The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian Glamorgan Monmouth and Brecon Gazette

Column for thf OLD CHRISTMAS AND HAPPINESS. From the New Monthly Belle Assemblée for December. 'Tis said that old Christmas and Happiness wander'd, In search of a home from calamity free, And as on their lot and their prospects they ponder'd, Both vow'd that where one was, the other should be. With this resolution, unyielding tho' vainly, O'er many a mile llid the travellers roam, And sad to relate, they perceiv'd but too plainly, Tho' nations were plenty, right scarce was a home. Sometimes, if old Christmas was cordially greeted, As greeted he should be with love and respect, His companion, alas was unworthily treated, Dull sorrow would come, their repose to infect. At length they reach'd England bright pearl of the ocean, When, after surveying the island all round, Both the Rovers exclaimed, with the deepellt emotion, Come, here let us rest, for a home we have found." Now, since the pair hither have chosen their dwelling, Let's hail them and prize them. while prize them we may, And watch, lest the foul traitor, Discord, rebelling, Should raise his foul head e'er to drive them away. Thro' each freak of fortune, mid all change of weather, May nothing occur these two friends to divide In peace may they live, and uniting together, Bring joy to our homes, and each blithe fireside. EPIPHANY; OR, TWELFTH DAY. Now Twelf Day is coming goode housewife I trowp, Get ready your churne and your milk from the cowe, And fire your oven all ready to bake, For Emma come hither a honnie Twelfth cake. The lads a.nd the lasses at night will be seen Round the wassaile bowie drawing for king and for queene. But could I possess thpir three kingdomes by lotte, I would rather have Emma and dwell in a cotte. The feast of the Epiphany, wlJich means appearance of manifestaf:on. is a festival established from the earliest period of Christianity, in commemoration of the day when Christ manifested himself to the Jews, by a star which conducted the wise men to Bethlehem. It is usually called Twelfth Day, from its being twelve days after Christmas or the Nativity. In the time of Alfred the whole twelve days were ordered to be kept aø festivals by a law made respecting holydays*. Brand observes that the customs of this day, though various in different countries, agree in doing honour to the Eastern Magi, or Wise MeR, who are supposed to have been of royal dignity and in this opinion Selden appears to agree when he says in his Table Talk-" Our choosing kings and queens on Twelfth Night has reference to three kings." These eastern magi, or kings, are still held in much veneration by Catholics and even in palaces kings on this day still make an offering at the altar, by proxy, of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Twelfth Day is considered as the winding up of the Christmas Holidays, and many still conclude the day with merriment by eat- ing cake and drawing for king and queen the manner in which they are now chosen is by drawing lots, or characters, and each assumes for the evening the character they draw the royal dignity is preserved by apportioning a larger division of the cake to the sovereigns, to whom Ihe other characters are held subor- dinate. Formerly a bean and a pea used to be put into the cake, and the possessors of those became monarchs for the evening. Now, now the mirth comes With the cake full of plums, Where Bean's the King of the spdrt here; Beside ye must know, The Pea also. Must revell, as Queene, in the Court here.—Herrick. The remoteness of the era at which the bean was used, can be traced to the thirteenth century, in a poem by Guillaume de "Wltneuve. The character of Baby-cake, in Ben Jonson's Masque of Christmas, enters attended by an usher, bearing a great Cake with a Bean and a Pease." The following particulars of Twelfth Cake and its ceremonies is from a book printed in 1620, called Mores, Leges, et Hitus omnium Gentium." The materials of the cake are honey, flour, ginger, and pepper. One is made for every family by the mis- tress, who thrusts in, at random, when she is kneading it, a small coin. When the cake is baked, it is divided into as many jiarts as there are persons in the family, & each have their share. Portions of it, also, are assigned to Christ, to the Virgin, and to the three Magi, which are given away in alms. Whoever finds the piece of coin in his share is saluted by all as king, and being placed on a seat or throne, is thrice lifted aloft with joyful accla- mations. He holds a piece of chalk in his right hand, and each tima that he is lifted up, makes a cros3 on the ceiling. These Crosses are thought to prevent many evils, and are much re- ■Wpod." The foregoing accords very nearly with the following, from the Popish Kingdom'' of Naorgeorgus, as translated by Bar- aiaby Googe, and printed in the year 1570 :— The wise Men's Day here followeth, who out from Persia farre, Brought gifts and presents unto Christ, conducted by a starre. The Papists do beleeve that these were Kings, and so them call, And do affinne that of the same there were but three ii'1 all. Hence sundry friends together come, and meet in companie, And make a King among themselves by voice or destinie "Who after princely guise appointes his officers alway, Then unto feasting do they go, and long time after play :— Then also every Householder, to his abilitie, Doth make a mightie Cake, that may suffice his companie Herein a penny he doth put, before it come to fire, This he divides according as his household doth require And every piece distributed, as round about they stand, Which in their names unto the poor is given out of hand But whoso chaunceth on the peece wherein Ihe money lies, Is counted King amongst them all (and is with showtes & cries lExalted to the Heavens up), who taking chalke in hande, Doth make a crosse on every beame and rafters as they stande <ire<rt force and powre have these against all injuryes and harms Of cursed Devils, Sprites, and Bugges, of conjurings and charmes. So much the King can do so much the crosses bring to passe ■Made by servant, maide, or childe, or by some foolish asse, Twice sixe nights then from Christmas,—and at the present time, The youth in every place doe flock, and all apparel'd fine, "With pypars through the streetes they runne, and sing at every dore, In commendation of the man—rewarded well therefore, The money on themselves they spend, or on the church as though The people were not plagude with rogues and begging friars enow. Their Cities are, where boys and gyrles together still do runne, About the street with like, as soone as night beginnes to come, And bring abroad their Wassail Bowles, who well rewarded bee W ith cakes and cheese, and great goode cheere, and money plenteouslee. In France the Twelfth Cake is made quite plain, something like a large bun, with a bean in it; when the cake is cut each -person draws a slice, and the one to whose lot the bean falls "becomes king or queen. To his or her majesty, the homage of 1he rest of the company is paid during the evening. See Collier's Ecclesiastical History.

IUterar» ,r. TALENTS AND GENIUS.W1IO in the same given time can -produce more than others, has vigour; who can produce more and better, has talents; who can produce what none else can, nas genius. TYRANNY.—Every wanton anfl cameleu restraint of t11e will of the subject, whether practised by a monarch, a nobilitv, or a popular assembly, is a degree of tyranny. -Blackstone, PEACK.—If peace is not to be found at home, is it not natural -to expect that we should look for it abroad. The parents and lusbands who know not this may be brought to repent of their ignorance,- Zimmerman. GOOD QUALITIES.—Many good qualities are not sufficient to "balance a single want the want of money. — Ibid. ENTHUSIASM. — I have always looked upon Alchymy in natural philosophy to be like enthusiasm in divinity, and to have trou- bled the world much to the same purpose—Sir W. Temple. LIFE.—He that embarks on the voyage of life will always wish to advance by the simple impulse of the wind than the strokes of the oar; and many founder in their passage while they lie waiting for the gale.— Johnton. RELIGION AND MORALS.— if we are told a man is religious, we still ask what are his morals ? But if we hear at first that 111' has honest morals, and is a man of natural justice and good temper, we seldom think of the other question, whether he be religiou8 ur devout.- 6haftesbury, MODERATION IN DISPUTES.—When we are in a condition to overthrow falsehood and error, we ought not to do it with vehe- mence, nor insultingly, and with an air of contempt; but to lay open the truth, and with answers full of mildness to refute the falsehood. — Hierocles. PHILOSOPHICAL NECESSITY.—Some men have contended that the actions we perform are the necessary result of the constitu- tion of Pur miuds, operated on by the circumstances of our externat sít.¡atiuns; and that what we commonly call moral delinquencies, are as much a part of our destiny as the corporal or intellectual qualities we have derived from nature. This is the language of the Necessitarians.—Dug aid Stewart. FREEDOM OF THE I'IIESS.—The liberty of the Press is the true measure of the liberty of the people. The one cannot be attacked without injury to the other. Our thoughts ought to be perfectly free to bridle them or stifle them in their sanctuary iil the crime of leze humanity. What can 1 call my own if my thoughts are not mine ?-Jferc-Îer. SINGULAR UNANIMITY.—Dr. Buckland and his brother snvans have been unanimous in one thing about the potato which that the first thing requisite to save it was instantly co remove the peel. Russell and his party, in their desire to save Eng- hnd, seem to have been impressed with precisely the same ■necessity.—Punch. UNREMITTING KINDNESS.—A comedian went to America, and remained there two years, leaving his wife dependent on her relatives. Mrs. F tt, expatiating in the green room on the cruelty of such conduct, the comedian found a warm advocate in a w(",I-l,l1o\n dramatist. "I have heard," says the latter, "that he is the kindest of men and I know he writes to his wife by every packet." Yes, he writes." replied Mrs. F., a parcel of flummery about the agony of absence, but he has never remitted her a shilling. Do you call that kmdness ? Decidedly," replied the author, unremitting kindness." The number of square inches of surface in a man of ordinary height and bulk is 2,51)0; the number of pores, therefore, 7,000,000; and the number of inches of perspiratory tubes is 1,750,000; that is, 115,833 feet, or 46,000 yards, or near;y twenty-eight miles. NEWSPAPHB ACCOUNTS.—Some people have a horrorof house- breakers. A strong fellow in a fustian jacket, with a piece of crape over his face, and a pistol in his hand, is certainly a disa- greeable visitor to a country gentleman in the middle of a dark night in December the hoarse whisper conveying a delicate allusion to your money-bags or your life is far from being a pleasing method of carrying on a conversation and therefore without descending to any more minute particulars, and plu- ming myself upon my personal immunity from such visitations on the score of having no house, I agree at once that a housebreaker is a detestable character, and worthy of all condemnation.-A murderer, also, I am not prepared to vindicate. A knife forced intu the stomach of an elderly gentleman in a half sleepy state after a bottle of old purt-a razor drawn across a beautiful bar- maid's throat-Dr a bullet scientifically inserted through the ear- hole of a deaf old lady engaged secreting her half-year's dividend in a black trunk in the garret—are disagreeable objects of con temptation to the philanthropic mind and I therefore at once coincide in the fervent execration in which a murderer is held by every person I have ever conversed with on the subject, except the students of anatomy, and two or three popular au- thors of the conclusive school. But there is another miscreant, for whom I have no commiseration a wretch, compared with whose atrocities housebreaking becomes meritorious, and mur- der innocent; before whose negro-like blackaess- to, borrow the language of Charles PhiJIips-the darkness of annihilation becomes white as snow; whose benediction is a curse whose breath is a pestilence whose name is hell over whose sunless jjoenjpry shall settle the conflagration of a fury, and whose soul sllall ihadder beneath appalling convulsions of a fathomless doom for ever. After this description need I say that I mean the unhallowed monster who neglects to pay his NEWSPAPER ^^•■^ortespondent of Blackwood's Magazine.

THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM. The number of the Quarterly Review just published contains a most able and most happily-timed article upon the Ministerial Resignations. The article was written under the impression that the Whig-Radicals had re- possessed themselves of power; but, like every piece of fair and manly reasoning from true principles, it con- ducts to conclusions the force or value of which cannot be affected by temporary circumstances. The reviewer, like ourselves, has confidence in the wisdom & patriotism of the present Premier; but he feels as we feel, and as we advise all Conservatives to feel, that such confidence is not inconsistent with a firm determination to judge for ourselves in matters so deeply affecting the fate of this oreat country, and the destiny of every one of us, as the proposed Radical change in our industrial and commercial policy, and to act upon that judgment when deliberately and conscientiously formed. The opInIOn of a Wise and cood man is, no doubt, a strong argument; but as we know that wise and good men have been mistaken, it must not be always accepted as a conclusive argument; let it avail in otherwise doubtful cases, but let it nerer be permitted to overcome the clear light of conviction. This is evidently the view taken by the Quarterly Reviewer; and it is the right view let us trust to the present Premier as an affectionate and obedient son, of mature age, trusts to a good father, revering his sense, placing unbounded confidence in his love, conforming to his will in all trifiin" or doubtful matters but when it comes to grave and solemn questions for decision, exercising hia own judgment, and acting upon it. We must, however, hasten to present to our readers some extracts from the article of the Quarterly-an article which we could wish to see circulated universally in the interval between this and the meeting of Parliament. It is possiblf, as one of the Conservative journals-the Standard-by-and-hye suggested, that Sir Robert Peel might propose to his cabinet a largeand extensive system of finance, of hich the remission of the duties on corn and on other ariicles should be items but for which the other porrions of the measure were designed by Sir Hobprt Peel to afford 10 all the great interests concPrneù an equivalent compensation and a more permanent secmity. < But even assuming that the hypothesis of the Standard is correct, we must confess, without resigning our general con- fidence in Sir Robert Ptel's sagacity and statesman-like views, we cannot believe that any compensation can be de- vised tbat would or ought to reconcile tbe agricultural mte- rests of England to the abandonment of all protection; and by agricultural interests we do not mean merely landlords, farmers, and labonrers-thongh they constitute 8 majority of the population-but the whole population, whose sure and regular supply is the real and only justifiable object of that protective system, which, instead of alternate gluts and fa- mines, and corresponding fluctuations of work and wages, is calculated, as tar as human laws can operate, to correct the vicissitudes of seasons, and to preserve a steady supply and moderate prices. "An unrestricted introduction of foreign corn would in a few seasons reduce this proud and prosperous empire, now the envy of the world, to a wretched dependence, not merely on the seasons, but on Ihe policy of Russia and Prussia America, or France. When a few yeais had unstocked our farms, ruined our farmers, thrown out of cultivation miliions of arable acres, and rendered the whole nation pensioners on foreign countries for the daily bread that heretofore they have asked only from God and their own resources—when we say, we shall be brought to that state, and that Prussia, or France, or America, or all three, should take umbrage at us (for humbled as we shall be, and sore afraid to offend our feeders, we shall learn the fatal lesson that amongst nations humiliation and dependence will not avert wrath or assuage vengeance), when, we say, that day shall arrive, how will they attack us ? Will they allow us to meet them at La Hogue or St. Vincent, Blenheim or Waterloo? Will rival navies give the fatal wound, Or hostile armies press us to the ground ?' Alas! no; they will have recourse to the cheap warfare of shutting their ports—to a short campaign of custom-house embargoes—reject our manufactures, refuse us their corn, and leduce us by starvation and anarchy to a state of national decrepitude, if not subjection. Let us not be told that we invent or exaggerate this danger. A few years since there was, about September, a prospect of a bad harvest in Eng- land France immediately laid an embargo on all her west- ern ports from Dunkirk to Bayonne. At the first symptom of our present deficiency the whole Continent has either closed their ports altogether, or imposed prohibitory export duties • there was as strong a party in France insisting upon the en- tire shutting her ports, as there is here for opening oUrs; and lhere have been serious riots along the channel coasts of France, on the suspicion of some attempts at an export of corn to England. "It may be said that self-interest and the incompressible energies of trade would prevent and defeat any attempt of foreign nations to starve us; and so perhaps it might be, if corn were an article of small bulk, easy transport, capable of being smuggled—or above all, if the demand were of a nature to enahle the dealers to bide their time. Under such circum- stances we have great faith in the irrepressible energy of trade—but the daily bread!—the hourly bread! Starving millions cannot await the slow oscillations by which, after a lapse of lime, the pent-up corn may flow in upon us—the corn campaign of either Continent against us will, in such a case not last six months, not, perhaps, six weeks-they will have but to suffer six weeks' privation of our exports, which are all of a nature to keep, and the use of which may be restricted or postponed with little inconvenience, while to us even that short suspension of food would be irretrievable ruin, The extent and facility of this danger is established by the very argument of the free traders themselves. To whatever exlent the free trade in corn may produce its possible good effect, to that extent at least it will flroduce also its ill effects —if little comes in, the benefit will he little —if the import- ation be great, the dependence on foreign nations must be great; and if. as there can he no doubt, the plains of the Vistula, the Dnieper, and the Mississippi, cOllld if tbere was a regu- lar demand, feed all England at very low prices, we cannot deny that we should soon be altogether fed by foreign wheat --that 1S, be doomed to foreign sllhjection whenever those governments should think proper to exert even a passive resistance against us Lord Rroughatii, in his great speech on the corn laws, in Vlav, 1820, asks—' If that principle were extended, what I would be the consequeaf-e ? The inevitable consequence would be that in the next season, 7,000.000 or 8,000,000 of acres would be thrown out of cultivation, and those dependent on them out of employment; the tenants would be expatri- ated, and the landlords in the workhouse.'—Hansard's De- bates, p. 687. Non mens hie sermo-these are no Tory apprphensions in- spired by the spirit of party—these are no factims suppositions got up for the panicular crisis—they are Whig opinions of the highest respectability, which have be«n years before the public, and never have been disclaimed by their authors, or disproved by their adversaries. But there is another and more immediate practical con- sideration tbat seems to uS of the greatest import<1nce. II is proposed to us 10 remove all duties on the import of corn —but can you oblige foreign powers to reduce their duties on the export of corn? Is it forgotten or not known that all European countries have a duty on the export of corn ? It is generally, we believe, it certainly is jn France. by a kind of slid'ng scale-and at the moment that we write ihere are I clamours against the French Government, as we have said, for not closing the ports altogether, although the export duties in the cuast district opposite to us are already so high as 15. for our quarter; so that if we were at this moment to open our ports, we should have to pay at once 15s. per quarter into the French treasury and if our demand were to raise the French price only three francs, the duty to France would immediately rise to 20s., with a further addition of two francs duty for every single franc of price. Here then would be anoiher source of ruin—the foreign countries would manage their export duty so as just to keep hold of the English mar- ket-and the English consumer, instead of eating his own wheat, or wheat that he had paid a duty iuto his own exche- quer, would be paying in every loaf he should eat an arbitrary contribution to the foreign treasury. At first the foreigner wouid be very moderate—a shilling or two a quarter; but even 2s. a quarter foreign duty, and 353. price here, would, on our annual con-umption of wheat alone, be near £60.000.000 a year to the foreign grower, and above 3,000,000 a year to the foreign exchequer, and of almost double these amounts on a11 kinds of graiu. "The only immediate danger contemplated in Lord John Russell's letter is the faitureof the potatoe crop in Ireland, for which, he says with admirable candour, that the late Ministers are no more to bs blamed than they are to he praised for the goodness, in all other respects, of the late harvest—' the plentiful corn harvest we have lately enjoyed.' This, if the matter were not of such awful gravity. would be amusingly characteri-tic of this light man—this lightest of ■itatesmen. He sacrifices what little his letter lias of argument to a smartness and in attempting a sneer at his rivals on the potatoe failure, he admits that the harvest is a bountiful one, an,1 needs no adventitious helps. Hilt his exaggeration, as we believe it to be, of the consequences of the potatoe disease on the general condition of the countrv, will fall still more heavily on him if he should be, as is announced. the Min- ister who is to steer us through this difficulty. The potatoe disease, if it were to be fatal to the whole crop, has no more relation to the corn-laws than Tenterden Steeple to Goodwin Sands, or—a better illustration—Lord John Itussell's letter to the object it affects to treat of. The stale of the Irish case is this. The Irish" peasantry SUbSllt almost univer ally on a patch of potatoe ground, whieh they fondly call a garden. What little wages they receive in money and the price of the pig hardly suffice for rent, rags, whiskey, and the priests—for the 0 Counell tribute and the repeal rent!—there is sometimes a little butter milk, an Irish luxury, given to the pigs in England, and now and then a herring to ♦ kitchen the potatoes but the potatoe out of his own garden'—unbought or bought only by the labour by which he pays a species of rent-may, for all practical pur- poses, be considered as the sole resource of the Irish peasant if that fails, and it is unfortunately a very uncertain crop, he starves—starves, even though oatmeal and wheat flour sho'uld be in the greatest abundance and at the most reasonable prices all around him. We have ample proof of this though the present potatoe disease is of an unprecedented nature" there have been frequent failures of that crop in Ireland, and each inevitably produces a famine- There was one in 1822 so severe that in addition to the very large relief affoided bv the government, the British public (the cruel and oppressive Saxons) raised a subscription of £:300,000 for the relief of the distress. There was no other scarcity in Ireland—no want of wheat flour or oatmeal,—indeed, so much the reverse that of that large sum no more than £40,000 was expended in sending food to Ireland, and that was chiefly for potatoes rice, and biscuit, dispatch; d on the first impulse, and before it was discovered that the scarcity was not of food, but of money to buy it; not an ounce of any article affected by the corn laws was sent; and after all, lhe alarm turned out to be greater than the danger, and the charity larger than the ne- cessity; for jMOO.OOO sufficed for relief, and the surplus ,flOO,O¡)() was distributed to several public institutions in Ire. land an abuse excused by the impossibility of returning to the innumerable subscribers the surplus fraction, but one which should make us a little careful not to Over-estimate similar distresses. In 1831 there was an alarm of the same kind, which the government met by an issue of £ 11,000 in Ui^purchase of provisions, and nearly £ 20,000 employed in public works, ill order to convey relief in the shape of wages, money being really the one thing needful and so again in lb35, and again in 1836, and again in 1837, and again in W39-and on all these occasions the Whig government, oeing as dependent on the Irish inembeis as Irish peasants are on potatoes, durst not refuse to listen to their exaggerated complaints of famine, and to make issues for its relief; but the result showed the nature of these Irish panics. On some ot these alarms considerable sums were voted for public works to give employment and wages to the poor—but no provisions of any kind were, we believe, seut into Ireland; and the sums actually supplied in provisions, bought in Ireland and re-i sued at lower prices, varied, as we are informed, on each ot these occasions from about f,200Q to 5000—so small was the extent of the real destitution. But some, who affect to approve of protection, find with the present form and rate of protection-ill short, with the sliding scale, which, they allege, throws the whole corn trade into confusion and uncer ainty. A fixed duty, they say. would be more likely to produce equality of price—Poland would then know what to sow—Arkansas know what to ship- we should have a steady market and regular supply. This argument we have heard used by grave persons of reputed common sense, but to us it seems the most notorious and superficial nonsense; and the only thing that can be s.id in its favour is, that it happens accidentally to be directly in the teeth of all the doctrines and statistical facts of the free trade philosophers. Corn is an article of which the natural produce fluctuates from year to year, and the intrinsic price from month to month: the problem is to bring these natnral and uncon- trollable vaiiations to something of a level price in the market -for the purpose of keeping wages and all the various re'a- tions of life connected with wages (in wages we include every kind of income from labour of the body or the mind), in such a state of approximate level or gradual variation as may not dislocate society—for the stomachs of labourers or artisans. and of their wives and children, will not obey the seasons and must be fed nearly to the same amount in the bad years as in the good—in the month of plenty as in the month of dearth and this can only be accomplished by inviting the aid of foreign corn at a rate of duty sliding along the scale of prices—sav, as by the present law-Is. when the price is 73; 20s when the price is 50s.; and so a shilling increase of duty for a shilling lowering of price. The prevailing mistake on this question is the confounding the duty and the price—the true view being that a fixed duty enhances the fluctuations of price, while a fluctuating duty tends to a fixitv of price. We are almost ashamed at arguing this self-evident proposition but the blindness of men in being led away by the words fixed duty' and sliding scale' seems so obstinate and absurd lhat we must add one further illustration. All along thc Thames the steam-boats, moving on a fluctuating medium, ply__to fixed wharfs ?—no—to floating whaifs, and why?-- because fixed wharfs would be inaccessible at different times of tide, whereas the floating wharfs accommodate themselves to the rise and fall, and the passengers embark and disembark -thanks to the floating level—with the same invariable con- venience. So it is with the corn trade—the s.li'-acting sliding scale levels the inequalities which naturai causes crea'e in the production and price of corij. If reason and experience, and power withal, were safer guards against the arts of faction and the blindness of popular excitement-if it were not for the furor' that the Spectator speaks of. which occasionally intoxicates mankind—we should have no kind of apprehension frotn this factious hubbub—this not merely irrational, but absolutely groundless agitation generated between Lord John Kussell and the League; nor, even as it is. have we much. Fac's will soon speak in a voice that even faction cannot drown if there be no scarcity, and prices continue moderate, it will be hard to persuade the world that they are starving, with wheat as cheap as it has been at the best periods of half a century if there he a scar- city, wheat will rise to 72s., and the duty will vanish. Nor will we, nor can we, believe that Sir ttobert Peel, whatever system he may have contemplated (and we have no doubt that it would have been at least a generous and honest one) if he finds-even if it he from the old-fashioned prejudices of his colleagues and of the country—that system impracticable, -we will not, we say, believe that Sir Robert Peel will give the slightest countenance to the only alternative that seems now presented to him, the unconditional repeal of hiso .vn act, which be carried but three years ago by such admirable argu- ments, by such irresistible facts, and with, as experience has shown, a success that has even outrun his sagacious expecta- tions. That great triumph we followed with our sincere ad- miration and our humble applause. We have since, on every occasion, congratulated ourselves and the country on that great work, the most important, perhaps, of all the signal services Sir Robert Peel had rendered to his country. He may see from the height of his own superior mind a pros- pect of rendering still greater; but that cannot make him less anxious to consolidate the work he has already done, and to protect and encourage, and support and guide the great party, -the vast majority of the rank, property, and intelligence and loyalty of the country—which he before led to victory, and which raised him to power. We 'bate no jot of heart or hope,' and feel confident that when the proper time for expla- nation comes w* shall find Sir Robert Peel siiil worthy and willing to be thtyfctd'er of the great Conservative party. But there areligher and more consolatory considerations than even these. The fate of the people of England is not in the hands of any Cabinet-it is in their own. No alteration in the corn laws can be attempted, we presume, with any prospect of success in the present House of Commons. A dissolution must probably take place if the Whig Leaguers should succeed in forming an administration-a,id a cissolu- tion would be in itself a great evil and a considerable increase of the difficulty, for it would throw back all the railway pro- jects, derange additionally the Money Market, and put off for two or three more months the employment of the Irish poor on those works which will afford the best relief to their tem- porary distress. But sooner or later we must arrive at a gene- ral election, and the great question must be solved by the people themselves. We know that we-the advocates of protection-are the majority, the large majority of all the most important consti- tueucies. We are satisfied that we have in our JIVII energies the means of a certain triumph. The question must be clearly stated, and not embarrassed by personal divisions or theore- tical distinctions. It is this — Is the whole system of protec- tion to British industry to be -tbandoned — not as to agriculture alone-but every branch of manufacture? Are we to have not only Polish wheat—but German linens and woollens & cutlery—Saxon hosiery and muslins- Belgian cottons and cloths, and fire-arms- Dutch spirits, Swiss watches, American reprints, French china, gloves, shoes, p ides an infinite variety of small articles which support a multitude of poor artisans, all of whom would be undersold by the foreigner *• We cannot believe, that if the real state of the case, the inevitable scope of the principle, be fully explained to the more intelligent of the manufacturing population, that even Manchester or Stockport would return advocates for a system which, even if confined to corn, has no object but to cffect low wages, and which in its result would reduce nine-tenths of the manufacturers of Rngland to downright unemployment and starvation. The short issue is PROTECTION OR NO PROTECTION protection to wages as well as rents-protection to cottons and woollens as well as wheat and oats—protection to the town as well as to the country—to the workshop as to the farm !—or RUIN TO ALL." A FREE-TRADE DIALOGUE BETWEEN TWO LIBERALS. A few days ago, a button manufacturer of this town waited upon a merchant, requiring some explanations respecting an extensive order he had received for buttons. Both being active supporters of the Liberal cause, and each believing the other to be a warm advocate of free trade, the following instructive dialogue took place after the explanations on the button order had been given :— Button-maker,-It is very gratifying, sir, to see the progress that free trade is making in the town. Merchant.—I don't think so I, for one, regret it. Button-maker. Why, I thought you were a friend to free trade Merchant.—Then I am not. Button-maker.-How is that? I thought we agreed on that subject. I have always advocated free trade, and I was of opinion you did the same. Merchant.—You and I have worked hard together in the Liberal cause: but I beg you to understand that I am not a free trader. Do you know what free trade, as it is called, would do for your trade 1 Button-maker. -Do 1 why, double my orders and in- crease my profits. Merchant.—You are much mistaken. Are you pre pared to reduce your buttons from 30 to 35 per cent.1 Button-maker. ^No, nor 2-L per cent. I have more than I can do at the present prices. Merchant.—Are you aware that the buttons you manu- facture are protected by a heavy duty Button-maker.—No. Merchant.-Then they are and if that protective duty were to be taken off I should not buy a button from you, but should send all my orders for buttons to Germany. Button-maker. -Are you serious in what you say f Merchant.—I am most decidedly. Button-maker.—Then, if we had free trade I should have to shut up my manufactory. Merchant.—You would most assuredly. Birmingham cannot compete with Germany in buttons and many other articles either in price or quality. Button-maker.—You stagger me. Merchant. -Can you obtain the material of which your buttons are made much lower ? Button-maker.—No; I buy in the cheapest market. Merchant. Can you reduce your workmen's wages ? Button-maker.—Oh, no; they say they can hardly live now, with full work. Merchant.—Then you see free trade will not do for you or your workpeople. It will not serve either of you, but will both ruin you and them. Button-maker 1 can assure you, Mr. you have changed my opinion on free trade. This simple but important dialogue was furnished to us by the button-maker, who is now as strenuously op- posed to the wild and destructive doctrine of free trade as he was previously in favour of it. Free trade might benefit Manchester, but it would ruin Birmingham," said the merchant to the buttonmaker.-BirminghamAdvertiser

MR. DANIEL O'CONNELL'S ESTATES. Mr. Maurice O'Connell, in a long letter to the Times, inserted in that journal last Saturday week, has entered the lists in de- fence of his father against the i preferred by the Times Commissioner, Mr. T. C. Foster, the gentleman who reported Tor the Timet during the period of UKBUCCAISM in South Wales. lie begins by accusing the Commissioner of making assertions, the accuracy of which he did not test, although he possessed the means of doing so. Thus, instead of going into the houses at D irryn.ine Beg, as he sa'd he had done, he did not go into one of them. It so happened, however, that at the distance of two miles from the residence of Mr. Atkins, a gentleman with whom he was staying, the Commissioner entered a house erected on the property of an absentee landlord and, reasoning 011 the assumption that the houses at Darrynane Beg were as bad as that one was, he made the description of this hut serve for all. Mr. Maurice O'Connell does not hesitate to accuse Mr. Atkins of h:1.Ving crommed the Commissioner with stories prejudi- cial to the O'Connell family; which the other sat down aud wrote to the Times without troubling himself to inquire into their truth, Mr. Maurice O'Connell admits that his father is a middle- man and further, that in the case of Darrynane Beg farm, which is let at a nominal rent of JE150 per annum to four ten- ants, only £ 30 is paid in money. the rest bein" accounted for in labour. The gist, however, of the statements and ample figure details fnmished by Mr. M. O'Connell as to the pwperty held by his father in lease, is to show that Mr. O'Connell is a very liberal and indulgent landlord; l'neouraging il1(lustrious habits, making ample compensation to those who build houses on their holdings, or otherwise improve the laud; that he has afforded shelter to persons evicted from other estates and that he is merciful to the poor. )11'. Maurice adduces figures to show that the property is not overpeopled. He laments the keenness of the competition which exists for land; but denies that his father is responsible for it, or that he has availed himself of the necessities and habits of the people to promote his personal ends. One passage we will, quote as illustrating the mode in which waste land is reclaimed in Ireland. Attached to Mr. O'Connell's property was a mountain region, lying in a state of nature, but capable of cultivation, which he resolved to apply to an useful purpose. Allotments were given to any persons of good character the extent of ground varying with the means they possessed for reclaiming anù cultivating it, '■ The par(L.s were assisted to build their houses, provided with tools in most instances, and entered into possession of their tenements on the understanding that they WNe to pay no rent fur seven years certain that then a rent should be affixed (with the under- standing, of course, that if thp allottee showed cause his rent- free term might be extended for such further period as should then be settled;) and that in aU cases the rent should be such as merely to constitute an acknowledgment of tenancy for such a further period as should be agreed on, when a bona fide rent was to be assumed. I have before me documents which show that 134 families now hold such allotments from my father; fur which, the free term having long since elapsed, they assume rent; 27 families assuming rents above £ I per annum, 107 families, rents varying from jgl to Is., the yearly rent of 1,;4 allotments is £122 19s. 6d.; averaging, therefore, the sum of 18s. 4!d. per lot. The largest rent assumed is £6, and there is onty one individual so rated. His allotment feeds four cows and a horse, besides giving him sufficient tillage and he jells annually a considerable quantity of potatoes and hay. There are two lots at £ 5 each, and 21 varying from that to £1 4s. yearly. If my father were the greedy exacting land-auctioneer which he is set forth to be, he could receive from these 134 lots at least j6300 yearly, and a fine of a year's rent for each. Of the 134 families thus located, there are not a dozen who had any claim on my father but that of their distress." This spe- culation, we are told, has proved a losing one to Mr. O'Connell. The tribunal proposed by the Commissioner, of twelve per- sOWl-six to be appointed by Mr. O'Connell and six by himself, to decide on the truth or falsehood of his allegations —is objected to by Mr. Maurice O'Connell he does not know where so large a number of properly-qualified men are to be found, willing and able to abandon their own business, and become viewers on my father's property at this season of the year;" neither does he know how their expenses and remuneration for their trouble are to be paid. He suggests another course—" If the inquiry is to be made, let the usual course in arbitrations be taken: let our flippant and ignorant and foul-mouthed accuser name any one person (excepting Mr. Twiss and his brother-in- law ;) let my father name another and let them choose a third man—they shall be welcome to go through every farm on my father's property, through every house if they please." But the filial labours of Mr. Maurice O'Connell are not likely to terminate with this letter. The old charges have not only been reiterated by the Commissioner, but the evidence of another party has been adduced in confirmation of what was asserted about the state of the O'Connell tenantry. Nay. more; Mr. Maurice O'Connell has actually trudged about with the Times Commissioner, and his witness," for the greater part of a day, seeing sights, and acquiring knowledge about his father's estate managed by himself, of a kind which actually surprised. him. This personal intercourse hild its origin in the following circumstance. Mr. O'Connell having declined to submit the points at issue to the arbitration of twelve persons, and the Commissioner feeling aggrieved at the free and easy manner in which his statements were disproved" by the Irish press, and himself designated "liar," made a suggestion to the Times Office, that another gentleman connected with the establishment should be selected and sent to Kerry, to traverse the territory in the Commissioner's company, take note of what he saw, and report details to the Times. The suggestion was acted upon; and the O'Connell property was subjected for three days to the scrutiny of the Commissioner and a "reporter. While the preliminaries were arranging, Mr. Maurice O'Connell was writ- ing the letter noticed above, dated the 10th December; and before it appeared in the Timet, on the 20th, he had met the object of his criticism on the disputed ground. He does not seem to have mentioned that he had written a reply and neither the Commissioner nor the reporter" could have been aware of the existence of such a letter when the researches were made, the results of which have been published in the Times of the 25th. Mr, Maurice O'Connell was encountered on the third day; and our notice of what occurred then, and on the previous days will be taken from the communication of the reporter," as being the freshest, and as possessing also some of the features of a statement made by a neutral party, The newspaper inspectors commenced their inquiries on Tuesday morning, the 16th December; starting from Water- ville, a small village near Darrynane Abbey; Mr. Atkins and Mr. Sullivan, the agent of Mr. Hartop, from whom Mr O'Con- nell rents several large farms, accompanying them. This Mr. Sullivan is spoken of as a warm partisan" of Mr. O'Connell. The cabins of Ightercoa, erected on land held in lease by Mr. O'Connell, were minutely inspected. The habitations are de- scribed as delapidated, giving the impression of dirty cow- houses while the surrounding land is in a very bad state of cultivation. The entrances to the huts were obstructed by heaps of manure, and filth of all kinds. "In every one of them were from four to eight children. The walls were of loose stones, through which the wind came as it listed—the smoke found its exit through holes in the roofs-there were no wiadows. Spectacles of varying distress and neglect were more or less visible in all of those d welhngs," The only exceptions were the cottages of a widow who rents the grass of eight cows, and of a retired Coast Guard man. In the evening the Commissioner and the reporter repaired to Valeatiu. On Wednesday morning Mr. John Connell, a person employed as a collector and book- keeper to Mr. Maurice O Connell, called upon the pirtv with a letter from that gentlema i, in which he demanded of them to do what they had intcndell-make a personal inspection of the property at and near Darrynane. The letter stated fiat every facility would be given for conducting the inquiry and it de- nounced the Commissioner s previous statement as a ca-ieature. Towards Darrynane, then, the inspectors proceeded accom- panied by Mr. John Connell. Three or fo ir townships were visited; and the condition of the population is described as wretched. The huts were ot the usual construction, blockaded by heaps of mud and manure, nearly dark inside, and contain- ing little furniture. The hut of a farmer renting six cows' grass, the father of a family, contained nothing more than a rough deal table, a settle, an iron pot. a f Partiierl vessels, and a potatoe heap. In another case, a cow and some pigs labouring under sickness, shared the accommodation with the man and his wife and twelve children. For this dirtv cabin, and the grass for four cows and a horse the man paid a rent of £ 11 to Mr. O'Connell. As to food, he stated that he and his family lived on potatoes and butter-milk all the year round, and that at present the supply was msuflicient for their wants, [Two farmers, well mounted, and of respectable appearance, whom the party met by accident on the main road, made a similar statement as to their mode of living. They produced beef and pork, but could not afford to eat of either. Mr. Connell (the collector) expressed surprise at this statement, and asked, Dj you mean to say. Corney, that you never eat beef or bacon '1" Ah, sure you know yourself, John Connell, that I can't kill a cow or a pig for myself—that all goes to the rent." These men were the tenants, not of Mr. O'Connell, but of his son John.] As the inspectors advanced, the same miserable spec- tacles were presented. A poor woman, whose husband was "away." was found crouching, in almost total darkness, over a few sods of turf, with three children sprawling on the heather which was laid on the mud floor to suok up the wet. The rent- collector learned for the first time, from the lips of this poor creature herself, the nature of her tenure the holding of which her miserable hut formed part, was sublet to one Keatinge, who, contrary to his agreement with Mr. O'Connell, was exact- ing from her a rent ot £ 25 a-year. The same Keatinge had sub- let huts to other persons and the accommodation they afforded was equally wretched. On Thursday morning Caherciveen was visited; and the reporter asserts the accuracy of the description given of it by the Commissioner. In the afternoon, the party returned to Waterville, where Mr. Maurice O'Connell was waiting their arrival; and all three went in his carriage to inspect the property in the more immediate neighbourhood of Darrynane Abbey, the family mansion. Mr. Maurice had taken the precaution to provide an interpreter." [The Commissioner, in his letter to the Times, mentions that the interpreter was Mr. Maurice O'Connell's huntsman and states that his practice was to enter the cottages before the party, and speak a few words in Irish to the inmates in an un- der tone. "The effect of this introduction was, that it was very rarely that any tenant would speak anything but Irish and, of course, our questions were asked through him as inter- preter.] The first farm visited was Ardcara, held by Mr. O'Connell for his life under Mr. C. Bland. it was covered with clutters of the most miserable looking hovels The first cottage entered was found to be as bad as any previously described: the occupant paid dM for his holding. A woman, described as a stray beggar," was found living in a sort of out-house, in utter darkness, and indescribable wretchedness." A number of children, one of them sick, were rolling about; and the sole article of furniture was a broken iron pot. The next cabin was scarcely clean enough for an English pig-gtye it was occupied by a man, his wife, and four children. Mr. Maurice O'Connell did not know that such persons were thare. The next cabin was, if possible, in a more deplorable condition;" and the occupant was equally unknown to Mr. Maurice O'Connell. It is needless to multiply the examples of these descriptions. Darrynane Beg was found to contain sixty-two cottages, described as "the worst,' taking them altogether, that the reporter had seen. There is one cottage, however, in the course of erection, which exhibits a roof of slate; the rest are built of mud and stones, very small and low, wedged together intrenches offllth and liquid nastiness—badly thatched, and for the most part without chimneys light is admitted by a hole. Throughout this inspection, Mr. Maurice 0 Connell displayed much openness and candour. He admitted that he never looked at the furniture of the tenants before, and stated also that some of-them he had seen for the first time that day. As to agricultural improvement, he frankly admitted that man- gel-wurzel has not yet been cultivated on his father's property. [This is a direct negative to a statement made by a Mr. Edward Carroll, one of Mr. O'Connell s agricultural defenders, and published in the Dublin Evening Packet. That person had asserted that he found on the O'Connell property, «« a species of cultivation that would do credit to a London market-gardener -1111 encouraged by Mr. Maurice O'Connelland in proof he mentioned that he saw mangel-wurzel, and Swedish turnips, of such a quality and in such a state of ^preservation as would do credit to several practical friends," among others, Mr. Skilling, at the National Model Farm."] It was scarcely to be expected that a visit so peculiar should be destitute of characteristic incidents. One may be mentioned. On the first day, a cabin occupied by p, Sullivan, was visited; and during the stay, several complaints were made by that person as to his condition. On the following Thursday, how- ever, Sullivan called upon the inspectors at Caherciveen, with the view of sweating that what he had told 011 Tuesday was un- true. He was accoiPfiuued PJ a ma^Utxate, dcted a# interpreter; awl tll" substance of Iti, statement, was, that 1", th.JU¿ht 1 he two persons who called upun him were Government Commissionprs inquiring into the state of the piltaloe crop; and, wilh the view of making the most of things, he aggravated not only the badness of the crop, but the difiiculties of his own position, He was now ready to swear that he had plenty of potatoes and milk; that he hall a bed-tick in the loft; aml thai his rent was not so high by lOs, as he had stated it to be- £ 10 lOs" and not £ 11. The Commissioner comments triumphantly on the eviùcnce furnishcJ by his colleague. lie enumerates some facts which were stated hy him, were denied by Mr. O'Connell, and are now confirmed: for instance, a flat denial was given to his statement about the want or glass windows at Dairynane Beg: an,1 Mr. O'Collnell snecringlv denied tint he was a "middle- man," On this latter subject the Commissioner lias obtained sOlne additional information. The substance is, that fur the land held under Mr. lI.trtuD, Mr. O'Connell charges his tenauts three times the amount he pays; that he charges profit-rent on his olher holdings ani that his yearly profit from this source alone amounts to £ 2,000. Speaking of the result of the inspection in which Mr. Maurice O'Connell tlluk part, the Commissioner says-" I have been all over England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; and J declare to yuu solemnly, that in no part of the United Kingdom is sueh neglected wretchedness—such filth, such squalor, such misery uf every kind—to he seen, as 1 saw that day un Mr. O Connell's estate, in the presence of .\1r. Maurice O'Connell. CLAm OF THE UNITED STATES TO EXCLUSIVE COLONISATION IN NOUTII AMERICA. In his message to Congress, Mr. Pulk assumes as Ï:1contro- vertible a (loctrine unknown to intNnatiunal law, and utterly untenable, though not entirely new in the mouths of American statesmen. Mr. Monroe asserted it during his Presidency, when he declared that" the American continents, bv the free amI independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are heneeforth not to he considered as subjecw for future colo- nisation by any European power." Mr, Polk is of opinion that, iIf the existing eircumstance5 uf the world, tbe pres(,Jlt is a proper occasion to reiterate and reatfinn the principle avowed by Mr. MO!li"ue," In doing this, he steals a step. It is due alike to our safety and our interest, that the efficient protection of our laws should 11(' extended over the whole of uur territorial limits, and that it shuuld be distinctly annJunced to the world as onr settled policy, that no future Eurolwan colony or (10m in- iun shall, with our consent, lie planted ur establIshe!1 on anv part of the North American continent." From intentional or unintentional looseness of expression, Mr. Polk has here used the phrases "our whole territorial limits," and" any part of the North American continent," so as tu give them in a great mea- sure the appearance of being convertible terms. It is not in words alone that he reaffirms the position of Mr, Monroe. The immediate application of the abstract principle is made to Oregon; and he advises the Legislature to give England notiee of the termination of the joint occupancy-to establish an Indian agency in Oregon-to extend the laws and jurisdiction of the United States over its citizens resident there-to make liberal grants of land to "the patriotic pioneers" who may choose to open up "the vast wilderness intervening between our frontier settlements and Oregon"—to connect the North-west territory with those frontier settlements by a chain of stockades and movahle columns of mounted riflemen—and to establish a monthly overland mail between the States and the American squatteries on the Columbia. In the same message which recommends this system of operations, the annexation of Texas is dwelt on with triumph; threats of an aggressive war are held in suspense over the Mexican Republic and, with a side-glance to the North, it is affirmed that" the people of this continent alone have the right to decide their own de8tiny" should any portion of tbem, constituting an independent state, propose to unite themselves with our confederacy, this will be a question for them and us to determine, without any foreign interposition" —"the American system of governmel1Í is entirely different from that of Europe." In short, the President of the United States advises Congress to ann and organise the citizens in order that they may be prepared to avail themselves of any emergency, to receive aU communities already settled on the North Ameri- can continent into the bosom of the Union, and to prevent the colonisation of any part of the continent by European nations. If Congress adopt the principle enunciated by Messrs. Monroe and Polk. they will arrogate to the Government of the United States the sole anel exclusive right to colonise the yet unoccu • pied portions of the North American continent. The mere ex- parte declaration of one government cannot make any doctrine part of the law of nations the common consent of all, or of a majority of governments, is required for that purpose. But the ¡loctrine recognised by the majority of civilised nations on this head is, that" aU tracts of country inhabited only by savage or nomade tribes not organised into a state, may he colonised by the first government that sees fit t,) take possession or them and that a government may, by certain preliminary measures, establish an exelllsive right to colonise a more extensive tract of conutry than it is prepared to do at the moment. The Go- vernment at Washington is entitled to insist that all tracts of land to which it has established such an exclusive right shall be colonised either hy its own citizens or by individuals who agree to submit to its peculiar laws and institutions but any olher Government, in any part of the wùrld, is entitled to do the same; anù Russia awl Great Britain have done it. It is possible, no doubt, that a principle wbich has not actu- ally been recognised as part of the law of nations may deserve to be so recognised. The principle asserted by Presidents Monroe and Polk, though not law, may be so equitable that the British Government would do well to combine with that of the United States to urge its aùoption upon all other governments. It is worth while to examine the prollosition of the American statesmen, with a view to ascertain whc>ther, since it is not already, it ought not forthwith to be made law. The claim, then, which they assert, L; neither more nor less than exclusive right of colonisation over all the unoccupied tracts of the American continent for the Government of the United States. To this exorbitant claim they can show no'better title than the accidental circumstance that their Government is ac- tually resident on that continent. That Government and its citizens are themselves colonists from Europe: tJwir settlement gives them a valid title to the territory they have actually taken possession of, but no right to excluùe from the unoccupied tract9 utlwr colo,1Îes which Eurupe and European Governments may send after them. The first law delivered to man was that he should replenish the earth, In virtue of this law, aU denizens of overpeopled countries are entitled to seek for and take pos- session of new amI unoccupied lands. They are entitled to transplant the institutions which habit has made a second nature to them, to their new homes, The European colonist has the same right to plant monarchical or aristocratical institutions in the territories to which Russia and Great Britain have esta- blished their preferable right of colonization, that the United States colonist has to plant democratic institutions in the terri- tory on which his Guvemment has laid its hands, In point of equity, the claims of the Europpan colonists are the stronger; fur their overpeopled countries leave them no option but to emigrate, while within the settlements uf the U Aited States the population is insufficient fully to occupy the suil. The Polk and Monroe policy is the Llog-in-the-mangcr policy, of excluding Europeans from regions which their own countrymen will be unable to occupy for centuries to come. It has itg origin in a bigoted politic,1I sectarianism, which can see nothing good except in its uwn political institutions, and. would. cumpel all settlers in America tll adopt them. It betrays Oll the part of the Americans a want. of faith in the goodness of their uwn institutions if sincere and consistent in their helief of their excellence, they would leave them b be vuluntarily atlopteà hy the new comers, instead of trying to make submission to them a coaLlition of settlemant. The aim uf this attempt to prevent Eurupean colonization is, to extend the political influence of the American Government, not to promote the individual prosperity of American citizens. The pride of professional pulitkiansmay be gratified and their emulumcnts increased, by widening the sphere within which the authority of the central Government at Washington, and the local machinery of GovNnment throughout the U llion is paramount; but private eitizens can only be bene- fitetl by removing ever. obstacle to the speedy settlement and. cultivation pf the waste. The imposition of republican insti- tUti01B is an obstacle to Elropean colonisation. The American citizen who sacrifi-es real individuat interests to gratify the vanity of his Government, is as simple as the European subject who does so to pamper the pride of a monarch,-Spectator.

Jfttectllancous* Tng LEAGUE.-The journals in the League interest presented to tbeir readers last week in the very largest types ever used in a newspaper, —" THE QUARTER OF A MILLION' FUND," &1. &cM and the readers of the Times, Chronicle, Globe, Sun, and .4dlJertiser, all, no doubt, very sincerely helieve that the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds is actually being raised Whereas, the tact is as different as possible. Four years^ ago, the League raised £ 53,000; actually raised it. Two years afterwards they raised £ 100,000. N OIV, the managers of this very ingenious hody wish to raise a third 8U?SCnptlOn, aod they have caught an idea from the multiplying glasses sold by opticians, which, being cut. into five or ten faces, presenl five or ten sovereigns to View, when only one is lying on the tanle. The sum actually ralslDg III £ 50,000, not £ -250,000. The" quarter of a million" is the optical delusion the fact heing, that twenty per cent, is to he paid," and the remainder deferred tu some future and in- definite period, Mr. Cobden hlm8elf let out the tricky character of the transactinn in one passage of his speech. He said, Some friends had asked, Shall we be liable to PlY all this money it the curn laws abolished meanwhile" In other words, these candid fneOtls had put down their names for" five hundreds" and" two bun- dreds" without at all meaning to be bound to pay the money! Where else, hut in tho couucil of the League, would such a device be thought 00 We rather guesli that we can trace it to the real author. For we see in the very first rank-the £ 1000 subilcribers-the name of a manufacturer who, if we remember aright, put down his name in another Manchester subscription-list, two or three years since, for £ 500, to he paid in five yearly instalments; and after- wards managed to take an exception to some trivial point in the business, and so to shuffle out of his engagement before the second year's instalment became due It has heen ascertained by a post mortem examination, that tbe death of Lord Wharncliffe was caused by an effusion of the brain the result, probably, ot mental ex- citement during the late Ministerial crisis. Mr. George Wilham Hope, M P. for Southampton, is expected to resign tbe office of U ncler-Secretary for the Colonies. BRITISH MUSEU!>f. The number of yisitol's to this national establishment on December 26 was 28,667 heirw an increase of 10,428, as compared with boxing-day last year, when the number was 18,239. Dr. Polli, of Milan, known to tbe medical world by his remarkable researches on the blood, has Just communi- cated to to Scientific Congress at Naples, a proceeding to render salt water drinkable by means of electricity. TROTTING FOURTEEN MILES AND A HALF IN ONE HOUR. -On Friday the match made for Mr. Rix's horse to trot fourteen miles and a half within one hour, ani in harness, was decideq on two mdes of road, at Wimbledon. The stakes were £ 10 a-side. The horse, lfhich is under four- teen hands high, entered upon the match trotting awaj steadily, anù turmng two miles 111 eight minutes and ten seconds, and came back to the starting place, having per- formed four miles 11l fitteen minutes. The next four miles were travelled in fourteen minutes and a quarter aud the horse was then pulled in and refreshed. After a rest of five minutes he was again on the road, and rattling over the ground at good speed, and accomplished the next four miles in fifteen minutes and fifteen seconds. He thell made the last turn, having gone over fourteen miles in fifty-seven minutes, and had three minutes to conclude the la->t half mile, which wag covered in two minutes and the match was won in an easy manner. Peel Castle, Isle of Man, is fl.! present undergoing extensive repairs, preparatory, It IS supposed, to troops being stationed at that place. THE STATU AP.VIITMENTS AT WINDSOR CASTI.E. — lie Majesty the Queen having been graciously pleased t command that for the future no fce sha'l be taken fton any person viiiting the state apartments at Wiiidso. Castle, we are authorised to give notice, tInt from th, 1st of January, in accordance with regulations issued by Ole Lord Chamberlain, tickets for the admission of visitors to the state apartments may be obtained gratis at most of the respectable pritUsellers' and libraries at the West-end. —John Hull. FEARFUL ACCIDENT AT LIVERPOOL ON CIIIUSTMAS-DAY. —-It is seldom we have been called upon to detail the circumstances of a more disastrous and melancholy even: than that we arc now about to place on record, as it ha, been attended by not only a great sacrifice of human life, but a vast amount of property. The premises where the fatal occurrence originated are known as the Liverpool and Harrington Water-works. The works are very ex- tensive, comprising various buildings necessary for carry- ing on the operations of the company, and on the wesi side was a large iron tank, capable of holding about 250,000 gallons of water. On Thursday morning several of the men connected with the works attended for the purpose of lijling the tank, and the engine was set to work for that purpose. The process of filling was continued up to half-past one o'clock, at which time it was about two-thirds full, when the event took place which we ate about to describe. From a statementwe obtained from one of the sufferers, named Simpson, it appears that he was sitting down to dinner with his wife in an upper room, when he heard a loud noise, which he could only compare to the roar of artillery, and immediately after- wards, before he had time to recover himself, the house' seemed renl asunder, as if by some convulsive shock; the front and back walls of the building fell with a tremendous crash, cariying chairs, beds, and other articles of furniture along with them into the street, and himself and wife were prostrated on the floor. They succeeded, however, by the assistance of parties below, in reaching the ground in safety. By this time it was ascertained that the tank belonging to the works had bursi, and the houses and other buildings adjacent were rapidly tilling with water. Even in the streets some persons were up to the middle, and pieces of timber, articles of furniture, &e" were being carried rapidly away by the force of the stream. Such was its impetuosity, that several large pieces of wood were seen floating down Hill-street, as though driven by the current of a rapill river. The house next to the one we have been speaking of was occupied by a family named Deveney, and here the work of destruction was cariied to a fearful extent, nearly the whole of the family being buried in the ruins of their habitation. Deveney, with his son and daughter-in-law, were got out with great difficulty, as were also several others who lodged with them. The parties were immediately conveyed to the Northern Hospital, several with legs and arms broken, but all more or less injured. A woman named Catherine Gibson, who lived as servant at Mr. Porter's public-house, Rock-street, went into the cellar to draw some beer, whan a torrent of water rushed in, and" filling the cellar, over- whelmed her. She was taken out shortly afterwards quite dead. Another female has been discovered dead and an old lady, who lived at Simpson's house, is still missing. Eight persons are in the Foxteth Hospital, suffering from severe contusions. DISAPPEARANCE OF THE CAISSOX ON THE GOODWIN. —The following is the copy of a letter sent to Mr. Bush, C.E., Deptford :—" Dear Sir,—Since I last wrote to you reporting your lighthouse on the Goodwin Sands being all right, I am sorry to say that (this morning) 1 have had a good opportunity of viewing the sands, the Downs being clear of shipping, but your lighthouse has disap- peared. From the circumstance of there being a large fleet of vessels in the Downs, together with a thick atmos- phere, I have not been able to see it since Friday last, and therefore cannot exactly say when it fell.—I am, Sir, &c., W. B. Deal."—Kentish Observer. MANUFACTURE OF IRON.—The value of iron for man- ufacturing purposes is, it seems, considerably deteriorated by frequent change in the mode of transport, and exposure to the atmosphere. A proportionate oxidisation ensues; and when it reaches its destination, it is so much per cent. less valuable than if conveyed at once, and almost uncooled, from the furnace to the workshop or factory. What can be done with it in this condition is illustrated by the following remarkable fact:—Thirty-one pounds of Shropshire iron has been made into wire upwards of one hundred and eleven miles in length and so fine was the fabric, that a part of it was humorously converted, in lieu of the usual horsehair, into a barrister's wig In order to effect this extraordinary tenuity, the process consists of heating the iron and passing it through rollers of eight inches diameter, going at the rate of four hundred revo- lutions per minute, down to No. 4 on the wire-guage. It is afterwards drawn cold, at Birmingham or elsewhere, down to the extent of 38 on the same guage, and so com- pleted to the surprising length of one hundred and eleven miles. AMERICAN IRON TRADE.—In the spring of 1845, there were but two anthracite furnaces in blast between Potts- ville and Philadelphia—Dr. Palmer's, the Pioneer,' on the Island, and one at Phoenixville. There are now four in blast, and another will be added to the number in one or two weeks. They are capable of turning out 2i5 tons of iron per week, or 13,750 tons per annum. In the course of next season, the following furnaces will bs in operation in the coal region, and on the canal between this place and Philadelphia—they are all at this time either in blast or in process of erection,—at Spring Miti two; Conshehocken one; Phceuixville three; Birdsbo- rough one; Reading one; in the coal region three. These furnaces, eleven in number, can produce G 10 tons per week, or 30,500 tons per year. Heretofore, three tons of coal have been required for the engine and stack, to produce a ton of iron; but since the new method of heating the blast at the tunnel-head has been introduced, the quantity of coal used has been reduced to about two and a half tons to smelt a ton of iron. These furnaces alone will consume seventy-five thousand tons of coal per annum. This quantity is independent of that which will be required by the rolling mills, steam forges, and other iron works, erected and in course of erection, which will require about tifty thousand tons more. In taking the census during the week, of a portion of the borough, it was discovered that no less than twenty-three families occupied a building which was erected in the Orchard for an hotel, numbering upwards of one hundred persons. In Morris's Addition also, one house contains sixteen families, some of which keep boarders—and in another small house there are six families-making forty-five families in three houses, with a population oftwohun- dred and twenty-seven persons. At St. Clair, about four miles from Potfsville, which last year contained between 100 and 200 people, during the present season eighty new buildings have been erected, and next season one firm intend to build '39 miners' hauses. It is whispered that an extensive rollin" mill will be erected in connection with the furnace near St. Clair.—Miner's Journal. CAPTURE OF A GHOST.—It is said that ghosts are not nnfrequently inspired with a considerable share of puis- sant valour. A singular act of bravery on the part of a disembodied spirit has just come under our observation, and at the season of Christmas, as stories of ghosts and goblins are the order of the day, it may not prove alto- gether unacceptable. At any rate, it may dispel the idea with which these wiseacres occasionally solace themselves, that ghosts are altogether harmless. A widow lady who resides in the parish of St. Martin has of late been visited by a ghost of rather a mischievous character. Inhabiting a lonely dweUing, with no species of pro- lection save that afforded by a servant girl little more than just entered into her teens, the lady with her two children, during the last four weeks, have had their nocturnal slumbers frequently disturbed by the escapades of an evil spirit. Precisely as the clock had struck what the Scotch poet has styled, "The wee short hour ayontthe twaal" and which, from its contrast with the previous twelve distinct sounds upon the hammer, it is said to inspire, even in the strongest minds, a feeling of mysterious ap- prehension, a loud knocking.at the door was heard. Nor was the feeling of awe inspired on the occasion un- strengthened by any extraneous circumstance for on the third evening of the occurrence of the mysterious knuckings, the disturbed lady having summoned up sufficient courage to look out from the window, beheld a figure apparently in white making its escape from the gateway. The occurrence made rather a powerful im- pression on the lady's mind, for it was the first time she had ever seen a denizen of the world of spirits. For ten successive nights the same sounds were repeated, every night the strength of the knocking gradually increasing, The ghost evidently thought that the depth of the slum- bers of the inmates preventing them from hearing its efforts at obtaining an audience, fur no notice whatever was taking of its mysterious proceedings. It was neces- sary, therefore, to alter its line of tactics, and the line which the ghost now adopted was of a somewhat novel nature. Instead of now knocking at the door every night, it at length began to throw stones at the windows and one evening demolished 110 less than three panes of glass in the windows of the drawing-room. This, how- ever was not to be endured much longer, and even at the risk of coming in contact with an inhabitant of the lower world, it was at length determined to give battle to the spirit. The lady having communicated the circumstance to a gentlenan who resides with his family about a quarter of a mile distant, a watch on Thursday evening last was set upon the premises. The gentleman referred to, armed with a stout good cudgel, took his station at the corner of the building, about ten paces from the spot where the ghost was wont to hurl its missiles, while at the opposite corner stood his man-servant armed in a somewhat similar fashion to his master. Precisely at the usual hour a figure clothed in white was seen to enter at the gateway, and having slowly made its way to within a few feet of the house, deliberately lifted a handful of pebbles and threw them at the window. This feat per- formed, the ghost was about to depart, but the gentle- man and his fellow watchman, not having their spirit completely prostrated, sallied forth and intercepted its progress. The yell of horror which the spirit now uttered was awful in the extreme, and throwing itself at the feet of the gentleman, it besought in piteous tones his pardon. The white sheet in a moment was thrown from the back of the new embodied spirit, and a bona fide human woman actually stood before them. A confession soon followed, and it was discovered that the ghost had determined to frighten the poor lady to death in consequence of having been recently discharged from her service for theft.—Jersey Titles. CONSUMPTION OF BUTCHERS' MEAT.—The number of cattle and sheep annually sold at Smithfield has doubled within the last century, whilst the weight of the carcase has also more than doubled in that interval. In the eaily part of last century (1710), according to an estimate made by Dr. Davenant, the net weight of the cattle sold at Smithfield averaged not more than 370 poun Is, whilst calves averaged about 50 pounds and sheep 28 pounds. In 1800, the net weight of the cattle was estimated at 800 pounds, and of calves at 149 pounds, and of the ahecp at 99 pounds. RHMARKAULF. PHENOMENON.—As a gentleman, well- \:io-,vii in the city of Kingston as a grower and preparer If arrow-root, in the district of Manchioueal, was standing in attendance upon Ihe working of his apparatus near an it oil water-pipe of considerable length, the metal attracted the fluid from an electric cloud which, passing along the pip'1, exploded in the vicinity, and caused him to remain fixed and insensible for several minutes; fortunately, however, the circumstance was attended by no other effect. — '/nicrt pcnier. We are sjrry to announce the death of the Hon. Cathe- rine Ann Stuart, wife of the Hon. and Rev. Andrew Stuart, son of the Earl of and sister of the late Yis- eount Poweiicourt. The melancholy event took place on Christmas-dav, at the residence of the Hon. — Stuart, brother-in-law to the deceased, iu Sackville-strect. The deceased was in her 23th year, and has left a family of three sons and one (laughfer. FRAUD.—The machinations of the crafty and designing are alike endless and inexhaustible. Nosoonerdoesaa useful and excellent invention deserve and obtain the favour of the public, than it ig immediately made the object of piracy and counterfeit of the basest kind. fortunately, the ads supply the requisite protection; and we learn with pleasure, that Messrs. ROWLAND, the spirited Proprietors of the invaluable "IVALYDOR" have, in self-defence, engaged those incomparable artists, Messrs. Perkins and Bacon, to engrave a Label, which is not more admirable as exhibiting the perfection of art. than as affording a protection against the base and designing."—See Add, Health, one of the greatest hlessiilgs-but which is to often neglected or insufficiently appreciated—will be best restored or preserved by the use of that invaluable medi- cine, Sydenham's Family Pill of Health, a preparation (entirely vegetable) of long-established reputatioll.- See Advt.

BANKRUPTS.—(From the London Gazettes.) FRIDVY. — Charles William Totilmin, South Island-place^ Clapham-roail, livery st ible keeper. Frederick Oixj-i, Long- lane, Ber.-rionilsey, canier. Francis Robinson, I'rinccs-st., Chelsea, cowkccpir. Joseph l.anks'icar, Sc.yiuo. ir-row, Chelsea, s iigeon. George Angast'is Ah,ulolO, I'ortsea, vic- tualler. Curtis Williamson, threat I'ortland-strccr, winc- meichant. K.I ward Srreeter. Bristol, railroad contractor. vViliiam Wailes, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, grocer. Philip Phil- lips, liirfnin^h^m, steei pen-maker. I ULSD\Y. —J^mes Brooke, Gooderstono, N\>rfolk, mill-r, Benjamin Janes, city-road, draper. Richard More jnd Ben- jamin Wdiiani Blake, Norwich, coa'-nerchans. George Jarvis Worssa.n, Great Mitchell-street, ()ld-s:reet, engineer. 1'h'imas Phillips, Shrewsbury, hop-inerch int. Beuj wnin Wood, jun., Tj»eds, wine-merchant. James C »iisen and Consen, Bindley Yorkshire, and John Iticliariiby Couseu, Bradford, Yorkshire, wots;ed spinners.

BUTE DOCKS. -Arrioed, the R-ideavo ir, II iwkins, Bristol Taff, Mitchell, Tawton, Bristol, light.John Henry, Rees, London, ballast .Independent, Pinter, Briuol light.. Pegas is, Jervis, tilo<ter, b tllast.Herd, HenJy, Pen- zance, light.. Kmerald, Giffard, Cork, limestones.. Iris, Wed- lake, Truro.Flora, Pavey, Dartmouth, ballast..Cumberland, Lightbody, Whitehaven, iron ore.Gem, Hiil, Uristnl, light.. Rose, Condon, Waterford. France-, Da vies, Chichester.. Countess Fortescue, Chapman, St. Ives.. Mariner, Jermyn, Truro. Rliza. Owen, Londou..Ilose, KLestell, Koss, ballast.. Best, Monle, B.-istol, light.. Preciosa, Jacobson, Plymouth, ballast.. Pahnerston, Davies, Bristol.. Piper, Eroy, Bristol.. Matilda, Sanfcrd, Bristol.Dolphin. Fry, Bristol.Victoria, Withy-combe, Bridgwater, luht.. Prince of Wales (s.) Jones, Bristol.. Lady Charlotte (s.) Jefferys, Bristol, general cargo. Sailed, the Taff, Vlitchell, Bristol..Swift, Tawton, Bristol, c°al Endeavour, Hawkins. Bristol, iron .„ Vlary Ann. Hooper, Bristol .Gem, Hill, Bristol, coal.. Dora. Stones, Glamorganshire Canal, light William, John, Waterford, coal..Albion, Studholm, Liverpool, iron..Brisk, Harding, Cofabe..Best, Moule, Bristol ..Charlotte, Evans, Bristol.. Ninas, Mills, Bristol..Rhondda, Bowen, Bristol, coat..Trusty, Field, Bristol, iron..Market Maid,Ward,Barnstaple..George, G-ilfiths. Waterford Advocate, Loom, Waterford Gem, Howe, Bridgwater.. Elizabeth, Ley, Barnstaple Susan, Irwin, Barnstaple, coal..Queen Charlotte, Woodward, New. port, light Fly, Rowles, Gloster, ceal Thomas and Maria, Walk ins, Bristol, iron.BeMy.Howe.Bideford. Pnautom, Richards, Truro, coal.Prince of Wales (s.) Jones, Bristol.. Lady Charlotte (s.) J. fferys. Bristol, general cargo. GLAMORGANSHIRE CANAL.— Arrived, the Mary, Evans, Bristol..Catherine and Jane, Evans, Whitehaven.. Affiance, Biddle, Bullow Pill, with iron ore.. Providence, Baker, Bristol Lalla Rookt, Rees, Mitford, with ballast.. Windermere, Davies, Newport.. Amity, Pearson, Bristol..Olive Branch, Mendus. Aberihaw..Gleaner, Thomas, Newport..Watettiity, James, Swansea.. Union, Prevett, Newport.. Venus, Poole. Bridgwater.Bute, Walters, Bristol.. Robert, Evans, Newport .Providence, Parker, Newport.mizabeth and Sarah, Tamplin. Swansea.John George, Gulliford, Bridgwater.. Castle, Fryer, Bristol..Jane and Mary, Barrett, Gioster.. Ann. Davies, Bristol..David, Long, Bridgwater, all with sundries. Sailed, the Acadian, Longney, Gloster.Elizabeth, Wiight, Bristol. Spread Eagle, Phillips, Fleetwood.Sea Bower, Thomas, Gloster.Wern Collier, Goulding, Gloster..Marthi, Jones, Bristol Providence, Baker, Bristol Messenger, Vlabin, Hull.. Waterlilly,James,Liverpool.. Gleaner,Thomas, Newport..Amity, Pearson, Brlstol..Bllte, Walters, Bristol.. Catherine and Jane, Evans, Londonderry, all with iron.* Sisters, Thompson, Chepstow.. Brothers, Williams, Chepstow .Brothers, Bryant, Bridgwarer.. Hope, Nicholls, Fo«cy.» Pilot, Clark, Ilfracombe.. Etherly, Brinkley, Sligo«»Corona- tion, Stevens, ISidefor.l.. Mouvelham,Towelis, B. istol.Mary, Evans, Bri.tot..Venus, Poole, Bridgwater.. Affiance, Biddle, Gloster.. Ceres, Wed lake, Bideford, all with coal.. Olive Branch, Mi-ndiis, Aberthaw.Windermere, Davii s, Newport .Union, l'revett, Newport.Elizabeth and Sarah, Tainplin, Newport.Providence, Parker, Newport, light. PORT TALBOT.—Arrived, the Jjiiu, Clark, St. Ives.. Lenin ■Stephenson, Fowey.. Vlary Anne, Henwood, St. Agnes. Sailed, the Athelstan, Robson, Swansea..Anne, Western, Barnstaple.. Fancy, Davies, Neath Friendship, Hughes ..Thomas, Williams, Milford Eliza, Sutton, Swansea.. Pilot, Beynon, Swansea. !MR

LONDON MARKETS. GENERAL AVERAGE PRfCES of CORN per Quarter computed from the Inspectors' Return*. GENERAL AVERAGE. s. d. J 9. J. Wheat 53 9 live 30 8 Bailey 3;j!0 Beans 43 10 Oats 25 2 Peas 44 9 DUTY ON FOREIGN CORN. s. d. s II Wheat 14 Q Rye g* g Barley 5 0 Beans 1 0 ^aLS 3 0 I Peas I q

CORN EXCHANGE-MONDAY. WHEAT. 8* S, Essex & Kent red 58 — 50, White 6*4 — 68 Old Do 62 — Go DJ FT) RYE. »• 1 s. s. Old 85 — 37 I Sew 38 — 40 BARLEY. s. s. s. a. Grinding 2d —3d Chevalier. 38 — 36 Malting 35 — 3G Bere 28 — 20 Irish 30 29 MALT. s- s> I •. t. Suffolk and Norfolk 58 — 63 1 Brown 56 69 Kingston and Ware (j I — 0 ] Chevalier 64— 0 OATS. s. s- | s. s. Yorkshire and Lin- colnshire feed 25 — 22 Potato 33 33 You^hall and Cork Cork. white 2ii — 2* hlack 22 2.) Westport 23 24 Dnblin 23-22 Black 22 23 Waterford whitei 2 — 21 Newry 25 26 Galway 1i — '20 s«xch f6ed 2;} 24 Potato .26- 21 Clonmel 22 2-1 Limerick 21 26 I.Ou,iouderry. 23 0 Sligo 26—25 BEANS. S. S. S. I. Tick new 4-4 — 3s| Old small 50 — 44 PEAS. s. s. s. » Crey 26 — 38 Maple. 3&— 38 White 50 — 43 | Boilers. 4B — 50

SMITHFIELD MARKETS—MONDAY. Statement and Comparison of the Sllpplies and Pricø of Fat Stnck. exhibited and Sold in Smithfield Cattle Markett on Monday, Dec. 23, 1SH, and Monday. Dec. 22. J845. Dec. 23, 1844. Dec. 28, 184*. „ 1 r • „ 8- 8- d* s- d. 8. «* Coarse and inferior Beasts. 2 10 to 3 2.2 10 to S 2 Secoud quality dmo 34 3 6.]..3 4 3* Prime large Oxen 3 8 3 10.3 8 4 0 Prime Scots, &c. 4 0 4 4.4 2 4 Coarse and inferior Sheep.. 3 0 3 4 .3 4 3 10 Second quality ditto 3 4 3 6.4 0 4 4 Prime coaise woolled ditto 3 8 4 0.4 6 4 8 Prime Southdown ditto. 4 2 4 4.4 5 O Large coarse Calves 3 8 4 0 .4 2 48 Prime small ditto 42 4 10 *"4 10» 5 2 I.arge Hog, 3 „ 3 g J C Neat sitiall Porkers 4 0 4 (>.».. 4 8 5 2 SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 184G. Published by the sole Proprietor, HENRY IVEBUX34 at his residence Charlei street, in the Parish of Sain John the Baptist, m the Town of Cardiff andi County of Glamorgan, and Printed by him at his General Printing Offlce in Duke-street, in the said Parish of Saint Jotujx in the Town and County aforesaid. Advertisements and Orders received by the folio wins Agents LONDON Mr. Barker, 33, Fleet-street; Messrs. Newton and Co., 5, Warwick-square; Mr. G. Reynell, 42, ^-hancery-lane; Mr. Deacon, 3, Wulbrook* near Ihe- Mansion-house; Mr. Joseph Thom.is, 1;, F'mdfc-raney Cornhill; Mr. Hammond, 27, Lombard-street; Mr, C. Barker, 12, Bu-chni-tane W. Dawson and Son.. 74, Cannon-street, City Messis. Lewis, aud Lowe, 3„ Castle Court, Birchin Lane. AlEHTHYa Mr. H. W. White, Stationer;, BRRCon .Mr. William Evans, Ship-street,, SWANSEA Mr. E. Griffiths, Printer.- And by all Postmasters Pnd Clerks on the Road. This paper is regularly filed iu London at Lloyd's. Coffee House City. -Peel's Coffee-house, Fleet-street.. -The Chapter Cottee-house St. Paul's.—Deacon' WaUwppW.