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    pose—the instruction of artisans ; made some observations in favour of an abridgment of tbe lours of labour , and of requiring the test of examination in tbe case of -choolmasters ; and concluded by referring to the Indian revolt . He conceived that the possession of India is in no degree necessary to our wealth or national grandeur ; but that , if we lose it , we shall not be safe in any part Df the -world . Besides that , observed his Lordship , if we abandon our hold oil our Eastern Empire , " we leave millions on millions to the most cruel of all fates—the anarchy , the rapine , and the bloodtliirstiness of their own contending chiefs and tyrants . " The Eight lion . M . T . Baines moved the first resolution or sentiment .

    and in doing so merely alluded to tba past services of the noble chairman . The resolution was—'' To impart a scientific form to tlie processes of our great industrial arts , and to introduce the study of these into the class instruction of the artisan would at once dignify industrv and render it more productive . " The .-Rev . A . Barryseconded the motion . Mr . R . M . Milnes , M . P ., next proposed the following sentiment : — " That the study of literature and the fine arts is eminently calculated to refine the sentiments and elevate the character of the community . " He then addressed the meeting in support of the views thus expressed ; and , various other sentiments having been proposed and spoken to , the evening was ground up by a vote of thanks to Lord . Brougham .

    Lord Brougham arrived in Liverpool on AVednesdav , and on Thursday proceeded to the Institute and School of Art , for the purpose of inaugurating the Queen ' s College , recently formed in connexion with the Institute and-with the London University . His Lordship spoke at considerable length on . the . value of such educational establishments . Alluding to the subject of free African labour , he said : — " I grieve to find what 1 predicted in the House of Lords last July , that , in the

    ridiculous pretext to encourage ' the emigration , ' aa it is called , of free African labourers , ' -which is an attempt to revive the African slave trade ( hear , hear)—I grieve to say that what T then predicted has been more thau verified , and that the innoeent , useful , and civilizing commerce of Africa is for the present suspended by that speculation . I hope and trust that there will speedily bean end to it . " His Lordship aftexwards visited the Tree Public Library and Museum . EAST IaA 3 TCASHIRE UNION OF MECHANICS * INSTITUTES .

    The Lord Bishop of Manchester presided on " Wednesday evening at the first annual distribution of prizes and certificates awarded by the Council of the East Lancashire Union of Mechanics ' and other institutes . The distribution took place in the assembly room of the Burnley Mechanics' Institution , in presence of upwards cf a thousand persons . On the platform were Sir John Pakington , M . P . ; Mr . William Cowper , M . P . ; Sir J . P . Kay Shuttleworth ; Colonel Patten , M . P . ; Lord Cavendish , BI . P . ; Bolonel Towneley , High Sheriff of Lancashire , and other local promoters of popular education . The three first named delivered addresses , and several Tesolutions were adopted . MB . ATKTON , SI . P ., AND HIS CONSTITUENTS .

    A public meeting of the inhabitants of the Tower Jlamlets was held on Tuesday evening at the Beaumont Institution , Mile-end , for the purpose of hearing from Mr . ^ Ayrton , M . P ., a statement of his proceedings in Parliament as a representative of the borough . Having addressed his auditory on the chief topics of the day , a resolution approving . of hia Parliamentary conduct was adopted by acclamation .

    TWJB DDK . E OP NEWCASTLE AT EAST RETFORD . The Duke of Newcastle performed the ceremony of laying the corner-stone of the new National Schools , now in the course of erection at East Retford , on Tuesday , and in the evening attended a meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts . Ilia Grace delivered a speech in favour of the objects of the society , and , after reviewing the course of its operations in various parts of the world , referred specially to India , and maintained that tho Government would not be justified in endeavouring by compulsion or regard to convert the natives to Christianity . We must trust to the purity of our morals and the blamelessncss of our lives for effecting the spread of our religion among tlic Hindoos and Mahometans .

    THE ¦ WAREHOUSEMEN AJRD CJJEUKS' SCHOOLS . Tho fourth anniversary dinner of this institution took place on Thursday evening at tho London Tavern ; Mr . Charles Dickens in tho chair . la a speech bright and glowing with humour and fancy , Mr . DickeiiH sketched a list of the schools which ho does- not like—the oldfashioned schools of ignorance , tyranny , nnd pretence ; and then , in a strain of fitting seriousness , indicated tho kind of school which he docs like . " It is a school established by tho members of an industrious and useful order which supplies the comforts and graces of life at every familiar turning in tho road , of our existence j it ia a school established by them for the orphan and necessitous children of thoir own brethren and Histerhood ; it is a place giving an education worthy of thorn—an education by them invented , ty them conducted , by thorn watched over ; it ia a placo of education whoro , while the beautiful liintory of tho Christian religion is daily taught , nnd while tho life of tluit Divine Teacher who himself took littlo children on hia knees ia doily studied , no sectarian

    illwill nor narrow human dogma is permitted to darken the face of the clear heaven which they disclose . It is a children ' s school , which is , at the same time , no less a children ' s home—a home not to be confided to the care ofcold or ignorant strangers , nor , by tho nature of its foundation , in the course of ages to pass into hands that have as much natural right to deal with it as tvitb . tbe peaks of the highest mountains or with the depths of the sea , but to be from generation to . generation administered by men living in precisely such homes as those poor children have lost—( cheers ' )—by men always bent upon making that replacement such a home as their own dear children might find a happy refuge in if they themselves were , taken early away . "' Mr . Dickens also proposed in eloquent terms " the health of the President , Lord John Russell ( who was not present ) , and of Mr . \ V . II . Russell , as the representative of the press .

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    THE GREAT EASTERN . —FAILURE IN THE LAUNCH . A en-eat disappointment was experienced on Tuesday morning by all who take interest in the gigantic vessel just completed at Millwall . On that day ( not on . Wednesday , us erroneously stated last week ) , an attempt was made to . launch the huge ship ; but it failed , and , unfortunately , ' the circu mstance was attended -with injury to five men who were employed in the operations , and to the vessel herself . . Great uncertainty prevailed in the public mind up to Monday as to when tlio launch would take place imd for a time it was supposed . that it would be postl poned for a considerable period ; consequently , on Tuesday-. morning there were not so many sightseers on the ground as might have been expected . Several engineers , however , from all parts of England , and some from Jfrancie , Germany , Russia , and America , were present , and the notabilities included the Comte de Paris , the Due d'Aumale , and the Siamese ambassadors—tbe latter with a numerous retinue . These visitors from the far East seemed to think more of the general public , to whom they sought to display themselves to the best advantage , than of the launch ; and . they were rewarded by a very , gracious reception from the lookers-on . Tlie river showed a large number of vessels covered with hosts of curious gazers , and tbe river banks were n . ot without their crowds of eager expectants ; but the scaffoldings -which were erected on the top of the neighbouring houses were but thinly peopled .

    During the previous night , the various supports towards the river were removed ; and about halfpast twelve on Tuesday the operations of the day commenced . AVe must here borrow from the Times the lucid account given by its reporter of the preparations for tlie launch , and of the lamentable failure : — " On the river side , four large lighters were moored in the tideway , and worlted with crabs and sheavca upon the chains , which were fastened to the vessel amidships . Each of these four lighters was capable of applying a strain cf sixty tons , all of which was to be used to draw the vessel down the launching ways in case of any contretemps which might prevent her running . Two lighters were also moored at the stem and two at the stern of the vessel . The chains passing from the ship to these latter were returned again on shore , so as to be worked with a double purchase . Small stationary engines on land were used to haul in these , and made the whole force available to pull tho vessel oil' tho shore upwards of six hundred tons .

    " These were the means taken to draw her down to the water , but the greatest elibrts of Mr . Brunei were , of course , concentrated in the check tackle which was to pull her back and prevent her dashing into tho river at the fearful momentum of tAvelve thousand tons weight , sliding down an incline of one in twelve . For this purpose two most powerful drums had been constructed , to which tlie cradles were attached by enormous sheaves or pulleys of cast iron , expressly cast for this purpose , and weighing five tons eacli . One sheave was fastened to each cradlo , and wroug-ht iron chain cables of the largest size connected these with two other sheaves , each of which was secured to > the drum , which paid out tho chain , and , iu fact , regulated the whole operation . Tlieso drums and the framework on which they rest having to bear the Btruin of tho whole mass in motion ,

    extraordinary precautions were taken to render them aa massive aa they could bo made by any known combination of wood and iron .. Tho bhape wua that of an ordinary reel , the axle of which wns formed by beams of timber and strips of wrought iron bound together so as to form a drum about twenty fecit long and nine feet in diameter . At each end of tho cylinder are the -wheels of the drum or discs , sixteen feet iai diameter , each of solid iron and weighing upwards of twenty tons , so that tho weight of eacli < lrum i « more tlmu sixty tons in all . Tlie axlo of tlio dine ia act in a frame of iron , whilo around its outer edge passes a band of wrought iron to work in thu manner of a frictiou clutch or break . This , witli the aid of strong 1 iron lovcra twenty feet long , brings such a pressure to bear upon thu discs of the drum aa to lowor ita rate of re-volutions , or entirely atop thorn in case of tho chain beiug paid out too fast . These druuia wero

    set m a solid bed of wood fo rmed by driving down masses of pile s into the gravel , so as to form a ma 33 < , f timber twenty feet square . This is bound together with iron , and strong shores pass from the cube of piles to the bed of piles on which the launching-way s are built So that , iu fact , no matter what the strain , it wa s impossible for tho setting of the drums to . give , unless the " whole river ' s bank gave way with them . One of these drums is built opposite each cradle ; the chains used between them and the cradles are the chain cables of the great ship itself , which are 2 £ inches in diameter , or about sixty pounds the link . Between each drum '' and the cradle on which the vessel rested an'h ydraulic rain was fixed to ' start' her . That at the forward cud gaVe a pressure of six hundred tons ; the one at the stem one thousand .

    " Tlie launch was fixed to commence at eleven o ' clock but things were not arranged lor the moving of the monster wlien that time came . Gangs of men were employed in hauling chains , in clearing away the slightest obstacle upon the ways , and g-iviug thu metals the final coating down of black lead and oil . JSIr . Brunei ' s position was high up in a little rostrum fixed on the inner side of the vessel . On this spot he was iu a Hue with the conspicuous ' marks which had been erected on each side of the ship and facing liim . . on Ml \ Pehn ' s factory on the other side of the rivor . From this point lie wns . to regulate the advance of stem and stern by signals , which were communicated to the gangs of work - men , both to pull her off and hold lier back-by means of-. flags—a white Hag being the signal to haul'together , aucl a red oue to cease on all points . " It was nearly half-past twelve , and the public were beginning to yawn and manifest impatience , wlien thev were somewhat appeased by seeing the ch ristenin ^ bottle of wine , gaily decorated with iiowers , carried forward to the stem of the vessel . Here it was soon . suspended , and Miss Hope , the daughter of tlie chairman of the Great Kastern . Company , giving it a heartv swing , 'dashed the wine over the bows of tlie vessel ^ and bade ' The Leviathan' God speed , amid the cheers of thousands . In a few moments afterwards , the -word was passed to commence the ' . launch . At the . signals . the lighters slowly but steadily . commenced to haul taught tiieir tackle from the river , which it was thought would of itself be sufficient to bring the vessel gently down . Jt appeared ,, however , to have no effect beyond once or "

    twice producing in the vessel itself , a sull . eu Tumbling noise like distant thunder as the great strain tokl upon her hull .- .- It remained thus for about ten minute ;? . Expectation was wound up to the highest pitch , when the peculiar hissing nuise of the hydraulic rams at work to push her off was heard . We should liavo . ' mentioned that eticli of the drums ' was constructed so as tu bii turned by ordinary windlasses , in order ' to wind up the slack chain between the drums and the cradles , otherwise , if any slack were left when ihe hydraulic- rams started tbe vessel , it would run It , rapidly out , and Ileavon only knows the consequences that wij-clit eiisu <> . When th « ' rams' began to work , the order was distinctly given to ' wind up '—meaning to coil in this slack between the drum and the cradle . Tliid was accordingly doDe at the forward drum , but , unfortunately , at the stern of the vessel the men did precisely the reverse , and uncoiled more slack chain . Ainon& llie- number of engineers who were looking on thu danger of this > vas seen at a glance , but there was no , oilieial Lo cheek the men , who seemed ordinary ' navvies . ' Suddenly , there was a cry of 'She moves , sliu moves !" the fore part of the vessel slipped , and the stern rushed down rapidly . It seemed to slip some three or four ieet in the space of a couple of secoiuLs , in consequence- of t lie slack chain from the after drum offering not the legist cheek . In an instant , the strain came upon the drum , -which was dragged round , nnd of course , as that was connected with the windlass by multiplying wheels , the latter turned some ten or lil ' tecn times for every font tlie drum moved . The men at the windlass madly tried to hold , it , hut the heavy iron luiuUlo Hew round lil ; c li-lunin ^ , striking them and hurling live or aix . high into the air n . s if they had been blown up by some powerful explosion . A panic seemed to spread as this shoe king accident took place , and tho men stationed at the tackle and full of tho level next the windlass rnshi'tl away , i ' ortunaMy , most fortunately , for the lives of hundmls of the spectators , the men at tho lever at tin- ut ' lier side of the- drum stood linn , and hauling on their luekU ' , drew their lever up and applied tlie break on tin : dninnvith such torrilic force that the ship instantly slopped , though slits seemed to quiver under tho sudden check as if hI »> 1 | h < 1 received a heavy blow , and the check tackle mill massivo pile of timber which restrained tbe drums straiuftil audibly . The whole of thia took place in tin i course of two or three seconds . Tho vessel dropped ) tho muii wero hurled from tho - \ viinUasn , and with sv heavy rumbling noise the . tremendous . structure was Milton tho ' wnya' again , almost , before tlio spectator lunl tiuio to inuig-ine whut had occurred . For a inoniciil thero wua rather a panic , and a disposition to run from Ihu spot , but it wa « only momentary . Four of tlio nun who were injured were carried oil' to tlie J ' oplai Hospital at once , and a fifth , who wtcnuul to lmvo .-uistained Borne severe internal hurt , waa afterwards insisted fi ' oi'i the yard .

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    10 «» THE . UAPjR . " [ No . 398 , November . 7 , 1857 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 7, 1857, page 1062, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2216/page/6/