The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-27 00:00:00

41ib-Jr-Id/14 :7'lllV.

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 27, 1844.

A few hours must now decide the result of the
south Lancashire election, and the event will teach
the people of England whether the Reform Bill has
procured them free and honest representation or
whether that measure was a mockery and a delusion,
designed, as Lord Jour; RUSSELL in a candid mood
declared, " to secure the preponderance of the landed
interest." We shall soon learn whether voters were
permitted to record their honest and conscientious

opinions, or whether they were led in droves by the
steward and land agent to vote in whatever way the
proprietors of their farms pleased to dictate. It was
remarked by NIEBUHE that the Constitution of Rome
was at an end from the time that patrons be •
came lords of the suffrages of their clients ;
the people lost all interest in the results
of elections, they regarded themselves as subjects of
an alien Government, and deemed it a matter of in-
difference under what names such a government was
administered. He also remarks, that at the great
crisis which finally destroyed all the elements of real
popular power, those members of the aristocracy who
had been previously distinguished for their adherence
to what would now be called liberal opinions, joined
with the cry " our craft is in danger," and gave their
entire support to the oligarchy. He doubts whether
they were hypocrites in their liberality, or renegades
in their pretended conservatism, but he justly
remarks that in either case they were worse enemies
of the people than the old rancorous leaders of the
oligarchy, and in the subsequent civil wars they bore
the chief brunt of the popular indignation.
England,:within the last few years, has seen a large
proportion of its landed proprietors adopt the worst
maxims of the Roman patricians, and claim a heritage
of conscience from every tenant on their estates.
Many who were, or at least who pretended to be, ad-
, socates of popular rights, have abandoned principle
and consistency through an ambitious desire of exer-
cising a tyranny similar to that which they had long
and loudly condemned. South Lancashire, no doubt,
will exhibit its share of such apostates from former
professions, and, as in other places, they will be found
chiefly among those apes of fashion, who can easier
imitate the vices than the refinement of aristocracy ;
the transition from vulgarity in low life to vul-
garity in high life is easy ; the cobbler,
in one of CRIDER'S farces, could boast that his son
had learned to swear and swagger like a gentleman.
If report speaks correctly, South Lancashire will ex-
hibit some examples of deeper degradation ; it is said
that certain Catholic proprietors will give their votes
to the nominee of APNEILL and STOWELL, and will
thus virtually declare in the face of the public that
their religion has been justly stigmatised as " dam-
nable and idolatrous," that the Act which gave them
emancipation was dangerous to the community, and
that, in their own opinion, they are unfit to be admit-
ted within the pale of the Constitution. Monopoly
must have strong charms when it induces men thus
to join in stigmatising their own religion, bearing
testimony against their own characters, and setting
the seal to their own degradation.
Whether the free-traders will be able to beat down
this coalition of hackneyed Monopolists, apostate
Liberals, renegade Whigs, and unworthy Catholics,
is as yet uncertain ; but we rejoice to see that the
Monopolists are resolved not to spare their allies one
atom of the degradation to which the abandonment
of former professions must expose them. Names fa-
miliar to those acquainted with the history of the
Manchester massacre, of the Bolton Black-faces, and
of the several attempts to concert plots and foment
conspiracies for the purpose of legalising murder, are
paraded among the leaders of Mr. ENTWISLE'S sup-
porters ; the loudest abettors of the "No Popery "
howl are foremost in his canvass of the Catholic pro-
prietory. One would almost imagine that it had been
resolved to make the draught of apostacy as bitter as
possible, so nauseous is the mixture presented to re-
negades.
'We have no pity for those lovers of self-abasement;
but we lament to see the .farmers, the substantial
yeomanry of England, dragged by such landlords
through all the mire and filth of dishonesty and ter-
giversation. If we wanted an additional reason for
our thorough detestation of the corn-laws it would
be derived from the power which the monopoly of
land gives booby squires of coercing an honest
tenantry into a breach of their duty to their GOD,
their country, and themselves. We do not despair of
victory, but we feel that the battle is fought
against some odds and great hazards ; but, how-
ever the event may turn out, there is no
doubt that the struggle will afford many instances
of the worthlessness of the elective franchise to honest
men, unless they can be protected from the vengeance
of a heartless, senseless, and unscrupulous oligarchy,
resolved to treat honesty as a crime, and patriotism as
an act of treason against their usurpations. There is
something more than the corn-laws involved in this
election—its result may compel the people of Eng-
land, whether electors or non-electors, to take seri-
this:y loco consideration whether they shalt continue
to be the vassals and slaves of an oligarchy, or whe-
ther they shall seek means by which the voice of the
people may obtain a real share in the Legislature.

hales, to that which had occupied the throne. Her
character was unimpeachable; her personal attrac-
tions and intellectual endowments of the highest
order. But she was not a German, and could not
boast of a single quartering upon the arms of her pa-
ternal or maternal ancestors which bespoke their con-
nexion with any of the one thousand and one mac-
adamised princedoms of the empire—so dear to the
prepossessions and associations of the KING, her
father-in law. With all the personal obstinacy and
political heresies of GEORGE 111. there were mixed
up so many excellencies of private character, indis-
pensable in the relations of private life, which, in the
main, he discharged with exemplary correctness, that
we are grieved to direct attention to what we shall
ever consider the vindictive, coarse, and cruel perti-
nacity with which the KING either originated, or per-
mitted others to originate, the measures which had
for their avowed object to bring about a separation be-
tween his Royal highness and his wife. The mar-
riage, we have seen, had been celebrated at Rome by
a Mr. GUNN, a clergyman in holy orders of the
Church of England, according to the forms, cere-
monies, and ritual of that Church. In the end of
September, 1793, the illustrious couple arrived in
England. His Royal Highness, still apprehensive of
the displeasure of the KING, had observed a careful
silence on the fact of his marriage, so far as
any public avowal of it in this country was con-
cerned. The condition of Lady AUGUSTA, however,
now rendered it expedient that a further recognition
of it should take place here; and they were re-mar-
ried, by banns, in the church of St. George, Hanover-
square. The entry of this marriage was accidentally
seen by a Nobleman, who reported it to the KING ;
and the Duke was sent abroad by his order. Some-
time afterwards, 'on his Royal Highness being at-
tacked with dangerous illness at Berlin, Lady
AUGUSTA repaired thither to nurse her husband ; but
was speedily required to quit that capital. On the
return of the Duke to this country, he resided for
some time with Lady AUGUSTA, in Lower
Grosvenor-street ; buthe was on terms ofsuch estrange-
ment from the Royal Family, that he was again
induced to visit the Continent, and they never met
again. Her Ladyship, exposed to the most cruel
privations, was treated with all severity, threatened
with the penalties of a praemunire, irritated by the
apparent neglect and coldness of her Royal partner,
and ignorant of the efforts he was really making to
procure her recognition. What followedis all summed
up in this statement of counsel :

" Some time afterwards proposals were forwarded to her,
through Lord Grenville" ( who, we may observe by the
way, ought to have torn up such a commission before the
Royal face, instead of condescending to be its organ), " to
settle 4,0001. a year on her, on certain conditions, such as
giving up the Royal livery ; and the lady, smarting under the
circumstances already detailed, accepted these proposals. The
claimant, however, was then, and always had been the object of
his father's affection, who addressed him in terms of as warm
affection as were ever used by parent towards his children.
The Prince, too, desired that the son should succeed to all
his honours. In his will, where he made the Prince of
Wales, afterwards George IV., and the Duke of York his exe-
cutors, he urged them in the strongest manner to maintain
the interests and rights of his son ; and even after being
fully made acquainted with the provisions of the Royal Mar-
riage Act, the Prince still asserted the legitimacy of his son,
and looked on him as entitled to succeed to his own titles and
honours.*

One of those solemn appeals to the judgment of the
House of Lords (sitting in a Committee of Privileges),
which always seem to excite in Englishmen, without
reference to ranks, politics, or parties, a profound in
terest, was on Thursday last opened by counsel, on
behalf of an individual whose private virtues and try-
ing position have long earned for him the sympathy
and respect of his countrymen. Sir AUGUSTUS D'EsTE,
claimant to the Dukedom of Sussex, Barony of Ark-
low, Earldom of Inverness, and other the honours,
titles, and baronies of his late father, his Royal High-
ness the Duke of SUSSEX, deceased, was represented
by Sir Tnolus WILDE, Mr. ERIE, Q.C., and Mr.
JAMES WILDE ; and the first-named of these gentle-
men addressed their Lordships in a speech as much
distinguished by its constitutional doctrine and sound
law, as for the much rarer excellence of strong com-
mon sense which pervaded it. If to these advantages
in the opening of his counsel, we may add the equity
of Sir AUGUSTUS D'Esres claim, derived from the
sanction of all the formalities which the marriage of
his noble mother had clearly received according to the
laws of GOD and man,—all the peculiar and romantic
confirmation which attaches to that ceremony in the
written record of both parties to it—a record in which
its intention, force, good faith, and validity, are confessed
and attested by each, in language of the most solemn
adjuration to the Divine Creator that could be em-
ployed on the most sacred occasions of invoking Him,
--we are tempted to say that the case of the claimant
must be irresistible. But we will here refer the
reader to our abstract of the proceedings before the
Committee of Privileges for the letters of the Lady
AUGUSTA MURRAY—abounding as these do in pas-
sages of the most intense affection for her Royal Con-
sort—of professions of duty expressed with a happy
force of combined dignity and meekness ; and to the
correspondence of his late Royal Highness himself,
breathing throughout the most unaffected and anxious
tenderness for her whom in that document, which,
when he prepared it, he supposed to be his " last will
and testament," in its solemn injunctions on his
Royal brothers, namely, his Royal Highness the late
Duke of YORK and his Royal Highness the Prince of
WALES, afterwards GEORGE IV., and subsequently in
his letter to Lord ERSKINE, he studiously and repeat-
edly declares to be, and designates as, his " dear wife,"
" to whom he had been solemnly and duly married ;"
married, as his late Royal Highness recites in his will,
dated September, 15, 1799, " on the 4th day of April,
1792, at the city of Rome, and in the inn commonly
known by the name of Sarmiento, where my afore-
said wife then resided with her mother, Lady DUN-
MORE, and her sister, Lady VIRGINIA MURRAY ; and
also that, for greater security, and not from any ap-
prehension of the first being insufficient, I again per-
formed the ceremony of marriage with my said wife
at the parish church of St. George, Hanover-square,
in the county of Middlesex, by virtue of banns pub-
lished in the said church, on the sth day of Decem-
ber, in the year of our LORD, 1793." So that, up to
this point, nothing seems to have been wanting,
wherein—by any specialty of his own act and deed—
in the most deliberate, formal, unreserved spirit of
acknowledgment, the late Duke of SUSSEX could
admit the fact and the verification of his marriage
with the Lady AUGUSTA MURRAY, second daughter of
the then Earl of DuilmoßE ; or set beyond the reach of
cavil and dispute his own subsequent confession to it.
But his Royal Highness's father, King GEORGE
(whose notions of the irresponsible, unreasoning na-
ture of the paternal authority, and of the blind, un-
hesitating implicitness of filial obedience, in the slight
article of a son's marriage, were about as despotic and
extravagant as those of an Emperor of China), was
exasperated at such an exercise of his own will, or
choice, or judgment, as the Duke of SUSSEX had,
without apprising his MAJESTY of his intentions, been
induced to venture upon. There could be no feasible
objection on the score of birth to the amiable and ac-
complished partner whom his Royal Highness had
selected. She was of a family among the noblest and
most ancient of Scotland, nearly allied, in past cen-

" The Act embodied everything that called for strictness
of construction. It created incapacity—it limited a natural
right—it inflicted forfeiture and created crime, and therefore
was to be construed according to the rules of the utmost
strictness. He did not mean to deny the power of the
Legislature to act upon British subjects anywhere, but the
rule of the common law, in regard to these laws creating
forfeitures, was not to extend them beyond the British terri-
tory, but to confine their operations to deeds done in the
British territory, and the British territory only."

But we cannot here offer Sir AUGUSTUS D'EsTE
our hearty and most cordial good wishes for his
success, without adding that his exemplary modera-
tion, prudence and forbearance, give him a still
stronger claim than these legal presumptions in
his favour to the proud honours of his Royal
Father. He has had to bear, in a long course of years,
not alone the privation of his own rights, involving
and connected with the sacred duty of jealously vin-
dicating the true position and pretensions of his de-
parted mother. He has had to sustain the responsi-
bility of keeping alive claims to the establishment not
merely of himself, or his own rights and hereditary
station, but those of a noble sister likewise. More
than all this—in deference, first, to the wishes of his
father, subsequently to those of his father's brother,
his late Majesty WILLIAM IV.—he has been content
to postpone his righteous appeal. He has, mean'

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 27. 1844.

while, seen the royal bounty, and the ranks and dis-
tinctions of which it is the fountain, lavished on others
of no equal pretensions, or birthright, or desert—some
in hereditary remainder, others for single lives only.
But he has, finally, had to sustain—and he endured it
with dignified self-possession—the cruel mortification
of seeing an obscure personage elevated by his illus-
trious parent into a station and dignity, and a place
in the favour and recognition of the throne, which
ought never to have been conceded whilst the legiti-
mate, the sacred, the self-asserting title and rights of
his own mother remained unrendered, or in abeyance ;
and his own hereditary succession to his father's titles
and honours was still unsettled, as since his Royal
Highness's death it has been hitherto delayed.

We now arrive at the remarkable evidences to the
solicitude of the Duke of SUSSEX to record his volun-
tary disclaimer of the license which a sentence of the
Ecclesiastical Courts might, at first, have appeared to
give him, to repudiate his connexion and disavow
its offspring. But, on the contrary, he thus empha-
tically adheres to the legitimation of both the one and
the other. In the will, already mentioned, he writes—
" Notwithstanding a decree has since passed the Court of
Doctors' Commons to declare my marriage unlawful and
void, yet I feel myself still not less bound by every obliga-
tion of law, conscience, and honour, to consider her as my
lawful and undoubted wife in every respect as if that decree
had never taken place. And that I consider, and ever shall
acknowledge our son, Augustus Frederick, who was born after
both these marriages, as my true, legitimate, and lawful son."

We have received Madrid papers of the 19th, but
they bring no intelligence later than that conveyed
by the last telegraphic dispatch. The Funds though
rather better were still depressed. The Three per
Cents.:were done at 291 for cash, and 29n at sixty
days ; the Four per Cents. at 191 at sixty days ; and
the Five per Cents. at 20 7-16 at sixty days.

Nor is this all, for in another will, made in 1800,
he appointed the Prince of WALES and the Duke
of YORK as his executors, and entreated them to
maintain the just rights of his son.
We need not dwell upon the disgraceful resort
which was had to the Royal Marriage Act ; to the
sentence (above alluded to) which was pronounced
under its enactments in the Spiritual Courts; nor
to the facts that attended the passing of the Divorce
Bill founded thereon. But let us recur to the origin
of the Royal Marriage Act. It passed in 1772. In
1771, the Duke of GLOUCESTER, brother to the
KING (GEORGE III.), had married the widow of Earl
WALDEGEA vr, ffirinArly. hic Ainjoety'a preeeptor, and
the Duke of CUMBERLAND, uncle to the KING, had
married the fair widow of Col. MORTON. Each of these
marriages gave great offence to GEORGE 111. ; and at
his instigation, this Bill of Restrictions upon the
marriages of the Royal Family of England was intro-
duced into Parliament, and hurried into a law in
defiance alike of the usual forms and decorum of
Parliamentary precedent, and the ordinary
decorum with which such a question ought
ever to be entertained. It was, at once, an
indication of, and a peace-offering to, the KING'S dis-
pleasure. " You do not go so far," said Lord CAMP-
BELL, on Thursday last, to Sir THOMAS WILDE, " as
some of the Lords who dissented from the Bill, and
declared that it was against the constitution, and,
though passed in Parliament, could not have the force
of law." " In consequence of this Bill," says HAYDN,
"none of the descendants of GEORGE 11., unless of
foreign birth, can enter into the matrimonial state
under the age of twenty-five, unless with the consent
of the KING : and at and after that age, the consent
of Parliament is necessary to render the marriage
valid." Sir THOMAS `TILDE ably argued that this
was an Act creating an incapacity. " The law would
therefore look to that incapacity with a jealous eye—
limiting it in every particular; and, unless they con-
strued the Act in the most loose manner possible,
they could not bring it to operate against the plaintiff."

The French Chamber of Peers, after a most tedious
and protracted discussion, passed the Education Bill
on Friday by a majority of 85 to 51. This large
minority has excited some surprise, especially after
the numerous alterations made in the Bill, some of
which were favourable to the Church, and a belief
prevails that the Bill will not be allowed to pass the
Deputies. The Nismes and Montpelier Railway was
adopted by the Lower Chamber on the same day by
a large majority-190 to 60. It provides that in case
of no company coming forward to execute the line on
reasonable terms, it shall be completed by the State.
The Journal des Chemins de Fer publishes the re-
port of the Directors of the Paris and Rouen Railway,
as read at the general meeting of shareholders, which
was held in Paris on Wednesday last. We learn
by this document, that the receipts from the
Ist of October, 1843, to the 31st of March
last, amounted to 2,290,076 f. 59c., and the ex-
penses to 1,172,066 f. 98c. : and that, after de-
ducting 1 per cent., as a sinking fund, and some
other items, there remained for distribution among
the shareholders a net sum of 936,302 f. 62c., which
gives :13f. for each share for the six months above
mentioned, being rather more than at the rate of
5 per cent. per annum for interest and dividend. It
must not be forgotten, however, that this is for the
winter months, and cannot form a criterion for the
annual dividend. The report announces the resigna-
tion of M. JACQUES LAFFITTE AS President of the
Council of Administration and Administrateur, and
the appointment of M. DE L'ErEE to succeed him as
President, whilst M. SIMONS takes his place as Ad-
ministrateur.

THIS DAY'S NEWS.

MONE X AND COMMERCIAL NEWS.

But Sir MOMAS'S concluding argument was
founded on a dictum of the great Lord STOWELL'S,
which completely shatters to pieces the whole of the
constructive plea upon which it has been sought to
bring the case of this memorable marriage between
the late Duke of Sussex and Lady AUGUSTA MUR-
RAY within the scope of the Royal Marriage Act.
He has shown that clause 1 limited the operation of
the Act to marriages " solemnised within the British
territory." Then, as to clause 2

CITY, QUARTER TO THREE-
There was a dull market fer Cotton at Liverpool on Sa-
turday. Sales 2,000 bales at rather easier rates. Shares
were in active demand, and there was some fluctuation in the
principal lines. French were advancing. At the close there
were buyers of Paris and Rouen, Orleans, Grand Junction,
&c., and sellers of Eastern Counties which were lower and
offered rather freely.
The wind still keeps out general ship arrivals, and we have
only a few papers from Australia, which are not of quite so
late a date as those already come to hand.
Satisfaction is expressed by those interested in the financial
affairs of Holland, at the official statement of the Government
relative to the success of the recent measures. It ap•
pears that there have been subscribed to the loan of
127,000,000/. florins for the first instalment, 13,857,1071.
florins as a voluntary loan, and 230,402 as a free gift. Before
the conversion the annual amount of interest on the debt
paid by the Dutch colonies was 9,800,000 f. The domestic
stocks at Amsterdam have consequently been well supported,
although there was not much doing in the speculative foreigp.
bonds. The Two-and-a-Half per Cents. were 60 13-16 to 6,
and the Active Spanish, 22 5-16 to a.
The treaty of commerce concluded between Portugal
and the Zoll-Verein is generally regarded as a
blow aimed at this country, by the vain but in-
significant Government of Lusitania. Whether we shall
be inclined to grieve much at the loss, time will show ;
though assuredly it is Portugal that may be made to suffer
most for this defection from an old ally. The great con-
sumption in this country of Portuguese wines, is of far more
importance than the use of British manufactures by the
subjects of Donna Maria, the obstinacy of whose advisers
may well justify us in something like reprisals. It
has before been observed, by parties connected with
the wine trade, that there would be good policy
in encouraging the introduction of French and other
beverages, since the Portuguese Government (not the people),
which we are by treaty bound to aid in the event of war, is
so little disposed to allow us a chance of obtaining even a
small return. _ _ _

According to some of the papers, the military
movements of the Duke D'AUMALE in Africa have
excited some uneasiness at Court ; and an old and
experienced officer has been sent out to lend him ad-
vice. "The object of the mission," says the Constitu-
tionnel, "litolend the support of a military experience,
calm and reflective, to the ardent courage of the young
Prince, less accessible to the counsels of prudence than
to the desire of glory and of danger."
We regret to learn from the Swiss papers, that the
disturbances in the Valais have been attended by
serious consequfince3. The following is published
under the head of Martigny, dated in the Nouvelliste
Vaudois :---

The market for the English securities has to-day been
steady. There is rather a full attendance of members alter
the recent holiday-making. Consols for transfer to-morrow
have been at 991 to /, and for the new Account about the
same. The settlement takes place to-morrow, and with the
arrangements for this the jobbers arc chiefly occupied. The
unfunded debt is rather flat at 71s. 725. premium. East India
Bonds are at 925. premium. The New Three-and-a-Half per
Cents. realise 102/ to A ; the Reduced 1014 to A ; and the
Three per Cent. Annuities 98* to 98/. Bank Stock has been
supported at the full rise of Saturday, being 198 to 198/.
East India Stock has improved also to 286/.
In the advices received this morning from Madrid, there is
nothing of prominent interest, though in some quarters most
gloomy representations had been made respecting the state
of the Treasury. The bonds of Spain arc rather drooping,
although it is stated that advances of cash have been obtained
from the bank of San Fernando on tolerably easy terms. The
Five per Cents. have been at 24A to 24 ; and the Three per
Cents. at 351 to Mexican Bonds haye been heavy at 351,
and nothing has been done in the other South American in-
vestments. Dutch Two and-a-Half per Cents. are firm at
61i ; and the Five per Cents. 1601 to 4.
There is not much doing in Railway Shares, nor could we
observe that the fluctuations in general are worthy of special
notice. On the whole prices are supported.
BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK.

(From the Official List.)

" The last clause equally supported the views he had laid
down ; and he contended that the terms of the Act itself,
and the principles of construction applied to it, bore him out
in the meaning which he attached to it—that its provisions
could not be extended beyond the British territory, and
therefore did not apply to the marriage of which his client
was the issue. The provisions of this Act did not extend to
Ireland, and this marriage was therefore valid in Ireland.
Now the principle which was recognised by the English law
was, that the lex loci contractus should be the standard
whereby the validity of contracts were judged."
In short, "the rule of all countries is that a mar-
riage is good, if it was good according to the law or
custom of the place where it was celebrated." The
principle is not alone that of our ascertained decisions
in the law Courts of England, but obtains universally
in those of other countries," &c.
So much, then, for the facts and the law of this
case; from whence it will, we trust, manifestly ap-
pear to their Lordships that the marriage of the late
Duke of SUSSEX and Lady AUGUSTA MURRAY was
good, and ought to have been affirmed; that the
Royal Alarriage Act cannot be made to apply to it;
that the legitimacy of the two children of this con-
nection, Sir AUGUSTUS D'ESTE and his sister, is proved
beyond all doubt, suspicion, or difficulty.

Bank Stock 19314 198

3 per Cent. Reduced Annuities On—%
3 par Cent. Consols. Annuities 99%34
3% per Cent. Annuities, 1818 10114%
11% per Cent. Reduced Annuities %+
Long Annuities, Expire sth Jan. 1861 l2 7-16
India Stock
India Bonds,l,ooo
Ditto under 1,000 92
Consols for Account
Exchequer Bills, I%d. I%d
1,0001.

500/
Ditto Small
Ditto Advertised
FOREIGN FUNDS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK.
Mexican Bonds, 1837, 5 per Cent.
Spanish Bonds, Five per Cent ISIO 24
Ditto for the Account
Ditto Deferred 13%
Ditto Three per Cent.
Ditto for ,the Account 35%%14
Dutch 2% per Cents 6IM
Dutch 5 per Cents. 100%%

PRICES OF SHARES THIS DAY AT ONE:
RAILWAYS. PAID. PER SHARE.
Birmingham and Gloucester
Chester and Holyhead 5 64 to
Dublin and Cashel ... 2% 516'% to
Eastern Counties ........ .... . ...... 23 ...
Ditto Perpetual .5
per sent l3s. •id.... 0%
Edinburgh and Glasgow 5O 05% to
Great North of England lOO 98%% ... to —.
Great Western
Ditto Fifths
London and Birmingham. 100
Ditto New Thirds s 37% to
Dit o 4 Shares
London and Brighton 5O 46%% ... to
London and Greenwich I2N ...... 7
London and South Western 4114
Ditto Eighths it .... ..... 3%; to
Manchester and Birmingham ... 40
Midland Counties loo_ BO to

"The people of the Lower Valais are retreating, Ardon
was taken this morning at eight o'clock, by the forces of the
Upper Valais, who are superior in number, and are well
armed. Numerous columns of the Upper Valais are follow-
ing the course of the mountains at a certain height, whilst
the principal column follows the plain. The column com-
manded by Joris and Barman has fallen back on Riddes; it
has destroyed the bridge of the Rhone, near that place, and
at this time must be on the road from Riddes to Martigny.
The retreat is effected with order ; it is possible that the
forces of Upper Valais may arrive this evening at Martingy,
although the bridges have been destroyed. A great fire has
been seen at Ardon • we are agreed that the building of the
iron-works of M. Kohler have been burnt down. Several
men were killed on both sides. The forces of the Upper Va-
lais seem to be inclined to assume a frightful system of bri-
gandage.—This dispatch was read in the Grand Council of the
Vaud, in the course of its deliberations on the affairs of the
Valais."
The same journal states that, in the preceding after-
noon, 'Dime. BARMAN was arrested, between St.
Maurice and Martigny, by a party of La Vielle
Suisse, and kept as a hostage at the Pissevache. She
and the man who drove her car were strictly searched,
to ascertain whether they had any dispatches. It is
even said that the lady was roughly used by some of
the men, who were drunk. On the same morning, a
aotgohment of 50 mess, with a piece of artillery,
under the orders of M. TORRENT, took forcible pos-
session of the post of Trient, defended by a consider-
able body of people, who had broken down the bridge.
A letter from Lausanne, written in the afternoon
of the 21st says :

South Eastern and Dover 32% 37% to 3631.
Ditto New
Trent Valley %q... to
Yarmouth and Norwich lB 2316 to 22
Paris and Orleans 00000000000 20 50%V.• to
Paris and Roues 2O 58%
Strasburg and Basle

"'We learn that the forces of the Upper Valais are already
beyond Martigny, and; that they are burning everything
as they proceed. Epiney was in flames when the account
left. The Council of State of the Vaud has sent off all its
disposable force for the protection of the frontier, as there is
reason to fear that an attempt will be made to violate it."
TIEN BOURSE—SATURDAY, MAY 25.
First highest Lowest Last
Price. Prim Price. Price.
French Five per Cents ..... • 121 9.5 „ 121 95 .• 121 85 .. 121 85
Fourper Cents. ••••• 107 50 .. 107 50 107 50 •• 107 80
Three per Cents.• •• • 84 8., .. 84 85 .. 84 80 .. 84 80
Bank of France.• •• ••••• •• 3,990 ••3090 .•3085 ..3085
104 .. 104 .. 104
Belgian Bank...• • .... 'go° •
•• 670 .. 670 .. G7O
106 .. 106 .. 106
RAILWAY SHARES.
:11642542:90
1033'02452:90 1:00352421180
.•: 1;032452:80
870 872 50 .. 870 .. 870
sßto.mosuermi,
Versailles, R.B. •••••• • " • • ' ,380 • • 380 .. 380 .• 380
L.B••• •• •• "'• •• 257 50 .. 255 .. 256 25
Rouen •• •• •• •• ........ •• "i 50 • • 997 50 .. 997 50 .• 997 50
Rouen to Havre• •••••• ' '' • ' ' ~85 • • 785 .. 775 .. 775
1012 50 .•1012 50 ..1007 50 ..1007 50
Strasburg to Bale..
Avignon to Marseillcs•• •• 795 795 . 787 50 .. 787 50
RAILWAY SHARES, FOR THE ACCOUNT.
St. Germain ........
252 50 .. 260 .. 252 50 .. 257 50
Rouen
Versailles, R.B. • • • • •• • • •' • ' • • 385 .. 385 385
293 75 .. 993 75 .. 992 50 • 992 50
Rouen to IlLaffv.re. ••••••••••••••••••••:.: 'BO 75 • • 788 7b .. 775 .. 775
Orleans • ~....-1015 ..1015 ..1003 75 ..1005
Strasburg to Bale • •••
Avignon to ••• • • • 799 799 ..785 785

We are informed that Messrs. Grote, Prescott, and
Co. the bankers, have put down their names for 1001. to-
wards the national fund which the Chartists are about to
raise for the purpose of purchasing an estate for Mr.
Thomas Duncombe, as a testimonial of their sense of his
services to their cause, both in and out of Parliament.

- -- -
THE NEW SPORTING NOVEL.—We are requested
to state that Mr. Colburn, of Great Marlborough-street,
has this day published " Hyde Marston ; or, A Sports-
man's Life," by " Craven," in 3 vols., post Bvo., which
can now be had at all the libraries. Mr. Colburn has
also just published the following popular new novels :-
1. Arthur O'Leary. by Harry Lorrequer, illustrated by
George Cruikshank, 3 vols.-2. The Wilfulness of
Woman, by the authoress of " The History of a Flirt,"
&c., 3 vols.-3. Chatsworth ; or, The Romance of a
Week, edited by the author of " Tremaine," &c., second
edition, 3 vols.-4. Whitefriars ; or, The Days of
Charles the Second, an historical romance, third edition,
3 vols.

MANCHESTER STOCK EXCHANGE, MAY 25.—We cannot re-
port much business done to-day, but Manchester and Bir-
mingham, and Trent Valley are in good request. Manches-
ter and Birmingham Quarters, 4i ; North Union, 108 ;
Trent Valley, 8i to 8i ; Eastern Counties Perpetual, 2,
lls. and 103. 6d. premium.
_
EXECUTION OF WM.- CROUCH,

WAYSIDE SlGHTS.—Within a few yards of our
encampment we had a specimen of Eastern barbarity, in
an individual who was hanging by the heels to a tree,
and who had apparently been left to die in that dreadful
situation. He seemed to have been a man advanced in
years, as his beard and hair were grizzled; but as he
had been suspended about a month, his features were
not distinct, and rendered less so thro-igh being muti-
lated by birds of prey. The bystanders told us he had
been thus punished for murdering a child and stealing
the silver ornaments which encircled its ankles and
wrists: if so, he deserved his death, but the method em-
ployed to effect it could only emanate from a most un-
civilised nation.—March from Delhi to Caubul.
THE LONDON LIBIZABY.—The third annual general
meeting of the subscribers to the London Library (of
which his Royal Highness Prince Albert is patron),
took place on Saturday, at 49, ran. mall. There were
a great number of distinguished personages present,
amongst whom was the Right Hon. the Earl of Claren-
don, who was unanimously called to the chair. The
Noble Chairman having, in a neat speech, opened the
business of the meeting, called upon the Secretary to
read the report. It commenced by stating that the
Committee felt great pleasure in reporting the satisfac-
tory progress of the library . during the past year, there
being an increase in the income, as compared with
the preceding year, of 2501. There had been eighty-
six new members elected within the last year, being an
increase of fourteen on the number who joined at the pre-
vious year. Fifteen new subscribers had been added since
the Ist of May. The circulation of books during the
year had been 12,696 vols. The finances from May,
1843, to April were as follows :—Annual subscriptions,
life subscriptions, foreign members' entrance, small pay-
ments by subscribers, with sale of catalogues, &c.,
amounted in the whole to 2,078/. 15s. 10d., which in-
cluded a balance in hand, April 30, 1843, of 230/.25. 30.
The expenditure, in the shape of rent, salaries, sta-
tionery, purchase of books, printing, advertising, &c..
reached 1,786/. 6s. Bd. ,• thereby leaving a balance in
hand of 2821. 93. 2d. A series of resolutions on behalf
of the objects of the London Library baying been pro-
posed, seconded, and carried nem. con., including Jne to
the Noble Chairman for his able conduct in the chair, the
assembly broke up.
THE POST-OFFICE.—We understand that an offer
has been made to have London letters delivered in New-
castle, Sunderland, and Shields, in twelve hours and a
half from the time of their leaving the metropolis. The
1 sanction of Government is all that is required to ensure
the execution of the plan.—Durham Chronicle.