October 30.–At Worcester, England, the Conservative Association celebrated its anniversary by a dinner at the Shire Hall. About six hundred persons attended, the hall and anteroom being crowded to inconvenience. The chair was taken by Sir E. A. H. Lechmere. “The House of Lords” having been proposed by Captain Candler, the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbet responded. The House of Lords, he said, was an institution highly valued, and, if he might be allowed to say so, deservedly esteemed by the nation. It had often been said by noisy democrats and clamorous republicans, that the House of Lords was of no use. Reference had been made by previous speakers to the unhappy contention that was going on on the other side of the Atlantic. (Hear.) In America they saw democracy on its trial, and they saw how it failed. (Hear.) He was afraid the result would show that the separation of the two great sections of that country was inevitable, and these who lived long enough would, in his opinion, see an aristocracy established in America. He would not say an aristocracy of dukes and earls, but an aristocracy of some sort or other, so great was the necessity of having a middle state between democracy and despotism. (Hear, hear.) With regard to the present Government, he said they had kept themselves in power by advocating one set of principles and practising another. Lord Palmerston had been connected with every party that had been in office in his time, and he likened him to a successful political Blondin– (laughter)–who from his political tight rope looked down from the giddiest heights, only caring to keep himself where he was.–London Times, November 1.
–The Fifty-first New York regiment, Colonel Ferrero, left New York City for Washington.–N. Y. Times, Oct. 31.
–The schooner Elite, which left Savannah with a cargo of naval stores, bound for Havana, and was stranded off Warsaw beach while going out, was visited by three launches, from a U. S. steamer, with about one hundred and fifty men and one howitzer or mortar, to take possession of or burn the wreck. Captain Anderson, in command of the forces on Warsaw Island, immediately sent out a considerable force from the intrenchments, ordering them through the woods to a point opposite the wreck, and within musket-shot of the boats, when the latter should reach their destination. The party lay in ambush until the launches got within reach, when they sallied out upon the beach and opened fire upon them. The salutation was returned with shells, and the firing was kept up for some time. When the boats commenced firing shell, Captain Anderson turned the guns of the fort upon them and kept up the fire until dark came on, though they were too far round the point of the island for the shots to be directed with accuracy.–Savannah Republican, November 1.
–Citations issued from the Court of Admiralty of the Confederate States, South Carolina, distinctly call upon all persons in general, except citizens of the United States, “who claim any interest in the brigs Betsy Ames and Granada, to show cause, if any they have, why the said vessels should not be condemned as lawful prizes of war.”–(Doc. 116.)
–John C. Breckinridge has published a manifesto to the people of Kentucky. It is dated at Bowling Green, and he says it is written at the first moment since his expulsion from home that he could place his feet on the soil of Kentucky. In it he resigns his seat as a member of the Senate of the United States, saying, “I exchange, with proud satisfaction, a term of six years in the United States Senate for the musket of a soldier.” The address is very long. He says, “there is no longer a Senate of the United States within the meaning and spirit of the Constitution”–”the United States no longer exists–the Union is dissolved.”– (Doc. 117.)
–A Letter, published in the National Intelligencer, at Washington, gives a circumstantial account of the cruise of the U. S. ship Powhattan in pursuit of the privateer Sumter, and a minute description of that vessel. Her crew is, the letter states, made up of men of all nations, the greater part being Portuguese, Spaniards, and English, and the writer expresses the opinion that she will finally turn pirate against all commerce.–(Doc. 119.)