The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-11 00:00:00

EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 11, 1846.

so.By, tawekingfindafnora—verage proportion front the above eon:wi-
t : 19 S. or lin 90 English milts.
Erman • 1:320r t in 1171
„
fierearmy
From the above tables, Freiterr Von den &awe the
conclusion that the number of accidents from railways is
comparatively small, and that travelling by railway is far less
dimgcrous than by any other means of conveyance. In sup-
port of this assertion he argues that "in the above-men-
tioned states the number of deaths is on au average 1 on 33
to 45, or 2.2 to 3 deaths on 100, or 109 deaths on every 3,300
to 4,500 souls. Of these 2to 3 per cent. are from violent
causes, so that there are 2 deaths on every 3,000, or 1 death
en every 1,500 souls from violent causes. Taking the most
unfavourable proportion for deaths occasioned by railway
accidents, namely, the year 1845 in England, when about
200 persons toned their death on railways, they only amount
to 0,033 per cats. of the general amount of deaths, 1.1 per
tent of violent deaths, and 0.0008 of the population.
Again, from 1840 to 1844 inclusive, the yearly average
number of deaths at Berlin from accidents (not counting
suicides), was 90 to 100 ; of these from 40 to 50 were eases of
drowning. The greatest number of persons killed on the
railways in all Germany, within a
year, was four—not one-
twelfth of the number of accidents in Berlin alone.
River-bathing is by far more dangerous than travelling by
railway. In 1813, seven, and 1844, four persacs lost their
lives at Berlin whilst bathing ; whilst in the corresponding
period only three persons were killed on the railways of the
whole of Germany. In London alone 250 to 300 persons are
killed yearly by being driven over or thrown out of carriages,
whilst in the whole of Europe fewer persons meet their
deaths on railways. It is by far more dangerous to walk in
the streets of Paris than to travel on the French railways,
for, according to official returns, the number of yearly deaths
in the Paris streets is from 460 to 480, whilst the maximum
of deaths on French railways, was 56. If, says Baron Roden,
we take the Berlin Anhalt railway by way of example, we
find that in 18t1, on every 10 miles of railway (46 English)
the number of persons conveyed was 430,000. To take a
similar number of persons to the same distance by the
Schnell-post or mail-coach (ten there and ten back daily),
118 years would have been requisite, and as according to the
average number of accidents on railways in Germany there
was only one death on 45 miles (207 English miles) of rail-
way, the mail-coach would have to run for 472 years without
causing the death of passenger to make good the assertion
that there is not more danger in stage-coach travelling than
on railways. Experience has proved that there are two
principal reasons for the greater or lesser amount of railway
accidents, viz., the statutes, regulations, and management of
I the railway system, and then also the individual character of
the people.

IRELAND.
, DUBLIN Nov. 9.
. .

TITE LORD LIEIITZNAKT'S ARRIVAL AT BESSROROBOR,
—Ms Excellency the Lord Lieutenant arrived at Bessbo-
rough, Pilitown, co. Kilkenny, on Thursday night, accom-
panied by the several members of his family, and alio several
of his household.

THE POTATO COMMISSION. —We republish the following
letter, addressed by Sir Robert Kane to the editor of the
Freeman's Journal, in justice to the honourable men who
were employed on that commission. The editor states that
he was misled by some statement published in a London
journal :
DUBLINI Nov. 3, 1846.—Mv dear Pr. Gray, —My attention has
been recalled to the totally unfounded statements regarding the coat
of the scientific commission, to inquire into the nature and extent of
the potato disease, on which I was associated with Professors Lindley
and Plarfair, which statements you put forward in the Freeman's
Journal, and afterwards forgot to contradict, although I bad ex-
plained their Inaccuracy to you. Thar statements, taken from the
Freeman's Journal, have lately furnished the basis of some
articles and letters in the Times, and also hove been epoken
of at the mect:ng of the nritieh Association; and my coi-
-1 leagues, as well as I myself, have felt that we have been treated
with gross injustice by such statements being published without
foundation. It is stated that the potato commission cost 18,4001.—
Now, the fact Is that that commiaoon did not, so far as I or either of
the other commissioners are aware, east so much as the odd 400/. of
the sum stated. I gave my services on that oocardon perfectly gra-
tuitously. My colleagues, as they had to leave their families and
other business, were paid three guineas a day, and their travelling
charges. There were same incidental expenses for our secretary, Mr.
Buller, and materials for our experiments but the entire outlay on
the inquiry was between 3001. and 400/. Under these circumstances
the deliberate charge made in so respectable a Journal as yours, and
purporting to be extracted front • parliametlifefer, that the
scientific men, employed on the potato com , had pocketed
18,4031. of the public money, will. I am sure, be at once correct.' and
withdrawn, and I shall feet personally obliged if you will have the
goodness to insert this letter.—Beheve me to be, dear Gray, truly
yours, 8.. KAN/.
STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

RELIEF WGRKS.--4; find the following in the number
of the Southern Reporter for Saturday last:—As the in-
struction to the engineers superintending the works now in
progress under the Labour Act has been to employ tho la-
bourers by task work, it is gratifying to know that the expe-
riment, at least in some districts, is at present working most
favourably. In the large district placed under the superin-
tendence of Mr. Benson, an immense number of persons are
now engaged upon various road works, earning from Is. to 14d.
a day, and they are so content and pleased with the arrange-
ment, that they expressed their unwillingness to return to the
original system of remuneration. Upon one of the large
works progressing in the barony of Kinalea, the labourers
who are paid by task work, held a meeting, at which they
prepared a document addressed to Mr. Benson, and signed
numerously by their own body, in which they bear testimony
to the fair amount of wages which they are enabled to earn
—from 10d. to 14d. a day, on works upon which hitherto
the daily hire was only Bd. The tact of humouring the
people to give a fair trial to a system which was hitherto
viewed with dislike and distrust, because it was new, Mr.
Benson possessed—and he is one of the first public officers
who has been enabled to report a successful issue of the
experiment. ft has been stated as a charge against this
excellent officer, whose activity, zeal, and discretion
cannot at the present moment-be too highly commended,
that no public work had been commenced in the neigh-
bourhood of Midleton, where the distress of the present
year was certainly felt most severely. What is the fact ?
Every man sent by the Relief Committee has been employed
on the new road from Midleton to Tallaght. This work, it
may be stated, w. a granted upon the faith of a pledge given
by Lord Midleton's agent, that 1,0001. would be given
towards the work by his lordship. The lino surveyed by his
lordship's engineer being deviated from by the officers of the
Board of Works, it has been intimated that Lord Midleton
intends to withhold his subscription. No pledge, however,
was given as to the precise course of the line when the pre-
.sentment was under the consideration of the sessions. In
Imokilly, the number of persons employed by Mr. Benson is
about 4,000. Other works hare been passed for this barony,
and will he proceeded with as the relief in the various dis-
tricts shall require.
OUTILAOE.—On Thursday evening an attack was made by
an armed party on the house of Mr. George Meall, of
Raheen, near Thornfield, steward to Sir Richard Bourke.
Between six and seven o'clock on that evening, while Mr.
and Mrs. Meall, together with a young lady, teacher at Sir
Richard Bourke's school at Thorntield, were sitting at tea, a
man, with his face blackened and armed with a gun, forced
his way into the back kitchen, and telling the servant girl
to hold down her head or he would blow her brains out,
passed on into the parlour, and desired the inmates to
do the same. Mr. M did so, and the man asked him where
his fire-arms were. The lady was then ordered to leave the
loom, which she did, imploring the fellow not to murder
Mr. M. To this he replied that all he wanted was fire-
arms. Mr. Meall directed him where to find a gun on the
top of a press in the kitchen, and the Terry proceeded
thither, after which he fired a shot through the window.
He broke a considerable quantity of plate ware, and the
sashes and glass of the kitchen and parlour windows. After a
little time he returned to the parlour and went to the drawer
where Mr. Meall kept his money, and pulled it out. Not
finding what he wanted, he asked Mr. Meall for a little
change. Mr. Meall gave him his purse, containing about
10a, on which the robber departed. Outside he joined his
comrades, four or five in number, who were all armed. One
of the party fired another shot previous to their final depar-
ture. Up to this period, the perpetrators of this outrage
have not been discovered, but it is somewhat curious that a
watchman who was employed on the premises left the place
a short time before, taking with km all the dogs. This
outrage is unpardonable even in the habitual night-walker,
inasmuch as Sir R. Bourke has exerted himself with the
greatest humanity towards the poor of his district. Ile has
opened a soup kitchen at his own expense where the hungry
are fed, and has a female school where sixty girls are taught,
twelve of the most destitute of whom are clothed. He is
about clothing a few more of them this winter. If such
humane acts do not beget gratitude, the character of our
people must be open to the most aggravated censure.
OPERATION OF THE DRAINAGE AND PUBLIC WORKS
Acr.—Sir Richard Levinge, Vice-Lieutenant of Westmeath,
has stated, in the following letter, a considerable difficulty in
the conjoint working of the Drainage Act and the act fur
Public Works :

TO T. N. lIIKNOTOX, nen, he., Ste.
" Kneckdrin Cantle, Nov. 7.—Sir,-1 trust you will pardon me
for laying benne you my views of the effects which I comely. that the
existing regulations for the guidance of presentment sessions will hare
(if dill persevered in) on landed proprietors, where the landlords are
anxious as to the permanent improvement of their estates. Par ex-
ample, I will put the value of an electoral division at 10,0001., and
that it will require 2e. in the pound to pay the required labour for
three months. Suppose A, B, C, U, and Eto be the proprietors of the
lands—under each are the respective value of their agates, and the
lesser mm the rate for which each estate is to be taxed wider the 9th
and 10th Vie., 107:
A. D. C. D. Z.
Annual value of estate 2,000 1,000 1,500 2,500 3,000
Rats at 2s. 2OO 109 150 250 300
" I then suppose that B, C, and D wish to drain; A and E object;
it will then stand—

.. ^ .... ''.."... .......
A. 2. C. D. L
For drainage — 100 150 250
For road work

100 130 323 973 150
"It is obvious that A and E, by objecting to the improvement of
their estates by draining, will have bat half the rate to pay which
they otherwise would have, and therefore I beg to say, that
the regulations, as they stand at present, are the greatest pos-
sible temptation to those laudbrdo who are indifferent to
the improvement of their estates, to say, ' my neighbours want
to Improve their estates by drainage • I will object, and thin
lighten the tax upon my property The act of the 9th and 16th Viet,
c. 107, contemplates that alinhalibe equally taxed ; but now, in addi
tion to road work put upon B. C, and D, because that A and E object,
there is to be 34 per cent. interest added ; they must ellan employ per
capable of laying out and overseeing the drainage works. My
wish has been to put this case fairly : I haveasked for a second special
sessions for two baronies, for the purpme of obtaining draining pre-
sentment*, by the desire of several gentlemen in those baronies. I own
I fear the rank, and that they will be defeated in their object by the
inequality of the tax. I can see no reeible difficulty or injustice in
all being taxed alike—one estate chooses drainage, and another road-
work,—l beg to apologise for trespassing upon your time, and have
the Mawr to be, your very obedient and humble sernint
RICNAID LEVVIUT., Vim-Lieutenant"
Sorp KITCTIENR.—Tte Waterford Freeman says :—" The
Soci,,ty of Friends in this city have raised subscriptions
among their own body for the purpose of suppying the poor
of Waterford with broth during four days in each week.
They have mode an cogs:: ,ment with ir. Tiolmron, of
Ge,rge's-'street, wit) is t..) furnish thz.n ni:h 1,792 lbs. of

beef each week, which will be reduced into broth, and
owned out indiscriminately to the destitute poor of the city.
Lord Plunkett has established soup kitchens for the poor of
his neighbourhood at Old Connaught, Bray, near Dublin,
and his lord,hip has doze a mucli better thing in every
sense for the poor and the country, he has raised the wages
of his labourers to 10t. and 12t. a week.
TRANSMISSION OF INDIAN MEAL.—On Saturday morn-
ing seventy tons of Indian meal for the Relief Committee of
Castle Island, imported from Liverpool, passed through
Cork, guarded by an escort of the Ist Dragoons and 67th
Rcgt., which was granted by the authorities on tke informa-
tion of the Rev. Mr. Herbert, who deposed that from the
excited state of the country, in consequence of the prevailing
distress, he apprehended the provision would not be suffered
quietly to pass through without an escort.
FALL IN THE PRICE OF CORN —Corn has fallen in
Dublin tulle 2s. per quarter. In Limerick, on Saturday,
fine quality flour fell 2s. in the price of the cwt., but there
was no geaeral proportional fall in inferior "bread stuffs."
I The Limerick Examiner, however, says that the firm of C.
Nash and Son, of that city, lied reduced the price of
oatmeal 4d., and whole flute. 2d. per stone on Saturday.
This is indeed, says the Examiner, good news for the poor,
to whom the food is retailing in the smallest quan-
tities at the same price that sales are made by the ton. In
Cork, "bread-stuffs" ranged on Saturday as follows:
Wheat has declined 2s. to 23. Gd., and oats 641. to Is., since
this day week. In barley no change, hut the trade is not
lively. There is no change in the value of flour: coarse
qualities continue very scarce. Oatmeal as last noticed.—
Within the last ten days, six or seven vessels with Indian
corn have arrived at Cove for orders; the large ones from
tke Mediterranean have gone to other ports to discharge,
two or three small ones from Portugal remain here, which
has caused a decline in price of about 10s. per ton. Indian
meal very scarce, and in demand at 171. to ISt. per ton. The
prepared market is flat, bat stocks are so very low.
GALWAY. Nov. 7.—We have seldom had at this season of
the year a more plentiful supply of all descriptions of grain
than is offered for tale at this day's market. Prices have
been reduced considerably since the last quotations. There
were a few baskets of potatoes at 101. per szne.—Mereury.
BELFAST, 6.—Oats must be quoted 4d. to Gd. per
cwt. lower, and in moderate descend, whilst oatmeal has
only declined about Id. per cwt. We have had several arri-
vals of Indian corn during the week, but not to such an ex
tent as to rouse any decline in pfees; the demand is still
good, and prices are fully supported.--Chronicle.
DERRY, Nov. 4.—We continue to be largely supplied with
wheat, but cannot notice any improvemest in the demand.
Prices to-day were the turn in favour of the buyer, red
bringing 275. to 335.; white, 325. Gd. to 355. per barrel. Oats
in moderate supply and fair demand, from 15d. to 161st. per
atone. Early, 14d. to 1.5 d. per stone. Oatmeal, at crane,
in large supply, and buying brisk from 20s. to 20s. 641. per
cwt.; ditto, at steam-mill, 211. per ton. Indian corn meal
scarce, and 16s. Bd. to 17s. p:T 12011,,. is readily obtained for
good qualities.—Derry Sentinel.
_ _

DROOIIIII3 t, Nov. 7.—There was a large supply of grain
at this day's markets. Wheat and oats told Is. per barrel
lower ; barley remained stationary ; flour has fallen 2a. per
rack ; seed wheat is selling at 40a. to 50s. per barrel.—Con-
serrative.

A GOOD EXAMPLE TO LANDLORDS IN IRELAND.—Mr.
St. George, of Headfortl, Gilway, a large landed proprietor
in the R est of Ireland, has issued the following notice to
his tenantry; acting in the spirit of Lord John Russell's
recommendation :

Nonce.--In order to encourage a fair retail trade in corn and pro-
visions, I be eby give notice, that t will, from this day next year,
give a lease of his house and garden, three lives on fair terms, to each
of the live persons wt:o Anil then prove to my satisfaction that he hat
sold by retail in the town of Headford the Largest quantity of flour and
meal, at a Gar profit, from this date, and such persons will be entitled
to such further accommodations as I may be able to afford them, and
like those who have already shown a laudable teal in this cause, will
deem ve the beat thanks of their fellow.townamen.—Signed, 8.. J. M.
tit:. Grown, Torquay, Oct. 24, IMO.

PRESS PROSECUTIOL-Mr. Napier, Q.O , has commenced
a prosecution against the Northern Iniy, Belfast paper, fur
libel.

REPEAL ASSOCIATION.

The usual weekly meeting of the association was held this
day, when, on the motion of Mr. O'Connell, the Right Ilon.
the Lord Mayor took the chair.
The CHAIRMAN expressed his approval of the policy of the
Association under O'Connell, and said that Mr. O'Connell
had gained Catholic emancipation, and if men imagined that
he did not then possess the same powers to obtain repeal—as
clear and full powers as he possessed twenty years past—they
were very much mistaken. (Hear, hear.)
After the Chairman's sy_etch the minutes of last day's pro-
ceedings were read, and Mr. THOMAS STEELE addressed the
meeting. The Lord Mayor had, he said, called upon the
Catholics that they should give up the leadership of O'Con-
nell? Mr. Lstouche had said, in 1829, that emancipation
was demanded by seven millions of Catholics, but he
demanded it on the part of one million of Protestants now
following that example; he, Mr. Steele, as a Protestant,
asked were they, as Irishmen, to reject the leadership of
O'Connell ? Mr. Steele, then read an address to ,'I r. O'Con-
nell from Blackrock, near Dublin, and the other districts.
Mr. O'CONNELL returned thanks. Ho mid he felt that
he had done more for the country than could be boasted of
by those who now endeavoured to divert from him the grati-
tude of the Irish people. Mr. O'Connell then handed in,
accompanied by terms of strong eulogy, the subscriptions
of the Right Rev. Dr. Keating and several of his clergy, to the
amount of 271.105. He also handed in 13!. front Wexford, with
a letter frem the people of Wexford in which the principles
of Old Ireland were upheld. Mr. O'Connell asked what
were the old Inlanders guilty of that should make
them ashamed of their principles? They lied committed no
crime ; they had obtained great advantages when the late
administration was in power—the very men who now com-
plained of them. The highest amongst them complained
that the government should stigm iti-e repeal as a crime,
and expressed their anxiety that it should be permitted to be
an open question. Yet now, when there was a government
which left repeal an open question, these same men com-
plained that they should not support such a government.
But did the old Irelandera forget their principles ? No, for
they would support no government against repeal, and he
trusted that they never would. But while they would never
forget repeal, they would not offer to a friendly government
any opposition which would tend to the resumption of power
by their opponents.
Mr. LEVINGSTON, of Liverpool, banded in 71. from the
Irishmen resident there, and said there was not one, out of
4,000, Young Inlanders. He proposed a vote of thanks to
the collectors. . . . .

—..--.-.
Mr.•. O'NEILL DAUNT seconded the motion, and proceeded
to address the meeting at great length, upon topics suggested
by the condition of the country.
Mr. O'CONNELL handed in 5/. from a civil engineer, sub-
scribed anonymously ; also I/. fronie clergyman in Monaghan,
and 41., the subscription of himself and his sons, Maurice,
John, and Daniel O'Connell, Jun. He then rose to
speak of the topics of the day. He said his
speech should be short. Ile had intended to reply
to the Cork resolutions, but lie had made out half
his answer, when his clerk fell sick, and steed the Associa-
tion the tedium of listening to it, lie regretted it the more
with regard to the people of Cork, because he had heard that
the result of division in that city was likely to let in the
enemies of Ireland to office—(hear. hear)—to let in a Tory
Mayor. (Cries of " Shame.") Such was the handywork of
Young Ireland. Now the Nation of Saturday had stated,
that he (Mr. O'Connell) had called that party a phalanx ; but
he begged pardon of the Nation, and wished to say that it
had originated the name itself, and he had only
adopted it, and Mr. O'Brien had confirmed it. (Hear, hear.)
lie did not care what the young gentlemen called them-
selves—whether a young phalanx, or an old phalanx, or a
" noble phalanx ; " they might adopt the latter; and they
were still satisfied with being called Old Irelanders. (Loud
cheers.) There was then a noble phalanx on one side, and
the Repeal Association on the other. (Laud cheers.) Mr.
O'Brien—the head of this noble phalanx—said he (Mr.
O'Connell) was ugly, but, unfortunately, he could not help
it, and he thought it was rather harsh to abuse him for what
he could not help; however, he was satisfied with the re-
flection, that some of the Young Irelanders were no great
beauties themselves. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) But
where was the man of them who could stand there and say
he had struggled for his country for half a century. He might
be less sightly—he might be old, his body infirm, his arm
weak, but his heart was young and full of love and
vigour for his native land—fur " Old Ireland." Yes,
said Mr. O'Connell, you were slaves when I commenced
my struggle. The Protestant was an oppressor and the
Catholic a slave—they had no power or privilege—he had
pledged himself to remedy this, he had found her • province,
he hoped be would leave her a nation. They little knew
how great was the secessions he bad to encounter. Not the
pippin.squeesen of the Nation—the insane scum of the
press—not the popinjays of ;edifice, but the aristocracy,
the mercantile induence of the Catholic body—the greater
number of the clergy. He was for three weeks be-
fore he could get ten men to assemble in the old
Catholic Association. Yet he gained emancipation.
No man had ever been prosecuted who took his
advice. The government of the day flew at higher game.
Plunket indicted him. He had said that if England abro-
gated the constitution, the Irish people would resist—that 1
was always his principle—that they would use the privilege
of self defence—and he expressed a hope that if they were I
driven to that resistance, then should arise some Bolivar '
who the moment he gained the victory spared every oppo-
nent. He was prosecuted for that—but en Orange grand
jury ref used to find the bills. He was prosecuted by
Anglesey for a breach of a proclamation. He refused to
plead to it—it was no crime—and he was sayid the trouble
of defeating it by a writ of error, because of the retirement
of a ministry. Then carte the monster prodecution. He
then adverted to this prosecution, and reiterated his often-
repeated sentiments respecting it. Ile said if they were
guilty of entertaining the sentiments which the Nation
honestly avowed it contemplated, the prosecuted ought
to have been found guilty. Why did not those gentlemen
who complained of their backwarduess and abjur-
ante of physical force, set up an association which
should admit of physical force? Why didn't Mr. Smith
O'Brien do so. No, but they arrayed themselves
not in the columns of en army, but of a newspaper.
Why, was there ever anything so futile? These gentlemen
talked of their courage and the cowardice of O'Connell—and
'
yet their only array uin the pages of a public journal. They
talked of their swords and their fighting. John of the Bright
Sword was nothing to them. Yet their only sign of hostility
was to be confined to newspaper articles ; and their only ex-
hibition of force the "Noble Phalanx." Mr. O'Connell
then referred to the state of the country, mid recommended
to the people patience, to the government great exertion, and
to the gentry the necessity of being instantly at their duty.
The learned gentleman concluded by stating that he wss to
attend a meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society on Wed-
nesday, and said he hoped that bady would adopt a liberal
policy with reference to the condition of tt'e country.
The rent was then announced as B'/. Mr. J. A. O'Neil:
was called to this oh" and the meetia,; a, F.rated
after 3 o'clock.

PROVINCIAL.
LINCASHIRF.
CAUTION TO PARENTS.—DEATHS PROM n6ro—N.4-
withstanding the frequent cautions which the press offers,
scarcely a week elapses in which we are not called upon to
record the melancholy deaths of children by burning. In
nearly all cues such painful accidents result trom neglect and
that want of proper caution which parents are imperatively
called on to exercise. Two deaths resulted from the sec►
dental burning of children in Manchester last week, and in
both instances the children had been left without a compe-
tent person to take charge of them. Two inquests were held,
and it was proved that both deaths were caused by the chil-
dren's clothes taking fire in the absence of their parents. In
both cases the jury returned verdicts of " Accidental death."

ESTMOREIAND.
RAILWAY ACCIDENT.--On Sunday night last an accident
of a serious character took place en the Lancaster and Car-
lisle Railway, near Kendal. It appears that on the above
day a party of sub contractors and other persons engaged on
the line, decided on having a pleasure trip to Shap, a dia.
tance of about 16 miles, to celebrate the completion of the
railway, so far as the practicability of travelling was con-
cerned, and for that purpose procured two engines belong.
ing to the company, and embarked at an early hour in the
day. On returning, one of the engines preceded the othee
for a considerable distance, and there•ore arrived at its des-
tination earlier, but was incautiously left standing on the
rails in the direct path of the one which was behind. The
consequence was a collision, which dashed the first engine
to atoms, and dreadfully injured those parties who were
being conveyed on the second. They were thrown off by
the force of the shock in all directions. Gawith, a smith,
was dashed with tremendous force into the furnace of the
engine, and was so dreadfully scorched ab•aut the upper
parts of his body, and otherwise injured, that no hope is
entertained of his recovery. Another person had his thigh
lacerated, and others were injured to a great extent. The
engineer has absconded.

GLOUCESTER-MIRE.
FOROERY OF STAMPS ON PLATE.—At the Bristol polies-
court, J. Gregory and E. Bynea, were oommitted for trial, for
forging the marks of the Goldsmiths' Hull at Exeter, on
sundry pieces of plate,—by which the duty of Is. Gil. an
ounce charged by the hall for making was evaded, and an
inferior description of silver passed off upon the public,—
the hall only stamping that which is of the standard value.
By the Goldsmiths' Act, all alive articles above two penny-
weights must be stamped by the Company of Goldsmiths at
London, York, Exeter, Chester, Norwich, Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, Sheffield, or Birmingham, and the duty becomes pay-
able at the time of stamping. The hall et Exeter being
nearest to Bristol, the silversmiths of that district resort to it.
It appeared that Gregory, who previous to the last 4 years had
been a jobbing silversmith, had since that period set up as a
manufacturer of silver. Bynes had worked for him for the
last eight years occasionally, but during the last three
months he had been in Gregory's constant employ. The
system adopted seemed to be, that goods were sent to the
Exeter hall to be stamped, and, when they were returned,
Bynes would select one of the new pieces, take a piece of
brass about the thickness of a shilling, and as near the Hall
marks in size as possible, place it on the marks, then take a
punch and strike a sudden blow with a hammer, by which
means an impression of the marks was transferred to the
brass. From these pieces of brass, the marks of the Hall
were re-impressed on silver spoons and other plate when in
an annealed state, no more than one impression being taken
from each brass, and the marks of the operation which re-
mained upon the silver being cleaned off by another work-
man. This practice had been going on for a considerable
time, and the brasses were usually beaten up after the im-
pressions had been taken from them.
Tire Fest,. OF POVERTY is mentioned as a strong trait
in the character of all famous misers. This feeling is illus-
trated by a paragraph given in the last number of the Glouces-
ttr Journal, by which we learn that one of the legatees of
the late "Jemmy Wood," the rich banker of Gloucester,
lost no less than 180,0001. in his anxiety to secure " a com-
petence" of 20,0001. under the will of his master. The local
paper says: " The late Jacob Osborne, of Gloucester, i
exhibited n threefold aggravation the miserly propensities of
his old master' James Wood, the hanker; the property which
he actually possessed was of comparatively a very moderate
amount. NVe believe he only left behind him a sum of from
24,000/. to 28.0001., whereas his share under the will of tho
deceased banker amounted to nearly 200,000/. The discre-
pancy between these two amounts is accounted for by the
fart, that during the period when litigation was most
rife with respect to Mr. Wood's affiirs' and when
the chance when the executors would be able to
establish the will was doubtful, Mr. 0-borne laboured
under much nervous apprehension of ultimate beggary,
under which fear, it is said, he listened favourably to the
proposals of some six or more gentlemen, who joined toge-
ther and bought his chance for 20,0001., paying him that
amount, and giving him a guarantee against any liability for
costs or any other charges that might arise out of the l
opposition to the will This 20,0001., then, was all that Mr.
Osborne received for hie share of Mr. Wood's immense
wealth, and the difference went into the pockets of the
spirited and lucky speculators in the chances of the law.
Having duly invested this 20,00:91. with the earlier savings of
his life in the public securities, Mr. Osborne, relieved from
the dread of a workhouse, which had haunted his imagina-
tion, set himself down to live quietly and as contentedly as
his narrow sympathies would permit, upon the smallest
possible portion of the interest of his money, and seems
almost to have endeavoured to realise the hardships of a
workhouse life voluntarily. Mr. Surinam is now the only
surviving executor of the late Mr. Wood.