iftistellantous.
Shortly after a Cabinet Consul in Downing Street, on Wednesday, de- spatches were sent off to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
Orders were given from the Commander-in-chief's Office, on Thursday morning, to all officers belonging to regiments in Ireland on leave of absence in London to repair immediately to rejoin their respective regiments quartered in that country. Prince George of Cambridge left town that night for Dublin.
• The provincial papers of the Southern counties from Dover to Cornwall concur in ascribing a favourable appearance to the corn crops, and in pro- mising an early harvest and one of average yield. Those of Wales and the Midland counties give nearly similar accounts regarding wheat, but men- tion considerable failures of the barley crop. However, they highly praise the yield of hay. The North of England papers speak in moderate hopes of the grain crop, which they describe to be rather thin, but of unusually good and healthy ear; but they state that the potato disease has in many instances reappeared and the root failed. The papers of Scotland in gene- ral promise favourably, and say that the harvest will be unusually early.
The latest account* from St. Petersburg (the 9th instant) and from Constantinople (the 5th) reported the continued spread of the cholera with great mortality.
The Commissioners appointed to inquire into the state and operation of the Law of Marriage, as relating to the prohibited degrees of affinity and to marriages solemnized abroad or in the British Colonies, have just issued their first report. They review the acts bearing on the subject, especially on the marriage of a widower with the sister of :deceased wife; the general state of opinion on both sides, the arguments and the facts; inclining strongly against the prohibition of that particular marriage. Their de- cisive judgment is thus set forth—
"On a review of the subject in all these its different bearings and effects, we are constrained not only to express our belief that the statute 5 & 6 Will. W. (declaring such marriage null and void] has failed to attain its object, but also to express our doubt whether any measure of a prohibitory character would be effectual. These marriages will take place when a concurrence of circumstances give rise to mutual attachment: they are not dependent on legislation. We are not inclined to think that such attachments and marriages would be extensively increased in number were the law to permit them; because, as we have said, it is not the state of the law, prohibitory or permissive, which has governed, or, as we think, ever will effectually govern them."
We reprint the following letter and editorial comment from the Times cf Tuesday. "TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. "Sir—There appeared in the Tines of Monday last a letter headed The Board of Trade and the Economist,' and signed 'A Merchant,' who complained that the Board of Trade bad been guilty of favouritism; in furnishing the Econo- mist with an exclusive copy' of the monthly trade returns, which appeared in it on the 8th instant. "Supposing that the error into which A Merchant' had fallen would at once be recognized by the majority of your readers, I did not think it needful to trouble you with any justification of the Board of Trade; but, seeing that the Spectator of this day has thought proper to make the letter of A Merchant' the subject of a leading article reasserting the charges against the Board of Trade, I must beg the favour of your inserting this letter, in order to correct these erroneous Imputations thus cast on a public department. " The facts are these—On Thursday the 6th instant the returns in question were presented to Parliament. Early on Friday morning the 7th instant a copy was delivered to every Member of Parliament with his other papers. On Friday night these returns were the subject of considerable discussion on the debate on the Sugar bill, both by Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Wilson. On Saturday morning they were published in 'full,' together with analytical remarks,' as they ars every month in the Economist; having reached us, as A Merchant' supposes, early on Friday morning. "How then 'A Merchant,' watching such subjects with so much care' and consequently the debates in Parliament, and still more the Spectator, could have been ignorant of the facts mentioned, I cannot understand. Certain it is, how- ever, that not the slightest imputation rests upon the Board of Trade.
"I am Sir, your obedient servant, A. W.
"Economist Office. Strand, July 15. " ".• We insert the above solely from courtesy, since we cannot help remarking that it in no way answers the complaint of our correspondent. The complaint in question was, that, having applied at the.only proper office known to the public for a certain document ordered by the House of Commons to be issued to them, and having for several consecutive days been told that it was not published he found that it had already been two days in the hands of private individuals, who obviously possessed some means of acquiring it other than those which were com- mon to all. Upon this he said, 'It would appear that the publication is not made fairly and simultaneously '; and the above letter merely goes to confirm the literal truth of his statement. Whether the fault lay with the Board of Trade or in the circumstance of Members of Parliament being enabled to furnish thew pri- vate friends with early copies of papers ordered by the House to be printed, and which papers are of such importance in their bearings upon mercantile and mone- tary transactions as to render priority valuable, it was not for him to determine. One inference would have been as strong as the other, and in either case the sys- tem should be abandoned."
Mr. John Stephenson, the great railway contractor, died on the 8th instant, at Rotherham. He had raised himself from the humble sphere of an artisan to be the head of one of the greatest contracting firms. Energetic and persevering to the highest degree in business, he was personally beloved for his amiable and generous disposition.
In the Thames Regatta, on Thursday the first day, the Claspers of Newcastle obtained a victory over the brothers Combos, R. Coombes being "the champion" of the Thames. The race was one for four-oared boats: with the three New- castle men was J. Wilkinson; with their antagonists, John Phelps and Messenger. The contest was very severe.
A novel and interesting match, for 2501., has been made by Mr. Naylor, the banker, and Mr. Thomas Ripley. Mr. Naylor has backed his cutter yacht, the Sultana, of 100 tons, to sad against Mr. Ripley's iron bark Panic, 400 tons, built by Mr. Cato, round the coast of Ireland. On Saturday, about noon, the vessels started on their novel cruise, the starting point being the North-west Light- ship. There was a large company on board each of the rival barks, and the start was made in gallant style. The rival vessels will each take the same course round, going by the Southern channel and returning by the Northern. The Dread- nought steam-tug, which took out on Saturday a party of gentlemen to witness the start, returned about eight o'clock in the evening, and reported that at the time she left the rival craft, the cutter yacht was fully seven miles to the windward of the bark. We learn from the captain of the Nimrod Cork steamer, which ar- rived here about eight o'clock last night, that he saw the yacht about half-past six that morning, and the bark a little before ten, the former being about four hours' sail in advance of its opponent. The influence of the weather so far, of course, tells powerfully to the advantage of the yacht —Liverpool Albion, July 17.
A vessel has arrived in the West India Docks front China with a large collec- tion of insects, filling 400 cases and numbering 140,000 specimens.
Four navigators employed on the Great Western Railway have been committed for trial by the Taunton Magistrates for emperilling the lives of the passengers of a mail-train by placing an obstruction on the main line. The men were directed to clear away some hay from the banks of the railway at night, after the mail-train had passed; the train is said to have been two hours behind time; the prisoners thought it had passed, and placed a truck on the rails, without a sufficient red lamp as a warning: when the train arrived, the truck was shattered to pieces, and the engine and tender were damaged, though no person was hurt.
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