83,000. But 87,467 emigrants sailed from the ports of
the United Kingdom at which there are government
emigration agents in the quarter ending September 30th,
1853; so that allowing on one hand for births unregistered,
and on the other for emigrants unreturned, it is
probable that the population of the United Kingdom
has declined rather than increased during the summer:
13,623 of the emigrants sailed from London, Plymouth,
and Southampton; 63,600 from Liverpool; 2,807 from
Glasgow and Greenock; 7,437 from Irish ports. As a
large proportion of the emigrants from Liverpool, as
well as from the Irish ports, are natives of Ireland, it
follows that the population of Ireland is decreasing, and
that the population of England is slowly increasing,
while the contributions of both countries within the
last three years to the colonial plantations are without
example.

It is shown by a table that the prices of the chief
articles of food are much higher than they were in the
corresponding quarter of the last year; the rise in the
price of wheat is 26, mutton 23, beef 24, potatoes 31
per cent.

The rate of wages has been raised in several trades;
and at the same time the labourers and artisans have
been more fully employed.

The Anniversary Meeting of the educational institute
of Sheffield, called The People's College, founded and
entirely supported by the artisans of that town, was
held on the 26th ult. Dr. Lyon Playfair consented to
preside, and delivered an address, from which we learn
that the success of the institution has increased every
year, and that 2,500 persons, women as well as men,
have benefited by the instruction given in the College
during the five years of its existence. At the outset,
elementary education formed the chief object; and,
subsequently, the course has been expanded, until logic,
natural philosophy, and chemistry appear in the list of
classes. Dr. Playfair showed that mere brute force,
mere hand labour, is daily superseded by intellect—"is,
like raw material, constantly decreasing as an element
in the cost of manufacture;" that local advantages are
losing value; and that, therefore, the cultivation of the
mind and the acquisition of knowledge become of
greater importance. He showed that the enjoyments
of life are doubled to him who is not the blind slave of
the law, but its valued ally and more effectual co-operator.
He inculcated the necessity of cultivating science
for itself, "without a gold-seeking love;" but they
would find that science would "shower down material
benefits on their daily life." Dr. Playfair argued, that
a closer union should subsist between industry and
science, a nearer approach between the learned class and
the manufacturing class, and better provision for the
former, which would conduce to the interests of both.
"Let me urge you (he said) in a national point of view,
not only to look to the healthy growth of labour
immediately applicable to productive industry, but also to
that mental labour which gives to it its life and vigour.
Though Adam Smith might have proved a bad
merchant or an indifferent banker, the science of the Scotch
professor laid down the principles of trade, by following
which many of our politicians have built their reputations,
and our merchants carved out their fortunes.
Possibly Jeremy Bentham would have proved an
indifferent administrator and a bad Lord Chancellor;
but his views for the reform of the law and of government
have not been lost in modern changes. Theory
and practice can never be more antagonistic than can a
rule and a special application of it. If theory and
practice were understood in their true relations we
would find the learned class and the manufacturing
class approaching each other much more than they do
now. The dignity of productive industry would be
recognised by the one class, and that of productive
talent by the other. In China, you are aware, the
nobility and officers of government are a learned class,
and yet the dignity of labour is more appreciated there
than in any other country, and an author who writes
commentaries on Confucius boasts of his brother who
paints screens and fans. In one of the latest
proclamations of the Emperor of China, in which he announces
that he has raised an empress to the throne to share
with him the toils of government, after alluding to his
own intellectual and moral virtues, he commends her as
'not shrinking from washing fine or even coarse linen
with her own hands.' Do not agree with the error of
a great author, that industry is the mother of science—
'the vigorous and comely mother of a daughter of far
loftier and serener beauty.'  Science never had a
mother. She came into the world a seed containing
within itself the principles of growth, capable of
elaborating its leaves for the healing of nations. Industry
has often effected great progress without science; but
though Tubal Cain was skilled in brass, he was not the
father of metallurgy; and though Noah knew the
effects of the fermented juice of the grape, from him
did not spring the laws of organic metamorphosis. The
ark of Noah did not raise the science of navigation; nor
did the gorgeous temple of Solomon give birth to one
scientific law. The greatest buildings of ancient times,
the Pyramids and entablatures of gigantic Doric, raised
no theory of the mechanical powers. The lyre of Apollo
and the organ of Tubal did not tell us the laws of
sound or the principles of harmony."

The Dublin Exhibition was finally closed on the 1st
inst., by the Lord-Lieutenant, in the presence of about
20,000 persons. Lord and Lady St. Germans, preceded
by Mr. Alderman Roe, Mr. Dargan, and the committee,
entered the building soon after 3 o'clock; the spectators
cheering loudly. A grand orchestra of 500 performers
executed selections of sacred music; Mr. Cusac Patrick
Roney, the Secretary of the Exhibition, was knighted,
and Lady Roney was introduced to the Countess of St.
Germans. The Lord-Lieutenant in closing the proceedings
said:—"I cannot declare the Great Industrial
Exhibition of 1853 to be closed without expressing an
earnest wish for the health, happiness, and prosperity of
the man to whom we are all indebted for the instruction
we have received from the many productions of art and
nature which are contained within these walls. I also
desire to acknowledge the liberality of the owners of
those treasures for permitting them to be exhibited. Let
me also pay a tribute of praise to the committee, the
secretaries, and the other officers connected with it, for
the zeal, the assiduity, and the intelligence with which
they have discharged their many duties. Lastly, let me,
in the name of this assembly, offer to Almighty God our
heartfelt thanks for having blessed and prospered this
undertaking. I now declare this Exhibition to be
closed." "Three cheers for Mr. Dargan," his excellency
concluded by calling for, and the cheers were given with
one accord. Then, with the accompaniment of the
National Anthem, the throng left the building. Later
in the day, certain of the exhibitors met to petition the
committee to keep the Exhibition open for six months
longer; but the majority of the exhibitors were adverse
to the proposal, and the committee decided against it.
On the following day a great dinner was given to Mr.
Dargan at the Mansion-house. There was a large
assemblage of men of all ranks and parties. The
Lord-Lieutenant sent an apology for his absence. The
principal speakers were the Lord Chancellor, Mr. Roe, and
Mr. Dargan.

At the first meeting of the Law Amendment Society
for the session of 1853-4, on the 7th inst., Mr. James
Stewart gave an account of recent legislation bearing
upon and carrying out reforms in the law. He considered
that the country is now ripe for a Minister of State who
shall assume the functions of a Minister of Justice. At
present (said Mr. Stewart) no one knows where the
responsibility lies, whether with the Lord Chancellor or
with the Home Secretary. Is that a right state of things?
In all the other great departments of the state—the
finance, the army, the navy, or whatever else—if
anything goes wrong, we know exactly where to apply to;
but is it so in the general administration of justice in
this country? No. He believed that if a Minister of
Justice were appointed, the functions of the Law Amendment
Society would be at an end; until such a department
be established, they are obliged to consider the
administration of the law to be in a state of deficiency.
The present Solicitor-General, in a letter addressed to
Mr. Stewart, expressed himself on the subject in the
following terms:—"You will recollect that I advocated
the appointment of the Lords Justices as a Court of
Appeal in Equity, on the ground that it was necessary