The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 15, 1861.

THE BANS ACT AND THE CURRENCY
QUESTION.

The following petition was presented to the
House of Commons at their last sitting on Tuesday,
Aug. 6, by the Right Hon. the President of the
Board of Trade, and has since been printed for the
use of the members. It is an elaborate but con-
densed summary of the whole currency question,
emanating from the Bank Act and Currency Com-
mittee in Birchin-lane. It bears but few signatures,
but amongst them are those of some of the most
influential firms in the City :

TO THE HON. THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN PARLIAMENT ASSEM-

BLED,
The humble Petition of the undersigned Merchants and
Traders of the City of London showeth-
1. That frequent and extreme fluctuations in the value of
money and the prices of commodities are most injurious to
trade and commerce, and inimical to the progress and gene-
ral prosperity of tl.e people.

2. That for the space of 140 years previous to the passing
of the Bank Act of 1844 variations in the Bank rate of
discount were of rare occurrence, and the rate never fell
below 4 pea cent., and never (except once in 1839) rose above
5 per cent,, and this necessarily tended to produce steadiness
and equability in the value of money. But since the passing
of that act fluctuations have been more frequent and more
extreme than were ever known before. No less than 79
changes have occurred within the space of 17 years, and the
minimum rate has varied from 2 per cent. to 10 per cent.
(being a difference of 500 per cent.), and has sometimes
varied more than once during the same week.
3. Your petitioners believe and submit that these fluctua-
tions are the direct and inevitable results of futile and vici-
ous attempts by legislative measures to erect a fictitious
s) stem of currency upon a false basis, and by a series of
artificial regulations and restrictions to render cenformable
to natural laws operations which in the nature of things
must ever be in perpetual conflict with them.
4. That, contrary to every sound principle of political
and financial economy, our currency is made dependent upon
the bank note issues of a mere banking corporation, which
is already burdened with the collection of the public re-
venue and the payment of the public creditor, besides being
encumbered by the onerous responsibilities of a bank of de-
posit and a bank of discount ; and the circulation is there-
fore complicated with the banking operations of its issuers,
in addition to the speculative or trading operations of the
bullion dealers and bankers of this and other countries.

5. That the whole of such bank note issues are profes-
sedly based upon and payable in gold on demand, but the
larger portion of them are in reality not based upon gold
but are issued against a series of unmarketable Government
securities, which the Government has no gold to redeem if
required, and which the Bank could not sell if it were neces-
sary; and the convertibility of such notes can, therefore, be
secured only by unnatural and oppressive restrictions and
artificial regulations imposed by Act of Parliament. Bat
for that 14 millions of notes which there is no gold to meet,
there would have been no necessity for the Act of 1844.
6. That the avowed objects of the promoters of the act
of 1844 were to diminish fluctuations in the value of money
and in the prices of commodities, to prevent monetary
panics, and to ensure the absolute convertibility of the
really inconvertible bank note. And these objects were to
be effected "by regulating the Bank issues according to the
foreign exchanges," and "by compelling the circulation to
contract in the event of unfavourable exchanges, precisely
in the same manner as a purely metallic circulation would
have contracted."

7. That the lamentable failure of that act as regards its
primary objects, stands recorded in the proceedings of your
honourable house, in the evidence reported by its commit-
tees, and in the acts of indemnity which have been rendered
necessary by the repeated abrogation, on the part of the
executive government, of its most essential provisions.
8. That the convertibility of the Bank note has been se- ,
cured only at a fearful cost to the country—the circulation,
though violently acted upon, in order to adapt it to the state
of the foreign exchanges, has not been regulated in accord-
ance therewith. And the attempt to compel the circulation,
which during prosperity is inflated by the expansive power
of paper, to contract during adversity, according to the law
of gold, is founded upon a principle which your petitioners
submit is unsound in theory and ruinous in practice.
9. When credit is good and the rate of discount low the
circulation becomes unduly inflated with Bank notes ; and
money being abundant ; pr_ces rise, and as prices rise at
home in our favour they rise against us abroad ; and as
more paper is issued pekes continue to rise, and our profits,
purchases, and accumulations at paper-made' prices go on
increasing, until in the plenitude of our wealth and abun-
dance the investments we have made in foreign loans,
funds, and securities, and other importations in extravagant
excess of our exportations turn tie exchanges against us.
And then the prices created and the debts contracted in a
paper currency mnst be paid and discharged in gold, and
we have not gold sufficient.
10. That adverse exchanges, and the consequent drains
of gold have the natural tendency, by contracting the cir-
culation, to reduce the prices of commodities, and the act
of 1844 appears to have been specially designed and con-
trived to accelerate and exaggerate that reduction by en-
forced advances in the Bank rate of discount, making
money (both gold. and bank notes) dear to the British
trader, because British gold happens to be cheap to the
foreigner ; the object contemplated and desired, and the end
effected being to compel British manufacturers and traders
to force sales of their commodities at reduced prices, in
order that the foreigner may be tempted to bring back the
gold to purchase them.
11. Your petitioners respectfully submit that the object
of the legislature, if under such circumstances it intermed-
dles at all, should be to retard and moderate that reduction
of prices until the pressure shall be reduced or obviated and
the exchange be rectified by the operation of other and more
natural means, and that the adoption of the contrary prin-
ciple as the basis of legislation has the direct tendency to
produce the frequent extreme and ruinous fluctuations and
panics which the act was professedly intended to prevent.
12. That the effect of these fluctuations upon trade and
commerce has been disastrous in the extreme, every dram
of gold, to the extent of a few millions only, and from what-
ever cause arising, whether from an adverse balance of
trade, wars, or rumours of war on the Continent, foreign
loans, or the speculative operations of foreign banks or bul-
lion dealers, being met by successive advances from time to
time in the Bank rate of discount, and a consequent depre-
ciation in the values of mercantile commodities and securi-
ties, to the extent of hundreds of millions, involving bank-
ruptcy and ruin to great numbers of otherwise solvent
manufacturers and traders, a diminution of employment to
the artisan and labourer, and a reduction of their wages, and
resulting in a degree of poverty and privation, speculation
and demoralisation in the mercantile and manufacturing
communities, affecting more or less the wellbeing of millions
of the people.
13. Your petitioners submit that the creation of currency,
or in other words the conversion of an adequate proportion
of the capital of the country into portable and convenient
media of exchange for the transfer and circulation of the
remainder, ought to be free, and that if free the currency
would regulate itself in accordance with the natural law of
supply and demand, and the requirements of trade and
taxation.

14. That the whole of our currency, being based upon or
convertible into gold, is subject to those natural laws which
govern the distribution of the precious metals throughout
the world, and any legislative restriction upon the acquisi-
tion of gold is in direct contravention of those laws.
15. That the law which compels the Bank of England,
as the issuer of the currency, to take in exchange all gold
that may be brought to it at £3 17s. 9d., and to pay all gold
that may be demanded from it at £3 17s. 101 d-, virtually
fixes the exchangeable value or price of that metal, and de-
prives it of its just marketable value, and thereby renders
it unnaturally cheap in this country whenever its market
price rises above our fixed price in any other country in the
world.

16. Whenever, therefore, from any cause whatever, the
market price of gold rises in other countries above its fixed
price here, it must, in accordance with the natural law,
depart from the country where it is cheap to the country
where it is dear, the profit derivable upon the transit ope-
rating as a bounLy upon its exportation. And all past ex-
perience proves that so long as that profit can be realised
no law can prevent its exportation.
17. It is a principle in political economy that anincrease in
the value of the commodities produced or consumed in any
country will necessitate a commensurate increase in the
quantity of the money of that country to circulate and ex-
change them. And in like manner any increase in the value
of the commodities produced and exchanged amongst seve-
ral countries will require a commensurate increase in the
quantity of the money common to all of them, to effect the
circulation and exchange of such commodities.
18. That as in the former case those individuals who
bought more than they sold would require more money to
give in exchange for the commodities they consumed so in
the latter case that country which imports more than it
exports will require more of the universal money to give
in exchange for the excess of its imports, and will there-
fore require unrestricted freedom in obtaining gold, the
raw material of that money.

19. That the home trade and the foreign commerce of
this country have enormously increased since the passing
of the act of 1844, and such increase rendered necessary a
proportionate increase in the currency and of the metallic
basis on which it rests, but no such increase has been pro-
vided for. The fixed issues of the Bank of England remain
the same; the fixed issues of the country banks remain
about the same, with a tendency to diminution, but no
power to increase; and the price or exchangeable value of

gold, the only source of increase possible, still remains vir-
tually fixed by the act of Parliament.
20. That such increase of trade and commerce under such
circumstances has been rendered possibly only by an exag-
gerated multiplication of bills of exchange, cheques, and
notes, by greatly increased banking operations, and by the
extraordinary facilities for economising the currency
afforded by the Bankers' Clearing-house. And so far as re-
gards the home or inland trade these aids and appliances
may have proved sufficient; but even as regards the home
trade, only so long as the basis on which the whole of them
rest shall not be unduly contracted by the exigent demands
of our foreign commerce for gold.

21. That the increase of our foreign commerce required a
commensurate increase in the quantity of gold to enable us
to balance the foreign exchanges when unfavourable, and to
sustain without inconvenience the more frequent and
heavier drains of gold arising therefrom—but the price of
gold remaining fixed here, and having a tendency to rise in
other countries, there has been no possibility of our obtain-
ing such increase, or of retaining it (notwithstanding the
enormous influx of gold from Australia and California), nor
any means of supplying the deficiency by such substitutes
as bills of exchange, &c., afford in the caso of our inland
trade. Hence the total derangement of both foreign and
inland trade whenever foreign commerce requires gold.
22. Gold, like water, will find its own level ; and it is clear
that when gold is flowing from us it cannot at the same time
be flowing to us; and mir main resource therefore in a period
of pressure must be the diminished and diminishing stock on
hand at the time of its commencement. And the of tix of
that gold can only be arrested by reducing the values of all
mercantile commodities from the paper or bank-note prices
on the basis of which they were created, down to and below
the barter level of gold, and that involves ruin to the indus-
trious manufacturer for the enrichment of the banker and
capitalist; and that is the operation and effect of the Bank
Act of 1844.

Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that your honour-
able house will be pleased to institute further inquiry.
1. As to the principles and operation of the Bank Act of
1844, and especially with reference to the adequacy of its
provisions for the great increase of trade and commerce since
the passing of that act.

2. Whether it is expedient that the issue and manage-
ment of the currency shou'd continue to be dependent upon
or complicated with the business of a banking corporation,
or should be transferred to_some responsible minister of the
crown.

3. Whether the 14 millions of Bank notes now issued
against Government securities should not, if still made pay-
able in gold on demand, have gold provided to meet them
on demand ; or, if not, whether such notes should not be
rendered inconvertible ?

4. Whether it be not necessary, and whether by some
means the manager of the currency cannot be enabled to
command and maintain larger reserves of gold to meet the
possible eventualities of a largely increased and still in-
creasing foreign commerce ?

5. And generally, whether such a system may not be
adopted as will permit of the more natural expansion and
contraction of the currency with the increase and diminu-
tion of trade; and of its self-regulation, according to the
laws of supply and demand.

Or that your honourable house will be pleased to take
such other proceedings herein as to your honourable house
may seem meet.

And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray,
&c.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

READING RACES.-WEDNESDAY.

The King's Meadow Stakes (Handicap) of 5 sous each,
with 30 added ; winners extra. One mile and a quarter.
10 subs.

Mr. Mellish's Gaylad, 4 yrs, 7st (11 Grimshaw) 1
Mr. J. Dawson's Misty Morn, 6 yrs, Bst 71b (G. Fot dham) 2
Mr. Bell's c by Kingston—Gloom, 3 yrs, 64 71b

Grimshaw) 3
Mr. Jackson's Jackal, 3 yrs, 6st 41b (Hardcastle) 4
The following also ran :—Doncaster, Scent, Shepherdess,
Cheesecake, Don John, and Clotilde colt.
Betting--3 to 1 agst Misty Morn, sto 1 agst Cheesecake,
7 to 1 each agst Gaylad, Doncaster, and the Gloom colt.
They kept pretty close order to the distance, where Gay-
lad, Misty Morn, and the Gloom colt came out, and had the
finish to themselves, Gaylad winning on the post by a short
head, four lengths separating the second from the third,
and a head only between third and fourth ; the others were
scattered.

The Abbey Stakes of 10 sovs each, with 50 added ; for two-
yr olds; colts, Bst 101 b; fillies, Bst Glb; winners extra.
Three-quarters of a mile. 7 subs.
Mr. Merry's The Knave, Bst 101 b (Custance) 1
Col. Towneley's Imperatrice, Bst Glb (J. Snowden) 2
Lord Stamford's Blackcock, Bst 131 b (in. 31b extra)

(A. Fivnch) 3
Mr. R. Law's Incitatus, Bst 101 b (G. Fordham) 4
Mr. J. Clark's Bloodhound, Bst 101 b (H. Grimshaw) 5

Betting-3 to lon The Knave, Bto 1 bar ono (off).
After a slight delay a good start was effected, Imperatrice
for a few strides taking the lead, when she was eased, and
both Incitatus and Blackcock passed her, The Knave and
Bloodhound lying off. In this order they ran on to the dis-
tance, where Incitatus and Blackcock were beaten, and Im-
peratrice with the Knave took their places; opposite the
stand the two were neck and neck, Custance then gave the;
favourite a shake and sent him in a clever winner by a
neck ; three lengths separating Imperatrice and Blackcock
Incitatus was a bad fourth, Bloodhound was last, beaten
off.

The Berkshire Stakes (Handicap), of 20 sovs each,
with 200 added, the owner of the second horse to receive
50 sous out of the stakes; winners extra. About two

. _
miles. 23 subs.
Mr. Saxon's Bally-Edmond, 3 yrs, sst 1.01 b.. (Midgeley) 1
Mr. Lincoln's The Lawyer, 3 yrs, 7st 111 b (in 71b ex)
(G. Fordham) 2
Mr. Merrifield's Conscript, 4 yrs, 6st
The following also ran :—Pixie, Weatherbound, Bevis,
Fitz-Avon, and Paul Clifford.

Betting-5 to 2 agst Tho Lawyer, sto 1 each agst Con-
script and Bally-Edmond, 7 to 1 agst Weatherbound, and
12 to 1 agst Pixie.

The Lawyer, following up his Wolverhampton tactics,
went to the front, and carried on the running at a good pace,
having Bally-Edmond close at his girths, Weatherbound
third, Conscript fourth, Bevis fifth, Pixie, Fitz-Avon, and
Paul Clifford bringing up the rear. No change occurred
until after rounding the turn into the straight, when Bally-
Edmond took close order with the favourite, and the two
came on side by side, Bally-Edmond winning easily by half
a length; Conscript finished a bad third ; Pixie (who ran
the
he wrongha Paul Clifford were pulled up and did not pass the post.
T
) Stakesfirkfth'Weatherbound, Bevis, and
of 5 sovs each, with 30
Eastm sidepste of
ad a po
Park
added, for 3.-yr-olds and upwArds, mares and geldings
allowed 3113 ; winners extra. One mile and a half.
Mr. E. Brayley's Sycophant, 3 yrs, 63t 111 b.. (J. Daley) 1
Mr. S. Jacob's Amsterdam, 6 yrs, 9st 51b (in 31b ex)
(T. Johnson 2
Mr. Bell's Gloom colt, 3 yrs, Est 1 Ilb%. (H. Grimshaw)) 3
Mr. J. Jervis's Don John, 3 yrs, 7st (J. Reeves) 4
Mr. J. N. Brown's Medusa, 3 yrs, Est 81b .... (Parsons) 5
Gaylad and Vesper also ran.

Betting-2 to 1 agst Sycophant, sto 2 agst Asterdam, and
6 to 1 apt any other offered.

The favourite made nearly all the running, and won easily
by five lengths; a bad third; neither Gaylad nor Vesper
passed the post.
The Ladies' Plate of 25 sovs, added to a sweepstakes of 3
sovs each, for 2-yr-olds and upwards, weight for age ;
mares and geldings allowed 31b. Selling allowances.
• Straight five furlongs.

Mr. Parry's Memo, 3 yrs, 7st 51b (£.50)„,. (J. Snowden) 1
Mr. Hare's Eheu, 4 yrs, Bst 31b (£50)..„„ (G. Fordham):t
Lord Coventry's Antwerp, 3 yrs, 7st 81b (L5O)
(W. Bottom) t
Lord St. Vincent's Draghound, 2 yrs, sst 101 b :(£SO)
(Mid le t
Mr. Marshall's Montebello, 2 yrs, sst 121 b (£5O)
(Parsons) 5
The following also ran :—Reporter, England's Beauty f,
British Grenadier, Midnight, and Isis f.

Betting-6 to son Antwerp, 4to 1 agst Draghonnd, 7
to 1 agst Eheu, 10 to 1 agst Reporter, 100 to 6 agst
Memo. _ _ _ _

Memo jumped off with a good lead, which ha held to the
distance, when he was joined by Eheu, Antwerp, and
Draghound ; an exciting finish with the four ensued.
Memo, running the longest, won by a head, a dead heat
with the next three for second place. Montebello was fifth.
The others tailed off. The winner was sold to Mr. Lincoln
for 200 guineas.

(Handicap) of 100 sous, for two-yr-
_
noeldsN;uwrsienrzylersex Plate
extra. Straight run in, about seven fur-

longs.
Mr. York's The Principal, Est 41b. ......... (Whiteley) 1
Mr. R. Ten Broeck's Annette, 6st 71b (car Est 81b)
(H. Grimshaw) 2
Mr. G. Simpson's Hariole, 7st 91b........ (A. Edwards) 3
The following also ran :—Repartee, Stella c, Silkstone,
Turn of Luck, Pinkepoe, Strawberry Leaf, Dulcet, Grin-
doff, Scorpion, Snowdrop, and Harmony.
Betting-7 to 4 agst Annette, 11 to 2 agst the Principal,
10 to 1 each agst Hariole and Repartee, 12 to 1 each agst
Strawberry Leaf and the Snowdrop colt.
After a long delay at the post, caused by the difficulty in
getting certain horses together and the breaking away of
Annette and the Principal, Hariole jumped off with the
lead, Annette going on second, the Principal close up
third, theSnowdropthe next lot, the rear
being brought
fore-
most rank neared the stand, shouts of " The favourite's
up
by Dulcetcoltheading
d
Harmony. As the
beat" were raised, but she struggled on gamely to the
end, and was beaten by a short head only ; four lengths
between the second and third ; Repartee was fourth ; the
others, whipped in by Harmony, beaten off,
The Borough Plate of 25 sovs, added to a sweepstakes
of 3 boys each; for 2-yr-olds and upwards; weights for

age ; mares and geldings allowed 31b. Tho winner to be
sold for £BO if demanded. Half a mile.
Mr. R. Ten Broeek's Santa Claus, 2 yrs,6st 71b (car. 6st 81b)
(H. Grimshaw) 1
Mr. Mellon's Seahorse, 2 yrs, 6st 71b .. (J. Reeves) 2
Mr. Hare's Little Gerard, aged, Bst 111 b.. (G. Fordham) 3
The following also ran :—Miss Woolgar filly, Letty Long,
Chateau Leila°, Trineoinalee, and Don Giovanni.
Betting-6 to 4 agst Little Gerard, 7to 2 agst Santa
Claus, 5 to 1 agst Seahorse, 6 to 1 agst Letty Long:
The running was made by Seahorse, to the Stand, where
Santa Clatise headed him, and ran in an easy winner by a
length and a half; Little Gerard finished three lengths be-
hind Seahorse; the Miss Woolgar filly was fourth; the
others beaten off.

Mr. Mellon claimed the winner, which goes into Reeves'
stable.

BETTING AT MANCHESTER. WEDNEsDAv.
There is very little doing on future events. we saw
nothing done on the St. Leger; and on the Ebor Handicap
none but the favourites are mentioned. sto 1 was taken
and offered against Virgilius, 9 to 1 was the taking price of
Moorcock, and 12 to 1 was laid against Lady Trespass, but
the highest offer at the close was 10 to 1 against her. After
the result of the Berkshire Stakes was known, 20 to 1 was
taken about Bally Edmond to some little money. Closing
prices :

ST. LEGER.
2to lon the field (offered, take sto 2)

EBOR HANDICAP.
sto 1 agst Virgilius (offered)
9to 1 agst Moorcock (taken)
12 to 1 agst Lady Trespass (taken)
12 to 1 agst Stockade (taken)
20 to 1 agst Bally Edmond (taken)

THE RA VI.

The Osborne paddle yacht, Master-Commander
G. K. Bower, will leave Portsmouth this morning
for Cowes, to convey from Osborne the Crown
Prince and Princess of Prussia, with the Prince
William and Princess Charlotte of Prussia and
suite, to Ostend, en route for Berlin.

Prince Oscar of Sweden and Norway arrived at
Portsmouth yesterday morning, in the screw yacht
Fairy, from Osborne. He visited the various points
of interest within the yard. The Glasgow, 51-gun
screw frigate was first visited, on coming from which
he next went to the Sheer jetty, where the cele-
brated angulated target of Mr. Josiah Jones, of Li-
verpool, was receiving new plates, preparatory to
its being tested with the Armstrong shunt gun.
The Prince displayed the greatest interest in en-
deavouring to make himself thoroughly acquainted
with recent experiments on plated vessels, and re-
quested Mr. Jones to communicate with him on his
(the Prince's) return to Sweden. He said that Swe-
den also intended to have iron ships.

The Board of Admiralty, at Portsmouth, yes-
terday morning landed on the west side of the
harbour, and inspected the Royal Naval Hos-
pital at Hasler, the gunboat yard and slipway,
and the Royal Clarence Victualling - yard.
This morning, at 10 o'clock, his Grace the Duke of
Somerset will hold a Levee at the Royal Naval Col-
lege, in the dockyard. Among the alterations sug-
gested to the minds of the Admiralty, or rather,
perhaps, confirmed by their 1861 inspection of Ports-
mouth Dockyard, is the renewal of the work of Nos.
7 and 10 dock, so as to render the section of each
alike. It is suggested that a "keel groove" should
be cut in the floor of No. 7 to receive the keel of
the Warrior. The folly of designing a dock of a
certain depth of flooring, at a great expense, and
then destroying any benefit that might be derived
from that by the construction of inverts three feet
above the level of the flooring, and the continuation
of the united dock flooring at its original height, has
been more than once pointed out in these columns.
The Meteor floating battery, lying with her plates
and planking stripped from her sides in No. 2 dock,
has so struck their lordships by its dilapidated state
that an order is expected to break her up and ap-
propriate the armour plate to some other purpose.
A site for a Naval Cadets' College, to supersede the
Britannia, is naturally receiving a large share of the
attention of the Board. It must not be far from a
dockyard, and we would venture to suggest that
there is a piece of waste land the sea front of which
has been strongly fortified, at a spot where an enemy
would never land, forts or no forts, which would be
contiguous to the seashore and but a short mile from
Portsmouth Dockyard—St. Helen's-park, lying
between Lumps Fort and Southsea Castle.
On Tuesday evening the Lords of the Admiralty
were entertained at dinner by Vice-Admiral Sir H.
W. Bruce, Commanding in Chief at Portsmouth.
Our Malta correspondent, under date of the 10th
of August, announces the arrival that day of H.M.S.
Marlborough, 131, Capt. W. H. Stewart, C. 8., from
Spithead, Falmouth, Ferrol, and Gibraltar. Soon
after her arrival signals were made for the Neptune
and Liffey to prepare for sea immediately, and it
was understood they would start on Tuesday, the
13th inst., for Naples. The Commander-in-Chief, on
board the Marlborough, with one or two other ves-
sels, was to follow in a day or two. The Russian
steam frigate Ilia Mau rometz and steam corvette
Sokol left Malta on the morning of the 10th inst.
for Gibraltar and Cronstadt. The steam frigates
General Admiral (bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral
Shestakoff), and the Peleg, both of 74 guns, were
to remain at Beyrout and the coast of Syria until
the beginning of next summer, when they will re-
turn to Russia. The Gromoboi, of the same nation,
was expected at Malta from Beyrout in about a
week.

The crew of the paddlewheel steamfrigate Valor-
ous, 16, Capt. W. C. Aldham, C. 8., at Devonport,
were paid off yesterday in the presence of Admiral
Superintendent Sir T. Pasley.
The steamship Golden Fleece, 3,000 tons, Capt.
George Western, from Quebec July 28 for London,
with a general cargo and 22 passengers, has landed
two here, and is gone up Channel. She spoke, on
the Bth Aug., the ship Czar, of Greenock, 21 days
from Quebec, all well; and on Tuesday, off Start
Point, the Bremen bark Fanny Richardson, from
New York for Bremen.

Considerable progress has been made with the
Valiant iron-cased steam frigate now building for
the Government at the premises of Messrs. West-
wood, Baillie, and Campbell, London-yard, Isle of
Dogs. She is a sister vessel to the Resistance, built
by the same firm.
The screw steamships Revenge, 89, Capt. C. Fel-
lowes, flag of Rear-Admiral R. Smart, K.H. ; Done-
gal, 99, Capt. S. Osborne, C. 8.; Conqueror, 99,
Capt. E. S. Sotheby, C. 8.; and Centurion, 80, Capt.
H. D. Rogers, C. 8., were under orders to leave Ply-
mouth Sound yesterday afternoon for Holyhead,
where they will join the port division of the Chan-
nel fleet.

Sir F. Nicolson, commodore superintendent of
Woolwich dockyard, accompanied by Capt. the Hon.
A. Cochiane, C. 8., yesterday steamed down to
Greenhithe in the steam tender Princess Alice, and
inspected the fittings of the Warrior. The Commo-
dore afterwards proceeded to an inspection of the
steam battery Trusty, now lying off the Royal Ar-
senal, in order to ship her ammunition, preparatory
to her forthcoming trial, at Shoeburyness, of Capt.
Coles's revolving shield.