15 NOVEMBER 1851, Page 7

The Board of Tradenaturns of exports and imports far the

month, and for that portion of the whole year which ended on the 1 Dth &tact, were :issued on idenday. The,exportamf the month have fallen short of those -eif the same mortthin last-year by Es7.;840/., but still exceed those df the 'same month in 1849 by 720;000/. The leading commercial organ says ofthis--," Lookingat the fall in cotton during the past twelve months, and at the influence of 'the recent money panic in America, coupled -with pffitical distrust in Europe and the apprehensions in some parts of defi- ciency of food, it will be regarded as presenting a much more satisfactory result than could have been.anticipated:" The exports of the past nine months are very largely greater than those of the same months in the previously unparalleled year 1850: the excess was 3,218;576/. In the

three years 1849, '5D, the exports of periods of nine months ending on the 10th October were 44,830,4141., 50,286,4021., and.53,604,9741 In the imports there is a large-increase of wool, and an increase of hemp, but a decrease of other articles of raw ,material ; a large increase of bread- stuffs and provisions, and of tea, cocoa, and tobacco, but a decrease in coffee, sugar, and wines. There has been a diminished importation of almost all kinds of dyes and dyeing stuffs ; also of leather manufactures, and of oils (with the exception of train-oil) and .seeds. Metals show an increase in non, lead, and -tin, and -a decrease in -copper and spatter; glass manufactures, an increase in plate and ornamental glass, and a decrease in.other sorts. 'Guano, hides, and timber, all show an increase.

It was lately dated by the Globe, that the litigafion between the Board of 'Customs and the Dock Companies had at last been'brought 'to a close favourable to the Customs. Immediately after this announcement, there appeared in the Morning Chronicle a statement that there had been no yielding by the St. Katherine's Dock Company, and that if any compro- mise had been made it was made only by the London Dock Company, of their own particular quarrel. in the middle of this week the correspond- ence between the Board of Customs and the London Dock Company, which was the foundation of the report, was pahlished.

It begins with a latter from Mr. Powles, the Chairman of the Com- pany, requesting to be informed if it was the intention of the Board to proceed with any of the remaining suits; suggesting, that further investi- gation could scarcely be expected to elicit any additional facts or informa- tion concerning the internal management of the London Docks ; and ob- serving that the Company "do not daisy " the only fact which further suits could be expected to establish, namely, " that in respect of some of the goods under seizure there have existed legal grounds for making such seizures " : the Company "admit, that in respect of these goods, there may have been legal grounds of seizure on the score of irregularity." They -would now gladly learn that the -enormously expensive proceedings I were to be discontinued and the seizures released.

The Board of Customs transmitted the letter of Mr. Powles to the Lords of the Taeluany, with a suggestion thatthe seated goods should be -released on payment of "a nominal fine, to mark the irrtgalatities which have taken place:"

Here Sir 'Clarice Trevelyan.enters She field, in the name of the Lords of the Treasury.

"My Lords," saysSir Charles, dating from Treasury Chambers, on -the 1st instant, 'have no reason to doubt that all-the goods in question were pro- perly placed -under detention, and that in most cases they might be prose- cuted to condemnation.; but the object of 'these proceedings was not for this purpose, or to inflict heavy penalties on-the Dock-Company, but to put a stop to those irregularities of the servants of the 'Company in •the conduct of their business, which were at direct variance with the provisions of the law and calculated to afford facilities for fraud and to endanger the revenue. My Lords.are aware, that by the proceedings which were necessary for this.pur- pose heavy expenses have been already incurred by the 'parties. My lords are glad to find that the admission of the Directors of the London Dock Com- pany, in their Secretary's letter, leaves the right of the Crown to make seizures under,such and samilarcsimumstances without question ; and they em willing to infer from Me expression on the part of the -Directors of their hope that confidence and harmony may be restored between the Board of Customs and the Dock Company, and of the determination of the Company to leave nothing undone far this purpose, that the 'Company will co- operate with the ,Commissioners of Customs to establish such regulations for the 'future as may prevent a recurrence of the irregularities which have led to-the present promedinga. My Lords, on these considerations, concur with you in opinion that the objects which 'you have had in view will have been sufficiently attained without proceeding further to the legal• condemnation of the goods; and are pleased therefore to sanction the release of the goods from detention, upon payment of a :fine of 1001., in order to murk the irre- gularities which -have taken plaoe, and upon the further condition that all the goods under seizure shall without delay be recorded in the Crown's books for -the security of the -duties thereon, and the due observance of the regula- tions affecting the same ; for which purpose, the Dock Company may be per- mitted to paw the necessary entries. My fords entirely concur with you in the necessity for the establishment of such regulations for the future manage- ment of the business of the docks as will prevent the recurrence of similar irregularities ; and they desire that you will take into consideration the steps requisite for that purpose. lily lords, relying upon the assurances contained in the letter of the Dook Company, now under consideration, are further pleased to desire that you will confer with the ,Company for this purpose ; and they have full confidence that you will meet with the cordial .00- operation of the Directors in the adoption .of such regulations as may be deemed necessary."

This communication appears to have astounded the Company ; who re- plied, on the 4th, by the .pen of their Mr. Powles-

'the Directors of the London Dock Company, adverting to the personal communications which had previously taken place with the superintendent of this Company, have perused the contents of this letter with considerable surprise ; but they feel, that after all that has passed in reference to the very painful position of affairs which has been forced upon them, as be- tween -the Crown and this -Company, any opening up of a renewed dis- cussion thereon, in any shape, would be as unsuitable as unprofitable. They limit themselves, therefore, to saying, that without concurring in the slightest degree in the validity of the remarks contained in 'the aforesaid letter ,of the Secretary of the Treasury, wherein a justification is sought to be advanced for the devil Proceedings that have 'been taken against this Com- pany; wholly repudiating the imputation that it was needful to have re- course to such proceedings in 'order to -correct any irregularities whioh might thave occurred on the part of the-Company's servants at the docks, in the correction of which the Company tad a common and even deeper in- terest 'than 'the Crown ; affirming, moreover, that the whole amount of these irregularities, compared with the amount of business transacted in the docks, has been utterly insignificant ; protesting -against the extreme in- justice of havinga money fine, however unimportant in amount, added to the grievances which the eompany has already had most morneritedly -to en. counter ; -and, finally, expnessmg their martiction, founded on the higbeat legal advice, and supported hy 'the -verdict in the Court of Eachequer thetas) far-from all the goods 'hinting been 4properly placed under detention;': it would have been in the power of this Company to have established verdiOts against the officers of the Customs in respect to-many of those seizures ; they have directed the sum of 1001. to be paid, in order to relieve the officers of the Companyfrom the -harass of further interruption in the discharge of their duties, and the -funds-of the Company from further dilapidation in a contest conducted on such unequal terms in respect of costa."

The Inland Revenue authorities have replied to written questions, that coffeehouse-keepers will incur the penalties of the Stamp-laws if without a stamp-selling licence 'they sell postage-stamps to customers writing letters in their rooms1 The Postmaster-General has notified, that although money prepay- ment of letters is no longer permissible, yet rural post messengers may still, as formerly, take pence with letters, under the duty of affixing stamps on the letters as soon as they arrive with them at the post-office of the district.

The wedk's obituary contains the death of Mr. Matthias Attwood the baiiker, famous for his currency views, and for his mercantile views of the price of Parliamentary boroughs. He entered the House of Com- mons in 1819, -and retained a seat within its walls till 1847, when the .state of his'health drove him into a comparatively private life. He died on Tuesday, at his house in Dulwich Park, in the seventy-second year of his age.

The Committee of the Peace Society, in alarm at the tendency towards warlike struggles in Europe which the sympathy with M. Kossuth is encouraging, have issued the following address to the friends and sub- scribers of the Peace Society.

" Dear Friends—There are conjunctures in the history of every great moral reform which require special vigilance on the part of its friends, lest they should be insensibly led into nompromising their principles and betray- ing 'their trust.. Those times of peril -are not when their cause is vio- lently assailed with abuse and ridicule; for it is the impulse of all conscien- tious and earnest -minds to cleave the more tenaciously to their convictions when they are made the object of unjust aspersion and scorn. But the chief danger is, when the temptation approaches them on the aide of those ardent and generous sympathies of their own nature which have so much power to beguile the understanding and mislead the judgment. Perhaps there is some reason to apprehend that through such a season of trial the friends of peace are now -being called to pass. A distinguished foreigner, whose name is associated with the aspirations and struggles of a bravo and ancient-people for the maintenance of their liberty and independence, 'has recently appeared -amongst us, and stirred the heart of the nation to its depths, by his Thrilling and eloquent appeals in behalf of his oppressed .countrvraen. Few can resist the contagion of that enthusiasm winch glows in this lofty and earnest soul. But, amid all this tumult of excited feeling, it does not behove the friends of peace to forget—whatever admiration they 'may foci for his eliaracter and whatever sympathy for the muse headvocates —that the means by which this illustrious patriot sought in the past, and proposes for the future to effect the liberation of his country, are such as Meg cannot approve or sanction, without implicitly surrendering the funda- mental principle of their faith. Under these circumstances, we respectfully, but earnestly, entreat our friends to abide firmly and faithfully, at what- ever sacrifice of feeling, by their own deliberate convictions, aid boldly to bear testimony to their truth whenever an opportunity occurs. The gratifica- tion of indulging a momentary impulse of generous emotion will be dearly purchased by that lasting sense of shame and weakness which will result

from the consciousness of a public inconsistency.

"The principle we hold is, that an appeal to the sword for deciding questions of disputed right is as irrational as it is unchristian ; and that no permanent advantage can accrue to real freedom, or to any of the great interests of humanity, from the debasing conflicts of brute force. That is a weapon which despotism knows how to wield with far more dexterity, as well as with a more ruthless and unscrupulous purpose, than liberty can, until it is degraded to its own level. If we needed any practical illustrataons of the soundness of our principle, are they not abundantly furnished by the recent history and the present aspect of Europe ? After the revolutions of 1847 and 1848, the friends of liberty everywhere committed the decision of their cause to the wager of battle. And with what result ? In every case they have been worsted and crushed. Germany has seen her charters of consti- tutional freedom snatched back from her grasp with insult and contempt. Italy lies writhing in deeper and more degraded thraldom than before the strife. Hungary betrayed into the hands of her enemies by the military champion to whose sword she had trusted for deliverance. But it may be said, if men are not to take arms to conquer liberty, by what means is the power of the oppressor to be broken, and enslaved nations to achieve their liberation ? Do you counsel that a people should lie mute and moveless beneath the incubus of despotism until all life is crushed out of them ?—God forbid that we should be guilt3- of such treason against the dignity of our common nature, the loftiest hopes of humanity, and the declared purpose of Heaven. What agency, then, do we propose to use ? In one word we answer—Ideas ; ideas that have proved themselves ever mightier than swords—ideas which have already achieved all the greatest and most enduring victories on which humanity re- poses—ideas which are even now slowly and silently effecting revolutions on the earth, in comparison with which the stormy career of the greatest con- queror that ever shook the earth beneath the tramp of his armed heel, is but as the momentary sweep of the hurricane compared with the calm and majestic of Nature, when it gradually upheaves continents, or patiently ela- Cacet: ef through ages the chief things of the ancient mountains and the precious things of the lasting hills.' Surely we, as Christians, need no proof that truth and right can prevail without the support of physical force; for were not the noblest triumphs of Christianity won when it had nothing to oppose to the power of the whole world armed for its extinction, but its conscious possession of truth, its heroic might of endurance, and its uncloud- ed faith in God ?

" Should you, dear friends, be invited to sustain measures the object of which will be to promote on the part of this country an armed intervention on behalf of the struggling nationalities of Europe, we entreat you to ab- stain and to protest. The only principle on which such an intervention can be grounded is pregnant with terrible contingencies, or rather with terrible certainties for the future. And were there no other cause for hesitation, we may well ask, what security have we that such an armed intervention will really profit the cause of liberty? All experience proves that the most probable issue of political emancipation effected by physical force is not guaranteed freedom, but a military despotism. The history of England's past intervention by force of arms in the affairs of Continental nations, whether for the defence of Legitimacy or Constitutional freedom, is so melan- choly a record of rash counsels, quixotic enterprises, and disgraceful or abor- tive issues, as ought surely to deter us from a repetition of this experiment There is scarcely a country in Europe on which we have not at one time or another inflictecf our martial protection, and there is scarcely a country in Europe where that intervention has not eventually failed in the accomplish- ment of its professed objects, or where its memory is not regarded with bitterness and resentment by the very people whom it was meant to serve, while of the consequences to ourselves a melancholy monument still remains in our crushing and enormous National Debt. " Should the cause of peace have to bear deeper opprobrium than ever from the course which we thus advise you to pursue, even then we still say, Falter not for a moment.' We have the most absolute and unshaken con- fidence, because resting, we believe, on divine and everlasting principles, that the course of events will vindicate the wisdom and rectitude of our counsels. The bitter experience which the friends of freedom are yet destined to reap, should they insist upon committing once more their great and holy cause to the hazard of war's unequal game, will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday. "JOSEPH &URGE, Chairman. "HENRY RICHARD, Secretary." In his reply to the French proacrits, last week, M. Kossuth was under- stood by the proserits, and reported by them, to have declared himself of opinion that nothing is now possible for Europe but the republic based on universal suffrage. M. Kossuth has stated that this was a misunder- standing, due, he supposes, to his bad pronunciation of English. He states that he did not utter this sentiment, for he considers that different peoples may require different institutions. It would seem, but it is not certain from his explanation, that what he said was necessary for Europe was " municipal liberty," not " the republic." The demand of a re- public is for Hungary alone.

On Monday sennight, the evening Ministerial organ announced, in the solemn tones of a political revelation, that " a deep sense of gratitude" had been raised in the family of M. Kossuth, by " the arrival of Sir James Clark the Queen's physician] on Saturday with the offer of his valuable professional services should the illustrious exile wish to avail himself thereof." And the cue of the announcement was further given by the subsequent remark—" the country will appreciate the kindness as well as delicacy which suggested this visit, not without its significance." The country will far better appreciate the matter when it is informed, from authority on which we perfectly rely, that "Sir James Clark never saw Kossuth," and that the paragraph which has gone the round was " with- out a shadow of truth."

Lieutenant Bedford Clapperton Pim, " a zealous and able officer who has served on board her Majesty's surveying-ship Herald," has proposed a scheme of exploration in a new direction after the expedition under Sir John Franklin. The plan is grounded on the probability that Sir John Franklin made his way through Wellington Strait, to the more open Arctic Sea beyond, and struggled on along the Northern shore of the Arctic sea till he became inextricably entangled in a region which, though entirely impeopled and unvisited by human beings, 1a teeming with ani- mals that would supply food and fuel. The direction of the currents, so far as they are known, would make it possible that Sir John may have passed th6 meridian of Behring's Straits, unable to penetrate the barrier of ice- locked islands which there shuts out the Arctic Sea from the Straits and from the North Pacific, and have reached the Northern coast of Asia in the regions of Siberia. The historical accounts of Russian expeditions make plain the great difficulty they have always experienced in penetrating even the shortest distance Eastward ; and the natural causes which produced this difficulty of leaving those shores would be the same that would bring to those shores any ships on the Arctic Sea about the meridian of Behring's Straits; pieces of wreck are constantly cast on those shores by these currents from the North-east. Lieutenant Pim proposes to leave this country on the 18th instant, for St. Petersburg, and to submit to the Imperial authorities. there his plan for travelling across Siberia to the mouth of the river Kolyma, and thence, with two or three companions only, for exploring the whole coast of Siberia from Cape North, Westwards to North-east Cape, a distance of some ten thousand miles. He has submitted his plan to the Admiralty in London : their Lordships thanked him for the sug- gestion but declined to undertake its execution. Lady Franklin has re- quested him to carry it out by private means, and has found herself able to devote 5001. towards fitting the expedition out. The scheme was dis- cussed at a very full meeting of the Geographical Society on Monday ; and was warmly approved by Sir Roderick Murchison, Captain Kellett, Captain Penny, Major Carmichael Smyth, Sir Woodbine Parish, and other gentlemen of high authority in such matters. Count Wielhorsky, of the Russian Embassy, said he was confident that Lieutenant Pim would meet every encouragement and assistance which it was in the power of the Russian Government to give. The Council of the Geographical So- ciety empowered their Chairman to wait on the Lords of the Admiralty and solicit their assistance to the project.

Two new satellites of the planet Uranus, interior to the innermost of the two bright satellites first discovered by Sir William Herschell, were discovered by Mr. Lassen of Liverpool, on the 24th October. The pe- riods of revolution are almost exactly four days for the outermost, and two and a half days for the closest. They have not half the brightness of the two conspicuous ones ; but all four were steadily visible- in the quieter momenta of the air on the night of the 2d November, with a magnifying power of 778 on the twenty-foot equatorial.

Results of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis

for the week ending on Saturday last.

Ten Weeks Week

of 1841-50. of 1841.

Ennotic Diseases Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat Tubercular Diseases Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion Diseases of the Kidneys, he Childbirth, diseases of the Uterus, &c Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones. Joints, he Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, ke Malformations Premature Birth Atrophy Age Sudden Violence , Privation, Cold, andIntemperance Total (including unspecified eau es) 2,271 454 1;101 339 3,686 602 83 108 82 12 22

944

177 209 9,669 116. ....

...•

....

.• • ....

....

....

.... 242 40 40 66

11

9- 1

23 519

8-

40

989

The receipts on railways in the United IGngdom from-the beginning of the year to the 1st of the present month were 12,525,7601. an increase over the same period in 1850 of 1,658,1201. The receipts per id i

mile in 1851 were 19771., against 19271. in 1850.

The length of time (often three months) required to bleach and finish for- sale the woven fabric, has been one of the greatest difficulties in the linen- manufacture. It is stated that one of the first houses in Ulster has dis covered a process by which linen goods can be bleached and finished within from ten days to a fortnight ; and, so far from the new process tending to injure the fabric or deteriorate its commercial value, it greatly. improves the quality of the article, being unattended with any Of the mjunous effects produced by the old process.—Belfast News Letter.

In Norway a public trial has been made of General Meydel's newly-in- vented flying artillery, six-pounders, constructed so as to be transported with ease up rocks and defiles by horses in the common peasants' carts of the country. They succeeded remarkably well, and will be largely used for the artillery department.

The Cologne Gazette states that a peasant, while lately clearing out a ditch: near the paved road between Frankfort-sur-Maine and "Houhst, discovered a quantity of muskets of very old manufacture, placed upright about two feet below the earth, to the number of several thousands.

There has been a considerable fall of snow at Grantham—more, it is said, than fell during the whole of last winter.