16 NOVEMBER 1861, Page 3

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MONDAY, NOVEld_13ER 11TH.

MB. WHALLEY, M.P., attended the annual festival of the Hull Loyal Orangemen's Association, which took place at Hull, on Tuesday last, the 5th of November. His speech on the occasion was princi-

pally directed to the exposure of " the influence of the Roman Catholic members of the House of Commons." To such influence he not only attributed the omission of the 5th of November service from the Prayer Book, but also the "Act which made it penal to sell fireworks to any one under a certain age," which, he asserted, had been passed " in order that the feelings of Roman Catholics might not be hurt." With reference to the Catholic Emancipation Act, he believed that Lord Ellenborough's predictions as to its results had been strikingly verified.

" That nobleman said that it would be impossible to carry on any government with any degree of certainty if Roman Catholics were admitted into Parliament, because if they were true to themselves, honourable and consistent men, they would set aside, when once admitted within the sacred pale of the constitution, all other principles, and vote with the Government, and III the way which would best promote the interests of the Pope; and so it was found now, each Govern- ment in turn was supported by the Roman Catholic members, without the slightest regard to any public question. If the question were whether Louis Napoleon should succeed Queens Lennie on the throne of England, for that they would vote if by so doing they thought the interests of their Church would be promoted. Our own House of Commons was the only platform in Protestant England where such atrocities as had lately been heard of at Palermo and other places could be vindicated. Stich, however, was done; and there was no putting of the Irish members down, as there was of the Protestant members of the House. No, they obtained a patient and respectful hearing; and so balanced were parties always in the House, that in the hands of these 80 or 40 Roman Catholic members lay the destinies of Governments and the policy of the empire."

After some remarks on the rapid increase in number of Roinish in- stitutions throughout the country, within the walls of which "greater atrocities might be committed than in those of any country in Europe, excepting only Rome itself," Mr. Whalley reverted to fais favourite topic, the influence of Roman Catholics in Parliament : " Men had been admitted into Parliament who by their oath, by their affection to their God, and their consciences, were bound to do all that they could to over- turn the constitution. In 184.5 they saw the influence of these men brought to bear upon the Government of the day so far that thegrant to Blaynooth, which was hp to that time under the control of the House of Commons, was taken from the cot trol of that body by being put into an Act of Parliament ; so that at the present day this grant stood distinguishable from all other public grants. They witnessed the effects of that measure. From 184.5 to nearly 1851 Ireland was in a state of chronic rebellion, and then came that great agitation throughout the country, greater than anything of the kind since 1829, when Cardinal Wiseman came from Rome with a portfolio of episcopal appointments, and declared that the Pope had not only a co-ordinate jurisdiction with Queen Victoria, but that his laws were to be entbrced in this country to the full extent of the power of the Roman Catholic priests to enforce them, and that they were to be supreme over all temporal laws; and what had happened since then ? Why, that they had been supreme. One of the most sensible and practical speeches delivered in the last Session was by one of the Irish members, who said, What can you mean by keeping upon your statute-book the Ecchamuitical Titles Bill, which prohibits Roman Catholic Bishops from assuming these titles? How can you, a Govern- ment, dare to keep that upon your statute-book, and thus by an Act of Perlis- meat acknowledge the impotence of Parliament in comparison with the power of the Pope?' It was high time the Protestant people considered these things seriously. He understood there was in one school in Hull 700 children, every one of whom would be tatght to be disloyal to Queen Victoria, and subservient to the teachings of the Pope. He would ask, how long was England to be de- graded in the eyes,of Europe by abetting and pampering this Romish power? bow long were tlati people to be silent, and when were they to arouse themselves if not now)'

— con Friday, Mr. Stephen Bourne, formerly a resident magistrate in Tamales, explained the objects and position of the Jamaica Cotton

Cotinpany to a meeting at the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

/sir. Bazley, M.P., who presided, introduced Mr. Bourne to the meeting. He stated that the position of the cotton trade was even worse than was generally supposed. The trade at large was working but four days a week, while many establishments were only working three days a week, and some had closed altogether. This, of course, entailed loss of the means of subsistence to thousandsof labourers, while the employers were losing heavily from the cost of the raw material exceeding the price at which their manufactures could be sold. He was convinced that the present loss to the cotton industry was not less than at the rate of 10,000,0001. a year. He then directed the attention of the meeting to Jamaica as a cotton produc- ing country, and called upon Mr. Bourne, who gave numerous details connected with the growth of cotton in the West Indies. He stated that in Jamaica there were at least a million acres of land suitable for the cultivation of cotton equal to the samples he had laid on the table, and that there were at least 100,000 unemployed labourers on the island, besides whom there were 20,000 who, according to good authority, could be spared from the sugar cultivation in Barbadoes.

The cotton grows most luxuriantly on the mountains, where Eu- ropeans might live with no more danger of sickness than they were

exposed to in Europe, it being only in the lower and uncultivated swampy lands that the dreaded fevers prevailed. Harbours, roads, and all other facilities for transport, which are wanting in India, were already in existence in Jamaica, the language and government were the same as in England, and cotton picked in Jamaica might be transported to Manchester in less than a month. Mr. Bourne then gave an account of his efforts for fourteen years to procure the recognition of Jamaica as a cotton-producing country, and at the conclusion of the meeting resolutions in accordance with Mr. Bourne's statements were unanimously passed. — Mr. Danby Seymour, M.P. for Poole; delivered the first lecture of the season at the Frome Literary Institution last week. The subject of the lecture was "Education," on which the Earl of Cork, who presided, also addressed the audience. Mr. Seymour said that his object would he to trace the history of education, in which term he included all efforts to systematize the instruction of the people,

from the earliest time. The Persian idea of education consisted in thoroughly indoctrinating their youth with three accomplishments—

riding, shooting with the bow, and speaking the truth. The main object of education in ancient Greece was to fit men to be brilliant citizens, to develop their physical energies, and to instruct them in elegant accomplishments. The Romans, while they made utility the practical test of all education, looked, as we do, to the Greeks as their models for all intellectual exercises. Passing over the Middle

Age's, duriniT which society sank into a condition verging on bar-

barism, Mr. Seymour said the Reformation must be regarded as the great era in the history of human education, and referred to the great number of endowed schools which date from that period as proofs of the earnestness of the reformers in the cause of na- tional education. Until the present century, however education had been supported, no very marked apparent progress had been made, though national conviction on the subject had been

steadily .deepening. Mr. Seymour then briefly traced the rapid ad- vances in our national education, attributable to the exertions of

Bell and.Lancaster, Whitbread and Lord Brougham ; the establish- ment of Mechanics' Institutes, and of the Society for Promotion of Useful Knowledge, &c. In conclusion, Mr. Seymour touched briefly upon the present Government system of education, which, he said, must not be looked upon as ultimate or permanent. In the words of the Commissioners of Education :

"It has never been recognized as ultimate and permanent, but has grown up as a sort of compromise between the admitted necessity of promoting popular education and the difficulty of devising any general system for that purpose which would be accepted by the community.'

The Earl of Cork also addressed the meeting. He spoke in favour of the revised code, which he believed would lead to beneficial results, especially as tending to remedy the present defective system of in- struction in the elementary but all-important branches of knowledge.

— The distribution of certificates to the successful candidates at the Birmingham local centre of the Oxford middle-class examina- tion took place on Thursday. The prizes were given by the Ven. Archdeacon Hone, and the Hight Hon. C. B. Adderley, M.P., who presided, also addressed the recipients. In the course of his re- marks, he observed that universities, though they had existed for seven or eight centuries, had never become useless or out of date, but had always adapted themselves to the intellectual requirements of the age : " Some years ago it had seemed that the nation felt that those requirements might be satisfied elsewhere; but Parliament interfered, and by means of .a Royal commission introduced reforms into the Universities, the result of which bad been to increase the width of their action throughout the country. No better proof could be given that the alterations had been beneficial than the fact that the Universities had, of their own accord, extended their system of examination and of incentives and honorary rewards to the whole country without distinction —not only to those who resided within their precincts, but to those who resided elsewhere. He quite agreed with Archdeacon Hone that they bad had of late their attention confined almost too exclusively to the elementary training and education of the children of the labouring classes, which was, after all, but a brief and short process—necessarily so, as they were so early taken away from school to enter the business of life. He thought it was a misnomer to call this national education, a term which would be better applied to the higher and wider

claims of those above them, who were, after all, a national concern of a more important kind, although they did not want public funds, having, in the first place, large endowments, which were generally not half enough developed, though he must say they had some of the best endowments in the country in Birming- ham ; and then, again, they had the means of educating their children themselves. But the private schools had needed that provision which the Universities could alone give as a stimulant to greater exertion, and as a recognition on the public mind of those exertions. It was for them that honorary rewards were needed, and could have a good effect. The Universities had seen this, and had both done themselves a great service, and the nation a great service, by meeting this requirement of examinations. They had done themselves a service by restoring their nationality, and extending their influence over the whole country, and in doing so had drawn within their precincts many who would otherwise not have come there ; and they had done the nation a service by offering it their especial art of examination, as a test and a stimulant to the schools of the country, and besides that, as a guide to the friends and parents of youth to those schools where that stimulus had been most successful"

— The discontent among the cadets at Woolwich Academy, which broke out openly in the inmate of last week, and is now under strict investigation by the military authorities, forms the subject of a letter in Monday's Times from A Father." It appears that the Woolwich cadets, who are now young men of from 18 to 22 years of age, admitted by open competition, and who are required on admis- sion to produce satisfactory testimonials of good conduct and subor- dinate habits, are actually subjected to the same strict surveillance and harsh regulations which were exercised in the days when they were boys of 14 to 17, virtually admitted by mere patronage. They are still compelled to wash and study all together in public, to sleep four in a room, to go to bed in the dark; they are not allowed to change their linen more than three times a week, to take any exercise out of the bounds of a very small playground, or to receive more than 2/. pocket-money daring the half-year. Their fare is not only plain, but of positively inferior quality, and yet for such treatment and such fare they are charged 1251. a year each. Under these circumstances, "A Father" asks whether the onus of the &mile ought to lie with the governed or the governors. The reply of the latter would doubtless be that "the cadets should have made their complaints through the proper channel." On the other hand, it is not difficult to see that in a system such as that in force at Woolwich, with which every official in the school is thoroughly identified, there can exist no such thing as a proper channel through which cadets might have a chance to get their complaints represented at head-quarters. The question is not one of mere discipline, it affects the nation at large. Through Woolwich alone can admission be obtained into the scientific branches of our military service; much money is required toittrepare a young man for admis- sion to that school ; the picked pupils of our best schools are alone calculated to compete for such a prize, and the public have, therefore, a right that a good use will be made of such excellent materials pro- vided for their country's service. "A Father" subjoins a précis of a day's work at Woolwich, as evidence of the uncoloured truth of his statements : " Rise at 8 o'clock; breakfast and inspection till 8 40; in study at 9 till 11 80; clean and prepare for inspection at 11 45; drill till 12 45; dinner at 1 rat. ' • in study from 2 to 4; parade at 4 15; drill till 4 45; in study from 5 till 7; tea at 7 15; leisure until 10 in an enclosure 200 yards by 50. At 10 cadets are required to answer names at rounds completely dressed, when lights are immediately extinguished, and they are left to go to bed in the dark." — On Saturday, being the 9th of November, the custom of 600 years was kept up, and Alderman Cubitt went in state to Westminster for the second time, and, together with the other civic authorities, was presented in due form to the Judges of the Court of Exchequer. The procession only differed from those of previous years in a larger infusion of the volunteer element, and in consequence of the fineness of the day, the crowd which lined the road from Guildhall to West- minster was even larger than usual. On his arrival at Westminster, the Lord Mayor was conducted into the Court of Exchequer, and presented by the Recorder to the Judges of that court. Lord Chief Baron Pollock then addressed Mr. Cubitt, congratulating him on his re-election, and the customary oath was then administered. The Lord Mayor then invited the Judges to the banquet to be held at Guildhall' in the evening, and the procession re-formed in Palace- yard, where it was joined by the Lady Mayoress, Mrs. William Humphrey, the youngest daughter of the Lord Mayor, and returned by way of Whitehall, the Strand, Fleet-street, Ludgate-hill, and Cheapside. In the evening, the Lord Mayor gave the usual grand banquet at Guildhall, which was splendidly decorated for the occa- sion. The company numbered nearly 1100, and included the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Palmerston, the Duke of Somerset, the Marquis of Salisbury, Sir George Grey, the Right Hon. Mr. Walpole, and other leading members both of the late and present Governments, several members of the corps diplomatique, a number of the Judges, &c. &c. The Dukes of Cambridge and Somerset, and Lord Colville having respectively responded to the toasts of the Army, Navy, and Volunteers, the Lord Mayor proposed the health of the corps cliplo- matique, coupling with the toast the name of the American Minister, assuring him of the warm sympathy entertained by the citizens of London for his country under its present misfortunes. The American Minister returned thanks. After some remarks on the nature of diplomacy, which, he considered, was simply to preserve peace, his Excellency referred to his own mission, the main object of which was to perpetuate the friendly relations and good feeling which had long existed between the two countries : "Indeed, I see the strongest reasons why they should never be changed. (cheers.) To be sure there are many points in which we materially disagree, and there will be people on both sides whose disposition will be to magnify them. You do not approve our democracy; we do not appreciate your distinctions of rank. You think us altogether too free and easy in our ways; we consider you as far too stiff and stately. All this may be so, and yet S 0 long as there is a braid ocean between us I sec no reason why we may not indulge our respective tastes without risk of difficulty. On the other hand, I perceive sunny and vastly higher particulars in which we harmonize. (Cheers.) Surely it must be re- membered that with only the exception of the last eighty years, we claim to be heritors with you in all that is great and noble in your past history. very bold stroke for liberty, whether civil or religious, is matter of pride for us as it is for you. hlagna Charts is a common landmark for us all. And if from this I turn to the field of literature or of science, where, I ask, is there a great name in England which is not equally venerated in America? (Cheers.) Neither is there a deed of heroism recorded here that does not elicit its tribute of applause in the remotest hamlet of the western hemisphere. I have myself met with the story of Grace Darling's courage stuck up in the small public room of an inn in an obscure American town; so the example of self- devotion of your Florence Nightingale (cheers) has raised the admiration and stimulated the ardour of imitation of quite as many of my fair countrywomen as it has done of her own. And perhaps I may be permitted here to make au allu- sion to a higher character, so far as to say that through the breadth of the United States, from sea to sea, the name of her Majesty the Queen is held in the highest honour (cheers); not because she is a queen—no, that's not the reason, for there have been many queens whom we do not admire at all—but because, while a pattern of a daughter, and an example of a wife and a mother, she yet rules like a Christian sovereign over a noble people. (Loud cheers.) It is, then, a community, of descent, of language, of literature, of sympathy in all that is

good, and noble, and true, that teaches the lesson of harmony between our re-

pective peoples."

The Lord Mayor next proposed the health of Lord Palmerston, who briefly responded. In conclusion, lie proposed the health of the Lord Mayor, who returned thanks, and proposed the House of Lords, the Marquis of Salisbury acknowledging the toast. "The House of Commons" was responded to by Sir George Grey, who said :

"There is a serious responsibility resting upon every member of the House of Commons. Smooth as may now be the current of domestic affairs, that responsi- bility is perhaps as great as at any period of our history, for I believe there never was a time when the influence of the House of Commons was more widely diffused or could be of greater advantage to mankind, verifying the saying of Hallam, that 'the pulse of Europe beats in unison with the tone of our own Parliament.' (Cheers.) Standing here to return thanks for the toast of such an assembly, I cannot but feel some painful reflections when I think of the loss that House has sustained since the time when many of us last met in this hall. One change which has taken place' is that of the removal of the noble Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to that sphere of less laborious duties to which he was so well entitled, after so many years of laborious and faithful service rendered to his country, and to the City of London as its representative. (Cheers.) But there are other men whose names I cannot mention without regret—men whose names are familiar to you all—men over whom the grave has recently closed. They are gone for ever from the scenes of their former labours and responsibilities. While, however, I regret those who have left us, I have only to look around me and see many who still worthily represent the House of Commons, and who, by their ability and patriotism, still claim from the country respect for the character and the influence of that as- sembly. I can wish nothing better for the House of Commons than that many may arise to emulate the example of those who have gone before them, who will devote their talents to the public service of the country as their predecessors have done, and hand down the name of the British House of Commons unimpaired to the respect and admiration of posterity (Cheers.)." "The Lady Mayoress," "The Bar," and "The Representatives of the City," were then proposed in succession, and the company

broke up. — Archbishop Cullen has chosen the present moment, when Sir Robert Peel is visiting the West of Ireland, with a view to taking measures to avert from poor Roman Catholics threatening famine, to stir up the hatred of all his co-religionists against him, and has issued a letter to his clergy with that object. Subjoined is a passage which will give an idea of the Archbishop's philippic:

" Our Secretary of State, in his zeal to promote the condemned system, has, it is said, given several endowments to the Queen's College ; and, as if anxious to increase the number of the few unhappy Catholics who set at defiance the decisions of the Church, he has been writing letters to Catholic gentlemen, or otherwise communicating with them, for the purpose of inducing them to imitate his own example by endowing scholarships or exhibitions. I make this statement on the best authority ; it is open to Sir Robert Peel to contradict it if it he not correct. We are told it is through love for the Catholics of Ireland that the zeal of the Secretary of State is so active in this matter. I cannot adopt this view. do not pretend to judge Sir Robert's merely political opinions; but, in a religous point of view, I do believe that he is a most determined enemy of everything Catholic. He began his career by destroying the influence of the Catholics of Switzerland; he has lately vented his anger on the Catholics of Spain, where he formerly laboured with the zeal of an Exeter Hall enthusiast. His eulogies of the arch revolutionist and enemy of the Church, Count Cavour, still echo through the halls of Westminster, and I need scarcely add that on every occasion he has displayed the bitterest hostility to the venerable Pontiff who fills the chair of Peter, and to the institutions of the Holy Catholic Church."

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH.

— The closing demonstration of the " II'Manus obsequies" took place on Sunday, when the remains of the patriot were finally deposited in Glassnevin Cemetery. Notwithstanding the ban of Archbishop Cullen, and the absence of the clergy, the crowd who followed in the procession numbered no less than 10,000 or 12,000 persons. The funeral car was drawn by six horses with outriders, preceded by eight stewards with wands, who kept the route clear. They were followed by about 300 citizens, walking eight deep, and a band of forty performers. Mourning coaches, containing among others Father Lavelle and Father Kenyon, came next, and were followed by the American deputation, the various committees, and "the trades." The branch committee from Kingston and Bray were distinguished by an "emblematic car," on a chair in which was seated an old blind harper in " herdic costume," as the white mantle in which he was wrapped was called. At the place of interment, addresses were delivered by Father Lavelle and Mr. Smyth, the chair- man of the American deputation. The latter gentleman congratu- lated the Irish people on the glorious success of the demonstration. Everything went off very quietly, and there was not even any extra number of the police on the occasion. — Mr. Dudley Brown and Mr. W. J. Yancey, two of the com- missioners from the Confederate States, were present at the dinner of the Fishmongers' Company, on Saturday. At the very time that the American Minister was speaking at Guildhall, Mr. Yancey was re- sponding to a complimentary toast at Fishmongers' Hall. After some remarks on the injustice of the term " rebel," as applied to the Con- federates, he expressed the thankful acknowledgments of his cou ntry- men for their recognition by England as belligerents :

" From no other Power could it have come so gracefully. In this—' the old country'—the principle of self-government is recognized and practised, howe ver blended with the prerogatives of the Crown and the privileges of the aristocracy . Toyour institutions Americans are indebted fur the chief of those vital principles which have caused them to style the Republic

The land of the tree And the home of the oppressed.'

Such invaluable rights as the old English writ of habeas corpus, of a speedy trial by jury, of freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, are the main pillars of American constitutional liberty, and I sin both happy and proud to say are observed at least throughout the Confederate American States as vital and prac- tical rights even during their stern struggles to preserve their national life.' (' Bear, hear,' and cheers.) No matter what may have been the causes which broke up the late Federal Government, one thing is clear, and that is, that the contest now going on is upon the part of the people of the Confederate States for the right to govern themselves, and to resist subjugation by the North. (Rear, hear.) They occupy a territory as large as England, France, Spain, and Austria together—they are 10,000,000 in number—they are chiefly producers of important raw materials, and buyers of all kinds of manufactured goods. Their pursuits, soil, climate, and production are totally different from those of the North. They think it their interest to buy 'there they can bey cheapest, and to sell where they can sell dearest. In all this the North differs, Coto cado, from them, and now makes war upon us to enforce the supremacy of their mistaken ideas and selfish interest. (' Bear, hear,' and cheers.) So much has been said about our efforts to obtain foreign intervention, that I may be allowed to declare emphatically that the Confederate States have neither sought nor desired it. They can maintain their independence intact by their own strength. As to their recognition by the Powers of the world, that, of course, they desire. They are a people, a nation, exhibiting elements of power which few States of the world possess. But they have no reason to complain, nor do they feel aggrieved, because these great Powers see fit for a season to defer their formal recognition and reception into the family of nations. However they may differ from them as to the period when their recognition shall take place, they fully understand that such action is purely a question to be determined by those countries each for itself and with reference to its own interests and views of public policy. Other nations having trading relations with us have quite as much interest to send Ministers and consuls to us as we have to send such re- presentatives to them. (Hear, hear.) Why, then, shall there not be peace? Simply because the North hi its pride will not admit that to be a fact—a fait accompli—which old England, followed by the first Powers of Europe, has re- cognized, and which the Confederate Government and armies have repeatedly demonstrated to be a stern and bloody fact—the fact that we are a belligerent Power. There can be no basis for negotiations, or for peace proposals, or con- sultations so long as the Confederates are deemed to be and are treated as rebels. (Hear.) But when our adversary shall become sufficiently calm to treat us as a belligerent Power, the morning of peace will dawn in the horizon. When that hour shall arrive, I think I may say the Confederate Government will be inflexible upon one point only—its honour and its independence. For the great interests of peace and humanity it will yield much that is merely material or of secondary importance."

— "F. H.," in a letter to the Thee, gives an account of the opening of the " Depot A.nglais " at Marseilles. A company of English shareholders have been enabled by the recent commercial treaty to establish a depot in that city for the sale of English mann- fiances. It was opened on the 98th of last month, and has proved a great success. Nearly half the stock, which consisted chiefly of hosiery,. stationery, provisions, perfumery, Staffordshire stoneware, Britannia metal, &c., was disposed of in three days.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13Tlf.

— Viscount Enfield, M.P., presided at the annual meeting of the subscribers to the Brentford British Schools, on Tuesday. The Re- vised Code of course formed the subject of his remarks. While ap- proving of the general principle of the Code, which was the redac- tion of public expenditure by paying for results only, and not granting indiscriminate assistance, lie admitted that faith had un- doubtedly been broken with the certificated teachers. He hinted confidently, however, that their remonstrances would be received with earnest attention by the Committee of Council. He disapproved also of the system of classification according to age, which was in- troduced in the Minute. As to the religious part of the question, he decidedly thought that spiritual instruction was far better given by the parents of the children than by paid instructors. Lord En- field concluded with some remarks on the great increase of public expenditure for educational purposes, and a vote of thanks to his Lordship having been passed, the party separated. — Sir Roundell Palmer, Solicitor General, presided at the meet- ing of the Law Amendment Society on Monday night. After the address of the Council, enumerating the measures of law reform which had been passed last Sessions, had been read, the Chairman addressed the meeting. Referring to the beneficial results of the Society's operations since its formation, lie instanced the establish- ment of the County Courts, which brought justice home to the doors of all ; the simplification of the procedure in both Common Law and Chancery Courts ; the creation of the Probate and Divorce Court, and other important law reforms. They had chiefly, howevef, touched only the mode of procedure, and not the substance of the law itself. There was no doubt that it was highly desirable that the transfer of land should be simplified; but he feared that the in- herent difficulties in such a change were not sufficiently appreciated by all parties. On the question of the Patent Laws he suggested several improvements, which, assuming that the present system was not to be abolished, might be made with advantage : " The suggestion of whatever was a necessary consequence of the knowedge which mankind in common already possessed oug ht not, he thought, to be con- sidered a new discovery or invention. (Hear, hear.) He would not mention any particular cases of such suggestions that had come before him in his official capacity ; but let them suppose the case of a man applying for a patent for making a table out of some sort of wood that had not been used for the manufac- ture of tables before. As it was evident from the knowledge commentomankind that tables could be made out of wood, why should that man have a patent? Or if a man applied for a patent for patting zinc and mahogany instead of iron and mahogany together, ought be to have a patent? Such things were frivolous: they were merely encroachments on what was a public right and the property of mankind ; and be thought that they might with advantage be excluded from that class of inventions or discoveries for which patents should be granted. (Hear, hear.) There was another measure which might be adopted. The law officer or other person whose duty it was to see patents pass their earlier stage might be entrusted with the power of rejecting whatever he considered frivolous, the person applying for the patent having the right of appeal to the Patent Commissioners or some other tribunal. (Hear, hear.)

After some discussion on the various topics touched upon in the report, the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the chairman.

— The building for the International Exhibition of 1862 continues to progress with marvellous rapidity. All the brickwork is now com- pleted, with the exception only of the refreshment rooms, which are to be built over the south side of the arcades of the Horticultural Gardens. The huge annex, 1200 feet long, and covering nearly three acres, for machinery, though only commenced six weeks ago, is com- pleted, and the erection of a second similar one is decided upon. This step has been rendered necessary by the enormous additional demands for space made by Italy, l'urkey, and America, three countries which at first declined to have anything to do with the undertaking, but are now eagerly wishing to take advantage of it. The picture galleries, a series of rooms, each 300 feet long, are finished, and through the vast piles of scaffolding round the domes the massive columns and girders can be seen, reaching almost to the summit. The contract for refreshments, a most important element in securing the success of the undertaking, has not yet been granted to any of the numerous applicants. The Commissioners make it a positive condition of tenders being received that each applicant must bind himself to supply a dinner in the third class room at 9d. a head, and one in the second class room at 2s. 6d. a head, specifying, of course, the viands he is prepared to supply at those rates. The first class dining-room will consist of small private rooms for the accom- modation of parties.

— A desperate attempt to murder a non-commissioned officer was made by a soldier, at Aldershott, on Thursday last. Private John Nicholas, of the 3rd Battalion Military Train, was charged on Tues- day, before the county magistrates, with shooting, with intent to murder, Sergeant-major Kennedy. The evidence showed that, in consequence of a charge which had been made against the prisoner by Kennedy, he went straight into the but of the latter, asked him " What's the accusation you have made against me ?" and then shot him with a rifle carbine which lie had concealed under his cloak. The ball penetrated through two books which were in Kennedy's breast- coat-pocket, and had gone completely through his body. He was lying in a very precarious state, and the doctors gave no hope of his recovery. The prisoner, who said nothing in his defence, was re- manded for a week.

— An extraordinary ease of robbery was investigated at the West- minster police-court on Tuesday. It appeared that Mr. Barker, surveyor, of 29, Bessborough-gardens, Vauxhall-bridge-road, left his house about seven o'clock on Thursday last, leaving only Mary Newell, the servant, in the house. On his return about ten, lie found the doors locked and the house apparently deserted. After knock- ing for some time, he entered the house by a back window, and was startled by finding in the passage a poker broken into pieces and covered with blood and hair, and a pail apparently containing blood. The whole house was in a state of confusion, and a considerable amount of jewellery had been abstracted. A pane of glass near the fastening of a sash-window was broken, through which an en- trance had apparently been effected. On examination, however, it became clear that the pane had been broken from the in- side, and that the pail merely contained a red fluid resembling blood. Suspicion of course fell upon the servant, but upon in- quiry, it was found that only one person had left the house during Mr. Barker's absence, a gentleman having taken a cab from the door to the Eastern Counties Railway. He had been observed at the station walking up and down the platform, smoking a cigar. He slept at Brentwood that night, and on the following day went on to Yarmouth, whither he was followed by a detective, who found him in apartments under the name of Mr. Heath, a gentleman who re- sided with Mr. Barker, and dressed in a suit of his clothes, which bad been missed on the night of the robbery. On inquiry, it turned out that he had been living in very good style, smoked constantly, and had taken the landlady to the theatre at night, and to church on Sunday. The detective then called on the landlady, and waited till her lodger came in, when he immediately recognized the supposed gentleman as Mary Newell. She had cut her hair short, and by constantly smoking, had escaped all suspicion of being a woman. All the money and jewellery stolen were found in her apartments, with the exception of about 31., which had been .expended in her journey. After these facts had been given in evidence, the prisoner was re- manded until Tuesday next.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH.

— "A Field Officer" writes to the Times, from Aldershot, on the recent military crimes, and the expediency of taking away the am- munition of the soldiers. To show the general feeling among officers on the question, he states that, after dinner on the evening he wrote, the conversation at one of the messes at the camp turned on the subject. One of the officers said: "If my men's cartridges are taken away, I will hang up a flask of powder and a bag of balls in my barrack-room." These words were cordially applauded by all present, the feeling being that it was far better to show the had characters among the men that their officers did not fear them, than by

" wretched, cowardly precautions," which soldiers would simply con- sider as marks of weakness and pusillanimity. Such a remedy, in the opinion of "A Field Officer," would be worse than the disease. "Audi Alteram Partem" also writes on the same subject. Referring to the murder of Colonel Crofton and Captain Hanham by a soldier at Preston Barracks, he says :

"I wished to know what were their relations with, and how those two who fell!ia Preston Barracks commanded, the rank and file under them ; whether the disci- pline in force there was not excessively severe, and whether a system of accumu- lative punishments was not in force in direct contradiction to the Queen's Rega- lations?

" Common report says that men have had in prospect as many as 100 days' heavy marching order drill four hours a day to undergo, and which alio entails confinement for that time to barracks. It is also said that one of the charges against a soldier tried recently by court-martial was for having told Colonel Crofton in the orderly-room, when brought before him as a prisoner for refusing to obey the orders of the sergeant of the guard, ' that he would be — if he would not eat him ;' that reply being made to an order of Colonel Crofton's, directing the soldier to be kept without food until he could obey—a novelty in military punishments if true. — The Revised Code naturally formed the principal topic of dis- cussion at the annual. meeting of the Worcestershire Union and Educational Institutes. Among the speakers at the meeting, which was held in the evening, were Lord Lyttleton, Sir John Pa- kington, M.P., Mr. Holland, M.P., &c. Lord Lyttleton, who moved the first resolution, compared the position of the managers of schools. to that of a man who had learnt to swim with two enormous. bladders, and were suddenly deprived of their means of support while in deep water. Sir John Pakington, in moving a resolution in favour of the establishment of night schools in connexion with Mechanics' Institutes, very soon wandered from the subject of the resolution, the one all-absorbing topic. He observed that the warm- est advocates of the Revised Code were careful to limit their com- mendation to its general principle, and invariably. admitted that the details were to be condensed. He, however, denied that there was any principle whatever at issue. The whole question was one or detail. With regard to the financial part of the question, Sir John Kay Shuttleworth, the best possible authority on the subject, had stated in a letter to Lord Granville, that the average reduction in the assistance hitherto given to the schools of England would not be less than two-fifths of the amount they were now receiving. He himself, however, had heard the Minister of Education state in his. place in Parliament that the proposed change would only be in the mode of rendering that assistance. One other change made by the- Revised Code he considered was of such importance that he must mention it : " One of the proposed changes bore on the resolution in his hand ; he alluded to the extraordinary proposal—extraordinary in the absence of explanation-- that no assistance would be given for any boy after he was eleven years old. They would really suppose from this that the great practical difficulty in edu- cating the people had been to prevent boys staying too long at school, instead of the reverse. Ile knew the friends of education would feel that it would be the pressing duty of Parliament when it met to ask what this change really meant— whether it was meant as a bond fide improvement, or as an economical con- trivance; whether it was an attempt to make education more efficient, or whether the object was to enable the Chancellor of the Exchequer to go to Parliament and say be only wanted so much money less than before for educational purposes.. Bear, hear,' and cheers.) Was it a confession that the Privy Council system had broken down, that it was too costly and too centralized, and that it could. not carry out the great work it had commenced? These were questions which would have to be considered by Parliament, and which justified him (Sir John) in saying that the present moment was a very anxious one for the friends of education. (Hear, hear.) They must remember that their work was not half done ; they had 7000 assisted schools, but 16,000 unassisted, and they had it. stated that those unassisted schools were of so inferior a character that they hardly deserved to be considered as part of the educational institutions of the country. He hoped, and he believed, that this country would not submit to or tolerate any retrograde action on this great subject. (Hear.)" — Mr. Edward Leathern, M.P. for Huddersfield, took the chair at the annual meeting of the Barnsley Mechanics' Institute on Tues- day evening. In opening the proceedings, Mr. Leathern addressed the meeting at considerable length. In the course of his speech he made the following remarks on our national expenditure : " The great function of Parliament is, as we well know, to tax the people through their representatives ; and, to judge from the cheerful alacrity with which that function is exercised, one would suppose that the harder we exercised it the better every one would be pleased. (' Hear, hear, and laughter.') But suppose that one tithe of the intelligence and ability which people bestow upon the accumulation of the wherewithal to pay taxes was devoted to the consideration. of the question of how far these taxes are just and necessary. (Hear, hear.) I can conceive that in that case this grand function of which). have spoken would be performed with much less levity than it sometimes is, and with far greater regard to the pockets of those whose intents, by a pleasantIction, we are sup- posed to go to Westminster to represent. (Loud cheers.) See how vast this- question of the national expenditure is becoming. The Chancellor of the Exche- quer told us last spring that the public expenditure had risen above the figures at which it stood seven years ago by no less a sum than twenty millions sterling_ It is very difficult to, conceive what is meant by twenty millions sterling, bat perhaps you may form some estimate of what must be the effect of such an additional burden upon the resources of the country, from the fact that twenty millions sterling is supposed to be the sum which the nation lost owing to the bad corn crop of last year. (Hear, hear.) That, as you will remember, was a season of unprecedented inclemency, and had it been followed by another equally un- propitious, it is almost impossible to realize the disasters that would have ensued. (Hear, hear.) Money would have risen to a fabulous price, trade Would have crippled, multitudes would have been thrown out of employment, and only sedition and crime would have grown strong (cheers); and it is a conside- ration the importance of which can scarcely be exaggerated, that the same figures should denote the increase in the expenditure of the country during seven short years, and the whole fall from prosperity to comparative scarcity—the whole loss which the nation sustained by a season more inclement and more untoward and disastrous than any which the present generation can remember. (cheers.)"

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH.

— OIL Thursday, being what is generally known at Bristol as " Colston's Day," the three great societies of that city, the Anchor (Liberal), the Dolphin (Conservative), and the Grateful (neutral), held their annual dinners in honour of the philanthropist Edward Colston. At the dinner of the Anchor Society, Messrs. H. Berkely and Langton, the members for the city, were present, both of whom spoke on politicall subjects. Mr. H. Berkely said that though he regretted that no Reform Bill had been passed in the late session, he believed Lord Russell had taken the wisest course in declining to introduce such a measure in the present apathetic state of popular feeling on the subject. If he had brought in a Reform Bill, he would most probably have been beaten, and we should now have had Lord Malmesbury mtinaging our foreign policy, a change which he could not think would have been for our advantage. With re- md to America, he believed that the issue between North and 'South was not slavery ; it was simply the tariff question. He be- lieved, however, that slavery would receive a severe blow through the war, and he looked upon that hope as the only streak of light in the truly black picture. In conclusion, he adverted to the Tory assertion that democratic institutions had been put on their trial, and had been found wanting. If such an assumption was correct, their opponents might with equaljustice say that monarchical institutions had failed also, because similar disturbances had arisen among monarchies. Mr. W. H. Gore Langton also spoke. He agreed with his colleague that it was wise in Lord Russell not to risk the existence-of the Govern- ment on the question of Reform at a time when the influence of a Liberal Government in foreign affairs was of such paramount im- portance. There was one domestic reform of great importance which e wished anxiously to see passed, and that was an alteration in the present system of assessment for the income tax. The almost unanimous feeling of the country had led to the suspension of the new Educational. Minute until the 31st of March, when, he trusted, many of its objectionable provisions would be abandoned. After some remarks on the triumph of freedom in Italy, Mr. Langton con- cluded, and the company separated.

— The following statistics of the proportion of paupers in receipt of relief, to population in the eleven great divisions of the country, are of importance :

In the metropolis . . 1 in every 80

In the three eastern counties . • . . 1 „ 14 In the south-eastern counties, including ▪ Berke and Hants . 1 „ 19 In the south-western • . 1 „ 18 In the Welsh . . . 1 „ 16

In the west midland, exte• nding from Gloucester to Stafford 1 „ 25 In the south midland, extending from London to Northamp-

tonshire . • . 1 „ 17

In the north midland, from Leicester northwar• ds . . 1 23

In the north-western, Lancashire and Cheshire . . 1 „ 36 In Yorkshire . • • • • - . 1 32 In the northern counties . • • • 1 „ 27'

— Mr. Disraeli has at length broken his long silence, and come forward with a rallying cry to his followers. A. meeting of several of the Oxford Diocesan Societies was held at Aylesbury on Thursday, the Bishop of Oxford in the chair ; the Right Hon. B. Disraeli, Mr. J. Hubbard, M.P., Mr. J. Smith, M.P., Mr. T. L. Ber- nard, M.P., &c. &e., being also present. After the Right Rev. Chairman had given an account of the operations of the societies during the past year, Archdeacon Bickersteth moved the first resolu- tion, which set forth the claims of the societies to public support. Mr. Disraeli seconded the resolution. Referring to the want of union among Churchmen, which constituted the principal weakness of the Church at present, he said, one of the principal causes of this want of union was distrust among Churchmen : " That I hesitate not to say is mainly attributable to the speculations on sacred things which have been recently published by certain clergymen of our Church. I deeply regret that publication. For the sake of the writers —for no other reason. (Hear, /tear.) I am myself in favour of free inquiry on all subjects, civil and religious, with no condition but that it be pursued with learning, argument, and conscience. But then I think we have a right to expect that free inquiry should be pursued by free inquirers. (Hear.) And in my opinion the authors of Essays and Reviews have entered into engagements with the people of this country quite inconsistent with the views advanced in those prolusions. (Cheers.) The evil is not so much that they have created a distrust in things ; that might be removed by superior argument and superior learning. The evil is that they have created a distrust in persons, and that is a sentiment which once engendered is not easily removed, even by reason and erudition. Setting, however, aside the characters of the writers, I am not disposed to evade the question whether the work itself is one which should justify distrust among churchmen. Perhaps it may not be altogether unsuitable that a layman should make a remark upon this subject (hear), and that the brunt of comment should not always be borne by clergymen. Now the volume of Essays and Reviews, generally speaking, is founded on the philosophical theology of Germany. What is German theology? (A laugh.) It is of the greatest importance that clearer ideas should exist upon this subject than I find generally prevail in most assemblies of my countrymen. About a century ago German theology, which was mystical, be- came, by the law of reaction, critical. There gradually arose a school of philo- sophical theologians, which introduced a new system for the interpretation of Scripture. Accepting the sacred narrative without cavil, they explained all the supernatural incidents by natural causes. This system m time was called Rationalism, and, supported by great learning, and even greater ingenuity, in the course of half a century absorbed the opinion of all the intellect of Germany, and indeed, greatly. influenced that of every Protestant community. Bat where now is German Rationalism, and where are its results? They are now erased from the intellectual tablets of living opinion. (Hear.) A new school of German theology aneie.,•which with profound learning and inexorable logic proved that Rationalism was irrational (a laugh), and successfully substituted for it a new scheme of Scriptural interpretation, called the mythical. But if the mythical theologians triumphantly demonstrated, as they undoubtedly did, that Rationalism DU irrational, an the mythical system itself has already become a myth (laughter); and its most distinguished votaries, in that spirit of progress which, as we are told, is the characteristic of the nineteenth century, and which generally bring us back to old ideas (a laugh), have now found an invincible solution of the myste- ries of existence in a revival of Pagan Pantheism. (Hear, hear.) That, I believe, is a literally accurate sketch of the various phases through which the intellect of Germany has passed during the last century. Well, I ask, what has the Church to fear from speculations so overreaching, so capricious, and so self- destructive? And why is society to be agitated by a volume which is at the best a, second hand medley of these contradictory and discordant theories? No religious creed was ever destroyed by a philosophical theory (cheers); philoso- phers destroy themselves. (A laugh.) Epicurus was as great a man, I appre- hend, as Hegel; but it was not Epicurus who subverted the religion of Olympus. The conduct of Convocation in this matter appeared to me to be marked by all that discretion and sound judgment which has distinguished its proceedings ever since its revival, and which is gradually, but surely, obtaining for it pub% confidence. It denounced what it deemed pestilent heresies, but it did not counsel the prosecution of the heretics. And here I am bound to say that I wish this frank and reasonable course bad been followed in high places. The wisest of men had said, " For everything there is a season;" and the nineteenth century appears to me a season when the Church should confute error, and not punish it."

Mr. Disraeli concluded by impressing upon the clergy the necessity of boldly throwing aside all false delicacy, and taking a prominent part in all political questions affecting the interests of the Church. "I am myself, I need hardly say, in public life a.party man. I am not unaware of the errors and excesses which occasionally occur in party conflicts, but 1 have a profound conviction that in this country the best security for purity of govern- ment and for public liberty is to be found in the organized emulation of public men. Nevertheless, I have ever impressed upon my clerical friends the wisdom of the utmost reserve on their part with regard to mere political questions. (Hear, hear.) Not that I question their right to entertain opinions on all public questions, and to act upon them. An English clergyman is an English gentle- man and an English citizen, but I have always felt that in proportion to their political activity will the integrity of their spiritual and social influence be diminished ; and I think that influence of far greater importance than their political activity. (Cheers.) But there is a limit to this reserve. What I would presume to recommend is this,—When institutions are in question, and not individuals, the clergy ought to interfere, and when, of all institutions, that to which they are specially devoted, and on which their daily thoughts and nightly meditations should be fixed, is at stake, their utmost vigilance and determination should be summoned. When the interests of the Church of which they are the sacred ministers are concerned, the clergy would be guilty of indefensible apathy if they remained silent and idle. The clergy of the Church of England have at this moment one of the greatest and most glorious opportunities for accomplishing a great public service that was probably ever offered to any body of public men. It is in their power to determine and to ensure that Church questions in this country shall no longer be party questions. They, and they alone, can effect this immense result, and that by a simple process--I mean by being united. (Hear.) Let them upon general public affairs entertain that which I trust they always will entertain as free Englishmen, their own general opinions. Let them be banded in the two great historical parties in the State, Whig or Tory. It would be a very unfortunate thing for this country if in any great body of respectable men there should ever cease to be such differences of political opinion. (Hear.) But let them say that Church questions are not questions which they will permit to enter the province of political party. If the clergy are united in that determina- tion, rest assured that the laity will soon become united ton, and we shall be spared hereafter the frightful anomaly of seeing conscientious Churchmen record- ing their votes and exerting their influence against the Church. (Hear, hear.) Depend upon it, that nothing in this country can resist Churchmen when united, and if they are only united on Church questions, they will add immensely to the strength of good government and to the general welfare of the people. Then I believe that these admirable institutions, the object of which is to ameliorate the whole body of society, will assume that catholic and universal character in their

action which is so devoutly to be desired—then the great object of the Church, the education of the people, their perfect spiritual supervision, the completion of our parochial system, and, above all, the free and decorous worship of the Almighty, will be securely effected."