The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONI ON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 23 1867.

Bill--I said, " If I have to do itl shall not go upon
the principle of satisfying those who think no more
should be admitted, or those who think that all
should be admitted ;" but I added, " What I should
say, if I were a member of the Government is, that
in the arrangement of a Reform Bill you must take
into consideration the opinions not only of the now
unenfranchised, but of those who are enfranchised ;
and you must endeavour to ascertain what is the
average view of the whole country, and to propose
a bill which the whole country, with its general
knowledge and intelligence, will honestly sanction."
(Cheers.) I believe that that is a principle which,
if Mr. Gladstone were speaking here, he would be
willing to accept as the line of his own conduct. I
come, then, to speak of the proposition which he
was willing to make. First of all, he is against
connecting the voting power in any way whatso-
ever with the question of rating or payment of
rates.

In the bill of last year he proposed to sweep
away with all above £lO. At the same time he is
altogether and most resolutely opposed to that
monstrous injustice which it is endeavoured
by this bill to perpetuate, in dealing with
what is called the compound householder on different
terms from those offered to the man who pays his
own rates. At the same time, Mr. Gladstone, as
you know from his speeches, is altogether against
extending the duration of residence from one year
to two years. Perhaps you are not aware of the
effect which a " two" instead of a " one" may have
in making up a register. I will give you one fact
with regard to the town of Rochdale, in which I
live. The number of electors there is rather under.
1,500 in a population of more than 40,000. How
many persons would you suppose who live in pre-
mises, have houses, shops, warehouses, counting-
.houses, or other buildings of the Reform Bill value
of £lO, and yet who are kept off the register because
they hay.e not resided in the borough the full time
of 12 months? Not less than 300 persons out of
1,800. There are 1,500 now, and there would be
1,800 if the 12 month's residence did not obstruct
them ; and if the figure were two years, I presume
there would be 600 kept off instead of 300. You
will therefore see the intense importance of the pro-
position of this nature. Mr. Gladstone is urgent
against any extension of the time from 12 months to
two years, and he can be no honest or earnest Re-
former who can tolerate a thing like that. (Cheers.)
It would be better to have a bill that was clear, simple,
and honest, and free from all tricks ; that did not
look with a favourable eye on all the men who pay
their own rates at Sheffield, and look down with a
forbidding frown and excluding gesture upon the
36,000 honest men who occupy dwelling-houses in
the town of Birmingham. Now the abolition of
the ratepaying clauses above 110, it is calculated,
would add 60,000 votes to the register, and of these
60,000 a large proportion would be working men.
Mr. Gladstone proposed an amendment that the
franchise should be fixed upon a rating value of
£5 ; but he found that the rule of rating varies so
much in different boroughs, that although in some
boroughs a £5 rating would be as good as a £6 ren-
tal, yet there are other boroughs in which it would
be no better than a £7, £B, or even £9 rental.
Therefore he found that a £5 rating alone would
not be sufficient, and he proposed in another form
to substitute for the £5 rating a rental value of
about £6, the result of which I will take the liberty
of explaining to you. Mind, there are a great num-
ber of persona who treat the question as if we can
do just what we like. Let -us see what is the dif-
ference between the proposition of Mr. Gladstone,
which we may approve of or not, and the pro-
position of the Government bill. The repeal of
the ratepaying clause down to £lO would admit
60,000 voters ; a £5 rating or a £6 rental, from the
Government's own returns, would give to 330,000
persons the chance of coming upon the register.
You would require to deduct from them one-third
to ascertain the actual number that would come on
the register with one year's residence, and that
would give 224,000. Add the 60,000 to them, and
it is clear that Mr. Gladstone's proposition, which
in some degree was at stake in the division of last
Saturday week, -would have brought 281,000 new
voters into the boroughs, whereas the bill of the
Government, as it stands on their own showing,
would not have added 100,000 new electors. Now,
I am obliged to admit, whatever anybody may say
to the contrary, that the proposition of Mr. Glad-
stone, which would admit 284,000 new voters with-
out any excitement —without any contest about
rating acts—without any fresh bargains with their
landlords—without any long correspondence with
the overseers—is a much better proposition than a
bill which, according to the admissions of Mr.
Hardy, the President of the Poor-law Board,
would not admit more than 118,000, but I
believe not really more than 100,000 new voters
in the boroughs. This is not all by any means.
Mr. Beales comes from London, and he has there-
fore a particular sentiment in favour of the admis-
sion of lodgers. In London, without this, the bill
of the Government is not an enfranchising bill at
all, because as a rule all houses in London are £lO
in value or upwards. The great bulk of the work-
ing classes do not really rent the house which they
inhabit, nor occupy it entirely for their own families,
and this is the reason which makes a lodger fran-
chise so all important in London, and to a certain
extent so important in all the large towns. Some
people think—and in the House of Commons those
gentlemen to whom Mr. Scholefield referred as hav-
ing had salt put on their tails think—that Mr. Dis-
raeli is all in favour of a lodger franchise and would
have no objection to concede it ; but when Mr.
Gladstone spoke of it as having been conceded, he
sprang up and said that he had never made such a
concession. The lodger franchise be of course
—what shall I say—a violation of the principle of
the bill, because you cannot expect a lodger to pay
rates, as he is not rated, nor considered in that sense
as an occupier. Therefore the principle of the bill,
which is the present payment of rates, fails altogether
when you apply it to the lodgers in a house occupied
by another person. Mr. Gladstone would not only
consent to the introduction of a generous lodger
clause, but the bill of the Government with regard to
three millions of the population in the metropolis will
be almost a nullity if such a clause is not inserted in it.
It comes, therefore, to this,—that Mr. Disraeli gives
the franchise to 100,000 new voters only in all the
boroughs of England and Wales, and Mr. Gladstone's
proposal would have admitted 284,000 occupiers
without any trouble whatever, and besides these a
great number under the name of lodgers, whose
amount we have no accurate means of ascertaining.
(Cheers.) There are gentlemen in the House of
Commons, and some in Birmingham—but I believe
and hope only a very few—who say we are on the
way to household suffrage. There is not one word
in the bill about household suffrage. The suffrage
given is nothing of the kind ; and the Govern-
ment, especially at the bandy of Sir Stafford
Northcote, have repudiated in the strongest
manner the notion that the bill went in
any way in the direction of household suffrage.
If you want to get househould suffrage, you will
have, if the bill passes, to repeal its vital and lead-
ing principle. If this is the principle of the bill,
why should we set it upon its legs? It has never
been a principle acted upon or accepted in any legis-
lation of this country with respect to the political
representation ; and I. ask you now, as sensible
men, why should there be any honest man of any
colour, who wishes to introduce so novel, so odious
a principle in the bill, under the pretence of giving
a great enfranchisement to the people? I am not
in favour of pursuing phantoms. I have spent 25
years in public life on political questions, but those
who are my greatest opponents, wherever they may
found, will say of me that I have always pur-
sued solid and great objects in my political warfare.
It was a solid and great object to struggle for the
abolition of the corn laws; it was a great object to
labour for the correction of the enormous and mnl-
titudinous abuses of our tariff ; it was a great object
to strive for the emancipation of the newspaper
press ; it is a great object to extend the blessings of
our ancient and noble institutions to the great mass
of the people. (Cheers.) I, therefore, would rather
nit now begin to pursue phantoms which fly as fast
as I can pursue them. I am not about to say that
'there should be no rental, no value, no limit ; that
there should be nothing other than absolute man-
hood suffrage, or a pure and simple household Buf_

frage. I ask any man who desires manhood suffrage
to come with me and my colleagues to sit for a
season with us, and see what there is in front of us,
what there is behind, and what there is around us,
of rottenness and insecurity—(cheers)—and when
you have seen all this, I will undertake to say that
you will be glad to strive for and to accept any real
great and substantial gain for the people, although it
may not be the whole thing, or near the point to
which your aspirations extend. As my hon. friend
said in his speech, he could not find any sound por-
tion in the bill, as I might say figuratively,
" from the crown of its head to the sole of its
foot." I have spoken of the borough franchise;
so in the counties. Mr. Disraeli tells us how
many millions live in the counties. They live there
no doubt by no favour of his ; they have been there,
or their ancestors, much longer than he and his
ancestors have been ; but of all these millions, he
does not propose to enfranchise them—his affection
for them is wonderful, but it does not go as far as
this. I recollect a story in an old French comedy,
of a bear who was very fond of a priest, and so fond
of him that he actually ate him up. In the same way
Mr. Disraeli is wonderfully fond of the inhabitants
of the counties. He tells us of their towns and their
large villages which are not enfranchised ; but now,
when he brings in this bill—although he himself in
1859 proposed to reduce the county franchise, al-
though the same franchise was proposed by the bill
of Lozd Palmerston's Government in 1860, and in
the bill of Earl Russell and Mr. Gladstone last year
—he now proposes a £lO rating, which is really, as
I believe, little lower than a £2O rental in the coun-
ties. I would do rather more for the counties, if I
were what they call a great statesman introducing a
Reform Bill, or else I would say rather less about
them. (Cheers and laughter.) There is another
proposition in the bill, by which everybody may vote
by what they call voting papers. They have been
introduced for the Universities, and I believe that
the electors for the Universities, who are for the most
part clergymen residing in differents parts of the
country, may send in their votes by letter without
its being productive of any evil effects, and with
great convenience to themselves; but when it comes
to be proposed to do the same thing with the multi-
tude of voters, whether in the counties or in the
boroughs, I say you are not adopting the ballot, you
are adopting open voting, with all its evils, and
omitting whatever advantages there may be in it.
And I undertake to say, from an examination of it,
that from all I have beard from persons who have
seen it in operation, especially in elections for
guardians, it would not be possible to contrive
a system that could be more fairly styled bribery
and corruption made easy than this system of
voting papers. (Laughter and cheers.) And then
the next point is that of the distribution of
seats, in which there is the most transparent
job atttempted to be perpetrated that probably
ever was seen in a bill. There are 23 small boroughs
returning two members now, and Mr. Disraeli pro-
poses to take one from each of them. That gives
him 23 seats. He distributes them in this manner :
he gives 15 of them to the counties, seven of them to
the boroughs, and one of them to the University of
London. But he sees that this is a great inequa-
lity, which is likely to be found fault with, there-
fore what does he do ? He finds that four boroughs
have been found out in doing what 40 others have
done—found out in having resorted to a discredit-
able amount of bribery and corruption—and he
proposes, without ever having the question discussed
as a separate matter in Parliament, to disfranchise
these boroughs ; but of the 23 seats which he takes
from the small boroughs, because they are so small,
he gives 15 to the counties and seven only to the
boroughs. I believe that the proposition of the
total disfranchisement of the four boroughs—with
respect to three of which I hold the proposition to
be altogether wrong—is made solely because it will
enable him to make a large and unfair distribution
of borough members to county seats in future. There
are men still—l mean the gentlemen who have had
salt put upon their tails—who fancy that this bill
can be made a good bill in committee ; they would
have to reject all except the preamble. The preamble
says, " And whereas it i% expedient to amend the
representation of the people in the House of Com-
mons, be it enacted," and so on. We should begin
thus—the borough franchise we should h ►ve to alter,
the county franchise we shoul I have to &ter, the
lodger franchise to introduce, the voting papers to
extinguish, the distribution of scats to transform ;
and from the preamble of the bill to the last word
in it there is not a single proposition which any
real, honest, earnest, and intelligent Reformer
would consent to have in the bill. Mr. Scholefield
has told you that it was the view of Mr. Gladstone
that in a bill of this nature the only proper way to
deal with it was to deal with it on the second
reading. I was very strongly of that opinion, and
1 stated it at the meeting of the Liberal party at
Mr. Gladstone's house. However, I don't set
my opinion against the opinion of a large num-
ber of those with whom I act. It was no
use fighting against a numerous section—it might
be of the party ; and I ma always willing—admit-
ting that we are not doing anything contrary to
what is honest and sound in principle—l am willing
in any matter of procedure to move cordially along
with the party with whom I am connected. (Cheers.)
Then we come to the instruction that Mr. Coleridge
should have moved. There was a trouble about that,
and it was said, " Oh, let us get into committee ; in
committee every clause will come before us ; we are
a majority of the house, we can make the bill any-
thing that we like." If that instruction of Mr.
Coleridge's had been carried the result would have
followed inevitably that the formation of the bill
thenceforth would have been in the hands of the
Liberal party, the friends of Reform—(hear, hear)
—instead of being left, as it now is, in the hands of

its enemies. (Cheers.) Well, we went into com-
mittee, I took the liberty of saying at the meeting
at Mr. Gladstone's that the determination they were
corning to was exactly that which, if M. Disraeli
were there, he would advise them to come to ; and
I said further that the exclamation that would pass
his lips or come to his heart or to his head--
(laughter—the moment he heard of that determina-
tion would be this, "The Lord bath delivered them
into my hand." (Laughter and cheers.) Well, now
for the result. The bill has gone into committee, and
the first vote in the committee has confirmed the
very first feature of the bill ; and the Liberal party
has, by the treachery of some of its members, ab li-
cated its functions, made it impossible for it to con-
trol the future fortunes of the bill, and have handed
it over just as it is, and in all probability just as it
will be, to the friends of the bill, who are not
the friends of Reform. (Cheers.) I am sure you
will wonder how it can be that such a thing could
happen amongst the Liberal party. I will tell you.
This House of Commons, I will undertake to say,
is by'far the most corrupt that has been elected
and assembled since the Reform Bill. I am
not able to say what it has cost to seat
these 650 members in that house, but if -I said
it had cost them and their friends a million
of money I should be a long way under the mark.
I believe it has cost more to seat these 650 men there
than it has cost to seat all the members of all the
other representative and legislative assemblies in the
world that are now in existence in different countries
of the globe ; and without a man's intending to be
corrupt this state of things makes him inevitably
corrupt. Mr. Scholefield and I are in a position to
take what some would call too favourable or too
severe a view of this matter. We come here and
don't meet with a contest, and are not asked to pay
expenses, but there are many members who pay al-
ways from £l,OOO to £1,500 for their election, and
although there are men in the House of Commons
who are too honest, I believe, to be swayed by that
consideration, still there are great numbers, I am
satisfied, who are willing to take almost any kind
of measure on any subject from any Government
rather than go back to their constituents with the
chance, first of all of not coming back to the House
of Commons at all, and with the certainty that if
they stand a contest they must lessen the balance
at their banker's by several thousand pounds ; and
so they are willing to tolerate a Tory Government
and Tory Reform Bill, to break up the Liberal party,
to do anything whatever, as they say, to settle the
question in the House of Commons, in the Commons
style and fashion, in this Parliament, and during

the present session, and not as the great body of the
people wish it to be settled ; and they are ready to
bear all this rather than have a dissolution of Par-
liament. There were many honest meu amongst
those who met in the tea-room, but there were some
of whom I should not like exactly to say that.
There were some who were ignorant of party tactics,
and who fancied that if the bill could be got into
committee we might somehow or other manage to
improve it better than in the whole house ; and the
men who met there are responsible for the division
which took place subsequently, for if the instruc-
tion of Mr. Coleridge had been put I believe it
world have been carded, and if it had been car-
ried the disposal of the question of Reform would
have been in the hands of Mr. Gladstone and the
Liberal pirty, instead of being, as now, in the hands
of M r. Disraeli and" his reluctant followers. Now
his position is enfeebled. Mr. Hardy had—what
shall I say ?—the effrontery to taunt Mr. Gild:Acme
with being the leader of a portion of a party. There
are little difficulties on the Government side to
which I need not now refer. Mr. Disraeli the other
night spoke of Mr. Gladstone as the one person in
the house with whom he would not deal on this
question. (Cries of "Shame," and hisses.) He
treated him as the representative of a faction and of
party strife ; and said he would discuss the matter
with him in a different manner and on different
terms. And these renegades from the Liberal party,
some of the men who met in the tea-room, some
Radicals who voted last Saturday with the Govern-
ment, heard this taunt of Mr. Hardy ; they heard
the insulting observations of Mr. Disraeli, and al-
lowed their leader, in the face of the country, to be
thus insulted without having the self-respect or the
manliness to resent it. What shall I say of that
leader ? Is it not, as you know, my practice to
speak of the official politicians and the statesmen of
this country with exaggerated eulogy; but I will
venture to say this of Mr. Gladstone—and there is
no man in either house who undertakes to deny it—
that since 1832 there has been no man of the official
class or rank, and no statesman who has imparted
into this question of Reform so much of conviction,
so much of earnestness, so much of zeal, as has been
imparted during the last two years by the present
leader of the Liberal party. (Cheers.) Who is there
in the House of Commons who equals him in know-
ledge of all political questions ? Who equals him
in eloquence ? Who equals him in earnestness ?
Who equals him in eloquence ? Who equals him iu
courage and fidelity to his convictions ? (Loud
cheers.) If these gentlemen who say they will not
follow him have any one who is his equal, let them
show him. If they can point out any statesman who
can add dignity and grandeur to the stature of Mr.
Gladstone, let them produce him. (Cheers.) It is a
deplorable thing that last year a small section of 40
men, or thereabouts, of professing Liberals destroyed
an honest and acceptable—l speak of the people—
an rcceptable bill of the late Government,and with it
theyalso destroyed the Government which proposed it.
About an equal number have this year to a great ex-
tent destroyed the power of the Opposition, and'
may assist an anti-reforming Government to pass a
very bad measure on the greatest question of our
time. And having done all the mischief which they
could, they begin to write silly letters to their con-
stituents. What can be done by Parliamentary
parties if every man is to pursue his own little game ?
A costermonger and his donkey, although they
would take a week to travel from here to London,
running athwart the London and North-Western
line might bring to total destruction a great express
train ; and so very smell men; who during their
whole political lives have not advanced the question
of Reform by one hair's breadth or by one moment
in time, can at a critical hour like this throw them-
selves athwart the objects of a great party, and
mar, it may be, a great measure that ought to affect
the interests of the country beneficially for all time.
(Cheers.) Now, I believe that when I see men leave
their party in this way, not because the party is
going contrary to its acknowledged principles, but
not going with them, that there is not much of
principle and not much of patriotism, and not much
of love of Reform in their conduct. I suipect there
is something worst; than all this, smaller and meatier,
concealed under a conduct like this ; and I say that
it becomes the constituencies of the kingdom to as-
certain what arc the motives of their members, and
whether this question of Reform is thus to be baffled
by them in future. But whatsoever is true, or
whatsoever is false to the question, it remains for
the people of England to demand its honest settle-
ment, who will, I believe, never withdraw from that
demand. Last year, when Mr. Disraeli and his
friends rejected Mr. Gladstone's bill, on that very
night of that last division I said, " Destroy this bill,
destroy the Government—but there remains yet
the question of Reform, and there remains out-
side a great, an earnest, and a noble people,
who will still demand that this question shall
be settled." I believe so now. I do not
believe in the passing of this bill in the shape
in which it is now before us. I believe it is a
fraud of the very worst and of the most insult-
ing character. I say, try it not by the' unerring
instincts" of a corrupt House of Commons, but t
ti
ascertains
its
s o f a
rejection.n
sn e
to true
ur
euwpert
character,
yar people,atchtee there
, by
d
taahnnel 'y
y'
oouuun
will,ewr will
1n
sbiisentl
eut ivp
onec,
ry e t
whato say,
I doubtless
slvt h an
has not
has not been throughout the country—though after
willaadteltoaiduis aboutpoheffortwiblleel
bei
n
say—there
throughout the country a single meeting of any
kind at which there has been any record in the
papers that I see in favour of this bill. Last year
there were a thousand meetings in favour of the bill.
There has not been this session a single petition
presented to the House of Commons, so far as 1
have heard or read, in favour of the Government
bill. Last session the petitioners came there in one
single fortnight by many hundreds of thousands. It
is the bill of the Tory party, for the purpose of the
Tory party. It is not the bill of
the people of Eng-
land, nor is it intended to consult their wishes or
their interests. (Cheers.) Mr. Szholefield said he
would leave it to me to say what should be done—
his modesty rose with his lengthened experience,
and he left it to me to give the advice which, I will
not say he was not disposed to give, but which per-
haps he thought might in some degree have more
weight with some persons if I were myself to give
it. But really the advice to give, whether from him
or from me, is so clear, that it does not require to
be given ; for the sense that would make me give
it is the sense that it would make every one of you
accept it, though I did not speak. What has hap-
pened during the last ten mouths—what happened
from the Hyde Park meeting, and your own meet-
ing, the South Lancashire meeting, the meeting in
South of Scotland, and a thousand other meetings ?
They have driven the Tory party from its anchorage
as the professed and open opponents of Reform ;
and you have only to do now what you have
done hitherto. 1 will advise no course which
might present
,a difficulty to the minds of ear-
nest and enthusiastic men, but which in this
country probably never will be necessary, and
certainly cannot be necessary now. I said before
in a speech in St. James's Hall in winter—" What
comes in every country where there is a manly spirit
if justice be perpetually denied ?" But the question
of force was settled in this country in the year 1832.
There is no power in Lords or Commons to resist
your peaceful expression of youropinion—and there-
fore that which you have done during the last year,
and which has produced so great a result, requires
only to be continued, and a further and more com-
plete result is certain. The richer classes in this
country—the comfortable classes—they are not bad
men; they don't want the country ill-governed; they
like political power in their own class, which is not
unreasonable or uncommon ; but at the same time
they do not want, either as individuals or as bodies
of men, injustice and oppression to be felt, or to be
believed to be felt, throughout the country. The
rich people of this country, as a mere matter of wish-
, ing, would desire that everybody should be satisfied
and everyb )dy should be comfortable. But the rich
people in the west-end of London cannot stand per-
petually the exhibition of 50,000 or 100,000 or 150,000
men coming out and saying, " We are shut out from
the Constitution of our country. We are not seeking
to injure you ; we are not men of violence of whom
you need be afraid ; but there is the Constitution,
and we claim under that Constitution to have the right ,

to vote for members of the House of Commons." Let
Mr. Beales and his friends in London—let the work-
ing men everywhere, by great meetings—the greater
the better—peaceful and orderly meetings—pass
sound, rational, and firm resolutions ; let them make
it appear to every person, from the humblest in the
land to the Queen upon the Throne, that there is a
general, a wide, a universal, and a strengthening
sentiment that what exists is no longer tolerable, and
that something better must be established, and I give
you my word—l never said anything with a more
perfect confidence, and I speak the truth—that you
have only thus to meet, and thus to speak, and the
barriers which stand before you will fall at your
words, and before long—it may not be this session,
it may be next—you will be admitted to a frank, and
generous, and liberal, and satisfactory exercise of the
electoral franchise, guaranteed by the Constitution
of your country. (Loud cheers, in the midst of
which Mr. Bright resumed his scat, having spoken
for exactly an hour and a half).
The resolution was unanimously agreed to, and
the proceedings were soon afterwards brought to a
close.

debt of the United States. On the Ist January this
debt amounted to $2,675,062,505, and on the Ist
April the debt was—

Debt bearing coin interest ... $1,499,381,571
Debt bearing currency interest ~. 734,210,780
Matured debt not yet paid 12,825,658
Dobt without interest ... 417,225,343

Total " $2,663,713,374
The actual reduction, therefore, was for the quarter
$11,349,131. This would give less than four mil-
lions a month on the whole quarter, which is a
considerable falling off from the quarters of the
preceding year. The redemption of the green-back
currency lessens the ability of the people to pay
taxes, while bringing financial affairs into a more
healthy state. During the quarter, tr.tde has been
unusually slack, and few look for any large reduc-
tion. The policy of the Government is towards
lightening the taxes in preference to a rapid dimi-
nution of the debt; no doubt a wise policy, which
gives the country time to breath and grow strong
after its exhausting warfare. Slackness of trade
has caused a marked falling off in the last quarter.
Indeed, the only surprise is that the receipts from
the Customs continue so large in the face of the
prevailing dulness. The Inland Revenue has been
even more strongly affected, the depression in the
manufacturing districts being the cause.

The " strike" mania has extended to the United
States. Strikes have taken place at Brooklyn, and
at one or two towns in New England. In Lawrence,
Massachusetts, the mule-spinners struck on April
Fool's Day ; in Manchester, New Hampshire, a
similar strike was arranged, but abandoned. In
New York the agitation was more general, em-
bracing nearly all the trades. Their chief griev-
ance is the enormous height to which rent has
risen, with which they desire the Legislature to in-
terfere. The mechanics receive from $2 50c. to $1
per day, which they demand to be increased by half
a dollar. The exorbitant rate for house-rent is
mainly owing to municipal niismanagement and
corruption. If rents are to be lowered, the city
government must be reformed. While house pro-
perty is subjected to taxation to supply the misap-
propriations, the occupiers must bear the burden.
The correspondent of the Standard states the fol-
lowing case, which shows how the money goes :
"A few days since the New York Common Council
adopted a resolution appropriating $2,000 for a file
of the New fork Herald, covering 25 years. The
Mayor has vetoed the resolution, the fact being that
a similar file could be obtained for $2O. Of course
the councilmen had a bonus to some favourite in
view when they adopted the resolution."

The Hon. David A. Wells, who was last year
appointed a special commissioner to report on all
questions connected with revenue, is directed, it is
said, by Mr. M'Culloch to visit Europe, there to
study the statistics on customs, labour, wages, and
others connected with industry and revenue, and to
prepare a report to be laid before Congress when it
meets next December.

Pennsylvania has organised a special armed patrol
to maintain the peace, in answer to the petition of
the peaceful inhabitants of the mining districts.
Great lawlessness prevails in the coal regions, and
more than fifty persons have lately been murdered.
Gangs of ruffians have introduced a reign of terror,
interfering with and coercing the miners, and the
State Legislature has been compelled to take action
on the subject.
Again the inundations of the Mississippi have
caused great damage and loss of life, and the levees
are attracting public attention. During the war the
banks which confined the waters to their channel,
were neglected, but the States interested had been re-
duced to such poverty that they could not execute
the necessary repairs. An attempt was made to
induce Congress to vote the sums required, and re-
ports by engineers were called for, but we are not
aware what the action was of Congress in this
matter. The destruction in Louisiana has been
immense, and unless the south-western portion is to
be abandoned these levees must be effectually re-
paired.
The market for mulch cows is unusually brisk
this spring, and, we are happy to add, also the
prices are sensibly on the decline. H. G. White,
of South Framingham, a well-known and success-
ful short horn-breeder, has of late been buying and
selling first-class dairy stock of every breed, for
which past experience has admirably fitted him.
His sales of mulch cows in the last ten days have
been rising of $2,700, and nearly $6,000 since the
beginning of the year.

Dr. Nathan Durfee, of Fall River, has proved
his fitness for his position of president of the Bristol
County Agricultural Society, by lately fattening a
4,830 pounds yoke of cattle.

A two-year-old steer of William Nelson, of Wales,
which was recently killed, had two beasts enclosed
in separate apartments, with arteries running from
each. This is said to be the first instance of the
kind on record.

The directors of the New Hampshire State Agri-
cultural Society have voted not to accept the resig-
nation of Gov. Smyth, as president, and will at-
tempt to prevail on him to withdraw it. The next
annual exhibition will be held at Nashua, Sept.
10-12.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
(From E. F. Satterthwaitc and Co.'s. Weekly Circular,
April 17.)

Per Australasian we have advices from New York to
the 2nd inst. The demand for money had become more
active, and full rates were demanded, 7 per cent. being
readily paid ou first-class securities. Government bonds;
however, were well supported, and in good demand for
investment. In railroad stocks there had been less busi-
ness than for some time past, but prices were well sus-
tained. State stocks and railroad mortgages were without
any material alteration. The weekly return of the New
York banks exhibits a decrease in the loans and deposits
of about four million dollars.