The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-17 00:00:00

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TUESDAY MORNING, JAN. 17, 1854.

THE near approach of another session of Parlia-
ment, the ruinous condition of the Coalition
Ministry, and the confident opinion entertained of
a speedy change in political parties, have aroused
public attention from the apathy in which it ap-
peared to have sunk, and produced a reaction of
excitement which must shortly be amply gratified.
It must be useless even for the most devoted of
Ministerial organs to dispute the fact that the
vaunted union of " all the talents" has proved a
rope of sand, unable to stand the first shock of a
Parliamentary encounter ; and the most interest-
ing question is that once ably put by the late
DIME of WELLINGTON, " How is the Queen's
Government to be carried on ?" The Whigs, as
a body, are politically defunct ; the Peelites form
an infinitesimal section of the House of Commons,
strong only in official experience ; the Radicals
are unendurable, even by those who once hailed
them as the friends of public liberty ; and the only
resource is the numerous body of Conservatives
who were returned at the last election to support

the Administration of the EARL of DEBBY. It is
true that, through the treachery of the party who
ought to have supported him, and the profligacy
of the Irish Brigade, who sold themselves, he was
compelled to resign the office which he had so
worthily occupied, but the causes which led to his
discomfiture are not now in operation. The vexed
question of the renewal of the Income-tax has been
settled for at least six years to come ; even the
dreaded question of perseverance in free trade
policy would now receive fewer supporters ; and
the Whigs would be unable to play again the game
of deception with which they lured their ancient
' foes into ill-assorted union with them. Were the
EARL of DERBY called upon to resume the seat
from which he was so treacherously displaced,
there is far more probability of his success than
existed a year since. The respectable Whigs, who
acknowledge the MARQUIS of LANSDOWNE as their
leader, would gladly hail the accession of a Con-
servative Administration after the bitter experience
of the past year, and the disappointment of all the
hopes so blandly foreshadowed by Lord ABERDEEN
of making the Conservatives Liberal, and the
Liberals Conservative ; the Peelites would wil-
lingly retreat from a position which they have long
since found untenable, and even lend their support
to a Conservative Administration, by way of de-
monstrating the sincerity of their repentance ;
Lord PA.LMERSTON has only consented to remain
with the coalition to save them from breaking up
before a Parliamentary explanation has been
afforded; and even the Irish Brigade, in bitter
mortification at the deception practised on them
in the affair of the Income-tax on Ireland, will
gratify their feelings of revenge by the depth of
their hostility to the Whig-Radicals. As for Lord
JOHN RUSSELL, it matters little what becomes
of him : he may sink into the obscurity from
which nothing but a political mania could ever
have elevated him, and indulge his leisure in
amateur authorship ; and his compeer, Sir
JAMES GRAHAM, may be benefited by cooling his
disordered brain on his native hills. The country
has too long endured the infliction of political
charlatans, whose sole object has been personal
aggrandisement, and their means concessions to
vulgar clamour ; but it is full time that the
mighty interests of Great Britain were governed
by the principles of honour and honesty, and
guided by common sense. The intelligence of
England is unmistakeably in favour of a Conserva-
tive Government ; every day is strengthening the
growth of Conservative principles in public opinion,
and though much of the advantage has been lost
through want of union and co-operation, the ex-
perience of the past year must have taught a
seful lesson, of which we should experience the
benefit. A few weeks may serve to solve the
mystery, and we confidently look forward to the
meeting or Parliament for a complete and bene-
ficial change in the position of political parties.

POLITICAL feeling appears recently to have taken
a new turn, both rampant Radicals and pr etende d
Conservatives having indulged in attacks upon the
PRINCE CONSORT upon the slender foundation of
anonymous communications. His Royal Highness
is accused of unconstitutional interference with
political affairs—of taking a too active part in
foreign policy, and, indeed, assuming a kind of
dictatorship in public business which renders the
duties of responsible Ministers impracticable. It
will be remembered that when Lord MELBOURNE
was obliged to give up the office he was never
fitted to occupy, the Tines gave currency to the
slander, "the QUEEN has done it all," and some
such motive may have induced the present outcry.
The Coalition Cabinet is crumbling to pieces, and
the real cause is attempted to be concealed under
this absurd charge against the CONSORT of our
SOVEREIGN, whose career since his naturalisation
has been one of untiring devotion to English
interests, and studied independence of political
parties. The charges, too, are in themselves
absurd. It is said that he is always present when
either of the Ministers has an audience of the
Sovereign. Admitting this to be true, what does
it amount to Is the QUEEN, in affairs in which
she is called upon personally to act or to give an
opinion, to receive no counsel or advice from her
own husband ? or is it strictly constitutional for the
Sovereign to be guided solely by her own judgment,
whatever that may be, without even receiving a
suggestion from those nearest and dearest to her ?
Such a conclusion is positively preposterous. It
may be said that the QUEEN has her responsible
advisers ; but it is in her interviews with them
that the presence of Prince ALBERT is alleged as a
grievance ; so that it must be on her own acts, and
not those of her advisers, that he exercises any
influence—a position of complaint almost too
ridiculous to require refutation. Again, it is
asserted that Prince ALBERT corresponds with
British Envoys at foreign courts, and that his
interests are inimical to those of Great Britain.
Such a charge is as absurd as the former one. All
instructions to British Ministers abroad must pass
through the FOREIGN SECRETARY to render them of
any value ; that officer is responsible for the nature
of the advice contained in them, whoever may have
suggested it ; and it is, therefore, a question for
which the FOREIGN SECRETARY is answerable, if he
betray the trust reposed in him by permitting any
undue interference with his duties. It may suit
the notions of modern 4enaPeraey to believe that

Ministers of State are merely servants of the
people ; but the Constitution recognises them as
responsible advisers of the SOVEREIGN. For all
public acts they are accountable ; and, as far as
concerns the views to which HER Mi.rEsnr may
give expression, she has as much right to consult
her husband, as any man has a right, if he so
pleases,to be guided by the opinion of his wife. Thus
much for that portion of the charge which accuses
his Royal Highness of being present at Ministerial
audiences. It may be true or false ; but, though
it is of trifling consequence, if true, we should
be more inclined to judge by the past, and refuse
to believe that Prince ALBERT has all at once for-
feited his previous high character for prudent
reserve, particularly when it would be difficult to
show that any object has to be gained by his inter-
ference. There may, however, be something to
gain from the charge. The Coalition, Ministry
have deservedly acquired popular odium for their
foreign policy, and the cowards, to screen their own
misdeeds, circulate insinuations that the Prince
CONSORT has been the cause of them. Such a
charge is worse than contemptible. No act of
Sovereignty can be done except through a Minister ;
and if the Royal will is contrary to his sense of
duty, he ought to practise the virtue of resignation—
a task more difficult to a Whig than to stoop to the
most pitiful evasion.

THE very high price of the chief article of
food, which has been augmenting for some
months past, has led to riots and violence in
several towns of the West of England ; and as ill
deeds, when there is no lack of a stimulant, rarely
want imitators, it is to be feared that we have not
heard the last of such displays of popular violence.
When the orators of the Manchester League were
full of their great design to throw open the trade
in corn to unrestricted competition with all the
world, it was confidently predicted, and the con-
trary would not be listened to, that the effect
would be not only to-ensure abundance, but such a
steady range of prices as completely to obviate the
fluctuations which had taken place under the pre-
vious system of corn-laws. The sliding-scale was
denounced as worthy only of barbarians, and as all
wisdom was in the Whigs, so the only wise plan
of dealing with the food of the population was in
that freedom of trade by which the poor were to
have permanently secured to them a cheap loaf,
unembittered by the sense of injustice. The old
system was unsparingly denounced as impolitic
and unjust, leading to mischievous fluctuations,
and benefiting the producer to the injury of the
consumer, while the new system was lauded to the
skies as the only one which would ensure our
population a sufficiency of food, which would be-
nefit the manufacturers, without, in any way, doing
injury to the agricultural classes. It may be use-
less to repeat the assertion that the Anti-corn-law
League was established by the manufacturers of
Manchester, in the first place, to distract the at-
tention of their operatives from their threatened
attacks on the cotton-mills, into which they were
goaded by the agitators against the new Poor-law ;
and, in the second place, to enable them to reduce
wages by the promise of cheaper bread. But we
have the simple fact before us, that twice within
the few years since the repeal of the Corn-laws
bread has been at so high a price that men have
broken out into open violence and robbery, in
order to save themselves from starvation, while, in
the interval, the price of wheat has been so low
that farmers seriously debated the necessity of
discontinuing its cultivation, because the crop
would not pay the expense of producing it. Such
was not the result of the sliding-scale introduced
by the DUKE of WELLINGTON, during the thirteen
years it was in operation the price of wheat having
averaged seven shillings a bushel ; whereas, since,
it has been lower than five shillings and as high
as seventeen shillings. The country has become
so inoculated with notions of the benefits of free
trade—forgetful that all the alleged advantages
have been directly produced by the gold discoveries
in California and Australia—that it is difficult for
a nation to confess the egregious error into which
it has fallen ; yet it might be as well to consider,
with more deliberation than it has yet received, a
subject of commercial policy which was adopted in
haste, carried by treachery, and persevered in from
an obstinate pride to be consistent even in error.
We shall be told that human laws can have no
controul over climates and seasons, and the pro-
ductiveness of harvests ; but reverses in the hopes
of the husbandman from inauspicious weather oc-
curred as often during the days of protection as
they have done since, and yet, without the huge
supplies of foreign corn which have since been
received, bread never reached a famine price dur-
ing all the time that the, sliding-scale was the law
of the land. It may be difficult for the public
mind to trace effects to their causes, or even to
perceive the importance of a population being in-
dependent of foreign nations for a supply of the
first necessaries of life, but surely they can under-
stand the simple fact, which the inclemency of the
weather will make more impressive, that bread is
now, for the second time within seven years, at a
much higher price than it had reached before Sir
RoBEET PEEL cancelled the services of a long po-
litical life, by turning traitor in his old age to all
his previous convictions. It may be prudent to
give way for a time to a.national mania, untilthere
be a return :to common sense ; but it will be a
mania, notwithstanding, as was the rage above
twenty years ago for that reform which its chief
author is now so studious to undo. If the people
are wise, the system of free trade in corn will
undergo further consideration; and, if it be judged
by its fruits, the verdict of those who suffer by it
will hardly be favourable.

THE mania for railway speculation which afflicted
the country a few years since was attributed, in a
great measure, to the abundance of unemployed
capital, and the subsequent reaction to the conse-
quence of more capital having been employed in
this pursuit than could be spared with safety from
the ordinary requirements of business. Viewed
in this light, it was believed by numbers who suf-
fered from the depreciation of this description of
property that time only was requisite to retrieve
much of the loss which they had experienced, and
that, when capital should again be abundant, rail-
way shares would once more rise in the market.
Money has since bean plentiful, bullion has been
almost a drug, interest has been at its lowest ebb,
the Funds have been above par, so as to tempt a
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER to reduce the
National Debt, and yet all have been unsuccessful
in restoring public confidence in the security of
railways as a means of investment. The hope of
revival has proved a delusive dream, and some
other cause must be sought for railway depression
than the mere want of means to embark in such
enterprises. Something must, of course, be at-
tributed to the bitter experience of previous ven-
tures in this direction, to the sad fate of those who
gave £250 for shares for which now they could I
not obtain £9O, and who eagerly paid a high pre-
mium for scrip which since has become worth
something less than waste paper. Many, also,
must remember the large amounts in law costs
and other expenses which they had to pay for the
questionable honour of being members of provi-
sional committees ; and wounds were inflicted
during the railway panic which have not since
been healed over, while many a princely fortune
has through the same means—the indulgence in
the sinful haste to get rich—been scattered to the ,

I wind.. These causes, however, powerful as they
may operate among those: who were the sufferers,
are insufficient to account for all the subsequent
depression, which has prevailed even at a time
when speculation took another direction, and gold-
mining companies, of apocryphal origin, issued
shares at increasing premiums. The truth has
become evident, that the reckless expenditure of
railway directors in fruitless litigation, and the
construction of unprofitable branches, clings as an
incubus upon the profits of shareholders, and has
banished the hopes which, were once indulged of
large and increasing dividends. Traffic has in-
creased to an extent fully equal to the most
sanguine expectations, but expenses have also ne-
cessarily increased, and, though the returns may
be large, the immense amount of capital over which
it has to be divided confines the interest within
very narrow limits. Experience has proved that,
in many cases, efficient lines of railway may be
constructed for about £lO,OOO per mile, but many i
of the existing lines cost more than five times that
amount, without in any way adding to the means
of increasing the earnings, so that present divi-
dends are low in order to pay for previous follies.
There is also the unprofitable rivalry which is still
going on between great companies, not even afford-
ing the advantages to the public ordinarily derived
from competition, while shareholders are compelled
to admit the unwilling truth that their interests
are in no way consulted in such contests. There
was a time when Government supervision was
looked upon as a kind of unwarrantable intrusion
on the rights of individual property, but we be-
lieve that many may be found at the present day
who would gladly see the transfer made without
waiting until the dividend has reached the ten per
cent. reserved by the act of Parliament. Amidst
the many great improvements which modern en-
terprise has carried out, there are few, if any, of
more practical utility than the extension of railway
communication throughout the empire. It has
even proved remunerative, as far as concerns the
legitimate expenditure, but it has in reality proved
a serious loss to those whose capital has been em-
barked in it through the folly, or something worse,
which appears to have prevailed in railway manage-
ment.

But, notwithstanding these drawbacks against
the hopes which were once indulged, railway pro-
perty does not now command that value to which
it is fairly entitled. In many large companies the
abuse of power by directors has been met by active
exertions on the part of the shareholders, and it
may reasonably be anticipated that future manage-
ment will be conducted on equitable principles, so
that the present low rates are not likely to go
lower, and in many lines an increase in the rate of
dividend may fairly be expected. If this view of
the case be sound, and there appears little reason
to doubt it, then railway shares ought to command
a higher value than they do ; for it will be seen, by
comparing the quoted prices with the rates of di-
vidend, that most of them are paying a higher
rate of interest than almost any other description
of investment. Few are paying less than five per
cent., while the Funds yield little more than three
per cent., and yet, in point of security, there is not
much to choose, particularly if we are on the eve
of a war, which will have the effect of injuring one,
and:, perhaps, of benefiting the other. The public, I
however, have been too long accustomed to identify
railway shares with speculative operations rather
than as a means of permanent investment, or they
would have absorbed a much larger • amount than
they have done of unemployed capital.

Tnn reports from the seat of war in the East
have again assumed a new phase, and we hear
once more of Turkish victories, with great slaughter
of the Russian forces. Making due allowance for
the apocryphal character of all news from the same
quarter, it would appear that the tide of success
has again taken a northerly direction, so as to
convince the CzAa that the army in which he ap-
pears to trust is not invincible. This may have
the effect of inducing him to listen to reason, a
conclusion to which he will, perhaps, be more
likely inclined to arrive, as the four mediating
powers have agreed upon the terms of settlement,
to which the SULTAN of TURKEY has given his adhe-
sion. If reliance can be placed upon the cordiality
which appears to have prevailed, no other course
is left to the CZAR than to submit ; for it would
be madness for him to dare a war, single-handed,
against the powers of Europe. Should he perse-
vere, it can only be from a secret understanding
with his neighbour of Austria, with whom he is
said to be holding a second conference ; and the
apprehension of such an alliance should make the
Western powers more vigorous in pressing the
question to a settlement. We have already gone
too far to recede, and though we may not be called
upon to employ the fleet which has entered the
Black Sea, in active hostilities, inasmuch as it is
said the Russian fleet has retired into winter
quarters at Sebastopol, as though desirous to
avoid an encounter, it can hardly be doubted but
that the veteran diplomatists •of Russia will exer-
cise the extent of their skill in endeavouring to
outwit those who may be opposed to them in the
business of negociation. The vacillation which
has marked the whole course of English policy has
afforded ample encouragement to Russia, in her
attempt to retain possession of the Danubian pro-
vinces ; and unless a more decided tone is now
evinced, the affair may still be protracted beyond
all reasonable length. It was apparent from the
first that the object of the CZAR was the extension
of Russian territory, for which a plausible pretext
was afforded him by the foolish interference of
Louis NAPOLEON in the' affair of the Holy Places.
It was equally apparent that he endeavoured to
gain his object by diplomacy, but without any
aversion to resort to military force, should Turkey
be his only opponent. It was the want of deter-
mination on the part of England which encouraged
him to proceed ; and should negociation once more
be entered upon, owing to the more determined
front shown by the Western powers, it will only
be taldng the step which might have been taken
in the first instance. So much human blood has
been spilled, so much treasure has been wasted,
so many ships have been destroyed, and, perhaps,
it is not going too far to say that all this loss may
be laid at the door of the English Cabinet, who
coquetted with the danger until it became serious,
and virtually encouraged the EgPEROR of RUSSIA
to proceed, until the quarrel has reached a point
when it has become a matter of grave doubt
whether the whole of Europe may not once more
be convulsed with sanguinary warfare. But, ad-
mitting that this dread alternative may yet be
averted, there is not one advantage now to be
gained which could not have been accomplished
equally as well at the commencement of the affair,
and even better ; for the blood which has already
been shed must tend to embitter those relations of
national intercourse which it should have been an
especial object to preserve unimpaired. If Turkey
be preserved from her oppressor, she will have n o
cause for gratitude to England for her preserva-
tion ; and if the anxiety for peace should lead to
concessions to Turkish obstinacy, aroused by the
necessity for armed resistance, the effect may be
to render the condition of the Christian population
of this Mahometan state worse than it was before
the EMPEROR of RUSSIA raised the standard of
war for the protection of the Greek Church.

A DARWIN " delezate" has absconded with £lOO which
had bke,l3 *ascribed for the Preston operatives.

IMPORTANT DECISION IN THE
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY,
YESTERDAY.

MR. COMMISSIONER PERRY gave judgment, yesterday
in the case ex parte Larmoor and Conway, in the matter
of Mr. Joseph Johnson, lime-burner, of this town, a bank-
rupt. In doing so, he set forward a full statement of the
facts.

This was a motion submitted to the court by Mr. Lowndes,
solicitor, on behalf of Messrs. Larmoor and Conway,
trustees under the marriage settlement of Mrs. Johnson
with the bankrupt, praying that certain furniture in the
custody of the messenger might be ordered to be deli-
vered up to them. This furniture was admitted to be of
two classes, class one being furniture in the possession of
the bankrupt at Liscard, at and before the date of his
marriage settlement, and class two being furniture acquired
since that date.

The settlement bore date the 20th April last, and was
said to have been executed on the 21st of April, the day
on which the marriage took place. It comprised the
terms furniture, plate, and other articles, then in the
house of the bankrupt, and on this ground the claim to
the several articles included in class two was abandoned
by Mr. Lowndes at the hearing.
The furniture and effects in class one were purchased,
but not paid for, so shortly before the marriage, that, in
one instance, a note was written by the bankrupt to a Mr.
Corkhill, on the 16th of April, pressing him to send
home the furniture ordered of him, and which was sent
home. It further appeared that, on giving the order, the
bankrupt expressed a wish that it might be completed on
the 19th of April, saying that his intended father-in-law
was about leaving the town, and that he was very anxious
to have the things in his house, so that his father. in-law
might see them, and that he expected his father-in-law
to make him a present of a freehold house. The bankrupt
had denied this, but would not undertake to swear that no
such conversation took place.
The bankrupt, who was then in trade, was admitted,
immediately preceding the execution of the settlement, to
have been indebted to several creditors, including the
tradesman supplying the furniture, in amounts which he
had not the ability to pay. Amongst the creditors was a
Mr. Robinson, who had advanced to the bankrupt, in
March, two sums of £lOO each. Of this debt it was
admitted that Mrs. Johnson was well aware before the
marriage, but it was said that Mr. Robinson contemplated
becoming a partner, upon terms advantageous to the
bankrupt, who had represented his circumstances to his
father-in-law as promising, and that Mr. Robinson only
declined becoming a partner after the bankrupt's return
from his wedding trip. At a meeting of creditors, which
took place prior to the bankruptcy, the debts appeared to
.be about £1,485, and the assets to promise about two
shillings in the pound.
Mr. Lowndes, in support of the application, cited the
cases of Campion v. Cotton 17th Vesey, 263 ; and ex parte
M`Barnie, Ist De Gex M`Naughten and Gordon, 441.
These cases his honour minutely examined.
Mr. Evans, on behalf of the assignees, had contended
that the settlement was void, as being fraudulent against
creditors, and so in itself an act of bankruptcy. In
respect of that position, he had rested mainly upon the
case of Columbine and Penhall, heard before the
Vice-Chancellor, and in which judgment was delivered in
March last. The circumstances of this case, quoted from
the 15th vol. of the Law Times, were also detailed at
length by his honour, who cited, in addition, the case of
ex parte Mayor, reported in Montague, 292, and ex parte
Rutherford.

The learned Commissioner concluded :—Having consi-
dered these cases, and the circumstances of the present
case, however reprehensible may have been the course
pursued by the bankrupt in obtaining credit for the furni-
niture, settled, I do not think that the case made out by
the assignees, in opposition to Mrs. Johnson's trustees,
ought to prevail so far as regards the furniture and effects
in the house, at the time of the marriage. Ido not think
that the fact of knowledge by Mrs. Johnson before her
marriage that her hushand was indebted to Mr. Robinson,
when considered in connexion with the intention of the
latter to enter into partnership with the bankrupt, an in-
tention not abandoned at the time of the marriage, can
affect the validity of the settlement. Those articles in
class 1 must therefore be delivered up by the messenger,
the others being retained for the benefit of the creditors

PRESENTATION OF PLATE TO MR. BRADLEY.—About
one hundred of the friends and constituents of Mr. Bradley
assembled at the house of Mr. W. Cole, Waterloo-road, on
Thursday evening, for the purpose of presenting him with
a testimonial as a mark of esteem for, and confidence in,
him as a public man.
THE REv. DR. JemPs has suceeeded in bringing the
Llandovery Institution into a very efficient state. The
education there given is of a very superior kind, and great
advantages are presented to natives of the principality in
the shape of scholarships, and exhibitions to the universi-
ties of Oxford and Cambridge. Dr. James was on a visit
to Liverpool last week.
SALE op HOLMES'S FARMING STOCK, &c.—The sale of
the farming stock, crop, and implements, at Ballacregga,
commenced on Wednesday, but did not terminate until
Friday. Amongst the large and respectable attendance
present were observed his Honour Deemster Heywood,
E. M. Gawne, Esq., Captain Murray, Captain M. Goldie
&c. There were present a number of bidders, and the
spirit manifested by them indicated no scarcity of money ;
consequently everything sold well. Manx Sun. .
TILE CORPORATION, which has now paid for more than
twenty years past the rent of the Post-office-place, where
the Liverpool academy have held their annual exhibition,
is, it is said, about to cancel its bond, and throw the cost
on the artist. This item, amounting, we believe, to some-
thing. like £250 a-year, is so fomidable, and the funds of the
acaademy are so low, that the withdrawal of the Corpora-
tion support is likely to be followed by the permanent
closing of the annual exhibition.

BALTIMORE AND LIVERPOOL STEAMERS.—The efforts
to place a line of ocean steamers between Baltimore and
Liverpool has resulted in laying the foundation for such
communication. A screw-propeller, the City of Baltimore,
will be placed on the line between Liverpool and Balti-
more in the spring. She was built for the Philadelphia
trade, but will not run there as stated. The City of
Baltimore will touch at Norfolk. There is another screw-
propeller, owned by the same company, which, we are
informed, will be also placed on the line to run in con-
junction with the City of, Baltimore, if the proper en-
couragement is given.—Baltimore Times.

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF
SCIENCE.—On Friday a meeting of the general committee
for promoting the proper reception of the British Associ-
ation in this town was held in the Town-hall. The Mayor
presided. About forty members were present. After the
transaction of some routine business, it was arranged that
a public meeting should be called by the Mayor, towards
the latter end of March or beginning of April, to which
Professor Phillips should 'be invited ; that time being
chosen as most convenient to him. The subscription-list
was then augmented by the names of many gentlemen
present, the amounts varying from £5 to £25. The names
of several individuals were added to the committee, which
now consists of about 160 persons. A vote of thanks was
passed to the Mayor for the kind manner in which he had
forwarded the objects of the committee and the sub-com-
mittees, and the meeting separated. The amount already
subscribed is about £3OO. The amount required is about
£1,500. Mr. M'Andrew, the treasurer, will receive the
names of any who are willing to become donors to the
local fund.

Tin WEATHER.—The weather throughout the week
has been variable, severe frost, however, being the pre-
dominant feature. On Thursday night we were visited by
a fall of sleet, and as the snow and rain froze on reaching
the ground, the streets and roads were, in the morning,
covered with a thick coating of ice. On Friday the
squares in the upper part of the town, as well as many of
the roads in the outskirts, presented a novel appearance,
being occupied, at intervals, by expert skaters, who pur-
sued the invigorating exercise without the fear of moles-
tation by the police, since the stipendiary magistrate has
decided that skating on a public high road is not an
offence within the meaning of the bye-law. The canals
were blocked up with ice of great thickness. On Sunday
morning rain fell ; a rapid thaw set in ; and by the even-
ing the dangerous coating of ice had disappeared from
the streets ; but yesterday the wind again changed to E.
S.E., .and was followed by another frost.