may exceed the provocation. It is encouraged, graph_established on that important line, reaching too. It is the only language that has succeeded from London to Holyhead, a distance of between with tory administrations. Appeals to reason, 200 and 300 miles, and embracing in its route the justice, humanity, have been slighted; wrongs commercial capitals of Liverpool, Manchester and have been and still are insolently persisted in, and Birmingham. The adoption of this invention on the only avowed motive for any act of grace or a scale of magnitude bids fair to effect a change in equity is fear. Can we then wonder that menace, the entire correspondence of the country, by bringwhich alone has been successful and encouraged, ing, as it were, momentarily into close consolidais carried to the pitch we witness. And though tion and communion the exchanges of London, vapor, yet as vapor it is not to be despised; for Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, conveywe must not be too sure that the vapor is not of ing with lightning-like velocity every fluctuation that sort which fires and explodes in a great of affairs, and telegraphing from mart to mart, mine of disaffection. with marvellous exactitude, and over areas of hundreds of miles, intelligence that may be received and reciprocated almost simultaneously by every mercantile community in the kingdom. Great advantages have already been developed to the admiralty and commercial world by its adoption between London and Gosport. The old semaphore system is now nearly superseded, and important government orders and intelligence, that formerly occupied hours in transmitting by the ordinary semaphores between London and Portsmouth, are now forwarded and fulfilled in a few seconds, the communicating wires which will shortly be carried from Nine Elms to the Admiralty, at Whitehall, terminating in the very barracks of the garrison at Gosport. The establishment of telegraphic communication between Liverpool and Holyhead, Lloyd's and London, will give every facility for shipping purposes; and in this respect the invention has worked most efficiently between London and Southampton, where, as at Gosport, there is a telegraph station, telegraphic notices being daily despatched, on the arrival of important mails and merchantmen. The advantages, moreover, that may accrue from a line of wires to Holyhead, in establishing a closer connexion between the metropolis and the sister isle, is of a nature not to be overlooked, either in a political or social point of view. Lines of telegraph, we understand, have been or are about being adopted on the following, amongst other, lines:-On the There is but one safe way of dealing with it, and of the causes under it-the removal of every ground of just complaint, the establishment of a thoroughly impartial system of government, placing the Catholics in every respect on an equal footing with the Protestant portion of the community. England having thus put herself in the right towards Ireland, freed herself from the incumbrances and impediments of unjustifiable provocations, her course, if the enmity should survive the causes, and threaten her peace and safety, would be of that firm and bold character in which true prudence lies. She would not wait to be stabbed in the side when attacked by a foreign foe in front. With all parties united in Great Britain, and with the reasonable part of the Irish nation coöperating, she would put down the treason before its opportunity of mischief arrived. As the Morning Chronicle remarks," They who announce beforehand their intention of resorting to civil war, are not always allowed to bide their time, and to wait their opportunity; and if the leaders of Conciliation Hall (what an appropriate name!) continue to go on declaring that it is their intention to join the enemy on the first occasion when their country may be at war, it is just possible that this intention of theirs may be defeated beforehand, in a manner somewhat inconvenient to them." While England is, however, to any extent in the wrong, there would not be the union neces-South-Western, as a government telegraph for sary to coping with the intentions in question. Full justice must first be done, conciliation in the largest sense exhausted, before resort to such means as the self-preservation of the empire may dictate. the Admiralty to Portsmouth, 90 miles on the same line, as a commercial telegraph, from Nine Elms to Southampton, 77 miles, with branch to Gosport, 21 miles; on the South Devon atmospheric line, now in progress, 52 miles; on the Much important time has already been culpably Great Western from Paddington to Slough, 18 lost. First, there was the loss of time in the miles; on the Yarmouth and Norwich, 20 miles; policy of doing nothing; next, in the more abor- on the Dover line, from Tonbridge to Maidstone, tive plan of repression through injustice; and 15 miles; on the Croydon atmospheric; on the now, in these petty palliatives, while the great op- Blackwall; on part of the Manchester and Leeds, pressions and affronts are maintained. Every day and its branch to Oldham; on part of the Edinthat the reforms, which must come at last, are de- burgh and Glasgow upon the Dalkey atmoslayed, the evil spirit of hatred to England is pheric branch of the Dublin and Kingstown, apgrowing, and the probability of its dying away plicable alike to the conveyance of commercial with the removal of the irritating causes is dimin-intelligence and to the safe conduct and working ishing. The rate at which the Sybil's books are of the line. The above embraces an extent of burning may be marked in the reception of Sir Robert Peel's concessions, such as they are, and the time may come when the tardy discharge of the debt of justice to Ireland, though it may relieve the conscience of England, will be unavailing to the restoration of concord between the races, a result which we regard as the most baneful calamity that can befall the empire. ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. We understand it is the intention of government, in conjunction with the Chester and Holyhead Railroad Company, to have the electric tele nearly 250 miles over which the telegraphic principle is already in operation; and its adoption between London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and Holyhead will add about 300 miles more.- -Globe. In a letter to a clerical friend, the Reverend Theobald Mathew announces that his debts have now all been liquidated, to the amount of 7,000Z., principally by contributions from England, with some partial aid in Ireland. [What has become of the annuity that was to be secured to Mr. Mathew? Was not Mr. O'Connell to be active in that behalf?] From the Examiner. IMPUNITY OF MILITARY MISCONDUCT. A CORRESPONDENCE between Mr. Barker, of Drury Lane Theatre, Captain Sutton, of the 7th Hussars, and the commander-in-chief, the Duke of Wellington, has been published by Ridgway, under the title of Impunity of Military Insolence and Licentiousness. The question involved in it is of no small importance to society, as it relates to the security of female reputation. The main facts seem briefly to be these: Sir W. Russell, of the 7th Hussars, publicly stated that Captain Sutton had boasted of a criminal intercourse with Mrs. Barker. The husband wrote to Captain Sutton, asking whether he had ever uttered such a boast. The reply was, that he (Captain Sutton) had never mentioned the name of the lady in any disrespectful or disparaging way. Mr. Barker then called upon him to take steps to contradict the calumny circulated, on his alleged authority, by his friend. Captain Sutton's answer to this, in no very intelligible style, was, in effect, that, as he found upon inquiry that Sir W. Russell and another gentleman had not spread the report, there was nothing more to be done, and with this curt decision he peremptorily closed the correspondence. The husband, on the contrary, avers that he was prepared to prove that the calumny had been extensively circulated. Upon this stage of the case Mr. Barker remarks, in a memorial to Colonel Whyte, in command of the regiment "It is to be observed, that Captain Sutton has not denied that Sir William Russell had stated that he had heard him, Captain Sutton, boast of an intrigue with Mrs. Barker. As he does not deny this important fact, he must be understood to admit it. Captain Sutton denies, indeed, that he ever spoke disrespectfully or disparagingly of Mrs. Barker, which is tantamount to a denial that he ever uttered the gross calumny attributed to him, but this leaves either Sir William Russell or him committed to an untruth. "It might have been expected that Captain Sutton would have followed up his own denial of the calumny, by immediately procuring from Sir William Russell an admission that he had grossly misrepresented him, (Captain Sutton,) in citing him as his authority; this is the course which a gentleman of truth and spirit would have naturally taken, in such a case, but nothing of the sort has been done by Captain Sutton. He appears to have rested content with denying that he had uttered the slander, which Sir William Russell declared publicly and notoriously he had spoken. alleged boasts conscious that he has promulgated a gross and injurious falsehood. 66 Surely, when a man of honor finds that the authority of his name has been used to give currency and credit to a calumnious falsehood, he feels bound to use all the means in his power to counteract the mischief, and he regards the person who has taken such unwarrantable liberties with his name, and misrepresented his words, as guilty of a wrong to himself, only second to that to the cruelly aspersed woman. "The laws of honor, indeed, imperatively forbid such practice, and to the rules for the regulation of the army, I therefore make my appeal, to protect me and mine against the injurious effect of it in this instance; and I trust that measures will be taken to ascertain the fact, whether one gentleman bearing her majesty's commission has falsely reported a brother officer to have made the statement, that he had a criminal intimacy with my wife, or whether another gentleman bearing her majesty's commission has falsely denied such statement, he having made it?" Colonel Whyte refused to interfere, on the score of the impracticability of a military inquiry requiring the testimony of several civilians not amenable to the jurisdiction. Mr. Barker then carried his appeal to the commander-in-chief, and was informed by Lord Fitzroy Somerset that his grace could not interfere, as the subject of complaint could only be fully investigated and decided upon by the civil tribunals. Upon this he took counsel's opinion, and was advised by Mr. Peacock that an action could not be supported unless special damage could be proved. So that under our boasted laws any unscrupulous boaster can claim any married woman as his mistress with impunity, provided that no specific damage can be traced and proved (and the damage may have been done, though it may not be detected.) The higher the character of the woman, indeed, the greater the safety of her slanderer; for if her reputation be so fair as to forbid belief in the story, no special damage results, and no action consequently can lie. If her repute be less good, and the tale be accordingly credited and acted upon to her prejudice, there may be a case for redress. What a monstrous absurdity is this, denying protection to the characters most deserving of it. Let it not be said that the good repute is the sufficient protection. A virtuous woman's name cannot be so indecently brought into question without an injury and pain to her, which she has a right to be spared, and which it is a scandal to the laws for her to be subjected to. Finding that he could have no redress from the civil tribunals, Mr. Barker again appealed to the commander-in-chief. "Your grace having declined to take cognizance of my complaint under the impression that it fell within the jurisdiction of the civil tribunals, which,, unfortunately, proves not to be the case, I now again most respectfully renew my appeal to your grace to afford me that justice which it is now cer-tain can be obtained in no other quarter. "It is a boasted maxim that there is no wrong without a remedy. Is it no wrong that Sir Wil-. liam Russell has publicly declared that Captain Sutton had boasted of a criminal intercourse with my wife, and that he could sleep with her when ever he liked? And for this wrong, so wanton, so thoroughly unprovoked, so cruel, so intolerable, I have yet in vain sought the redress which is said to be obtainable for every wrong. The law, as your grace will see, does not afford me a remedy, because I am unable to discover and adduce any specific damage as the direct consequence of the calumny. It is not for me to point out to your grace the great hardship and anomaly of this point of law, the worst working of defamation being in its subtlety, and that good opinion is lost, and ill opinion formed in place of it, without any avowal or betrayal of the causes. * * "I cannot but feel confident that your grace will comply with this prayer, because every one must be aware that the discipline of the army cannot coëxist with a license outraging both manners and morals. The uniform of an officer has hitherto been supposed to be a guarantee for truth and honor; but if it can be worn by men permitted with impunity to indulge in boasts, profligate and base if true, unutterably wicked and villanous if false, there must be an end to the respect in which the service has as yet been held, and a serious diminution of the self-respect of the members of the profession; for true gentlemen must feel degraded by finding that conduct not only unworthy of gentlemen, but disgraceful to men in any condition of life, is permitted and suffered in the service to which they belong. "I rely then on cognizance of my case by the military tribunals, because the charge which I am well prepared to maintain, impugns the truth and honor of officers, and because vital to the discipline of the army as upholding the standard of conduct in its officers, and correcting any license which would involve them in disgraceful quarrels, and subject them justly to public odium. If I am not much misinformed, this principle of policy in the military administration may be traced in various proceedings taking cognizance of conduct not directly relating to technical points of discipline, but bearing importantly on the higher essential of discipline-gentlemanly conduct. Your grace's anxiety to discountenance and repress duelling in the army has not been unmarked by the public; and it is calculated to encourage me in the expectation that your grace will be as determined to repress the spirit of insult and injury, and to check intolerable provocations, as to prevent the settlement of quarrels arising too often from such causes, in the mode which has so long had the sanction of evil custom." To this the Duke of Wellington replied as follows: 66 Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. Barker. "The officers of the army are, equally with all her majesty's subjects, amenable to the courts of law, for any offence which they may commit, or any injury they may do to any individual. "The act complained of, whether alleged to have been committed by Sir William Russell or Captain Sutton, if not a calumny, slander or defamation, or a provocation to a breach of the peace, by one or both of these officers cognizable by a court of law, cannot be considered a breach of military discipline. "It may be a slander or calumny by Sir William Russell against Captain Sutton. "It may be a slander, calumny, or defamation by one or both officers against Mrs. Barker, of which a court of law would take cognizance To this unmeaning twaddle, which amounts to this nonsensical conclusion, that, if the act complained of was not an offence against law, it could not be a breach of military discipline, there being notoriously a multitude of breaches of military discipline which are no offences at law, Mr. Barker rejoined thus "I beg most respectfully to remind your grace, that it is not as a breach of military discipline that I have solicited your cognizance of the conduct in question, but as ungentlemanly conduct, which is so closely connected with military discipline, that the 31st article of war provides that any officer behaving in a scandalous, infamous manner, unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman,' shall be tried by court-martial, and punished on conviction. "I submit, then, to your grace, that the slander of an innocent woman is scandalous, infamous, and unbecoming the character of a gentleman. I submit also that the utterance of a falsehood is scandalous, infamous, and unbecoming the character of an officer and gentleman. "I beg to repeat that I am fully prepared with proof, that either Captain Sutton has told a falsehood in denying that he ever uttered the calumnious boast attributed to him by Sir William Russell, or that Sir William Russell was guilty of falsehood, in asserting that such slanderous boast was ever made by Captain Sutton. "One of these officers must be guilty of falsehood, the thing most scandalous, infamous, and unbecoming the character of a gentleman;' and coming, therefore, most strongly within the description of the misconduct for which the articles of war direct the cognizance of the military tribunals. "My charge is two-fold; first that a wicked calumny has been spoken of my wife; secondly, that in the very denial of that calumny by the officer to whom it was attributed, the conclusion is inevitably involved, either that the denial is a cowardly falsehood, or that the original representation (that of Sir William Russell) was a wanton falsehood, and double calumny-a calumny upon Captain Sutton, described as a profligate boaster, and a calumny against my innocent wife. "If this be not the conduct unworthy of the character of a gentleman, for which the articles of war provide cognizance and punishment, what vice or villany can come within the scope of the words? "Your grace writes lightly of 'loose conversations,' but slander must be conveyed in conversation, and the malignity of its purpose and cruelty of its effect are not diminished by attaching the epithet loose' to the vehicle or mode of promulgating it. "I find that there are many precedents for cognizance of conduct, not involving any breach of military discipline in the technical sense of the term, and I beg most respectfully to draw your grace's attention to one case in point, in which the offence seems far less grave than that of which I complain. "There was a race ball, at the Bell Hotel, of the Gloucester, in September, 1831, at which were of the PORCELAIN PAINTING. MRS. M'IAN has given a report to the Council of the Government School of Design, of a journey undertaken by her to Paris, and to the Staffordshire Potteries, during which she inspected the processes of porcelain painting at the different manufactories; the result of her comparison of the artists of the two countries is by no means unfavorable to English ability. At Messrs. Copeland's manufactory, in Staf dragoons. Two stranger ladies were introduced by Captain and Mr. -; after a time one of the Gloucester gentlemen (believed to be Mr. Goodrich) expressed an opinion as to the character, &c., and description of the ladies, and as Captain declined to give any explanation as to who the ladies were, the suspicion was strengthened, and subsequently confirmed; a great sensation was excited, and the ladies ex-fordshire, more especially, she saw specimens of pelled, and the gentlemen (the officers) left too. "After some time Mr. Goodrich represented the circumstances to Colonel Dragoons, and he brought it under the notice of the officers, and Lieutenant was offered his choice of sending in his resignation, or to stand a court-martial; he preferred the former and left the regiment. of the A similar representation of the facts was afterwards made to his Royal Highness the Duke (Colonel of the -), and Captain was called on to leave the regiment, which he did, it is believed, at the recommendation of a court of inquiry. "The ladies were from London, and had been intimate with Captain —, and followed him to Cheltenham, and he brought them to Gloucester. Captain had known Lieutenant -'s case ex and prevailed on him to join him in this frolic, "The act complained of in this instance was 'not cognizable by a court of law,' and 'could not be considered a breach of military discipline,' and nevertheless the military authorities were prepared to grant a court-martial if the officers implicated had not preferred the offered alternative of retiring from the service." The duke, in reply, referred to the drivelling letter above quoted, and declined any further correspondence. The Duke of York, we are sure, would have come to a very different conclusion. He would not have allowed a charge of falsehood to rest upon one of two officers without clearing it up one way or the other, and either disproving it or relieving the service of the officer who had brought disgrace on it. flower painting in porcelain, equal to the best productions at Sèvres, where that branch is most admirably executed. This, she remarks, implies, in the English artist, a much greater degree of merit, because he has been wholly unassisted; development of talent being left to individual energy and perseverance; whilst in France he has had the advantage of systematic and special training for the employment, and the emulating patronage of a royal manufactory, munificently supported by the government. The colors used by the French, she observes, are superior to those of the English; for flesh tints, they have reds and yellows, that will mix and burn together, which, with the colors used in our potteries, is chemically impossible; the media made use of by the French are also superior. In neither country is there any attempt at originality in design, the artistical labor consisting in a continual process of copying. Mrs. M'Ian thinks that if, in the Female School at Somerset House, a class was formed for studying the art of painting porcelain in a superior manner, the more skilful pupils would find employment at their own homes, as the manufacturers would be happy to transmit to them work for execution. From the Examiner, 17 May. AMERICAN DESIGNS REGARDING OREGON. MR. CALHOUN, after having recapitulated the history of the Oregon negotiations, asks— "Has the time arrived when it would be wise and prudent for us to attempt to assert and maintain our exclusive right to the territory against the adverse and conflicting claim of Great Britain? I answer-No, it has not; and that for the decisive reason, because the attempt, if made, must prove unsuccessful against the resistance of Great Britain. We could neither take nor hold it against her; and that for a reason not less decisive-that The doctrine that a charge of falsehood does not she could in a much shorter time, and at far less come under the class of offences against discipline, expense, concentrate a far greater force than we in behavior unbecoming the character of an officer could in the territory. We seem to forget, in the and a gentleman, has been reserved for the Duke discussion of this subject, the great events which of Wellington's advanced age. The boast of an have occurred in the eastern portion of Asia durintrigue may be licensed in the new chivalry of ing the last year, and which have so greatly the army, but that is not all in this case; the extended the power of Great Britain in that alleged boaster denies the boast, and he and the quarter of the globe. She has there, in that brother officer who so reported him are left most period, terminated successfully two wars; by one awkwardly at issue as to a matter of fact. The of which she has given increased quiet and staquestion to be answered, as Mr. Barker has bility to her possessions in India; and by the shown, is, has Sir W. Russell slandered Cap-other, has firmly planted her power on the eastern tain Sutton, or has Captain Sutton in effect coast of China, where she will undoubtedly keep slandered Sir W. Russell, by denying words up, at least for a time, a strong military and naval which the other truly asserted he had uttered? force, for the purpose of intimidation and strengthIs it for the credit and honor of the service that such questions as these should remain unanswered? *In the statement sent to the commander-in-chief the names and regiments are given. ening her newly-acquired possession. The point she occupies there, on the western shore of the Pacific, is almost directly opposite to the Oregon territory, at the distance of about 5,500 miles from the mouth of Columbia river, with a tranquil ocean between, which may be passed over in six | commercial advantages, which will in time prove weeks. In that short time she might place, at a to be great. We must not overlook the important moderate expense, a strong naval and military events to which I have alluded as having recently force at the mouth of that river, where a formi-occurred in the eastern portion of Asia. As great dable body of men, as hardy and energetic as any as they are, they are but the beginning of a series on this continent, in the service of the Hudson of a similar character, which must follow at no Bay Company, and numerous tribes of Indians distant day. What has taken place in China will under its control, could be prepared to sustain in a few years be followed in Japan, and all the and cooperate with it. Such is the facility with eastern portions of that continent. Their ports, which she could concentrate a force there to main- like the Chinese, will be opened; and the whole tain her claim to the territory against ours, should of that large portion of Asia, containing nearly they be brought into collision by this bill. I now half of the population and wealth of the globe, turn to examine our means of concentrating an will be thrown open to the commerce of the opposing force by land and water, should it become world, and be placed within the pale of European necessary to maintain our claim. We have no and American intercourse and civilization. A military or naval position in the Pacific Ocean. vast market will be created, and a mighty impulse Our fleet would have to sail from our own shores, will be given to commerce. No small portion of and would have to cross the line and double Cape the share that would fall to us with this populous Horn in 56 degrees of south latitude; and turning and industrious portion of the globe, is destined to north, recross the line, and ascend to latitude 46 pass through the Oregon territory to the valley of north, in order to reach the mouth of Columbia the Mississippi, instead of taking the circuitous river a distance from New York (over the and long voyage round Cape Horn, or the_still straightest and shortest line) of more than 13,000 longer, round the Cape of Good Hope. It is miles, and which would require a run of more mainly because I place this high estimate on its than 18,000 miles of actual sailing on the usual prospective value, that I am so solicitous to preroute. Instead of six weeks, the voyage would serve it, and so adverse to this bill, or any other require six months. I speak on the authority of precipitate measure which might terminate in its one of the most experienced officers attached to loss. If I thought less of its value, or if I regardthe Navy Department. These facts are decisive. ed our title less clear, my opposition would be We could do nothing by water. As far as that less decided." element is concerned, we could not oppose to her a gun or a soldier in the territory. But, as great as are the impediments by water, they are, at present, not much less so by land. If we assume some central point in the State of Missouri as the place of rendezvous, from which our military force would commence its march for the territory, the distance to the mouth of the Columbia river will be about 2,000 miles; of which much more than 1,000 miles would be over an unsettled country consisting of naked plains or mountainous regions, without provisions, except such game as the rifle might supply. On a great portion of this long march the force would be liable to be attacked and harassed by numerous and warlike tribes of Indians, whose hostilities might be readily turned against us by the British traders. To march such a distance without opposition would take upwards of 120 days, assuming the march to be at the usual rate for military forces. Should it be impeded by the hostilities of Indians, the time would be greatly prolonged. I now ask, how could any considerable force sustain itself in so long a march, through a region so destitute of supplies? And how could supplies be found to return, if a retreat should become necessary? A few thousand regulars, advantageously fortified on the Columbia river, with a small naval force to support them, could, with the aid of the men employed by the Hudson Bay Company, and the coöperation of the Indians under its influence, bid defiance to any effort we could make to dislodge them. If all other difficulties could be surmounted, that of transporting a sufficient battering-train, with all its appurtenances, to so great a distance, and over so many obstacles, would be insuperable." After showing that Great Britain would infallibly resist, and that America would have no chance, Mr. Calhoun continues :-"But it may be asked, What then? Shall we abandon our claim to the territory?' I answer, 'No.' I am utterly opposed to that. The territory has Mr. Calhoun then goes on to show that the only means by which Oregon can be secured is to bide our time. "All we want,' says he, "to effect our object in this, is wise and masterly inac| tivity." From the Congregational Magazine. AND IS THERE CARE IN HEAVEN? Oh! to launch forth from earth's perplexing dream; |
