ominous warnings, and not agreeable, but they are
honestly and sincerely given by me, and I hope will not
fall on inattentive ears." Adversity (he observed) may
come from abroad. "I cannot look around me without
participating in the feeling of Lord Fitzwilliam,
expressed in his letter. To be prepared for war is the best
preservation of peace. I was present at the great Peace
meeting the other day—the meeting of the fleet of
England. Depend upon it, that meeting had more to
do with the maintenance of peace than all the meetings
you can collect of persons who profess to be the promoters
of peace. The man who bears an injury tamely is he on
whom all the bullies around him will fasten; and if you
give the world to understand that you will submit to
insults and injuries, every bully in Europe will heap them
upon you. But that day gave the world to understand
that England was prepared; and, believe me, it was
a glorious sight, not merely because it showed our
efficient means of defence, but the things which
we saw marked—proudly marked—the wonderful
power in men of pure intellect to govern matter. We
saw a magnificent vessel marching against wind and tide
without the semblance of motion but her progress onward.
No propulsive power was seen, but, in the poet's phrase,
she seemed to 'walk the waters like a thing of life,' and
to dare the elements to stop her. That great steam-
fleet was the great curator of peace in Europe; and,
depend upon it, it is no wise economy to cut down our
means of defence. No man loves peace better than I do,
but peace is to be obtained only by making other people
respect you. They will not respect you if they do not
fear you; and England, to be respected, and maintain
peace, must be feared. It is useless to blink the question;
it is idle to waive it. We are bound by the
responsibilities of our position to act for you; and
depend upon it, you will never find me hesitate to give
means to defend peace by maintaining the Army and
Navy. This may not be popular, but, depend upon it,
it is wise. If you are looking to your own interests, you
will listen to what I tell you, for your prosperity is
dependant on the conduct of parties abroad. We are
told—I have heard it to-night—that our great ally on
the present occasion is France: but do you suppose that
France would have been our ally if she had believed that
we would bear insult? No; the insult would have been
given: if borne, it would have been repeated, and we
should not have been a great people long. We are a
great people, and we have the responsibilities of a great
people. On England, at the present time, are centered
the hopes of liberty throughout the world. In this corner
of Europe liberty has now its refuge and home. If England
were broken down, Belgium would follow, Sardinia
would be nothing; the despots of Europe would walk
over the whole; and liberty, freedom, and constitutional
government would take refuge in that great Republic
which emanated from you. But, having confidence in
the spirit of our country, believing that you are what
your ancestors were, I believe in the future of England.
I look to it as the great harbinger of civilisation. The
world looks to it for the benefit of mankind; and depend
upon it, that it requires you to maintain the glory—
though that is a hard word to use—the honour, and the
liberties of England. If her liberties were broken down,
Europe would be prostrate; civilisation would be hurled
backward, instead of progressing; and we should not be,
what we are, worthy descendants of our great predecessors.
I told you I was weak, and I feel so. The few
sentiments I have uttered have shaken me with emotion.
It is not simulated, it is what I deeply feel. I will act
on these principles, and in your name I will endeavour
to maintain the power, the honour and the integrity of
this great country." Towards the close of the meeting,
the Master Cutler, in his capacity as Mayor, combated
the statement that Sheffield cutlery has degenerated of
late in excellence. If some American manufacturers
beat Sheffield, it is because some Sheffield men use bad
steel, while the Americans use the best. It is not in
workmanship, but in the use of the best material, that
the Americans excel.

The New Law on Receipt Stamps contained in the
recent act of parliament, which will take effect from the
10th of next month, is of public importance. On all
receipts for the payment of £2 and upwards the new
duty is 1d., and may be denoted either by a stamp
impressed upon the paper whereon any such instrument
is written, or by an adhesive stamp affixed thereto, and
the Commissioners of Inland Revenue are to provide
stamps of both descriptions for the purpose of denoting
the duty. In any case where an adhesive stamp is used
for the purpose on any receipt, or upon any draught or
order respectively chargeable with the duty of 1d., the
person by whom it is given shall, before the instrument
is delivered out of his custody, cancel the stamp so used
by writing thereon his name or the initial letters of his
name, so as to show that such stamp has been made use
of, and so that it may not be again used, and if any
person giving such receipt, &c., shall not bonâ fide
effectually cancel or obliterate the same, he is to forfeit
the sum of £10. Any person getting off or removing, or
getting the stamp and affixing or using it to defraud
Her Majesty, is to be liable to a forfeiture of £20.
Persons having receipt stamps on hand are within six
months to be allowed for them.

At a General Court of the Metropolitan Commissioners
of Sewers, on the 6th inst., a statement was
made to show what had been done during the last
twelve months. The Commissioners had executed,
either at the expense of the public or of the owners of
property, brick and pipe sewers to the extent of 28½
miles in length, contracted for or put in hand 12½ miles,
making a total of 41 miles in length, at a cost of £142,853.
Besides this, they had superintended the drainage-works,
costing £80,521; making a total of £223,374. They had
also expended £36,880 in repairing, cleansing, or opening
sewers; and while on all sides they had attended to the
more immediate wants of the public, the main view
they had acted on was the principle of intercepting
sewers, which could at any time be made available for
any great plan to intercept the entire sewage of London.
Powers have been given to the Commissioners to
raise funds not exceeding £200,000; and the Secretary
was instructed to raise money on the security of the
rates, according to the provisions of the act of last
session.

A Parliamentary return just issued gives a complete
and circumstantial account of the change in the system
of Military Flogging, by a report of the punishments
inflicted in every corps of the service in each of the
years from 1847 to 1852 inclusive. The army
consists of 132 corps of cavalry and infantry, marines and
ordnance corps not being included in the reckoning.
In the year 1847—the first of the reformed system
—there were ninety-seven of these regiments in
which no case of corporal punishment occurred at all;
from twelve regiments no returns were received, and in
the remaining twenty-three there were flogged altogether
throughout the twelve-months forty-two soldiers, and
no more. In 1848 there were ninety-four men punished,
but eighty-three regiments still reported themselves as
dispensing with the use of the lash. The next year the
punishments dropped to fifty-five, while the number of
immaculate regiments rose to ninety-three. In 1850
ninety regiments concurred in this honourable return,
and fifty-eight men only suffered in the aggregate of
the corps remaining, while in each of the last two years
upwards of a hundred regiments have reported them-
selves as maintaining good discipline without any
resort to the lash at all. Taking the whole period
together, and striking an average, we find that about
fifty-eight soldiers suffered corporal punishment in each
year out of an army of 110,000, or less than one in two
thousand.

The following is an instance of the Rapidity with
which the General Post Office gets through its Enormous
Amount of Business. A few weeks ago an extra-mail
the largest ever seen in this country, brought by the
Harbinger from Australia, arrived in London at
midnight. It contained 60,000 letters and 90,000 newspapers.
Every letter had to be stamped, and each letter and
paper had to be taxed with postage. Thousands of
letters had to be weighed, and thousands of bundles of
newspapers had to be counted, and each of the 150,000
letters and papers had to be passed separately through
hands to be sorted and re-sorted. By the following
midday, after a lapse of twelve hours only, the work
was completed, the Harbinger's mail was absorbed