The Aberystwith Observer

BREACH OF PROMISE— £ 2,000 DAMAGES A case of breach of promise of marriage, possessing Borne features of unusual interest, was tried on Satur- day before the Lord Chief Justice and a jury m the Court of Queen's Bench, London. The damages were laid at £ 50,000. Both the parties were of ma ure years, the lady nearly the gentleman, Colonel Pow M.P. for ,mtry nearly 50. Stie was the daughter of a surgeon in a, c. wa3 town in Wales. He, though a gentleman of prope Jjt to unhappily paralysed in his lower limbs, ana her had occasional attacks of paralysis. The lady s « (g house. a;ted as his paid secretary, and was often a at jjis In March last she had been with a Jnar"fth j er married country house on a visit, and she colonel at his sister and her brother came up to vtsis AIarch, and on town residence. That was on the wascontiacted, that occasion it was that the engage j H ^is She was in his house with her relatt^^ the ecd of the own relatives not being there. came up ,,M soon after month, however, Captain Pneips the interval) however, took the Colonel away with nil^tered into on the 27th of the eng^ement having oee»ed medical man (]Dr King) » £ if 111?. •I,11' "riiudent mirriage" might be beneficial who told him tha ys paralysis, utider certain con- to him; but direction, he explained to the lady, whtrh she assented, observing that she was aware X? J £ a7w'm £ e of a nurse than a wite to him." In the Colonel wrote to the lady's brother a letter ^vpn imderneath} announcing his engagement to his sister, t<? which he replied in a letter which was couched in terms I £ thpr Of doubt, and advised consideration. However, he Sacred himself to her before he left; but when his re- latives saw him they dissuaded him from the match, and by the 7th of May he had resolved to break it off, so that the matter was "on" and "off in about a week. The whole affair scarcely lasted a month. On the 11th of May the lady, hearing that he intented to break it off, wrote to him in pathetic terms reminding him of his promise, and remonstrating with him against breaking it. He replied to the effect that the matter, in his then state of health, required more mature consideration On this occasion, in her letter she said, I want to be a nurse, to com'ort you, but I know you will be persuaded to break your premise to me." Iu his reply he wrote, "What you now request me to do is a thing of such immense importance that even if I were not physically and pecuniarily disabled (which is the perfect truth) it would require no small time to give it the con- sideration which such a matter would demand." The hdy replied to the effect that he had allowed himself to be" talked over" into breaking his engagement, which he had maturely considered. In the meantime, either from some rumours that had reached his ears, or from some cause not explained, he conceived suspicions of her having formed an intimacy with some one else, and gave this to the medical man as the reasoD. This was told to her, and of course tended to embitter the matter; and rumours were said to have been circulated or to have arisen from the breaking off the match, injurious to the lady's character The present action was brought in the early part of October, and in November the defendant pleaded a defence impugning the lady's cha- racter,—a plea apparently founded upon the rumours and reports. Upon further inquiry, however, it was discovered that the defence was not sustainable, and tbe plea was accordingly withdrawn with expressions of regret, and the only defences relied upon were a denial of the promise and the allegation that a reasonable and proper time for the martiage had not arr ved Mr. Boril, in stating the case to the jury, said this was an action brought to recover damages against the defendant for having refused to fulfill,is promise of marriaee with the plaintiff. The promise of marriage was in 18G4. The defendant is a colonel of militia, and he is M P. for the county of Cardigan. He has several residences in the county, is a man ot high position there, and he also keeps a town residence. The plaintiff is a lady living not far from Nanteos, the defendant's principal country seat, where she ) had resided for some years with her widowed mother and her brother and sisters. For some years an intimacy had existed between the two families, and they were in the habit of visiting. The defendant, who is a widower, lost his wife about- ten years ago. He has an only son, and he had for many years lived without such comforts of home as he would desire, his household being looked after by his aunt, Mrs. Phelp, and some of the members of her family. The defendant was a gentleman suffering from considerable Infirmity. He was afflicted with paralysis, and though a member of parliament he had to be wheeled in a ehturinto the House of Commons. His legs were so paralysed that, although he could walk a little, it was npcessary, however, for him to be wheeled about in a chair. In Christmas, 1863, the plantiff's family, as they had frequently done before, visited the defendant, and on New Year's-day there was a large party, and it being leapyear, a great deal of joking went on between the ladies about H, and then and there three ladies in concert preceded to claim their privileges by their all asking the defendant to accept their hands ia marriage. No one ever dreamt that anything serious was "J ^se from it; but it seemed to have made a deen tiff ,1*5 J upon the defendant. Shortly after that, one ot sister cousins became engaged to the plaintiff's especially approval of everyone, and the defendant ,much Pleased about it. In ihe course of the spring tbe marriage took place, and she went to stay at on e of month ofA^rUir^detS^ lta *5e rghbourhood. Aboutthe town residenc^ st Ge^r^s^iad' BelKravia wW'h^0 M3 visited by the recently marriedfo'lks tLnklnHff a Was other friends. The defendant felt hts lonely condition 'T had no one to comfort him, nothing to love and ilnthVn J° nourish, and although, ordinarily speaking, it wasnota dfsir" able thiDg of a lady to marry a gentleman who was paftiv paralysed, yet an attachment and affection sprang up between them, and at last, like a great many other devoted women the came to the conclusion that she couid watch over him, and her affection to him increase in proportion. She was pressed by the Colonel, and at last she consented to marry him. The Colonel was now about 49 years of age, and the lady about ten years younger, so that they were both competent to form an opinion up >n the matter. He should not bave tnuch trouble or difficulty in proving the engage- tothe X,aufl,tlle published it himself in a letter from r« "■ 5er' which he would read. It was dated «« M ge s_road. Belgravia, and dated the 20th April:— yon J keen^f' 1 am °ow S°.inS to tell you I want winds, at au events for ^hlsSJLr.it; eve" to the the ladies have ih«> «« present. Ihis being leap year three of them have po™Tdt<?ri?PIf8 'v.16, gentlemen, and accepted, and which is vour (\a"8hter), one ol whom I up here immediately after the traiain^ u o've'^V COme have a long clut with j ou. Xeither i T^nt to ■nJthing abritit tkl, oVe n0 home Eor y-i'r1, Hti'i nothing to love since poor flarty's death. I want the tliine ^tt'eri nfc kn^cked off quietly, so as to make a home at once for neither of us are to-youug as we were once upon a time' must1have' S&VySJ. that 111 die flrst she must have 5001. a year." fiffsbroethMh;^PriUhe defendant again wrote to the plain- fIIff's brother to'l^eampllV7ofS?of the world, with nothing self and^h« » M ■ am doing *hat is both to my" me wants o Z^ ln general besides, a poor old fogey like bo T an 'ffldent nurse I have mad- up my mind, and H/»ii "as Margaretta, but we want you here for a par- ticular reason." I shall break the news to Hannah whs afternoon if I can get the chance, but I don't wish Don to know it just at present, because he can't hold his tongue. I agree with you, dear SII, that both Margaretta and mytelf are too old to care much tor the world, and that we ought and must make a home for ourselves before we die I have never jet had a ccmtortable home-no not once in my Hfe- and as it is drawing on I believe I am do-ii" what the world eontidcrs a proper thing for my cor. f. v? T married in my house in May, by snecia T t0 ? stand the grand humbug Wol'ihurrt^ C^«^SWrUte?at the timp' but the learrel f t '? rtadlt- 1[e *ould place it in his itw! HI 8 bsnds- and he might do so if he thought it enhsnced the case. Mr, Coleridge What, make the defendant appear more ridiculous? Mr. Bovill said tlia1. if toe ltarned counsel thought it would make the defendant look morj ridiculous he would not lead h; for he had no desire to do so. The poetry m'gh^, therefore, be ';onslglled I 0 i bliviou. It WM (Jnly in- tended for certain eyes, and he hoped It any ope had seen it tbat they would tot give publicity to it. The defendant aftetwards commurjichted bis engagement to the p.ail,tiifto her sister. On the 1st of May the de/estdant wrote the following le'ter to the plaintiff's brother who was a medical man in Wales:— My dear Davie,— Don't be astonished, don't be fright- tneo, don't kick me, but I am engaged to be married to yeur lister Margaretta; but as I do not wish to make ic pubic at piestnt 11 a^e written to jour broiher Sil il: about it, and I hope to see him in town t fter the training of the militia is over. You know well that I hiiveneverhifd ahome ofmy own sluce 1 c.me into the Nanteospro\Je,ty, a1id I thtnk it is high time that I should make one. Margaretta I have known for many years and seen a great dexl of. We air) both of a certain bge-old enough to know right from wrong, anr) she has betn brought up, as the mistress cf a house nil her life. She understands how to take the com mand, and save money, instea-d of throwing it all ( ver the country, doing no good to au) body, except to the devil and his imps, and no gratitude, except being snubbed by vonr friends (?) in return." 3 foul (L^ghter)ridf?e 1 HeSaiS alt0 that he wants a leS or two. Mr. Bovill said the defendant in writing to Dr iririrr siys—"Have jou an arm or two to spare, or a head' U „ leg? I want some. if you have got them for me I must get a body or two for the salmon flies." He (Mr Br viin must read it all, becausw his learmd friend wi-hed" to have it read. The defendant's cousin, Captain Phelp, who lived with his mother and wife at the defendant's house and en. Joyed the hunting ( he defendant keeping a pack ol hounds) and shooting, appeared to dislike the match, for he wrote on the 1st ot May the following letter to the defendant :— "Some time back I wrote to you about some reports flying about as to your being engaged to marry Margintta Ltwis. Since then these reports have increased, and your never contradicting them leads me to fancy, as every one else does, that there is some truth in it. I now demand to know from you if you have determined to take tnis step, because if so I shall not return here from the training. I have consulted Roberts on the subject, and he perfectly agrees with me. I should feel obliged by your answering this by return of post." wwe'end??t upon that wrote a letter t0 the plaintiff's —•'MJV11 B2llch he enclosed a copy of his cousin's letter ceived frnltf have sent you a copy of the letter I re- ot all that? 4? t morning. What do you think the power of |haVeal|y. at 49 years of age, I had my Chro°ldrAa8 Vlied r £ gard to marriage and the above letter ,ietms P!ai" enough, by set by thlg, and feel quiteUl ^6I y n0t' 1 am 1uite UP" On the 2nd of -r. Captain Phelp, in answer »he defendant, wrote to I Wnliam> I certainly am ni 'etter as lollows:— Dear and intend marrjiDg her. Iengagpd to Margare ta Lewis with you my making a homer,i 8?e what 16 has to do life." After some further r the rtSC of my ordered by my doctor not to live afnJ,°1JS h? Bayg> "1 any way, but I cannot say that has be?n ,ir be ann°yed in things are getiing worse. Why ,ou w°way lately, and cause I get married I cannot, conceive, or whv^6 be' ferewith you;" and, in conclusion, he says <.y,^Wl11 "'ttr- what you demand." 0w explain The def. ndant consulted his mescal adviser nr xr. and he ascertained from him that th* re waa no obieot^ him contracting a matrimonial alliance, provided u to prudent one. Shortly, however, after the engagement rumours were circulated that the defendant intended to marrv the plaintiff, and on the 11th May she wrote him as ollowa :— My dearest William,—You must not think me abore f0r writing to you again, for I find my name has been made so vary public from the late events tbat I really must beg ot you as a man of honour not to do me such an Injury as to give me up now. Youaie bound to ma by ties which you ™n0n",kl 1 on|y want the right to nurse and comf* n?omiL ?°w you are> and will be, persuaded to break your butl know, dear William, you are too good to out maWng'her yow wUe8^1'" Dam° bel°le PUbUC O.n the fOllowing day, the 12th, the defendant ^rotfi to the letter of l'ueseay night uhTeh rtfgareUa,_I received you! the town. I trust you Via BeVer t0 wbat ls said ab0Ut than as a man of honour. But hehave otherwise what you request me to do is a thing ofP^yite11 y°U portanca that tvan if I were not r>hf aiVoii. immense lm- dtsabled, which is perfectly true, it would L pecunlanl.i! time to give it the consideration that such a mVt w° smi} I would not for the world say anything that woni.fhf^11 feelings but you must have known rL long^ enon^'L^be aware that what I say is correct, and I bee and h™* will believe me. Wis h kind regards to your mother, believe me sincerely, yours, Ac." DELLEVE With regard to the defendant's physical incanacltv for marriage the learned counsel said he would call Dr ^in/ who would entirely disprove that; and with rEgard to tife aetendant's pecuniary position he believed the charges on the ■*WierevtTyfmalL On the 13th of May the plaintiff replied to the defendant's letter of the 12,h a. follows :— 'y dear William,—I received your letter this evening teifto confess that I do not quite uuderstmd its con- he»r. j J y°u asked me to become y our wife, I than eflvSf 0 thinkit over well, as I well knew that every i5*?la('e to Prevent yohr marrying me. Your and ti,0Wa?you were old enough to jurge for yourself, *hou^tfSU sb<^uld have imagined, must have been youhaiTr by ?,oubfefore that tim, and I am to And that £ lhIS £ d °v6r y.our beiDK. Physically and hftt ? disabled. You talk of not hurting my feelings S must I fcel When you allow me to be talked of by every one; you yourself made the engagement public, and now you wish to get out of it from the persuasion of those who wish to keep you single that they might live in your house, not having one of their own." r The letter concluded by ob3er ving that she had known the defendant long, and believed him to be a man of honour. The plaintiff's name had been made public throughout the country as the future wife of a gentleman who held a high position in the county, and in one of his letters he states that he would do nothing to injure her; but on the contrary —and they, perhaps," would hardly believe it—he had denounced the plaintiff as a person of improper habits and conduct, and that she had gone off with an officer. When the action was brought the charge was reiterated, by a plea being put upon the record charging her with improper conduct with an office", and that piea remained on the flies of the court from the ilth November. when it was pleaded, ttil the 3d of this month, when it was withdrawn. After some further observation and evidence, Mr. Bovill proposed to call evidence to rebut the imputa- tions on the character of the plaintiff; but Mr. Cole- ridge eaid they were entirely and unreservedly re- tracted,. and there was the greatest regret that they had ever been made. The Lord Chief Justice observed that he thought this was quite enough, and that the object of her counsel was attained. Unhappily, it was only pecuniary compensation which could be awarded to her; but the jury must consider the loss of the position she would have enjoyed as the wife of Culonel Powell and what amount of money could compensate her for the loss of this position and the injury which had been inflicted upon her. The jury retired to consider their verdict, and were absent some time. On their return they gave a T <;rdict for the plaintiff-Damages, 2,0001.

AN UNSUCCESSFUL MISSION. A Washington dispatch thus describes the result of Mr. Blair's mission to Richmond ;— It is now definitely..set led that Mr. Blair's mission has been an entire failure, and that he is not to wear the honours of a great pacificator. l'ilr. Blair went to Richmond, confident that he should be able to in- augurate negociations whose end would be the termi- nation of hostilities and restoration of the union. He returns satisfied that at present there is no hope of a peaceful solution of existing difficulties. He found division and wrangling among the rebel leaders but they are so distrustful of each other that none dare to assume the responsibility of making advances or agree- ing to terms which would lead to peace. Davis is environed with enemies who watch his every motion, and are ready at first indication of a disposition to accede to any possible terms of settlement; to spring upon and oter whelm him. For this reason he could offer no terms, expect a precedent recognition of com- missioners as representing the Confederate Govern- vernment; or he was willing to negotiate without an actual recognition provided an armistice of from 30 to 90 days was granted. Neither of the propositions could, of course, receive a moment's consideration, and so he was informed. • Findin¡l all efforts to accommodate matters unavail- ing, Mr. Blair has returned to this city, and his labours as a peacemaker are ended. Nothing now remains but a vigorous prosecution of the war until the army of Lee is destroyed, and then peace will come, not by negociation, but by the disintegredation of the rebel Government. The rebels are determined to make one last effort, by the conscription of negroes, and a more vigorous enforcement of the conscription of white men, to change the current of disaster which has so steadily set against them of late. Their hopes of recognition have not al- together failed them, and they are encouraged, from the action of our Congress in relation to the French occupation of Mexico, to believe that Franee will soon recognise them as an offset to the hostility displayed towards the new government of that country by the United States. All these arguments are used to keep the rebel Congress and the people from despairing of ultimate success, and they have the effect desired for the present. It is authoritatively stated to-night that Mr. Blair is preparing a letter, addressed to Horace Greeley, de- tailing his experience as a peace negotiator, and ex- plaining the causes of his failure, and showing that there is no hope of an immediate peaceful settlement of the war. General Singleton has not returned yet to this city, although it is understood that he has come within our lines from Richmond. His political friends are quite disappointed at his utter failure to bring the rebels to a peaceful frame of mind. Peace men are said to be plentiful in Richmond, but Reconstructionists do not as yet dare to avow them- selves.

OUR COTTON SUPPLY. The Manchester Chamber of Commerce has held its annual meeting and by its able and indefatigable resident, Mr. Henry Ash worth, we are furnished with f exposition of the present state of our c tton supply, very fully confirming our own anticipa- tions three years ago that neither India nor any other country would supply the loss of tbe produce of the Southern States of America, whether as to quantity or quality (says the Examiner in an article from which we quote the following.) InlSGO, when Amcrica was still supplying us with cotton, our consumption amounted to 1,083,000,000 lb, valued at 34,000,000?, and last year we consumed little more than one-half as much, at a cost of 80,000,0001., or, in other words, for half the quantity and for less than half, the quality, we pay 4f> 000 OOOl. more, that is, we paid within tenmilJion of double the interest of our National Debt! India is, at present, the source of our chitf supply. In lH60 it furnished us with 214,000.000 Ih. weight, of the value of 3,600 0001, and l*st year with 513,000,0001bs for which we paid 40,000,000?. Our Iudiau cotton co^t us in 1860 about 3|J. a pound, and last year it cost us nearly 18Jd. There was, therefore, a bounty paid to the Indians of nearly 15d. on every pound they pro- duced, or a total brunty of thirty-six and a half millions sterling in a single year. Has this very handsome premium improved the quality of the Indian cotton ? By no means, on the contrary, it is rather worse than it was. Before the cessation of the American supply, it was only their bad befot that was brought to the English market, but now good, bad, and indifferent are brought, and there ia even an aggravii- tion of the foul and fraudulent practices of former times. There is not even any reliable evidence that the cultivation of the article.haa increased in India the additional supply being made up of abstractions from the domestic consumption of the Indians, and of the whole of the quantity ia former times sent to China, valued at 3,°0.°.OOOl.. The great probability then, is that India has not increased the amount of its cotton cultivation, and the certainty is that it has not improved in quality, being BUll the short dirty brittle: staple it alwkys wkr, d mandmg additional labour in manufacture. Although India has done nothing of this, other countries, evln Thus w<?f?ml fn/ Undt;r. ,decPot5c governments, have, inrl r. ,wBich was always an importer, «apan, which neither imported nor exported, srnd- 1DfS^Ui St yeelr 30,000.000 It weight, the cotton ot the last-named country being more valuable than the Indian by 9 per cent. Even Siam, which had never sent cotton to Europe, exported last year to the weight before jf 2,500 000 Th as we find by the Bangkok Gazette, for Siam, like Japan, has its English newspaper. Letit not be said that this arises from any incapacity in the soil and climate of India to produce cotton, for they are perfectly well adapted to do so, and as evidence of this the President of the Manchester Chamber of Com- merce tells us that gome Indian cotton, although small in quality, of double the value of the ordinary staple, was imported last year. India, as we have frequently had to remark, pro- duces excellent indigo, sugar, and silk, but all these only through the application of English skill and capital, and not a pound of them is to be got without these aids, nor will they ever be. It will be the same with cotton until its culture is helped by the same appliances for the Hindus, left to themselves, are, in industry and agricultural skill, far below both Chinese and Japanese. Sufficient proof of this is the supply of cotton received by us from Japan, to say nothing of the vast superiority of the sugar of the Chinese to the native sugar of India, and the still greater superiority of the raw silk of both nations. As, then, the quantity of raw cotton of India is small in proportion to what it ought to be, and in quality the very worst that comes into the English market, notwithstanding the yearly missions we are laying out in the hope of improving it, we come to the inevitable conclusion that there must be something rotten in the administration of our Indian domain. And this we fancy we can trace very distinctly to the rMrZlaU°! of the Couilcil of the Indies to maintain T1 mo <• an finance, and to exclude Europeans from the fee simple of the land, the only SfStoiT g a C°Untry °f g°0d aAd abund^ cotton.

A PORTRAIT OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. Professor Goldwin Smith in an article in Macmillan's Afaa- azine, gives the following interesting description of the President of the United States of America;- You pass into the President's room of business through an ante-room, which has, no doubt, been paced by many an applicant for office and many an intriguer. There is no formality—nothing in the shape of guard- and, if this man is really "a tyrant worse than Robespierre," he must have great confidence in the sufFrance of his kind The room is a common office- room—the only ornament that struck the writer's eye being a large photograph of John Bright. The President's face and figure being well known by likenesses and caricatures, the large-boned and sinewy frame, six feet four inches in height, is probably that of a yeoman of the north of England—the district from which Lincoln's name suggests that his forefathers came—made spare and gaunt by the climate of America. The face, in like manner, denotes an Eng- yeoman's solidity of character and good sense, an,, ?omething superadded from the enterprising life hdelitv f habltS of the We3tern Yankee. The brutal tures of Photograph, a3 usual, has given the fea- one of kinJ original, but left out the expression. It is mirth, of BBS688' ant* exc«pt when specially moved to The maS"SD,e88 and care. and unaffected a«dress are perfectly simple, modest, the eyes of aJI Whtf therefore free from vulgarity in wat) nothing in th are DOt vulgar themselves. There repeating. It turQQj>nver8]ati°n particularly worth recent election. The pa J on the incidents of the out from the polls, Whichrtsldent was trying to make in whether the number 0fJ5 not Perftctly come since the beginning of the War Z? di,I?jit?ishe^ that it had not. His mmd see^d t„ ,attTd h",m8'? f ing on this point. He remarked tWVe- been,dw<11- the number of those who had perishoa'; Jeckomng fair percentage must be deducted for 0J\;be war' a tality, which would have carried off unde^Tcirc^m" stances a certain proportion of the men, alUf were generally set down as victims of the sword. He also remarked that very ;r,f,i1.'ifcomit8 of the carnage had been produced y the killed large numbers of men whose term of enhstment had expired, and who had been on a account re- placed by others, or had re-enlisted themselves and he told, in illustration of this remark, one of his cha- racteristic stories .-—A negro had been learning anth- metic. Another negro asked him if he shot at three pigeons sitting on a fence and killed one, how many would remain. One," replied the arithmetician. No," said the other negro, the other two would fly away." In the course of the conversation he told two or I three more of these stories—if stories they csuld be called-always by way of illustrating some remark he had made, rather than for the sake of the anecdote itself. The writer recognised in this propensity, as he thought, not a particularly jocular temperament, much less an addiction to brutal levity, such as woald call for a comic song among soldiers' graves, but the humour of the West, and especially of a Western man, accustomed to address popular audiences, and to enforce his ideas by vivid and homely illustrations. You must have studied the American character-and; indeed, the English character, of which it is the offcipring-very superficially if you do not know that a certain levity of expression, in speaking even of important subjects, is perfectly compatible with great earnestness and seriousness beneath. The language of the President like his demeanour, was perfectly simple; he did not let fall a single coarse or vulgar phrase, and all his words had a meaning.

AN PORTANT DISCOVERY. The old tale of the power of labour combinations in- judiciously exercised giving rise to inventions, by which much manual labour is set aside, and capitalists freed from unreas onable demands, is being again illustrated. or years,- ,tthe various ironmasters of the kingdom have been tithing under what they have termed the tyrranyO .ttpuddterp." These are a class of opera- tives WIt labour has hitherto been conceived indispensable to the production of finished iron. Determining to free themselves frcm the species of operative despotism which these men by their powerful national union have been lately exercising, the great Dowlais Iron Company have for some time past been making a series of important experiments which will have the effect of knocking off the galling shackles described, at the same time that they solve the one problem of the trade—viz., how to convert pig into finished iron altogether by machinery. A few months ago they purchased the patent for a rotary furnace, obtained in 1853 by Mr. Bernard P. Walker, a cutnail manufacturer of Wolverhampton, and the engineer of the company, Mr. Menelaus, has been experimenting with it until, after making certain alterations in its shape and attendant apparatus, he has pronounced the method a success, and his company, equally convinced, have authorised the laying down of considerable works expressly for the making of iron by this process. The discovery was to be brought before the scientific world at the annual meeting last week of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in Bir- mingham, at which Mr. Menelaus had arranged to read a paper On Machine Puddling." The entry of this subject on the notice-paper calling the meeting drew to- gether ironmasters from Scotland and Wales, and other somewhat remote districts, but the time allowed for the reading of papers was consumed in the discus- sion on the first paper on the list, which related to metrical measurement. Mr. Menelaus, there- fore, simply remarked that he had satisfied himself on the merits of the rotary furnace and, as the best substitute for his paper, would there give an invitation to all the members of the institute to be present a month from that day at the opening of the new works, when they might judge of its value by a personal inspection of its working. The manager of the Dowlais Company was present, with the engineer, to support this invitation, and introduced the inventor of the furnace to other members of the institute terms which revealed the existence of unbounded gratification that he had been the means of conferring a boon upon that branch of our national history which embraces the iron trade, for which it had long been sighing. Ready to illustrate the paper, were lying in the institute-room an immense bloom Mirpn, looking like a huge egg, and weighing 5 cwt., s owing the state of the iron as delivered by the furnace, and specimens of iron in a finished state made from similar blooms. They were subjected to a close scrutiny by members of the institute, aud were pronounced to be of much superior workmanship to that us'Ja y produced by puddling by manual labour, iuignt furnaces capable of making 00 tons each per week are being erected in the new works, and by their operation iron will not only be puddled much better, but at consi- derably less cost than on the old principle. The rotary furnaces will prove an addition to the national wealth, and if the paper describing it bad been readmit would have occasioned as much interest to be awakened as resulted from Mr. Bessemer's celebrated paper at Cbel. tenbam. Too much importance cannot be attached to the discovery, which being made known on the eve ot an aggregate meeting of all the ironmasters of England, called together to determine upon a universal lock-out of puddlers, becomes doubly significant.

A SEA-SICK MILLIONAIRE. The following is taken from a paper in Harper's NelU Monthly Magazine, entitled "John Jacob Astor — In 1832, one of his daughters having married a European nobleman, he allowed himself the pleasure of a visit to her. He remained abroad till 1835, when he hurried home in consequence of the disturbance in financial affairs canned by General Jackson's v. ar upon the Bank of the United States. The captain of the ship in which he sailed from Havre to New York has related to us some curious incidents of the voyage. 1\-1r. Astor reached Havre when the ship, on the point of Sailing, had every state-room engaged but he was so anxious to get home that the captain, who had commanded ships for him in former years, gave up to him his own state. room. Head winds and boisterous seas kept the vessel beating about and tossing in the Channel for many days. The great man was very sick and still more alarmed. At length, being per- suaded that he should not survive the voyage, he asked the captain to run in and set him ashore on the coast of England. The captain dissuaded hirn. The old man urged his request at every opportunity, and said at last, "I give you tousand dollars to put me aboard a pilot boat." He was so vehement and im- portunate that one day the captain, worried out of all patience, promised that if he did not get out of the Channel before the next morning he would run in and put him ashore. It happened that the wind changed in the afternoon, and wafted the ship into the broa t ocean. But the troubles of the sea-sick millionaire had only just begun. A heavy gale of some days' dura- tion blew the vessel along the western coast of Ireland. Mr. Astor, thoroughly p^nic-stri *ken, now offered the captain te thousand dollars if he would put him ashore anywhere on the wild and rocky coast of the Emerald Isle. III vain the captain remon- strated. In vain he reminded the old gentleman of tbe danger of forfeiting hifl insurance. »" Insurance exclaimed Astor, can't I insure your ship myself ?" In vain the captain mentioned the rights of the other passengers. In vain he described the solitary and rook-b >ui'd coast, and detailed the difficulties and dangers which attended its approach. Nothing would appease him. He said he would take all the responsi- bility, brave all the perils, endure all the conse- quences only let him once more feel the firm ground under his feet. The gale having abated, the captain yielded to his entreaties, and engaged, if the other passengers would consent to the delav, to stand in and put him ashore. Mr. Astor went into the cabin and proceeded to write what was expected to be a draft for ten thousand dollars in favour of the owners of the ship, or his agent in New York. lie handed to the captain the result of his efforts. It was a piece of paper covered with writing that was totally illegible. What is this ?" asked the captain. "A draft upon my son for ten waa the reply. But no one can read 1 ii ^e3' 8on know what it is. My hand trembles so that 1 cannot write any better." "Bat," said the captain, you can at least write your name. I am acting for the owners of the ship, and I cannot risk their property for a piece of paper that no one can read. Let one of the gentlemen draw up a draft in proper form; you sign it, and [ will put you ashore." The old gentleman would not consent to this mode of proceeding, and the affair was dropped. A favourable wind blew the ship swiftly on her way, and Mr. Astor's alarm subsided. But even on the Banks of New- foundland, two-thirds of the way across, when the captain went upon the poop to speak a ship bound for Liverpool, old Astor climbed up after him, saying, "Tell them I give tousand dollars if they take a pas- senger." Astor lived to the age of eighty-four.

TEA v. MALT. The following excellent statement of the relative incidence of t ixation upou Tea aud upon Malt appears in the Lane Express:— Mr. Everitt affirms, point-blank, that tbe duty on malt is 70 per cent."a statement wbich I have no hesitation whatever in pronouncing to be wholly in- correct and absolutely untrue. That the amount of tbe duty, in relation to the value of barley, happens this year, owing to its comparatively low price, to about 70 per cent. is true, but that is neither the ques- tion at issue, nor is it moreover the statement ot -air Everitt, who affirms distinctly that the duty on malt is 70 per cent., and not only so, but that, as camparea with the duty on tea. at 33A per cent., it is 70 per cent. Now, the duty on tea is found to be 23.^ per cent. In the following manner :-The price of tea, ranging from 2s. to 4s. par lb., the average is taken at 33., and the duty being ls. or cue-third of the average retail price of the article, the percentage of duty is, of course, 33i. On the same principle the present value of n,a t ranges, according to quality, from 7s. P' • P and, taking the average of 7«. 6d.,t^ /1 2..9d., the percentage of dutv is t/ 37 instead of 70, as stated by Mr. ^ver\ i e "a monstrous misrepresentation an ? y unfair statement of the case, then I But this is not all. The question which Mr Gibson applied himself to determine was the relative per- centage of the duty on malt, as compared with tea, coffee, &e., in its bearing on t J' or> in other words, what is the reJa §Tr -p, P^ssure of the malt and tea taxes. Jeritt has himself called attention to the difference between the "raw material" and the "manufactured article of con- sumption;" but, strange to say, has himself con- founded the two things, asserting that tea and coffee are ra materials;" while malt is the manufactured article of consumption whereas the exact reverse is the fact. Tea and coffee.are certainly not raw mate- rials, and equally as certainly are they manufactured articles of consumption, 'no further process of manu- facture being required for tbeir consumption whereas, before malt can be consumed it has to undergo the further and somewhat tedious, and more or less expensive, process called brewing. Mult, therefore, is neither more nor less than the." raw material" from which the "manufactured article of consumption" called "beer" is made, and through which said beer the consumer lnys the malt-tax. But while it would be perfectly correct to say that the duty on malt amounts at the present time to 37 percent. of us value, this does not in any way invalidate the esti- mates of Mr. Gibson as to the relatl ve percentage of the duties on tea and malt in their bearing on the con- sumer; for although beer can be brewed at home for about half the cost of the brewers article, yet I suppose it will be readily granted thaU, taking the vast mass of the population, not only throughout the entire mining and manufacturing districts, but also in every town throughout the kingdom, at least 80 per cent. of the entire body of beer drinkers (and where, I ask, or among what class are these not to be found ?) do not, ftnd canuot brew at home. However cheaply then the roh t ,minority (be it 10, 20, or even 30 per cent, of the ,'fe'm.ay.be able to brew their beer at home, the ? majority must of necessity buy their beer of the rewer and inasmuch as this article varies in price Od. per quart, no fairer basis of calculation could possibly be taken than that Mr, Gibson took— viz., 4d., as representing the average cost^f a «n*rf of beer. Now, as a bushel of malt, the duty on which is 2'3. 9d., whether brewed by a brewer or at home by th", consumer, will make 18 gallons of good beer, which la" 72 quarts, and as 2i. 9 J. is 66 halfpence, it will be seen itnce the malt-tax amounts to not quite one halfpenny per quart, and which on beer at 4d. per pot is exactly 12| per cent. as stated by Mr. Gibson but as good home-brewed beer can be made at 8d. per • 1??' or .Per P0* relative percentage of duty 111 tms case will be 25 instead of 12J per cent. ? fe?*» "plaintruth," then, fairly and correctly stated, ia that the tea duty is 33A per cent., and the malt duty on home-brewed beer 25 per cent., and on Of6 i,,rewe.rs beer 12J per cent. or, in other words :— Of If. paid by the consumer for tea, 6*. 8d. is duty of p. p Aid for homebrewed beer;5g. is duty and of Il. paid for brewers' beer, 2s. 6d. is duty. So much, then, for the 70 per cent. duty on malt! One word on the general subject. On this, as on all other questions, there will necessarily be a variety of opinion. For myself, I look upon the malt-tax as one of the very best and least burdensome of all our taxes. it i!?De which touches every class, and almost every individual, aud, among others, that class who pay jittle else to the taxes, probably, besides. It yields a if"' cer';a^D' and permanent revenue, and is easily collected, and neither the present, nor any future Chancellor of the Exchequer, until he has lost his senses or parted with his wits, will ever, I believe, propose the repeal of the malt duty, and to reduce it would be simply throwing away so much revenue without a particle of benefit to any class whatever.

AN ENCOUNTER WITH A TIGER. A correspondent of the Dacca yews gives the following account of an encounter with a tigtr :— Mr. Sarkies was some years ago one of the keenest sportsmen in Dacca, but he has for some time past given up entirely all kinds of field sports. He came to Dacca a few days ago to witness the races, and being desirous, before returning to Calcutta, to visit the scenes of his former exploits and see if his hand had not lost its cunning, he obtained the loan of several elephants from Khajeh Abdool Gunny, and on Tues- day last proceeded with a couple of friends beyond iezgong. On reaching the jungles he heard deep giowls indie ^ting the vicinage of a tiger, the mahout also whispered the ominous word Bag. A veteran sportsman would not go out tiger shooting without a full knowledge of the elephant he bestrode, as much of the success, cr as it may be danger, depends on the firmness, or timidity of the animal. The animal ridden by Sarkies was offered him, from among several on the spot; which gave him the tacit assurance of its being the best in the lot, and adapted for the purpose. This elephant was urged on, the others forming line. They had not proceeded far when the tiger lushing out of his cover assailed one of the pad elephants. Mr. Sarkies with a view to draw him away from the ele- phant, fired a shot in a hap hazard manner, no sooner was the gun discharged than the tiger charged Mr. Sarkies's elephant, and lacerated her ears clawing her forehead. The elephant turned immediately round, as on a pivot, and retreated for her life, and strange to say the tigger dogged her heels for about a hundred yards, biting and clawing it all the while. The elephant, maddened with fear and pain, ran at a furious pace, so that Mr. Sarkies could with difficulty retain bis seat, but as for shooting the tiger it was an impossibility. The tiger, being attached to the heel of the hathie, was not perceptible from the back. Mr. Sarkies fearing at the dangerous pace the ele- phant was running that sbe might fall into some ditch or another, or in all probability throw off the howda,— m either case loss of life may have been the result,—he with the greatest difficulty put his right foot on the Seat, with one hand clenching the front rail of the howda, he used his double gun as a pistol, and con- trived to fire it off towards the place where he suspected the tiger to have been running, the growls of the tiger aJoue indicating that he was at a dangerous proximity to the heels of his elephant. The tiger, at this re- POft, let go his hold, when the elephant, released from er tough customer, ran like mad. No endeavours of the mahout could stav her fortunately.a number of ephants chrnced to be on the path that the runaway r"3, Pursuing, and their mahouts seeing how the state M cfgs ,waHi hemmed her in, and stopped her career, el r",farl{ies was so di-igusted by the cowardice of tbe •i-; ant' as also of the culpability of the mahout in of that character that be was for nrmfk1111 i 0IEe' wken another mahout told him to try hour i u fekph<int who would not disappoint him. The Was shifted, and Mr. Sarkies proceeded to the deiUT ^ere^e left him. As the field was nrmlrK J ta!1 jungles the tiger was clearly seen the very spot, he allowed the elephant to hmirwiv V witl"n 50 yards, when with a roar and nr,- ,e charged the elephant who fully answered the mrh- „ ^°towed on him, for he stood as firm as a rock, not a sing-Ie step did he recede, but with his received boldly faced his advancing foe. The tiger fsmooth K W^rm w.elcomei and was turned by a ball treai-in (,m shoulder, and, as he was slowly re- when he"Jtn c ball on his back laid him prostrate, exuerienol^8 tI?ally Polished off by a pot shot. My own hut T hion i J ese kln(la of sports has not been mucb, o, <1 rlnr» Seldona heard of a tiger charging, biting, or 500 vTr/ heels of an e!ePbant for near 400 Zfli ln an open plain their nature is to r, er cover, from whence, if disturbed, they make a c arge and retreat again to their shelter but thB animal, being one of the most ferocious kind, Mr. Satkie was in imminent dan&er when his first elephant runaway. Either a fall of the howdab, which was afterwards found to have been very loosely attached to the back, or of tbe eicpha. t itself, in his headlong career, would have endangered his life.

HOW A SECRET WAS OBTAINED. In an articleon the history of "Steel Converting," a Bir- mingham paper gives the following Interesting sketch:- About a hundred years ago, on a bitter night in winter, when the snow was falling steadily, and "c'oth- ing the earth with a garment," undeniably beautiful, as the poets say, but, as all can testify who have no homes to go to on such occasions, just the reverse of pleasant, an old man, weary, cold and tired, to all appearance, was struggling through the blinding down- faU towards the manufactory of Mr. Benjamin Hunts- man, steel manufacturer, Attercliffe, Sheffield, whence acheery glow of furnaces seemed to holdout the hope of warmth and .belter. Arrived at last at the entrance to the works, the wayfarer knocked, and begged of the swarthy Titan who answered his summons permission to rest himself beside the fires which flung their light across the waste. Though the guardian of a newly discovered and important secret which being seen would be no Jonger a secret, and which might bd seen, and that easily, by any one admitted to the works, this North Country orgeman nevertheless possessed, like all his race, a kindly heart. He could not, there- fore, refuse the apparently reasonable request of one who seemed so much In need of what he awked ai the poor old man 6 Besides, what would a wanderer like a ow about the mysteries of steel converting, or i e saw anything, how could he turn it to account, even if he had the inclination-a thought that scarcely entered the of Benjamin Huntsman. He never dreamt of anything so base. So the required leave was igiven, and curied snugly up on a hastily im- provised bed, in a remote corner of the rude building, the w°rn-°i y MPeared to sleep. Content with having pet )y_ action, the master and his workmen, who taking an interest in the matter, had ceased to work a while returned to their labour. So ^i?Sjr Twiner thft °0' 5 they had no time to notice aOTs nf fK remainder 0f the night, the keen, i Z.rfi waf ? £ °iarman, instead of being closed SKe br £ h* V g CV,ery movement. And what SS u?tye\8e^ Tf^y saw that small pie°nortion of fl11 steel with the addition of a due flu*» wore filled into a fire-clay crucible, wi°.Turec J. a ^rnace blinding white with • »that the workmen from time to time cast thfTJ?UeS 1-nt? th,e furnace and tbat at a given Fu • y drew it forth, and poured the contents of tnur crucibles mto a inoidd, which opened, shortly after, revealed a gbwing bar of metal. This process tomes durmg that eventful night repeated, tho the morning the beggarman—who wa=s(soruns ftw, i no beggarman at all, but a rival manu- r.err7left the shop a wiser, but no longer an honest man, taking with him a knowledge of the secret of ma ing cast steel—a secret whioh had been discovered ew years before (in 1740), by Mr. Benjamin Hunts- \n himself, who was a member of tbe Society of ij tbe village of Handsworth, near • e|d, and which had been jealously guarded nee then by himself, his family, and his workmen, th t Tere-solemnly pledged to secrecy. Thus it was r t ^.e invention of a skilful mechanic was filched rom him by a competitor, whose principles of com- mercial morality were less firmly rooted th?-n his love of gain, and that one of the principal and most impor- tant industries of Sheffield was founded.

PARLIAMENT SKETCHED. The sketch that could be obtained this last week was a thin outline (says a writer in the Court Journal). Mtn have not developed themselves, and are very sby as yet. As a specimen of their coldness and distant bearing, it may be mentioned that one of them advanced to Mr. Disraeli and presented his card. Mr. Disraeli coolly surveyed it and then the proprietor, after which a few words were spoken. The card was handed back to the member. He wrote something upon it and gave it back to Mr. Disraeli, who bowed him away, and away he went to some seat at the back under the gallery, where he will doubtless be found by the address on the card when wanted to come forward to the rescue of the Opposition and make one of those brilliant speeches with which he doubtless informed Mr. Disraeli he was primed and prepared when he was wanted. Mr. Disraeli looks well and happy—every one looks well and happy--and it is almost a pity that the law of the land brings them together to spoil tlieir digestion, and looks over the tying and untying of legislative matter of such little import. Punch in his last cartoon has depicted the Premier with a considerable amount of embonpoint, and we scanned him like a Schneider as to his waist measurement. There is ample and comfortable rotundity, but no excess, and Punch must diminish a thought or two in the circumference of the great man next time he is made fun of. The Premier looks not a jot older, albeit old, and in nowise so jaunty as the world in general is led to believe. He took up the attitude of slouched hat and somnolence at once, though there was little time left for napping this week. Nothing is changed, apparently, from last year in the region of the Government table. Opposition and Ministerial are to a man as they were. Mr. Gladstone looks solemn and statuesque, big with the fate of a budget; Sir Charles Wood remarkably severe and impeachable; Mr. Layard has not shown; Mr. Milner Gibson cheery and cheruby; and Sir George Grey active in form and thoughtful of brow. The ruck are there, with a few new faces; that detestable Yah, yah from the back, near Mr. Disraeli, as loud and big with importance as ever. The Lords exhibited rather a lively scene during the opening day the House was filled with ladies and gentlemen curious to witness something which they will requireagreat deal of acuteness to have discovered. They graced the Opposition benches rather thickly, and that is not the attitude or position in which we should most have wished to find them. They mingled in the strangers' gallery with the gentlemen who were permitted to take a seat there, and not, as duringThe ieJ^rry the Speech by the Queen, confined to a standmg pbee at the back of the gallery. The first ieldreaToiri frit1■e"8«)™d of debate was Lord Lecon- nf the irJon^of ^Sle|°U^-e?; theD Came the Cburch the ^hop of Uipon! h°P °f CaQterbury and Qbihgan was punctua.l, as usual on these Opposition, bm, toiicht a^ainH? benches of the new to his Lordship. HaJLiv une(l odds is not only to look daggers a £ Sh« fo^' |'weveJ> here he had Lo& Churston of FerreS\^nedL^ ^dale and four minutes after two the Common,, annual rash to hear the Speech. The CommfZi r were the Lord Chancellor, the Duke otSome^lt T St. Germans, Lord Sydney, and Lord 'Stani*^ Alderly. ■ OI All that followed after the world knows, and if \bey >■ did not hear the Speech read, they have thought the more over it, when they have read it themselves, and quietly put their pen deprecatingly through three- fourths of it.

AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE. In the Court of Bankruptcy, in London, before Mr Com- im^oner G 'Ulburn, in "Re T. K. Baker," the bankrupt" apple 1 on Moadsy ID last week, to pass hia examination • a..d for an order of discharge, when judgmeut was reserved, until Monday when— His Honour said this was a very extraordinary case, perhaps the most extraordinary that had ever came before him during his long experience in the court. The bankrupt was a draper lormerly carrying on a pros- perous business at Woolwich, and it appeared that differences having arisen with him and his wife, pro- ceedings in the Divorce Court were commenced by her and a decree for a divorce was in due time obtained, the bankrupt being ordered b pay the costs of the suit together with alimony at the rate of 201, per year. The bankrupt was determined that he would never satisfy the claims of his wife. To accomplish this object he sold his stock in trade, the lease of the premises where his business was carried on, and also two or three houses of which he was the proprietor, and converted the whole into money (about 1.500?.) He then proceeded to Dover, and thence to O.^tend, Wiesbaden, and other places on the Continent. From Geneva he wrote a letter, in which after describing the beauty of the scenery, he stated that he had lost money by specula- tions at Wiesbaden, and added that "if the ex Mrs B (meaning his wife) wanted any more of his spare cash she had better get it poon before he went through the court. Upon the bankrupt's arrival in England, he gave a very singular account of a loss which he said he had sustained. His statements were very conflicting and he furnished three distinct versions of the mode in which the Joss had oc- curred. The first of these was given to the au- thorities at the Bank of England, in order to induce them to allow interest upon the notes alleged to have been lost. The bankrupt stated that upon the arrival of the steamer at Folkestone, and as he was passing along the gangway, he took from bis pocket a cigar case containing notes of the value of 1,450?., and that being pressed forward by the crowd behind, he dropped the cigar case into the sea. A second account was given to the detective officers, Messrs. Hamilton and Brett, to the effect that the notes had been extracted from bis pocket, and he fnrni-hed the addresses of two men whom he charged with the theft. Upon inquiry, however, it was ascertained that the individuals suspected were persons of great respectability, upon ) whom not a shadow of suspicion could rest. A third version was that, passing along the pier, he suddenly stumbled, and that, turning round, he observed » person following him; he felt for his cigar-case and could not find it. Haviog referred to other glaring discrepancies in the bankrupt's statements, his Honour said, the question was whether the bankrupt had given a full, true, and sufficient account of his property so as to justify an application to pass his examination and for an order of discharge. The only asset stated in the accounts was an idle claim to recover the amount of the alleged loss from the Bank of England. Then, was it true that the bankrupt had sustained the loss ? That he ha.d the notes was quite clear. Were they in his possession upon his arrival at Folkstone, or had he disposed of them previously ? The statements made by the bankrupt were inconsistent with each other. The letter from Geneva furnished a clue to the motive by which the bankrupt was actuated. The Court was of opinion that the story of the alleged loss was a con- trivance for the purpose of defeating the claims of the wife, and that the evidence of the bankrupt was wil- fully untrue. Under tbe circumstances the further hearing would be adjourned sine die. Protection was granted for one month, to enable the bankrupt to appeal if so advised.

HINTS TO WORKING MEN. Ths Timea bM the following excellent leader on the ter- mination 01 the recent disputes in the building trade :— The announcement that the disputes in the Build- ing Trades are about to yield to a system of arbitra- tion will be received with a mixture of congratulation and misgiving. It is almost too good to be true. Both masters and men have to sacrifice a good deal in liberty as well as in pride when they agree to be bound by a standing reference to appointed umpires. The disputes themselves are difficult, and it is not very easy to find persons with sufficient sympathy for both sides, besides the requisite intelligence and largeness of mind. Both sides feel that they have everything at stake for capital ia everything to one side, and labour everything to the othtr and i& seems rather perilous to commit thi;;¡ a11" to the arbitration of a third person— a spectator, even a comparative stranger. Upon the first supposition of the case, a man is fighting his own battle, atd "holding his own" against the whole world and the mood naturally engendered by such a struggle is most sensitive of interference, and most, jealous of compromise. Theprorosal has some spe. cial difficulties, and it is hard to say on which side they are the greater. That which presents itself foremost as all but insurmountable, is the circumstance that if it succeeds it must supersede that numerous, clever, and indefatigable class of men who trade upon these quar- rel*, and whose occupations are gone if masters and men come to a good understanding. What is to be- come of "secretaries," "wardens and vice wardens" of lodges, or whatever else they are called and the public-houses where meetings are held and funds collected, if there is nothing to fight about? Our nrsgivmg on this point is not diminished by the feel- iug that these men, with all their mischevious asfcump- tion and nugrant selfishness, after all, represent some of the nobler aspirations of the most numerous classes. The working man wants to feel himself to some extent his own master. He feels the incessant oemand upon his time, the regular con. sumption of his strength, his growing inability to improve or even be what he has been, and the oppres- sive thought '■hat all his days have been given to monotonous toil. He sees others rise over his head, and others at least enjoy themselves. He takes the readiest means to forget his brooding thoughts, and indulge in a dream of independence, but only, he thinks, forwent of a more real and permanent self. elevation; and whenever be returns to hardworking tifeit istoteei himself once more a slave. Such is the habitual inner rebellion of a large proportion of working men, in all trades and pursuits, against the law ot lite to which circumstances have brought them. To such men it is very tempting to hear of an organiz- ation which makes them masters as well as men —their own masters, in fact; makers of their own rules of employment direct fliarers in the general improvement and aggregate profit of the trade; and able to fight a battle, of self-defence against in- truders, upstarts, and supplanters-able, indeed, to maintain a sort of monopoly. This is the Union system, with its bright as well as its dark side. We must warn the working men that it is vain to agree to a system of arbitration, unless they are pre- pared to hear some unpleasant truths. No system can stand except on the foundation of truth—at least, it can only do harm aU around if it stands upon fallacies and inventions. We will go to the point. A con- tractor gets his work d-ine as cheaply as possible, and as labour is the chief item in the cost, be and his under-contractors do all they can to economise labour. They get machines to do the work of men, they adopt plans and arrangements by which one man does the work of two, a boy the work of a man, a labourer the work of a skilled artisan, an artisan the work of an artist or of an engineer. These devices and instruments have increased vastly of late years, and have reduced very considerably the cost of building operations. A bridge, a tunnel, a sewer, an embank- ment, aud even an ordinary house costs leas than it did 50 years ago, even taking out of the comparison the taxes since repealed. The result is that more work is done, profits are larger and more certain and. above all, wages are much higher, taking all things into account. But there is a feature of this change which we speciallycommend to the working men of the building trades. Every substitution of a machine or improved tool for labour puts the employer under an additional necessity to go on doing something or other, and that more and more. He has an immense and costly plant and stock in trade. If it is idle it is spoiling, and he also loses the interest of the money in- vested in it and the wages of his staff. So he puts in the lowest tender he can for a great work he takes care to have houses he can be going on with should he have nothing else to do and. even if the time be ever so slack, he is building and tinishing houses, though there are houses to let" or to be sold all around. If he was simply the employer of a hundred men he could dismiss them when he had nothing for them to do; but be cannot dismiss his immense workshops, where he does his woodwork by machinery, his steam engines, his travelling cranes, his pile drivers, his steam air pumps for sinking caissons, his movable rails and waggons, hi-t fine moulding and carving tools, his patents bought or rented, his stock of material. Such a concern becomes itself one great machine, which must go on whether wanted or not. It is like a railway com- pany, which- must run its trains whether passengers come or not. Working men must see, or at least ought to see, that every expedient for saving labour insures its regular employ, and really places the em- ployer more at their command. We repeat, the machine —that is, the contractor—must go on, slack time as well as busy, winter as well as summer, short days as well as long, in the bard frost if possible making as many hours a day as human labour is equal to. If the older working men who are able to compare times past and present would only do so, they would find that the economy of labour does really increase work, and sup- ply it more regularly. How is it that immense bodies of workmen can "strike," and even hope to bring their employers to their own terms ? It is because those employers have so much money invested in devices for economizing labour that they are suffering continual loss while they stand stilL Since the greater part of the complaints are against the economy of labour, and so far against the interest of all sides, not t» say against sense and justice, we fear the Arbitrators will have to make many de- cisions that cannot fail to be unpopular with the '• TJuicn" authorities. On the otber, we do not see how any Arbitrators, invested with a sort of public responsibility, should give into some of the demands made by the Unionists. We do not see how a respectable and self-respecting man can decide that a man is to be condemned for life to remain in the class of labourers if he can do a mason's work, or that a young man is not to be allowed the same class of work and the same wages as an older man, or that a man shall only work so many hours at such an employment, and at such wages, if he wishes to work longer and can do better work, and can thereby earn better wages or that any class + £ W0I"king men may insist on using methods that only serve to obtain more wages for less work done or that none shall be admitted to work without the permission of a Union or that every man ahau subscribe for the future contingency of a quarrel wIth his employer. We are at a loss to see bow any- body bearing the almost saered name of Arbitrator, and representing truth without faction, interest, or prejudice, could do otherwise than condemn su-h ^V-ODa- r Bu,t ^av'nP said thus much as to the if oil rui s an arbitration we must again wi-h ^° ■ s^cce8?- The employers in these trades J ri<f suPerior class of men compared with their pre- Bo^nnrfV1f:Tv.yeariS agi\ Jt is due to their higher not onln f they should do all that lies in their power, mightv C*P*tj disputes, but to prevent the **JriZ Sfi, er industry we have described from °n I human agencies. It U not toouhu^rriifr much or too long, too early, too late, Jack a oku i 1D>F-¥'t work and no play makes sullen man. is ,a'so aPt to make him a very can or ought to ^P?a8i°nal spurt of overwork nobody .desire to see his to but no Englishman can .thanslaves. Fleshn. harder worked well as capital, being factY? ave their fair claims as A compromise must be hit sonf^, the poor man. once fairly made, the umpiresw^j1^ attempt teachfers of a new social law, as well as themselves working men will find they have to react, *6^ ,le •think* instead of taking the watchwora^ ™° mittees-and paid secretaries.' That itself wil^eT 1 improvement on the unthinking and gregarious ice ox..the existing UnionSj which simply follow thb. muititu.de to do evil. |

THE LAW OF GIFTS! r In the Court of Common Pleas, an action, "Bourne v. Fcsbroke, has been tiled, and was as follows~ ■ ■ ■ The plaint's in this case was a young lady, 17 years of age, and her aunt, Susan Phillips, has lived for many years as housekeeper with Mr. Fosbroke, a gentleman of means. In 1853 the plaintiff went to see her aunt, and Mr. Fosbroke took a fancy to the child, and she remained in his house, he charging him- self with the cost of her keep and education. In lbG3 the aunt died, but the plaintiff still remained in the house of Mr. Fosbroke until be died, leaving the defendant, his brother, his representative. The plaintiff then left the house, but she claimed a watch, some trinkets, and some wearing apparel as having been given to her by her aunt. The defendant, however, refused to give them up, and the present action was brought to recover them. The case came on for trial before Mr. Baron Channell, at Leicester, when it appeared that the aunt was a married woman, though her husband had left her a month after mar- riage, and had never been heard of again until after her death. At the trial, the question was raised whether the aunt, being a married woman, had power to give her niece these things, and the result was that a verdici was entered for the defendant, with leave to the piaintiit to move to enter a verdict for herself for 251. > ubsequently a rule was obtained pursuant to this leave, it being contended that the articles given were part of a woman s paraphernalia," which she bad a right to dispose of; and, further, that the plaintiff being in lawful possession, the defendant, who was a mere wrongdoer, had no right to dispossess her. Cause was shown against this rule being made absolute. The Lord Chief Justice said that he was of opinion that the ruh) should be made absolute. He thought the plaintiff did not acquire .any property in these goods as against her aunt's husband; but still she o maintain this action against the defendant ac- cording to the rule that a person having quiet lawful possession, although not actually entitled to the property, could maintain an action against any wrongdoer who deprived him of it. In his opinion the plaintiff was in law in possession of these articles, although they were left in Mr. Fosbroke's house. J udg-ment for tbe plaintiff.

STOCK EXCHANGE SLANG. (From the Money Market Hevieic.) Stock Exchange phraseology and practice belong alone to the Stock Exahange, and are unknown in other commercial pursuits. The uninitiated ma.ny, well versed in ordinary commerce, or law, or physic, would be puzzled to detine the precise meaning of a "contango," or a "backwardation," of a "bull account," or a bear account, of a purchase or sale for the coming out," of dealing in options," and of "giving for the put," or "giving for the call," or "giving for put and call," of buying or selling for account," and of buying and selling at eighths," sixteenths," thirty seconds," or fiddles." A West end magnate or an East-end tallow-chandler would alike stand aghast at the announcement that they had bought a thousand "mummies," "hve hundred babies," or a hundred pots," and yet they might do these things in sober reason without much harm to themselves or their wealth. Mummies" a^e, in Stock Exchange slang, Egyptian stock, babies" Alliance Bank new shares, and "pots" North Staffordshire Railway shares; and the motive tor these and other similar names—apart from a certain humorous tendency which pervades the establishment—is, no doubt, mainly their brevity, which in the hurry and turmoil of Stock Exchange business is useful if not imperative. It is easier to use one short word well understood by all than half a dozen, and it takes less time to ask a dealer his price in "babies" than in Alliance Bank new shares, or in "pots" than North Staffordshire Railway Shares. Neurly every stock dealt in in the Stock Exchange has its abbreviation or nickname, and the practice is u pheld on the grot nd £ its being useful and economical, The quaint and humourous style of nomenclature wbich we have given specimens, is, indeed almost pecu- liar to the Stock Exchange; very harmless it is, sometimes very smart, but not usually tor refined. But the general, as distingaishedt rom the special, phraseology of the Stock Exchange, o which we first alluded, describes a class of business which is peculiar to that institution. In ordinary commerce goods are bought and sold for cash or a certain term of creatt, and the transaction is concluded at the time specined but in the Stock exchange business every- thing is done for account or for a "special settling day;" unless, as the exception to the rule, a special bargain is made for cash or immediate transfer. The account now means a fortnightly or twice a month settlement, but in fcriner daj s it meant a much longer period. In speculative busints:" which perhaps con- stitutes the bulk, although the bargaius are made for the fortnightly settlement or account," they may be continued on certain terms, and for a consideration to the next account," and so on, by repetitions of the process, to an almost indefinite period. In a bull" transaction, i.e., a purchase for a rise in price, in which the purchase value is not paid and the stock not delivered, the continuation from account to account, or from one fortnightly settlement to nnother,may be effected by payment of a contango," or the cost of continuation- In a bear transac- tion-i c a sale for a fall in price—in which the val le of the stock is not paid by the buyer, and the stock not delivered by the seller, the continuation from account to account, if the stock be scarce in the market, m»y be effected by the payment of a back- wardation." Tne indefinite prolongation of a specula- tion is thus peculiar to Stock Exchange business, and the method is thus expressed by these two words of j Stock Exchange coinage, contango and back- | warSfJ°n'» jThe rates for contango and back- as deP,eild chiefly on the state of the account befo^« fi? the "making up day," that is, two days i-dihpro acc°unt day," when the brokers and of the •or <?ealers arrange the transactions nurcbaapa ls, a bul1 account," or more tinned," the rates fo- rf.qniri°g be ''covn; lv,o rates tor contango" are high J five oi1j Pue^hases prove to be real instead of specula' mo i f fu j j8,Paid f°r and withdrawn from the market, the demand for contango is small and the ra eslow. Oa the other hand, if the fpeculative sales t. r the fall are found, on making up," to exceed the speculative purchases for the rise, it is designated a bear account," and the rates for "continuation "are low, or it may even be that the rates of backwarda- tion. are high; but real sales increase the supply of stock in the market, and tend to diminish rates of 'l-ackwardation." Dealings for the "coming out," or ?r a ",sPecial settlement," refer only to stock and shares of new creation. As soon as a new company or loan is announced, the shares or scrip are dealt in for the special settling day to be named by the committee of the Stock Exchange after the "coming out," or after the issue of the scrip or certificates necessary for a settlement. Option dealing, or giving for the put" or "call," or "giving lor the put and call," is a business of itself, not to be touched by a bungler, but very safe to a clever j obber, as well as to the public. The public always "give" or put or call," and the jobber" always "takes." n giving for tbe call," the outside speculator, pays, nrough his broker, to the Stock Exchange o'^r certain sum of money in consideration a Rie latter undertaking to deliver t.¡¡ him on at a jn> day. a. certain quantity of stock or shares course, tSe Pnce~and "giving for the put" is, of cail" the jobb^r^P_e/atio°- "taking for the "taking for the pbd,?rt,akes to deliver stock, and m rate for put and call >*Fees to take stock. The stock, the probabilities o?1f^ ™th D,ature °j length of time for which the present, without asking the priced a"<?0pt £ ,n » Consols, we may assume that it moderate, because the speculation in tfifc~, moment, is trifling, and the fluctuations portant, with nothing in prospect likely to reuj^- them violent; but if any speculator more far-seeing than others should tow, by superior intelligence, or information, anticipate any decided movement ia Consols, either upwards or downwards, he can buy the "option" of "put" or "call" or both at a price which will yield him a profit, while the jobber who sells him the option will scarcely lose if he understands his business. This, at tbe first glance, will appear almost an impossibility, but it is as a rule quite true, and experience has shown that the insurance of lives and ships, or the discount 011 bills of exchange, is not a safer occupation than that of "option jobbing." To persons familiar with these transactions, and versed in Stock Exchange practice and technicalities, these explanations will seem almost superfluous, but to the majority of our readers the minute machinery of this engine, whereby empires are ruled, armies equipped, cities watered and lighted, oceans traversed, and distance conquered, is wholly unknown, and to these we have endeavoured to lay bare a page unread in a book hjtherto scarcely opened.

DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH V. OSBORX. — Mr. Osborn, of Church Handborough, is determined to go on with the charge of perjury against the Duke of Marlborough. In a letter to a contemporary he says —" Mr. Whately will soon find that I have good grounds for the charge made before the magistrates at Woodstock." With regard to the action for eject- ment, he further states:—"I challenge the Duke in open court to show that he has any grounds whatever for ejecting me from the farm which I took for 14 years, five of which have to run out." THE EARL OF LEICESTER ON THE MALT TAX. —The Earl of Leicester, whose opinions as those of the largest landed proprietor in Norfolk are entitled to considerable weight so far as agricultural subjects are concerned has published a letter upon the malt tax. His lordship observes :— Admitting the malt tax to be ccDtrary to the principles of free trade, I still cannot comider it to be to the interest ol the farmers oi Norfolk that it should be removed at present. An immediate total repeal of the tax Is ol course out cf the question, as tlat would have to be ,met by the counter imposition of other taxes far more oppressive to the agricul- tural interest. I am further of opinion, that even any surplus which the Chancellor of the Exchequer may have at his disposal will be far better applied to the diminishing of the income tax than the malt tax, any profits arising from the partial repeal of which wOUld, instead of yielding the large relief anticipated by the occupier, be eventually divided between the landlord and the consumer. A SPORTING CASE DECIDED —A case of eon- siderable interest to the sporting community came on for trial on Friday in the Court of Common Pleas, Dublin. It was an action brought by the Marquis of Drogheda against the stakeholder of the Spring-hill Steeplechases of 1864, to recover the sum of 351. claimed by him under the articles as the winner of the race. A question was raised as to whether the stewards of the race, to whom the matter had been referred, were entitled to allocate to the fund, instead of handing over to tbe winner 5L each which was paid by the owners of seven horses which ran. Several witnesses were examined as to the meaning of the rules in the Racing Calender, and the construction of the particular rules under which the race in question was run. A verdict was given on Saturday for the plaintiff. PRESIDENT LINCOLN.—The following malic ons sketch of President Lincoln has appeared in the New York World :— Of face deformed, the index ot his heart; Of evil leer, but acting well his part, Pale Lincoln stalks, and with a furtive eye Surveys the boding aspect of the sky. A loose, lank man whose ever-willing hands Seem grasping human throats. Supreme he stands, Hurling a war of paper on his foes, The royal jester of a nation's woes. Ordaining feasts; imprisoning his kind An honest knave; a wit without a mind. Bold as a tyrant; timid as a man; A monstrous discord in creation's plan Now bending, as in prayer, ashapeleu heal. Now trolling ballads o'er the patriot dead, Now calling armies to defend the State, And tiow to crush a rival candidate Or tinkering plans by able captains made, Or ruining campaigns to save a raid, Or shooting Copperheads in Illinois, Or trusting armies to a handsome boy, Or crowding hundreds in a leaky beat, Or sacrificing thousands for a vote A tall, ungainly, shambling, soulless thing, Part citizen, part truckler, and part king. THE WRECK OF THE DALHOUSIE."—The body of Mr. Cleveland, the professional singer, who was lost, together with his wife and children, in the Dalhousie, was found by some fishermen at 5 o'clock on Thursday night, lying on the sands west of St. Andrews, and near to the mouth of the Eden (says a Dundee paper.) The body was sadly mutilated, but tTû waistcoats and an overcoat having been closely buttoned over it, had helped to hold it together. There were found on the body a silver watch, a lady's gold watch, two gold watch chains, a gold pencii-caee, a purse containing ll. 13'1. 3d., consisting of one sovereign and 13a. 3d. in silver and copper, a passenger ticket, on which was marked Master Cleveland and Mrp. Cleveland. The watches were found on unbuttoning the coat, one in each of the two waistcoats. The trousers (which were checked) were attached to the body by one foot; the legs below the knees were attached to the body by the sinews. Both hands were gone. and the skin had been peeled from the face.

THE MARKETS. MARK-LANE, MONDAY. Fresh up to our market to-day the arrivals of English wheat—both from Essex and Kent—were small. The con- dition of the produce exhibited some improvement, as com. pared with Monday last; but there were, nevertheless, several samples on the stands of different quality. For all good and fine dry samples there was a steady demand, and they were quickly disposed of At the prices of Monday last. Damp qualities were somewhat difficult of sale, yet they supported previous quotations. About an average supply of foreign wheat was on the stands. The trade for good and prime old qualities was decidedly firm, at fully late rates. In- ferior descriptions met a slow sale, yet prices ruled stationary. Floating cargoes of grain were in moderate re- quest, and pricei were steadily supported. The supply of Eoglish buley on sale was but moderate but there was a fair show of foreign qualities on the stands. Good and fine mating qualities moved off steadily, at fall currencies; otherwise the barley trade was quiet, on former terms. Tha demand for malt was by no means active, yet prices ru ed stationary. With oats the mark it was moderately supplied. In most descriptions a fair business was transacted, at fu'l currencies. For good and sound qualities the trade was decidedly firm, and the tendency of prices in favour of the grower. Beans were in short supply, and the trade for them was firm, at quite previous rates. Peas met a slow sale, but at full quotations. The supply on offer was small. Very little barrel flour was on offer, and the trade for all good and fine sweet qualities ruled firm.. English and foreign sacks were in steady request, at fult prices. METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET, MOXDAT, For the time of year the supply of foreign stock on tale Here to-day was good, chiefly ill middling condition. The trade may tie considered steady, at full prices. The arrivals of beasts from our own gr. zmg districts were moderately extensive. Tbe quility ot most breeds, however, was only middling. l'he supply from Scotland was in excellent con- dition. On the whole, the beef trade was in a sluggish state, at in some instances a decline in the quotations compared with Monday last of 2d. per Sib. The top figure f)r Sco's and crosses was 5s. id, per 81b. Notwithstanding the severi y of the weather about a moiety of the sheep—the show of which was smWll—waa out of the wool. The quality of most breeds was good, and the demand ruled steady, at last week's currency. Prime Downs sold at 6s 2d., bat a few half-breds, svith very fine wool, realised 6s. 4d and even 6s. Gd. per Sib. Clipped Downs produced 5s. per 8ib. A few lambs were dis- posed of at from 7s. to 7s. 4d. per 81b. Calves were in moderate supply, and in steady request, at full prices—viz irom 4s. 4d. to 53 01. per 8th, We have W report a good trade for pigl, on rather higher PO J < KS The supplies of home grown potatoes on sale at these mar- kets are moderate. On the whole the trade is steady in. deed, good and fine simples sdhomewhat readily, on rather higher terms. With foreign produce the markets are very moderately tupplied, Lsst week's import from 11 quarters was 90 tons. Yorkshire Regents, 80s. to 100s.; Flukes, nos. to 140s.; Kent and Essex Regents, 80s. to 100s.; Scotch Regents, 70s. to 80s.: Rocks, GOs. to 70s.; Dunbar Regents tOs-to 105s.; Foreign, 55s to 65s. per ton. HOPS. The supply of English hops is small, and the trade is firm for all qualities, with a steady demand for good and fine samples, at fully late rates. There is a moderate supply of foreign produce on otter—for good and fine qualities of which the trade is steady, at fuli currencies. The imports intj London last week were 118 bales from Antwe-p, 2ti from Ostend, 0(5 from Bremen, 21 from Hamburg 31 from Rotter- dam, 44 from Boulogne, and 150 from Isew ork. Mid, and East Kents, to 200i. Weaii of Kents, 105s. to 155s. Sussex, 100s to 140j. Yearlings, 1008. to 140s.; 'Bavarian, ltOs. to 190s.; American, 100s. to 140s. per owt. WOOL. We have to report continued depression in the trade for English wool, and both as regards long and Down qualities the tendency of prices "s strongly in favour of buyers For colonial wool, however, in the private contract market, there is a moderate demand, and very iittle change has taken place in prices from Monday last. The import into London con- sisted of 1 800 bales from Cape Town, 445 from Port Philiip, 53 from Swan River, 200 from Mossel Bay, 200 from Madras, and 572 bales from Taganrog.