Not.

MONDAY, SANITARY 6TH.

Mu. T. B. MACK.AY writes to the Times on the threatened danger to our commerce from privateering in case of war with America. ‘ power of the Federal States is, he considers, utterly inadequate to inflict on us anything like the tremendous wrongs which we suffered daring the last American war. In the first place, their seaboard is reduced at least two-thirds, so as to render an effective blockade of all their ports a comparatively easy task, from Portland to the Che- sapeake, a distance of about five degrees, being the extent of our blockading ground. Again, in the first American war, by far the most important branch of our commerce was carried on with the West Indian Islands, and was of course cut up with safety and ease by swarms of privateers issuing from the ports and creeks in the Southern States, which would now be closed against the Federals. Now, also, nearly all our sea-going traffic is south of the equator, and in few cases farther than 23 degs. or 24 degs. west, while New York is only 14 degs. west. To say nothing of the chance that an American privateer would find its intended prize as well armed as itself, it is not likely that American shipowners will run the risk of privateering some 2000 miles from home, without a single European port open to receive prizes, and with the very faint prospect of running a stringent blockade of the few ports now left to the Federal Government.

— The Prince of Wales has addressed the following letter to the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society, of which his late Royal Highness the Prince Consort was President :

"Osborne, Dec. 28, 1861.

"Gentlemen,—Prostrated with overwhelming grief, and able, at present, to turn her thoughts but to one object, the Queen, my mother, has constantly in her mind the anxious desire of doing honour to the memory of him whose good and glorious character the whole nation in its sorrow so justly appreciates. "Actuated by this constantly recurring wish, the Queen has commanded me to recal to your recollection that her Majesty had been pleased to assent to a proposal to place a statue of herself upon the memorial of the Great Exhibition of 1851, which it was intended to erect in the new Horticultural Gardens. "The characteristic modesty and self-denial of my deeply lamented father had induced him to interpose to prevent his own statue from filling that position, which properly belonged to it, upon a memorial to that great undertaking which sprung from the thought of his enlightened mind, and was carried through to a termination of unexampled success by his unceasing superintendence.

"It would however now, her Majesty directs me to say, be most hurtful to her feelings were any other statue to surmount this memorial but that of the great, good Prince, my dearly beloved father, to whose honour it is in reality raised.

"The Queen therefore would anxiously desire that instead of her statue have sought, and have with thankfulness obtained, the permission of the Queen, my mother, to offer the feeble tribute of the admiration and love of a bereaved son, by presenting the statue thus proposed to be placed in the gardens nude your management. "I remain, Gentlemen, yours, "ALBERT EDWARD.

"To the Council of the Horticultural Society."

A special meeting of the Council was held on Thurtday to receive this letter, and a resolution accepting the previous offer, but ex- pressive of the regret at the loss of her Majesty's statue.

— It appears, from the recently issued emigration returns for Liverpool, that the number of emigrants who sailed from that port duringthe past year was 55,089, while the number in 1860 was 83,774. Of the 55,089, of the past year 38,879 sailed in ships under the Act, and 16,210 in short ships, or ships not under the Act. 27,577 emigrants sailed for the United States; 1129 for Canada ; 526 for New South Wales : 10,958 for Victoria, and 81 for South America. The decrease in the total number of emigrants, compared with that of last year, is more than accounted for by a falling off of nearly 30,000 in the number embarked for the United States, a result owing of course to the present disturbed state of affairs in that country. With regard to the respective countries of the emi- grants, it appears from the returns that 11,561 were English; 2011 Scotch; 20,134 Irish, and 2979 from other countries.

— The annual trade circular of Messrs. Holling,shead, Tetley, and Co., of Liverpool, contains some important statistics of the cotton

The .New Fork Times however, in a leader of a few days' previous "Anxious, however humbly, to testify my respectful and heartfelt affection

supply. The average weekly supply for the last four years is stated to have been as follows :

America Brazil West India ... Emit Ess India „ 1858. Bales. 31,512 2172 209 1722 6203

1859. Bales.

... 36,689 ... 2027 ... 115 ... 1897 ... 3413 1860. Bales. 40,979 2072 117 1752 3219 1861. Bales. 34,678 1697 264 2203 6812 I Total 41,818 44,121 48,139 45,649

Tine aggregate stock in England at the close of last month was about 800,000 bales, or 17.5 weeks' consumption, against a stock of 16.9 weeks at the close of .1860, 12.7 at the corresponding date in 1859, and 11.5 at the corresponding date in 1858. 200,000 bales of the nefw American crop had been received at the close of 1860, and more than 300,000 bales arrived in January, 1861, so that in consequence of short time and the previous glut of the market, the present aggre- gate stock is considerably larger in proportion to the demand than at the close of any of the four preceding years. The total arrivals from America during the past year were 1,841,687 bales against 2,580,980 bales for 1860, showing a decrease of 739,293 bales, which was compensated to the.extent of 400,000 bales by increased receipts from India. Since the 1st of September, however, only 3000 bales of American have been received at Liverpool, and of course there is no immediate prospect of any considerable supply. The amount of Indian cotton on its way to this country does not exceed 125,000 bales.

— The next meeting of the Royal Geographical Society is an- nounced for half-past eight P.m., on Monday the 13th, at Burlington House. "A Narrative of an Expedition to the Andaman Islands in 1857" will be read by Mr. F. J. Monet, M.D., F.R.G.S. and Mr. A. R. Wallace, F.R.G.S., will also read a paper on "The Trade of the Eastern Archipelago with New Guinea and its Islands."

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7TH.

— The Lord-Advocate, M.P. for Edinburgh, was present on Friday at a conversazione held in that city by the Chamber of Com- merce, and opened the proceedings with an address on the New Year. In the course of an eloquent review of the commercial and legisla- tive progress of the past year, and the prospects for the future, he referred to the American difficulty in the following terms :

"There is another subject, however—and one which is uppermost, I presume, in all minds at present— to which I intend to allude shortly before I close. We have hitherto been at peace, and, at all events, in the only war that we have had for the last five-and-forty years we were not at war under circumstances which to any great extent disturbed or deranged our trade. But of late there has been considerable interest excited upon the subject of belligerent and neutral rights, and men have gone back to long-forgotten books, and have raked up Grotius and Vattel, and a host of other learned names, that are now sought to study what are the rights as between two belligerent Powers, and particularly what are the rights belonging to those who are engaged on neither one side nor another—namely, what are the rights of neutrals. Now, it is quite true—as was said, I think, in some of the recent discussions—that to a certain extent international law must be the conscience of the strongest. But, on the other hand, there is such a thing as a code of international law. It is a code which was, as I already hinted in the former part of my observations, originated by the Italian commercial re- publics of Venice, Genoa, and the other republics of that very early Christian era; and the celebrated work of the Consoled° del Mare, the first copy of which known to exist is somewhere about 1000, contains truly the germ of all that has ever been insisted on or written on that subject since. And it is most important that, as war cannot sometimes be avoided, there should be something settled and fixed, and firm principles on which these matters should be regulated. I am not sure—and I do not by any means like to express an opinion upon the sub- jtIct—that even in this matter the principle to which I have been referring might not with great benefit be allowed more operation than it has hitherto received— I mean that the less heavily belligerent Powers deal with the colours of their adversaries, in all probability each is likely to gain in the end. And accordingly there was, as you know, some years ago, after the Russian war, a convention at Paris, by which several of the great Powers came to certain resolutions in regard to this matter, which I allude to just now because it exemplifies very strongly how short-sighted it is, with a view to the narrow range of probabilities which may be placed before a nation or an individual, to come to general conclusions. Among the things which the great Powers were agreed upon was the abolition of privateering. America declined to join with the great Powers in that conven- tion, because she said—and she said with a great deal of force and power—l. That is a very good position for you, Great Britain, who have a large fleet, and a large standing fleet, independent of your merchant navy ; but for our United States, whose principle does not lead us to maintain a large standing navy., of course if we go to war with you we must trust entirely to privateering,' and accordingly at that time declined to join the convention. And what has been the result? Why, America was looking to the chances of a war with this country, but she has unexpectedly gone to war—the Northern against the Southern States, and the Southern States maintain no fleet, and they are obliged to have recourse to privateering; so that her refusal at that time to join in what was evidently for the general good, for the interests of humanity and civilization, has been the cause of one of the bitterest and severest results of this unhappy war between the Northern and Southern States, all of which would have been avoided if she had taken a larger view of the matter in 1856. (Applause.) lt was debated at the Congress of Social Science of 1860 whether it would not be desirable to exempt merchant ships altogether from seizure in the event of war. Now, I heard that very learnedly discussed. I cannot say that I was convinced of the affirmative of the proposition. The difficulty is that war really knows no rule but self-defence, and that it is difficult to say that you are to allow your adversely to go on with his commerce, and cover the seas with his fleets, while at the same time he is endeavouring to do you all the evil and all the mischief in his power. The Lord-Advocate concluded by saying,—We are all waiting now in suspense. We are all looking towards the West, waiting for the tidings that are to come; and, when we look forward to the new year, much of its happiness will depend upon what that news may be. Once more, then, a happy new year. While I speak, the balance still trembles between peace and war, and no one can predict which way it may incline. For- tunately, we are prepared, with steadfast hearts, for either issue. We can honestly say we desire nothing of our neighbours. The lust of conquest has long been dead to our councils. We can see the prosperity of others without envy, knowing that it is the refiexion and must be the companion of our own. In the internal regulation of the affairs of others we desire not to meddle. We are conscious of no motive, no wish, no tendency to offend. But, while we wish for nothing that is our neighbours', we mean to preserve all that is our own; and while we were never more anxious to avoid, we were never more determined or ready to repel aggression, or to maintain our honour or our rights. (Loud applause.) If war comes, it will be because, maintaining our rights and honour with temper and dignity, we could not avoid it. Still—absit omen—may peace prevail ; and if our Transatlantic brethren will do usjustice in this matter, then and then only, I wish them, as I wish you, a happy new year. (Loud and pro- longed applause.)"

— A county meeting, for the purpose of drawing up an address of condolence with her Majesty, was held at Chester on Saturday, Colonel Gleig, the High Sheriff, in the chair. Among those present were also the Marquis of Westminster, Lord Richard Grosvenor, M.P., the Bishop of Chester, Lord Egerton, &c. The Marquis of Westminster moved the adoption of the following address :

" To her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, &c. " May it please your Majesty,—We, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, of the county of Chester, in public meeting assembled, are desirous of expressing the deep sense that we feel, in common with all our countrymen, of the irre- parable loss which your Majesty has sustained, and which is rendered still more grievous by the affliction of last spring having deprived you of your royal parent's sympathy and consolation. It may afford your Majesty some comfort to reflect on the grateful sense universally entertained of the rare qualities and great virtues so remarkably combined in the character of his Royal Highness the late lamented Prince Consort, from which the country has for the last twenty years derived so much benefit and advantage. We earnestly trust that Divine Pro- vidence will help your Majesty to support with resignation, for the sake of your family and your people, a calamity which presses so severely upon all, and that your Majesty may be long spared to reign over a loyal and devoted people."

The Bishop of Chester, in seconding the adoption of the address, spoke in eulogistic terms of the services rendered to the nation by the late Prince himself. In conclusion, his Lordship said : "And now he who in all these fluctuations of parties had been her confidante and adviser has been taken away from her side, and at a painful crisis of public anxiety when she might most have desired his counsel, I am willing to hope, as there is now great hope in England that that crisis may pass over favourably, without any interruption of peace between ourselves and our brethren in America, for we still would gladly call them by that friendly name. (Applause.) But whatever be the issue, the Queen must feel, and deeply feel, the loss of her con- fidante and counsellor. It is a happiness to know, from what the lord-lieutenant read to us, that if she feels the loss she feels also the call there is upon her now more than ever to exert the great energies of her mind, in order to fulfil the duties which belong to her as a mother and as a Queen. Those very duties by the gracious pros idence of God may be a comfort to her in her sorrow and a support in her trial. I hope it may be so. (Hear, hear.) They certainly bind her heart to her children and to her people, and, let me add, they bind the hearts of her people unto her. (Applause.) She has lost her nearest and her dearest friend; but it is a comfort that she has a friend in every subject of her realm. (Applause.) Eng- land was never more united, never more completely one than it is now ; one being the cementing power of just government and equal laws and patriotic spirit, but one also by the convergence of all hearts to the throne and to the Queen who adorns the throne and who claims our allegiance as her lawful right, but far more now claims our respect and sympathy by her sorrow, and the devotion of all our hearts by the benignity and magnanimity of her own truly royal nature. (Applause.) She has been bereaved of her husband, but she is not alone. Her children are around her in her home, to engage her thoughts, to soothe her grief; her people are a rampart of loyal hearts around her throne to guard it; and we hope and trust—and I may say we have good reason to be assured—from what transpires, that God is with her in the depth of her sorrow, and her heart turning to him will not turn in vain. May He give her peace of mind, may He give her strength for all her duties, and grant her in health and wealth long to wear her earthly crown, till she exchanges it for an immortal crown in heaven. (Appmuse.)"

At a similar meeting held at Manchester, it was determined to raise funds for a memorial to his late Royal Highness, and 700/. was sub- scribed in the room, though it was not decided what form the memo- rial should take. The Mayor, however, promised 5001. in case a statue should be decided upon, and only 100/. if the subscription was to be devoted to the foundation of scholarships, as had been proposed at the meeting.

WEDNESDAY, JANUANY 8T11.

— The American mail, brought to Queenstown by the Europa on Monday night, was transmitted to London in the wonderfully short space of fifteen hours and three minutes. The arrangements made were the same as had been previously made for the mails of the Africa, but in the present case a considerably greater average speed was attained. The Europa arrived off Queenstown at 9 p.m.; the mails were immediately transferred to a tender in waiting, and arrived at the pier at 10.5. The transmission to Cork railway station occupied about an hour, and a special train accomplished the 166 miles to Dublin in four hours and three minutes. In forty minutes more the mails were on board the special mail-boat Ulster. The 66 miles between Kingston and Holyhead, only occupied three hours 17 minutes, although the weather was very unfavourable, and the mails arrived at Holyhead at 8.13 a.m. A special engine was in readiness, and the run from Holyhead to London, 264 miles, was performed in exactly five hours, or at an average speed of 521 miles an hour. The average for the first half of the distance, from Holy- head to Stafford, was even greater, being no less than 51 miles an hour.

-- A curious affair was brought to light before the Lord Mayor on Tuesday. Mr. Freshfield, the Solicitor to the Bank, attended in the justice-room of the Mansion House, for the purpose of making the following statement :

"Mr. Freshfield, addressing the Lord Mayor, said,—The Governor and Com- pany of the Bank of England have requested me to make a communication to your Lordship, touching an occurrence which has taken place within the last few days in the City of London. A respectable tradesman called at the Bank on Saturday last, and, producing a plate in porcelain, on which was engraved a fac simile of a Bank of England note, inquired of the authorities whether there could be any objection to his selling such an article. He was told of course, it was a serious offence to be in possession or to dispose of such an article—that, in fact, it amounted to a felony by statute. He was asked where he got it. He replied that he bought it of a foreign merchant of high respectability in the City. A reference was immediately made, on the part of the Bank, to the merchant in question, who at first could not be persuaded there was any offence in having such a thing in his possession, but on consulting his Solicitor, a very reepectable gentleman, now in court, be was convinced that its possession was a grave offence in law, and he not only voluntarily came forward and offered to give up all the plates in his keeping, which amount to fifteen, hut also undertook to recover, if possible, any that had been sold, of which there were several. He stated, in fact, that he had received them from a foreign correspondent abroad for sale, and that he had disposed of them in the ordinary way of business, and with no knowledge whatever that any offence was involved in the transaction. Under these circumstances, your Lordship will see that so far there is no occasion for intervention on your part to arrest an offence from which the party in question has voluntarily agreed to desist; but the Governor and Company of the Bank feel that the circumstances ought to be made known to your Lordship, with the view to publicity being afforded to them, in order to the prevention of a species of offence susceptible of very injurious consequences to the community. Your Lordship must see tbat the engraving, a copy of which is before you, might be transferred to paper, and of course the great resemblance it bears to the notes of the Bank of England might lead to very serious results. Moreover there has been recently a disposition on the part of the public to imitate the bank-note in some of its smaller features—occasionally in its general appear-

ance, -

ance, though rarely as a whole; and, in some cases, the issue even of notes of 'Elegance,' as they are called, and of other flash paper, not entitled to be re- garded as imitations of the bank-notes, has been made the medium of fraud on illiterate and ignorant persons, especially in cases of countrymen coming up to London. For these reasons the governors have felt it thew duty to bring this subject under your consideration in the public interest." The porcelain plate was then produced, and Mr. Coe, superintendent of the bank-note printing department, stated that it would be quite possible to produce a bank-note from it, which would be very apt to deceive people. The Lord Mayor said that if the Bank authorities deemed it desirable to charge the person in question with le offence of possession, he should feel it his duty to commit him for trial.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9TH.

— A correspondent of the Morning Star gives an account of the presentation at New York to Colonel T. F. Meagher of a fully capari- soned horse. The fourth and fifth regiments of the Irish Brigade were drawn up on the occasion, and an immense crowd of Irish were also present. After the formal presentation had been made by Dr. M'Donnell, Colonel Meagher addressed the assemblage amid constant cheering : "I accept the gift with much pleasure, and, in doing so, I take the oppor- tunity to reiterate what I have so often expressed—that my conduct shall always be worthy of the estimation in which lam so flatteringly held by my friends and the public at large. I promise you, gentlemen, that in case of battle this horse, the beautiful gift of friendship and esteem, will be first in the charge, but the last in the retreat. (Cheers.) In case I should fall in this great contest, fighting in defence of the union of these States, surrounded by many who, like myself, are exiles from their beloved land, though living in a country and under a govern- ment the freest and happiest in the world, there is one desire that I must make, and it is this :— that there shall be inscribed on the stone that shall cover my grave that Thomas Francis Meagher died at the head of his Irish Brigade, while fighting for the protection of the Stars and Stripes of his adopted country. (Applause.) The report has reached this country by the papers of this day, falling like a thunderbolt upon the whole community, that England is on the eve of making war upon this free republic. If this should be the case I will repeat now that which I said. to the President not many weeks ago—that if England should attempt to interfere in the present domestic difficulties of the United States, it will be no Irish Brigade, but an Irish army, that! will bring into the field. The Irish will flock not only in thousands, but in hundreds of thousands, for the protection of the starry banner under which they have found peace, hap. pine, prosperity, and freedom. (Cheers.) If the President should send us across the Atlantic instead of across the Potomac, we would take Canada on the way, and meet Ireland's ancient enemy but to defeat her. (Great applause.) We would go forth and place that flag—the American banner—on the parapets of Dublin Castle instead of on those of Castle Pinckney. (Cheers.) Let the French, Germans, and l native Americans take care of the rebellion, and we Irish will take care of England. (Applause-)" — Lord Stanley, M.P., visited Liverpool on Tuesday, for the pur- pose of opening the new Industrial Ragged Schools, at Kirkdale, and inaugurating of the Free Gymnasium and Public Playground, in Bootle-lane. His Lordship took the chair at the opening meeting in the new schoolroom, at twelve o'clock, and after the proceedings had been opened with prayer by the Venerable Archdeacon Jones, de- livered an address, u the course of which he made the following observations on the distinction between reformatories and industrial schools : "Industrial schools, so to speak, go band in hand with reformatories, though the two are wholly distinct. I was one of the persons who took part, though I cannot claim to have taken a very early part, in bringing about the establishment of reformatory schools before they were recognized and subsidised as they now are by the State; and I well recollect the objection With which we were met—an objection of which it was impossible altogether to deny the truth, when people told us: You propose to reclaim children who have fallen into crime; you ask for private subscriptions and public aid for that purpose; but you do nothing for those who under equal difficulties have successfully resisted similar temptations.' Well, that was partly true, and we could only answer that our proposition was good as far as it went, though it did not meet the whole extent ot the evil. But experience shows—we may all see it if we choose to open our eyes—that there is a large class wholly apart from that which gets its living by crime, but also separate from that which subsists by regular and steady employment. In great towns the extremes of civilization meet: luxury, refinement, intelligence, social comfort, are carried to their highest pitch ; and side by side with that luxury there springs up a class among whose members subsistence is as precarious as among those savage tribes which live by hunting wild animals—a class limited, indeed, happily, in numbers, but in which pauperism is hereditary, ignorance universal, and the hope of rising to a higher position, that most powerful stimulus of English society, almost entirely wanting. That the fact is so, few persons can doubt. When we read what town missionaries and others similarly employed have to tell us as to the number of those in whom the most elementary notion of religion is absent, not because it has been rejected, but because it has never been presented; when we hear it stated on good sanitary authority that in certain large towns one-half of the children of the poorest class die before the age of five; when another inquiry shows that in a town selected by way of experiment the infantile mortality in that class was just threefold what it was among the wealthier inhabitants; when we compare—which is in fact proving the same thing by another method—the enormous disproportion of the death-rate between the healthy and what are called the 'low' quarters of the same city—it seems only too clear that, whatever may have been done (and much has been done) to make life easier to those who are born to hardship and toil, there remains yet more to accomplish, and it is far too early to boast of the results obtained. It is not my purpose now to ask you to consider the canoes of the continued exi a- tence among us of such a class as I describe, nor yet the chances of wha.1 I confidently expect to see—its gradual disappearance. It is enaue ,h to say that Wherever dense masses of men have been congregated together, su ch a class has always appeared. In crowded populations the tie of neighbourhol ad and local connexion is necessarily weaker. No man can take the same persor ,iiii interest in half a million of human beings that he takes in the fifty or a hundr e& families who inhabit the same country village with himself. The feeling r of mutual protection and dependence, still powerful in such districts, is here mete s- ilt sarily wanting. Life, too is busier: men have not leisure to stop on the sr cl and help up their neighbour who has fallen. Distress, when it comes, comes ;in a larger scale; competition is keener ; the rivalry of man with man, which mak is the opportunity of the bustling and energetic, thrusts down the feeble into three mire. The rich live apart from the poor, in quarters of their own ; even are parochial clergy are few, and, for the most part, poor; and the rapid growthrr population in a district whose trade is increasing, generally leaves the pan .r. quarters for a time unprovided with the ordinary appliances of civilization—wit. h schools, with churches, with healthy habitations, with efficient drainage, wit t 1 the charitable institutions that elsewhere exist for the relief of temporary want.. (Cheers.) If these things are so—and I think they can be fully proved—there ha. no need to contend against the argument, that institutions like this, foundet.t essentially on a charitable as opposed to a self-supporting basis, are superfluous.

in the actual state of society." I ,

The Rev. Canon Stowell then delivered an eloquent address, anci after.- speeches from several other gentlemen, the proceedings terminated.1,.. In the afternoon Lord Stanley proceeded to the Free dimnasium andl.. Public Playground, which was declared to be formally opened.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10111.

— Mr. Whiteside, M.P., delivered a lecture for the Young Men's. Christian Association of Dublin, on Wednesday night, the subject being, "Oliver Goldsmith; his friends and his critics." Mr. Napier, M.P. took the chair, and the Metropolitan Hall was crowded for the occasion by an audience of upwards of 3000 people. The lecture,. which lasted for two hours and a half was listened to with great in- terest, and on its conclusion a vote of thanks to the lecturer was pro- posed by the Earl of Carlisle, who, after complimenting Mr. White- side on the way in which he, an eminent Irishinan, had vindicated. and illustrated the character of another eminent Irishman, referred to the proposed statue to Goldsmith in front of the University,. for the erection of which 200/. was still required. In conclusion he said :

"And besides doing honour to the memory of your own Goldsmith, and besides. getting the start of London in raising in the open air of heaven a statue to one of the sacred band of poets, I want also to set you, in due time, upon erecting. other statues to other worthies. How could the corresponding place to that which is destined for the statue of Goldsmith be more worthily filled than by the statue of him of whom so much has been said, and said so well, this evening— Edmund Burke? (Loud applause.) It is said by Dr. Johnson, on whom Mr.- Whiteside has pronounced to-night so splendid a panegyric, who loved Goldsmith almost-as much as Mr. Whiteside himself (laughter)—it had been said by him in a couplet of which every word has a most pregnant emphasis-

' See nations slowly rise, and, meanly just, To buried merit raise a tardy bust.

So we must do these things by degrees. We must begin with paying our debts. to the dead, and thus it may be some time before we can think of a statue to Mr.- Whiteside himself (laughter); but, in the mean time, I will no longer detain him from receiving that vote of thanks which is so eminently his due, and I beg to- propose 'that the cordial and marked thanks of this meeting be presented to the Right Honourable James Whiteside for the able and admirable lecture which he has this night delivered' (applause); and as the person who makes the motion always desires to have a good seconder I beg to call for that purpose upon Arch- deacon Gregg, whom, I may add, from this day, we shall all I am sure be glad to by a higher title.'

Archdeacon Gregg then rose amidst tremendous and long-conti- nued cheering, and addressed the meeting:

"Perhaps for one reason it is not wrong that I should stand here, for this is a meeting to address young men. About forty-three years ago I entered this city a young man, without being master of a shilling that I could call my own. In the good providence of God, preserved in the path of virtue, possessed of very humble ability, I have now, I am thankful to my gracious God, in the evening, of my liteI may almost say in old age—troops of friends (loud applause), and I would fondly hope, not one enemy. (Cries of ' Hear, hear?) Through the gracious favour of my Sovereign, and the too partial regard of the high personage who has honoured us with his presence this night, I have now the- prospect of one of the highest positions in the Irish Church. (Applause.) Until his Excellency came as Lord-Lieutenant to Ireland the thought of promotion from any party in politics, or from any power in the Church, never once entered my mind. I thought I should live and die an humble minister—honoured I admit, usefully placed I admit, but still the humble minister of Trinity Church. (Applause.) I had the high honour—and it was the first thing that sug- gested to me that I possessed (by diligence only, not by native gilt) any power of speech that could be listened to with any degree of respect, immediately after his Excellency came to this country, to be selected by the Prime Minister of England, and offered an infinential—a very influential living in England. (Hear, hear.) It gratified me, of course. It encou- raged me, and certainly, under God, made me, I think, more diligent in my studies than I had previously been. I could not mistake the kindly, niendly feeling of his Excellency towards me since he came to this country. He has. repeatedly offered me promotion. He has conferred a dignity upon me, and offered me a higher dignity, for which I felt, and do feel, most thankful to him- (Applause.) I hope that in the position to which I have prospect of being raised I may not lose one of my multitudinous friends. (Applause.) It shall be my prayer and study that I may not make one enemy. Hear, hear.) I ask the prayers of my Christian friends who are around me that I may say and do no- thing unbecoming that high position ; but should I fail or disappoint you or tho public, I must say, in justice to myself, that you are not to blame me so inualt as to blame his Excellency. I sought not his Excellency's favour. He graciously- and kindly sought me. tie, without preface, stipulation, or promise exacted of any kind, confided in the honour and integrity and, as he was pleased to say, the Christian character of your old friend John Gregg. (Applause.) I have, I think, since he conferred a dignity come, continued to be John Gregg (hear, hear); and I hope in that higher dignity which now, through his kindness and the grace of our Sovereign, has been conferred on me, I shall be John Gregg still —an humble and labouring minister of the GospeL"

The Venerable Archdeacon concluded by seconding the vote of thanks proposed by the Lord-Lieutenant, and the proceedings terminated.

— "D." writes to the Times to call attention to what he terms a piece of startling intelligence. The dismissal mills disgrace front the

navy of Commander Nicolas, of Trident, for cruelty, the

facts, as taken from the Naval and _Ifilitary Gazelle, and the United Service Gazette, being thus stated by " D." : "It seems that Commander Nicolas is one of those officers who disapprove the punishment of the lash, and tried to carry on the duties of his ship without its infliction ; and that in the case of boys he thought the punishment which is inflicted at many schools—viz, caning, a better and more appropriate punishment than using the cat-o'-nine-tails on their bare skin.

"Under these impressions, when two boys were brought before him for mis- conduct at Gibraltar he ordered them to be caned.

"It appears, however, that although flogging on the bare skin with a cat-o'- nine-tails is an authorized punishment in the navy, and is, therefore, not cruelty, caning, being an unauthorized punishment, is by law cruelty.

"It appears also that by the law of the navy if the charge of cruelty of this description be proved against an officer the punishment which must be inflicted is 'dismissal with disgrace,'—not merely dismissal, but with disgrace. So Cap- tain Nicolas was tried for inflicting an irregular punishment—which, though less than what he might have inflicted, was made to amount to cruelty—and being found guilty was obliged to be sentenced to dismissal with disgrace; but the Court at the same time, seeing how stultified they were by the law, appended a note to the sentence to the effect that they could not separate without recording the expression of their deep regret at being obliged to attach to the dismissal of this officer the sentence of—with disgrace.'

"I would beg of you with your powerful voice to ask how such a thing can be. "Can it be that there are those in authority who, considering that there is nothing like the lash, are determined to crush an officer who is so far in advance of the age as to wish to do without it?"

— The case of the Bishop of Salisbury and Dr. Rowland Wil- liams has been slowly advancing during the week in the Arches Court, before Dr. Lushington. On Tuesday and Wednesday Mr. Fitzjames Stephen opposed the admission of the articles against Dr. Williams in a powerful address, concluding with the following elo- quent peroration:

"You are not asked to decide on the truth of Dr. Williams's opinions. Should you condemn him, your judgment would not prove, and would not tend to prove, that Daniel did write the Book of Daniel, or that it is a prophecy and not a his- tory. It would prove this, and nothing else, that the Church of England is committed to those opinions, and that whoever succeeds in refuting them will have succeeded in refuting it. The worst enemies of the Church would be best pleased at such a judgment. Hoc Ithacus relit et magno mercentur Atridte.' The Romanist would rejoice, and the Atheist would exult, for they would read in such a decision the recantation of the only Christian body which has hitherto really believed, and acted on the belief, that the God of revelation is also the God of reason, that the religion of Christ and the word of God can lake care of themselves, and that the business of men is not to defend their preconceived notions about either the one or the other, but to ascertain by the use of the ordinary tests of truth what their true purport may be. Consider, my lord, the stupendous folly and cowardice of the law which you are asked to pass. No doubt you can shut the months of the clergy. You can say, 'Whoever doubts whether Daniel wrote Daniel must be silent or lose his living.' But can you shut the months of the laity Will any one in this age and country dare to suggest that the Christian religion and its vehicle, the Bible, are not to be criticised at all ? Can you silence literature? Can you silence science? Can you silence history ? Can you send every man to the stake or the gallows who doubts the authorship of Daniel? If you could you would have on your side the hoary fallacies which justify persecution; but you cannot, and no one suggests that you can. What, then, can you do? You can teach literature, history, and science to despise Christianity and to hate it' you can suggest to them that the Church of England is a sort of lady's school on a large and bad scale, where nothing is taught that can surprise an ignorant woman or interest an instructed man; but you cannot arrest discussion itself. All that you can do is to prevent the clergy from taking part in it. You must fight. Your enemies will use all the resources of modern science. Will you blindfold your leaders, and make your soldiers fight in chains! My lord, the folly and cowardice of the proposed legislation do not stop here. Folly and cowardice never know where to stop. The proscription of literature and criticism, and science amongst the clergy will not only give infidels a mo- nopoly of them, and put scientific and learned men on the infidel side, but it will utterly destroy the value of the evidence of any stray man of learning or intellect who may be bribed to take orders in an emasculated church by the prospect of influence or preferment. When such a man denies that Greek words are to be found in the text of Daniel, or tries to explain away inconsistencies in the gospels by sophistry, which it would not be worth while to produce at the Old Bailey or the Middlesex Ses- sions, he will produce mulles instead of conviction, and men will say that the evidence on which he really believes in the date of Daniel is the prospect of being made a bishop. And what is the reason why we are to disarm or discredit the natural defenders of the Christian faith, and to sign treaties between Christ and darkness, between reason and the devil ? The reasons are contained in two phrases, each invented by a well-known man to stigmatize and prejudice the cause which I defend. 'Free inquiry by all means,' says one, but let it be by free inquirers." Save us,' cries the other, save us from the tyranny of pro- fessors: I know not what is more repulsive, the cynical insolence of the one phrase or the fanatical ignorance of the other. 'Let free inquiry be confined to free inquirers.' Do sceptics want to fight at odds? Do they grudge to others the weapons which they use so freely themselves? Is every one to shut his mind's eye when he reads his Bible, unless as a disciple of the rationalist Jew Salvador, he is prepared to view Christianity as a form of the great Asian • Mystery, and to recognize in the Crucifixion an act for which we ought all to be grateful to the nation which, in some way or other, can claim credit for every great man that ever lived ? This goes a step beyond Grac. chug in sedition. The clergy of the Church of England not free inquirers Then what are they? Are they a sort of third sex, which has neither the powers of men nor the charms of women? Are they alone to be doomed to ignorance in an age of knowledge, to silence in an age of freedom ? I say they are free in- quirers. They possess the only freedom worth having, namely, freedom secured by law. No doubt there are positions which they may not contest, and perhaps the number of such positions might wisely be diminished, but, subject even to that restraint, they are the freest clergy in the world, for they alone of all religious denominations are absolutely irresponsible both to their congregations and to their ecclesiastical superiors, except by the operation of the law of the land. All the bishops in England may protest against Dr. Williams, but they cannot diminish by one jot or tittle his pastoral authority, suppress a word of his writings, or take away one shilling of his income, unless this court holds that he has committed a crime against the law, and he has committed no crime unless he has said something which the law specifically forbids him to say. This, my lord, is what I mean by freedom, and it is the exercise of this freedom which I defend here to-day. But there is another cry. 'Save us,' it is said, from the tyranny of professors.' What will become of the faith of unlearned men if professors are allowed to distinguish between the authorised version and canonical Scripture, and to tell us that without the help of Greek and Hebrew we can have very imperfect notions of the real meaning of either ? What does this cry mean in plain English ? Simply this- ' protect us from truth, shield us from light. Since there are difficulties about the Bible, "Be it enacted henceforth that the authorized version according to the popular interpretation of it for the time being shall be and be taken to be the Christian religion."' And this is pat forward in the name of freedom, and is alleged to be necessary for protection against tyranny. We do indeed need protection against tyranny, and I earnestly claim it at your lordship's hands. Protect us, not from the tyranny of learning, but from tyranny over learning. Protect us from the tyranny of a vague popular opinion—an Ignorant popular clamour. I call upon your lordship as an English judge to protect an English subject against mob law. How can we tyrannise over the illustrious nobleman who wishes to shut our months? He seems to fear that he is to be taught Greek and Hebrew by main force. All the power on earth cannot teach him Greek and Hebrew against his will. If he chooses to put his head in the sand for fear of seeing the hunters, cannot he do it for himself? If he is afraid of the Essays and Reviews he need not read them. With my client and his friends it is far different,. Upon them you have an invincible hold. Your judgment may drive them from the Church, or close their mouths within it, and if you do, what will be the consequences to the Christian faith ? Hitherto I have been forced, most unwillingly, to assume the position of an assailant and a critic, not indeed of the Bible, but of a loose and pernicious popular superstition about the Bible. If I were privileged to defend, not the liberty of the clergy, but the truth of the Christian religion—if I might assume the character, which I hope and trust I have not said a word to abdicate in this court or elsewhere, of a Christian advocate—I would say of those who press on this prosecution in their blind zeal for prejudices which they mistake for the Christian faith, Lord, for- give them, for they know not what they do.' If they could but get one glimpse of the real gist of Christianity, one clear notion of the true nature of the Bible, they would welcome criticism and science as their best friends, for they would see that it is by their use, and their use alone, that the true glory of the Bible can be brought out, and its power to bless mankind be developed to the utmost. This is too vast a subject to glance at here; but I do from my very soul believe that almost all the scepticism which prevails so widely amongst us is caused by the obstinate folly of those who persist in a mad attempt to substitute for belief in the contents of the Bible belief in an incredible and gratuitous theory about the Bible which is opposed not only to reason and authority, but to the whole scope, tendency, and design of the Bible itself. This subject is too vast for this court; and I most earnestly pray that your Lordship may be guided to a right judgment, not so much for the sake of English law and liberity, mighty as these interests are, as for the sake of Christianity itself."

The learned counsel sat down amidst some applause.