The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-15 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 15, 1846,

mends, towards defraying the expenses of building a new
bridge; likewise to make a new street from the south-east
aide of Charing-cross, neer the southwest side of Northum-
berland House, to the north bank or shore of the Thames,
near the end of Whitehall-place, the said street crossing
Angel-covet, Craig's-court, the east end of Seotland-vard,
and Whitehall-place, all in the parish of St. Martin-in-the-
Fields, and within the liberties of Westminster, to the north
bank of the River Thames. Also to construct a bridge
from the east end of Whitehall-place to the south bank of
the River Thames, in the parish of St. Mary, Lambeth, and
to make a new street front the intended bridge in a direct
line, or nearly so, on the south side of the river to the York-
road, at or near its junction with Sutton street, in the parish
of Lambeth. The commissionsrs likewise to be empowered
by this act to purchase any dwelling!, buildings, heredita-
ment,, wharfs, &c., which lie in the line of the proposed
improvements, or in an alteration in the proposed plan that
may be made by the Houses of Parliament.
CHEAF NEWSrAPERS.—Iiere arc a few words of
encouragement from the other side the Atlantic—spoken '
by one of those who first started a cheap paper, the circula-
tion of which paper now exceeds fifty thousand copies a day !
The London Daily News is a new cheap English daily
paper, conducted with great skill and ability. The more
expensive journals have taken alarm at this effort to meet
the growing wants of the British people.—Like the shrine
makers of old, they have raised the cry ' Great is Diana of
the Eplicsians.' Thesoatt are alarmed, nor will they cease
their outcry without 4 great struggle. But to the Daily
News, we say, go on our transatlantic brother ; the Press, to
fulfil its legitimate end, most be the general, the great bene-
factor. Exclusiveness is the curse of the Pres+, and nothing
but a cheap and widely diffused circulation can snake it the
blessing it should be. You have entered, fur the time being,
a thorny path. Heed not the unmanly opposition; we have
passed through a similar pruscrip•ion league ; but when the
decree of the people goes forth, the interdicts of your oppo-
nents will recoil fearfully on their own heads. An eleven
years' war made us the victor, and inspite of floating clouds
the Sun always shone brightly. Let but the community of
London sustain you as oobiy as New York has sustained us,
and you may dam up the whole tide of opposition."—
The American Sun.
CHEAP Newsr.teEns. —Here arc other words of
encouragement spoken nearer home : " The world of news-
papers iu Great Britain is agitate d ' our reader' calls for
cheapness, and the ' we' most distinctly object. They are
not disposed to give up the quiet, easy-going monopoly of
the good things of dear prices, without a s'ruggle. So far,
so good: but the ides of March for all such have come; the
preposterous absurdity is at length exposed ; and the dogs
must he contented, as all proper dogs betore them, with the
day which has been allotted to them. The pioneer in the
change, so important to the community and to the age, is
the Daily News. It has undergone the risk of the experi-
ment, and it is reaping all the rewards of priority. The
mystery of its financial success is explained by a reference to
the past. In circulation it is inferior only to the Tinies,—in
general excellence, as a newspaper, inferior to none ; and the
profits accruing to its proprietor must, we think, next year,
exceed (the Times excepted) those of any other morning jour-
nal. Its influence, as an example, is already felt. • • •
Newspapers can claim no exemption from the eternal law
of mundane things—perpetual change ; ar.d we, sedulous fur
the public good and our own interests, have determined to
escape inevs•able compulsion by anticipating, with becoming
deference, the great change now approaching in journalism—
cheapness. The success of the Liverpool Journal in two
years has, we believe, been unprecedented in the history of
the provincial press. We are deeply sensible of the kind
and ample patronage extended to us ; and we are the more
grateful because success has put ns in the enviable position
of being able to meet tl.e change now almost upon us. We
beg to announce that on the first Saturday in January next,
the journal will be sold at the price of TIIItEgYENCE.--Li-
rerpool Journal.
OUT-DOOR RELIEF. A circular, dated the Bth
inst., has just been issued by the peen-law commissioners to
the metropolitan hoards of guardians, relative to the ad-
ministration of out-door relief to this poor, of which the fol-
lowing are the principal clauses:—
The attention of the poor-law commissioners has been directed to
certain cases, In which It is alleged that relief has been wholly refused
or inadequately supplied by boards of guardians to poor persons, who,
through the operation of the late statute relating to the removal of the
poor, have now become immovable from parishes in which they were
resident, though settled elsewhere. The commissioners believe that
this conduct has in part resulted from an erroneous supposition that
poor persons so circumstanced are not entitled to relief in the parishes
where they reside. The, commissioners desire to impress upon the
gusrdians that a long course of authorities, consisting of legal de-
cisions, and the minions of the ablest text writers upon this subject,
has established the rule, that the poor are to be relieved us their
necessities require in and by the parish where they are resident. I
am desired to request the guardians to point out to the relieving offi-
cers the effect of these observations, and to warn them that the corn-
missionets will consider any neglect of the poor who may be resident
within their respective districts, although not settled therein, equally
culpable with the neglect of the settled poor, and will not hesitate to
treat any refusal of relief to the immovable poor, on the ground of
their settlement elsewhere, as a gross violation of their duty.
REFUGE FOR THE DESTlTUTE.—Yesterday evening,
in consequence of a resolution of the committee of directors
of the Refuge for the Destitute, the several houses belonging
to the Institution, situated in Playhouse-yard, Whitecross-
street, Upper Ogle-street, Marylebone, and Glasshouse-yard,
St. George in the East, were opened fur the reception of the
houseless poor, there having been for the last few days nume-
rous applications for admission. These asylums can afford
accommodation for nearly three thousand individuals, each
of whom is provided with a bed and a ceunterpane and
blanket to cover them; the women and children being in
rooms separate from the men,while one and all have a slice of
bread on admission and another on leaving in the morning.
Tue. INDICTMENT OF AN EAST INDIA 'DIRECTOR.
—This indictment, founded on a true bill found at the
last sessions by the grand jury against Sir William Young
and others, for the sale of cadetship?, has been removed from
the Central Criminal Court to the Queen's Bench by e'er-

tiorari.
Tint WELLINGTON STATUE.—Yesterday work-
men commenced preparing footing fur the scaffold-poles in
the open space west of the Horse Guards, for the purpose of
erecting a pedestal for the Wellington statue, which is to
be taken down forthwith, and subsequently placed upon an
appropriate resting-place in the above locality.
HOW' TO CONVERT FRENCH INTO ENGLISH PRICES.
—The following communication as to the means of convert-
ting the continental prices of corn into English denomina-
tions is from Mr. W. Tate, a well-known authority in matters
of commercial calculation:—" The anxious attention which
is now directed to the prices of corn on the continent giving
rise to frequent quotations of these prices in France, I beg to
inform those of your readers who mey not be acquainted
with the manner of converting such prices into those of this
country, that assuming the par of exchange to be 2.11 francs
per pound sterling, if 229 shillings be multiplied by the
number of the francs in the price per hectolitre, and the pro-
duet be divided by 100, or the two lower figures be cnt off,
the result will be the number of shillings per imperial
garter, Thus a recent quotation for the price of wheat being
26 francs per hectolitre, 228.. multiplied by 26 equals 5,700,
giving 575. for the equivalent price per imperial quarter. It
may be serviceable further to mention that a variation of 1
franc per hectolitre is about equal to that of 2s. 3d. per im
perial quarter."-3fark-lane kapros.
NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY.—The express due
at 11 o'clock last night did not arrive at the Euston-station
11111 2:3 minutes before 12 o'clock; and the quarter before 9
o'clock, and the quarter past 10 o'clock trains, did not arrive
till a quarter before 12 o'clock. We understand the cause
of the delay was the breaking down of the engine of the
quarter before 9 o'clock train, at Leighton, but we are
informed no further accident occurred. The mail
train from Newcastle, we most add, doe at the Euston
Station a quarter before 6 on Sunday morning, had not
arrived last night at 12 o'clock. We understand that the
snow on the line below Darlington lies from 8 to 9 feet deep.
Labourers are employed in clearing the rails, but the snow
drifted in heaps again almost as fast as it was cleared away.
THE WEATHER.—FATAL ACCIDENT.—The frost
returned on the night of Thursday, after a thaw of five days,
and the cold on Sunday night was intense. At no period of
the day was the thermometer higher than 30 degrees, and as
early as seven o'clock in the evening it had fallen to 26 de-
grees; at ten o'clock it was 21, at midnight 22 degrees ; at
eight o'clock yesterday morning, the mercury was down to
18 degrees, or 14 degrees below freezing point. Yesterday
the sky ailia titer, and the bright. sun raised the mermuy to
28 degrees. At seven o'clock p.n., the thermometer at the
Royal 'Humane Society's receiving-house, Hyde-park, had
again sunk to 2.7) degrees. Yesterday the ornamental waters
of the metropolis were frozen over, and several persons got a
ducking from venturing too soon on the ice. One young'
man, named George Wright, a potboy, was unfortunately
drowned in the wafer of St. James's-park. He was on the
ice with two others: they were between the island and the
fountain, when the ice gave way and ell three were plunged
into the water. The two others were rescued, but in 19its
of great exertions made to cave him he was dtowued. His
body was speedily got out of the water, but all the efforts
used to restore animation were fruitlres.
INQCESTS, YESTERDAY.—DEATH FROX STalitlA-1
TION.—At the Two Chairmen, Dartmouth-street, Westmin-
ster, before Mr. Bedford, on the body of Elizabeth Dodds-
mede. aged 70. The room occupied by deceased and her
husband was a front kitchen, at No. 16, Daere-street, so low
that a man with his hat on could not stand' viipeght. The
approaches to It were ao inconvenient, that the jury had much
difficulty in viewing the body. There was no furniture ; •
heap allay, straw, and rubbish, used as a bed. My in ono
earner of the room. S. Barber, landlord of the White Sweatt
Little-street, Andrew-atreet, Seven Dials, said doomed was
his sister, and-was the wi boo a jobbing carpenter. She Wes
in estate of iditatcy, broun, he thought, desbtitutlod.
Marband was very Imprudent man, and wouldapend
in ovary foolish manner whatever money was given to biol.--
Demand had been in want of the common necessaries of
lick
he same cite past. She and her husband have been in the
receipt of relief from the parish of Marylebone, but it had
bees napped for some time. They had been iHer
'Other bro.n a starving
Mg& .They had no way of getting
money.
'then were unable to assist them, and no one would Indeetake
to make them any provision after the pads all
George-st re were-
' stopped. Mr. .1. Levies, surgeon, of Cheat reet,
'said that he had made a post worsens examination of the body
of the deceased, and found it very much attenuated. There
was no organic dines? to account for death. Sonaaof the
internal g were auluxated. a common
.were
thing when there
had been paucity of food. The muscles of the body
pellid, and there was an absence of the ordinary cellovelular'
es orbit betweenthemuseles. He never saw such h
of wretchedness as deceased's dwelling. He sivr no food Mato
ever. He heard from the husband that he might havegono loco
the workhouse, but, as he hid a
little work, e refused to go;:
Margaret Eleanor Richardson said she resided in the te
host e as the deemed, but hid not seen her leave her incite
for the last two years. Dr. Wright attended heeled /esti
and said that the only thing she wanted was food, not physic.
Her husbend was there at the time, and he id he would do
the best he could for her. Mr. Thomas, the~ elieving-officer
of the parish, also saw both her and her husband this time
last year, and advised them to go into the workhouse; but

they tall that they would nut, as they should be separated.
Deceased had told witness several times since that the feat
of being separated from her husband, with whom she had
lived f,r so many years, prevented her going into the work-
house. They had no outdoor relief from the rarish. The
husband earned a little by jobbing as a carpenter, and one of
his brothers paid 4s. per month for his ldging. The de-
ceased was deranged, and the husband not right in his mind.
Ann Diggle, of No. 13, Dacre-street, saw deceased lying in
the area completely naked. When the parish officers were
called, and the room was entered, she was band with her
husband's shirt on, hut nothing else. The officers wished
to take her to the workhouse, but her husband would not
let them. James D uldesned:a the husband of the &ceased,
whose wretched, half idiotic appearance excited colaiderable
sampathy, said that he had been in a very destitute state fur
the last seven years, and that a sum of 4s. 6d. per week
which he had been allowed trim Marylebonc was stopped
last April because he would not go into the " house." I
lived upon what I could scratch toaether. When I could
get work I earned sometimes Is. 6c1., sometimes Is., and
sometimes 9ii. per day. I did not apply for relief for
the last year ; but the gentlemen of Marylebonc
knew how badly I was off, for Mr. Lantley came
and taw me, and wanted me to go into the workhouse.
The coroner : Why would you not let your wife go into the
workhouse ? She begged me never to let her go, and I
promised on the word of a man that she should not. Mr.
Robert Thomas, relieving officer of St. Margaret's and ht.
John's, said that his atteatiun was called to the case of the
deceased and her husband in last February, and he offered
to take them into the workhouse, but they positively refused.
They had no relief because they would not come into the
house. No application had been made to him since then. We
wrote to the authorities of Mary:ebone, train which they had
been receiving relief, t: presenting their destitute state. The
husband said he had a claim upon the Admiralty, but could
not get it settled. He had been many years in the
Royal Navy, and been in many engagements. Verdict
" Died from the want of the necessaries of life." -
DEATH tunas DRINKING BOILING WATER.—By Mr. W.
Basil., at the Jane Shore, High street, Shoreditch, on the
body of Robert Cluley, aged four years. On Wednesday
afternoon, a kottlo of boiling water was standing on the tire;
deceased placed his mouth to the spout of the kettle and
drank a portion of the contents. His screams brought his
parents to his assistance, and a surgeon subsequently
attended. Ile gradually got worse and died on Friday.
Verdict, " Accidental death."--Iseactrictuu—By
Mills, at the Bull and Mouth, Bury-street, Bloomsbury,
resumed after two adjournments, on a male infant, the
offspring of Caroline Mitchell, a married woman, resid-
ing at 10, Gilbert-street, Bloomsbury. The mother was
married in June, and soon afterwards she appeared to be far
advanced in pregnancy, and in November gave birth to a full-
grown child in the water-closet, where it was smothered.
The jury returned a verdict that the child was smothered in
the soil f.f the water-closet, and that the soother wilfully
and culpably concealed its birth. The mother remains at the
- 'louse under the surveillance of the police.

IRELAND,

DUBLIN, DEC. 13.
Without ministering to the exaggeration which prevails
on the condition of the country, there yet remains enough
in its actual state to fill the mind with the most dismal pros-
pects. As we pass into the winter the shadows thicken, and
each day now brings intelligence of distress and deinoralisa.
lion, which inspires us with strung feelings of uneasiness for
the future. There can be little question that destitution, in
its most aggravated forms, has seized on the poorer
classes, and advances with fearful force, more particu-
larly in the southern and western districts. We
net little value on the habitually swollen accounts from the
south. There appears to be a rivalry in the language of
exaggeration between the organs that represent opinions in
the county ease where the greatest amount of suffering exists
—language not at all calculated to produce those
sedative effects which are so necessary in the present
crisis of the public mind. Still there is a sufficiency of
misery to alarm and appal the most resolute' when
to starvation are added insubordination, rohberies,
and murders, with fever and pestilence appearing in
' the back-ground. We must regard the future with
solemn apprehension. The government is blamed in not
having interposed at an earlier period and prevented the
I possibility of famine by the profusion of state food. It is the
'duty of a nation to support a government, and not a govern-
ment' to support a people. We want a little snore fortitude
and %elf-reliance, instead of standing as mendicants at the
doors of the treasury ; —as barren and demoralising a condition
as could well be connived for an entice people. There is no
immediate probability of improvement. Money is abund-
antly lavished on public works. Scarcely a barony under the
Labour Rate Act that is not supplied with wages ; and yet
the mouth of complaint has net te m stopped up, nor does
society move on with more quiet and contentment ? We
must only wait and seek to mould CiECuMAMEC s to a more
fortunate issue.
One of the most improving towns in the British dominions
is Belfast. The energy and enterprise of her merchants have
found excellent materials to work upon in the thrift, eco-
nomy, and laborious industry of the surrounding population.
Since the establiahment of commercial freedom, short as the
interval has been, the trade of Belfast has advanced in a
striking manner. Within a few months, eight vessels under
the American flag entered the port with valuable carve..
They ha on board 4,900 tons of Indian corn and wheat, 5,000
barrels of ft Air, and large quantities besides of tallow, lard,
pork, beef, oil, cheese, and cotton. There is also a regular
fine of packets to trade between Belfast and New York, the
first gi which the Glenmore, belonging to the Messrs.
Richardson, sailed on Wednesday last. She carried a full
cargo, with her complement of passengers, amounting to
18.5. She had about 800 boxes and bales of linens, muslins,
and cottons, with 200 tons of pig iron, 43 puncheons of
aliskey, &c., &c. The direct export of their linen is a
matter of much importance to the active merchants of the
north, and it is not unlikely that a great increase will soon
take place in the direct foreign trade of Belfast, under the
stimulating influence of free exchanges.
Nino vessels have arrived within the week at the port of
Galway, laden chiefly with Indian town. Four foreign ves-
sels, with similar cargoes., have reached the Shannon, but
r. mained below the city, being afraid to lie along the quays.
From the unfinished state of the Limerick docks, the cargoes
are to be delivered by lighters. The people of Dingle, a poor
and barren district in the south-eastern angle of Kerry, have
received from her Majesty's frigate Andromache 35 tons of
Indian corn, for which they are very grateful. This is one
of the districts where, in the absence of the small retailtrader,
trader, the government undertook to supply proviaions.
The government, it is said, meets with some difficulty is
paying money wages to the labourers on public works.
Are they apprehensive of its creating any sudden change in
the circulation ?
PREAENTMENS Sesistoom.—An extraordinary presentment
sessions were held a few days since at Enniatymen, county '
Clare, Major Maenamara presiding. There were also
present Mr. C. O'Brien, M.P., Mr. John O'Brien M.P.,
and other gentlemen. The chairman complained that the
persons named es stewards on the public works were " in-
famous characters," axed that one of those persons who
had been sent by agreement two hunched men to put
to work, was not to be found when the men arrived
at the place where the work was to have been pro-
tided. Mr. J. O'Brien complained that in several parishes
in the relief district the labourers should have to
travel in such inclement weather font or five miles to the
public works, and Mr. Cornelius O'Brien, adverting to •
former proposition made by him that the labourers should be
employed in cultivating the land for the small farmers as
being a good and necessary public work, stated that if fiord
Llessborough and Mr. Labouchere refused to sanction such a
mode of employment, " the high respect he entertained for
their wisdom and humanity would be very much shaken."
Captain Wynne, of of the Board of Works, stated
that there were 7,000 men employed in the district,
and that many of them were persons who could subsist
without public wages, a statement which met with a general
denial from the gentry. A sum of 13,488!. was then agreed
to be assessed under Mr. Labouchere's letter, the disburse-
ment to be upon such works as are indicated in the follow-
ing passage of the report of the proceedings in a local paper,
and which it will be seen in accordance with the views of
Mr. C. O'Brien, M.P.:—" The Chairman put the question,
whether it was the opinion of the meeting that the sum
apportioned upon each electoral division should be expended
upon useful and profitable works, on the holdings of small
farmers within each 'division, particularly in making perma-
nent fences and preparing the soil for the reception of
seed, to secure food for the population, now in a state
of destitution, during the next year ; and it was unani-
mously agreed to.—Mr. John O'Brien, ?S.F., then pro
in
d
'the adoption of a resolution wresting an improtement
the Drainage Act, by which parties duly served with notice,
calling for their assents, and not dissenting within a reason-
able time should be considered as if they had given their
assents, and being seconded by Mr. C. O'Brien, same was
unanimously adopted.
A presentment session was held at PaII&SgEMM, county
Limerick, on Friday, when it was agreed to prxeed er
Mr. Labouchere s letter for reproductive works.—The
county surveyor said, There remained unexpended on Satur-
day last, 6,573rfr0m the four districts of the barony, namely,
Boon, Pallasgrean, Oulagh, and Kilteely. At a meeting of
the relief committee of Boon it was stated that 3,0901. would
be required to give employment in that district thirteen
weeks ; it would require 8001. pet week to pay the men, at
the lowest wages 'they could receive, one shilling per day.
There are 860 now at work in Doon, and 160 in want of
emplOymint. This sum was remaining out et.'!le 3reaent-
ments made at spreceding sessions, and it was chat it
was a sum sufficient to afford employment to.gs7whole of
the destitute labourers of the barony for three months.
The second adjourned extraordinary sessions for the barony
of Costlea '
was held at Kilfinnan county Lithmerick, an W
It ed-
nesday. was resolved to proceed under e Aet 9th and
to the 'amount
10th Vienna, and presentments were passed
of 1'2,7381.
Swims:G.-Idr. B. H. Peesse, of Longhrea, compkine
that although liable to an ammanient of 1,5901. for 20,0001.
presented as the baronial extraordinsry sessions, he is ten-
able to prewar -a relief ticket fora ede poor Ma* on his
property, while a more fortunate neighne has all his men
on the public work's.
Tien Paimaires Cr DlSOBaktilEATiwc—The provi_neial
journal's meolved to-day contain' the whinge ',Moms of
pluirdet Of corn and. provisions, attacks on betakes, and de-
struction Of sheep and*cattle. The fffilawleigg iere the More
grievous -records of ontrage they Wig—On Tuesday
',knit* fonts men,,thestr facie partly disguised with hand-
kerthiefi and .blacking, emh armed' with :a guts, pro-
*Medea 'to the lye o[ Corrthae, near CTOMU, vre sixty
'tuft are -employed under the Board bf Worts. • They
eslionlyedletor
aforfewthe
Iniehneeueke-:lerkreii, JouiamestoH, ythtarnelh who Imdra.
They then asked for °nein. one Of .the acting
steitarda, and,' having discovered bite eh' adjoining
cottage they dragrd the poor man out, pladed him on
his knees, lest Mu severely with the butt end of

Altair guns, and helbeted four deep cuts on his head. Having
tomunanded him to employ every man and boy that wanted
work in that lucidity, they retired, firing shots and re-load-
ing as they passed off. They crowed the Rev. Mr. liarnett'a
orchard, and fared towards Patrick's-ea 11. On Tuesday
night three horses were shot at a distance of two mile, from
I Ennis, sifter they had brought earn into market, the pro-
perty of Thomas Sampson, E.g. It is remarkable that Mr.
Sampson offered the corn to the people of his neighbourhood
at one shilling a stone, but they desired he should take it to
market, this he did and sold it at Is. Bd. A sale of oorn
and cattle, seized for one and a half year's rent, due to Mrs.
Ellen Hastens, was advertised f r Thursday, at Kiladrowns
near Frankferd, where a large mob was aesemeled. Met.
Haslam and her assistants were driven off the lands, and
assaulted. Several of the mob were well aimed with guns
and pistols, and fired upwards of twenty shots. One of the
ruffians discharged his gun at Mrs. Haelam's herdsman, but
fortunately without effect. Mr. Drought Haslain was very
badly beaten, and received five severe wounds in the head.
On Sunday last about one u'clock, while the Rev.
Mr. M'Grath, of Settermullen, was celebrating divine
worship, his house was forcibly entered by a max named '
Patrick Mullin, who stole a trunk containing a cheque fur
1001., 16/. in notes, 2/. in silver, and wearing apparel, with
which he emended. The Galway Vindicator says of the
murderers of Mr Lynch that they left such evidence behind
them as will lead to their discovery, and adds that there is '
every. reason to believe the murder was not the result of any
agrarian confederacy, or of any combination of the people
generally against the lives of their fellow-creatures or the
peace of society. The same journal says that the pound of
filltulla is crammed with cattle seizid fur the May rent.
PUBLIC WOlLKS.—tinder the present important a-pact of
Irish affairs, the fallowing additional observations from the
Globe and the correspondent of the Chronicle, referred to by
the former journal, may. be acceptab.e: 'The expendi-
ture on puulic works in Ireland —in other words, the
advances made from the national treasury for the single
purpose of puttng money in Irishmen's hands to buy food
with, has already reached nearly 120,0001. a week, or half a
million a month, or 6,000,01)01. a year. That is to say,
observes the Economist, "We arc now expending
in charity, in Ireland alone—nay in portions only-
of Ireland—a sum equal to the whole cost of our
army or of our navy—a sum exceeding by one-fifth our
whole poor-law expenditure, exceeding by one-fifth the pro-
duce of the income tax for the United Kingdom,—a sum
half as much again as the produce of the led duties or the
sugar duties.-1 sum, in tine, equal to one-ninth of our
whole yearly impeii:A income. We mei employing, more-
over, on these public (and useless) works, 300,000 labourers,'
who represent probably, 1,500,000 of the population ; and''
things hare reached this fearful height within two months
from the last potato harvest, and consequently when ten months
have to elapse before the gathering in of the next crop. Unless
some vigorous measures are taken speedily, the expenditure,
before that period arrives, will be at the rate, not of six, but
of ten millions a year.' What is even more startling than the
inordinate proportion of the new barthen to the most impor-
tant branches of our public expenditure, is the feet that the
present public aid to the diminution of Irish distress is
actually diverting Irish labour from the indispensable cul-
-1 tore of the soil, and thereby conducing to the indefinite
continuance of that distress. It is very difficult to
say how this could have been avoided, nor do we
know that the case would have been much better, as
regards cultivation, if the hands which formerly car.
reed it on had simply been rendered powerless by ,
want, instead of (some proportion of them) being employed
in a different direction by government. But however dif-
ficult to have been avoided, it is not less startling as
a feet, that spectacles such as the following are, at the
present hour, witnessed throughout Ireland : " On my
journey to and from Tulle," writes a correspondent
of this morning's Chronicle, " a distance of twenty miles,
in a country most favourable to all the operations of
agriculture, I observed exactly three persons engaged in
tilling the land. Field after field lay fallow and deserted,
while thousands of strong men were busy in the midst of
them tearing up and breaking stones on an old road."
" Every one," says the same writer, " wants to get on the
public wosks—every one wants to get his son or his brother,
his relative or his friend, on the public works. They all
seem to think that it is so much money to be given away
about the country, and that they may as well get their
share. From the poor cottier up to the small farmer
of sixteen or eighteen acres, with two or three cows,
this seems to be their chief aim and ambition ; and veils
seance is vowed against those who attempt to thwart it."
,' From Ennis to the town of Tulle, he continues, the road
'for ten miles passes through a gently undulating country
with a wide extent of amble land, divided at intervals by
patches of bog or marsh land, susceptible of great improve-
ment by the •Implest operations of drainage. At a short dis-
tance from the former town my progress on this road was
interrupted by the first of the public works which I had yet
witnessed. About fifty men and boys, the great mass
of whom were apparently farm labourers or email cot-
tiertenanhewere employed in breaking up one portion of the
roadway, leaving just space enough between the hedge and
the scene of their operations fur the car to pass. l'our,
famine-stri.ken creatures, the most of them were—tall,
sinewy men, shrunk up as it were with hunger, but working
with all the strength they had left. They worked in gangs
of about fifteen, each gang being superintended by a person
appointed by the engineers of the work. The boys and old
men broke stones for road metal, while the able-bodied men
were cutting down the surface of the road, and
wheeling it away in barrows to fill up a hollow,
where it ran down the base of a gentle hill. They
appeared for the most part to he worki, g with all their
strength, lmt occasionally a few might be observed who did
not seem to lie particularly energetic. It struck me that all
those of whom this observation was true were generally
better clad and more comfortable looking than the rest of
the men, and on making inquiry, I have been informed
that those were small holders, who had been put on
the list, but who were not disposed to work as hard as
the others, not being so much in need of the extra sums
gained by unusual labour on the task-work system.
There are in the county of Clare at least 270,000 inhabitan's,
a considerable increase having taken place in the population
since the census of 1841. Of these 138,000 are males, of
whom about 70,000 are fifteen years of age and upwards.
The numbers employed on the public works in Clare at this
very moment are close upon 40,000 souls. As the
proportion of women and children is very small,
and making allowances for the better classes, gentry, trades-
people in towns, and farmers, it is not too much to say, that,
at the very lowest calculation, three-fourths of the peasantry
of the county Pre at this time employed in repairs on old
roads, or in making new once, while the remainder are
clamouring for food and work. The sum expended on these
unproductive works in this county alone amounts to about
17,0001. a-week.
THE REPEAL RECONCILIATION.
LErrea FROM Mn. OTONNELL..-- The following letter
from Mr. O'Connell was addressed to the editor of the Free-
man's Journal in the course of this afternoon, and to his
courtesy I am indebted for a copy. It concludes all hope
that Mr. Smith O'Brien will return within the Repeal con-
federacy ; nor does there seem much prospect of the Young
Ireland( ni who assemble at the Nation office coeleecing with
O'Connell :

Menton-square, 12th Deeenther.
Sir,—l return you tne resolution' which you sent me, unsought for
on my part. I return them, lest, by retaining them, I should be sup.
pond to acquiesce in the gross inaccuracy they exhibit of the real
state of the question teuching the conference proposed by me. In
one of these emulations, you talk as of a mater of donut whether any
loyal question would arise at the cortterence. It is, perhaps, my
duty, at all events it is my inclination, to inform you, that the
primary, if not the exclusive, object of the proposed insistence b W
ascertain and define matters of law. In truth the affair stands thus
Tint—The Repeal Association is, beyond any shadow of doubt, a
lawful numbly, not impeachable kr any breach of tho law. My
proof is this. The Repeal Association has stood the ordeal of the state
trial—not only without any prosecution, but without any officer of
the crown, or any one of the court intimating against It the slightest
charge of illegality. The Repeal Association is a legal body, because
it disclaims any use of force and arms to :whim the repeal of the
Union statute ; bemuse ft disclaims the use of physical force to achieve
the repeal oi the Union Mat/Ate—every member of the Repeal Mmo-
elation is at present perfectly safe from any prosecution. Would the
members be equally safe if it were to admit any intermixture of the
ph vsical force principal as part of the means for obtaining such repeal!
Lem decidedly of opinion that tho members would not, in each a case,
be safe fi oin a well-founded promotion- flake these proposition le
be clear in law :
That any assembly admitting any species of physical forcer pot
of Ire means of obtaining a repeal of an act of parliament, is slaw ful neembly, liable to be dispersed by any magistrate, sad its
members to Is punished by indifferent. That any such aseemtaly
la
not only unlawtul, but that any act done by it in Authentic* at Its
object ooastitutes a treasonable fast, rendering the members liable to
eonvictrt pad execution he treason. This opinion, in per of law,
I have it egrated public partneri. No one hea had the
harbor* deny ha . It follows, if I be right, that the
enethits grad eery into the Repeal Association, online
ame am IRO& disclaimer of veering to any
her seers to olden the repeal of the Union. In ceder to
UMWse teethe the sisesdos iota the Repeal namodation again,
eseertained beyond a doubt whether I am right In point
ef law Sr sr At riser periods, is my struggles for ativanctin the
porter muse, ay' judgment in nutter of law was bond eminently
useful; and my opinion of the state of the law was trusted to-with
implicit confidence. And I have the comfort to know that such KM-
fideme was never regretted, nor shown by any fact to be misplaced.
Now my most anxious desire is to lay the (urination of perfect °r-
etrials ; or, If that be refused, to have the universal people under-
stand ebo it is Ito whom the corinuance of the dimension is justly
attributable. I stead altogether upon the law. My sole difficulty
rests upon the legal objection to the admission of the senders
yond a
What then is to be don! Is it actin wi2ie Marie to ascertain be-
doubt what the law is upon the subject] If the law will
admit of any relaxation I am quite ready, of coons I am, to give the
seceders the full benefit of that relaxation. I repeat the question.
What le to be der I My answer is rewly, ant I propose to do the
thing—thee Is, to bold an smicable oonference—to ascertain, in the
Br insure the state of the law. This should be a preliminary to-
ry. It would be idle to talk upon the terms upon which the
Would be re.admitte,i, if we are prevented by the law from
re-olmitting them et all, except at the peril el stir lives. let us
then sees stein most amicably the state of Use law, and neve
mery other question ( o question there be) mori-
bund. ler the state of the law le amour* It
was with a view to rarer thus aininatily the law of
the case that I proposed the conference. I selected the most maws.
cepticeine peters to be members of that conference, including even •
myself ;• br I named before me Mr. Smith O'Brien. I also named
fear barristers—ghats of them more eminently samurai in pro-
' horn titan Say gentlemen et their storks; ba **British dominions ;
the longs penessid ot talent, equally ekes to a succor in
hla Pnifeesion. ern I believe night n distant. The. four
are :—Sir Colman. O'Logbitse. Mr. O'ller Mr. °Wager and Mx.
1111 am
It is not likely that ang min will In found who win dispute
the accuracy of Owls eendolat legal order •If thati apron be
Werke' with mine, *we are rayd the seceder who will
anuisece and submit to the law, end join the assoentinfl
ore rain In its struggles for Irish nairdity. If throw be declared
atherwian thin I it it ix I shall sannetioa at ono* and admit mr
error. But in either cask, no intros of terms an vele-until the
law Iri &abstained. and fully and ' unequivocal: submitted to.
Tow can Si. no .pelterieg W h datable• seine. Tbe taw, When
once alCOMAtlit tenet be the NM at all oar soros ;
else word- or-
bs nst ; nothing e would be NUM ;
else until be safe. The noference cannot do say hails ; it
may, and I think must, do good. ;term show *el sin seedy to carry
ant concillation to tea ma extent at Ilse law. It will she show who
they are who would never .oencillatine ; et. at ell squib, not
wail themselves of its inform°. I am sw
ay that ; have not
uott enti of been met with a spirit enextepoding Ito be dbein not