The Sun. — London, England, 1852-08-31 00:00:00

THE SUN, FRANCE. The Debats has the following article on Ireland : " If ever Ireland should become English, it will be when it call be occupied and colonised by the English; but so long as it shall be inhabited by the natives, it is probable that a fusion will be impossible. This antago nism between the two races is nowhere shown in such a striking manner as in the administration of justice. There is no country in which assassinations are so fre quent as in Ireland; but in the eyes of the Irish to kill a landlord is not a crime, because in general he is either a Saxon or a Protestant. We lately read that in the space of twenty years nearly thirteen thousand per sons had been brought to trial in Ireland, on charges of murder, and that oat of that number only 260 could be convicted. This was not owing to the facts not being clear to every one, but because juries could not be found to return a verdict of guilty. Either the jury men, therefore, morally and tacitly absolve murder, and only regard it as an act of legitimate revenge, or they fear, by condemning the murderers, to expose themselves to reprisals from secret societies. It is, moreover, known that, according to the English laws, juries must deliver their verdicts unanimously, so that it is only necessary for the prisoner to have one friendly voice for the ends of justice to be defeated. Murder is, therefore, in the eyes of Irishmen deprived of its character of moral crime; it is no longer anything but a political act, which is to be judged in a politic a l p o i nt o f v i ew . This feeling is so inherent in them that they carry it with them into every country in the world. We have an example of this in a trial which is now before the Supreme Court of the United States. An Irishman who had fired a pistol at a landlord es caped to America. The English Government, by virtue of treaties, has claimed his extradition, and it is probable that it will be granted. Bat what has up to the present time relayed it is that the guilty man is an Irishman, and there are several millions of his countrymen in America who make common cause with him. These Irishmen have been already naturalised, and conse quently have a right of voting, and, as the presidential election is rear, the candidates seek for Irish votes at any price. There has been thus formed in the United States a party of sympathisers in favour of the murderer claimed by England. The fact of the crime is not disputed; only it is wished to be considered as a political act, or according to the expressions made use of; in America ' as as iso lated act of a lee;r, drama which has its origin in the conquest of Ireland, and in the confiscation of its soil by the conquerors.' It is this unextinguishable hostility of races which in Ireland justifies all the acts of violence which are called agrarian crimes, and all the insurrec tions against the laws. During the last elections there was a disturbance in which the soldiers, being pelted with stones, were obliged to fire in self-defence. An inquest was held, and although it was clearly proved that the soldiers did not fire until driven to the last ex tremity and only in self-defence, a number of witnesses came forward and swore that they had fired without any provocation, and the justice of the peace and six or eight of the soldiers have just been committed by the Coroner_ to take their trials for voluntary homicide. The ee witnesses knew that if they had g iven any other evidence they would have subjected them se l ve s to the d angetrhotf being shot. A c u r ious example wa s lately givenoy a free-masonary which covers Irel and with an invisible . and invincible network. A mur der was committed in the open da on a Sunde dur i ng the celebration of mass. The murderers being p u rsued by the police, took refu ge in the church. Th e chief of th e police thought himself sure of being able to recognise them as they were in their shirt sleeves, but when he entered the church, he soon found himself compelled to abandon his search, as ell th e men had thrown off their coats; they were all in their shirt sleeves, an d j eered at the police. Ordinary j us ti ce is impossible in such countries, and ander such condi tions.' THE PAST B UR ND PRESENT OF THE ESE WAR. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Si r ,—It is of little use now to inquire whether any other plan of oper at i ons t h an t h at actua l ly pur sued by the authorities charged with the conduct of the second Burmese war would have been more or less successful. When after a melancholy expendi ture of life and treasure we had brought the first war to a conclusion, we congratulated ourselves at least on the experience that we had gained. It was said that a second Burmese war would be " an easy affair;" that a single vigorous campaign would bring it to a triumphant conclusion ; •that, knowing both the temper of the court and the dangers of the country, we should so shape our measures as to humble the one and escape the other, by a prompt attack on the chief cities of the empire—the main movement being made from the Arracan side by way of the Aeng Pass. All this was confidently declared at the time by the leading statesmen and soldiers of India ; and up to a certain point, doubtless, they were right. But it was necessary to the conclusion of the war in a single campaign that it should be commenced at the right time. Unfortunately, Lord Dalhousie could not commence the war at the right time. The rup ture with the Court of Amareepoora occurred at an untoward season. It is true, that when it occurred we had all the cold weather—all the fighting months —before us. But the blow could not be struck at once. It was becoming that political negotiations should precede military operations—that the Burmese Court should be allowed a fair opportunity of es caping, by timely concession, the castigation which we were prepared to inflict upon them. No such op portunity could have been allowed to them if we had commenced operations last November. The attempted accommodation failed. Bat the attempt was not the leo worthy of a great nation, because it was unsuccessful. We lost our time—the loss was in itself a disaster—but we had demon strata(' cur unwillingness to plunge into hostilities which seemed so likely to bear the accustomed fruit —an uncoveted extension of empire. It was right that we should display this forbearance. It was ex pedient, too, to avoid a collision, if it could be avoided without any loss of national honour or any serious injury to our national interests. India wants nothing so much as peace. Lord Dalhousie made an effort to maintain it, and, in doing so, he threw away every chance of concluding the war in a single cam paign. The only alternative, then, left to him was to defer operations until the commencement of the cold season of tne present year. This course seems to have had some advocates in India, but its ad vocacy was cle ar ly a mistake. T o have sat down quietly for a year un d er th e i nsu lt s w hi c h th e Bur mese had heaped, and, under the encouragement of such forbearance, would have continued to heap upon us, would have been interpreted by the nations of the East, and perhaps of the West, into an evidence of indecision and irresolution, been would have nottaken by our Fabian policy is opponents. The In t tb u e n i derstood by such a people as the Burmese. f r ea e r yes, to delay is to hesi tate--to hesitate is to strike, their insolence Had we delayed to and d azd e arrogance sbab would have known no bounds, _ ave been child upon to avenge an accumulation of injuries, beside have been those alrea d y inflicted u pon us w ou ld been mere venial trifles. thing to b The ch as ti sement of athvee Burmese was ae done at o nce, or not to be done at all. There map have been o bj ections to t h e com mencement of military operation s at such a time ; but there were far greater objecti ons , to thei r postponement. Of the two evils whi c h lay beforea him the Governor -General chose the least. Th. cam_ paign was commence d at once, and the close of the cold season of 1851-5.1 saw it inchoate and imperf ect. Events had belied the anticipations of the soldiers and statesmen of 189.6, who pr o p hesied that , the second. Burmese war would be an " easy to be - - affair, ac complished in a single campaign. And so the cur to this tain fell upon the first act of the drama. Up time, if no very striking successes have Modicahieaed, no great harm has been done. The pe. i 1 ns have set in, and the troops have been housed n Ran goon. At the date of the last advices t he rains had been falling for a month, but the health of the troops had not suffered. " The soldiers and officers," it is said, " are as healthy as they would have been in Fort William." In this, at least, we may see the results of the experience gained in the first war. It was not the climate of Rad- Pon that during our first occupation of that Place killed so many of our men ; it was not the " ra missariat One of the ablest members of the medical prof • m e no graphy le esdistingui s hed tiaaii as a writer on medical topo upon i n bra t". a successful practitioner, when called op i n i on of t l' e b?! the local Government to record his bable effect mate of Lower Pegu, and the pro vance by the the health of the troops of an ad war, throu ghout g wil Pass, h declared that in the last Governor-General's 1, 0 " , he had served with the goon had not been thed- guard, the climate of Ran our ill-fated army endur e :re of the sufferings which the Irawaddy," wrote m r. J. l R `Viewing the Delta of which I believe has not been Martin, in an official report, ,I n connexion with its own published, .g,_eftneral climate, it latitude, and, in short,• known medical topo graphY, its its stands in favourable comparison W i th river. Such I believe to be the gen‘e%j . - of .any known tallied of it by professional men ; and it, opinion enter tained believe e ther with the superior physical character of i t , T 11 1 : a l. ants, was early noticed by that distinguished writ utt er and observer, Dr. Francis Buchanan Hamilton, who and who ascribed reo visited the country twice , gener a l comparative 'nealthfulness of Lower a u to the g „ 10. gical nature of the soil and its . undulating surface, which in the numerous " which left no room for stagnation enl in ' . manieating branches of the Irawaddy.. An - coi n' pression of the climate, of Rangoon es pecially, l has ari se , from the enormous 1, - ,-.s of European ife during th e last war; but I believe that I am correct in stating l that general or local climate formed one of the least of ,t the causes of the exoes4ive mortality be yond a heavier fall of rain during the south-west spaken of, and h.,.... ,mon soon, and a cense I (pent y greater deg i n Bengal , h u midity in the at9iphere th an generally occurs Bengal, the cli m mate contributed little or nothing to the result. It was sco rbutic disease th at destroyed so large a por tion of the European force, and as the powerful causes which Ica to its development s o ere dwell upon thorn."" well - understood I need not wh i t those causes were the reader may gather from the following passage i n P ro f essor Wilson's narrative of the war : "Relying upon the reported facility of obtaining cattle and vegetables at Rangoon, it had not been thought necessary to embark stores for protracted consumption on board the transports for Calcutta, and the Madras troops had a still more limited stock. As soon as the deficiency was ascertained arrangements were made to remedy it; but in the meantime, before supplies could reach Rangoon, the troops were dependent for food upon salt meat, much of which was in a state of putrescence, and biscuit in an equally repulsive condition, under the decomposing influence of heat and moisture." Another lesson of the same grievous kind, but not so terrible in its extent, was taught us 15 years after wards, when our British troops occupied Chusan. Then, too, the climate was said to be the destroying agent. But it was not the climate ; it was the com missariat. These lessons we may hope—we may be lieve—have not been thrown away. Another army is not likely to be poisoned wholesale with putrid meat. The last accounts represent that provisions of all kinds, and of the best quality, were plentiful at Ran goon, and that the people were cheerfully supplying us with the produce of the country. There was something else, too, to be learnt from the terrible history of our occupation of Rangoon and Chusan. Swamps are not, at best, conducive to health ; but houses properly constructed will go a longue ty a towards the counteraction of their destroying Now, Colonel Bogle, the Commissioner , an officer of great energy, ability, and experience, one who e s. knows the countries of Arracan and Pegu well, and who for many years contemplating the pr o• bability of a second Burmese war, has been acquiring every description of detailed informa tion most likely to be serviceable in such a conjuncture, has been exerting himself to provide fitting house accommodation at Rangoon for the troops during the rainy season, and his success is described as complete. The natives are expert house builders. Their services are always at our disposal. Materials are easy procurable , and money, on such occasions, is never withheld. And so under Colonel Bogle's superintendence a wooden camp has risen up ; and thus comfortably h ouse d and protected , neither the falling rains n or th e r i s i ng damps can do ou r troops any grievous injury. There are months of both, it is true, yet before them, and the close of the rainy season is most to be dreaded ; but so fortified against the climate, well housed, and well fed, our fighting men may bear up against the in activity of half a year of rain at the mouth of the Ira,waddy. With Burmese regard, war,w then, hat the h taovesaid past and present of the amounts to this : It was expedient that th e war should have been brought to a conclusion in a single campaign. But it could not be brought to a conclusion paign, unless commenced at the right mo ment, i• e.—at the beginning of the fight ing season. Lord Dalhousie could not com mence the war a t th e b eg i nn i ng of the fight ing season of 1851-53; it would havebeen to defer the commencement of • operations until the beginning of the cold season of 1852-53; and, therefore, the war, under the circumstances of which I have spoken, could not be concluded in • a single campaign. But although the war has not been, alai could not be, concluded in a single campaign, the interval between the two campaigns is not likely to be (as it was a quarter of a century ago) a disas trous one, because our troops at Rangoon are well fed and well housed, and there is nothing in the climate itself of the place to destroy our people by thousands. Hoping soon to have your permission to say some thing further regarding the " future of the Burmese war," I am, Sir, your obedient servant, M. EiIIIGRATION FROM PLYMOUTH. During the last four or five days no less than ten ships, of very considerable tonnage, and with nearly 3,000 emigrants, have been in the port of Plymouth, all bound for Australia or Van Diemen's Land. The following are the names, destinations, &c.:— Sea Park, Captain Spedding, Port Philip, Government emigrants, in charge of Dr. R utter, with 325 souls on board, sailed on Saturday. Australasia, Captain M`Pherson, Hobart Town, Go vernment emigrants, in charge of Dr. King, Mr. and Mrs. Tucker, of Stonehouse, teacher and matron, 200 souls, sailed on Saturday. Posthumous, Captain Heard, for Port Philip, passen ger-ship, in charge of Dr. Hunt, 190 souls, sailed on Sunday. This is one of Messrs. Marshall and Edridge's ships. Elizs, Captain Pain, for Port Philip, passenger-ship, in charge of Dr. Cleeve, 300 souls, sailed on Sunday. One of Messrs. Marshall and Edridge's ships. Prince Alfred, Captain Smith, for Port Philip and Sydney, passenger-ship, in charge of Dr. Maxwell, with 230 souls. This fine vessel, the property of Mr. Pope, has not yet sailed. Blackwell, Captain Maerlie, for Port Philip, pas senger-ship, in charge of Dr. Field, 200 souls. This ship takes 25 needlewomen, sent out under Mr. Sidney Herbert's plan, Mrs. Thomas matron. Sailed on Tues day. One of Messrs. Green's splendid ships. Windermere, Captain Ross, for Port Philip, passenger ship, in charge of Dr. Hooper. Among the passengers in this ship is Mr. Carlyon, son of Colonel Carlyon, of Cornwall. 180 souls. General Hewett, Captain Gatenby, for Sydney, pas senger-ship, in charge of Dr. Casterton. 190 souls. Belonging to Messrs. Tindall. Hydaspes, 800 tons, Captain Reid commander, Dr. Silver surgeon superintendent, taking about 270 souls, Government emigrants for Sydney. Northumberland, 900 tons register, Captain J. W. Gell, belonging to R. Green, Esq., of Blackwell, sailed from Plymouth on the 16th iastant for Melbourne. She has upwards of 160 passengers, many of them for the gold diggings, and nearly 40 needlewomen, sent out under the auspices of the Hon. Sidney Herbert's com mittee. Among the chief cabin passengers are Mr. Octavius Phillpotts, son of the Bishop of Exeter, and Mr. Noel, son of the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel. The h ship is in excellent order, her management and dispatch was in the hands of Mr. Wilc ocks, of the Barbican . Bombay, one of the largest emigrant ships that ever left this port, is now in the Sound, and will sail in a day or two. This vessel is a two-decker, and formerly be longed to the royal navy. All the above vessels are under the management of Mr. Wilcocks. The influx of shipping o f this particular cla ss h as made the watermen of Sutton Harbour and the trades men in the vicinity of the quays more than usually busy. It has also imposed heavy duties upon the officers of emigration at this port, but upon few harder duties than the voluntary ones undertaken by the Rev. T. Cave Childs, the incumbent of St . Mar y , Devon p ort, i n visit ing the several ships and giving the emigrants the be nefit of his counsels and instructions, and where re quired the advantage of a distribution of books. Among the vessels now loading for Port Philip and Sydney, from London and Plymouth, is the Cleopatra, a screw-steamer, of 1,500 tons, and 300-horse power. She is dispatched by private enterprise, and will take passen gers at 80, 55, 40, and 35 guineas.—Plymouth Paper. EXPERIMENTS on the POISON of the TOAD. Popular tradition has from time immemorial at tached a poisonous influence to the toad, but no well marked case of severe injury having been caused by this animal, modern enlightenment repudiated the notion of the toad being a poisonous creature, and referred the traditional account to prejudice against the toad simply because of its ungraceful aspect. Neverthe less, unlucky dogs who might chance to bite a toad demonstrated by the rapidity wherewith the unsavoury mouthful was dropped, that popular rumour originated ; in something better founded than mere prejudice or aversion. All doubts as to the poisonous nature of the contents of the skin pustules of the toad and salaman der lizard two French are set at rest by the recent experiments of with ztraench philosophers, INIAL Gratiolet and S. Cloez, tivaee demonstrated by inoculating various animals dere cutaneous poison of toads and salaman dowed with 2 substances in question are en gerous qualit zell-marked and exceedingly dan these gentlem en. 8. The first experiment of tortoise, which, having prosecuted on a little African the toad-poison:in one og of f een inoculated with some of the limb supervened, and s it . !_ hinder feet, paralysis of of eight months, thus derntoinils.existed at the expiration local poisoning by the agent. trElting the possibility of whether the poisonous material ln spoiled to determine the gentlemen above mentioned poiled by keeping, ' of the poison on the 25th procured a about 29 grains placed it aside until March 16 April, 185 1, and having , 18 52, they • culatedgoldfinch with a a .. little of this material. The bird almost imtneniately died. Subsequently the investigators succeeded_ inertin. eliminating the TOM . the matters with • nous principle f poise iated in th kin-pstules which it is aw n- , „..and when thus purified its effect% they found that intense than before. Like most of are greatly more , organic poisons, the active principle known very stron,„, in its character a • principle of toad-venom 13 alkaline slightly soluble in ' almost insoluble in water, .ether, MM. Gratiolet and S. and very soluble in alcohol. Cloez are at this time occupied in c ollecting a large make known amount of toad-venom, and will shortly hich are the result of their further investigations, w calculated, in the opinion of the inve st i ga tors, to throw considerable light upon the natu re and action of the poisons of hydrophobia, of serpents, of conta gious diseases, and animal poisons generally. POST-OFFICE NOTICE.—Minor Money O r der offices will be opened at the undermentioned place." on • the respective 1 • dates named :—Kidlington, Oxfordshire, Sept. Saltash, ' Cornwall, Sept. 1. N.B. Postmasters are informed that Cadington is now served from Plymouth instead of Tavis tock : The list of M oney Order offices must be corrected ac - 1 cordingly. I CAPTUR E OF AN A MERICAN B ANK-NOTE F ORGER . A. man named Murphy, an American-born subject, was 1 brought before the magistrates of the Head-office of Police 7 . Iriday, charged with forgery of American bank-notes. =hilll)Reara that in Jane last he called upon an engraver in s FiY, and agreed with him to execute a plate for the notes advised him to go equired! The engraver acquiesced, but at once informed the !magistracy and the American Consul of the matter, who on with the work, and that when the proper time arrived they would be enabled to catch the de , linquent at full k. This the police very cleverly accom plished.—about Oft possession were found a Y notes were worked off, and in Murphy' s quantity of American gold and silver I coins, and a . pistol loaded with ball. He was remanded for further examination. His object, no doubt, was to pass the forged notes upon the numerous emigrants leaving Dublin.— Dublin krati• LONDON, LAW INTELLIGENCE. INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, Aug. 30 (Before Mr. Commissioner LAW.) His Honour heard a number of bail cases. In. one case the insolvent, John Siely, had been a wine -no en chant, and kept an office in Hungerford-marke V for registering and granting bets on horse-racing," the bail was allowed. In another case, a young in in was in custody on account of a 501. bet on the :Derby. The bail was allowe d on notice to be given. IN RE HOCKLEY FREDERICK WOOD. This insolvent applied for sureties. The appl iication was opposed, and several objections taken, which were overruled. It appeared that the insolv , sat had an allowance of about 501. a year from his father, Mr. Thomas Wood. Air. Commissioner LAW accepted the bail i a 4001., and the discharge was ordered till the hearing. POLICE INTELLIGENCE.. MARYLEB ONE. Yesterday Thomas Scott (an American), b tit ler to Mr. Matthew Forster, M.P. for Berwick:- upon- T weed, and who resides at I3ellsise-house, Fla ro pstead was brought up in the custody of Lockerby, 180 S, and placed at the bar before Mr. Broughton, seharged with having plundered his master of plate to toe value of upwards of 250/. ; and it will be seen fro ra what transpired in the course of the inquiry that betting upon horse-races had led the prisoner to perpetrate the robbery. The prosecutor, on being sworn, said—The prisoner has been my butler for nearly sixteen years, :and the care of the plate was intrusted to him. He did not sleep in the house. On Friday night last I missed a valuable Highland dirk from my " Museum-room," and on the next morning, in consequence of informa tion which I had given at the police-station, some officers called upon me with the view of properly in vestigating the affair. At five o'clock on Saturday the prisoner, who had been absent since Friday night, returned, and on my asking him what he had done with the dirk, he said he knew nothing at all about it. A great deal of plate having also been missed he was questioned respecting it, and he denied all know ledge of that, but he afterwards admitted that he had made away with it, alleging that he was willing to make good the loss, or using words to a similar effect. Police-core table Lockerby, 180 S—On Saturday evening, between six and seven o'clock, I and In spector Byron went to Mr. Forster's, and the pri soner was told that wp had come about the dirk, but that he need not answer any questions unless he should think proper to do so. Mr. Forster mentioned to him that he had lost the dirk, to which the pri soner replied that he knew not where it was, and that he had not been in the room where it was kept for the last three weeles. Prisoner then left the apartment in which this conversation took place, and on his return in a fee i minutes, Mr. Forster told him that, in addition to the dirk, a large quantity of plate was missing. Pri toner gave up the key of the plate chest, which, was in a room at the top of the house, and on my going up with him to the apartment, accompanies', by the inspector, the chest was unlocked, when I desired him to take out the plate which was there • he did' so, and on the articles being examined , I read over to him a list of the property which bad been abstracu!d. He declared that he knew not where any of the things were with the exception of a rosewater dish, a wine dish, some labels, and a few other articles enumerated by him, and which he told me was downstairs. (The list alluded to was hanee d by Lockerby to the mag istrate, and it appeaeT d therefrom that among the plate stolen were 36 table -forks, 24 table-spoons, together with waiters, ladle s, &c.) I went below with the pri soner, who st:e.,rched the pantry, and at length ad mitted that b e could not find any of the things which he told me he should there meet with and would readily give 'ap; the rosewater-dish has since been found in the house, after the search which had been made, as I h eve stated. I went to the dining-room with the prix ooer, and, on Mr. Forster coming in at my request, I told him that none of the apticles upon the list had teen met with, and he (Mr. Vorster) then gave the pris oner into custody. In my presence the prisoner, afte r being duly cautioned, told his master that ha had nis de away with the plate ; it was a bad job, and he 'A '3;3 very sorry for what he had done. In his box in the pantry I found twenty duplicates for plate, upon which he bad raised 1001. 12s. On the way to the station-house the prisoner said to me, " I have been. I t good servant to Mr. Forster for six teen years, anti this is the first dishonest thing I have committed." Prisoner her a shed tears, and said, " Mr. Forster has been to me the best and kindest of masters." Lockerby fu: 7ther stated that in the possession of the prisoner h e, found several betting-office tickets, and there could be no doubt that he (the prisoner) had for some time p ast been addicted to the attractive and demoralizing pi actice of laying wagers on matters connected with the turf. The desk an c l some other articles which had been pledged were p• reduced, and identified by Mr. Forster; and, in order ti afford time to procure the attendance of fourteen o a ter pawnbrokers, the prisoner was re manded till S, et uday next. 1 V ORSHIP-STREET. Yesterday .14 remiah 11'Grath, a well-known ath letic prizefighte: r, was placed at the bar before Mr. Hammil, upon two distinct charges of aggravated assault and rol eery. About a mo n th ago, or perhaps rather more, Mr. Wolf Pleisner. a German jeweller, was proceeding home through 4J ornmercial-street,Whitechapel, at a late hour at night, when he was accosted by a woman of notorious char a cter, named Elizabeth Williams, who inveigled him into a house up a court in Keate street, Spitalfie slds. There he became so frightened at the aspect of the place that he offered the woman money to let hi n go, but she locked the door and de manded ,still mt sre of him. He tried to get out of the r oo m, but she t hrust him back, opened th e d oor a j ar , and powerful fellow 3 rushed in and instantly f e ll e d hi m t o po called out loudly as a signal, up on w hi c h t wo the ground, wh ere they held him while the woman rifled his pocki , ts, from which she took his purse, containing two sovereigns and some silver. Mr. Pleiser resisted. this robbery as well as he could, and shouted loudly " Police" and " Murder," but the most powerful of his assailants grasped him by the mouth to stop 13 is cries, and, having dragged him by main force aloi mI g a dark passage, flung him headlong into a cellar at the rear of the house about 7 or 8 feet in depth. Tht ••e he lay, stunned, bleeding, and help less, for a cons i derable time, but upon recovering his senses groped a bout the cellar until he found a ladder, or rather a peen don of one, up which he scrambled, and got back is do the room where he had been first maltreated. :Übe room was in entire darkness, and, not knowing is ow to find his way out, he indiscreetly again commenced shouting for the police, but the instant he ha I given this intimation of his escape from the cell ar the whole .of his assailants re turned, and, after beating him about the face and body with g teat severerity, flung him out into the street. The woman was afterwards appre hended, and now stands committed for trial, but both her male 3 confederates successfully evaded the police until the 3 night of the 21st inst., when the pri soner M'Grath , with a gang of other fellows, set upon a printer named Smith, of Kingsland, whom he plun dered of his wi etch, and struck so violently in the face as to partially stun him. For this offence he was examined abou t a week since, and, as may be recol lected, was re. manded to prove a former conviction against him ; but while being looked at by several detective officer s in court, it struck one of them that he bore some re semblance to the description given by Mr. Pleisner of the most brutal of his assailants, and that person was therefore apprised of the suspicion. Yesterday morning Mr. Pleisner attended, and the prisoner was placed in a cell with six or seven other men, to give him a fair chance of escaping detection ; but the moment Mr. Pleisner caught sight of him he unhesitatingly selected him from the rest, and was so positive in his identification of him that he could, as he stated, have picked him out from 500. The prisoner stoutly protested his innocence of all implication in the first-mentioned assault and rob bery, but expressed his intention to reserve his de fence upon the second, and the depositions of the wit nesses having been taken by Mr. Hurlstone, the second clerk, therbko,h e ch w a a re was fully committed to Newgate for trial upon THAMES. Yeaterday Robert Cuthbert, aged 38, a printer, of greatly agitated, No.before 8, Middle Storer-street, Stepney, was brought re Mr. Yardley, charged with stabbing Mary Laws on , and attempting to murder her. The complainant , a fine young woman, who was and her mother o and on said the prisoner was her half brother,somn Saturday afternoon he came home in toxicated.wrouspecthing time afterwards he looked very wild, ao,naanfdtse,erved him go to a knifebox in the after this her mother and self began kitchen. to prepare S te o mother out of the kitchen, ngs e ' tended something was about to follow her that the prisoner in his foot and attempted to 11wronen h the prisoner put out her w round d d own, but failed the floor.the wsaihset then to do so. He then seized made an attempt to throw her on discovered he had a tableknif e in his hand, and he n forced her head back and drew the knife across her throat. She screamed aloud for help, and laid hold of Th e prisoner appeared quite mad the blade of the knife just in time to save a wound being inflicted in her throat, but in doing so cut her eyes glared horribly, and he ground hard toget his teeth. She struggled away from him, several stabs at her back. The on which h© made the point , and and dnd furious , se verel y. his effect intended. Her clothes, however, did not take the point.. The prisoner if the blade of the knife knife, fortunately, was rounded at point, and the , however, were pierced, as . continued jobbing at her w had been made with a tapering who heard her screams, peritinhgthe knife as hard as he was able, until two gentlemen , In answer to questions by Mr. YARDLEY the wit. came to her assistance and rescued her from his grasp. TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 31, ness said that her brother was in the practice of drinking to excess, and that he had repeatedly threat ened to murder her and her mother. He had been out of employ for twelve months. Mr. YARDLEY—HOW came he by so much money ? 101. was taken from him by the police. Witness— I - Es uncle lent him money to pay hi s p ass age out to Australia, where he intends to go for the purpose of joining his brothers. Mr. YARDLEY—It's of no use for him to go to Aus tralia if he's a drunkard. Sober, steady, and indus trious men are wanted there, not drunkards. The prisoner, with great composure, said a good deal of what his sister had stated was false and a good deal true. He came up from the kitchen with a knife in his har.d to speak to his mother, and his sister said he should not speak to her. The prisoner's sister was recalled, and said she did not see the knife till the prisoner forced her head back. Louisa Lawson confirmed the statement of her daughter, and said the prisoner was her son by her first husband. Last Thursday week he obtained from her 111. for the purpose of paying a deposit to a shipbroker for a passage to Australia, and he had not been sober since. He had since asked for more money, but she had refused to give him any. She promised to buy him a complete outfit, and provide him with all the comforts he required, directly he produced a ' receipt for 101., half the passage-money, which be had not done. The prisoner was quite wild on Saturday, and said that she wanted to starve him out. Mrs. Lawson, in conclusion, said he was a bad son, a7) ,- 1 that her daughter was a good girl, and had exhibited the greatest fondness towards him. She had borne with her son's bad temper and intemperance for twenty years, and was almost worn out with grief. Mr. YARDLEY said this was a sad story of a brutal, fellow, who had rendered the life of god a o kir; fo dmrontohtehng mother very miserable, and attempted the life of a kind sister. The question was whether the pri soner was not mad ? If be was not so, and was to be made answerable for his actions, he deserved severe punishment. In order that the position of the pri soner should be looked into by persons capable of judging of his state of m i n d , h e s h ou ld reman d hi m for a week. He directed the policeman who had charge of the case to give the whole of the money taken from the prisoner to Mrs. Lawson. HAMMERSMITH. Thomas, the secretary to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, applied to 11r. Beadon, the Os is; magistrate, shortly after the disposal of the night charges, for three summonses against Mr. T. B. Simpson, the proprietor of Cre morne-gardens, and M. and Madame Poitevin, for cruelty to a horse which was suspended to a balloon that ascended from the gardens on 'Thursday after noon last. The applicant stated that he was prepared with evidence to prove th a t t h e b a ll oon ascen d e d a t half past six o'clock on Thursday afternoon last from Cre morne-gardens, and that Madame Poitevin sat upon the back of the horse, which was suspended from the machine. Her husband was in the car of the balloon at the time, and Mr. Simpson, the proprietor of the gardens, was also present when the ascent was made. He should also be able to prove that Madame Poite vin remained for some time upon the back of the horse while in the air before she entered the car with her husband. Mr. BEADON supposed that it was intended to raise the question whether it was an act of cruelty to the horse to suspend it to a balloon ? Mr. Thomas replied that it was, and said the weight upon the animal's back while suspended in the air and .he construction of the bandages would be sufficient to prove the act of cruelty. One of the officers of the society was present during the ascent, and also a veteri nary surgeon, and they both would be able to prove the act of cruelty to the animal. Mr. BEADON said he fully expected that the sum monses would have been applied for, as it was a ques tion of considerable importance, and should be settled. Mr. Thomas hail stated quite sufficient for the sum monses to be granted. Mr. Thomas was then asked whether he intended to proceed against them for the ascent or descent. Mr. Thomas said for the ascent from Cremorne gardens. Mr. BEADON observed, in that case the matter would not come under his jurisdiction, as the whole of Cremorne-gardens was in the district of the West minster police -court. His district only extended as far as the road near the gardens. Mr. Thomas said he was very sorry for troubling his Worship unnecessarily, but he had been informed that Hammersmith was the right court to apply to for the summonses. Mr. BEADON inquired where the balloon descended, as if it fell in his district he could then grant the summonses. Mr. Thomas said the balloon descended at Heaton, near Hounslow. Mr. BEADON said that place was also out of bis district. He believed that the first balloon ascent of M. Poitevin with his horse terminated by the machine falling in Wimbledon, which place came under his notice at Wandsworth, and, if Mr. Thomas had evidence of that descent, he would listen to the application. Mr. Thomas said he had not. The only evidence he had related to the ascent of the balloon on Thursday last. He understood that Madame Poitevin in tended to ascend that evening upon the back of a bull, from the same gardens, as " Europa carried away by Jupiter." Mr. BEADON thought the best course to adopt by Mr. Thomas was to apply to the sitting magistrate at Westminster police -court for the summonses, as the question was an important one, and ought to be de cided in the proper district. Mr. Thomas thanked his worship for the attention he had paid to the application, and said he should tapply immediately to the magistrates at Westminster police-court. THE NATIONAL LAND COMPANY. RICKMA.NSWORTII7 SA/Tit DAy.—An important and rather remarkable inquiry h as been proceeding here during the week, under the direction of the Court of Chancery and 14 and Pi Vic., for dissolving the Na tional Land Company and Chartist Co-operative Land Society, and for dis p o sing of its lands, properties, and building, the principal e s t a t es connected w i th which s it ua t e at O'Connorvill e , or Herringegate, three miles f rom Rickmansworth ; a t Mi nster Lovell, near y ; a t itedr”rley, near Tewkesbury; and at Witne s End, near Gloucester. The Lowlands and Soi g estate called O'Connorville, though not the most ex tensive, was one of the earliestlocated, and was pur chased in 1846, and parcelled out into allotments, upon th e experimental plan of e na bli ng its occupants, " by means of the re-productive and co-operative principle, and by moderate industry, to live in comparative comfort and independence," on two and three acres of land, and at the same time to f orm t h e nuc l eus o f a propaganda for promoting the exploded six political points of the charter. In the attainment of both these objects the experiment, as th e present i nqu i ry goes t o show, has pro ved a signal delusion, the occupants of the estates being, more or less, in embarrassment, and the projector of the p lan, as is well known, in a state of mental aberration. The sittings to inquire into the subject have been held here a t the Swan Hotel, b e f o re Mr. Willi am on e of the official ass i gnees o f th e C ourt Goodchap, of Chancery, a ssisted by M r . R ox b urg h, as counsel and assessor ; Mr. John T uc k er , o f th e fi rm of Tucker and Sons; and Mr. Woodthorpe, surveyor and architect ; Mr. C. Roche, of the firm of Symons and Roche, re presenting the a llottees or occupants, who attended very numerously. The report of the official assignee set forth that the inquiry was instituted under the direction of the Court of Chancery, to inquire int o th e cases of all those pers ons to whom lands had b een allotted, but who had relinquished title or claimed compensa tion for loss or ex penditure in r es p ec t o f th em, and to ascertain by the best and most economical means to what amount the value of the capital and labour expended by the a llottees had exceed e d th e value of the occupation, an d the advances of aid money, seed, and stock made by the t company, and to determine the sum by way of ren h olde paid for past occupation by each allottee who a ou prove his title, making all just allowances. The report, a which went very fully into the origin and constitution of the National Land Company, as regarded the purchase and al lotment of lands and theballoting for members by Mr. Feargus O'Connor as trustee, further stated that on 11th April, 1846, it was notified to the share- F e argus O'Connor that he had shareholders by Mr. C on norv , consistin g o f 130 purchased the 0' ille estate subjec'; to an annuity 601. of acres, for 2,3441.,per annum, conveyed by T. Ayres and J. M argetson, but the title deed of which is now retained by Mr. W. P. Roberts, solicitor, of Manchester, on the ground of alleged lien. Soon after a ballot, f or two, three, and four acres respectively, took me mbers of the eon ,. place among those pany who h a d paid 21 . 10s. deposit, being th e value of one share in the company. The members who became located were principally mechanics, or weavers totally unacquainted with agricultural pur suits, from Stockport, Bradford, Manchester, Leeds, and Wigan. The two-acre balloted members holding one share had allotted them a house, two acres of land, , and 15/. ; the three-acre members, a house, three acres, and 221. 10i. ; and the four-acre members of two shares, a house, four acres, and 301. In this way th e 103 acres were parcelled out, two acres being set apart for the school at the head of the estate. The members ente re d on their locatio ns on let M ay, 1847. Some are still in possession ; others have I underlet. During the period they remained they received aid money, cu lti va tion money , and bushels of wheat. Some sold their right of location, which latter was of the average value of fr om 40 /. to 1 001. In s ome cases distresses were l e vied on the goo d s, chattels, and growing crops, and this state of things continued until the Act of Parliament for winding up this and other estates in a similar position was ob tained, and which, amongst other things, it is the object of the inquiry to determine and adjust. The allottees, with some exceptions, have proved their title to the allotments, and the amount of back rent to be paid by them will have to be determined. " It was stated in evidence that 70 per cent. of the deaths from explosions were occasioned not by the ex plosion of firedamp, but by the' afterdarcp ' which suc ceeds it. If the latter be inhaled in its pure state by the miner it causes immediate death. But since, from the miners being subsequently discovered in various stages of prostration, it is apparently inhaled in various degrees jet placed dilution, it seems clear that a power like the steam placed at the top of the downcast, out of reach (which the furnace at the bottom of the upcast occasionally is not) of the effects of the explosion, and capable of sweep ing the galleries of the mine with an almost irresistible force immediately after the explosion, might be the means of saving a large proportion of the lives now lost for want of such a power. The furnace under such pressing emergency is inapplicable, and incapable of being used for the purpose. " Your Committee, howev e r, are unan i mou sly of opi nion that the primary object should be to prevent the explosions themselves; and that, if human means (as far as known) can avail to p reven t them, it is by the steam-jet system as applied by M r . F ors t er , a l t h o u g h even in such case it might be prudent in a mine espe cially fiery to add an inexpensive steam-jet apparatus at the top of the downcast, as a means in reserve in case of explosion from neglect or otherwise. Your Committee still are unwilling to recommend a compulsory enforcement of any particular system of ventilation; they would rather point to the conditions under which alone they consider the mine to be sate, and leave it to some improved system of inspection or control to secure those conditions being universally adopted. " The proper condition of a mine, as regards its venti lation, your Committee consider is when the current of air through all the air courses, more particularly in the extreme workings, is from four to six feet per second in rate through an ordinary-sized airway (say) 50 feet sec tional area. This, in the extreme workings, would com mand a rate of current to a much greater extent (and which would be necessary) through the less remote work ings of the mine. Without a current of air at the rate of at least four feet per second, equal to about three miles per hour, in every part of a mine at all fiery, the miner cannot be considered safe from explosion. Such current would be the truest indication of the actual amount of fresh air circulating through the general workings of the mine. It seems immaterial by what mode this rate of current is produced, so that it be cer tainly produced, and a means be furnished to the inspec tor at each visit to ascertain that such rate of current has constantly existed during his absence. " There is a seeming contradiction to the conclusion at which your Committee have arrived, that a generally increased ventilation is the truest security against ex plosions, in the fact that these explosions have become more frequent, in spite of more attention having been given of late years to the subject of ventilation. The contradiction, however, is in appearance only. To pro duce explosion of the firedamp the presence of a cer tain quantity of air (or proportion of oxygen) is re quired to make it explosive at all; and with less than that proportion explosion does not take place; and, also, after certain additions to that proportion of oxygen, the tendency to explosion ceases. In the former case the atmosphere of the mine is unhealthy, in the latter it is healthy. The postulatum in this matter of ventilation may be considered to be such a thorough ventilation as, together with a wholesome air to breathe, should so sweep the mine clear of the gases as they escaped from the goave and fissures, or so dilute them with pure air, as that they ceased to be explosive. To leave the mine to its natural state of ventilation would be to leave it in undisturbed possession of a poisonous, but possibly inexplosive atmosphere; proper ventilation, on the contrary, would, by dispelling that poisonous atmosphere, leave to the miner an atmosphere to breathe nearly as pure as the outer air. But a partial introduction of an insufficient quantity of atmospheric air into a fiery mine may cause the very mischief against which it is intended to guard. It should not be forgotten by the coal proprietor that the unhealthiness of some mines, together with the danger of explosion, greatly enhances the rate of wages they mast pay, so long as their workmen have to encounter such evils; while the removal of those evils, on the other hand, must tend ere long to reduce the rate of wages in collieries more to a level with that of labourers in ordinary occupations. These observations, of course, extend also to the injury to health and risks arising from ' black' or choke damp' (carbonic acid gas). The poison generally, in smaller quantities, is slow in its operation, but not the less sure. The miner is proverbially short-lived. " The attention of your Committee has been directed to scientific and practical means of decomposing or neutralising the explosive gases as they exude from the coal and goaevs; but it does not appear to your Com mittee that science has discovered any practical means for producing this desirable effect. It is, however, on the minutes of evidence, that an individual well versed and long engaged in mining operations, a member of the House of Commans,* has offered, through the Royal College of Chemistry, a premium of 1,000/. for the dis covery of some simple practical means for the attain ment of this important object. " Your Committee would now refer to some more in cidental means of security against explosion; first, stating their concurrence in the opinion expressed, directly er indirectly, by the Committees of 1835 and 1849, and also with that so strongly expressed by the South Shields Committee, that where a proper degree of ventilation does not exist in a mine, a Davy lamp, or any modification of it, must be considered rather as a lure to danger than as a perfect security. Prac tically secure in a still atmosphere it may be con sidered; and in the hands of a cautious overman an admirable instrument for exploring, or as an indi cator of danger; but in a current, as admitted by its il lustrious inventor himself, it is not a security; and in the hands of an ordinary workman, under circumstances of excitement, when danger is threatened, it is not im probably, far oftener than imagined, the very cause of the explosion which if was intended to prevent. The experiments of Dr. Bachhoffner, at the Polytechnic In stitution, before your Committee, were very interesting on this point. Nevertheless, in a mine that is at all fiery, it will be a prudent precaution to work with a lamp, until it can be proved that by means of ventilation a mine can be so far cleared of all explosive gases, as to prevent any accumulation of them in the workings, goaves, or elsewhere. Some of the witnesses point to such a possibility; and, if it were for the sake of the health of the minors alone, a current of fresh air pasing through the mine which could produce this effect would render such a power one of the moat valuable contribu tions of the age. One of the principal objections to the Davy lamp on the part of the workmen has been the in sufficient light which it affords. A lamp of greater re flecting power, which would, a t th e same ti me , a dmit of a double gauze protection, has been suggested, and is ex plained below. Too entire a reliance on the safety of the Davy lamp appears to have led, in not stew instances, to the neglect of ventilation. " In the furnace system of ventilation the power de pends on the difference of the temperature of the air going down the downcast shaft and that ooming up the upcast; and when temperature of the outer sir is high the power of the furnace is reduced. When the ther mometer, therefore, exhibits a high rate of temperature, the ventilation is lessened. This may account for acci dents being generally more frequent in spring and summer. It is very desirable, under such circum stances, that an extra power of ventilation should be applied. ",Under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere its weight operates in a fiery mine to keep the escape of gas from the recesses of the mine. When the pressure is less the explosive gases have greater power to escape. Whenever, therefore, there is a fall in the barometer, showing a diminished pressure of the atmosphere, danger is indicated, and an increased amount of ventilation re quired. In every mine, therefore, it should be impera tive for a barometer to be kept. It should be placed near the ventilating power, properly connected with the external air, through the downcast, so as to take the pressure of the atmosphere. A " differential barometer" is much more sensitive than a common one; and, since it costs only a few shillings, there would be no excuse for not having one. " A water gauge should be placed at the bottom of the upcast, to indicate the power of the drag of the mine, where the furnace system is used, so as to indicate the presence or approximation of the furnace limit. " But an instrument of even greater importance than the above, especially in reference to the periodical visits of inspectors, is a self-registering anemometer, by which the inspector would know at each visit the rate at which the current of air had been passing through the mine in his absence. The best instrument of this kind at present known, perhaps, is that of Mr. Biram. Three, at least, of these should be kept in every mine ; one at the intake (bottom of downcast shaft), one at the return (bottom of upcast), and, especially, one or more in the extreme workings. " The goaves (old workings) in extensive mines are a principal source of danger. It has been suggested, if the water would permit, that the goaves might be, as it were, drained of the explosive gas by a bore-hole from the surface, acted on by a steam jet; that gas, being lighter than common air, would thus be drawn through the bore to the outer air. " For a similar purpose gas drifts have been recom mended, as described in the Technical Definitions and Explanations.' " It was suggested by Mr. Gurney, also, that refuge stalls might be established at small expense, in places familiar to the miners, throughout the workings, to which, upon an explosion, they could at once fly from the fatal effects of the afterdamp. A description of these will be found among the " Explanations." " It has been stated in the evidence that boys are employed in mines to perform duties the neglect of w hich_ in a single instance might be productive of great losst of life. They are employed, in particular, to attend to h,_ opening and shutting of the doors or traps regulate the courses of air in every system ofvenbtest-dis- It has further been stated that, even i n the necessiaary guilty of ciplined pits, where the men are rarely, if serious acts of neglect or carelessness , found impossible to guard against siwi la F t a ppears that etivilsr' Yet been the part of the boys- and, accordingly, 3 negligence on in various instances ' fatal accidents have eihe duties allotted such negligence in the performance lbeen traced to to them. The Committee, therefoorfew, harieehofwoopordiegvothlvaet no responsible duties, the neglect D ine to be intrusted to serious risk of life, ought in any • o f inexperienced persons, boys, or to any other clahsosse judgment and discretion but solely to persons in vs . full reliance can be placed of England and other dis " The miners of the tricts, notwithstanding norththeir cehrasraocftetrhfeoirr employment. reclelessne recklessness, are keenly alive to t he clang This they have evinced both by representations to your especially f ro m Lancashire and Northum berland, and b Committee,a petition to the House it se lf, nume rously signed,y from the miners of Lancashir e . Th e points they chiefly dw ell u p on are the necessity of in creased ventilation, of increased inspection, of the ap pintment o f o sub-inspectors, and of the unsatisfactory * Mr. Blakemore. nature of the inquests hitherto held, after even the mol distreesing explosions. " It has been strongly recommended by severs! wit nesses of knowledge and ex.,)erienco that, in the inquests held after explosions, more diligent inquiry should be made than has hitherto been customary into the remote as well as the proximate causes of explosion and loss of life. Your Committee would further recommend to the attention of the Home-office whether it might not be expedient to institute such an office as a Special Coro ner for these investigations. In connexion with this suggestion, it may also be worthy of consideration how far local feelings or prejudices may not tend, in occa sional instances, to interfere with the impartial discharge of their duties on the part of juries. " In the letter of Sir H. De la Beche to the chairman (vide appendix), it will be seen that e ducation is a point insisted on as a precautionary mea ns both among the working colliers and their managers, as also that the qualifications of inspectors should be rigidly tested pre vious to their appointment. In these views your Com mittee entirely oalcur. They not only trust to see education more rapidly spreading than heretofore 11113014 the working colliers, but schools of mines established, without certificites from which no overman, under looker, or manager shall be le g all y appointed to his office. __ " The qualification of inspecto rs for their office is a point of the first importance; and should be effi c iently tested before a competent board, analogously with the test exacted in various professions where the interests of life and health are involved. They should be acquainted generally with natural philosophy (e tics), chemistry, mechanics, also a c ompetent knowledge of geology and mine-aloey; and should also have had practical experience of colliery working. epecielly pnetuna " Almost every witness, however, bore testimony. to the total inadequacy of the present system of inspection. The numbers were too small, its powers too limied. klech of the inspectors summoned before the Committee had something like 400 mines in his district, of which he would be unab'e to go through in less than four years. Many mines they had never visited. YOut; Committee cannot, therefore, hesitate to visit e d. They that the number of inspectors should be increased. at present amount to six. That number, probably, should at least be doubled; and two sub-inspectors t,o each chief inspector added. In Sir H. de la Bee be ° the whole letter it is indicated, and it appeared also in evidencet, that the present salary of an inspector was too swel l ' ° least speete t r o t i o nd r u e le u a io p i e o rs h o i n s really fitted for the office of in " To increase the power of the inspector is; a Wee! more delicate matter. To this some of the most Wel Tent of the managers of mines who were examined ob jtehceted; and with some reason, for it was evident to sal least, that they were in all respects, both as to practical and scientific attainments, upon a par with the inspectors. But the objection was taken less to the,. principle itself than to the possible unfairness a subjected to the caprice, perheP e igoo - of an individual inspector. To th e es tablishment of a board with increased powers o o obie e " Y° ' tio o n seemed to be taken. Same such central body 3 1 d Cmmittee would strongly recommend, coter e , ea s scientific and practical men, to whom the insP ee " - et offiell might report, and from whom they might receive instructions, which would give greater efficacy to eventheirs recommendations. To this board should be _ ea of to enforce penalties under ordinary eircomstrmie„ neglect—and in cases of death, a power to victims an h enforcement of justice to the families of the vi et . iw o -'- t h rough the ordinary channels of law; the spryly, r !„ temselves being in a condition of life which repol; them comparatively helpless to obtain theirs ust reef' to ." One additional power, however, give to inspectors, at all events temporarily, until t ei :i decision of a board can be obtained; viz, wh ere %see danger to evidently exists, and the owner of a mine r e I t o security, resort to the most approved system for increasing ~.6 it seem desirab.le_ the inspector should have the power to orde2,":l, working to cease until its condition be improved. ,lr',',,, would appear to be the principal point of superio_ll ;the inspection of the mines of France, GernaanYt e.,ue, ,lii:lgium over that of this country. In one case , 4, I ted in the evidence, it appeared that preceoi b. the the explosion there had ' been a great fall to d barometer, which indicated the necessity of incare.o% ventilation and vigilance. The overlooker hciuor barometer, and therefore was in ignorance of the f act o the diminished pressure of the atmosphere, whi eh l a ger the while thus allowing the firedamp to esear ' ll o we. proportions from the goaves and fissures of the : , ‘ , r ,, In another case (that of recent occurrence in th . 4 . ,`'', 41 . dare Valley), Mr. Blackwell, late inspector of that to trict, advised on a previous visit certain precatitTosioa be taken. The advice was disregarded; the e l e ct the ensued. To a system of inspection thus forted to t h e objection could scarcely be raised which is retie a nd present system—that it re lieved the owneY' for managers of responsibility wh ile it was efficientin its object. t he " Your . Committee, therefore, the rights and privileges of private property'. hu t , e , due same time forming, to the best of their ability, the ex,, estimate of the value of human life, and °f resent treme danger to which human life, system of working mines, e nder the k',_ ... s . having full regertd ceptions, is exposed, consider that m en d -er their duty if they did not recom that a p ea should be placed somewhere to enforce precautionse ieel to facilitate the exaction of penalties wher e u tn; with a few of such precautions was pertinaciously persevere and that until those precautions should exist a power to stop the working Crier ° n %ion They have already pointed to what in oPttei would be an improvement on the present serge ° e. it quests, and to constituting a board which might be re - _ a loss garded life as a species of public prosecutor in case of ~ _ from neglect of proper precautions. were adopted thioeler! It has been suggested that the families of those of perish should be supported for a limited numbe, b g yaars by the proprietor of the mine. Injustice tolgo, be done under such a law; for the owner migh t g l e e orders for the proper precautions, and an overleoker 3 miner might neglect them. In such an instance,be would be hard to enforce the extreme penaty., The conduct of owners after the fatal effects of an esee° sl „,,, e a x pp te e n a d r i s og to , have been generally considerate and he °l . l cest Aberdare m i i n ne justman ymienosttiaonhceeds: families of those who perished. , e; s ectee d tionctlhuedinsguptphoartt ocf,f the " Your Committee, for their own part, feel "'"'d eis rather to trust to the appointment of an efficien t a nd gilant board ; to an increased number of well'tl ° ,l o oll inspectors and sub-inspectors, who should Pre e " ot 0 1 have the power of enforcing such a rate of etretheir air through the various parts of the mine as, ' ll p a v er judgment, the safety of the miners required, tO/ 6 4 0 " to with the adoption in each mine of such seie ati latiol l struments as both preserved a register of the yes and gave warning of danger; that these powe r° 5 piers extend to the inflicting penalties for the noopossetioto of such instruments, and nonattention to the , P rs e c riti t he ' recommended, and to stoppage of the raine eeeeteets right measures were taken. Such measures, t t e : fish' with the better education of the miners, and the e t - e t ; tbe colliers of schools of mines, and the circulation am led in o ters of such rules and regulations as are adeP t h e f oe the . pits of Mr. Forster and Mr. Darlington (wbiewetild T ali(' their evidence), your Committee cosder to t p i r o o: ehnuts, beenthe g tr to diminish, and ultimately almost entirelyitn, dreadful explosions to which their 0 no th e lea.s, t A im la p st or t t o o p h i t c , v r i e z m ., a t i h n:, paenedueitehryat, perhe ll° ' a rrlieg wens or C"' wa de, out rr the suggestions and recommendations ber e gho ul This is a point which your Committee consider:, %city, devolve upon the House, in its collective show a tbe rather than upon themselves. They have e e cno iesi principal causes of danger; the easy and be e bale' means by which the danger may be voided; the b e imp hinted at the scientific instruments which show; wow they 7 0 t heir peratively required to be kept in every Wine, n 9 , 00 ilr" ing or test of safety or impending danger; ferred to the species of authority to whic h ' the Or opinion, should be intrusted the powers to see „ w aitl gestions carried out. The finan peruseof the cl!oloos they consider properly belongs theo R a Cow at large." -----------_ RAILWA Y SHARE MRKEV• LIVERPOOL, AUG. 30. is Ag ain STOCK EXCHANGIC.—Our share market to -day depressed,doing and only a limited amount of business __ The transactions reported were Ditto, C . ou ll . _South-Eastern Lancashire and Yorkshire, 83IA---Ditto, Fiftute;.o ayz et ßeld, London tieos4ldic's...... and and North-Western, 1221/a—gancilgidiand, 75% Lincolnshire, Preference,6lllCDewover rd ANC EIESTIs It, AUG to-day was very Blocs EXCHANGX The business done (lacy. The limited, and prices . , 2 i ,!': P 3.0. Eastern Counties, 11— ,as transactions .. were as follow :-- .h . 82.54 -Ditto, Lancashire, and Yorl.s ire, L 18 'A—Lancashire olnshire, generally ha ward ten r t Fifths, 3 T 4, ex div.—Manchester, Sheffield, and inc 28 3 A —Ditto, PrefeTence, I IDitto, Ne w visbury 7-16 n. n S r•--OUth-Eastern hateover,2llh Sbre_ ~, and Chester, 21% c.—Alidland, 75% ex cii,r..-..North Drituy Preference, 5. Preference. NEW SOUTH WALEs.-- The Johnstone, (foul Sydney, has arrived off Falmouth, with 9,099 ounces of gold on board. Her advicee, which are to the 6th of May, 1 10° been anticipated. BIRTH& OF A SON. On the 26th inst., at Ballymore Castle, Ballinaslo e, the w ife of Henry M . Dal y , Es q . r the land, O n the 27th inst., at Reedings, Newick , t he wife or Rev. Thomas Edward Crallan. OF A DAUGHTER. O n the 2 4 th inst. , at Braconda le, the Lady llenriettli Ilarvey. orto°' On the 24 th inst. , at Galway , the wife of Major of the 9th Regiment. AnAsttrßutahlseoryTerhoCmasstolne, MARRIED. the 25th inst. , I°ll° _ Derbyshire , , daughter ' of sil th " e of ß e ev h . ar j e o t h nn line Maria Carntyne, Lanarkshire. ,ifFanraesibuiorne, to Cara o• On the DIED. 24th inst., at Bath, John Palmer, Esq , court, near NIT. o f porner incisor, aged 58. On the 26th inst., at Carp oration Richard IV, JaPP° Esq., aged 85, senior member of the corporation of Londolip and for 54 years clerk of the Company of Carpenters. , 0 . At Rothsay, on the 23d inst., Miss Emilia Lu menOto daughter of the late Sir Alexander P. C. Gordon, of Altyre, and Gordonstoun. Bart. On the 26th inst.. at Liaslingdane-place, Sibertsvoult Kent, ag ed 87, Mrs. Mary Goff, relict of the late Elijah Go' late DU' Esq., of London. On the 2 7 th inst., Mrs. Valiance , re lict ofthe Philip Valiance, of Brighton. i ar s.roft I On the 21st inst., in Nelson-square, Blackfr d Joseph Joseph,Esq., aged 58. , i f London : Printed and Published by NERD° Y 0 1/1" .. 'i l 2, No. 112, Strand, Printer. at The Sun Mimi, . 1 " 1° •,,„ o f Strand• in tt - e Precinct of the 9 , 1 V or. in the coulbm Middleotex, Tuesday, August 31, 1852. EXPLOSIONS IN COAL MINES. The Select Committee appointed last session to inquire into the causes of the frequency of explosions in coal mines, with a view to prevent the appalling loss of life arising from them, and who were em powered to report their observations, together with the minutes of evidence taken before them, to the House, have considered the matters to them referred, and agreed to the following report : " Your Committee had in the first place to consider how best, in the short space of time permitted them in the present session, so to prosecute their inquiry as that some early advantage might be derived from it to that numerous class which is employed in the coal mines of Great Britain. "It they had consented to receive evidence from every quarter from which it was tendered, not only would the whole of their time have been occupied in the examination of witnesses only, without an opportunity being afforded to them of offering any conclusions of their own, but the evidence would have been of that voluminous character which renders it practically useless. " Your Committee, therefore, considering the pressing emergency of the matter committed to their charge, how deeply the interests of humanity were involved (the deaths from explosions having latterly increased to the fearful number of about 1,000 per annum), determined only to examine witnesses of the highest arid most expe rienced character, in the hope that they might be able to derive sound information on which to recommend ad ditional means tor the prevention of such widespread calamities during the present session, " They were the more induced to adopt this course from the circumstance of a Committee of the House of Commons having inquired into the subject in 1835 (Mr. Pease chairman), and of a Committee of the House of Lords (Lord Wharnoliffe chairman), having repeated the inquiry in 1849; and of a great mass of evidence having been published by those Committees. " Bat early in their sittings, the report from the South Shields Committee, appointed to investigate the causes of accidents in coalmines,' was brought under their notice; to which report the attention of the House of Lords' Committee was also directed in 1849. On examination, this report proved to be a repertory of in formation, so extensive, important, and apparently so accurate, that it seemed to supersede in a measure the necessity of examining very numerous witnesses. This committee was appointed by a public meeting in South Shields, held in consequence of the dreadful loss of life by the explosion of the St. Hilda Mine, in 1839, close to that town. It continued its labour for three years; visited in person various mines, com municated with many of the most scientific and prac tical men of the day, at home and abroad, and terminated its labours by that report. " The first witnesses, therefore, summoned by your Committee, were the chairman of the South Shields Committee, Mr. Ingham, late member for that borough, and Mr. Mather, its honourary secretary, to authenticate the accuracy of that report. The result was satisfactory. To the evidence especially of Mr. Mather, whose labours in this interesting cause of humanity are worthy of the highest praise, they beg to refer. So much value do your Committee attach to this document that they have added it in eztenso in an appendix to their report. " The Committe of the House of Commoes, in 1835, called public attention to the undue confidence that hitherto had been placed in the Davy lamp; suggested that reliance should chiefly be placed for security on in creased ventilation ; and concluded by expressing the hope that the evidence they published would stimulate to such increase. It is to he regretted that so little at tention was paid to those beneficial suggestions. " From the Committee of the House of Lords ema nated a recommendation for a Government inspection of mines, which has since been adopted. The inse curity of the Davy lamp, under particular circum stances, was implied. They report—' Better ventila lation, however, appears to be the improvement most generally needed and most to be aimed at.' They state, in addition, that the mines of Scotland are compara tively free from danger from explosion. To this a me lancholy contradiction has been given ny the calamitous tragedy, last year, of the Nitshill colliery explosion, near Glasgow; and by the statement of the Government inspector of that district, Mr. M. Dunn, in a late report to the Secretary of State, in which he says that the de partment of Scotland exhibits a greater succession of ac cidents, in proportion to the number of persons employed, than in England.' " The Com m itt ee of th e House of Lords refers also with some stress, among other plans, to the proposal to increase ventilation by means of the steam jet. This plan had been suggested by Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney, its inventor, to the Committee of 1E35. It is the system al most exclusively relied on by the South Shields Com mittee in their report for increased security from ex plosion. " Having considered, therefore, the labours of those who have preceded them, as well in reports of Com mittees of the two Houses as in those of inspectors and others; and having verified the authenticity of the South Shields report; and having discovered that nothing new upon the subject appears to have been elicited since the report of the south Shields Committee, except on some important conditions connected with ven tilation pointed out by Mr. Gurney before the Lords' Committee, as to what he termed the furnace limit,' and the formation of a natural brattice,' and the furnace paradox;' and all these reports having leaned to the conclusion that increased ventilation was the only true and secure means for the prevention of explosions, your Committee determined, if possible within the limits of the present session, to bring the matter and the means of increased ventilation to some more practicable issue than that to which it had hitherto been brought; and for the conclusions to which they have come, they beg to refer to the very interesting evidence which they now publish. " Your Committee are of opinion— " That any system of ventilation depending on com plicate machinery is unadvisable, since under any dis arrangement or fracture of its parts the ventilation is stopped or becomes less efficient. That the two systems which alone can be conside red as rival powers ere the furnace and the steam jet. " The furnace system, under favourable circumstances , e. of the area of the shafts being large and deep, the air-courses sufficient, the goaves (or old workings) well insulated, and the mine not very fiery, appears to be capable, with strict attention, of producing a current of air that will afford reasonable security from explosion; but when the workings are fiery and numerous as well as remote, and the intensity of the furnace or furnaces requires to be raised in order to increase, on any parti cular emergency, the amount of ventilation, then the fur nace not only refuses to answer the spur an d to increase ventilation, but from a natural law (discovered by Mr. Gurney, and scientifically and practically confirmed be fore your Committee), there arises a d a ngeroas stoppage to the ventilation going on throughout the mine. An explanation of this is given under the heads' Natural Brattico,' and' Furnace Limit,' in the' Technical Defi nitions and Explanations' at the foot of this report. Under the head of Furnace Paradox' will he shown the importance of the water gauge as a test of the drag of t he mine which produces the furnace limit under the furnace system. " To the powers of the steam jet, on the other hand, u ti p r c o a u s t n d a e s there appears to b e no practical limit; for although it acts, when plac e d ( w here recommende d ) at the bottom of the r a the rarbeofiielerrt, its othperienecoitpenalt ofor the direct steamef efficiency io used, noy and depends upon its power of propulsion. The heated air air r t c only b r e s es bodilyfr o rarefaction, mpushed u p thebu t upcast,any am amount t of coldamount merely depending on the num ber and size of jets em ployed, and the pressure of steam. " This power of the steam jet, although recommended so strongly by the South Shie lds Committee, in 1843, did not appear to have been so extensively introduced, or so thoroughly tested, as to be taken by your Committee for granted, notwithstanding the testimony borne to its efficiency by most intelligent witnesses. They held their judgment in suspense for the greater part of their in quiry. They adjourned to the Polytechnic Institution, and there had ocular demonstrations of its power; they summoned before them Mr. Nicholas Wood, considered the most experienced exponent and defender of the fur nace system. They heard nothing from him to weaken the impression which grew upon their minds of the great power of the steam jet as a ventilator. Still, from its having been, as stated, ignorantly applied in some cases, and producing less effect than had been described in such cases, the superiority of it over the furnace in actual practice had not been adequately proved to them until Mr. Foster, next to Mr. N. Wood, it seems, the largest viewer of the north of England, appeared before them. " The evidenco of Mr. Forster in favour of the steam jot, from long and constant use, was conclusive, and any doubt previously existing was at once removed. To the whole of his most valuable evidence reference should be made. _ _ _ "Your Committee are unanimously of opinion that the steam jet is the most powerful, and at the same time least expensive method for the ventilation of mines. "Previous to 1848, when Mr. Forster introduced the steam jet into the Seaton Delaval Mine, the firedamp was constantly seen playing around the face and edges of the goaves and other parts of the workings. Since that period the mind is swept so clean that it is never observed, and all danger of explosion seems removed in a very fiery mine. The increase of ventilation is from 53,000 cubic feet per minute, under the furnace system, to 84,000 under the steam jet; and to double that quan tity, which Mr. Forster considers sufficient, would, ho says, only require the application of some extra jots. Mr. Forster states the original outlay for the steam jet to be less than for the furnace by 391. 15s. 6d., and the annual cost to be less by 501. 12s. Id., while the power of ventilation is increased to nearly double. " Notwithstanding the increase of ventilation which Mr. N. Wood states ho has obtained in ono of his col lieries whero the areas of the shafts are very large, and by the aid of three furnaces, it appeared in evidence that the explosion at the Killingworth Colliery last autumn, under Mr. N. Wood's management, took place under the furnace system of ventilation. " Although a few of the witnesses (two of the most intelligent of the Government inspectors among the number) seemed to have misunderstood the mode in which the steam jet operated as a ventilator, and pro fessed themselves so far unacquainted with it as to be unable to form an accurate judgment on its me r i ts, all the witnesses, with scarce an exception, coincided in the e :P e n n i:n sh where e the th et furnace opinion that in a fiery mine, system was thought builicient under ordinsry eir euea . of the engine which stances it would be a prudent and almost necessary pre caution to have a steam jf t a op of the downcast, connected with the boiler Pressing emerge worked the mine, in case a sudden a n d increase of power was required under nay. 1852. pußsi m I.7RomCos. At. 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