Cotton in the United States since the year 1839, will
show the fluctuating nature of this supply:—

A large and important Meeting of Solicitors was held
at Derby on the 13th inst., at which several members
of the Metropolitan and Provincial Law Society, from
London, Manchester, Liverpool, Carlisle, Hull, Leeds,
Birmingham, Lichfield, Derby, and other places,
attended. The object for holding an aggregate meeting
of the profession was, as stated in the society's circular,
"for the purpose of taking into consideration their
present position and prospects, and devising the best
means of obtaining increased support for, and thus
giving increased efficiency to, the association." Mr.
Palmer, of London, who is the president of the
association, having taken the chair, a series of resolutions
to the following effect was proposed and unanimously
adopted: "That with a view to promote the welfare of
the legal profession, and to assist its members to
discharge their duties to their clients and to the public, it
is highly expedient that the practising attorneys and
solicitors of England and Wales should be united in an
association. That the objects of such an association
should be to assist all well-considered plans for improving
the law, especially as relating to the practice of the
courts, and to maintain an honourable position and
character for the profession. That the Metropolitan
and Provincial Law Association, having been founded
in 1847, and conducted from that time upon the
principles expressed in the foregoing resolution, deserves
the cordial support of every member of the profession,
and this meeting accordingly pledges itself actively to
endeavour to increase its power and usefulness by
procuring a large accession to its number of members."

The Royal Commissioners, who were constituted a
permanent body by a charter granted by her Majesty
immediately on the closing of the Great Exhibition,
have recently completed some very large purchases of
land, which it is understood are to be applied to The
Erection of New National Galleries, in combination
with museums such as that now at Marlborough-house,
or generally for the promotion of arts, manufactures,
and commerce. The charter gave power to appropriate
the surplus derived from the Great Exhibition to such
purposes, but the extent even of the land purchases
must have already exhausted that surplus, and the
nation will have to supply the requisite funds for all that
is to follow. The site chosen is at Kensington Gore.
Behind Gore-house and the line of houses which
stretches almost uninterruptedly from the new houses
of Hyde Park-terrace up to Kensington turnpike is an
extensive tract of land, now principally occupied as
market gardens, and beautifully situated, gradually
sloping to the south from the high ground of Hyde Park
down to the Old Brompton-road. Great part of this land,
in the time of the Commonwealth, belonged to the
Protector, and the name is still preserved in "Cromwell's-
lane," and "Cromwell-house," though, except
garden walls of great strength and solidity, there are no
remains of his time. The lower part of the land is
familiarly termed "Brompton-grove," and is ornamented
with some really fine timber in the gardens and grounds
still remaining on the southern part of the estate. The
first tract of land obtained by the Commissioners was
from the trustees of the parish of St. Margaret,
Westminster, from whom it is understood about 20 acres were
obtained, at a cost of £60,000, or thereabouts; but the
principal purchase (a very recent one) is from the Baron
de Villars, who has sold 48 acres of land to the Com-
missioners for the large sum of £150,000. For some
smaller purchases to complete the boundary as much as
£4000 per acre has been asked, and, we believe, given.
The general scheme is stated to be this,—About 200
yards on this side of the turnpike at Kensington a road
is to be cut, 100 feet wide, from Kensington Gore to
Brompton, coming out at the back of Onslow-square.
This road will furnish an enormous frontage for the
new galleries to the west, and the fa‚çade will return at
the south end to any depth required. The quantity of
land secured will also allow of ornamental grounds
around the building to a considerable extent.

The opening of the Liverpool Free Library took place
on the 18th, in the presence of a large number of ladies
and gentlemen, who had received invitations to attend.
It is stated that Mr. J. A. Picton, in April 1850, first
brought under the notice of the council the desirability
of establishing a free library, when a committee for the
purpose was formed, which reported favourably, but
difficulty was found as to suitable premises. In 1851
the Earl of Derby proposed giving his fine collection of
natural history if a museum were established, when the
corporation purchased the premises in Duke-street,
known as the Union Newsroom, with an adjoining piece
of land, upon which an extensive wing has since been
erected. Subscriptions were solicited, and the sum of
£1389 obtained for the purchase of books. Ten
thousand volumes have been collected. The committee
intend adding four thousand more volumes this year.
The library will be open from nine in the morning to
ten in the evening, and the committee intend
recommending, at the earliest practicable period, the
establishment of one or more lending libraries. The
museum, numbering 18,700 specimens, is in the course
of classification, and it is hoped will be shortly in a
position to be thrown open to the public. Among the
speakers were the Mayor (— Littledale, Esq.), Mr.
Picton, Mr. Wm. Brown, M.P., Mr. Charles Turner,
M.P., Mr. Thorneley, M.P., the Rev. Dr. Hume, Mr.
Samuel Holme, and the Judge of the Liverpool County
Court (Mr. J. Pollock). The last of these said, in the
course of an eloquent address:—"The greatest security
for law and order was to be found in the increasing
intelligence and wide instruction and education of the
community. Those who knew their own rights would
recognise those of others; and he believed, if there was
any class to whom it was of peculiar and essential
importance to know the rights and privileges possessed
by the meanest inhabitants of the country, it was more
important to the poor than to the rich, to the miserable
and degraded in worldly circumstances than to the
wealthy and enlightened."

The recent accounts of the State of Trade in the
Provinces show a general increase of activity. At
Manchester both the home and export demand has been
extremely large, with advancing quotations. At
Birmingham the rise in metals is causing some perplexity
on the part of consumers, but at present there is no
diminution in the orders for manufactured goods. In
the woollen districts transactions have been
unprecedentedly large, at very firm prices. With regard to
the consequences of the introduction, during the past
season, of new machinery in place of hand labour, it is
stated that the work which on the lower class of hosiery
lately cost 1s. 6d. is now performed for 2d., while at the same
time the average earnings of the operatives have greatly
increased. In the Irish linen-market there has been
undiminished employment, and from that quarter, as
well as from all other parts of the kingdom, the condition
of the working classes is described to be more favourable
than at any former period. All our manufacturing