The Express.
London, England, 1847-12-29 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN. Die. 27.
Dr. Slattery, Archbishop of Cashel, has addressed a
short letter to the Earl of Clarendon on the rapidity
with which the Coercion Act has been brought into
execution. The archbishop places in a sort of anti-
thesis the tardiness of the law which should save—the
Poor Amendment Act—and the rapidity of that which
tends to destroy. In conclusion he observes " Your
excellency baa admitted in your answer to the me-
morial of the catholic bishops that the preservation
of human life was the sacred and paramount duty of
government ; and shall it be always true that in Ire-
land there is to be one law for the rich and another
for the poor ?"
The poor-law commissioners are by no means satis-
fied with the progress of the guardians in the south
and west. The order for the dissolution of the Ballina
board has been sent down, and that of Galway is soon
to follow. The gentlemen to whom the law is in-
trusted there devote too much time to orations, and
little to the law. In the south the Cahirciveen union
has shared the same fate, and others are to walk soon
in the same footmarks of dissolution.

Laid week, the Times,Chronicle,&c., had filled up, by
anticipation, the new chairmanship. I stated that the
candidate would be selected from the north-east bar,
and that opinion has since been confirmed. Mr. Robert
Andrews has received the appointment, a gentleman
in every way qualified to discharge the duties of the
office. Mr. Andrews lately succeeded to the seat in
the Board of Education, vacant by the resignation
of Mr. Holmes. He is a unitarian, a gentleman of
high personal character, liberal in his opinions, a
very able lawyer, and is very considerable practice.
The appointment has given general satisfaction.
On Friday the new judge of the Queen's Bench,
Mr. Moore, together with the new law officers,•were
sworn before the Lord Chancellor. It is gratifying
' to add that his health has been improving for the
last few days.
A war of letters has for some weeks been raging
in the Belfast papers rather singular in its nature
when we consider the character of the community in
which Greek has been pitted against Greek. The
cause of contention consisted in the practicability of
reviving Greek, as a spoken and living language, in
the "modern Athens," not of Greece, but of Ulster.
A Mr. Masson, ex-Philhellene Judge of the High''
Court of Areopagus, and Attorney-General of the
Peloponnesus—real and veritable titles—returned
from the court of Kin: Otho, took girder. as a presby-
tr..an clergyman, and was promoted to the classical
chair by the synod of Ulster. In hie inaugural lec-
ture he stated, inter alia, that his object should be to
teach Greek so as to make it the language of intel-
lectual communication among the students; that this
result was perfectly practicable from the close affini-
ties between the modern and ancient tongues,
of which any scholar might be convinced by a
of the standard works now published in the
Eumale. Nay, the professor believes that in a few
years the Arcadian shepherds will speak the venerable
langulige of their classic forefathers in all its full and
mellow purity. Such strange hallucinations pro- I
yoked the Rev. " Eyeik Nealem ' to break a lance
with the Dicast and first law officer of the Mores.
He quoted " Theodorus Ttechotylodromue," and other
such learned authorities, to prove the impossibility of
a reconciliation between the language of Pericles and
the dissonant rudeness of the Klepth. The professor
rejoined, and referred to the State Gazette, now pub-
lished in Athena, and written by members of the uni-
versity. Dr. Bryce stepped in as moderator of the
learned contention, and suggested a board of referees.,
with Dr. kennedy Baillie, translator of the " Aga-
memnon " of 211echylus, and editor of " Homer," as
president, flanked with Dr. Hincks 4z 'various other
erudite' of the north. Such is the present state of
this famous question, which is likely to restore to
Belfast its ancient boast of "The modern Athens."
The Great Southern and Western Railway Com-
pany have given public notice that in the event of any
person employed on their works being molested they
will immediately suspend the works, unless the I
offenders bo given up. This is a beneficial regula-
tion—a leaf from the note book of Mr. Dargan, the
eminent contractor, who practised it before with the
most perfect success. The men to whom employment
is afforded will thus be interested in the preservation
of the peace, and, when outrages are committed, in
the detection and punishment of the offenders.

REPIAL ASIOCIATION.—This body met to-day, Mr. J. P.
Conran presiding. Tne only topic of interest brought forward
was a correspondence between Mr. Robert Lon Browne,
M.P., and Mr. J. H. Dianne, a member of the association.
Mr. Dunne, at a meeting of the body held after Mr.
Browoe's vote on the Coercion Act, attacked the member
for Mayo, amongst others, for his vote, remarking that he
had voted differently on the present occasion, when his
friends the whigs were in power, to his vote on
the coercion bill proposed by the tories. Mr.
Browne baying seen a report of this address of
Mr. Dunne wrote him a very hostile communication,
denying in very unmeasured terms the " sinister" sug-
gestion of Mr. Duane, regretting that he had had the mis-
fortune to dine with'hins on some occasion, but that that
circumdanoe made him take notice of his attack, intimating
that he had heard Mr. Dunne wu about being called to the
bar, but that he had on this movement of Mr. Browne's a
shorter mode of establishing for himself the position of •
gentleman. This letter having reached Mr. Dunne ,
he placed himself in the bands of the committee
of the association, which resolved that he should
write to Mr. Browne, explaining that he had not attri-
buted corrupt motives 10T his vote, Mr. Dunne pro-
testing that no such idea prevailed with him—and that
he should, at the same time, all on Mr. Browne to with-
draw the offensive letter. Mr. Browne replied that be had
great respect for the committee of the association, but he
denied its right to interference in a matter concerning his
public and personal honour. This correspondence, together
with a protest from Mr. E. W. Castello, a member of oem-
mittee, the same in effect as Mr. Brown's letter,
wee read to-day by Mr. Dunne himself, who inti-
mated at the same time the committee would take further
steps in the matter.—Mr. John O'Connell stated that a spe-
cial committee was summoned for Wednesday to consider
this affair. He then read certain resolutions passed at
Castlebar, Mayo, condemning the votes of Messrs. Browne
and Moore on the Coercion Act. The remainder of the
sitting was occupied by Mr. Reynolds, in reviewing the pro-
ceedings of the late session, and Mr. John O'Connell in
condemning the haste of Lord Clarendon in promulgating
the Coercion Act. The repeal rest reached 201.

SCOTLAND.
Ennrseaou, Deo. 27.
Fever is beginning to diminish in Edinburgh. For
the last four weeks the mortality in the infirmary has
been 76, 82, 45, and 30. In Paisley the malady is
also diminishing, the patients in the house of recovery
there having last week been 136, whilst this week it
is supposed that they will not be much beyond 100.
In the south of Scotland influenza continues ex-
tremely prevalent ; in the north it is disappearing.
The visits of the two medical officers of the Aber.
deen parochial board amounted during the past year
to 5,998, and they have received their reward—their
salaries having been raised to forty guineas.
Trade in the manufacturing districts of the west
still continues deplorably depressed. At Kilbarchan,
says the Gtasooto Post, there are, as near as may be,
two-thirds of the working population out of employ-
ment. Some partial subscriptions have been raised
over the parish for their relief, but all that has been
obtained is so utterly inadequate, that one instance
has been communicated to us, where a nursing mo-

ther, with twins at her breast,was two entire'days
without food of any kind. One of the children died,
which is an occurrence no way surprising, under the
circumstances; and, while in England suck a case
would have been inquired into, the verdict of a jury
obtained on the subject, and the blame laid down at
the proper quarter, in Scotland, as the law stands, no
inquiry is instituted into such cases, and, if they are
omitted by the press, they must pass for ever
unheeded.

In Orkney and Shetland the recent storms have
caused much destitution. In Caithness the loss of life
has been 14, in Orkney 14, in Zetland B—in all 36.
By these calamities twenty widows, and more than
forty orphans, have been cast on the world.

The Scottish Educational Institute is advancing
favourably. The members already amount to 1,230,
while nearly 300 applications ate under consideration.
With such strength, the institute may be of great ser-
vice in raising the standard of teachers, provided the
different classes of diplomas be impartially awarded,
and examinations continue to be rigidly the test of

admission. The

profuseness of thee-

logical and literary degrees by slime of the Scottish
universities has lowered seulemic distinctions con-
siderably, and has led to such appendages being
regarded u the matter of course adjuncts of me-
diocrity, instead of being distinguishing marks of
ability and learning. The institute would do well to
keep this error earnestly in view.
The established church presbyteries are preparing
petitions against equal privileges being allowed to
the Jews. The resolutions of the presbytery of Lin-
lithgow are as follow, and may be taken as a sample
of all that will come after:
I. That the presbytery view with the grest-st alarm the introduo-
tice, by the first minister of the crown, into the !Lowe of Commons
of a Mil for the removal of Jewish disabilities 2. That such a mea-
sure appears to the presbytery to be wholly at variance with the con.
stitution of this kingdom, which is based on the explicit recognition
by the mate of the Christian religion, and to b• subverve of the fun-
damental principles which ought to guide the polioy of every Chris-
tian state. 3. That Um measure appears to the pmeb3-tery to he
fraught with evil consequences to the cburch of Christ within the
nation, and to the kingdom, even aim-Ward under ■ temporal aspect.
4. That the presbytery resolve to petition both hour... of parliament
against this measure, and farther, if it shall appear neoewary, to run
morialise her hi ejeety the Queen that the mad measure may not pass
into a law.

NSW INDUSTRIAL Rai%Maui rola Boys IN GLASGOW.—
In Glasgow there is, and has been fur • considerable period,
• large class of ragged urchins, from 10 to 12 years, who
carry on a regular trade in catching rats and disposing of
them alive to parties, who reward them for their labour at
rates averaging lid. to 23. a head, aceording to size and the
number in the market. By this profession these daring boys
earn a livelihood, and some of them who are well ii,) to their
business make as mach as 10s. a week. The process of
catching the vermin is exceedingly simple, and gene-
rally pretty successful. Having discovered a hole in a
stable, cellar, or back building, where rats are plentiful,
the armee takes a piece of cord of some length,
upon the end of which he makes • noose equal to the size
of the hole over which he has resolved to watch, and after
putting down meal or bread to attract hie intended prey, he
stations himself with the cord in his hand, watching like •
patient angler until his victim pops out his head or part of
his body, when by a sudden jerk he hooks him in the noose,
and then with the aid of his bonnet or some other thick cloth
seizes the living prize as if it was• canary or a mavis. Having
deposited the rat is a cage or other place of safety, he returns
to his work, and in this way proceeds to rid the tenement
where be curies on operations, of hordes of useless and
destructive vermin.—Glaagoto Poet.
DINISS or AN AGED RADICAL.—The Glasgow Post
records the death of an old and much respected radical
reformer (Mr. Wiliam Lang, printer), which occurred at
Dunoon on Tuesday last. Mr. Lang was in the 76th year
of bin age, and although for a number of years pest unable
to take an active part in the business of political agitation,
he was devotedly attached to those principles of radical
reform in the legislature of the country, which gained for
him, in darker and more precarious times, a reputation which
was by no means favourable to his advancement amongst
certain dames in the community. Is the days of Sidmouth
and Castlereagh, and when spy Richmond had a local habita-
tion and • name, Mr. Long was taken into custody in 1816,
along with his brother-in-law, Mr. Turner of Thrushgrove,
on a charge of high treason, the treasonable part of Mr.
Lange conduct being the crime of having printed the resolu-
tions adopted at the public meeting held on the grounds of
Mr. Turner, on behalf of parliamentary reform. How that
charge was given up by its . romoters, how public opinion
1 has changed, how Mr. fang and his coadjutors have since
been honoured by those who formerly contemned their
principles and their conduct, has already been sufficiently
1 ya,.......

WALES.
8 EILIKTING BETWEEN THE MAR-

gtlrs or Bore AND SIR JOSIA N GU SST, relative to the Dowlais
works, it le said, are not likely to be brought to a favourable
issue. The work of destitution has commenced there. We
(Hereford Times) understand from good authority that
three thousand men have already been pxid oft, and that
five thousand more are under notice. The prrsent aspect on
the hills is indeed bad. We fear this winter will prove the
most severe the working classes have experienced in this
locality for many years.