The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDO THURSDAY MORN IN O, SEPTEMBER 26. 844.

excellence and beauty of the manufactures is admitted.
A most superb dinner and dessert service has just been
completed by Mr. Smith, of Conduit-street, fur a Rus-
sian nobleman, which will tend to increase the apprecia-
tion ofEnglish porcelain manufactures on the Continent.
At St. Margaret's Church, Leicester, on Friday last,
the officiating curate was about to inter a child of a car-
penter, named Webster, when he asked by whom it had
been baptised. He was told that it had not been bap-
tised at all. He then refused to perform the service, vir-
tually excommunicating the deceased; and the interment
was prevented by the sexton. The parents are respect-
able members of a Baptist church in the town, the chapel
belonging to which has no burying ground.
The scholars of Christ's Hospital (Blue-coat School)
700 in number, and the children of the British Orphan
Asylum, Clapham-rise, will visit Vauxhall-gardens this
day, to witness the exhibition of the loway Indians.
The gala in the evening will be on a scale of extended
splendour.

HER MAJESTY AT BLAIR ATHOL.

1 OPENING of MAIDSTONE BRANCH

RAILWAY.

BLAIR ATHOL, MONDAY.

The appearance of the parish church yesterday dif-
fered widely from that of last Sunday. The congre-
gation then consisted of the resident parishioners
alone, and many of them were deterred from going
to the kirk by the inclemency of the weather. Yes-
terday, however, all parts of the country, within a
circuit of forty miles, sent their bevies of holiday
folk. At an early hour in the morning vehicles of
every description, in as a great a variety as are to be
seen at the Cock at Sutton on a Derby day, rattled
into the quiet village of Blair Athol, and groups of
humble pedestrians made their way at once to the
church, which was literally in a state of siege at ten
o'clock in the morning. The service does not com-
mence until twelve o'clock, but when the doors were
thrown open at eleven, every pew in the church was
indiscriminately invaded, and Lord Glenlyon's
tenantry, the quiet country villagers, who had an
undoubted priority of right to accommodation, were
elbowed aside, and were pushed from their stools
which they had occupied from childhood, by the
substantial burghers from the towns in the neighbour-
hood.

Tuesday a general holiday was observed at Maid-
stone, to celebrate the opening of the branch line to
that town from the London and Dover Railway, at
Paddock's-wood, a distance of ten miles, and forty-
six from London-bridge.
At eleven, A.M., a special train started from the
Bricklayers' Arm Station, drawn by the engine,
" Kentishman," decorated with flags and evergreens ;
containing, amongst others, Mr. J. P. Richards, the
deputy-chairman ; Captain Tyndale, R.N., Mr.
Davis, Mr. Smale, Mr. Lewis Cubitt, Directors of
the Company; Mr. 'Whitehead, the Secretary ; Mr.
Alderman Humphery, M.P., Mr. Alderman Hughes
Hughes, Mr. Salomons, and others.
The train stopped at the Tonbridge station, where
a branch now in course of construction, and which
will be operied in May next, diverges to Ton-
bridge Wells, whence it is proposed to carry an-
other branch to Hastings. The Maidstone branch is
ten miles in length, has cost 100,0001. and consists
of a single line of way, sufficient land having been
taken for a double. The works were commenced
about twelve months since, under the superintendence
of Mr. Robert Stephenson. There are no remarkable
engineering features, the line running parallel with
the Medway for a considerable distance, on a dead
level, and through spacious hop plantations. Taking
a curve in a south-easterly course, it passes through
the property of Lady de Spencer, at Mereworth. It
then pursues the western hank of the Medway until it
arrives at Yalding, where there is a heat station in the
neighbourhood of Sir John Shaw's estate. The line,
which is extremely picturesque in many parts, then
commands a fine open view down the valley to Water-
ingbury, where it skirts Barham Court, the seat of the
Earl of Gainsborough. Here the train, on stopping
to take up Mr. Alderman Lucas and visitors, was re-
ceived with a hearty cheer from the inhabitants.
Sweeping through the property of Sir Henry Fitz-
herbert, the line passes to Barming and East and
Wrest Farleigh, three of the largest fruit-growing
districts in Kent; and after a short circuit enters
Maidstone on the western side, at the foot of the
amphitheatre of hills by which it is surrounded. At
the Maidstone terminus the Directors were received
by the Mayor and Corporation and townspeople.
Accompanied by the Canterbury band, they pro-
ceeded to the Town-hall, and from thence to the
Corn Exchange, where 250 of the inhabitants sat
down to dinner, the Mayor (Mr. Thomas Day) pre-
siding, supported by Sir Edmund Filmer, Bart.,
M.P. ; Mr. Hope, M.P. ; Mr. Marton, M.P.; Mr.
Pott, late High Sheriff; the company which came by
the train, and a large number of the residents.
The train returned at half-past nine, reaching Lon-
don-bridge at twelve o'clock.

As twelve o'clock approached, the congregation
waxed impatient, but before Divine service com-
menced, her Majesty, with her accustomed punc-
tuality, had already arrived at the church. Her Ma-
jesty came in the low close carriage, which was
thrown open ; Prince Albert, Lady Canning, and
Lady Caroline Cocks were also in the carriage, which
was drawn by a pair of horses, and preceded by
a single out-rider; Lord Glenlyon's phaeton fol-
lowed. As her Majesty entered the church
the curiosity of the congregation overcame their
discretion, the majority of them forthwith rose and
stared at the Queen and the Prince with unseemly per-
tinacity, notwithstanding the hushing murmurs of the
gentry of the neighbourhood. Her Majesty came
into the royal pew leaning on the arm of Prince Al-
bert. Lady Calining, Lady Glenyon, Lady Caroline
Cocks, and Lord Glenlyon, attired in his Highland
dress, occupied the front seats of the pew. In the
back seats were Lord Aberdeen, Lord Liverpool,
Lord Charles Wellesley, Sir Edward. Bowater, and
Sir James Clark. Her Majesty wore a black silk
dress, with a shepherd's plaid thrown over her
shoulders, and a white crape bonnet. A guard of
honour of the Athol Highlanders, but without arms,
received her Majesty, and were stationed from the high
road to the church. The officers consisting of the
Hon. Captain Drummond, the master of Strathallan ;
Mr. Drummond, the younger, of Megginch ; Mr.
Oswald, of Dunnikier ; Mr. Small Icier, of Kindrog-
gan ; Mr. Way, and Captain Macduff, afterwards en-
tered the church.

LONDON AND YORK RAILWAY.
The direct line from London by Bedford, Lincoln,
and Doncaster, to York, joining there the North of
England line to Edinburgh, cannot but be hailed as
a great boon by both the manufacturing and agricul-
tural interests of the central and eastern districts of
England. The capital embarked in the present route
to Leeds alone is said to exceed eleven millions; in
the present improved state of engineering science it
is not too much to presume that the York and London,
by passing through the Leeds and Selby line, will
bring the town of Leeds nearer London by an in-
vestment of not more than a fourth of the above
amount—(thus it is impossible to avoid some degree
of injury to existing interests). On the other hand,
the town of Hull, the third port in the kingdom, will
be brought nearly fifty miles nearer to London ; and
all the towns between these two will be directly
benefited, while the towns on the line at right angles
to that direction, that is to say between York and
London, will, for the first time, participate in those
facilities of locomotion which have already reached
every other portion of England.
The country between London and York (over
which the Sarans who are proceeding to-morrow to
the British Association must, if they wish to travel
direct, travel in postchaises or in their own carriages)
presents great natural facilities for railway construc-
tion. The entire line will not have a greater devia-
tion from a level than 1 in 800 ; it will demand neither
a tunnel, nor a cutting exceeding 13 feet; and with
these advantages it may well be expected that the
experience and errors of others will save the projec-
tors at least 2,000,0001. in their investment.

Before the minister entered the pulpit, Mr. Pea-
cock, the precentor, published the banns of marriage
for the first, second, and third times of asking, be-
tween Mr. Irvine, the minister of the parish church,
and one of his fair parishioners. After this matrimo-
nial proclamation, Divine service was resumed by the
Rev. Dr. Macleod, one of her Majesty's chaplains for
Scotland, and minister of the St. Columbia Church,
at Glasgow, where the service is delivered in Gallic,
for the accommodation of the vast number of High-
landers who throng the streets of that commercial
city. Dr. Macleod attended at the request of Mr.
Irvine, who did not care to make his public appear-
ance in the pulpitimmediately after the whole con-
gregation had been informed that he was on the ex-
treme verge of a matrimonial precipice.
After the usual service, according to the Presby-
terian form of worship, Dr. Macleod preached an
excellent sermon from the eleventh to the fourteenth
verses of the second chapter of Titus. The sermon
was delivered in a broad Scotch accent, and was a
favourable specimen of the style of preaching which
at present prevails in the Scottish Presbyterian
Church. It contained a defence of the doctrine of
Calvanistic Christianity,. and we are happy to find
that Dr. Macleod, like his predecessor, had the good
taste to abstain from any allusion to the presence of
her Majesty among the congregation. The con-
cluding prayer was delivered with an earnestness
which came home to the business and bosom of every
member of the congregation, and a distinctly audible
" amen " was heard from every corner of the church
when the clergyman prayed with heartfelt fervour
that her Majesty Queen Victoria might long wear her
crown, and that she might yet see many happy days,
and that at the last, when she left her earthly throne,
she might ascend a throne of imperishable glory.
The service concluded, as before, with abenadic-

We are not surprised to observe that Mr. Locke
has retired from the superintendence of a work so
likely to affect the position of the western lines, in
which he is understood to be largely interested. He
is succeeded by the energetic William Cubitt, under
whose auspices this important and national under-
taking cannot fail of success.

tion, after which her Majesty with Prince Albert, the
noble host and hostess, and the members of the suite
returned to the Castle in the same order as they
arrived.

Her Majesty and the Prince did not leave the
precincts of the Castle during the remainder of the
day, but walked in the grounds in the afternoon with
Prince Albert to the falls of the Fender. On the
preceding day (Saturday) her Majesty had been out
in the Glen Tilt from eleven in the morning until
seven in the evening, and passed six hours on her
pony, luncheon having been brought to her Majesty
on the summit of the mountain of Cairnchlamman.

The Prince has again left the Castle this morning
for the deer-stalking in Glen Tilt; and, as the wind
is favourable, it is expected that his Royal Highness
will enjoy some excellent sport. Her Majesty will
not leave Scotland, in all probability, before Tuesday
next, the Ist of October, as her Majesty will be thus
enabled to reach Windsor before the [arrival of Louis
Philippe on the 6th instant. The royal route towards
the sea is not yet definitively settled, but the good
people of Perth are anxious that her Majesty should
embark on the Tay from their fair city. Lord A.
Fitzclarence has pronounced it to be utterly imprac-
ticable for the royal yacht to get over the shallows in
the river, but there are smaller steamers, drawing less
water, in the royal squadron, and her Majesty could
avail herself of one of these vessels to embark at
Perth, and view the beautiful scenery on the banks of
the Tay, as far as Dundee, where the royal yacht is
lying in readiness to receive the Royal travellers.
There will be a grand golf match on the North
Inch at Perth, on Wednesday next, at which the
Duke of Cambridge will be present, as his Royal
Highness will arrive on that day at Scone Palace, on
a visit to Lord Mansfield. Her Majesty and the
Prince will drive to Dunkeld before their departure,
to view Lord Glenlyon's beautiful grounds in that part
of the county.—Post.

BRIGHTON, LEWES, AND HAS-

TINGS RAILWAY.

The first General Meeting of the Directors and
Shareholders in this Company was held yesterday
afternoon, pursuant to the terms of the Act of Par -
liament, at the terminus of the London and Bright° a
Railway, London-bridge.
Wm. Nash, Esq., took the chair.
The Secretary read the report, which stated that
the contracts for the works had been entered into tzt
a sum below the Parliamentary estimate. The con-
tractor had agreed to take a portion of the contract-.
money in shares in the Company. The Directors.
were happy to announce that they had received
the cordial co-operation of the landowners on the line
—more particularly that of the Earl of Chichester,
Lord Gage, and Col. Trevor, who bad, in the most
generous manner, presented the Company with the
sum of 5001., to be applied towards the preliminary
expenses. The Directors observed, with regret, the
continued determination of the South-Eastern Com-
pany to contest for the traffic to Hastings with this
Company. The Brighton Company had agreed to
take up 1,400 shares in the Company, and it had still
been found necessary to issue 2,100 shares more. A
proposition had been received from the Brighton
Company, to take up any number of shares not ex-
ceeding 3,000, provided the option were given then
of taking the line, when completed, at 4 per cent. on
the estimate cost of 475,0001. The report was re- '
ceived and adopted.
A resolution was then passed, authorising the Di-
rectors to cause surveys to be made for a line passing
through Rye, to join the South-Eastern Railway, at
or near to Ashford, and for a line between Lewes and
the Brighton Railway, in a north-westerly direction,
with a view of materially shortening the distance be-
tween London and Hastings.
A vote of thanks was passed to Lord Chichester,
Lord Gage, and Col. Trevor.
The meeting was then made special, to confirm the
proposition of the Brighton Company, which having
been done, the meeting separated.

NEW AND VEXATIOUS REGULA-
TIOIN AT THE CUSTOM-HOUSE.

'We have received a letter, inserted elsewhere, and
signed a " London Merchant," on a new regulation
in the Customs' department, which calls for the atten-
tion of the commercial publi and, in our opinion, for
vigorous remonstrances against the continuance of
this novel annoyance to trade.
Our mercantile readers are aware that in case of
export of exciseable articles on which a drawback of
the duty is allowed, it has long been the practice
for the merchant to send notice to the Export-
office of his intention to pack excised goods on which
the drawback was to be claimed, when an officer was
sent to his premises to superintend and certify the
packing, on whose report and certificate the goods
were passed at the Custom-house without further
molestation. By the new regulation, this con-
venient and proper practice is to be discontinued,
and such goods are to be sent down to the quays,
where the searcher can only perform his office of as-
certaining the amount of drawback to be allowed by
opening the packages and examining the contents,
which are then to be repacked by the labourers of
the Custom-house. The bare enunciation of the fact
will suffice to convince our commercial friends
of the loss, detriment, and iniquity, implicated
in the new practice. The answer to remonstrances
on the innovotion—as remonstrances on such a matter
must be loud and frequent—is, that the change has
been made by order of the Lords of the Treasury.
We do not affect to dive so far into the arcana of
official tactics as to pretend to know in what depart-
ment the first move towards the pernicious change
had its origin—whether it was suggested to the
Treasury by the Customs, or whether it sprung
from the board of supreme finance. But it is
evident to our mind that the new regulation has
been put into operation through pure ignorance
of the nature and requirements of " packing"
for over-sea transit. It surely could not have been
known by those from whom the order emanated, that
the business of packing goods was an art—an employ-
ment of skill and knowledge ; and that every distinct
kind of goods demanded its peculiar care, arrange-
ment, and contrivance to fit it for sea voyages;—that
every trade, in fact, had its own system for packing
its particular wares ;—that the safety and durability
of goods on a voyage depended mainly on the
skill and care in packing them ;—that the
costs and charges of transport were much affected
by the mode of packing ;—that many goods were
so compressed by immense mechanical force,
that no unassisted human power could reduce
them into the same compass, in the event of a pre-
mature release from the compression of the packer.
All this and much more regarding the commercial
importance of the art of packing, should have been
well considered by the Government authorities be-
fore they undertook to issue an order which went to
contravene the especial care of traders for the se-
curity of their goods—to nullify all their cost and
labour •in packing, and to leave a large amount of
our exported manufactures to damage, mutilation,
and almost certain destruction, under the opening
and repacking of a set of unskilled, careless, undi-
rected, Custom-house labourers.

It is manifest to all practical men, that the new
regulation cannot be persisted in, unless in every
Custom-house in the kingdom there be set up a regular
packer's establishment, with all the implements, sur-
rounded by all the skill and special knowledge called
for in every particular branch of the export trade in
excise goods. The concoctors of the new regulation,
whether Lords of the Treasury or Commissioners of
Customs, did not, we are convinced, foresee the serious
derangements to our commercial pursuits, the great
danger of damage to our export produce, which it in-
volves. 'We trust, therefore, that the authorities will
at once see the necessity of abandoning such a vexa-
tious and absurd rule; and not wait until merchant-
exporters shall be driven to try whether in our courts
of justice they cannot obtain redress for damage sus-
tained by the ill-advised and arbitrary administration
of a public fiscal board.—Journal of Commerce.

SACRED TOAST.—Jackson of Exeter, as well known
for his literary as his musical talents, and remarkable
for the readiness of his wit, being called upon at a pub-
lic dinner for a toast, said, "I have great pleasure, Mr.
Chairman, in complying with your command, and give you
the opening words of the third Psalm." The chairman,
astounded at the apparent inappropriateness of the idea,
stopped the musician short, by exclaiming, " 0 fie, Mr.
Jackson ! the beginning of a psalm do you give for a
convivial toast?" " Yes, Sir; unless you will suggest a
better, I give you Lord How."—Dranzatical and Musical
Review.

COURT-MARTlAL.—Paymaster Anthony Walshe, of
the 2d, or Queen's Royals, was tried by court-martial at
Bombay, on the 26th of February last, on charges of
several acts of insubordination, brought by Lieutenant-
Colonel Brough, of the same regiment, and found guilty.
He was sentenced to be dismissed the service, and a re-
commendation made by the Court in his favour to the
Commander-in-Chief, to which, however, the latter did
notfeel it consistent with his sense of duty to pay at-
tention.

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY'S VISITATION.
—Tuesday morning the Archbishop of Canterbury held
his triennial visitation at All Saints' Church, Maidstone.
There were present, A. B. Hope, Esq., M.P. ; Arch-
deacon Lyall, Dr. Burnaby, and upwards of 100 clergy-
men. The usual ecclesiastical preliminaries having been
arranged, the Archbishop delivered a lengthened charge,
in the course of which he directed attention to the state
of education in this county, and to the prospects of the
Church generally. He stated that, from what he could
hear and see, and from what he could gather from the
speeches of the Dissenters at their various meetings, that
there was a growing dislike on their part towards the
Church, and that some serious designs for its overthrow
were in contemplation. From external violence or the
internal dissensions which at present agitate the Church,
the Archbishop anticipated no ill consequences, although
he admitted that it was in the highest degree painful to
contemplate them. After discussing at some length the
subject of Church extension, the Archbishop recom-
mended the formation of auxiliary branches on behalf of
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts, and concluded with sundry points of advice to the
younger clergy as to the manner of conducting their mi-
nistrations. A dinner was given to the Archbishop in
the evening at the Star Hotel.
THE CASE OF THE SOLDIER'S WIFE.—On Friday
last Mrs. Dynan and her child sailed from the Prince's
Dock in the Mary Somerville, for Calcutta. Before leav-
ing she waited on Messrs. Taylor, Potter, and Co., and
thanked them for their kindness in having afforded her
a free passage to her husband. She also expressed the
deepest gratitude to the numerous parties in Liverpool
who had interested themselves in her behalf and raised
her from a state of friendlessness and destitution to one
of comparative happiness. ller joy at the prospect of
speedily meeting her husband was unbounded. She
occupies an excellent berth on board, and everything i
that can minister to her comfort along the voyage has
been kindly provided for her by those benevolent ladies
and gentlemen who, from the first, took so prominent and
active a part in making provision for her necessities.—
Liverpool
Albion.
Tun GAME-LAWS IN FRANCE.—A conductor of
the Messageries Royales appeared before the Correctional
Police on Saturday, on a charge of having before the shoot-
ing season was opened, brought on his diligence a basket
from Nantes containing two rabbits. For the defence it was
alleged that the basket was marked " fowls," and that the
diligence company had no right to examine what the
parcels committed to its charge did or did not contain ;
that, in addition, the shooting season had commenced
at Nantes at the time the rabbits were transmitted. For
the accusation the King's Advocate argued that the
court had nothing to do with the measures taken or not
taken by the company to insure a proper observance of the
law, and that it was slot the locality from which the game
was dispatched, but that to which it was sent, where it
was necessary to have the shooting season open. The
court found the defendant guilty, and condemned him
to 50f. fine and costs, making the company responsible
for its payment.
Sydney Smith, in arguing against the horror of
some Christians at the thought of indulging even in in-
nocent pleasures, speaks of them as " always trembling
at the idea of being entertained, and thinking no
Christian safe who is not dull."