gbe Vrobintes.

Birkenhead Docks were opened on Easter- Monday, with public re- joicings; also the extension of the Chester Railway to the docks, and the Park attached to the town.

On the North of Woodside Pier a large open basin for the accommodation of coasters has been constructed. At the West corner is the Woodside Dock; which leads, through a pair of gates, in a direct line to the Bridge- end Dock; and that will branch off in a. North-easterly direction to the great Floating Dock. The Birkenhead Dock Warehouse Company has laid out extensive warehouses in South Birkenhead, and has already built the first portion with an amount of space sufficient for the stowage of 80,000 tons of goods. Adjoining these warehouses, the Chester and Birkenhead Railway Company has built a new goods station. These comprised the portion of the works to be opened on Monday. Under their acts of Par- liament, the Dock Commissioners have only power to levy moderate dues on the shipping admitted to the docks, none on the goods.

Great preparations had been made for the ceremonial of the opening. A festival committee was formed, comprising the heads of the Birkenhead Dock Commission and the local companies, and invitations were sent forth in all directions. All the directors and commercial bodies on the Cheshire side of the Mersey gave their workpeople a holyday, without any deduction of pay; and an immense concourse assembled on the bank of the river.

Mr. John Laird and the Dock Commissioners proceeded in the Redwing, a Government steamer, to Liverpool, to receive the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests, Lord Morpeth; who, with some friends, arrived about noon, by railway from York. In the tender they went to the Lord Warden steamer, a large vessel built by Mr. John Laird for the Dover and Folke- stone line, but now crowded with Birkenhead Improvement Commissioners, Railway Directors, and many other members of local and commercial bodies. In this steamer, the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests proceeded to open the new docks, by entering through the Woodside Basin; the Lord Warden was followed by the Redwing, the pilot-boats of the port, and the Royal. Mersey Yacht Club squadron. As the vessels entered, ar- tillery fired a salute, and bands struck up the national anthem. The prin- cipal steamer passed along the first dock, round the Bridge-end Dock, and landed its freight on the North Quay. Here was an elevated platform, with rising seats, accommodating two thousand ladies and gentlemen; and from this spot Lord Morpeth viewed the docks.

Thence he went to the warehouses, fitted up for a banquet; of which we have this detailed description- " The warehouses are each 136 feet long by 46 broad. The plan upon which they were partitioned of will be seen above. Proceeding up the grand staircase and passing along the corridor, the visiter was ushered first into the ante-room; on the right of which was the ball-room; on the left the retiring-room, leading to the room where the dejeuner was served. The walla and ceilings of the four rooms were hung with pink and white drapery. . The staircase and corridor were ornamented with evergreens and sweet-sur flowers, kindly furnished by the Marquis of Westminster.

"The room appropriated for the guests during the dejeuner was admirably adapted for the purpose. The table for the Vice-Chairman and principal guests ran along the whole length of the room, and in a transverse direction seventeen other tables were placed. The tables and seats were covered with crimson cloth. The room was lighted by 138 gas-lights, two lines of lights running the whole length. At each end were two handsome illuminated scrolls, giving the whole a very brilliant and dazzling appearance. At the extreme end of the room, to the left of the Chairman, there was a small loft, or apartment, in which a good view of the splendid scene was obtained by the families of the Committee. In the room adjoining the band was placed, in an elevated orchestra in the centre. The ante- room was gorgeously fitted up. In the middle stood a rockery, from which a magnificent cascade was throwing forth its silvery and refreshing streams amidst a profusion of choice conservatory plants, evergreens, and other decorations; the delicious odour of -flowers enhancing the pleasure of the spectators. At each corner was an elegantly laid-out refreshment-stall, for the accommodation of the ladies and gentlemen at the ball; this apartment being principally intended as a retiring-room from the ball-room. The floor was covered with crimson baize.

"The ball-room was, like the banqueting-room, lighted by means of two lines of gas-lights running the whole length of the room. The apartments, in short, were rich and elegant in the extreme. The entrances, staircase, corridor, and pas- sages, were all in keeping; and every pains had been taken to give the best effect to the proceedings of the day, and at the same time provide for the convenience of all the guests." The company now sat down to a dejeuner. In the chair was Mr. Joseph Bailey, M.P.; on his right were, Lord Morpeth, Lady Mary Howard, Sir PULP and Lady Egerton, Viscount Brackky, Sir Henry De la Beebe, the Honourable Captain Cavendish, Mrs. Bailey, the Dean of Chester, the Mayor of Manchester, &c.; on his left, the Earl of Lincoln, Mr. Cornwall Legh and Mrs. Legh, Lord Monteagle, Lord Ingestre, Professor Owen, Count D'Avigrion, the Mayor of Salford, Mr. E. J. Stanley, Mr. Thornely, M.P., Mr. George Dawson, the Mayor of Chester, &a.

There was some speaking by the principal guests; and foremost among these, Lord Morpeth celebrated the grand event in his hearty manner— "As a wellwisher of the public, as a servant of the Crown, and as an admirer of courageous enterprise and successful perseverance, I find a compression of claims upon ins for feeling an interest in the welfare of the town; and for doing in my department, in conjunction with my colleagues—by whom I am most wil- lingly and zealously seconded, and hi presence of the example set me by my pre- decessors in office—all that in us lies to promote, by all legitimate means, the per- manent prosperity of Birkenhead. With this feeling, then, you may judge with how lively an emotion I have partaken in all the proceedings of the day. We have heard sometimes of the gala-days in Venice, when the Doge went forth in his gilded galley, plighting his faith to the people of his gorgeous palace: that, no doubt, was a magnificent pageant in its way; but we have seen something this day beyond the triumphs of Venice even in her palmiest days. For instance, such an array of magnificent steam-vessels never could have been witnessed in Venice. Although, perhaps, a steamer, when viewed in itself, may not be so pic- turesque an object as a gondola, yet I would remind you, that even in the palmiest days of all her pomps and argosies, Venice never could have sent forth a message which in ten days would have reached the harbours and roadsteads of the New World, where her flag never waved. Never was the advantage of this country in that respect more useful than at the present time, when, as your chairman has most appropriately alluded to the fact, the cry of famine from our afflicted regions is careering on the winds of heaven to the West- ern shores, we through the medium of the skill and enterprise of our people, can transport the rich crops from the fertile banks of the Ohio, and from the endless streams of the Mississippi, to our own shores for the use of those who require it. And indeed, it would be a most pleasing omen, and I shall think of it again, if this should be prominent amongst the uses to which this ample basin will be ap- propriated, through which a vessel has this day for the first time floated. All this striking specimen of engineering skill, and admirable masonry by which it is sustained, should be applied to admit the surplus crops from other climes—to admit their produce into this kingdom, and to supply the bread which eth life. Next in the progress of time (I hope in the course of this very autumn you will be enabled to bear your part in accommodating the timber-trade to the fullest ex- tent. I will not proceed farther through these long vistas of the usefulness of enterprise and success, which I trust will be strengthened by the future prospects of Birkenhead, and which I hope the proceedings of this day will have given an auspicious commencement and a powerful impulse to. I would jest express a hope in passing, that that good feeling which has hitherto existed between you and the great city immediately opposite you shall still remain undisturbed. Liverpool ,divides with London the supremacy of the commerce of the entire world; and as London could only be benefited by the success of Southwark, so Liverpool never can have cause to repine at the wealth and prosperity of Birkenhead.

lie- here me, gentlemen—and I hope all on the opposite side of the water will believe me too—if even both sides of your river were lined by a double line of docks, I hope there will not be more than room enough for the corn and cotton, the fruits of the Western hemisphere, which will be landed in them. I triuit that we have this day forged a new and a binding link in the chain of amity which ought to connect England with America: but I think this is not the thne to dilate farther on this point. "It is well known that the attractions. of Birkenhead are not limited to its water frontage; and that if the genius of Bendel is to complete its docks, the skill of Paxton has laid out its pleasure-grounds. My most recent occupations could not permit me to forget that this is one of the first places which has given a statistical attention to the physical comforts of the numbers of workmen which they have called together, and to the important subject of public health. With these associations about and around us, I feel that today's pageant, even when its glitter will have passed away and when its shout is silent, will leave us ground to remember that it has not been a triumph which bears its trophies from the strife of nations or the rites of bloodshed; that it is not a mere immolating sacrifice to despotism, but that it is a peaceful offering which has fastened its roots in the

soil of in enterprise, and that it will be productive of rich fruits of pros-

perity - 'ty days that are yet to some." (Lord Morpeth was much cheered duriag his speech, and at the close.) Sir Philip Egerton alluded to taunts which had been rife in newspapers on "Birkenhead bubbles," and hinted at a test for substantial undertakings- " We have heard of their docks in the air, their warehouses in the air, their baths and washhouses in the air, and all Feria of phantoms and dreams of the imagination • but, today, we have a proof that my anticipations were correct, and that those really are the dreamers who have indulged insuch idle remarks, and not we who have taken part in the proceedings of this day. We have seen both docks and warehouses—things tangible—and, what to most men's minds will convey a better idea of substantiality, a property that is mortgageable." Lord Lincoln echoed Lord Morpeth- " The noble Lord just now remarked to you that London and Liverpool divided the greatest amount of the commerce of the United Kingdom. My noble friend stated correctly the truth, but not the whole truth; for I believe the exact truth to be this, that in the list of the commercial cities of this great empire, the com- merce of the Mersey, as at present represented by Liverpool, not only equals but perhaps exceeds that of London itself. And I have no doubt that from this date, from this auspicious date, will commence an increase to that commerce in this mighty river, which will not only continue to gain upon the commerce of Londoa and every other port, as it has hitherto done, but will, after an interval of a few years, probably amount to more than two or three of them put together. And when I say from this auspicious date, allow me to remark, that while we have now the visible proof of what I have mentioned, in ststistieal tables, open to the public, of the state of commerce in the Mersey itself, we have today had a repre- sentation, a particular representation of it in the port in which we are just now more particularly interested. I am informed that this very day coals will come down from Wales to the railway opened today, and will in the course of the day— perhaps now, while we are sitting in this room—be shipped on board a steamer lying m these docks. But much more than this: I am also told that an Ameri- can vessel will this day enter, or in all probability is at this moment in this port; that she will discharge a part of her cargo today, that cargo, or some portion of it,. being guano. The probability is that this guano will be carried down the rail- road this afternoon, and bp spread before nightfall upon some farm in this county." A few minutes later, Lord Lincoln announced the actual arrival of this ship, the Oregon.] Lord Monteagle alluded to the care which had been had for the welfare of the working classes in the town-

" In Birkenhead, men striving for their just and legitimate gain, pursuing the career of a noble, enterprising commerce, yet feel within them there are higher duties' higher motives, that ought to inspire them, and that in the midst of pecu- niary calculations these are motives that ought not to be forgotten. Sir, in ap- proaching this great district, through that continuous and locomotive hospitality with which we have been favoured, we have seen towns that have risen to great wealth, great power, great development of industry, great means of adding to the national resources; but I have yet to learn that there ever was within the length and breadth of this land a community before that seemed to start from the first with a consciousness that there was something to be done to accompany the ac- quisition of wealth, higher and better than wealth itself, and without which wealth would be dross. I know no community within this realm that has asserted this great principle so firmly as the community of Birkenhead." The dejeuner being over, Lord Morpeth proceeded, in Mr. Laird's car- riage, to open the new park, about half a mile distant from the docks. Here again we borrow from the detailed description—

The park has been tastefully laid out and planted under the direction of Mr. Paxton, gardener to the Duke of Devonshire, and is surrounded at intervals by very handsome lodges. The lodge at the grand entrance lain the Ionic style, with one large centre arch over the carriage-drive, flanked by two footway arches, sup- ported by lodges at the wings. The façade presents a very imposing aspect, witl twelve coupled columns, twenty-five feet high, placed on a bold plinth of fear feet. Over the entablature is a handsome balustrade, and over the centre arch an attic, with panel for inscription, crowned with a shield, left rough for the arms of Bir- kenhead, enclosed in a scroll ornament of bold design."

On arriving at the Grand Lodge, Lord Morpeth was received by the Odd Fellows, and the various other societies, drawn up right and left of the entrance. A heavy shower of rain interrupted the ceremony for a time, and Lord Morpeth took a drive round the park. The rain over, he alighted, and planted a tree. The company stopped for a few minutes to wituess some "old English rural sports," which were going on in the park; and then separated.

Lord Morpeth and his friends drove to the Ferry, embarked in the Red- wing, and returned by the Liverpool Railway to York.

The festivities closed at night with the grand ball.

The artisans, &c., of Portsmouth Dockyard have this week been or- ganized into twelve companies of Infantry and ten companies of Artillery; each company consisting of 85 men, making a total of 1,870 men. The Infantry corps is under the command of the master shipwright, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; to each company will be attached a Captain, two Lieutenants, two Sergeants, and two Corporals; the Captains will be constituted of the foremen and clerks, the subalterns of the Junior officers and clerks, and the sergeants of the leading and single station men. Of the Artillery companies, six companies are for land and four companies for afloat service, the latter to be called the Boat Brigade; the whole under the command of the Master-Attendant, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. These companies have also the same complement of officers attached to them as the Infantry companies. The Captains of the Boat Brigade com- panies are the foreman afloat, the boatswain of the yard, the master rope- maker, and the master rigger. The men of both corps are to have canvass dresses for fatigue duty; and it is understood that it is intended they shall wear a uniform on show occasions.—Hampshire Telegraph.

From the manufacturing districts the accounts generally are more cheerful than they have been far several months. A better demand is e.t-

perienced, not only in the home trade, but also for some of the largest export markets. The American orders, including those for goods which have been excluded from that market owing to the high tariff, are eon-

siderable; and, without expecting any very extravagant business, those who are largest and most intimately connected with the market anticipated a good and even a large trade. There are symptoms of a revival of the trade to the East of Europe and the Levant; and there appears some pro- bability that Odessa, which is a free port, will become a considerable mar- ket for Bride]. manufactures.—City Correspondent of the Morning Chronicle.

At the Wolverhampton quarterly meeting of the iron-masters of South Staffordshire, held on Wednesday, it was resolved to maintain the present scale of prices.

At the general meeting of the iron-masters of the district at Birming- ham; on the following day, the Wolverhampton scale of prices was adopted. The reports generally represented the trade to be in a firm and healthy con- dition. Although the workpeople in the mining districts are said to be somewhat uneasy, there is at present no expressed determination to seek by "turn out" for an advance of wages.

The annual general meeting of the Herts division of the Rochester Dio- cesan Board of Education took place on Wednesday, in the Town-hall of St. Alban's. The Bishop of Rochester presided. The report for the year gave a satisfactory account of the pecuniary resources of the Board, and incidentally mentioned the benefits which had resulted from Government inspection to the schools periodically visited by the Inspectors. The ice thus broken, the meeting warmed at its work, and proceeded to pass a re- solution expressing cordial assent and grateful acknowledgments for the plan of education proposed by the Government. In seconding this reso- lution, Archdeacon Burney showed several advantages of the scheme; inter alio-

He considered that great advantages would result from the extension of the system of inspection contemplated by the minutes of the Privy Council. The system of examination by Government inspectors of schools had hitherto been ex- tremely valuable; and the feelings of prejudice—or, be might perhaps say, of jealousy and suspicion—with which the clergy at one time regarded such inspec- tion, had, he thought, entirely vanished; and they were now satisfied that the visits of the inspectors, instead of subjecting them to any injurious interference, had been generally most beneficial to the schools under their superintendence. He believed the great majority, perhaps the whole of the clergy, would soon arrive at the conclusion that it would be a great misfortune if their schools were deprived of the advantage of inspection.

Meetings in favour of the Government scheme have also been held at Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham.

The opponents of the measure have not been idle: they have held meet- ings in Manchester, Tiverton, Bishop's Stortford, Devizes, Marlock, Stroud, and Newport in Monmouthshire. The proceedings were not remarkable for any novelty of adverse argument.

The members and friends of the Birmingliam Athenic Institute cele- brated their fifth anniversary on Tuesday evening. Lord John Manners, the President, officiated as chairman on the occasion. In moving the adoption of the report, Mr. Newton referred to the Government plan of education; and, though not expressing any direct approval of it, exposed the absurdities committed by the Dissenters in their opposition.

At the Liverpool Assizes, on Thursday, Henry Selsby, secretary to the Jour- neyman Millwright's Benefit Society, and twenty-seven millwrights, recently in the employ of Messrs. Jones and Pott, iron-founders at Newton, were brought to trial for a conspiracy. The indictment contained twenty-six counts, and extended oyer eighty-three printed folio pages. The substance of the charge was a con- spiracy to prevent Messrs. Jones and Pott from carrying on their business as iron- founders, with intent to impoverish them. The overt acts which were alleged consisted in the formation of a picket round the works, for the purpose of intimi- dating other workmen from seeking employment in the foundry; whence the de- fendants had either withdrawn themselves, 'or been discharged for insisting on certain demands as to the employment of apprentices. Selsby became implicated by being proved to be the author of some inflammatory placards on the subject of the disagreement. A number of witnesses were examined, and proved the inter- ference of the pickets to prevent the engagement of other men; but no positive act of violence was established. The counsel for the defence maintained that no- thing more than a legal combination had taken place for the purpose of maintain- ing the rate of wages. In summing up, the Judge, Mr. Baron Rolfe, explained the law relating to combinations and conspiracy. He expressed regret that in- dictments, as in the present case, should run to such length as to render it difficult to arrive at the specific charges. The Jury found Selsby and seven of the defendants guilty; acquitting the others.

At Taunton Assizes, last week, two young men named Bealing and Compton were tried for maliciously killing a horse belonging to White, a farmer. The pro- secutor swore that he found his horse dying from a wound on the head; in the stomach he discovered a large spike-nail—he Aid not put it there himself; he did not write a certain letter respecting this matter, which came to him through the post; he had had a dispute with the accused. Cave, a nephew of White, swore

...Irleffirseen the prisoners proceed to the stable at night; when they departed he looked in, and saw the horse wounded and dying. lie did not mention this at

the time; he had not made up the tale because a reward was offered. Witnesses ved an alibi for the accused, and others swore that the letter was in White's dwriting. The verdict was acquittal. The Judge then ordered the prosecu- tor and his witness into custody, to be tried for perjury. The building in which these Assizes are held is stated to be exceedingly incon- venient for the purpose. The warming and ventilation is execrable. Last week the members of the bar complained to Mr. Justice Cresswell that the cold was killing them. The Judge ordered the cold air to be excluded, but in vain; and then he remarked, in a sarcastic tone—" Gentlemen, I have done all I can. I be- lieve the best thing you can do, is to make your wills and submit yourselves to your fate. As to our unhappy selves, we are so placed that we have the stove on one side and a constantly opening door on the other; so that one half of our per- sons is in a furor of heat, while the other is in a state very nearly approaching the freezing-point: we will venture to say that there is at least a difference of 40 degrees in the two sides,—intended, perhaps, as an inducement to keep us inde- pendent between both parties." [We regret to hear that Mr. Justice Coleridge was not able to attend the Cen- tral Criminal Court on Friday, in consequence of illness.—Standard.3 At Gloucester Assizes, on Wednesday, Louisa Ferris was tried for the murder of White, a Bristol Policeman. The woman cut White's throat in a fit of jealousy, while he was sitting at her lodgings. Both had been drinking. The counsel for the defence contended that the provocation, and also the excitement under which the prisoner was labouring, reduced the crime to manslaughter. And on this ground, it would seem, the Jury found Ferris guilty of manslaughter only. She was sentenced to be transported for life. Catherine Foster, the young woman who was convicted at Bury St. Edmund's of poisoning her husband, has made a confession of her guilt to the clergymen attending her in prison. She has requested that the statement shall not be pub- lished until after her execution; but a version of it has appeared already. She says that she was induced to marry Foster, whom she did not like, by the im- portunity of her mother; and that the dislike, which increased after marriage, was her sole motive. She had no other cause for complaint, none for jealousy.

As the steamer Troubadour was entering Liverpool, last week, a tube con- nected with the boiler burst, and the engine-room was filled with steam: there were two men in the place; in attempting to escape, one fell down, and, keeping in that posture, he was not so much scalded as his companion; who, failing to mount the ladder to the deck, clung to it, breathing the scalding steam, while the exterior of his body was horribly burned. He died in six hours, after terrible suffering. The other man is expected to recover.

Four men have perished in the Mersey, near Liverpool, by the capsizing of a sailing-boat by a gust of wind: a fifth person who was in the vessel was saved by stone boats in company.