The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-30 00:00:00

Institute of Civil Engineers.

Last night the 49th anniversary conversazione of
this association was held at the Institute, Great
George-street, Westminster. On this occasion the
invitations were limited to the number which the
rooms could conveniently accommodate, so that
the crowding which has so often marred the
comfort of these gatherings was quite avoided.
Mr. John Fowler, as president of the institution,
received the visitors, who, with the exception
of a few scientific noblemen and gentlemen,
consisted almost entirely of the chief engi-
neers of England, and the foremost of those
whom we may call the sub-engineers--the great
contractors who carry out in practice what their
professional brethren have devised in theory. All
the rooms were thrown open on this occasion, the
staircases ornamented with statues and flowers, and
the walls of the apartments themselves hung with
a most valuable collection of modern paintings,
which had been lent for the evening by the diffe-
rent members of the institute. Some of the most
famous of recent English paintings were thus
brought together, and as a mere picture gallery the
display would have possessed attractions for fifty
times the number that were invited to witness it.
In the lower room beyond the institute were ranged
the collection of working models, plans, and draw-
ings, usually shown on the occasion of these meet-
ings. All of these were new, and some exceedingly
interesting. The working model which, beyond all
question, excited the most interest was shown by
Mr. Penn, under a glass case. This was a miniature
counterpart of the engines of the Northumberland,
finished off with such minuteness and care as is
seldom bestowed on any but the most costly scien-
tific instruments. Near this was placed a very
beautifully executed model of the new floating docks
intended for St. Thomas's, West Indies. By this
plan, which consists simply of a series of pontoons
connected by stout wrought-iron girders, a ship may
be easily and safely lifted out of the water and
raised above its surface for repairs in a large and
perfectly secure floating dry dock. The one now
being sent out to the West Indies, ant the model
of which was shown last evening, though only cost-
ing £85,000, is equal to raising a vessel of nearly
4,000 tons and 330 ft. long. When the question of
foreign, or rather colonial docks for our ironclads
is so much urged by all nautical authorities, this
plan of floating them up by cheap pontoons seems
to be deserving of the attentive consideration of
the Admiralty. Some useful adaptations and improve-
ments...of the principle of the sewing-machine were
also exhibited. One of three by Messrs. Neats and
Clark is made to work with the utmost ease and
facility on the stiffest descriptions of leather. The
heaviest kinds of harness or stoutest sorts of boot
soles are stitched with almost as much rapidity as
ordinary clothes. Another adaptation of the same
principle was shown by Mr. Thomas as applied to
the sewing of leather gloves. A minute but perfect
model of an hydraulic machine for cutting coal was
shown by Messrs Carrett and Marshall. This very
simple and compact contrivance, with a supply of
30 gallons of water a minute at a pressure of 3001 b.,
can do the work of 20 men per day, and at no further
cost than that of its first price, which is as low as
£125. In the examination of these and other
models, and inspecting the fine collection of pictures,
a very pleasant evening was spent, and it was late
before the company separated.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

--♦

TIMES.—Two and two, we have often been told,
in politics do not always make four, and it is evi-
dent that whatever the value of the two bills now
united in Parliamentary wedlock, the result is not
the sum of them, or an addition to either. The
Redistribution Bill has answered no purpose but to
account for its long concealment, and to justify
those who insisted on knowing all about the in-
tended Reform. It was expected and admitted to
be the weak side of the measure, and accordingly
it is the side on which the attack is now made. The
Attorney-General, breaking a long silence, accuses
the assailants of unparliamentary practice in taking
a course neither proper to an objection on the prin-
ciple of the measure nor yet to an objection upon
detail; but a majority in a very good House has
sanctioned that course and approved its reasons.
The real question now is the Distribution of Seats,
and it cannot be doubted that the bill is there in the
most imminent peril. If, too, the tactics employed
against the bill, or any part of it, be at all question-
able, they are the necessary reflection and inevit-
able counterpart of those employed from the first in
the management of the bill. From the first, we re-
peat, Government has prided itself on the address
with which it had devised, not a perfect measure, or
even a complete measure, but one which would pass,
while a complete measure would not. Compelled to
throw off this reserve, and show the whole bill, its
next boast was that it had hit upon a particularly
clever line of disfranchisement, and that by putting
the disfranchised boroughs into groups it had spared
them the stigma of utter disfranchisement, and
given them also an actual consolation by a fractional
part in the new aggregate constituencies. An adroit-
ness verging on shiftiness, and an ingenuity ap-
proaching to downright imposture, have been the
characteristics of a measure which ought to have
been eminently addressed to British candour and the
national love of fair play. From the very first we
said ourselves that the only chance for the bill was
to make it stand on its own merits, however dis-
tasteful to party or to interests, and bring all the
force of Government, of party, of opinion, and, if
necessary, popular feeling, to push it through. The
Cabinet, however, as it appears, were not prepared
to run these risks ; they did not trust either their
supporters or the public at large ; they would not
accept the invitation to martyrdom, if necessary ;
and they have adopted the second-best policy. We
do not always call it a mistake when a man tries to
do by fraud what he cannot do by force ; and in
politics, as in war, we think a good deal to be fair
that we should very much reprobate in the dealings
of private life. But, as a matter of fact, Govern-
ment has been too clever by half. It could not
possibly impose on anybody, nobody has been im-
posed on, and it was not worth trying. It was plain
from the first that the representatives of the con-
demned boroughs must be aware of the secret sen-
tence, and were only biding their time to defeat it.
They would not actually put their heads into the
lion's mouth, and help to create a House of Commons
more hostile and more powerful than that they now
have to deal with. It was something more than dex-
terity and sleight-of-hand that prevailed against the
old Parliament. It was revolution, and all but
civil war. Compulsion was put on the House of
Lords and on the Crown, and it could be put safely,
for the people cared for that bill, and the people
were up and doing. The present bill is to worm its
way by dark and sinuous methods. The attempt
is made, and the success is before us. Nobody re-
spects it. Friend and foe rise against it. All re-
spect a bold and consistent policy ; none scruple td
use any weapon whatever against that which is not.
This measure, its supporters are modest andin-
genuous enough to tell us; does not pretend to be
a good, courageous measure. It stands not upon
its integrity, but on the want of it. It pro-
claims that it is cheating us all round with con-
cealments, disguises, illusions, meagre consolations,
and dexterous manipulations. Accordingly it is paid
in its OWR coin, and it stands some chance of being
outwitted. The merciless exposure and pulling to
pieces of which Monday evening's debate was only
a sample is just what was to be expected from a bill
palmed upon us, put upon us, insinuated into us, as
this was to be. A real creation, as a good measure
ought to be, whether of Parliamentary Reform or in
the most ordinary matter of legislation, grows toge-
ther, improves on acq'iaintance, and becomes an in-
stitution in the mind before it can arrive at that
standing in fact, The Redistribution Bill refuses
to cohere, will not grow, and is falling to pieces.
The" 8,000" line " of Census 1861" has disappeared.
Everybody is walking over it to and fro. The Al-
satia for bad boroughs found just over that line has
been invaded by clever detectives from both sides of
the house, and found to be full of political outlaws.
The groups really cannot be held together. Being
devised on the grand principle of imposing on the
world, and setting one party against another, they
are mere pluralities, and not groups, and they read
like the preferments of a defunct pluralist, who had
a curacy in one diocese, a rectory in another, and

his residence in a third. There is even a centrifuga
force in these discordant numbers. If there ever
was a chance for -Woodstock or Welliugford caring
for one another, it is now hopeless, for Mr. Glad-
stone has sownbetween them the seeds of an eternal
hatred. Cirencester and Tewkesbury can only
wonder what Mr. Gladstone has found they have
in common. Wells and Wesbury both begin
with the same letter ; that is really all they have
in common. All Hampshire spreads itself be-
tween Andover and Lymington, and they pro-
bably have less communication than York and
Lyme Regis. But this absurdity, which runs
through nearly all the so-called groups, is only part
of a general disregard of the first principles of
grouping. A group should be a unity, and a whole.
It ought to create the nearest possible thing to
that actual community which the best authori-
ties declare to be the most Constitutional constitu-
ency. The bill interposes not only whole counties,
but, what is a deeper gulf, populous cities, between
the members of the " groups." These cities, of
course, would supply the missing centre, but it
would be a centre of corruption. Nature abhors a
vaccum, and a void in the heart of a group will be a
vacant spot in a crowded town—a very dirty place.
But, as Captain Hayter illustrated abundantly, the
framers of the bill must have set their faces wil-
fully against all chances of coherence and unity in
these singular combinations. If it is their principle
to group, he asks them why they don't make groups
out of the materials before them. Join Marlow and
Wycombe ; add Woodstock to Oxford, and Abing-
don to Wallingford. Andover would go well with
Winchester, Lymington with Christchurch, and
Arundel with Chichester. Then why throw out of
the window, as it were, the smaller towns not yet
risen to the franchise ? They would help to make
groups as rubble and rough mortar help to fill up the
intervals in masonry. Any one moderately ac-
quainted with the social and industrial geography
of this country could frame many groups which are
already groups in a very real sense of the term.
Perhaps the confusion of second thoughts and a
hasty change of front may have something to do
with this apparent slovenliness. But there is at the
bottom a worse fault. The bill is like the bad razor
or the bad piece of furniture, got up for sale, and not
for use. It is veneer and wax, without solidity.
The materials are unseasoned, the joining just
enough to satisfy the eye. Mr. Gladstone exhibits
his groups, which, it cannot be denied, are make-up
towns, up to the requisite figure, though, indeed,
that figure is founded on no principle, and is at
variance with other principles of the bill. But, as
soon as the groups are scrutinised, they are found
to be no groups, but a number of figures without
unity of design or a common action, as in a bad pic-
ture. Is there no remedy for this fatal defect in the
measure ? The arrangements, miscalled groups, are
so undigested and so indigestible that they cannot
possibly form tho parts of a bill which propose to
be a new Constitution, and to supply by its natural
and happy character the place of ancient growth
and strong prescriptions. It is proverbially difficult
to make an old thing new, but antiquity ought to be
imitated and unity at least affected in things that
are to take the place of old. Even a candidate in
an ordinary competitive examination for, we will
say; the Inland Revenue Service, ought to have pro-
duced a better paper than this. Or let us suppose
that it has been found necessary to re-arrange the
" rides " of the excisemen ; any clerk might have
divided the kingdom better. He would not have
made composite boroughs as wide as the old city,
on which it was said it might be taken, and its in-
habitants not hear of its capture for days after.
This part of the measure must be amended, or
growing majorities will roll against it, like the in-
creasing waves of a rising storm. We know not
why it appears to be assumed that no material
alteration can be admitted without the sacrifice cf
the bill. Already a good deal has been said and
done towards a better Distribution of Seats, and as
Government clearly had no plan, no principle, pos-
sibly no scheme at all of their own at the opening of
this Session, it is so far fortunate that there is really
nothing to be lost or destroyed. The groups to be
sacrificed are really no more groups than the
capricious arrangements a child may make with its
toys on the nursery floors to sweep away and forget
as soon as made. Founding new institutions, and
those institutions the very basis of this great empire,
must be a work of time and labour ; and the re-
quisite time and labour have not yet been given to it.

POST.—There appears to be very little doubt con-
cerning the acceptance on the part of the hostile
armed powers of the invitations of the neutral
Powers to meet in Conference at Paris. In draw-
ing up the positions for a Conference, his Excel-
lency M. Drouyn de l'Huys carefully avoids any
conditions which would make it absolutely impossible
for either Austria, Prussia, or Italy to approach
negotiations for a peaceful solution of difficulties,
and in accepting none of the powers positively en-
gage themselves in any way. - But what will be the
effect of this interval of peace-making endeavours
On the three armed Powers ? As regards Austria,
that Power has nothing to lose, and all to gain, by
preparing further for what is known to be her de-
fensive attitude. Despatches coming from Vienna
continue to assure the Cabinets of Europe of the
decision of his Majesty Francis Joseph and his ad-
visers not to assume the offensive, but to await the
enemy with a force which is now estimated at about
800,000 men. In the next three weeks or a month
Austria will be able to complete the defences round
Vienna, in Venetia, and towards the Prussian fron-
tier. The military influence at the Vienna Court
does not urge war, but strengthens the Emperor in
his decision to maintain the integrity of the empire,
and not to listen to the proposed cession of Venetia;
and yet this will be the great difficulty when the
Conference meets, for in the estimation of the mili-
tary politicians of Austria there is no territorial com-
pensation which can compensate for retiring from
the strong place of Venetia, which all Germany
would be inclined to defend, as Napoleon 111. learnt
when he halted at Villafranca. Then, as regards the
effect of a Conference truce on Prussia, that Power
can support a suspension of proposed hostilities with-
out complaint. The Prussian people are so univer-
sally opposed to war that it may be convenient for
the King and Count Bismarck to have an e xcusefor
retiring from immediately threatened hostilities; and,
on the other hand, for proving, from the failure of
negotiations—if such take place—that Prussia must
fight. It is the effect of the Conference on Italy that
we are more particularly anxious to take into con si-
deration ; since the King, Government, and people of
Italy are in a position widely different from the Sove-
reigns, Cabinets, and people of Austria and Prussia.
King Victor Emmanuel is the heroic personification
of the nation's desire to complete the emancipation
of the Italians from foreign rule. Neither the So-
vereign nor the Government of Italy, under existing
circumstances, possess legitimate control over the
excited popular will. The statesmen of Italy appear
to have been hurried on by a tide of warlike enthu-
siasm, which some of the best friends of Italy deeply
regret. The reports which reach us from all corners
of the Peninsula show such a universal patriotism as
seldom presents itself in the history of a nation.
The whole youth of the country is asking for arms,
for one great object, viz., to drive the Austrians out
of Venetia. There is nothing similar to this feeling
in the armed hosts of Austria and Prussia. They
might be disbanded to-morrow, to the applause of
the people, for in. Germany no one wants to fight
save the military factions at Courts, and the idle
overgrown armies—men weary of dull garrison life,
small pay, and slow promotion. The perils of Italy
are augmented by the Conference in more ways than
one. We hear of the revival of the reactionary
priest party in various large towns. In Naples seve-
ral arrests of Ultramontane Bourbonists have taken
place, and the police are employed in tracing out the
origin of a wide-spread plot to cause domestic trouble
should Italy be engaged in a foreign war. Brigan-
dage is also again holding up its picturesque head,
and the Roman Committee is reported to have re-
ceived funds for reviving its old work of plunder,
murder, and anarchy in the Two Sicilies. It is only
natural that Austria, finding herself threatened by.
Italy, should seek to create in King Victor Em-
manuel's constitutional dominions hostility towards
the Government, through the influence of her old
priestly and Bourbonic friends. No doubt the exiled
Grand Duke of Tuscany, the ex-King of the Two
Sicilies, and the loyal people of Parma and Modena,
together with the Papacy, are holding communica-
tions at Vienna, under the hope of events restoring
that which their devotion to Austria and Church
influence made them lose. All these influences, it is
reasonable to suppose, will strengthen Austria in a
policy at the Conference which must end in obliging
Italy to commence hostilities. Another peril for
Italy is that Austria and Prussia may make friends
at the Conference, and then Italy would be left alone
with the sword drawn, and be eventually precipi-
tated into hostilities by an enthusiastic patriotism
which may be more honest than wise. We cannot
but applaud the efforts made by the neutral Powers
to bring about a peaceful solution of differences be-
tween three great Powers who have armed to settle
the quarrel by the immense sacrifices of war ; but,
whilst we hope the Conference will prove a success,
we cannot help fearing that Venetia will be the
great difficulty, because all that is reactionary in
Europe is now strengthening Austria's obstinacy
and pride.

THE CROPS IN CORNWALL.—There is promise of
an abundance of hay, the crop looking particularly well
throughout the county. Wheat is doing very well, and has
been immensely benefited by the recent mild showers.
Oats and barley cannot be reported of so favourably, still
they have made considerable improvement during the past
few days. Potatoes, generally speaking, are turning out
very middling.

American Financial News.

:From E. F. Satterthwaite and Co.'s Weekly Circular,

May 23.)
The Africa brought us our customary advices from New
York to the Bth inst. The payment of interest on the
5.20 Bonds had given further ease to the money market,
and balances were difficult of employment on Govern'
ment or first-class railway securities, at from four to five
per cent. The Bank returns again show a very large ad-
dition to the deposit and amount of specie ; and the
demand for advances on commercial account being
the banks were compelled to look to Government bonds
as
an investment of their surplus means. United States 5.20
Bonds were last quotedlo2 ex coupon and other stocks were
firm in proportion. In railroad stocks there was but little
change, New York Central, Erie, and Illinois being with'
out alteration, but Readings were in demand at an advance
of about two per cent. State stocks and railroad bonds
were in but small demand.
Via " Greencastle " we have received the following
quotations, being to the 12th May :
United States 5-20's lO2 I Erie, Common ......... 2
731
Illinois Centrals
return
122. 1
07 oldth e N . .. ..
. ...... ... Banks
........
The following is the
Discounts. Specie. Circulation. Deposits.
o -1
April 28, 245,017,692 8,243 ,937 25,377,280 202,710,°,,073
May 5, 253,974,131 10,914,997 25,415,677 210,373,'
CHICAGO AND ROCK ISLAND.
The board of Directors of the Chicago and Rock Island
Railroad Company have resolved to issue $2,600,000 of tha
bonds or obligations of the Company (convertible iat°
stock) and dispose of them to the stockholders at the rate(/'
twenty per cent. of the par value of the same. The bendy
will be apportioned to those stockholders pro rata, who
shall be registered a,§ such on the closing of the trend°
books on the Bth day of May, 1866.
The payment of the twenty per cent. of the par olge
by
of the bonds must be made at the office of the company
the 12th day of June, 1866, at which date the bonds 'xi

be ready for delivery.
The transfer books will be closed on the Bth daY of
May, and re-opened on the 12th of June, 1866.

PRICES OF STOCKS AND BONDS AT NEW VP:C ell'
U. S. Gov. Securities. per 12°
Loan 6 per cent.
Do. 6 do. Coup. Bonds lB6B 115 to 1,,,`.
1874 ...
96 to, 1710'
Do. 5 do. do.

Do. 6 do. do.
Do. 6 do. Registered
5.20 6 do. Coupon Bonds
5.20 6 do. do.§
xx
1111
8888
8888
4211
1111 0000
22,9
tttt
0000
9u 1,360 a
10.40 5 do. do.

§ New issue.
State Securities. 4„ .....
Alabama, 5 per cent. ... ... ... ... ''' 108
California, 7 per cent., New, 1877 ... ... 107 to 6
II Georgia, 6 per cent., 1872 ••• ... •• 195 {0
100
100
Illinois, Int. Imp. 6 per cent., 1860 ... ... 97 to 99
Do. 6 do. 1879 ... ... 97 to 8/
Indiana State, 5 do. ... ~,, ... 85 t° 72
Do. 21 do. ~„ ... ..70to 96
Kentucky, 6 do., 1869-72 ... .:. 94 t° 93
Louisiana 6 do. 96 to 4.,/
Maryland
Massachusetts 5 94 to 75
Missouri 6 per cent. Bonds. 1872-86 ~, ~ 74 96
6 do.
1870 ::: ::: ;:: 100 to 1;15
New York 5 do., 1872-77... ... ... ..: 94 to 85
North Carolina 6 per cent., 1873 83 to 96
Ohio 6 do . , 1870 .. . ..
. . ..
..
..
94,- t, on 96
do. 6 do., 1875 ... ... .. 90 m"" 91
do. 6 do.. 1881 ... ... . . 95, .99
Do. 6 do., 1866 ... ... .:: 9' B9
Pennsylvania 5 do. 86 to 86
do. 5 do. Coup, 18.7. i ::: ::: 65 t° 91
Tennessee 6 do. do., 1892 .., .., 90 to 69
Virginia 6 do. do., 1886 ... ... 68 to pt.
Railroad Bonds. For Oe
Atlan. & Gt. Wstrn 7 per ct. (Ohio Section) Ist 85
Mortgage) 1876 .. 83 to 01
Cin., Ham. & Dayton, 2d.Klort. i.p. cent., 1880 100 to, 100
Chic. & Rock Is. Con. Ist Mort. 7 per cent., 1870 99 ' 99
98 to 99
Erie, Ist Mortgage 7 per cent., 1867 x ... ...
Do. 2d Do. 7 do. 1879 ... ... 98, to 91
Do. 3d Do. 7 do. • 1883 ... . 9e 93
Do. 4th Do. 7 do. 1880 .., .... 91 L° 95
Do. sth Do. 7 do. ..„ ... ... 93 to 98
Galena & Chicago, Ist Mort. 7 per cent., 1882 97 to 91
Do. Do. 2d do. 7 do. 1875 96 too
Illinois Central, 7 per cent., 1875
.. .., 10 t° ...
Little Miami, Ist Mort. 6 per cent., 1883 ... ",.„ t 10J
Michigan Central, 8 do. 1869 ... ... ••• I°'' 'to
Do. do. 8 do. S. F., 1882 ... 106 t° 91
Do. Sn. &N. Ind. 7p.c. M. Sk. und, 1885 ... q 9l
New York Central 6 do., 1883 ... ... .. too
Do. do. 7 do., S. F., 1876 ... ..; 101 to l. 91
Do. do. 6 do., 1887 .... ... •. 90 to
1
to 03
Do. do. 7 do., convertible, 1876 :.: 102 96
North Indiana, 7 p. c. ...
Do. Goshen Branch, 7 do.. 1868 ::: 95 :
95 to 96
,
Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago, Ist 10'
100 to ~6
Montage, 1912 ... ... ... ... } -•-,, to ~
Pennsylvania Con., Ist Mort., 6p. c., 1880 ..• o'A- to 911
Do. 2d Mort., 6 do., 1874 ... "-" to '"
Reading Mort. Con., 1880 ... ~, .. 88 m 93,
Do. do. Non-Con. 6 d0.,9 i- 10'
Do. do. Con. 6 do., 1886 ..... 101 °dolt
We hate to note a further depression in the 114.1,7eY.
market for American securities during the past ioa
Some considerable amounts of stock have been placeulo,
tho market, and the apprehension that, when °tic de
quotations are known in New York, a corresponding i.:00
pressiou may take place there, has deterred buyers ,06
corning forward so freely as they otherwise would ''''
evict
done to avail themselves of the large profit that liVif
accrue on shipment of bonds and shares to New l'°rday
prices are maintained there. On advises received to: st,
by the Hibernian, which are to the evening of the 12th 't° to
quotations show a difference of quite six per ce130,03
United States 5-20 Bonds and ten rf 'N: cent. in Ilhe 'O, is
Erie Shares between the two markets, as 5.20'8 at 1,00
New York would work out with exchange at 1411 1:00
711 here, while the closing quotation is 641 to 65. 1013
same way Illinois and Erie Shares respectively s. for•
stand at 861 and 521, while the closing price for th°
mer is 76 to 1, and for the latter 421 to 1 only.
__„ St3teo
OFFICIAL TRANSACTIONS FOR THE WEER.— thi--eahl a;
6 per Cent. 5.20 Bonds, 1882: Thursday, 68, -116'5-
llaryic,la6s4',l6l 5 ; 616 ; Saturday, 66 51; Monday, 65 141 coot'
d
Wednesday, 651 41 1. Virginia 6 per y 0
Dollar Bonds : Thursday, 46 ; Monday, 42 ; 11°1613'3"
3. Atlan. and Gt. Western N. Y. Sect.) Ist 31r" soli'
1860: Thursday, 701. Atlan. and Gt. Western C°3ll 611
dated Bonds, 1895: Thursday, 50 41 4 ; Friday, 5 lirek
Saturday, 52 ; Monday, 50 3 ; Tuesday, 50 849 511, 451
nesday, 51. Erie Shares, $lOO, all paid : •scliV 1 '
Thui 14 i
6 5 ; Friday, 45,1 1 ; Saturday, 451 5 ; Monday, 43,.4 Cep'
Tuesday, 411 21 21; 'Wednesday, 421 1 -I. Illinc78; Sty
tral Shares, all paid : Thursday, 771 11; Friday, ' Ifed'
turday, 771; Monday, 76 1 ; Tuesday, 761 1 51 Ci ;
nesday, 731 6 1 6 18-1.