31iiortilaurnus.

However important a good harvest may be in ordinary years, it is a consummation doubly to be desired by us during a war. To a great ex- tent the grain countries that lie around the Black Sea are desolated by the war, and such of the Russian provinces as are reported to promise a good harvest are cut off from the natural markets by the blockade. Of course, if the Russians be chased from Wallachia and the great affluents of the Lower Danube—if we occupy not only the disputed Principalities but Odessa itself, we shall readily induce the good folks of those regions to sell us corn, both for the troops and for home consumption. But war is the reverse of a good cultivator ; and mainly we must depend for sup- plies upon the neutral states. How then stand the prospects of the har- vest?

Looking first to our own fields, we find by accounts from all quarters the promise of at least an average crop of grain. From the Baltic pro- vinces, from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, it is anticipated that a crop much, above the average will be reaped. In France, the harvest is likely to be superior to the average years both in quality and quan- tity; and from Algeria wheat of this year's growth has already been exported to Marseilles.. From Italy, Asia Minor, and Egypt, the report comes that the yield will be extremely plentiful. The United States and Canada also promise a supply certainly not under the average. Concur- rently with these statements, we remark a steady depression of price in our ewn markets, in France, in Prussia, generally throughout Europe, in Alexandria, and in the -United States. No doubt, the late favourable change in the weather, which has been pretty general, has contributed to lower prices here; but it would not have produced that effect had not the cereal crops in the great productive districts of the world promised ade- quate if not exuberant supplies. It must also be borne in mind in look- ing to the harvest prospects generally, that wheat has been much more widely sown this year than ever it was before.

With respect to the market view of the harvest chances, that is shown 'by the steady and continuous fall in price since the first week in June —a fall of from 79s. 11d. to 76s. 6d. per quarter. The stock of grain now on hand is estimated at 1,300,000 quarters, besides what the farm- ers retain ; a sufficient supply until the new wheat comes in. On the whole, a general survey of the facts leads to the belief that we shall at least be far more fortunate than we were last year. The bay harvest is a matter of no small importance in this country. The crop has not been heavy, but its quality is said to be good. Till lately, the weather has been adverse to the hay-growers; but the present fine weather, which it is so universally hoped may continue, will allow the rest of the crop to be carried in tolerable condition.

It is probable that the Duke of Newcastle's answer to Lord Lyttelton, on the 14th, has perfectly satisfied those whose brief the Duke held—the Colonial Office and Governor Grey. It is seldom that the Office has possessed an advocate of the Duke's character and earnestness—evidently helieving in the fallacies of his brief; and with a geniality of disposition to lend the official pleading a colour of feeling. That those, however, who are more deeply interested for the colonists than for the individual. functionary, however high in favour at Downing Street, are not satisfied —could not be so—is proved by the reply of Mr. J. R. Godley, who is probably better able to speak with accurate knowledge on the facts, and on the feelings of the colonists, than any other man in London. Mr. Godley's reply appears in a letter to the Morning Chronicle of Thursday. It reduces the charges against Sir George Grey to these four-

" L That he abused the power alleged to have been vested in him by the Colonial Minister (under the provisions of the Constitutional Act), of making regulations for the disposal of the waste lands, pending the convocation of the General Assembly. 2. That he disregarded the injunction of the Su- preme Court, restraining him from carrying his land-regulations into effect. 1. That he unnecessarily delayed to convene the General Assembly, thereby inflicting on the colony the innumerable evils incident to a pro- tracted interregnum. 4. That he appropriated the revenue of the colony without the authority of law."

Mr. Godley maintains "that no serious attempt has been made to an- swer specifically any one of these charges except the second : the answers have been to something quite different from these."

"As regards the first, it has been elaborately argued that the Governor had legal authority to deal with the waste lands as he thought fit. This is questionable. However, it may be so, But it is not to the point. The charge made is, that, even if he had the authority, it never could have been intended that he should use it in the way he did. Parliament gave to the 40/011 Ws the control and management of the waste lands, and vested in the Governor the power of regulating them until the General Assembly should meet ; evidently for the purpose of enabling him to deal with isolated cases which might arise in the interim. Yet the Governor took advantage of this provisional power to effect a complete and sweeping change in the whole system of land-disposal ; to do, in fact, the very thing of which it was the sPenal function of the General Assembly to consider the expediency. Then, it has been attempted to show that the changes made by Sir George Grey in the land system were beneficial and salutary. Again I say, this is not the question. Of the policy of such changes the colonists, not the Governor, were the proper judges ; and to deprive them of this their right, was to violate the spirit of the act in perhaps its most importantprovision.

" Again, as regards the delay in convening the Assembly, there has been no defence against the real accusation. It has been shown, indeed, that the Governor issued the writs within the time appointed by law ; which is not denied. But I have looked in vain for any endeavour to show that he might not have had them returned in time to convene the As- sembly in October 1853, ,instead of May 1854. And that, be it re- membered, is the charge. Lord Lyttelton proved it conclusively and in detail. He proved it by a proclamation ofike -Governor himself, in which he names ninety days as the maximumpesiod Necessary to get writs back from the farthest point in the colony. He proved it by the unanimous protests of the Provincial Councils, composed in part of Sir George Grey's friends, who state that they cannot conceive or suggest any reason why the Assembly should not be convened. He proved it by going through the distances and the times, so as to make the case of unnecesary delay manifest and self-evi- dent. To this elaborate and detailed proof no answer whatever has been attempted. I am, therefore, entitled to infer that none could be made." Mr. Godley disposes of the other parts of the defence in the same close but quiet manner.

The Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Mary dined with Miss Burdett Coutts on Monday. The Maharajah Duleep Sing was among the guests.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sir William Molesworth had dinner- parties on Wednesday.

The Earl of Aberdeen had a dinner-party on Thursday. The Austrian, Belgian, and American Ministers, Sir James Graham, Sir Charles Wood, and Mr. Sidney Herbert, were among the guests.

We are informed that, although the name of Lord Granville appears in the strangers' book at the Travellers' Club as the proposer of Count Pahlen, the name of Mr. Thomas Baring stands recorded as his seconder. It seems to have been considered that the political justice of the case was fully met by putting forward Lord Granville's name and suppressing that of Mr. Baring. Perhaps, according to the creed of the Carlton, it was right.—Globe.

Mr. Patrick Chalmers, of Auldbar, who formerly represented the Montrose district of boroughs in Parliament, died at Rome on the 23d June; while on a Continental tour. Since his retirement from Parliament, Mr. Chalmers has employed himself; with considerable success, in archteological pursuits.

A letter from Constantinople states that it is in contemplation to give to Reschid Pasha the title of Derlit Naziri ; which would place him in rank above the Grand Vizier and immediately after the Sultan. This signal fa- vour is to be accorded to him on the occasion of the marriage of his son, Ali- Razhib-Pasha, with the eldest daughter of the Sultan, which is to take place shortly.

Some time since, the Emperor of the French granted leave to Bou Maze to serve the Sultan in the war against Russia ; the Sultan has appointed him to a command in Circassia, and he set out from Villiers-Cotterets on Monday. Louis Napoleon has provided his outfit.

The report is renewed that Admiral Price has captured two Russian fri- gates in the Pacific. It is assumed that they are the Aurora and the Dwina. The authority for the statement is a Swedish captain who brought the news to Rio de Janeiro.

Upwards of 800 men have been entered within a month in the London district alone for service in regiments of the Line.

The number of effective men in the Dockyard Brigades—all between the ages of twenty and forty-five—is 6700, exclusive of officers. It is expected that they will soon be ordered to recommence drill, preparatory to being called into service in assisting to guard the dockyards and ports.

During the first six months of this year, the value of bullion ex- ported from London amounted to 15,33496101., of which 11,869,000/. was gold.

An iron screw-collier has been launched on the Tyne which has her engines placed aft, instead of amidships : it will probably assist to solve the question of the best position for the engines in screw-shipaintendedfor heavy traffic.

One of the favourite lounges of the week has been Plolford House in the Regent's Park, the residence of the late Mr. James Holford. A large though select concourse of visitors have been admitted by ticket to view the varied and costly articles of all descriptions collected within this princely mansion, previously to their final dispersion by sale. The sale commences on Wed- nesday next, and is expected to hat for fifteen days. The pictures are more numerous than of distinguished excellence ; and the managers of the sale have done wisely in allowing them to be disposed of in companionship with the plate, furniture, &c. The situation of the house is charming ; and placed as it is in a prettily laid-out garden, and with the Regent's Park spreading wide beyond, one may imagine oneself far away in the country. Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson recently sold the collection of rare and curious books made by Mr. John Dunn Gardener, of Chatteris. The 2457 lots produced 81711. The prices some of the books brought were very large. The first Protestant translation of the Bible by Miles Coverdale, printed at Zurich in 1535, sold for 365/. • "Golden Legende," by Caxton, 1483, 230?.; Shakspere's Comedies and Tragedies, first edition, 1623, 2501.

Mr. Charles Minasi has an improved "incubator." It consists of a naphtha lamp, burnt without a wick. Seventy eggs have been batched at the top of the lamp, and the chickens reared by an artificial mother at the bottom. Mr. Minasi avers that he would undertake to hatch by this con- trivance the egg of an ostrich. A schooner yacht, 75 tons, named the Incline Plane, constructed on Lips- combe's principle, was recently launched from Mr. Cunninghame's yard at Southampton. Speed is the great advantage supposed to be secured by the new construction. A jolly row-boat built on the same principle has lately performed astonishing feats, outsailing an eight-ton yacht, and going twice as fast as boats of her own size. She is 13 feet long by al wide.

The Greenwich Board of Guardians have granted temporary relief to an out-pensioner of Greenwich Hospital who has attained his hundred-and- second year. The old sailor was obliged to enter the workhouse for a few days while at Greenwich on business, in consequence of illness ; but he soon recovered. Be reads without glasses, walks with tolerable firmness, and has a very retentive memory.

Swindling is a profession that admits of indefinite extension. The morn- ing papers contain the story of a man named Younge who has been swind- ling clergymen in the country and in London, by passing himself off as an ordained minister. He came to London it would appear, and by show- ing a letter from a country clergyman imposed upon the Reverend Allen Edwards, incumbent of St. Matthias, Bethnal Green, and there performed divine service and cheated local tradesmen. Exposed in London, he went to Beighton near Sheffield, and there, by asserting that he was the curate of Mr. Edwards, he succeeded in imposing upon three clergymen ; preaching sermons at their request, reading the burial-service, and attending an archi- diaconal visitation. He borrowed ten shillings of one of his dupes ; and the clergyman wrote to Mr. Edwards, who gave lounge's true history.

Subsequently, he played the like pranks in Sheffield itself; and a gentle- man from Sheffield had him arrested last week in London. Younge is a man of some accomplishment; and his father, it is said, once took rank as a gentleman.

Cholera begins to show itself in the United Kingdom. One case is re- corded this week at Manchester' and one in the Metropolis. It is also in- creasing in Glasgow where the disease would appear to have recently re- vealed itself from dine to time.

In St. Petersburg it rages violently. The Grand Master of the Ceremo- nies, Count Woronzow-Dashkoff, was seized with cholera on the 6th instant, and died on the 8th. He was formerly Russian Envoy at Stuttgart, Turin, and Munich.

Result of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for the week ending on Saturday last.

Ten Weeks of 1844,63.

Symotie Diseages 2,688 ....

Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 421

Tubercular Disease. 1,855 .... Mileages of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 1,083 .... Diseases of the Heart and Blood-veggels 287 ,... Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 571 . • ..

Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 656

Diseases of the Kidneys, &c. 90 :::: Childbirth, diaeases of the Uterus, &e. 95 .. • . Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, Sc. 69 .... Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, Be. 10 • • • •

Malformations 30 • • • •

Premature Birth 232 ....

Atrophy 282 .... Age

Sudden 24072 :.:.:.:.

Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance

—

Week of 1864. 270 37 207 91 31 116 56

as

13 15 1

I 82 47 17

4

ea

—

Total (including unspecified causes) 9,357 1,016

There has been a falling-off of 6,907,000 francs in the customs, taxes, and indirect revenues of France in the first six months of this year, as compared with last ; but an increase of 15,405,000 francs as compared with 1852.

According to a letter by a proprietor of Avignon, the departments of Aude, Pyrenees Orientales, Herault, and Gard, will only have about a fourth of an average vintage this year. He does not expect to derive any income from his vineyards for some years; but, on the contrary, he thinks he must lay out much money in good cultivation to recover his vines from the disease.

Overland Indian passengers are now conveyed the whole distance from Alexandria to the Nile, sixty-six miles, by railway : in another year, it is expected, the railway will be completed to Cairo.

The General Screw Steam Company have entered into an engagement with the local Government of the Mauritius to establish a monthly mail between the island and Ceylon, to meet the Peninsular and Oriental Com- pany's ships at the latter island. The payment is to be 10,0001. a year.

An exhibition of the industry of Chili is to be held at Santiago in Sep- tember.

Ceylon has been visited with great storms and destructive floods. In some parts people had to seek refuge in the tops of trees. At Columbo, the light- ning struck down nearly a whole company of the Ceylon Rifles, but only one man was seriously hurt.

At Bombay there has been a lack of water; 300,000 gallons have been daily brought from Salsette by a special railway train, and boats have been employed to bring a supply from the island of Elephants. .

employed

One numisef et the Melbourne Argus recently contained no fewer than fifty-two advertisements addressed to " missing friends."

The Victoria Legislature have passed an act trebling the postage of letters in the colony, and placing a postage of a penny on each newspaper ; ship- letters a shilling. A Melbourne journal complains bitterly that the legisla- tors of the colony should have taken a step backward in a matter in which the movement in old countries is all the other way.

No fewer than sixty houses have been destroyed by a fire at St. John's, Newfoundland.

A little girl fell over a precipice 150 feet deep into the water near Niagara Falls; she was got out alive, but was not expected to survive.

Twenty-eight persons have perished by a collision between two trains on the Susquehannah Railway, ascribed to the carelessness of a conductor.

A fire at St. Juan, Porto Rico, has consumed property, principally goods in store, valued at 200,000 dollars.

Salonica has been "completely ruined" by a fire which consumed the stores of wool, cotton, corn, and tobacco, valued at upwards of 45,000,000 piastres.

Near the village of Mount Wisconsin, in the United States, a huge cavern was discovered many years ago by a gentleman; he entered with a torch; the place produced inflammable gas, which ignited, and the gentleman pe- rished. Since then, persons entering the "burning cavern" have been careful to take no naked lights. Recently, a party of twelve went into the cave ; they took a lantern only, but one of the visitors was smoking a pipe. - While they were in the cavern there was a frightful explosion : nine pe- rished, and the other three were badly hurt.

A great fire has occurred at Philadelphia, in which the theatre was de- stroyed, with many other large buildings. An actor, Mr. Shepherd, perished by returning to the burning theatre in search of his watch.

There was a fatal collision in the Atlantic on the 24th June. The Trade Wind, from Mobile to Liverpool, and the Olympus, from Liverpool to Boston, struck each other at half-past ten o'clock at night, and both went down about seven next morning. Some of the people saved themselves in boats; some were picked off from pieces of wreck by a passing vessel ; and one man was rescued by another ship after he had been clinging to the foremast for six days, with only a bit of tobacco to support him : two seamen who had been on the mast with him died from exhaustion. Twenty-four people are supposed to have perished.