The Sun. — London, England, 1847-02-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 2, iBll. deficiency must be made up by some extraordinary t which thus found their way into these poeltete nttlie returned means ; but with respect to the amount to be j back to the soil in that mariner in which it is returned by the contributed by England, he was disposed to leave that : landlords of Erielend, lit the improvement of their estates, in question to be settled by the House. It must be remembered, ' Int,lt lig after their tenants, andbenefiting the condition of the however, that whenever England went to war, I re l an d had to , people.. Such was the condition of by far the largest propor. contribute her money and the erterg - y of her valour towards : Lion of the Irish landlords. There was, however, an exception maintaining the contest; and whenlrela n d was v i s i te d b y aI to this class. He believed that many o f th e a b sen t ee landlords calamity ver y s i m il ar to a war, she ought not to be thrown I instead of deserving the censure which h a d b een so l av i s hl y be upon he r own resouacee He h a d no Hesitatiou in telling I the stowed upon th em , we r e, on th e con t rary , d eserving o f p ra i se . House, that had t h e I ris h Parliament been in existence thi e lie belie v ed, an d h e could mention the names of many Noble effort ; and et een he was told that Ireland could ,' found to be among the number of the most beneficent landlords not meet the distress out of her own resources, iin Ireland. lie need only mention the name of a Noble Mar he only pointe dto the fact that the year previous I quis—the Marquis of Lansdowne—in order to satisfy the to th e un i on , I reland incurred a debt of from seven I House of the truth of his assertion. He (Mr. Roebuck) to eight million .s sterling, for the purpose of maintaining the saw one great source of Irish evils in having the people abso lver. How , aifferent, however, was their position. The , lutelv bound to th e so il, an d una bl e to d epen d upon or to de neglect o f th e Ministry had left the population in a state of j part - front it. It they were sent from their holdings, they would terribl e desti .tution. He did not think the Noble Lord had I be perfectly .un a bl e t o o bt a i n th e i r li v i ng. Of all the ob given sufficit tnt reason w h y h e had not opened the ports weeks i nervations which fell from the Noble Lord at the head of ago, nor ha d t h e Ch ance ll or of the Exchequer shown good I the Government when he la s t a dd resse d th e H ouse, c for r lot supplying the peop l e w i t h f oo d . Wh en the i t h at one who had studied the subject of Ireland so much, people wer e starving, no tioetrines of political economy ought should have stated that the sub-division of property in that to stand i n th e way and had of the relief of a starring p o p u l a ti on ; I country was nut an evil—that surprised him most. That part sairctuhleat ' aeyernweent had less scruples about i n t er f er i ng w i t h 1 o f I re l an d w hi ch he adduced in order to prove his assertion, wors and trade, th e y wou ld no t h ave h ear d o f port i ons was a manufacturing part of Ireland. The land in that district population dying of starvation. Rather than suffer was held by persons who maintained themselves by other occu such a circumstance as that, Government ought to h ave i nations, and thos e littl e h o ldi ngs i n th e ne i g hb our h oo d o f scoured t h e world from one end to the ether for 1 Armagh, to which the Noble Lord bad allu'led, corn ; but, instead of doing that, they had were encour held more by way of recreation than any , aed speculations in demanding, not trade, but mono- thing else. As well might the Noble Lord have pePoolypit:ices. He came now to the question of employing the said that the suburban districts of London were divided into a resseectO4 public works. He would express an opinion with number of small divisions, and endeavoured to infer from that, to tam t o one of theeneasurts of florernment. He alluded that the sub-division of land was not injurious. He would if ti. ,. ‘a r.noney proposed to he expended on public works ; now again briefly allude to the great master evil of Ireland. The „(., t. money were to be expended on works of national im- unfortunate division of land into these petty holdings, from r , t.ance th e landlords re; Ireland would not object to contri- which the landlords could not remove their tenants, they being flaws. The G overnment proposed an extension of the poor- in reality more the possessors of the land than the landlords aatvs. Now, he had been always favourable to the themselves. What was then to be done ? Was it possible by principle of th e p oor -l aws, an d w h en the Noble any means so to fashion the legislation of the Government as that said _ . that there was an i n di spos i t i on to carry out to make it the interest of certain parties to watch over and rate principle of the p oor -l aws , h e did an i n j ust i ce to t h e peo- prevent this constant sub-division of land ? If the Govern- ' gale of Ireland. ‘s ). ,Then the Nobl e L or d a ll u d e d t o Castlebar, went could not d o th a t, t h ey must t h row d own t h e i r h an d s an d lie had forgotten to mention the fact that in Ireland there was give up the tasks. Until that could be done, it was useless to In es much lar ger num b er i n the poor-houses than these establish- hope to do any good for Ireland. He thought, however, that vied were o r i g i na lly i n t en d e d f or . Th e poor -l aws, car- i t was within the legitimate means of Parliament to accom out to the extent proposed, would amount to confiscation plish that end, but he must deprecate ()eery attempt on in Ireland. With respect to what certain gentlemen had ad- the part of the Government to become a land-jobber, a corn vanced with respec t to g i v i ng re li e f i n I re l an d , h e had only to factor, ur a road-maker. All those things were beyond observe r ~t lea t no poor-law however comprehe ns i ve i n pr i nc i p l e t h e prov i nce of Government, and the Noble Lord had stated evi i r." 1?, ate in detail could meet su c h a ca l am i ty as t h e present most truly that it was impossible for the Government to feed gatssetbwatit h afflicted Ireland. The re f ore th e pr i nc i ple promul- a whole nation. . He would take upon himself to say that no respect to the duration of relief w in hic h had been people could be di rec t e d i n t h e app li ca ti on o f th e i r i n d us t r i a l p r omulgated, th a t if th ere were spoor-law Ireland they powers by any Government. All that Governments could do would meet the distress, was erroneous. Now the was to protect life and property— to give the means, and Noble Lord had said that after the passing of the make easy and . certain the transmission of property—to make measures he had submitted to the House he would secure the titles to property, and thus subsidiarly to protect introduce subsequent subsidiary measures. After that Itfe and property, and to raise the condition of the people by bhaadrvest they sh ou ld h ave as great a pressure as they education. No Government in. the world ever wen t beyond those- at present, therefore they must take some prompt and bounds without doing mischief, and never was so striking an efficient, measure for the ab sor p t i on of surplus labour. instance given of the mischievous results consequent upon (Hear.) Considering the loan proposed t o b e a d vance d w i t h over - stepp i ng t h ose b oun d s t h an had been given in the history reference._ to this s u bj ec t, he would throw out a suggestio n t o of th e l as t f our mon th s . A return h a d b een laid upon the the Government that it would b e d es i ra bl e t h at the amount table of the House this morning containing the correspondence the °, charge for investigation, together with the mods , of it s of the Board of Works. Although he had not been able to go a,PPlication, should be care f u ll y i nqu i re d i nto. H e h eld i n his through the whole of it, still from whatiittle he had seen he must stand a letter from a gentleman who stated that the amount say that such an exhibition he never witnessed as the waste that would be advanced by the Board of Works, for ful expenditure which that book disclosed. He did not say the purpose of subsoil would be very beige in- intentional waste on the part of the Government, but in spite need.---(Hear, hear.) He now came to the application of of all their best endeavours to prevent it, they were totally money for the reclamation of waste land in Ireland. The incapacitated properly to distribute money. The moment they N, obleL or d h a d state d t h a t t h ere were s i x m illi ons o f waste se t th emse l ves up as t h e b uyers o f l a b our— l a b our directly left 'and in Ireland. He was quite satisfied that if they reclaimed its accustomed and legitimate sources to flow into their channel. land of that character they would confer a great benefit on the —(Hear. hear.) The Irish people left profitable employment People of Ireland, because they would create a greater number in the north of England, and even Liverpool. They struck (4 small proprietors in fee—a most desirable class—and the by thousands, and said that they were going to Ireland to take 4leaeme, if well managed, would work most successfully. With the Queen's money. All agricultural labour was suspended, =respect to encumbered land (we understood the Honourable and the consequence, starvation in its most aggravated forms Gentleman to say) he thought it was most injurious was made apparent for the ensuing year. What was it that to have land possessed by proprietors who had a had done this? Should not the Government take bilmoirtV influence from their position but no cepa- warning by this example? It had overstepped its proper of improving their land. The Noble Lord had also limits, and had taken upon itself to be the provider P r oposed to introduce measures of a temporary character for the of food and labour for the whole people, and the at commutation of tithes. That, lie believed, would effect much tempt had proved an utter failure. What had it done ? It good. With respect to fi s he r ies, ho w o uld o ff e r an ob serve - had demoralised the whole nation. It h a d t aug ht th e p eo pl e lion. There w ere 90,000 p arsons engage d i n fi s h er i es i n I re - this g r e a t, d an g er o us , an d m i sc hi evous l esson —th a t if th e y i tit uanelrewho might be employed in augmenting the supplies for could only make it appear to the Government that the distress years. The Noble Lord should have recollected it had was general, there was then no neces s ity for th e ir d o i ng any „sepe pressed, year after year, by Commissions on the subject. thing for themselves. He wished the Government to under -lel I extension of these fsheries would, as he had already stand that it had to legislate for England as well as for Ireland. St ated, augment the supplies of food, and, therefore, were Ought they not to look to the comforts of their own labouring entitled to the consideration of the Government. With respect population ? Ought they not to look and carefully guard to the subject of emigration, he would detain the House for a against that moral pestilence which, like a mighty tide, would few moments. They must only send out to their colonies as roll its waves from the shores of that unhappy country to this? Many as those colonies could receive. But 200,000 persons If such conduct were to be pursued towards Ireland as had re could be sent out to the colonies, independent of those who cently been pursued, was there not a danger of the English might emigrate to the United States. The Noble Lord had l a b ourer b ecom i ng di scon t en t e d, an d as ki ng t h e unanswera bl e omitted to mention in his measures one thing that was more question, why he should be oppressed with toil and bowed important than all of them. He meant a measure that down to the earth by its continuous weight when he saw the Would secure to the tenantry of Ireland the right Irish pauper fed with his money, they themselves doing nothing o f compensation for their improvements, and that to lighten their burdens or to ameliorate their own distresses ? Gould tend more to the employment of surplus labour in Ire- Were they, he would ask, to see this moral pestilence per land than perhaps any other measure that could be proposed. vading the land, and he unwilling, or hesitating, or afraid, to Without venturing upon the subject which the Noble !stem.. Nit it down? He would not be terrified to do so ; and in the her f or L ynn i nten d ed to b r i ng before the House, he would name of his own poor countrymen, he protested against the say that the employment of labour in Ireland upon railways proceeding of the Noble Lord. He protested against the should be afforded by every possible means. There was one Government providing constant employment to the Irish. He other subject to which he wished to allude,—namely, ab- protested against the hard won earnings of the English people a enteeism, as he felt fully persuaded that until being applied to the drainage of Irish waste lands. He lastly they had adopted some measure to induce the absent proprie- protested against the inefficient poor-law, proposed to be es tnry to perform their duties towards Ireland, it would be im- - tablished. He wanted to know did that Bill give to the possible to produce that state of felicity which the Noble Lord people of Ireland a legal and necessary relief ? If not, then, contemplated. 4,000,000/. were drawn from Ireland in absen- they bad no poor-law. If it gave them a right to legal and teeism, and it was impossible to conceive that a country under necessary relief, then it must give a right to relief these circumstances could flourish. He would take an oppor- in some place. And if it gave therm that right there must be tunity of testing the opinion of the House upon this question. also a law of settlement and of removal, and there must be There were several details which he would not feel justified machinery to carry it into effect.—( Hear, hear.) There was in entering upon at present, but which hereafter the llonse no such thing, however, and he predicted that if they attempted would have an opportunity of discussing. He would not con- to go on as an Hon. Gentleman said to-night by such bit by elude without expressing a hope that the Government would bit legislation, they would never establish any permanent im employ the national resources of Ireland on works of national provement in the condition of Ireland. —( Hear, hear.) A advantage. wise statesman would take advantage of the present emergency, Mr. ROEBUCK said, that as a Member representing an and one effectual mode by which the recurrence of it would be i English eounty, he hoped it would not be considered imper- prevented, would be to fix upon the land of Ireland the support tinent in him to make a few observations to the Government, of the poor.—( Hear, hear.) He protested, therefore, on the subject of the present condition of Ireland, because, if against the poor-law of the Noble Lord. What then the repre s entative of that country were to be allowed to make were they to do ? Let then introduce the English their statements of misery and want, it might be fancied that poor-law. If it was good for England it should be equally distress did not extend beyond the shores of Ireland, or that good for Ireland, and would, he had no doubt, be effective in relief was needed by none other than her unhappy population. preventing the destitution which so widely prevailed in that There were, however, others who suffered, but who suffered country. In addition to this, he would also like to see a in a different spirit from those who were represented by the searching reform into the whole property law of Ireland, mak lion. Members for Ireland—who suffered, but without corn- ing the transmission of it easy, and better securing the title. blaming of the misconduct of Government—and who, while There must be no tenderness evinced in this respect, for ten they suffered, laboriously endeavoured t o h e lp th emse l ves , derness to the lan dl or d s wou ld b e crue l ty to the people. and that, too, by their own unaided energies, who ( Hear, hear. ) In referring to the condition of Ireland, he animated by a desire to help, disdained to throw themselves in did not wish to detract from the share which England, by her abject and almost helpless impotence before the House, but bad legislation, had contributed, to produce such a state of strove manfully, boldly, and energetically to ameliorate their things. The injustice of England was now recoiling upon herself. condition and minister to their own necessities. He knew He acknowledged it. He deprecated, however, the attempts that it had been insinuated that a malignant spirit dictated the which were being made to repeal the union between the two opinions of those who held opinions 11 1 ,0 n the present duty of countries, for he believed that would be the greatest evil which t he Government similar to those entertained by himself. He I re l an d ye t su ff er ed from. There was not a single benefit threw back the inuendo with its deserved contempt. Ho had which the people of that country had a right to that he did a duty to perform to his own country, and that duty he was de- not support. He believed they bad long been a misgoverned ter mined to fulfil to the utmost of hie abilities. The House people, b u t in no case did they suffer so much as in respect to W as now called upon to legislate for Ireland in a particular religion, and he thought that, irrespective of this consideration, emergency. The Noble Lord at the head of the Government, it would be wholly and entirely hopeless to regenerate the in introducing his measures to the notice of the House, had, it Irish character. If they left the Irish Church Establishment aPPeared, proposed other measures not having for their object remaining there could be no hope for Ireland. They were t he immediate relief of the people of Ireland, but for the re. trying to reconstruct the character of the Irish people, generation of that country.—( Hear, hear.) The measures hut, so long as the house left that mischief of the Noble Lord might be separated into three dis- existing as it was then their efforts would be utterly and en tinct parts, first, the amelioration of the distress of the tirely hopeless.—(Hear, hear.) He had no antipathy—be country ; secondly, the re-construction of its national cha- had no fear of Catholics as opposed to Protestants—he looked racter; and the third, relating to what was passing in the upon both with the same eye, and he could not help remarking mind of the Noble Lord, when he made the mysterious corn- that if they left the Irish priesthood in the condition they then A r lunicatio n to the House upou the subject of the future con - were, the unhappy state of things which lie had been deserib ulti°n of Ireland. It behoved the house well to consider ng would continue to prevail. That was a subject which at when they contemplated the state of Ireland, that there were present occupied awns' minds much, and was one on which !n that country two broad distinctions between the classes of few were disposed to express what they really felt. He its inhabitants, there was a large majority of the people living thought it his duty, however, to declare what no one seemed as i a labouring population upon the land, and there was another disposed to avow, that as long as the Irish priest class, consisting of persons, who were the so-called proprietors hood were left in the position in which they of the land. Both of these classes were now as mendicants then were, so long would they find it their interest befor e the House—the one asked of the House that the people to perpetuate the unhappy state of things which existed. He should be relieved from starvation, time other demands, in a did not want the Government to come forward and propose a commanding tone, that the landlords should be saved from State en d owm ent, for the Government which attempted to rui n , it was necessary for the House to consider the condition make a State provision for them, would not, he believed, stand of those two classes. The labouring population of Ireland for 124 hours after.—( Hear, hear.) But if they did away with were habitually bordering upon starvation, they were always the law of mortmain, and enabled priests to acquire land by upon that great calamity; the brink of tkat misery, into the gift or otherwise, to the amount of 300/. a year, such a meas.' aby ss of which they had fallen in the present year, sure would tend to the pacification and improvement of Ireland They were a people who had always been reduced to subsist more than any other yet proposed. There was only one on the lowest species of food in w hi c h, i n a c i v ili se d condition, other means to attain that object—namely, by a repeal of the it is possible for a human being to live, and upon the smallest nnion, and by allowing each municipality under the federal con quantity of that unwholesome and inefficient food. They lived stitution which would then exist, to pay any priesthood it pleased. upon the smallest holdings of land, not as i n o th e r countries But any attempt to pay the Catholic priesthood out of the im where remunerating wages were given in return for labour, but peril treasury would, in the present circumstances of this where the return was small , uncertain, badly and unskilfullt country, be accompanied by the destruction of that Ministry applied, without rhea asssistance which capital could render, or who made such a proposal. When they did this, they should the skill which.edution could confer. Their labour was the provide as far as possible for the education of the Irish people. Power of mere brute force applied by numbers to the land, Arid for this purpose they had funds in their own hands, having for its return the smallest quantity which a soil, natu- namely, the surplus revenue of the Irish Church Establishment, rally fertile, could produce. In this condition the race had after suitab!y providing for its wants. He deprecated any pro- Multiplied exceedingly, and the multiplication of the numbers vision from the imperial treasury for this purpose. Nothing of that unhappy people had been aided by its proximity to could be worse than this dependence en Government support. England, for in spite of every means which could be adopted to One Gentleman asked the Government to carry on public Prevent it, capital, however small, had dribbl e d into Ireland, wog ks ; another, fisheries ; another, to purchase seed corn ; an and those small sums had had only the effect ef increasing the other, to promote drainage ; and another, to make railroads. amount of population, without in the least degree elevating their Government was to do everything. The Hon. Member for national character. Such was the physical condition ef the Limerick said that they should provide food for the people of great body of the labouring population of Ireland. Nor were Ireland, and of all places in the world, that they should go for it they to be considered as in a chronic state of disease, the pre- to the Faulkland Llands—(Laughter)—barren islands, from sent was but an acute form of the disease ; starvation was at which no produce could be brought. He wanted to know what Rresent existing, mere starvation was constantly threatening. Government was not expected to do ? He supposed they were et - hey were not a class of persons who, although they laboured. to feed, to clothe, and to shave every gentleman.—(Laughter.) live by the wages of labour, for in most eases they had the It might not appear a matter for jesting, but he never heard worst of all masters—the Poor man himself. This was the anything so lamentable as that such a demand should come class who came to that house and asked for bread to keep them from a nation whose soil and climate were as good as theirs— from starvation. starvation. It was not because the people of England so intellectual and populous a nation—their equals, and did net sympathise with their distress that they hesitated to he never denied that they were so, in intellectual assuage it, but it was because they believed that any relief and physical capacity.—( Hear, hear.) There was one would only extend the distress they sought to remove, and to great difference, however, between the two nations, and that Multiply the horrors they so fervently desired to avert. He difference consisted in moral courage.—( Hear, hear.) This would now ad ver t t o th e o th er b o d y w h o de ma nded to be re- was the quality which enabled the English people to sustain deemed from ruin. He spoke not of a ll th e landlords of Ire- themselves under the pressure of opposing circumstances, and land. He took upon himself t o say t h at th e nom i na l pro; 7 , i a ffi ve cu t l h t e ie m s wahnicinhhmeriegnhtt obstructtopower them ; and tsterugglesure did notssfully hesitatewithall prietors o f I re l an d were not the landlords of that countr —(Hear, hear.) The real landlords of Ireland were the self mortgagees and the tax-gatherers. The Irish landlord had all hop e to be running in the same race the desire ors . ip could eestow, o f t.Och:aaLtehattheifythmeiglhrtisshoopielople once acquired this virtue of far show which landed es ri t h . } s 1 but they were not po • ssessed of the P we P alt e h which should be the support of that pride, and the maintenan ce of that love of dis• diseases ry- 'heir country permanently e tablished.--(t.heers.) play, and the consequence was, that, like their poorer t surrounded completelytto ee t he removed,evi lcols by and which the greatness th ., ey w e r . a e n and t powerp rpresent t f men, the landlords, too, were in a state of chronic always on the verge of ruin and heavily in debt. They ago net winch led to the unfortunate state of things VI Lord BERNARD deprecated then diseussin h g ich th i e )re c y lu il s e e d s the masters of their own estates, and are obliged to live from hand to mouth, craving at everything, graspin g at everything in Ireland at a time when, according to the Noble Lord (the Premier) a famine of the thirteenth century was operating which really devolved on a o ulation of the nineteenth. While they and totally unable to perform the duties really devolved for upon the possessor of the soil. When he saw such men a, were dis P cu P ssing on these points it should not be for these come to demand sof the House to be preserved front ruin gotten that thousands were passing away from time to eternity.. ._ . H e read various letters which he had received from the part of he was driven to inquire, what was the cause of their forlorn the country with whi c h h e was connected ( Ban d on ) to s h o w condition. Unhappily the land lords of Ireland ha d been in that the Governme n t had not established depots at those places at which they had promised they should be established, and reality the cause in a great measure of all the miseries which the consequences which had resulted, particularly in the south of Ireland. Then, again, at the worst period of the famine had befallen their unhappy country. They had always been a favoured class by that House. The whole of the legislation There was a general and disgraceful combination amongst the corn merchants to raise the price of corn. lie read volu g minous for that country had been dictated to by landlords. The Govern- Ment had passed the multitudes of the people in order to give documents to show how combination had been to large numbers of std` a dditional strength to the dominance of the landlords. They general and how injurious this referred to, commissariatillustratiy ha d Riven all those powers which suncessive Governments , e favour, cCorkclass "ad given them, and had now brought themselves to the brink people. One letter from a he particularly of ruin, anti the whole body of the i eople to the brink of star vation. means which the Governmentadopted But h ow h a s thi s b een e ff ec ted ? The steps were of t ra d ers wh om the Government seemed disposed Pertain and clear. It was impossible to mistake' and reluctant to interfere with. He had no hesitation i . on 1 hes t i o t tin in . t the hem. The general character of the Irish landed s a ying that the Phroasprietor was some years past one of ioyous au ternn• fell far short, and were consequfernotmlythme eiv it which n h g e y twhwaeosyulmdoasetcouinnat-s pitality ; their national character was, that they had dequate to meet the emergency, b ecause, passedutsct haveacalled t h s h eu o ep w ric n nd 11 . 0 prudence ; and the consequence of the deficiency of that which to ohe mfue full meet. The cwTnehtreec Labour-rate n taibi t eo h u e rh- calamityra a b t i e habit rAf whichre e virtue was, that their hospitality brought them constantly int. , becoming indebted, they looked around them in order tr. di scs - this ver how th e i r present wants could he supplied ; t o attain of last session. had done much to injure the country, as farmers the end, every possible resource was ransacked and at length an d th e ir labourers forsook their legitimate labour for the to _ ,n?ohstreus grievance which now overspreads the country purpose of labouring on the roads. Then the proceedings at too k its rise, anti the distribution of land into small divisi ons , he sessions were often conducted in clamour, and unfairly, . Place. Then it was that the poor men commenced a and works were devised which were of little, and syste me of competition with each other to obtain p o s s e ss ion of „s tee of no advAntage, to the country. (H ear. ) Oilierparcels;,, anti the most extravagant demands of the landlords were House that the calamity was not a national one, and that it was se Zl' l 3' complied with by the parties who so eagerly desired pos- one which it was the duty of resident landowners to have rent ,.un . The consequence of this had been, that the met, without aid from the Government ; but in his opinion, if in rents Ireland were much higher than they were ever there was a national calamity, that which had afflicted Ire i,_ the pockets A larger return from the land went land was certainly one which came within that category, `‘`? the pockets of the landlords, and of all the larger alms • Ireland had contributed her fair share to the aggregate talm flint to clischame the burdens of the three countries, and had a right, when s.O visited, to relief out of the coffers of the nation. In dealing with the Indian revenue, upwards of twenty years ago, Sir Robert Peel spoke of our Indian posQessions as having a right, in the case of an insufficient revenue to meet the expenditure, to assistance from home. The Hon. Gentleman the Member for Bath (Mr. Roebuck) had attacked the Irish iandlords, but he thought he was justified in saying that the Irish landlords, during the present calamity, had done all in their power to alleviate the distresses of their country. He had already stated his opinion that the poor-law of both countries ought to be assimilated, and he was still strongly of that opinion ; but he warned the Govern ment, that at such a time, they would find it utterly impossible to raise the rates necessary for the support of more workhouses. He believed that the surest way to benefit Ireland was by the application of capital in the development of her resources. They would thus teach Ireland to make use of the advantages which lay al ound her, and then he trusted that a happier day awaited her. Sir R. H. INGLIS said that, notwithstanding his great t r h e e s p beginninge ft o the r o f Nob his Noble speech, e Lo ec rd he could h,, he had hadp„ n d o e t but ayou observe redtorevi t y hat, edoci.n trines which he (Sir R. Inglis) cot- ir3ered to have been long ago exploded. The Noble Lord be. , his speech by saying that in the city of Cork there had been a combination amongst the sellers of earn, by which the price of corn had been raised in the market. Now, it should be remembered that the city of Cork contained 100,000 inhabitants; and, admitting the fact, which he was by no means willing to do, that there had been such a combination, were there not such cities as Water ford, Dublin, and Bristol? And could any man seriously be lieve that, supposing there were ten ships engaged in the com bination, some one of the number would not—to use a vul garism —strip over—( Hear, hear)—and the rival dealers from those towns would soon put an end to the pressure in the market. He rose immediately after the Hon. and Learned Member for Bath, because he had, in his first sentence, stated that he rose as an English Member, recognizing the principl e that the question before them should not be treated as one of local, but of national importance. Availing himself, there fore, of the privilege of being an English Member, he wished to take the earliest opportunity to object to a large portion of his speech. Indeed he should have thought, that in the pro posed measures there would have been ample food for legisla tion to the most voracious appetite. But not content with the three Bills upon the table, the Learned Member, with inex haustible ingenuity, had contrived to bring in ery other vexata quest-n.—(Hear, hear.) For the special accommoda tion of one Hon. Member, he proposed to revive the appro priation clause ; and for the accommodation of other Hon. Members he proposed several other additions to the policy of the Government. The Hon. and Gallant Member who spoke from the bench behind him (Sir R. Inglis), also surprised him very much, in not referring to the comprehensive policy of the Noble Lord, and by viewing it as a bit-by-bit policy. If ever there was so large a measure proposed for the regeneration of a great nation, he had read history but to little purpose; for whether it was right or wrong, he looked upon it as most comprehensive. His immediate object in rising was to bring back the consideration of the House from extraneous subjects to the real question, namely, the miserable condition of the great bulk of their fellow-subjects. At that moment the eyes of the empire were concentrated upon the House with a deep sympathy for the sufferings of their fellow creatures in Ireland. And when the Member for Bath talked of express ing the indignation of the people of England at the measures of her Majesty's Government, he, for one, hoped that be would find himself mistaken, and that the English people would feel nothing but an intense desire to promote the present benefits about to be conferred upon the Irish people—he limited himself to the present benefit—for both with respect to the cause and to the remedies, he did think it their first duty to consider in what manner those evils might be relieved. He at the same time quite concurred wiih much that had been stated with regard to a great mass of their fellow -countrymen in Ireland—he meant the landed proprietors—there might be still such cha. asters as these which had been so inimitably depicted by the talented novellist, in " Castle Rack-rent." But whether they do commit a series of faults, they have b een stricken by the hand of God, a n d it became them to give their readiest, their most cheerful, and their most active sympathy. And how had the calamity been borne by these poor people? He did not recant any praise which he had bestowed upon the people of Scotland, but the debate was on Ireland exclusively, and he did not in the least exaggerate when he said that they bore their sufferings with unexampled patience. He desired to draw the attention of the House to certain reports made by the agent of a most benevo lent religious body—the Society of Friends, who had deputed certain members of their body to visit Ireland with the warmest and the most intelligent desire to promote their in terests. The statement which they give of the actual distress is one which it is net pleasant to read, but he desired permis sion to draw attention to it, in order to show how well the people had earned their warmest sympathies. The Hon. Member then read several extracts. One was that the poor starving creatures in the districts of Louth and Leitrim were keeping each ether alive by sharing their last morsel. This was a general statement, but he could give hundreds of individual cases. He could not ref, -in front one in particular. The visitor entered a cabin of about four feet high, and about nine feet square, on the side of a road, he found the inha bitants to consist of a widow and several children ; in addition to the family, he saw an old superannuated wo man, sitting in a corner, and rocking to and fro her matted grey hair, which fell over her face, and added to her squalid and wretched appearance. She was scarcely clothed ; immediately behind her was her pallet of damp and dirty straw, which she hardly ever left. It appeared that she was no relative of the widow of the house, who allowed her to stay there merely from a feeling of charity. Might they not say of her as of the widow of old—" She gave more theta they all." The Right Hon. Baronet proceeded to read statements, exhi biting the lamentable state of distress in different parts of the country. An Hon. Member had referred to the workhouse ot Castlebar, exhibiting the utmost degree of destitution, but he ( Sir R. H. Inglis) knew of other circumstances equally afflicting. One union was 2,000/. in debt, and notice was given the other day that unless the rates were paid up the guardians would be obliged to sell the house and turn the wretched inmates out upon the world. He knew another instance, where the inmates of the union were obliged to sleep upon the straw, as they had nothing in the shape of bedding The whole appearance of affeirs indicated great approaching social change which would not only affect the peasantry, but the landlords also, and could it be wondered that such a change should take place when the rents of that unhappy country had so greatly increased without any corresponding in crease in the value of the soil. He thought that some mean, should be adopted to induce Irish absentees to return to the localities, which would be much benefited by their pre sence, and although a direct tax might not be expedient, still a virtual impost by an efficient poor-law might have the effect ot inducing them to remedy the evils which were so created in a material degree by their lengthened residences in other countries. Colonel CONNOLLY said, that while thanking the Noble Lord for the wise and benefleent measures to Ireland, and with respect to the particular measures before the House, he thought that net above two or three objections could be urged against them. He considered, however, that these might be advantageously met in committee. They might, for instance, limit the facilities which the measure gave for the exertion of local patronage. But there was another and a much greater objection. He regretted to find that many lion. Members, and with them the Hon. Mem ber for Stroud, had one panacea for the ills of Ireland— namely, the opening of the poor-law to its fullest extent. Every workhouse except the workhouse of Castlebar, had been made to contain as many paupers as they could possibly hold ; and he was persuaded the evils of the system would be much increased if they extended relief to the able-bodied labourers who might seek it under the arrangements proposed by the Noble Lord at the head of the Government. Ile con sidered the present poor-law sufficient for all the purposes required. He was bound to say that it had worked admirably well since it was introduced, wherever it had been properly carried into effect. Iu his part of the country, near to Dublin, this had been the ease, though it might not have worked so well in the remote parts as was desirable. He confessed he looked with apprehension on the extraordinary rates that would be required, if they ex tended, in the manner proposed, the plan of relieving the able bodied labourers in the workhouse. The proposition of the Noble Lord was one he was desirous of treating with great leniency, still, he (Colonel Connolly) could not avoid pointing out the difficulty that would arise from the plan under the consideration of the House. With respect to the Castlebar proceedings, which had been referred to, he had been informed by Lord Lucan, that the reason why a rate had been objected to there, was the fact that 2,000/ of an old rate remained uncollected, and it was considered that that should be got in before a new rate was levied. Neither was he satis fied with the Government proposition for the cultivation and improvement of the lands, and thought it would not operate so beneficially as was believed. There was another point to which he wished to refer; it was the proposal to advance 50,000/. for the purchase of seed for the land. Ile considered this was too little, and hoped the Government would extend the loan. Some apprehension was expressed that many of the Irish estates were so encumbered with debts and mortgages that they would not be able to re deem the advances, and that the property would pass out of their hands. However much he might regret that, be did net doubt but that in many instances it would be attended with good results. He knew of two estates in the county in which he resided, which had changed hands with the best effects. While in possession of the previous proprietors, there was no thing but misery and litigation. Two-thirds of the cases brought before the county magistrates were from these estates ; but since they had passed into the hands of the Marquis of Clonmel and Mr. Barron, there had been a vast change for the better. A more rapid transition in the condition of a body of people he had never known. Mr. HUME—The Hon. and Gallant Member who had last spoken said that he trusted her Majesty's Ministers would not allow the able-bodied men of Ireland to become a burden upon tieyordnLf iiodifilotrrar the land. Did the Hon. and Gallant Member mean that they should become a burden upon the people of England?—( Laugh-. ter and cheers.) Some Irish Members entertained proper opi nions and principles on this subject, for they avowed that Ire land should support its own oonr, and so raise themselves in the scale of society and national independence.—( Hear, hear.) What appeared to him (Mr. Hume) the most singular feature Member, it was rettohnt a t bog i te m enE e obpon t: g)ris dlye a eoa i n;n k tdbtheihy t dte h eat eiwnhe a w ini: Aitaid i hl s ettori:sidbmltilrl in the case, was that the Hon. Members expressed their grati tude to her Majesty's Ministers because they gave them money. —("Hear, hear," from Colonel Connolly.) "Hear, hear," said the Hon. Member. Why, because the Government gave money to the landlords of Ireland. If that was the opinion of one so eminent, and so distinguished, and so well known, as the Hon. appear opfta y suhenkl w al adrdrt re the r tab e hoi netendhhoG:di money, ,roa r aaisr n g, fned t grre e c,en yar:_-r n we rn e a t e r e d m w d Govern ment not to give money to the landlords of Ireland. down in this futile attempt to remedy the miseries of Ireland. so" m d ad t thei n f l ge t h u s a e a pffi y m o c : r r t t a o i u n l could statementssee dis posed to take a proper view of the remedies fitted for that country. There were indeed some omis sions, and he ( Mr. Hume) had taken it upon him self to point out a few of them. While they were trying means of palliating these distresses, he did not see one measure calculated to afford a hope of any radi cal improvement or radical change. It was, therefore, a mat ter of the most serious importance to the HOW.° to have be fore it the principles which were to guide Ministers in these ma tters, and he (Mr. Hume) t hough t that before they agreed they ought to have a distinct s t a t ement to grant one shilling Ministr y de d tnten to pursue. Wh en of the course which the the House heard nothing a dvanced for the purpose of relieving Ireland but money—money— money— (Laughter)—he could tell the Ministry that their Seven tre o treasury eight owull m vh il r l y ions of soon be empty.—(Hear, hear.) he believed that if no reme- ded and money were to be expended , h would require to spend dial measures w. re introduced t ey I three times that amount. They might upon it that might the best time to meet an evil was at the commencement ; and it was better to do so by other me ans than by spending the by d h . ch was left full their pre e cessors. If a want of employment balance in an Exchequer vit was felt in this country and in Scotl an d, w ith a decrease of exports, and a diminution of wages, ho s h ou ld lik e t o k no w how at that time they would be enabled to p r o cure t en or eleven millions of the of the whole way of lo an . Why, it wou ld s h a ke the credit w country. lie th oug ht th a t som e permanent, and not merely temporary me asures oug ht t o b e a dopted in this crisis. Let them look to th e d egra d e d s t a t e o f I re l an d, the system of land tenure prevale n t th ere , th e s t a t e o f th e l a nded proprietors and the degraded state of the people altogether, and he would defy them to produce another country so truly wretched. He acknowledged that a great part of this arose from the manner in which that country was treated by England; but even if that were the case, no one would deny that a remedy could be found. And before they tried to fled the re medy, it might be well to ask what it was that brought Ireland into the state in which ttA,, c hit o : neemu Another Irelandi t t hnh r t etywere there gentlemenfegneeri grievance interference ftcoeahepno; trc she was at present—what but the unequal loss, the unjust oppression, and the continued strife which existed between the of the country used to be arrayed against the other half, the rival parties marched out with banners flying, and it required h s 7 teat that N ot eoaiynfnewdaoatarfh: Ireland. ago, that () li n e t h( (Mr. i Hume) oiJuly, re c o o n l l e e ct halfed thheilodgsseevsentaheeir wtehrseo,fantdhethlaatneith, I vo r efs . re n H ov meP u nl: m -rnee e tsi g ; hit oppression n r h s e sa e nodf the preventth abolition c degradationlpvtilo pwleab o ory. f f tithes ; he was told that the Protestant Gentlemen of Ireland 1 1 , 1 l e they ot Is e re therefore contented fall into with e t y ba c t ou t his (Mr. Hume's) veiws. He was assured that Ireland could never rise in the scale of nations until they removed the mon strous inequality that had arisen from their penal laws. They ought to remove that dormant Church—they ought to give satisfaction to the people of Ireland—they ought to extend the same civil rights to Ireland that England had, and then they ought to tax every Irishman equally with every Englishman in this country. He knew that these opinions were not perhaps palatable or satisfactory to Irish gentlemen; but he knew also that it was not satisfactory for Englishmen to provide for the pauperism of the sister country. A passage had been quoted from Fletcher, of Saltoun, to show the deplorable condition of Scotland at an earlier period. But Scotland had now risen in the scale of nations, and why should Ireland not rise in the same manner 1 But it appeared that Irish gentlemen in this and the other House were banded together for no other pur pose than to get as much money out of the country as possi ble.—(Cries of "Ohl oh !") Why, let them read the resolu tion—that was the tenor of it, and it was, therefore, for her Majesty's Ministers to consider whether at the end of next year Ireland would not be in a worse condition than it was now. They should next year require eleven millions of money, and he should like to know where it was to be got from. Let them give the people of Ireland equal laws—let them protect capital, and employment to the people would very soon follow. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that he had, during the whole course of this debate, in vain listened for some suggestions or some indication by which they might guide the course which her Majesty's Government had in tended to pursue, and for some valid objection to the measures of the plan which his Noble Friend intended to pursue. He had heard, it was true, several objections from his Hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr. Osborne), and had heard much of the evils of a dominant Church, aid the mischief of advancing capital to Ireland, but not one single objection to the object which his Friend had in view, although he had listened with the greatest attention. It should be recollected that the chief object of his Noble Friend MA to provide for the necessities of the people under the awful calamity which had befallen Ireland, and for which, under the circum stances, it was so difficult to provide. He had hoped for some intimation, for some suggestion by which the Ministry might the better steer their course. But it was in vain, yet he could not but congratulate the House on the feeling which had been exhibited on all sides. He felt this question to be a most important question ; one the importance of which could not be exaggerated, and which had engaged the most anxious attention of her Majesty's Government, and they were earnestly desirous of taking that course under the circumstances, and God knows the circumstances are sufficiently difficult, and such as were suf ficient to embarrass any set of man. Many objections had been made to the course which the Government had pursued, and accusations had been brought against them, and one Hon. - Member had criticised in his speech the proceedings under the Act of the last session for the employment of the peor. The House would recollect that the Act passed during that session was for the purpose of employing the poor during the spring and summer months in consequence of the failure of the potatoe crop. That Act went on what was called the half and half system—that is, that one-half of the money was to be advanced by Government, on condition that the other half should be contributed by the resident gentry of Ireland, and it was expected that this outlay would bring out the expenditure of a much larger amount of capital. And did the Hon. Member know, that since the Ist of September, that the sum of 290,0001. had been advanced for that purpose. It was well known that the expenditure had been used in the payment of wages, and that it had had the effect of raising the price of labour in the labour market.— ( Hear.) In Scotland and England there had been a deficient harvest as well as in Ireland, but for those two countries no outlay whatever had been made. —( Hear, hear.) The public works on which this money had been spent had only been stopped until a presentment had been made from the farmers to the effect, that the exer tions of the labourers were necessary to gather the harvest. The Hon. Gentleman now told them that this measure of last session was a baseless, ill-considered measure, and that it had the effect of charging real property with the support of the poor in Ireland, and he thought that this observation was worthy of consideration. It was arranged by the terms of that Act that presentments should be made, and that then the Go vernment should advance one-half of the money , end that the sums advanced should Se charged partly on the funds ga thered for the maintenance of the poor, and partly on the funds of the county session. The . failure of the potatoe crop had put a stop -for a while to the public works, but he was sorry to sty for the sake of the Irish landlords, that when it was discovered that the contributions were to be made, two more presentments were made, and those which had been made were withdrawn. For sake of the absentee landlords he was bound to remark, that one absentee landlord, Colonel Wyndham, had advanced rations to ten thou sand poor people daily. He was unwilling to charge the Irish landlords with negligence, except to the extent that he thought they ought to have interposed to prevent, or at least to cheek the abuses which had been committed under the Act. He did not wish to say anything without authority, and there fore he would take the liberty of drawing the attention of the House to a report which had been received from the Board of Works. In that report the duties of the relief committees were clearly defined, and acontrast was drawn between those duties and the practice of the committees. One of the duties was to ascertain and investigate distress from week to week, while Government had to execute the works provided by the presentment session, and pay the labourers employed upon these works. In practice, however, the sessions presented works without previous local inquiry, the relief com mittees exercised little or no discretion in the performance of its duties, and hence the system had proved defective. It might have been difficult for the re sident gentry to perform the duties of relief committees, but he asked any gentleman whether he thought that those duties .hould be performed by an officer of engineers, whose province it was to superintend the execution of public works, or by the resident gentry ? (Hear, hear.) It was true that there was not the same parochial machinery in Ireland as in this country, hut when the local gentry said it was not their fault, but pro nounced officers that the system had failed, teey attempted to throw upon that board a stigma which they did not deserve. Nevertheless he thought the effect of the system had been good. No doubt it e had occasioned a good deal of expense, but when they consi deredd. and their that half a million of persons had to be p at . se. When labours suspended, how could it have been otherwl he told the House too, by the aid of one officer in the county of Clare, 3,000 persons were taken off the works b-cause they had been improperly placed upon them by the Relief Com mittees, and reminded them that these duties had to be per formed by the officers of the Board of Works in addition to their proper functions, he did not think it was quite fair I. throw blame upon them for the non-execu tion of duties which did not belong to them. Still the effect of their efforts had tended to alleviate and prevent distress. An enermous amount of relief had been afforded to the people, and thousands had been prevented from dying of starvation, and although they might regret that the money had not been so well spent as they could have wished, they could not but be gra' ified that so much suffering had been averted. It had been reported to Government that in some instances it would be better to give food than work, because there were some poor and destitute persons who were altogether from age and from other causes unable to work ; and in order to prevent such poor creatures from ac tually dying from starvation, it was proposed to give them food without allotting them work. He wished to make a remark or twe before he sat down in re ference to an observation which had fallen from a Noble Lord who had taken part in the debate, w ith regard to the supply o f f oo d t o the people. But first, he must give the House some id ea o f t h e di stress w hi c h p re vailed, and for the the of purpose of doi ng so h e wou ld b ring un der the notice .. House another r e p or t w hi c h h ad b een mane by the Boatel of that in Works. From that report it would be seen 0 _ the district of Kilmow, - where the total number e r a the eo. inhabitants was 7,800, of that number 7,000 werein by public n t destitution. He had said that the system of relief y_ had de termined had broken down, and they (the Governmen t )d to enable to distribute food in different districts, an food the local committee to dist r ib u t e t o a large extent cooked throughout the country. Th ere wer e many of th"e relief com mittees in actual operation at present; and f rom the reports H ous e, that they received, he was happy to be able to state to the from the reports which had been received from their officials and other sources, that their efforts had been a ttended with most beneficial results. It had been said that t h e carrying out of this system had been more advantageous n its effects than by the suste nance other. It had enabled the labeuring classes ' nance afforded them to go to the public works, and it would , here had also enable them to cultivate the ,o ' T rain in Ireland. been great exaggeration about the sowing of l g spring crops , A large number of the crops in that countrywere ' and it was therefore the more essential tha t immediate relief should be afforded the people to enable those w h o were engaged labour. did in the works of agricul ture to prosecute their to adopt the sug He ges not think therefore that it would be ri g ht ee wrea tion of the Hon. Member for Wi i . gan T here h as e the r distr g e ret ss, difficulties pressing on Irelan•of the world, an th almost unparalleled in the annals of taking p sys t em of the peop le lace w in d the ere was social also a most important change that country. Th e food of potatoes were being change d . A large portion of e people of ma i nta ined by p grou nd, and depended upon food raised entirel y b y the mselves, w hile they were in no measure dependent upon what they pur chased, supposing the potato m i g ht retain its position, but even then it was not expected t hat so lar g e a portion of the d derive their sustenance from that as of Ireland woul people nle of Ireland were to buy their food in hitherto. If the 1:)° . 0 ,,, people to sell them, and he believed detail, there must be s rester blessing than the establishment that there could not be a h g om they might purchase their f I of small dealers from whom y it would be highly c".. Ile thought that in ge Y oneylender, but in the in. improper for the State to became bridge over the t • ' esent order safely to e trans state of stance, and in ore h e measure exceeding) • thought ty desirable. With people, he reposed measure of the . With reference to the P the waste Government • o f tne was lands, the object of the for the reclamation t from what. it had been measure was very differen of lend in the ' • represented, there were large tracts as these tracts which h ossession of mere nominal owners, and it was for the the Government reclaim. The measurepromotion of the proposed to a i d a ls o be beneficial, although lotteries he thought wo . of that h e was upon the success measure net so sanguine estates was also calcul tel were. The sale of es a t to do much At all event good in the country. . .ng there moat prom Ireland was opt and the part of th earnest attention on e Government. • h come forward with a , s i 3ta It behoved them to coince to a greater h e extent, and he was sure t e country h . wor o ( not be u nw illi ng to respond to the requi r emen p ' ed that next harvest that t feared would be more abundant , but he that " there w ou ld b e a great amount of suffering before hp eriod a rr i ve d . In ad dition, however, to the assistance which be extended to the people from this country, a great duty was also imposed on Irish gentlemen; and vritheut their co-operation the Government could not hope to meet the emergency. It was necessary that agency, the food should be distributed thro ugh resident and it was necessary that those best acquainted with the natur e and extent of the distribution should administer to its relief. If he could impress upon them his own feeling s w i th regard to the calamity, he was sure that from private and public resources they would be able to grapple with the distress, and greatly alleviate the sufferings of the people.—((sheers.) On the motion of an Hose. MEMBER., the debate was then adjourned. Lord J. RUSSELL hoped the House would allow the debate to take precedence to-morrow. CHELSEA PENSIONERS BILL. This Bill went through Committee. BUCK WHEAT, £ec., IMPORTATION BILL. This Bill was read a third time and pasted. The other orders of the day having been disposed of, the House adjourned at a Quarter past Twelve o'clock. DESTRUCTION OF EASTON LODGE. THE LATE FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY. ADJOURNED INQUEST.- SOUTHALL, FEB. l.—This morning, according to the ar rangement made on Wednesday last, the coroner and jury . 1 re-assembled at theßed Lion Inn, Southall, to conclude their inquiries as to the deaths of Henry Bishop and Henry Halt, killed by the fall of a fragment from the broken tire of the "up" express engine, while passing the four o'clock " down" train, in which they were passengers, this day week. The proceedings of the inquest were, it will be remembered, adjourned, that the jury might be enabled to visit the scene of the catastrophe by daylight, and that the evidence of scientific men, free from the possible sus picion of bias, might be adduced as to the cause of the accident. • After a very, careful inspection of the carriage in which the deceased met their deaths--of the fragments from the broken tire of "The Queen's" driving-wheel, and of the condition in which that engine was left by the accident, the following evidence was adduced before the coroner and the jury:— John Fawcett,' smith to the Great Western Railway Com pany at Swindon for the last three years, said, that it was his duty to superintend the making of, and to examine all the wheels and tires which had to be made by the company, and to see the latter fastened on the former. His usual mode of examining tires was this:—They were sent to him a little under the size required, and after heating them he had them placed on a stretching-block until they were of the size re quired. Such a process might weaken the tire a little, but if the outside skin or the inside of the tire was unsound they were generally able to see it by such means ; and he had strict orders not to put a tire on if he saw the least flaw in it. lie did not remember the blocking of the tire which had given way, but, as a general rule, much greater attention was! paid to the tires.of driving-wheels than to those of ordinary wheels. When a tire was found to be unsoundly welded, it was generally welded anew. It appeared to him that the broken tire of the Queen was Welded before it came to them, by having the two ends cut off at an angle and brOught together in the form of aV, and then a V-piece welded into the vacant space. Though, when an accident of the kind happened, the wheel was generally brought to him to be repaired, he did not always know that the giving way of the tire was the cause of the accident. If an old tire broke the wheels were condemned, but not so if the tire was a new one. He had had no experience in the making of tires or wheels before he went to Swindon. It was his opinion that the tire had broken at the weld—the unsound ness of it having escaped observation at the manufacturer's, and afterwards by him. All the tires sent them were not tested ; for some they received of the proper size,_which it would not do to stretch. He could not, therefore, swear positively that it had been tested by " blocking," although he believed it had. He must, however, have examined it when red-hot, and must have seen any flaw had such been visible at that time. James Almond, the engine -driver of the Queen, and who was examined at the previous sitting of the inquest, ex plained a misunderstanding as to his previous evidence, by which it appeared as if he had denied that the Queen had ever previously thrown a tire. The COI:OMER—When did she throw a tire then? Wit ness—l think it was about seven or eight months ago. No one was injured by the occurrence, which happened when they were travelling at a speed of about sixty miles an hour. On that occasion the tire was thrown from the other driving wheel, and a new one was put on the wheel at Swindon. l'he tire which has caused the present accident was no doubt examined at that time. The CORONER—Suppose the tire from one of the carriage wheels was broken, is that on the fellow-wheel taken off in consequence? Witness—That depends on its being worn from long use. When the tire came off the fly-wheel of the Queen before, that on the fellow driving-wheel was so little worn as to make no difference between it and the new tire by which the broken one was replaced., The Coto:lea—How often have such accidents happened to you lately? Witness—Three times within the last eight or nine months, and in each case it was the tire of the driv ing-wheel which gave way. Witness did not recollect such an accident having ever occurred with the tire of a carriage wheel. Witness attributed to the same cause, viz., bad welding, the breaking of both the tires on the driving eheels of the Queen. Mr. B. Cubitt, the engineer, stated that he had had expe rience in the construction of tires and their application to wheels, and that he attributed the breaking of the tire from the driving-wheel of the Queen to an unsound welding. The mode generally adopted in welding a tire was as follows : ' The two ends of the tire having been cut off at an angle were brought together in the shape of a V, and then a V-piece was welded into this V-space. In Mr. Gooch's plan, as he had described it to him, the V-space was fill e d w ith t h ree V-pieces. He considered this much the best mode of effect ing a good weld, and it was the process generally adopted at the Haigh Foundry. The other plan was more in use for tires which were all iron and not steeled. He was now loco motive engineer of the Great Northern Railway, but had been employed - on the Brighton and Dover line. The steeled tires of the latter company were welded in the way which he had described, and he had them from the same place as the Great Western Railway Company. The steel tires of the Brighton line were not riveted on to the wheel as the iron tires were—as it was conceived that the effect would be to weaken the tires, though that could not be the case to any. :onsiderable extent. The rivets required to be soft, and ,yhen they wore away, the surface of the wheel would be rendered uneven. Not one-tenth of the wheel tires on the Brighton and Dover line were steeled, so that nine -tenths of them were riveted. The part of the tire where the fracture took place on Monday last was so defective that it would never have been put on if the fact had been known. The CORONER—Had the inspector any means of ascer taining that the - tire was so defective? Witness—l don't iee how he could. for it had been tested by "blocking," and also by being rolled in hoops. The CORONER—\V bat would you recommend to prevent he recurrence of such accidents? Witness—l only know of .ins thing, and that I don't think certain in its operation. mean putting in lai-inch screw rivets from the inside of he wheel over every 18 inches of the circumference of the ire. I should recommend that the screws pass through to be steel, or as near it as possible. This would, at least, ;revert the fragments of the tire, when it gave way, flying -o far as they have done on this occasion. Mr. J. Mitowitsee, an engineer, lately in the employ of he Bristol and Birmingham Railway Company, but now ,uperintendent of the locomotive department of the London and North-Western Railway, said, that having seen the broken tire from the driving-wheel of the Queen, he had same to the conclusion th a t it h a d b een b a dl y welded in the irst instance. From the section shown by the fracture. he , hougt,t that only the pieces cut from the extremity of each irm of the V., and-from the point of its apex, had been inited—that the whole bad not been properly fuse I to 4ether, owing to an improper mode of working the weld. Joe large V-piece had been introduced over almost [he entire breadth of the tire, and that V not being of the exact form of the V-space, which it ought to have filled, had not united except where it re ceived the blows of the hammer. He had seen tires welded with two V's meeting in their centre. He had also just been informed by Mr. Gooch of the plan pursued by him at awindon, and which with slight variations he had seen mactised before. He considered Mr. Geoch's plan more likely to produce a solid weld than any other which he knew of. It was quite possible that with ordinary care the un soundness in the broken tire might have escaped the eye, particularly when the outer skin presented a sound appear ance. He bad known tires, in frosty weather, break at other parts than the weld. It appeared that the fibres of the broken tire were changing to crystals. He could not say whether that was the result of the iron being of bad quality, or of some other cause. Different circumstances would pro duce such a change at different periods of time. If the wheel were overbalanced it would be produced very soon. The fracture did not take place from the iron - being crystallized. On the Bristol and Gloucester line steel tires were much used. but none of them were ever broken at the weld. They were not fastened by rivets, and many of them were made at the same works as those of the Great Western Company. A very small proportion of the wheels used on the Bristol and Gloucester line were riveted, and the riveting was to strengthen the wheel, and not to keep the tire on. When they broke asunder from frost, they did so most commonly at the rivet-heads. The Conoxisa—Would you recommend the suggestion already made to us by Mr. Cubitt? Witness—l think that by introducing a screw from within the wheel you would en ure safety if a fracture of the tire did take place, and I would recommend the adoption of that plan. Mr. J. Braithwaite, engineer to several railway compa nies, and residing at 39, Bedford-square, said that he had in spected the broken tire, and having heard the evidence al ready given considered there could not be a doubt that the unsound welding was the cause of the fracture. The imper fection occupied about 60 per cent. of the section, and the strength of the wheel was, therefore, not one-third of what it ought to be. No human foresight could on examination have determined that such an unsoundness existed. He had him self been a manufacturing engineer, and he bore testimony to the superior quality of the work produced from the Haigh Foundry. Welding was a very difficult process, but the way in which the weld of the broken tire bad been effected, though it would save time to the workmen, was such as he thought the authorities of the Haigh Foundry would not approve of or allow, if for nothing else, fur the sake of their reputation, which stood deservedly high. There being enough of metal in the tire to support many tons' weight, blocking did not sufficiently test its unsoundness, which was rendered invisible by the outer skin of the wheel. The mode adopted by Mr. Gooch was that in which the weld should have been effected. He considered the screw from within the wheel a more per fect way than riveting for avoiding such casualties in future. He decidedly preferred the screw to the absence of all fasten ing, which some recommended; and from the fact that the broken tire of the Quern, though not one-third of its pro per strength, travelled with that engine some 20,000 miles, he contended that no tire could be weakened by the bore of allYrinch, or a Ik-inch screw. Such a plan would give the public a greater degree of security, as far as opinion went. The fractured metal appeared to be very much crystalized. An axle had a greater tendency to - crystalize than a wheel, as it was subject to greater alternate action and reaction. Steeled tires were ,in his opinion, for some purposes stronger than any other, but perhaps they were more subject to the influences of weather. The advantage of them, however, was so great, that it was the duty of every engineer to use all precautions possible in continuing them. Mr. Gooch announced that for the future the screw would be used on the Great Western R tilway, and that he had not used it before because be thought it would interfere with the strength of the tire. (Mr. Gooch then read to the coroner and jury a long letter which he had received from the Haigh Foundry Company, with respect to the unsound tire made by them, which had caused the accident. The letter stated that the tire could not have teen made according to their orders; that they had endeavOured in vain to discover by whom it was welded; that the men employed by them on such work were their best hands, the work being of a very difficult character; that being well paid, they had no excise forcarelessness ; and that, as a security against defective welds, they were required to pay the expense of replacingany that might fail, besides making another tire, if .n thenecessar y, instructions Ivithout pay.) Mr. Gooch then proceeded to explain given by him for effecting a good weld in t tires._ The .. ends of the tire being brought together and united for a small por tion of its breadth, a V-piece, for which a space is prepared in the shape of the ends, is then welded in. On the base of that V-piece, a section of the base of a larger V-piece is then welded in, the ends of the tire here again corresponding to the angular ends of the section, and these ends extending beyond the base of the V-piece under it.. Above this section of a V-piece is welded in a second section like it in shape, extending beyond its base, fitting into the ends of the tire, and occupying the whole remaining breadth of the tire, The space round the angular ends of the last section is then cut ou and a new piece of welding put i n . A p i ece is also cut out at the apex of the welded V-pie ce fi rst i nserted, and a new piece of welding put in. The different stages of this process are all performed at separate heats, and weldthey are so contrived that the facilities for eff ec ti ng a good are - creased, while the operations being multiplied, the chances are that a suffici en t number of them will be successful even though others may fail to secure an adequate strength. He had at Swindon, as an additional precaution, adopted means, by iron bands, of placing the resistatice nearer to the strain during the process of welding. The CORONER then briefly addressed the jury. —It wasquite clear, he said, that no blame attached to the railway people, and that there was none with reference either to the engi- (From the Essex Herald of this day.) Another of the proud and noble mansions of England has fallen by fire—Easton Lodge, the residence~of Lord Viscount Maynard, which possessed a peculiar interest in this part of the kingdom, not only from its presenting a noble pile in he Elizabethan style of architecture, modified by the taste and the luxury of the present day, but as forming the " stately home" of the lord-lieutenant of Essex, the highest official representative of the Sovereign in the county. It is c n o o s w tl y and a heap v o au f lbablale ck p r ro u l in e s r , ty. beneath which lies buried much This calamity, which has laid the main body of the fine old house in ruins, occurred at an early hour on Sunday morning, and the first signs of the fearful destruction that followed appear to have been discovered by his Lordship himself. It seems that at three o'clock in the morning, while the Noble Viscount and Lady Maynard were in bed, their attention was attracted to a strange crackling noise in some of the other apartments ; and the first thought that suggested itself being that thieves were endeavouring to effect an entrance, his Lordship rose and proceeded to his dressing-room. There he found an enemy far more formid able than human robbers. The whole apartment was filled with a dense smoke, and the flames were already curl ing up the walls of one side of the room, though the imme diate cause of the ignition did not appear, and it seems from all the accounts that have reached us that even up to this time it remains unknown. His Lordship, with great promp titude and presence of mind, endeavoured in the first instance so to apply the carpet as to smother the flames ; and all the household being aroused, the servants set vigorously. to work with buckets of water to endeavour to check the first progress of the destroyer. Thin it was soon found was vain. The older part of the mansion was built chiefly with timber, and the flames taking a stronger and deeper hold of the ponder ous beams of the ancient architect, defied all the efforts of the family to arrest them in their early stage. It was then resolved to summon the aid of the neighbourhood by means of the alarm bell, when it was found in this they were foiled. The rope of the bell had become entangled, and thus rendered useless; but the situation of the mansion was soon after an nounced to the inhabitants of the district by the red glare that illumined the sky. When it was seen that all the efforts of the parties imme diately around the mansion were vain, and that the small engine belonging to the lodge was useless to stay the flames, Mr. Griggs, his Lordship's butler, was dispatched on horseback for the large engine at the police-station at Dun mow, which was instantly got out by the force, well manned, and promptly on its way t o th e scene of conflagration, fol lowed by the two smaller ones from the same place. Hun dreds, too, began to flock in from the surrounding country, farmers, tradesmen, and labourers, all evincing deep regret at the prospect of destruction, and all anxious to put forth every effort to save the house and property. Another engine shortly arrived from Thaxted, and every exertion was made to get the engines into play. But in the mean time the flames had made fearful progress. They were ascending and bursting through the roof, and at the same time descending to the hall, the drawing and dining-rooms, and ruthlessly con , suming those elegantly fitted-up apartments, with their costly contents. The whole middle portion of the mansion was one entire blaze, and the south front presented a scene of destruction terrifically grand. Anticipating this, many per sons who had reached the spot early had directed their efforts to the saving of the books, pictures, and other valuable articles in the library and billiard-room, in which they hap pily succeeded, so that the valuable paintings, with few ex ceptions, were saved and placed in the granary, and a large quantity of plate and costly furniture stowed in the coach houses and other buildings, about twenty horses having been turned into the park in order to make room and preserve them from danger. While the work of devastation was going on the Noble Viscount was busy directing with great calmness and fore thought the efforts of the firemen and assistants, and Lady Maynard and the Hon. Miss Maynard, notwithstanding the cold blast of a wintry morning, maintained their place upon the lawn, watching the destruction of their princely home, and somewhat consoled, we doubt not, by witnessing the strenuous efforts made and the deep feeling which the cala mity excited in the multitude, hundreds of whom had so often had their wants relieved and their sorrows cared for at the Lodge. At daylight a heavy rain drove the fair sufferers to take refuge in some apartments of the building, distant from the scene of desolation which then presented itself; for in spite of the continued play of the engines, and in defiance of all human effort, room after room of the main or centre part, the most ancient c:f the whole, was consumed; roof after roof fell in, and the whole was a mass of blackened ruin. At a quarter before five the handsome old turret clock caught fire, the hands stopped, and enshrouded in a sheet of flame, the whole fell into the burning mass below. Of this portion of the building nothing was left except the curious and antiquated brick chimneys. About six o'clock all efforts were directed to cutting off the communication over the billiard-room, and this saving the part not then ignited. By the incessant labour of a strong body of persons this was effected, by a large stream of water being poured by the engines upon the burning rafters of the centre rooms, and wet blankets placed to deaden the effects of the flames. This, with the left wing of the building, is the only part left standing. UNITED STATES POST-OFFICE. The report of the United States Poet-office department re cently presented to the President, is this year of more than usual interest, as it gives the experience of the first twelve months of the new system (based on the plans of Rowland Hill), adopted on the Ist of July, 1845. It appears that the annual average income for the ten years preceding the abovt date was 4,364,624 dolls., while for the first year of the new law it was 3,487,199 dolls., showing a diminution of 877,425 dolls., or about 20 per cent. The receipts for 1844-45 were. however, less than the average above mentioned, so that the actual diminution of income under the alteration as compared with the preceding year was only 802,624 dolls. "No incon siderable portion of this deficiency," it is alleged in the re port, " may be traced to other causes than a reduction in the rates." The system, as a•lopted in America, does not embrace io,nffie'eacneg'dYelieltadhs. annual r a uniform, but a graduated rate (five cents under 200 miles, and ten cents for a greater distance) and hence the temp tation still still exisis, as regards distant points, to sem: letters by private expresses, " which still continue n be run between principal cities with as much regularity a, the mails." It is also common to enclose more than on, letter under a single half-ounce cover, " and even packages of letters, addressed to different individuals, are collectee together under a single cover and directed to some third per son for distribution, by which means 100 letters, weighing eight ounces, are charged under 300 miles 80c., and over 30i. miles 1 doll. 60c., when the department is entitled to receive. under the law, 5 dolls. or 10 dolls., according to the di,- twice." The immense mass of dead letters, averaging an nually between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000, besides an excessil , number of unclaimed newspapers, is also greatly complaine• of; and, to remedy these evils, it is proposed to limit th single letter to one quarter instead of the half-ounce, and tc require that all newspapers should be pre-paid. An increase on the rates of postage on newspapers to be regulated accord reference to thei, Bever been looked size t in o g iat Is t a o tnal d c: se e ow r ui t ie a rnic i g n ietheot N df : e ris x set a lla, t ietk i ne o eus u v re s t .ihsee Prconditions,ehocesot average the 10 years preceding the new law was about r9 ,),000 dolls.. smallness of this latter deficiency, ast t r i c b o u m t a p b l r e t o with the might have been anticipated, being attributable expenditure having; some what remarkable circumstance o f _.ofl , etreeted . in the letting . 01 , new and under the alterationit wi h t a h s t b h e e en ad o op, 7 l , oa o n 9 e 7 d do it l t l hi s e ., tht been reduced concurrently 1 1 ed that th t increase of letters which measure, and despite the g the mail contracts; the department has, in consequence, been occasionally greatly impaired, their obligations. Another effect of the contracts having ke been t w e an s a° , s‘i' nearlycg e-theirdservoficetlf, taken in many instances of doubtful character and means, altogether by persons i ti ,o r s o t sf ih ro c over-economy is also reported in the fact, that of the 14,793 of fulfilling g oluntarily vacated their appointments post- masters since the passage of the new law. These officers were paid i t s i s o at n a c r ee th d e ed A p tt a o r r t n ia e n incapable iitil. theT l' e un r but e it d e t i , l i t c by a per-tentage, sand when the system was put in force which reduced their receipts while it increased their work. no alteration was made in their mode of remuneration. assume m an e d t t h h e u o s ffi s succeeded Fi n ding, however, the universal flight that was taking place, respectability the alteration, to a and that it would soon be impossible to get any person of the General construed the law as enabling the department to i 3 ti ' crease the compensation to the same amount as that of the in arresting the resignations. rear slightest EXTENSIVE BANK ROBBERY IN GLASGOW. Yesterday afternoon (Friday) a clerk of one of the most respectable hou ses i n Gl asgow was sent to do bank busi ness. He repaired to the Union Bank, and drew a cheque of 1,200/. He then proceeded to the Commercial Bank, in the same street, with the money upon him. He was writing some order at the bank counter—after finishing which, he put his hand into the pocket of his outside coat to draw out the money, where he thought he had it snugly deposited The 1,200/. was gone! It is more than probable that he wwahsomrecwoennloeiatrenr,edarbeynsorr prowlingomeexpertE a n b g o l u is t h e the c f, it3 s , e . G yera l l a as_ gow formerly was a rich field for them. But let every mat. who goes to the bank have his eyes about him, and not trust to his outside pocket. We have other particulars about thi: robbery; but it is prudent to conceal these till we see what the police does. We hear that another bank robbery of 2471. was commit ted yesterday. Citizens take care I Query—Should the banks of Glasgow not arrange to pay their cheques in a dif ferent the receiving houses in London P— Scotch Reformers' Gazette. MEAL RIOT AT MACDUFP.—The this excite ment prevails at all th e shipping ports in neighbourhood, in consequence of th e enor _ mona shipments of grain whi c h have been taking place for some weeks past, and the rapid advance in the price of food. T h e a quantities shipped at Port soy, Macduff, Fraserborough, sa as m w pl e o l d l , as at Banff, for the last two months, have been to un 3 e . x t ; meal has risen from 18s , while the price of per boll ; oats to 40s. ; and barley to 50s. per quarter. The other evening, a formidable mob assembled at Macduff to prevent the shipment of a q uantity of meal and grain which had arrived in carts, and for the time they succeeded. They placed a high barricade of railway sleep o e f re h acros; the way to the vessel, and stripped off her to prevent her going to sea. A meetingbf tl a i n e e mag o i n s er tz ga i l a r called to consider the matter. The committee the t community have resolved to make various demands o n f he magistrates, one of which; is, that they adopt all lawful measures to prevent speculation in, and exportation of, grain from the port; and also that the magistrates petition Par liament to put an entire stop to all monopoly and speculation in food. Unless something is promptly done to pacify the people, disturbances will ensue. —Edinburgh Weekly Register. SOUTH PETHERTON.—On Monday last, about six in the evening, the inhabitants of this town were consider ably alarmed by a large number of men, principally agricul tural labourers, amounting to nearly two hundred, congre gating in the town, their assembling being, it was understood, for the purpose of obtaining an increase of wages. After passing through some of the streets, they stopped opposite the house of Mr. Pottinger, and after some haranguing Mr. Pottinger fired upon them, but whether the gun was loaded with anything more than powder we cannot say. This, however, had the effect of exasperating the mob, who immediately commenced smashing the windows with stones, which they followed up till nearly or quite every pane of glass in the front of the house was broken. The noise and alarm continued till about eleven o'clock, after which time ' the men dispersed without doing further damage.—Somerset County Gazette. MILITARY COLONISATION Or NBW ZEALAND.—On Saturday a circular was forwarded to several out-pensioners of Chelsea Hospital stating that Government were ready to grant a free passage to New Zealand to such of the pen sioners as chose to emigrate to that colony, together with their wives and families, who are not more than forty-seven years of age, an outfit to be provided, and on their arrival in the colony they will be given an acre of land and 2s. 6d. per day for seven years, during which period they will be military colonists; at the expiration of that time they will receive a grant of ten acres, and be free colonists—the wife and family, in the event of decease, to have a free passage to England, should they wish to return. neer or the driver. After reviewing the evidence, he said that the object of their inquiry ought to be to prevent the recurrence of such a calamity. It appeared to him that they could come to no other conclusion th2.n that the deaths of the deceased were strictly accidental. At the same time, however, such an accident held out a very usef u l lesson. In this case two lives were lost; there might ' ha - re been fifty. In fact, when they considered the speed at which an express train travelled, there was no knowing what might be the ex tent of the calamity if anything went wrong. The tire might have flown off at a plgforin crowded with passengers, and killed sixty people. Thehfore, it gave him groat satin faction to see persons of such high repute present, and all agreeing that it would be a safer and better plan to adopt the fastening by screws. Common sense told thorn that the recommendation was a good ene. He hoped that wherever steeled tires were in use, the screw should be also used as a fastening; and after that recommendation, if any engineer had the hardihood to go on with the old practice, and any calamity arose therefrom, as in the present case, such an en gineer would incur a fearful responsibility at law. The Co roner concluded by thanking the jury for the patient atten tion which they had given to the case. A juryman —Is railway t rave lli ng li m i ted as to speed? The CORONER—No. sir; not by law. Juryman—That a p pears t o me a great omission, for if a coach or other vehicle is driven furiously the driver is liable to a penalty. The CORONER —There is no such limitations as to railways, and the public are principally to blame for it, if it is a fault. Directors find that they can scarcely satisfy the public in this respect. A gentleman got into the quarter to 10 o'clock express train to Exeter some short time ago, and almost immediately fell as'eep. He did not awake till the train had stopped ot Exeter at a quarter past 2 o'clock, when, pulling cut his watch and seeing the hour, be called but to the guard, " God bless ine, c an ' t you manage to go a little hister?"—(Great laughter.) I believe in a shortliine there must be some arrangement on this head. Juryman—l don't think there can be a better man than the Hon. Member for Finsbury to forward such an: object. The jury having retired for 20 minutes, on their return the foreman delivered their unanimous verdict to the follow ing effect:—" That the deceased came by their deaths acci dentally in the manner described, and that it was advisable that in future the tires should be fastened on the 'wheels in the manner recommended by the engineers who had been examined." • TO THE SPANIARDS. " Now's the day, and now's the hour," to place not only yourselves, but your country on the high pinnacle of honour, glory, and independence. Yon have been dictated to in the cases of your recent royal marriages, yon have witnessed how aFrench Prince has been forced upon your royal house-- a forerunner of an attempt at a future day to force a sove reign on your throne. France herself repudiates the mode by which her executive Ministers have brought about the accomplishment of her Sovereign's ambition. Arouse your selves, show your independence—call upon . your Ministers, your Cortex, to introduce a law to exclude the Infanta, and all descendants of the marriage of Prince Montpensier from the throne of Spain—settle the line of succession in case of failure of issue of your Queen—you wiH then place your selves, your country, in a proud position, and rank with the whole of the countries of Europe —yes, even with France, for she resents the acts of her Ministers as affecting Spain. Spain will then become noble and free. - Feb. 1, 1847. . -► _: ~' ILFRACOMB E. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. PORTSMOUTH, FEB. I.—The Netley cutter has arrived from Plymouth this morning with supernumeraries for the flag ship. Her commander reports that her Majesty's brig Albatross had just anchored in the Sound, having encoun tered a gale of Wind, and being nearly foundered. Com mander Farquhar had been compelled to throw several of the guns overboard to save her. Spars and boats had been washed away, but it did not transpire that any of the crew were lost or injured. Orders are expected to-morrow for the Belleisle to be loaded with biscuit meal, and dispatched to Ireland. The Medea was to leave Greephithe this morning; it is in intended she shall go to Lisbon on Friday, with his Excel lency Sir G. Hamilton Seymour, in her Majesty's steamer Sphynx. Tins SPHYNX.—Her Majesty's ship Retribution went this morning to assist in endeavouring to get this vessel off. In consequence of a surVey, made by Captain James, Royal En gineers, the director of works in this yard, of the position of the Sphynx, and the apparent obstacles in the Ivey of getting her afloat, that officer has gone in the Retribution with thirty excavators to dig the mud and sand from around a rock which is within two lengths of the Sphynx, directly in a line with her cut-water as she now lies. Captain James hopes to be able to blast this rock with gunpowder, and remove such por tions as will afford a passage for her, when the great trial is made to-morrow. At low water there is 6 feet water under her stern, the same round her sides, but only 4 feet under the bow. This rock, which it is desirable to remove, has only one foot ten inches water over it at low tides. The Sphynx must have been washed clear, during the late gale, either by being moved on the starboard or port side, as it is directly in the front of her. Several officers went to the spot on Satur day and yesterday, and describe her to be perfectly upright with her head to the sea, and in a position most favourable for cables and hawsers to be made fast to her bows. If it were not for this rock, which is in such an awkward place, there !appears no impediment to her rescue. The wind and weather continues most favourable. The Porcupine steam vessel, Lieutenant Tumour commanding, returned from her last night, and went down again this morning with another lump in tow. A great many additional casks have been sent down to assist in buoying up the wreck. The Fanny tender, having Admiral Sir Charles Ogle and Captain Milne, of the St. Vincent, on board, went down before eight o'clock this morning, and was followed shortly after by the Myrtle steam tender, second master Bettiston, - to tow if requisite. The Emerald tender arrived to-day with a number of supernumeraries (chiefly boys) from Cork. The Curlew, 10, fitted with a mortar upon Lieutenant Roberts's plan, cast off from the jetty to make room for the Rattler to-day, the latter requiring some repairs, and the former shipped the shells, &c., for the trial . at §pithead. MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.—A WOMAN SHOT. On Wednesday evening last a very sad occurrence took place at Trevol, near Torpoint, the residence of J. Cory ton Roberts, Esq.—an occurrence which has caused con siderable excitement and commiseration, and has occa sioned the utmost pain to the family of that gentleman. It appears that a married woman named Elizabeth Mitchell, aged 29, whose husband is a boatswain's mate at sin, has been in the habit of working at Trevol, as a dressmaker, and was there on Wednesday evening. HeP disposition had occasioned great friendliness between the sous of Mr. Roberts and herself, and they were much attached to her. The eldest named Erasmus, about 14 years of age, who with his brother has been enjoying the school vacation at home, on the evening before men. tioned, asked her to sing a song and she refused, he then brought from his room a pistol which he possessed with out his father's knowledge or consent, and which he had before thoroughly cleaned, and threatened to snap it at her if she still declined. She did so, however, and he playfully pulled the trigger, when horrible to tell—it was found that the pistol had been loaded, and the contents lodged in the head of the unfortunate individual. The consternation which seized all in the house may be ima nined, but cannot possibly be related. The woman fell bleeding to the ground, and on the young gentleman dis. covering that a wound had been inflicted, he exclaimed, " Good God, Charley must have loaded the pistol" (which afterwards turned out to be correct,) and fled, no one knew whether. Mr. Chubb, surgeon of Torpoint, was • sent for, but all medical, effort could be of no avail, the bullet had most probably entered the brain, and within a short time; the poor creature breathed her last without having uttered a word. Added to the terrible shock occasioned by this event was the fright produced by the innocent cause of it being missing. Search was made for him in all directions, and it was nearly midnight before he.was found in the neighbourhood of the house, in a state of perfect nervous bewilderment. It is not easy to convey any idea of the suffering created in the family of Mr. Roberts by this dreadful misfortune, for if among the many virtues which distinguish them, one is more prominent than another, it is a kind heartedness— shown always, and uniformly the same towards all. A Coroner's inquest was held on view of the body of the deceased, on Friday afternoon, and the Jury, after a very short consultation, came to a verdict of Acci dental Death, or, rather to the cffect. That the de ceriSed had died in consequence of receiving the charge of a pistol fired by Erasmus Roberts, but that the said Erasmus Roberts was not aware at the time that the pistol was loaded.—Devonport Independent - - ROYAL ACADEMY OF Music —We are authorised to state that the appointment of Professor of Elocution to the Royal Academy of Music has just been conferred on Mr. Frederick Webster, stage director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket. An extensive sale of lards, or located estates in Texas, is announced in our columns to take place by Mr. Robins early next month. A more favourable opportunity has never been offered for the emigrant to possess, at a mode rate price, fertile lands, which may be used for every purpose o f agriculture peculiar to the country and climate, and which, we understand, are all within short distances of rapidly thriving towns of importance, with the advantage of water communication, and natural resources of the most tempting kind, to those disposed to try their fortunes in the Western Hemisphere. The distance of the lands from the point of landing —a matter of very considerable importance to an emigrant—is. we heir, very trifling. CHEAP Gas AND GOOD.—Gas of the best quality is offered by the Liverpool Guardian Gas Company at 3s. Sd. per 1,000 cubic feet. The agitation of the new scheme ap pears to have already reduced the price of the article charged by the two existing companies there from is., at first, to noted. It to 55., and ultimately to the still lower figure jus a t n no tha a t t pr i ocure," It is admitted, too, on all hands, that " bettergLs I now supplied it would be next to impo ssib leo of o ur own metropoli tan is more than can truly andtan g g a n s o , d a i s a w n e a w have a r r e d a e d r y r b p e e of e the 3t saide d d a l j j : e i b n ee t rv he ed. pro C v l in e c a e p s, ga a s t with the same sanatory virus.—The Builder. the metropolis will ere long be inoculated least, and surely w Sr. JOBS, HOLLOWAY.—IRISH parish, with its adjacent district of St. James, have deter mined to send 251. per week to one parish in Ireland. If this were extensively imitated amongst greatgoo_dwo w u h ld om be N% e ,e ff r e e ct t e h d. e The subscription is very larg e Rev. E. and;Mrs. Hoare, 20/. ; Wm. Nicholson, 211. ; Mr. Rees, 20/. ; T. Beciggood, Esq , 10/. ; Mr. and Mrs. Richard son, 10/. 10s.; Ambrose Ward, Esq., 10/., &c. &c. morning, BulClD t g h e " Re A v C George ß aG Y I e and—, t Y h e e s e t h e r a d r, r a y i n of d a North) leach Home of Correction, in this county, was found in his room, with his throat cut, and quite dead, the fatal act hav ing, it is presumed, been committed some hours before its disco Very. We have heard that the Reverend Gentleman had forwarded or left behind him letters addressed to Mr. Reeves, the governor a the prison, and to his own family, in which he expressed his intention to commit suicide. We have not heard a cause assigned for this very rash act, but fear that straitened circumstances, and the great difficulty of position in society, ma y h ave sustaining by small means his operated upon a dispirited man and been the chief impelling cause of this sad catastrophe. Ile was beyond the middle age, and has left a widow and a large family of, we believe, seven children. None of these, at the time of his death, had joined him at Northleach. An inquest will be held on the body to-day.—Gloucester Journal. SINGULAR ACCIDENT TO A STOKER.—At Bospech station, Hastings, Leadbeter, a stoker, while clearing the fire box of the engine, was nearly suffocated by the sulphuric vapour from the smouldering coals. He was taken out of the box in an insensible state. A Past:aim DIVINE. —Dr. Litchfield, Rector of • All Saints, Thames-street, who died in 1457, left 3,083 ser mons, written by his own hand,— Willmotes ,Pife of Jerel , Taylor. ~.n., ,. atams 11, t oi oc- ~►