisfld to say in passing
was this—that the impost you fire now paying
is a double impost, being a whole year's extra
income-tax levied in a single half-year in order
to defray the whole expense of your preparations.
I hope that in future every year and every half-
year will bear its own burdens, and that no half-
year will, like the present one, have to bear the
charge of the entire year. When, however, you
cordially and cheerfully submit to the taxation ne-
cessary to place the defences of the country in the
state which they are now rapidly assuming you do
it, not from distrust, timidity, or panic ; 3ou are
not goaded by any guilty ambition—you desire to
put your institutions and your national blessings
in that position of independent safety to which
every subject of Queen Victoria is entitled—
" To guard what art and industry have won,
For Freedom claims him for her first=born son."

'Cheers,) Gentlemen, since I was last among vou
have spent the whole of my time in administer-
ing the Government of certainly not the; least in-
:cresting portion of her Majesty's dominions, And

I am anxious to state to you in a few words the
feelings with which I again visited the sister
island. I found, in the first place, that her com-
munications are multiplied, that she is traversed by
railways in general superior to ours, uniting the
products of the soil with the markets of commerce,
and tending to promote objects ache utmost social
as well as material advantage. I found her agri-
cultural prosperity quickened, her commercial
energy animated and excited, her crime diminished;
her poor rates—lately so heavy—falling to the
lowest amount ; I found, above all, a universal
thirst for education, and the means of gratifying
it calculated to raise the character of her people,
and to elevate the whole tone, both of the country
and its Government. I shall not conceal from you,
gentlemen, there are difficulties connected with the
Government of Ireland of a nature wholly different
from those with which you are acquainted; but I
would venture in addressing this large assemblage
of Englishmen to suggest that the golden rule by
which we govern ourselves in private life is worthy
sof application to great affairs of public and political
concern—that we should not only do to others as
we wish others to do to us, hut that in forming our
judgments of others -and their affairs we should en-
deavour to place ourselves in their position and
strive to get if possible at the point of view from
which they naturally look at those affairs. It is by
cultivating such sentiments on this side of the water
towards Ireland that we shall best encourage in her
people the habit which successive Governments, of
whatever party, have la bourod, not without success,
to encourage among them—viz. that of regarding;
all Imperial questions in the light in which we our-
selves regard them; and then by the joint action
of the two nations we should become one united
people, the strength of the British Government, and
the support of its honed: (Cheers.) Gentlemen, in
the course of the year which has just dawned upon
us we shall have to deal with the great question of
reform. I know you think that, in approaching that
subject, we shall have to navigate a dangerous
channel, that we shall have to thread our way
among many shoals and sunken rocks. But we
shall at least have this advantage, that the Channel
has been sounded by the mariners who have pre-
ceded us. Some of its hearings are alreaOy known
to us, and the rock on which a previous navigator
foundered will not be that on which his successors
will split. I believe, therefore, that we approach
the subject with great advantages. I believe there
is in the country, irrespective of party, a sincere and
general desire that this question should now be sa-
tisfactorily set at rest. As my hon. colleague has
told you, all parties in the State are now pledged
to the proposition that there, shall be some reform
' of our representative system—that there shall be
some transfer of.power and some extension of the
franchise.' (Cheers.) No doubt in the particular propo-
sals that we shall make we mayineet with difficulties
and may be involved in conflicts. But this 1 hope,
that if the measure be in itself a fair, a wise, and
righteous measure, it will receive such un amount of
public support as was certainly not accorded to.
such a project in the days of the agitation on the
first Reform Bill, when this question was the oeca-
-sion of much more party strife and general excite-
ment than it is likely to produce in the compara-
tively temperate times in which we have the hap-
piness to live. (Cheers.) I cannot therefore but
trust that the year on which we are entering will
see a measure of reform satisfactory to you and to
the public at large, not only introduced but carried
—a measure calculated to widen the basis and
strengthen the fabric of our institutions, and to ren-
der permanent the settlement which it will be the
medium of effecting. (Cheers.) My hon. friend has
reminded you of the disclosures which have recently
been made in certain constituencies, and has ex-
pressed a hope that we shall be able entirely topre-
vent corruption. Now, if I were to put on the cap
of Fortunatus and to indulge in wishes, I know of
no man who would entertain that desire more fer-
vently and sincerely than myself. lam quite sure
that any measure which can be suggested, either by
ourselves or byothers likelyto secure that desirable
result we shall be most happy to forward. (A Voice
—" The Ballot.") But, after all, gentlemen, I am
afraid there will inevitably cling so much of human
imperfections to institutions of our times that pro-
bably some leaven of corruption will survive the
most effectual of our reforms. My hon. friend says
le does not expect to see the termination of the in-
come-tax. I tear he must also be content to survive
even although perfect purity shall not, by the pre-
sent er indeed, by any succeeding Government, be
introduced into all popular elections. (A laugh.)
Gentlemen, we have undertaken to reform Par-
liament, and I trust we shall succeed in our
task. We . shall also undertake to reform human
nature as soon as we see our way to its practical
accomplishment. (Laughter.) But lam averse to
making promises to you unless there is some pros-
pect of their immediate or, at least, of their speedy
fulfilment. (Cheers.) The right hon. gentleman
concluded by thanking the electors of Oxford for
the uniform kindness and consideration he had ex-
perienced at their hands, and by wishing each and
all of them every happiness in the year which had
just opened.
.The remaining toasts were of a purely local
character.

-

IMMIGRATION TO VICTORIA.—.The Government
Immigration Agent in Victoria, in his annual report to the
Colonial Government, says that a very urgent and increas-
ing demand e;igg throughout the colony for single femalo
servants, and eWloyment could readily be found for at least
300 monthly. The following are the current rates of
wages : —Cooks and laundresses, £3O to X,V) per annum ;
housemaids, £25 to £3O; ganeral servants, £25 to 430;
nursemaids, £2O to £25; but really ~killed and tried ser-
vants readily obtain much higher wages. The class most
in requisition are good farm men servants, who can make
themselves generally useful, and female domestic servants
of every description. The latter must be an increasing re-
quirement, from, the fact of se many who yearly marry aLd
become themselves employers.