lowers, who were slaughtered forthwith. Their proximity to the boundary alone saved any of the party, as on the first alarm there was a general rush into our territory. They made no stand whatsoever; and, from all accounts, not a Nepaulese soldier was wounded on the occasion. There can be no doubt of a ruse having been played off on the ex-Maharajah, by parties in Nepaul, for the purpose of getting him into their power, and of taking vengeance at the same time on the refugees for their plots and attempts on the Prime Minister's life. It was for this purpose the Rajah was led into the belief that the army was on his side, and only awaited his presence on his own territory to rise to a man and replace him on the guddee. He took the bait, and now that he is in the power of his enemy, it remains to be seen how he will be disposed of. Should I gather any further information in the matter, I will not fail to give it to you, but for the present you will say this is enough." It has already been announced that the British resident at Katmandoo had formally recognised the change of sovereigns there; and as the old king is now in the power of the ruling party, we shall probably hear no more of this revolution in Nepaul. How long it will be before we have another to record is, however, another matter.—Bengal Hurkaru. THE LATE COL. STODDARD AND CAPT. CONOLLY.-For some time past there has been a rumour that the king of Bokhara had put to death the infamous Abdool Sumud Khan, who has been rendered so notorious by Dr. Wolff's narrative. It has now been confirmed in the letter of a merchant at Bokhara to his correspondent at Cabul. The king struck him on the head himself with a small axe, upbraiding him with having instigated him -the king-to slay Staddart and Conolly. This information gives additional confirmation to that which was indeed too evident previously, that those unfortunate officers were positively put to death by the commander of the faithful. Their relatives are, we fear, still buoyed up with hopes of their existence, which it is natural for them to cherish, but the present intelligence places the report of their death beyond all doubt.-Friend of India. BURMESE TERRITORIES. REBELLION IN THE KINGDOM OF AVA. We have received letters from our Rangoon correspondent up to the 29th June, containing news of an interesting nature. A rebellion has lately broken out in the country at or near the town of KianGin, which is situate on the banks of the Irrawaddee river, about thirty miles below Prome and one hundred above Rangoon. It appears that another pretender has sprung up assuming the name and title of Tsa Kia Min. It must be in the remembrance of some of our readers that the Tsa Kia Min, the heir to the throne, was publicly executed at Amarapoora, in the year 1837, by order of the late king Tharrawadde, being the remaining obstacle between him and supreme power. Since the executing of Tsa Kia Min several Burmese have come forward at different periods, and announced to their superstitious countrymen that the soul of the deceased prince had, by divine aid, been transferred to their persons. An announcement of this nature is at all times readily listened to by the credulous Burmese, and consequently each pretender, in his turn, had succeeded in obtaining followers. However King Tharawadde invariably crushed these émeutes by taking immediate and active measures. This fresh edition of Tsa Kia Min has made himself master of the town of Kian-Gin; he and his followers sally forth frequently for the purpose of plundering the different villages near at hand. He has set to work in right earnest to shew that he is a king, so far as outward forms go, for he has adopted the white umbrella, the emblem of royalty, and has caused his ministers to use golden ones, according to their respective ranks and dignity. Numbers of people are said to be flocking to his standard. The Governor of the district of Tharrawadde has sent a force of about one thousand men against the rebels; but no tidings have as yet reached Rangoon whether it has been successful or not. Several Burman boats containing merchandise bound to Ava and elsewhere, have been obliged to return to Rangoon, the river not being considered safe, on account of the disturbed state of the country. The authorities at Rangoon not having as yet received official information of the rebellion, have not up to the present time taken any steps to render assistance to the Governor of the upper provinces; but are making preparations to meet any emergency that may occur. After our correspondent had closed his letter, further news reached him; he says in a postscript: "I am glad to be able to inform you that just before sealing this letter information has reached me, that the rebels have been completely beaten, several men have been forwarded in chains to Amarapoora." We have heard that a person with the same pretensions to the throne of Ava is now living in Maulmein; we trust he will get hold of the above news, which may induce him to give up his visions of glory.-Maulmein Chronicle. BORNEO. Early on the morning of the 30th May, the H.C.'s steamer Nemesis, with Mr. Brooke and Capt. Grey on board, and having in tow a cutter of H.M.'s ship Columbine, left the town of Bruni to cross over to the new British port of Labuan. Information was received on the way down the river that some fishermen had been chased at daylight, and on rounding the point of the island of Moarra, the look-out of the Nemesis descried a fleet of Balanini or Sulo pirates, in full chase of a trading prahu in the offing. Immediately the steamer appeared, the pirates, quitting the chase, pulled in shore to the westward, and at the same time cut away the small boats they had in tow, whilst the steamer, pursuing at full power, lost much ground by having to round the extensive shoal which stretches from Moarra Point (Ujong Sapo) to the islet of Pilong Pilongan. The Balanini were first descried at half-past nine A.M., and about mid-day, finding the steamer gaining upon them, came to an anchor. At one P.M. the pirate fleet was plainly made out from the Nemesis; eleven large prahus anchored in line, at a distance of about ten yards one from another, along a sandy beach, with their heads to sea, their sterns (fast by stern warps ashore) in the surf, and with a hawser passed along from boat to boat. bows of the prahus were protected by ampilans formed of musket-proof planks; they appeared well armed, crowded with men, and in this formidable position awaited the approach of the steamer. The At half-past one the pirates opened fire on the steamer, and the action commenced in earnest at a distance of about 200 yards, the steamer being in two fathoms water, and rolling heavily in a ground swell. For two hours a heavy fire was kept up from the Nemesis, and the fire from the pirates being nearly silenced, and their prahus evidently greatly damaged, Capt. Grey, with three cutters (one belonging to H. M. S. Columbine and two to the H.C.'s steamer Nemesis) resolved to make a dash at the left of the pirates' position, whilst the steamer poured in grape and canister upon the centre and right to prevent their rendering aid to their comrades. On the advance of our three small boats, the pirates, casting loose the hawser which attached their prahus together, pulled away to the eastward in a crippled state, leaving two prahus in possession of our boats, and numbers of men on the beach or jungle. The Nemesis pursued to the eastward, and, one after another, drove six of the flying enemy ashore, all of which were, for the time, abandoned by their crews, but could not be taken possession of, owing to the small number of our boats in the action. In the meantime, whilst Capt. Grey was securing the two prizes already mentioned to the westward, and the Nemesis in full pursuit of the three last prahus to the eastward, five out of the six deserted boats were re-manned, and, with a resolution praiseworthy in a better cause, bore down to the attack of our three cutters. Capt. Wallage, commander of the Nemesis, perceiving this manoeuvre, anxious for our overmatched boats, and convinced that these prahus must at all events escape to the westward, returned in that direction, while the sixth deserted prahu being re-manned, and favoured by a breeze, crowded all sail to the eastward after her three consorts, and thus the four escaped. The five pirate prabus now advancing boldly towards our three cutters, perceiving the retrograde movement of the Nemesis, made every effort to escape to the westward, and a severe action took place between the sternmost prahu and the boats, the enemy defending himself with the utmost resolution, and inflicting a severe loss on our party. Whilst Capt. Grey was engaged in the capture of this large prahu, the Nemesis pursued the four to the westward, two of which were captured, whilst the remaining two escaped in the darkness in a completely shattered state, after having been several times deserted and as often re-manned. Thus concluded this successful action with a pirate force consisting of eleven prahus-two of the largest size-four somewhat smaller, with crews of full fifty men each, and five with a complement of from thirty-five to forty hands. The force of the pirates, at a moderate computation, must be reckoned at 500 men, excluclusive of captives, and these, on the testimony of some rescued Chinese, were above a hundred persons. It is difficult to form a correct estimate of the killed and wounded on the enemy's part, but as forty to fifty men were dead on the beach, ten men killed found in the captured prabus, and the like number in the prahus which escaped, besides those which may have died in the jungle, we may reckon the killed at eighty or one hundred men, and the wounded at double that number. The loss on the British side was one man killed and seven men wounded-two mortally and five most severely. Ten brass guns, varying in size from nine-pounders to Lelas, and five iron guns (three to six-pounders) were captured. Five prahus were taken, and the escape of the rest is to be attributed to the small number of our boats, as at one time eight prabus were lying on the beach abandoned by their crews, and had our boats been sufficient to secure them, the other three would have been overtaken by the Nemesis. At the close of the engagement the sandy beach was covered by captives flying from their captors and by pirates abandoned in a bostile country, who to the last sought some means of revenge. The night closing prevented any measures being taken in favour of the liberated captives, and when the morning broke they were no longer to be seen, having taken to the jungle from fear of the Borneans sent by the Sultan to our assistance. It is to be hoped, however, that the measures now pursuing to save these poor people will be attended with success, and that many of them may be restored to their native country. The four boats which escaped to the eastward touched outside of Labuan for water on the night after the engagement, and a captive who escaped stated that these prahus were kept afloat with difficulty, being riddled with grapeshot. No tidings had been received of the other two. A Dutch officer's medal was found in one of the boats, a 9-pounder apparently of Dutch make, bags of Dutch doits, Banks tin beat into balls, &c. The Nemesis was coaling, and would proceed to Sarawak with Mr. Brooke, and thence to Singapore. The treaty with the Sultan had been concluded. Nine captives have arrived here (Singapore) from Bruni, part of those who were on board the fleet of pirates attacked by the Nemesis. Their depositions had been taken by the marine magistrate, and we shall give the substance of the statements made by some of them. One of them, named Muda, states that he is a native of Lingin, from which he sailed about four months ago in a prahu, of which he was Nacodah, along with seven other men, for Pulo Sahassan. They fell in with a fleet of pirates one day's sail from Lingin, by whom they were seized. They took the men out of the boat and shared them amongst the different prahus, tying their hands and feet, plundered the boat, and cut her adrift. They then proceeded to Siantan, where they seized several persons; at Pulo Soobie they took seven men and women, and at Pulo Tambelan they seized three or four more. During their passage they saw a large schooner with raking masts, and also sighted a brig off Sarawak. At Pulo Sahassan they were fired upon by the inhabitants, on which they thought it best to sheer off. They then debated whether they should touch at Sarawak river, but it was finally determined to proceed to Borneo Proper, as it was said a steamer was in Sarawak river. They anchored off Moara river at 8 o'clock at night, and next morning seized two fishermen on the shore. Between 8 and 9 p.m. they descried the steamer coming down the Bruni river, and at noon the action commenced. The prahu in which this person was confined was the first that was sunk, after 10 out of the crew of 30 had been killed and wounded. Of the captives, a woman and a boy were shot, the prisoners being made to sit on the deck during the action. The pirates and their captives swam on shore, where they were attacked by the Kadyan Dyaks, who, however, on ascertaining the captives, treated them well, and took them to the Sultan at Bruni. About forty pirates were brought in alive, and the captives were desired by the Sultan to take their revenge and cut them up. This they declined, say. ing, "God is great, and will punish the wicked." The Sultan's people then tied the hands of the pirates, and about 200 fell on them and cut them to pieces, the Sultan undertaking to despatch half the number, while the other half were handed over to Pangeran Moormein. The captives, about fifty in all, were treated with kindness by the Sultan and his people. This man relates that, while they were at Pulo Siantan, the boats were all hauled on shore to have their bottoms charred. One of the Chinese captives being sick and unable to work, they hanged him up to a tree, and then all fell on him and cut him to pieces. Another person, of the name of Buwang, states that he is a native of Columboo, a small island to the southward of Lingin. About four months ago, about 3 o'clock in the morning, their village was attacked by pirates. He, with his mother and two sisters, made their escape in a small boat, and directed their course to Lingin, but were overtaken by the pirates, and brought back. They were put on board a large prahu, their hands and feet being tied. The pirates then coasted along to the eastward, touching at several islands, such as the Tambelans, Siantan, Soobie, Sahassan, &c. They took several people at these places,-men, women, and children. They several times threatened to throw his little sister, a child of ten months old, overboard, because she cried, but at Buwang's entreaty they did not do so. Anther of the captives says that he saw the sick Chinaman hung up and cut to pieces after a feast. There seems to have been from seven to ten captives in each of the pirate prahus, and it is probable, therefore, as only about fifty have been yet collected, that a number must be still in the jungle, or have been killed in the engagement, or afterwards by the Dyaks on landing, being confounded with the pirates. Every fresh detail we receive only adds a new horror to the picture of pirate life; and here we find it in the pirates amusing themselves, after a feast, by hanging up and cutting a poor Chinaman to pieces. — Abridged from the Singapore Free Press. CHINA. IMPORTANT TRIAL.-A trial of great interest to the publicthe Queen v. Larkins-took place on the 2nd June, before Chief Justice Hulme and a special jury. Capt. Larkins is proprietor of the steamer Corsair, plying between Hong-Kong and Canton, and was charged with having, during twelve months,-from February, 1846, to March, 1847,-carried letters not exempted from the exclusive privileges of the postmaster-general. The penalty provided by statute is either £5 for each letter or £100 for every week the practice is continued. The prosecutor claimed the latter, amounting to £5,200. The facts were notorious, and well known to every one,-to none better than to the jury themselves; but the greatest reluctance was manifested in giving evidence, which was with difficulty expiscated from every one of the witnesses, with two exceptions. It was sufficient, however, to satisfy the jury, who found Capt. Larkins guilty of one breach of the statute, thereby rendering himself liable in a single penalty of £100, accompanying their verdict with a censure of the authorities for having permitted the system to go on so long (upwards of a year) unchecked,-a remark very proper in itself, but rather strangely appended to a verdict which found that the offence had been committed during one week only. It is to be regretted that the law was enforced in this case, as there can be no doubt that its systematic evasion originated from necessity, and has been carried on at great expense solely from the imperfect and unsatisfactory arrangements of the Post-office, which despatches letters to Canton and other ports in China, but does not undertake to deliver them, or even to intimate their arrival, so that they have lain at the consulate for days and weeks, sometimes months, unknown to the parties to whom they were addressed. Unless, therefore, the merchants and others had established a system for themselves, communication between Hong-Kong and Canton would have been almost entirely cut off, instead of being conducted with a degree of safety and regularity which the Post-office cannot easily improve upon. Some better system than it has hitherto followed will now, however, be demanded; and, since it has claimed the enforcement of the monopoly of the postmaster-general, we trust that he will insist on the service being at least as well performed as it has hitherto been by private individuals. We have incidentally alluded to the great reluctance on the part of some of the witnesses to give evidence; and it was remarkable how ignorant they were upon matters within their especial departments. One of them, it will be observed, objected to give evidence at all, lest it should criminate himself, though, as far as the Crown was concerned, he held a release from prosecution. The Chief Justice ruled that he was not compelled to give evidence, but permitted him to make an earnest appeal from the witness-box in favour of the defendant, an irregularity followed up, when the verdict was recorded, by a vehement declamation from the defendant himself against the postmaster.-Mail. MARRIAGE. WINCHESTER, Charles A. M.D. to Jane, d. of the late Capt. Thomas Blake, at Canton, July 24. DEATH. OSBORNE, Capt. Thomas J. late of the Calcutta, at Macao, aged 30, June 2. SHIPPING. DEPARTURES. JULY 6. Caroline, Williams, London; Chatham, Ballantyne, London.-7. Symmetry, Butler, London.-13. Romeo, Legg, London; Amy Robsart, Nixon, London. ALLEN'S INDIAN MAIL, LONDON, TUESDAY, October 5, 1847. SOME of the Indian papers are carrying on a discussion of the question whether or not Scinde will be restored to the Ameers. We really do not think the subject one deserving the attention which it appears to excite. "Revolutions," it has been said, "do not turn back," and it may be added that annexations are seldom rescinded. We fear that in the acquisition of Scinde we have incurred much of dishonour and much of guilt; we fear, also, that a long time must elapse before Scinde makes us any adequate return for the trouble of governing it. But the steps that have been taken may be regarded as irrevocable, and all that we can now do is, to endeavour, by promoting the happiness of the people, to cause, as far as may be, the means by which we acquired the country to be forgotten. This is the point to which the attention of both rulers and subjects may be advantageously directed. The country is a bad bargain, but wisdom directs that we should make the best of it for all parties. THE painful embarrassments of a large portion of the commercial world at this time seem to us to call peremptorily for the exercise of two things-forbearance and mutual support. Where it can be shewn that difficulty will, under peculiar circumstances, be only temporary, it becomes an act of duty to abstain as far as possible from pressing on firms so circumstanced. And among merchants who are undoubtedly solvent, though not altogether beyond the experience of inconvenience, it is the dictate of prudence and self-preservation, not less than of higher principles, to endeavour to afford those who are struggling with the storm such assistance as may enable them to weather it. These suggestions are so obvious, that it may seem scarcely necessary to offer them, but, in times of panic, the most obvious truths are forgotten. "Each for himself," is but the watchword for overwhelming ruin. Panic is a temporary madness, not less destructive than the blind confidence which leads men headlong into serious danger. Panic in the field has dispersed many a fine army which might have been led to victory; and commercial panic has often caused the destruction of resources, which, judiciously managed, would have been more than sufficient to restore prosperity. WE really wish that the people at the Post-Office would allow us a holiday; but they seem resolved to work us as hard as they do their own underlings, and, in a pecuniary way, to treat us even worse. They give to them little, to us nothing-not even the five or six shillings a week which in some remote parts of the country they consider a fitting remuneration for the entire time of a man: thus absolutely luring their servants into dishonesty and its consequences.* Yes, we wish that, for a season, at least, we could drop all notice of the Post-Office; but the authorities of that establishment will not have it so, and we must submit to this as well as to the other numerous evils which it is the pleasure of those personages to inflict upon us. Desiring to treat the subject as briefly as possible, we request our readers to cast their eyes over a paragraph which appears in our present publication, under the head CHINA. There they will find a brief report of an action brought against the captain of a steam-boat for penalties incurred by a breach of Post-Office prohibitions. It appears that letters for Canton and other ports in China are not only received at the Post-Office, but that it is illegal to forward them through any better channel: a worse could not be found; for though such letters are received, and though their transmission, except through the Post-Office, is prohibited under heavy penalties, the parties who mismanage the affairs of that establishment do not undertake to deliver them; so that letters often lie for days, and weeks, and months, and, for aught we know to the contrary, for years, without the fact of their existence becoming known to those for whom they are intended. Under such a system it may readily be believed that letters, in some instances, never reach the hands of the parties to whom they are addressed. As the Post-Office thus neglected to perform its proper duty, the merchants naturally sought a better mode of conveying their correspondence; and for affording them the accommodation which they required, the unfortunate captain referred to is sued for penalties, and a verdict passes against him. This, in fact, was inevitable, for there could be no doubt that in affording the means of remedying the inconvenience occasioned by the monstrous neglect of the Post-Office authori ties, he had acted illegally. And so the result is, that a man who has done his best to promote the public advantage is punished, and the merchants whom he has served are doomed for the future to take their chance as to whether any * While writing, we meet with the following passage in an original article in the Illustrated London News :—" Another large chapter might be added to this subject (commercial conscience), from that class of misfortunes and even crimes caused by the want of conscience displayed in regulating the amount of wages of labour. The question is never what is the worth of the work, but how many can be got to do it for the minimum. The Post-Office is perpetually robbed, in consequence of the operation of this system; there is no counterbalance in the amount of wages to the force of temptation and opportunity.” given letter shall arrive at its destination twelve months after the proper time, or whether it shall ever arrive at all! How wonderful is it that in this anti-monopoly age the outrageous abuses of the Post-Office monopoly should be clung to, upheld, and cherished! No matter to what inconvenience the mercantile world is subjected-no matter that serious loss, even bankruptcy and ruin, may be the consequences of Post-Office neglect-the monopoly must be held sacred-and this, too, in cases where those exercising the monopoly do not even pretend to discharge the duties which it imposes-when they impudently say, as they virtually do say, "We will not convey your letters to their destination, and we will not allow anybody else to convey them. We are your masters, and we will let you know it by annoying you as much as we can. We do not choose to trouble ourselves about the delivery of your letters-it is nothing to us--to levy postage is our business, not to render in return the service for which it is ostensibly levied that is nobody's business, and if we find any one performing it, we will come down upon him with an action for penalties." Surely it is time that some remedy should be applied to such a state of things. The whole mass of Post-Office arrangements, indeed, stand in need of revision. What can be more absurd than the prohibition to mark a newspaper passing through the post? It is understood that there is power given by a late Act to put an end to this folly; but those who have the power will not use it. Yet, why is the silly prohibition kept up? When the postage of a letter was seldom less than sevenpence, and rose from that sum to something very considerable, there was an object in corresponding by means of newspapers. A trifling saving might generally be made; and, at the same time, the gratification of a little news afforded to a correspondent by sending a newspaper rather than a letter, when the former would answer the purpose of the desired communication; and, to protect the revenue, marking was forbidden. But why should it be forbidden now? A man must be a great friend to the newspaper press (we wish there were many such friends!) who would voluntarily expend from fivepence to a shilling for effecting a communication which he might make for a penny. Common sense, therefore, shews that the retention of the obsolete prohibition is ridiculous; but, as it takes an exceedingly long time for common sense to penetrate the interior of the Post-Office, its dictates in this, as in so many other instances, are there set at nought. There is, indeed, one other solution of the matter-namely, that the PostOffice authorities see what all the world beside cannot fail to see, but keep up the prohibition for the mere sake of vexa. tion. This is certainly not improbable, as a large portion of their arrangements seem framed for no other purpose. We put it forward, however, in company with another view of the subject; we do not determine whether those of whose conduct we have so much reason to complain be stupidly blind or wilfully oppressive, we give them the benefit of the alternative, and let their advocates-if they have anychoose. Since our last article on the Post-Office was written, a most extraordinary exposition of the state of one department of the Post-Office has appeared. It is represented that the money-order office is maintained at an expense of some 64,000l. per annum, while the commission on the business transacted amounts to only about 59,000l., and upon this view Mr. HILL considers that there is a loss. Now, if the figures be correct, he need not give himself the trouble of much consideration-there is a loss. And here-assuming for the present that all is as it is represented to be let us pause to admire the felicities of Post-Office management. We put it to any man of business among our readers, whether it would be possible, out of the Post-office, to conduct such a concern, so that the result should be-loss. The office incurs no risk whatever, the commission is ample, and yet the result is said to be-loss! Among the more remarkable points of the case, it must not escape notice that the money-order office was originally a private speculation of one of the clerks in the Post-Office, and then it was undoubtedly a source of profit. This is evident, first, because an individual would certainly not, solely with regard to the benefit of the public, carry on a branch of business by which he was losing; and secondly, because the Post-Office authorities, thinking that the manager of the money-order office was getting too much, took it out of his hands, and gave him compensation. In private hands, therefore, the speculation was profitable—in the hands of the Post-Office authorities it has become-so at least they state-a source of loss. Anything more disgraceful to Post-Office management is not imaginable. But, after all, there is some reason for questioning this statement. It may seem inconceivable that such a statement should be published "by authority," emanating, as it does, from the head-quarters of the disgraceful management which has produced so disgraceful a result; but there are those in the world who have lost the power of blushing, and whose statements, even when bearing against themselves, are not to be received without examination. Among the charges for carrying on this department of Post-Office mismanagement is one amounting to nearly 10,000l. per annum for postage of the letters of advice relating to money orders-that is to say, the Post-Office is represented as paying to itself a certain number of pence for no earthly purpose but to create a nominal charge. And this statement comes forth with the sanction of Mr. ROWLAND HILL, who, a few years ago, demonstrated, to the satisfaction of all who were predisposed to believe it, that the transmission of a letter from London to Edinburgh cost nothing at all! He now, however, makes out that an addition to the ordinary mails of a few letters of advice in the money-order department gives rise to a charge upon Government, although, as far as we know, it has never happened in a single instance that the money-order advices have rendered it necessary to attach an additional engine to the train by which they were conveyed. Manners with fortunes, humours turn with climes, When Mr. HILL maintained that the transit of letters cost "generous public" came forward to subscribe for him. His remuneration, moreover (had he even got it), was to consist of a per-centage on the increased receipts of the Post-Office consequent on the adoption of his plan. Had Mr. HILL's reward been assigned on the same principle, we suspect that his banker's account would have been but little benefited by it. But he was more fortunate. People were invoked to subscribe for him, and they did subscribe. The proprietors of the Times, after rendering a most important service to the whole commercial community of Europe, and incurring thereby vast expense, refused to accept any but an honorary testimonial. Mr. HILL did not thus refuse, and it is but just to add that in pocketing for his own benefit the proceeds of a public subscription, he is kept in countenance by many of very notorious, if not very illustrious fame. In a comedy of the last century, one of the characters, on a reference being made to the well-known quotation, "Dulce et decorum," exclaims "Die for one's country! That might be patriotism among the ancient Romans, but we modern patriots live upon our country." The art was beginning to be known in the last age, but we of the present have extended it so greatly that we may fairly address the shades of our fathers in the language of Shylock, "The villany you teach us we will execute, and it shall go hard but we will better the instruction." Every patriot now levies contributions on his country; eternal mump is the order of the day; and the candidates for eleemosynary benefactions increase so rapidly that we may expect in time to see one half the nation calling upon the other half to support them by public donations of money. Nothing but absolute failure of funds will put a stop to their importunities. Mr. HILL was fortunate (in this, as in all respects) in coming on the market before it was quite overstocked with claimants; and with a heavy subscription in hand, and a handsome salary payable quarterly, he may indulge in all the liberties conceded by universal consent to the rich and the prosperous, and among them possibly in thus swallowing his own previously-recorded opinions. But Mr. HILL is too prudent a man to venture on such an operation-always ticklish, and sometimes dangerouswithout sufficient cause. And what is the motive to his present experiment on the memory of the public? He contemplates an extension of the engagements of the Money Order Office, and in this, we hope, he will not succeed—at least, to any large extent. We say nothing of the uncertainty, delay, vexatious forms, blunders, and impertinences, which characterize this department of the public service. It is not our present business to point them out. For the remittance of small sums, the Money Order Office is, or, at least, it might be made, a very useful instrument; but we trust that the project of extension will, like many other projects, end in talk. If it be adopted, the Post-office had better undertake the management of the entire monetary transactions of the country, and add a monopoly of banking to its present monopoly of letter-carrying. There is a temptation, indeed, to bestow this in the example which we have of the admirable manner in which the present business of the Post-office is conducted. But it is somewhat extraordinary that its organs should be desirous of extending a species of business by which the establishment, according to their account, already loses some thousands a year. Surely this trick is too transparent to deceive anybody. The Money Order Office is represented as a source of loss-it is to be converted into a source of profit; and Mr. HILL is to have the credit of the reformation. This is the sum and substance of the matter. But in truth the Money Order Office is now, and always has been, a source of profit-greater or less; not to the extent which it ought to have been, but still a source of profit. Mr. HILL thinks it might be better managed, and like every thing in the Post-office it undoubtedly might. But it would not do to reform it quietly. There must be a blaze of glory raised to surround the reformer. Be it so if Mr. HILL so wills; but we do protest against any further subscription. The mode of keeping the accounts of the Money Order Office is peculiar-as of course was to be expected. Every order is entered ten times. We simply state the fact on the authority of Mr. HILL's report, and leave the public to digest it. With book-keeping by double entry every mercantile man is familiar; but book-keeping by tenfold entry is a prodigy which we will venture to say no mercantile man in the whole world ever before heard of or dreamt of. It was reserved for the British Post-office, that neverfailing storehouse of material for public astonishment, to furnish the only specimen of this prodigy anywhere to be met with. DINNER TO LORD DALHOUSIE. On the 15th ult. a dinner was given at Edinburgh to Lord Dalhousie, on the occasion of his recent appointment. Covers were laid for 300. The chair was occupied by the Duke of Buccleugh. The company comprised the principal of the Scottish nobility in Edinburgh, and the galleries were filled with ladies. The CHAIRMAN, after the usual toasts had been honoured, proposed Lord Dalhousie's health. The compliment now paid to his noble friend, he said, was not in consideration of any political opinion or feeling he was known to possess; men of all parties and of all shades of party had met together to take leave of his noble friend on his assuming the government of one of the most important portions of this mighty empire. (Cheers.) His noble friend was not going to India an unknown or an untried man. (Cheers.) Having been for many years one of his most intimate friends, he could state fearlessly that no man in private life could stand higher than his noble friend. (Cheers.) His public character, too, was known to all-it was known to the country. He had given proofs of distinguished ability in the senate, and in carrying on, under circumstances of great difficulty, the business of a most laborious executive office. His noble friend had that due confidence which a man must have in his own judgment if he would ever be a great man, or fit to be entrusted with the government of an empire; and at the same time, he had that diffidence in himself which was equally becoming in any man, however great his abilities, however powerful his mind. (Cheers.) High opinions were entertained of their distinguished guest, and he trusted his career would be successful. (Cheers.) He was confident it would be marked by great ability, and if talent and human assiduity could achieve success, there was nothing to fear. (Cheers.) The Earl of DALHOUSIE, who was loudly cheered, replied at considerable length. He said:-Simple thanks are all I have to tender, and I do indeed thank you from the bottom of my heart. (Cheers.) If, gentlemen, there were one circumstance more gratifying than another to me in the recollections of the past, it would be, that you have met to congratulate me on the noble appointment I have received in the very place from which I first set out in my political career; for as it is in the city of Edinburgh that you meet me now, so it was in the city of Edinburgh that I first entered on political life. It is not so long ago but that the youngest of us may remember that here my friends spread for me the political cradle. I cannot in my conscience say that you proved the tenderest of nurses. I must, indeed, acknowledge that, fairly spread as that cradle was, you rocked it somewhat roughly (a laugh); but, although at the time I thanked you little for it, believe me you never did me a better turn. (Cheers.) Said an old East Lothian voter to me one cold |