Arnisttllaneous.

A Supplement to the Gazette, published on Saturday evening, contains a proclamation further proroguing Parliament from the 11th to the 18th of November, then to assemble for the despatch of divers urgent and im- portant affairs."

The Queen's Speech at the opening of the session will probably be de- livered on Tuesday the 23d; the previous days being devoted to the swear- ing-in of Members, and other formal preliminaries.

A move is announced as having taken place in the Colonial Office: Mr. Stephen has been made a Privy Councillor, and was sworn in on Saturday; and yesterday the Times made this statement- " Mr. Merivale has been appointed Assistant Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, in the room of Mr. Stephen; whose retirement was announced a few days since. Mr. Merivale is said to be an able lawyer, and, as the author of 'Lectures on Colonization,' is favourably known to the public."

It is generally remarked, however, that Mr. Stephen's retirement has not been formally announced—in the various announcements it has been mentioned prospectively; and that Mr. Merivale's title, "Assistant Under Secretary," is a peculiar innovation: he is said to be appointed "in the room of Mr. Stephen "; but Mr. Stephen was "Under Secretary," not "Assistant Under Secretary." No explanation of these facts is given; but there seems to be no doubt that Mr. Stephen is to retire, if he has not virtually done so already.

"A meeting of the noblemen and gentlemen of the Country party in the new Parliament is invited to assemble at the residence of Lord Stanley on the morning of the 18th." But in making the announcement, the Standard accompanies it with a qualification— 'This is not to be confounded with what one usually understands as 'musters of an Opposition,' summoned to arrange measures for a hostile movement against, or resistance to, the occupants of office. Sir Robert Peel has by his conduct, and by the condition in which he has left the country, unconsciously rendered one public service of great value: he has extinguished, by rendering effice worthless, all motive for that low political warfare the object of which is the possession of place." Therefore, the Standard intimates, "the Country party can have no pur- pose of displacing the present Ministers; and we will add, that an honourable and high-minded party cannot design to embarrass a Ministry which it would not dis- place, or even meditate a refusal of just and necessary support to such a Ministry, as far as this support can be given consistently with the maintenance of its own principles."

The Morning Herald made this announcement yesterday, the 5th of November, apropos to the election of Baron Lionel de Rothschild-

" The friends of the Church will learn with gratitude and approval, that all attempts to un-Christianize the House of Commons will find no sanction in the noble leader of the Conservative party; and it is hardly possible to conceive that the fellowers of that leader will be less sensible of the obligations due to the reli- gion we profess, and the holy church to which we belong."

It is rumoured, that it is her Majesty's intention not only once more to pay a visit to the Isle of Mau, but to take up her abode there for a por- tion of the summer season. The rumour further asserts that Castle Mona is the residence chosen for the future occupation of Royalty; and that a person high in authority is now or has been lately inspecting the premises for his Royal Mistress, and treating for the purchase thereof.—Glebe. After a sojourn of sie days at Lisbon, Queen Adelaide has sailed fer Madeira. Her embarkation was attended by the King Consort, Sir Hamil- ton Seymour, several of the members of the Portuguese Government, and Sir Charles Napier. The Howe was towed clear of the Tagus by the Terrible steam-frigate. On leaving the Tagus, however, the Howe was placed for some time in a position of considerable danger. A heavy sea was running; abreast of the Cascares or Hatch-up Shoals, both hawsers broke, and the vessel drifted to leeward. The anchor was let go, and for- tunately it held; and the ship rode out the night in safety. In the morn- ing, a breeze sprung up from the land, which enabled the Howe to get out to sea.

A deputation from a public meeting held in Birmingham waited upon Lord John Russell on Thursday, to demand further relief for the com- mercial world. Speeches on the state of mercantile affairs and the cur- rency, from the Birmingham point of view, were delivered by Mr. G. F. Muntz, Mr. Spooner, Mr. Scholefield, Mr. Salt, and Mr. Barlow. The members of the deputation spoke with the directness and force of phrase permitted to poets and enthusiasts: ex. gr. Mr. hluntz cautioned Lord John how he listened to irresponsible advisers like Mr. Jones Loyd—[a name well known, but hitherto ineffable as that of Dernogorgon]; and Mr. Salt was still more explicitly emphatic—he declared that the manufacturers could not afford the 8 per cent required by the Bank of England, so that they must throw their hands out of work ; but he warned Lord John, that the people would not thus submit to be "exterminated "; and be went on roundly to charge Ministers with " ignorance " in monetary affairs. Lord John listened with studious attention, but said little, and expressed no opinion. He rose to close the interview; on which Mr. Salt expressly asked him whether he was prepared to grant present:efficient relief and a full inquiry into the effects of the existing monetary legislation. Lord John Russell, after a deliberation of a few seconds, replied, "I do not say that I will or I will not." With that information, the deputation retired.

On the same day, Lord John Russell, now accompanied by Earl Grey, received a deputation from several merchants and other gentlemen con-

nested with the West Indies, who attended to furnish information on the subject of a " Memorandum " that had been presented to the Ministers some days previously. The members of the deputation did not indulge in speeches, but successively related oases that came within their own per- sonal knowledge, illustrating the actual condition of the West Indian

Colonies; giving names, figures, and other precise details. The general purport of their representations was, that hitherto the su- gar culture has been kept up, through all the difficulties consequent on the unprepared emancipation, by means of capital supplied from this country; but that the incessant drain could no longer be supported; and therefore, unless the capitalists resident in this country were in some form assured of relief from Government, the bills drawn upon them for payment of wages would be returned to the West Indies dishonoured, and orders would be given to abandon the estates. Lord John Russell and Lord Grey did not take any large share in the conversation; uttering only a few ge- neral remarks, and betraying no intimate acquaintance with the facts. The little that was said sufficed to give an impression far from satisfactory or hopeful. Lord John Russell, however, promised to submit the case to the whole Cabinet.

We subjoin the document to which the interview had reference.

MEMORANDUM

1. The Committee cannot doubt that the alarming state of the West India Colonies has attracted the attention of her Majesty's Government; yet they feel constrained to represent that it is such as to demand the most serious and prompt consideration. S3 grievous is the depression to which they are reduced, and so little confidence is entertained of any amendment, that their credit is utterly de- stroyed. 2. This deplorable crisis has been entirely occasioned by the acts of the Im- perial Parliament. Within the last fifteen years these Colonies have been sub- jected to a series of measures, social and fiscal, which have effected a complete re- volution in their condition- The transition from bondage to perfect freedom, which in Europe was the work of ages, and only accomplished by the greater cheapness of free labour, was there precipitated without due preparation. 3. The landed proprietors had scarcely commenced their attempt to overcome the inevitable difficulties of their new position, when they were required to com- pete with the immense possessions of the East India Company, enjoying the ad- vantage of the cheapest free labour in the world; their trade with foreign nations being at the same time free from the restrictions imposed upon the West India Colonies.

4. A few years more only had elapsed, daring which many proprietors sunk into rain, and all had to maintain a most arduous and unprofitable straggle, when they were exposed to further competition with every country having the sem- blance of freedom, while they were themselves prohibited from endeavouring to procure an accession of suitable labourers. 5. This measure was, indeed, accompanied by a strong public assurance that the produce of all countries cultivated by slaves would continue to be excluded— Parliament having adopted it on that ground by a large majority. And, relying upon this assurance, great efforts were made, and large additional capital was in- vested, in order to diminish the fixed charges of cultivation by hie:eased pro- diction.

6. All who thus confided in the stability of the Imperial policy towards the Colonies were, however, doomed to suffer severe disappointment. In less than fifteen months, the same Parliament that had been 80 careful to mark the dis- tinction between freedom and slavery, and to proclaim their solemn decision for the encouragement of supplies from the free couptries, disregarded their own act, and suddenly resolved to admit the produce of slaves and free men on equal terms. 7. The difficulties and charges which these successive measures have inflicted upon the West India Colonies have at length brought them to a state of de- pression bordering on despair. All their efforts have been rendered fruitless by the unexpected admission of slave-grown sugar, and they have even tended, by aug- menting the supply, to aggravate their loss. And now, seeing the slave.trade ra- pidly extending, as evinced by the greater number of captures, and the testimony of those employed to suppress it, they cannot discover encouragement, or find means, to continue the struggle they have so long maintained, unless her Ma- jesty's Government shall immediately interpose a vigorous legislation for their re- lief and support.

8. The Committee are aware that, notwithstanding the great decline in the value of West India property and the discredit in which it is held, some public men profess to doubt these notorious facts, and to insist that the Colonies, without being further relieved from restriction or supported by favour of any kind, are able to contend successfully with all their competitors. This opinion must rest upon the assumption, that the proprietors, who are almost all dependant on their Colonist estates, have made no exertion to render them productive; and it also ins- plies that the merchants who are deeply concerned in the results of their cultiva- tion are indifferent to their success,—premises so improbable, that if they were not frequently set forth, the Committee would not even seem to believe that they can have any influence with her Majesty's Government. 9. The proofs of their failure are, unfortunately, too palpable to admit of any question with an unprejudiced observer. Property cannot be sold—securities can- not be assigned—mortgages cannot realize interest. There can be no doubt as to the condition of any country of which these averments can be truly made. The merchants, without whose support much of that property could not be cultivated, find themselves drawn from year to year into increased advances. With the ut- most reluctance to augment their amount, and yet unwilling to abandon all hope of retrievement, both proprietors and merchants are involved in accumulating em- barrassment Under this wasting conflict their fortunes disappear—their num- bers diminish—and the estates they have made such sacrifices to uphold are gradually abandoned.

10. This unnatural state of the Colonies cannot continue, and events must soon bring it forcibly to a close. If the extraneous resources by which they have been sustained be at length exhausted, the rain of the proprietors and their con- signees will not be the only consequence. All classes of the population must suffer from their fall; for all are alike concerned in the successful culture of their staple products, and especially sugar. They are destitute of' manufactures, even the moat simple; and dependant also upon foreign supplies for many objects which they have been accustomed to regard as necessaries of life. The peasantry may raise food for mere subsistence, but without exports they cannot have imports; and, deprived of the capital and intelligence of the proprietors they. would not have the means of producing any exchangeable commodity of the least importance. Although they have hitherto been eminently prosperous because they have been able to exact more for their labour than its produce has yielded, they cannot be exempted from all participation in the fate of those by whom they are employed. The interests of both are in fact identical, though for a time their adjustment may be deferred.

11. In these lamentable circumstances, the Committee most anxiously:apr' to her Majesty's Government. Although the representations they made on a former occasion, with regard to the injustice and =policy of admitting slave-grown sugar on equal terms with the produce of free countries, were unheeded, they cannot bat hope that the truth of the statements which were then submitted will be recognized in the disastrous effects which that measure has Already produced. With the further experience they have had, they beg leave now to declare their conviction, that the West India Colonies cannot be maintained in cultivation with-

out a differential duty of at least 10s. per hundredweight on slave-grown sugar; to be continued for such a period as shall enable them to be fully supplied with labour. With this support assured to them, and other measures adopted for their relief and advancement, confidence might be restored, and capital found not only to maintain cultivation but also to carry forward every improvement. This policy the Committee firmly believe, would at once save the Colonies from ruin, and prove the most certain as well as the most desirable means of securing an abun- dant and cheap supply of sugar. The admission of slave-labour produce has, in the mean time, greatly reduced the price; but it is obvious that the advantages of abundance and cheapness can only be permanently obtained from profitable cul- tivation. Equal rates of duty cannot, however, insure fair competition between countries cultivated by free men receiving high wages for moderate work, and those which are cultivated by the forced and unrequited labour of slaves. The Committee trust that the very critical position in which they and their con- stituents are placed will afford a sufficient apology for their importunity in again pressing these considerations most earnestly upon the attention of her Majesty's Government.

12. The Committee have for many years urged in vain the necessity of remov- ing every kind of restriction npon immigration into the Colonies. 'They once more respectfully repeat their claim for perfect freedom of intercourse, and for the right of hiring labourers wherever they can be found willing to enter into their service. Without an abundant supply of free labour it is impossible to contend with an unlimited supply of slaves. In order to secure that abundance, it will not suffice merely to permit emigration from Africa: it must be openly and zea- lously encouraged. For that purpose, the Committee trust that her Majesty's Go- vernment will be pleased to 'crews a part nf the funds appropriated to the sup- pression of the slave-trade; and, instead of shrinkiiig $,ito timid apprehension be- fore the bold defiance and calumnies of the slave-trader, that they will use all their influence to substitute free emigration for his cruel traffic.

13. Another source of supply of free labour might be found in an improved ar- rangement for the liberation and settlement of captured Africans. They have hitherto been sent chiefly to Sierra Leone: but it was proved before a Committee of the House of Commons, so long ago as 1842, that these people could not there find any means of comfortable subsistence, and were not even certain of their freedom; and the Committee of Inquiry accordingly reported, that "it would be well for the African, in every point of view, to find himself a free labourer in the free British West India Colornes•' enjoying there, as he would, higher advantages of every kind than have fallen to the lot of the Negro race in any other portion of the globe."

14. The Committee hope that more effectual measures will be devised for the coercive suppression of the slave-trade; and they would respectfully suggest that a portion of the naval force engaged in that service, especially steamers, should be stationed off the coasts of the Transatlantic countries to which the slaves are con- veyed. Captures made there would still further aggravate the loss of the slave- trader, and so discourage the traffic. 15. The Committee also trust that her Majesty's Government will be disposed to extend to the West India Colonies the same sympathy which was -last year manifested towards the agriculturists of the Mother-country; and that theywill seek authority from Parliament to guarantee loans, upon satisfactory provision being made for their liquidation, to encourage drainage and other agricultural im- provements, on terms analogous to those of the act pealed for similar purposes during the last session. 16. The Committee further confidently expect that the duties on rum will be reduced to equality with the duties on home-made spirits; and that the Act 10 Vic. cap. 6, permitting the distillation of sugar, will be so amended as to render the drawback of duty sufficient, and also permit the use of sugar along with grain as well as separately. They cannot admit that the scruples of Excise-officers, or the alleged restrictions imposed upon distillers, are valid objections to their claims. To the Colonies, these seem only pretexts to cover concessions of protection to their disadvantage; for it is obvious that arrangements can be made for ascertaining the actual quantity of spirits distilled, and levying the revenue thereon, as securely without these restrictions as with them.

17. The Committee beg likewise to renew their request to be permitted to bring the produce of the Colonies to market in any form which may be found most con- venient, and to refine it in bond before entering it for home consumption. 18. The measures here suggested are not only in perfect accordance with just policy, but almost all of them are necessary to render the legislation of Parliament consistent. The necessities of the Colonies have, however, become so urgent, that, unless their credit can be restored by a prompt declaration of the intentions of her Majesty's Government, extensive disasters must immediately ensue. Already many proprietors are unable to raise funds to pay wages; every packet carries back a large amount of bills protested; the resources which have for years enabled them to cultivate their estates are exhausted or withheld; all parties connected with them have lost the hope which has hitherto sustained their exertions; without ex- traneous aid the growing crop cannot be reaped, and that aid will not be given ex cept upon an assurance that the crop will yield more than the cost of producing it.

(Signed) CHARLES CAVE, Chairman. West India Committee Rooms, London, 25th October 1847.

Though the new failures in London and Liverpool have been compare tively unimportant, the aggregate number of stoppages throughout the country is very considerable. The respectable house of Messrs. Coates and Co., of Bread Street, suspended payments on Monday. The firm has been very largely engaged in the trade with America; and although their transactions have gone to the extent of 1,000,0001.a year, the liabilities are not above 100,0001. Another failure occurred on Tuesday—that of Mr. S. S. Curtis, an old-esta - blished firm in the hide trade. The liabilities are not large. There have been several failures in the manufacturing districts. Among the houses mentioned are the following—Messrs. Rodgett and Brierly, spinners of Blackburn, with liabilities estimated at 70,0001.. Messrs. Swainson and Birchwood, with ample assets; J. Barton and Co., silk-dealers, 25,000/. debt; W. Hartwright, twist, silk, and cloth-agent; Inglish, manufacturer; J. Barton and Co., the entire liabilities 20,0001., assets 5,0001.; and J. Gillow, manufacturer, of Preston, the latter having been involved in the suspension of Barclay and Co. The list of failures at Glasgow is beaded by that of Messrs. II. Holdsworth and Son, machine-makers and cotton-spinners; %%hose liabilities are spoken of as heavy. The other stoppages are those of Messrs. Pearson, Wilson, and Co., foreign merchants; Messrs. Kilgowr and Leith, a shipping and West India firm; and Messrs. Covens, Smith, and Co.: in none of these cases, however, are the liabilities large.

The failure of Messrs. M‘Tear, Hadfield, and Thompson, of Liverpool, WAS an- nounced on Wednesday. The house is engaged in the Brazil trade, and the lia- bilities are not stated.

The stoppage of the Shrewsbury and Market Drayton Bank (Adams, Adams, Warren, and Co.) was anaemic J on Tuesday. It was a bank of issue, but its fixed circulation was only 9,7004 and its liabilities altogether are believed to be insignificant. On Thursday morning, was announced the failure of the Honiton bank (Flood and Lott). It was an old firm, having been established in 1786; and its author- ized issue was 19,0151. According to the published return on the 9th October, its outstanding notes amounted only to 14,9061. The total liabilities are not sup-

posed to be large, and the partners express a full conviction that they shall pay 208. in the pound; an impression which is shared by well-informed parties in

London. Advances upon landed property are understood to have caused the failure. Lubbock and Co., the London agents, are entirely covered. Messrs. Barnett, Hoare, and Co., have notified their readiness to accept, for the honour of the drawers, the draughts of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Com- pany of New York, on Gower, Nephews, and Co. It has been notified that the draughts of the Gore Bank, Upper Canada, drawn on Reid, Irving, and Co., will be protected by Glyn and Co.; ample funds having been remitted for the purpose by that institution.

From St. Petersburg the advices state that the firm of Messrs. Thomas and Co. have not stopped payment, as had been anticipated; and that the house of Rive and Co. were to carry on their business under inspection. An agent named Ver- mehen had failed, pulled down by the stoppage of Gower and Co.

A meeting of the creditors of Messrs. Barclay, Brothers, and Co., took place on Tuesday. The statement of account laid before the creditors exhibited a nominal surplus of 8,9871.; but the explanations given by the chairman tended to show a very unfavourable liquidation. It appears that in June last, Messrs. Barclay, Brothers, and Co., entered into an arrangement with their agents in the Mann- tins to divide the estates in which they were interested, and which up to that time had been held equally by the two firms. By that means, the items in the `Mauritius account" came into their possession. There are creditors how- ever, who hold draughts of the Mauritius agents upon the London firm to the amount of 100,0001., (and it does not appear certain but that that sum may be increased,) who will, of course, not permit the transfer to be completed without provision being made for the satisfaction of their claims. The amount of the di- vidend will depend upon the amount realized by the Mauritius estates; and the prospect of a dividend of 14s. in the pound is cons4zv..:1 to be remote. The af- fairs are to be wound na wider inspection.

The inspectors of the estate of W. and J. Woodley, whose stoppage took place on the 27th of August, expect to be able to pay a first dividend of 6s. 8d. in the pound in the course of about a month.

The creditors of Messrs. Rickards, Little, and Co., had a meeting on Wednes- day, to receive a statement of affairs. The account showed a lamentable de- ficiency; the debts being 144,6761., and the assets only 50,430/. The partners are to liquidate the concern under inspection.

We have received a letter from Messrs. Henry Houldsworth and Son, of Glas- gow, stating, that if the announcement of the stoppage of "Messrs. Iloldsworth, of Glasgow," in the Liverpool correspondence of the Times of Saturday, was in- tended to apply to their firm, it was wholly incorrect. By a reference to the Glas- gow Directory we find there is no firm of the name of Holdsworth, and we are therefore glad to have the opportunity of making this statement. —Times.

An interesting circumstance with reference to the high rate of interest was made known in the City today. A number of eight-months bills have been sent over to Holland, discounted there at the rate of 4 per cent, and the proceeds received in gold by the steamer which has arrived in Lou- bi merniog,—Mirening Chronicle, Nov. 1.

-Dtitillg the ar.li'!":"2-f'.7.an the Continent in considerable Quantities, chiefly from Hamburg and Holland. More than a million has been received at the Bank of England within the last fortnight.

The Gazette of Tuesday announces, that after the expiration of one ca- lendar month from the date of the publication of this notice, her Majesty, with the advice of her Privy Council, will take into consideration the pro- priety of making an order for paying the judges, clerks, bailiffs, and officers of the County Courts, by salaries instead of fees, or in such other manner as may be deemed expedient.

One hundred and sixty-eight gentlemen have given the regular notice of their intention to apply this term to be admitted attornies to practise in the Court of Queen's Bench. There are also sixteen notices for readmission to practise.

The Perthshire Advertiser mentions, that within the last ten days the potato disease, which had almost disappeared in the Highlands, has again manifested itself to an astonishing extent."

The Brighton and South Coast Railway fares have just been raised First class express-trains, from 19s. to 21s., second class ordinary trains, from 11g. 6d. to 13s., with a proportionate increase throughout the scale. Third-class day-tickets are to be discontinued.

The return of the Curacoa from the South American station, after an ab- sence of four years, has afforded an opportunity of testing the value of the marine glue used in joining her masts. An inspection of the masts was made on Tuesday, at Sheerness—

"Eight men were set to work with sledge-hammers, and wedges to separate the timbers; but their whole united efforts at one time failed to separate the joints, and only split the solid timber into large pieces. The fore-mast, which was joined in the upper part in the usual manner adopted at the dock-yards, was found to be very rotten; the parts where the wet had entered and been retained

being equally yielding to the pressure of the hand as a piece of sponge, and in other places where dry crumbled into powder on being pressed. Both masts being in the same vessel, and exposed to the same weather and climates, afford a cor- rect comparison; and pieces of each have been sent to the Admiralty for their Lordships' inspection."

Persons are warned against sending letters of a very small size through the post, as they sometimes slide into larger letters, and are delivered with them.

It is stated that arrangements are making, and nearly completed, be- tween the English and French Governments, for the acceleration of the mails; and that, if carried out, the despatches from London will arrive in Paris at ten o'clock in the morning after being posted.—Globe.

According to the Augsburg Gazette, the French Government have de- spatched Count Lallemand and M. Eugene Bore, from Constantinople into to inquire Lite Plc state pf affairs there, particularly as to the con- dition of the Syrian Christhang.

The Minister of Finance in Belgium has given orders to the Customs- officers of the frontiers, that for the future, personal examination of pas- sengers, especially of females, shall not take place unless almost certain in- dications of fraud shall exist.

The son of the Count de Bomfim has been the medium of communicating to several members of the two Houses of Parliament the heartfelt thanks of his father for their exertions in his behalf.

A report has recently been received by the Hudson's Bay Company from their station at Fort Churchill, giving the details of a successful expedition made by a party under Dr. John Rae to explore some portion of the Arctic coast as yet unvisited by Europeans. The party was despatched in July 1846, and returned last September; having traced the coast all the way from Lord Mayor's Bay, to latitude 69° 42' North, longitude 85° 8' West, or within a few miles of the Hecla and Fury Straits. The geographical importance of the discovery is held to lie in its establishing the accuracy of Sir John Ross's hypothesis that Boothia Felix is a peninsula connected to the sushi land, by an isthmus situate in latitude 69° 31' North, longitude 970 29' 30" West.

Accounts from the Mauritius report an improvement in the state of the weather, some beneficial showers having fallen. Nearly all the estates on the sea-side, it is calculated, will make less sugar than last year, but on many in the interior there will perhaps be an increase. Altogether, there is expected to be a falling-off in the production to the extent of twelve or fifteen millions of pounds.

The retirement of Mr. Stephen gives occasion to the subjoined panegyric in the Morning Chronicle- " As Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, the panegyrics of Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell, the acquiescence of all former Colonial Secretaries. therein, and the assent of Lord Grey to his deserved elevation to the Privy Coun- cil, would be sufficiently striking evidences of his ability, zeal in the public ser- vice, and undeviating probity, and ought to convince all what a loss the Colonial Department will sustain in the retirement of such a public servant He will soon have a successor: the best wish we can give him is that he may be considered equal to Mr. Stephen.

Full of knowledge on all Colonial subjects, Mr. Stephen was remarkable for- his keen perception of character. Persons as well as principles were familiar to him, who had but one object and one ambition—to do his duty honestly and effi- ciently. Was there a local act passed, by an ignorant or factious majority in a House of Assembly, which militated against the Imperial law, his well-informed mind discovered the departure from right; and the error was rectified.

" Having bad a legal education, he was aware of the exact constitutional powers of all Colonial Legislatures, whether they were colonies by occupancy, , establish- !net by charter, or colonies by conquest; and the names of their legislative and judicial bodies, which in themselves are of difficult attainment, were to him per- fectly familiar. Of imperturbable temper, a kind, but still a judiciously-regulated disposition, he weighed with a judicial deliberativeness every question; and whoa he wrote a despatch—and many a despatch he did write—it was remarkable for the great analytic power manifested. You might differ from him: you could not say you did not know his meaning, or that his style was obscure.

,

He lived in an atmosphere above all impure influences. He was inaccessible to blandishments. Happy peculiarity ! He was not to be surprised into an ad- mission, cajoled into a.promise, or talked into a conclusion. Official impenetra- bility is most useful in the Colonial Office. In any other department he who is whispered against is on the spot, may be appealed to, and can speedily set himself right. In the Colonial Department a year may revolve while the pure but libelled, officer may be covered with the venom of the libeller, "Lord John Russell, Lord Grey, and such immaculate men are wisely choseir the heads of such an influential department. Their subordinates should be pos- sessed of the same lofty qualities as themselves. Mr. Stephen's history is a proof that in this great country no public man, in the long run, is injured by ins- merited calumny. Partisan agents and a hired press in the interest of the West Indian body, because the Colonial Office was properly inaccessible to their whis- pers, and capable of detecting their istrignes against every one who was honest enough to keep from lending himself to their views, sought to establish it as a fact that the purity of Mr. Stephen arose from his hostility. [What does this mean?] Who now believes this? [Who understands it? Nobody. "Whatever were his views on slavery, whatever were • views on politics, whether Whig or Tel', his singlemindedness is known to all who ever were brought into contact with him. Steady, zealous, intellectual, well-informed, in- dustrious of benevolent tendency, we rejoice at his newly-acquired honours, we. regret his loss to the public service, and we hope yet to see him in some position in which the community will have the benefit of his knowledge, and of the dedi- cation of his disciplined intellect and his honest zeal to their service."

The Daily News, a journal of Whiggish politics, but unable to resist its- own better knowledge on Colonial affairs, supplies a contrast to the fore- going eulogium-

" Mr. James Stephen has at last resigned the office of Under-Secretary of the Colonial Department, and by his resignation has terminated a career of great mis- fortune to the public, and of sad injustice to a large number of unfortunate per- sons who have served the Crown under that department during his tenure of office. He has certainly retired as gracefully as circumstances would permit. He has been saved the mortification of yielding to the storm of indignation and popu- lar reprobation which so frequently raged around him; and has had his reputation protected, as far as protection could be given to it, by a summons to a seat in her Majesty's Privy Council. Henceforward he is the Right Honourable James Stephen; but henceforward he is no longer Under-Secretary for the Colonies. The empty honour is his; the real gain is to the public.

"We have no desire to do injustice to the right honourable gentleman. Mr. Stephen is undoubtedly a man of very great intellectual power; his mind has been highly cultivated; his views are frequently original, and always worthy of con- sideration; his information is varied and extensive; and his style of literary com- position is rhetorical and glittering. He failed in the Colonial Office, and injured both this country and its colonies, not from want of ability' and certainly not from absence of opportunity to serve them, but because he had been educated in a hol- low, insincere, presumptuous, selfish, and intolerant school, and became master of that school. Craft, policy, intrigue, jealousy, and chicanery, were the characteris- tics of the Colonial Office during Mr. Stephen's long direction of it. No one con- nected with it had, till lately, confidence in its justice, its honour' its integrity, or its generosity: the Colonies feared it; the colonists hated it; merchants connected with the Colonies despised it; and every one who knew aught of its mechanism attributed its defects, its faults, its crimes, to Mr. James Stephen. Some of the ablest statesmen of the day were its chiefs whilst Mr. Stephen was Under-Secre- tary—Lord Ripon, Lord Stanley, Lord John Russell, Mr. Gladstone, for example;- but all failed, signally, and disastrously failed therein. "These statesmen failed because success under our present Colonial system is not within the range of possibilities or of human ability; for it is a system that teazes, irritates, worries, and overgoverns the Colonies•' and of that system Mr. Stephen was the life, in whom it moved, breathed, and had its being. No one in- our time had such ample opportunities of seeing and feeling its evil consequences: he saw and felt them in rebellions in Canada in Caffre wars at the Cape, in war and insolvency in New Zealand, in crimes abhorrent to human nature in N-an Die- men's Land, in ruin and devastation in New South Wales, in the gradual extinc- tion of capital in the West Indies, in dissatisfaction and animosity in every colony and in every colonist. But experience taught him nothing: he persisted in the system which a stroke of his pen, or one generous thought, might have altered; and he leaves the system rampant in mischief. "But it will be asked, if all this be true of Mr. Stephen, how came be to be retained so long in office? We reply, that he was pushed into the Colonial De- partment by the clique to which he belonged, at a period when its influence was paramount; at a time when the then head of the clique declared, in a letter which accidentally transpired, that "all the Colonial Office wanted was to be saved from the trouble of thinking " I The influence of that party, unfortunately prolonged by Lord Glenelg, and revived, when about expiring, by Mr. Gladstone added to bus own ability and cunning, and the ignoranee of his superiors, maintained him there, despite the outcry of the victims of the disastrous policy of which he was the instrument- And it is only at last, when the consequences of that policy have been brought home to public conviction, that his retirement is made a tardy offer upon the altar of public opinion." One day last week, a shark was captured upon the sands of Nigg, near Bay- field, Cromarty Firth. It was five feet long. These dangerous "monsters of the deep " are becoming rather too common upon our coasts.—North British Mail.

A party of monks, says the Bristol Gazette, have established themselves at Spring Park, near Stroud, and are daily seen walking in the neighbourhood with cowl and sandaled sheen, to the great astonishment of the rustics.

The Deronport Independent publishes an astounding list of vegetable monsters; headed by a cabbage weighing forty-five pounds, and a turnip of nearly forty- nine pounds. On Thursday last, a magpie flew into the open window of a dressing-room, at Skene House, and ingeniously contrived to pick a ring, belonging to Lady Agnes Duff; from the upright stalk of a ring-stand, and fly off with it in his bill. Lady Apes' maid, who was alone in the room at the time, and witnessed the theft with- out being able to prevent it, was filled with consternation. The ring, she knew, was a valuable one—worth forty guineas; and she naturally feared that the story of the magpie would hardly be accepted as a satisfactory account of its disappear- ance. A workman, to whom she communicated the alarm, had seen the bird fly out, and observed that it first perched on the top of a rack of wood. By great good fortune, they found, on going to the place, that the ring had been dropped, and was lying on the ground. This incident will remind our readers of the dra- matic piece entitled The Maid and the Magpie; but they must not therefore imagine that our story is either fictitious or coloured.—Aberdeen

1,1 Parmentier, who was tried by the French Court of Peers, with M. Teste and General Cubires, died last week, at Lure. After the trial, his health de- clined rapidly, from agitation of mind; and he never rallied.

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

Number of Autumn deaths. average. Zyrnotic 'or Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious) Diseases 276 .. . 211 Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 91 .... 101 Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 133 ... 137 Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 243 .... 333 Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 27 .... 31 Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 79 .... 71 Diseases of the Kidneys, Re 11 .... 9

Childbirth, diseases of the Uterus, Sc. 13 .... II

Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, Se. 12 7

Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, Sc. 4 . . 2

Old Age 38 .... 6S Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance 19 .... 29 — . — Total (including um/wined causes) 943 1048

The temperature of the thermometer ranged from 75.8° in the sun to 26.5° in the shade; the mean temperature by day being warmer than the average mean temperature by 2.5°. The mean direction of the wind for the week was South south-west.