The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-13 00:00:00

IRELAND.

Beaux, Ocr. 11.
The Bantry guardians, reflecting the spirit of the
chief proprietor, are resolved to dm hard, or at least
to postpone to the last moment the execution of the
law. They meet, and spout, and adjourn, leaving to
some future day the accumulated business of many.
At the last meeting (on Tuesday) two questions of im-
portance were discussed, and, as usual, the result was
unsatisfactory. I informed you of the arrival from
Berehaven of a cargo of misery for the union work-
house, numbering some 390 unfortunates. They
reached at midnight, and while some were provided
with food and shelter, through the exertions of the
catholic curate, the rest were compelled to pass the
night in the bleak streets of Bantry without either.
Admission to the workhouse was negatived to all but
WO, even though all the applicants should be
entitled to relief. There was even no food
for the supply of their temporary necessities,
and the humanity of the curate was again called into
service. The guardians were not taken by surprise
with the influx of such a famishing crowd. Three
weeks before, on the cessation of the Relief Act, the
three Roman catholic pastors of the parishes which
supplied the pauperism waitei on the board, and sub-
mitted two propositions. First, that a certain number
of vacancies might be retained for a short period, to
enable them to regulate the numbers transmitted, and
spare the applicants a long and painful journey ; se-
condly, that the board would instruct them as to the
class entitled to admission, and what general rules
they would follow in the selection of candidates, or
for application to the relieving officers when ap-
pointed. Both propositions were disregarded. The
Berehaven hooker will have in consequence to re-
convey the great majority of the paupers to their
respective localities. The 3s. rate next came under
discussion. The guardians did not relish the idea
of a stipendiary board, and fenced with the questior.
The difficulty was to avoid the rate and the dismissal.
One rational man proposed the striking of the rate;
but there was no seconder for so absurd a proposi-
tion! The conclusion arrived at was not to comply
with the injunction of the commissioners, ri tout priz.
The reason for refusal was the impossibility of col-
lecting the rate. To this statement a catholic clergy-
' man present strongly demurred. He declared his
conviction that the rate could be collected if the
guardians would only agree to strike it. The board,
however, was obdurate. It now remains for the
Poorlaw Commissioners to tighten the screw.
_ .

The directors of the Midland Great Western, or,
more popularly, the Mulliogar Railway, have made
an important proposition to the Ballinasloe union,
which is likely to be curried into effect, under the in-
fluence of the Earl of Clancarty. The extension to
Galway is the subject of the proposal. In case out-
door relief is to be given by the guardians, the
directors propose purchasing the interest in the land
from the head proprietors, by giving debentures on
the line and paying the occupiers in cash. Possession
of the ground is then to be taken. As to employ-
ment, if the guardians will employ those who are to
get out-door relief in executing earth works, &c., the
directors will send engineers and officers to superin-
tend the execution, and will bind the company
to take the line, or so much as may be finished, by
measurement, upon such terms as may be agreed
upon. If the guardians prefer to pay the directors in
money, the latter will employ the labour best suited
to the union; and should this be satisfactory to the
guardians, they will give security for repayment.
These propositions are before the board.

At the Repeal Association this day, Mr. Scully,
M.P. for Tipperary, alluded to a very novel sort of
right—the right of being assassinated: Speaking of
the late Mr. Roe, in terms of high praise, the learned
member feelingly declared, that " no ,non had a lest
right to be murdered Mr. Scully has a very singu-
lar idea of rights and duties.
Mr. O'Carroll, advising counsel to the board of
education, and secretary to the board of charitable
donations and bequests, is dead. The combined ap-
pointments were worth about 8004 per annum. Many
candidates are already in the field. Among those
mentioned are a brother of the deceased gentleman ;
Mr. 1). M‘Dermott, assistant crown prosecutor on the
Munster circuit; and a Mr. Sweetman, who has written
a pamphlet in support of the Bequests Act in the days
of its danger. All the candidates are Roman catho-
lic% The second and surviving secretary is a pro-
testant.

T SHAN'T. HIGHT MEETINO.—A meeting, for the purpose
of petitioning for the advocacy of tenant-right, has already
been announced for Sunday, the 2ith instant, to be held at
Kilmacthomas, in the county of Waterford. This assem-
blage promiaes to be moat imposing. The requisition con-
vening it bean the signatures already of over 80 Roman
catholic priests. It will be presided over by one of the
members for Waterford county; and I am assured, by a
communication received to day, that the tenant farmers of
Tipperary and Kilkenny are expected to attend from a
circuit of many miles on horseback.
THE AFFRAY AT A Tea PARTY.—The policeman wounded
in the affray with the peasantry, at the tea party in the
County Limerick, died on Friday night of concussion of the
brain.

THE TRAOTC MEATH Or MRS. MACARTNET.—The follow.
ing is the most authentic account of the tragedy which re-
sulted in the death of Mrs. Macartney, of Lissanour castle,
county Antrim: "On Tuesday last an apartment of the
castle, which had been used as an offl xi by Mr. Macartney,
was being cleaned oat. Four casks of gunpowder had
been lying for a long time previously in that room. On
moving the casks the hoops gave way, and the powder was
strewn on the floor. From the appearance of the powder, Mr.
Macartney considered it to have lost its strength, and took up
a small quantity, and went some distance from the castle, fur
the purpose of trying its explosive powers. At that time Mrs.
Macartney, one of her children, and a servant, were in the
room. The servant and the child followed Mr. Macartney,
leaving Mrs. Macartney alone in the apartment. They had
not been absent a few minutes until they heard a dreadful
explosion ; the powder had ignited, and bad thrown down
that portion of the building exposed to its destructive effects,
burying Mrs. Macartney in the ruins. When sho was ex-
tricated, life was found to be extinct. It is impossible
to say how the accident originated, but it is supposed
that the unfortunate lady had been sweeping about the
fire, and that a spark from it had communicated with
the powder. The ceilings of the rooms above, and the
corresponding part of the roof, were upraised by the
explosion, and the fragments scattered to a considerable
distance. The walls of the old building have also been
shaken, and the glum of almost every window was shattered
to pieces by the violence of the concussion. Even the win-
dows of the stables and offices, which are some perches dis-
tant from the castle, suffered equally from the effects of the
explosion. The melancholy and fatal catastrophe has cut a
deep gloom over all in the surrounding country, ameng
whom Mr. Mecartney, and hie much-lamented lady, were
deservedly respected. The funeral of the late Mrs. Maoist-
ney took place on Friday morning, at 4 o'clock, and was
strictly private.

SCOTLAND.
EDINTICROR. OCT. IL
The alleged loss of the letters sent to her Majesty,
while the court was in Scotland, should perhaps be
placed in the same category with the equivocal pieces
of intelligence that have recently appeared in certain
of the London papers. The Caledonian Mercury, of
this morning, contains a letter signed " Truth," evi-
dently proceeding from a party connected with the
Edinburgh Post-office, which states that communica-
tions for the Queen were put up in a separate bag, on
their arrival in Edinburgh, and despatched to Dal-
whinnie under the personal charge of the mail-guard,
whence they were transmitted to Ardverikie by a
special conveyancer. No complaint has been sent to the
Edinburgh office of say lees or irregularity of any
kind ; and as to saturation, it is indeed true that on
one occasion across-runner, but not the royal despatch
bearer, performed a summerset in fording a stream,
by which the bags under his care were immersed,
when some lettere to the Marchioness of Abereorn
shared the common fate, and where it is possible that
the letters of the gentlemen of the press may also
have been submerged ; but beyond this tie current
paragraphs seem to have no foundraion.

As memorials of the royal visit, the lessees of the
Crinan Canal have presented the master who steered
the royal barge, with a fr'',cl watch, while the two
lads who e the hones have severally received
silver watches. In all their arrangements, the les.ees
appear to take 4 conreehensive view of the increaacd

'traffic that is likely to take place on thei: line, from
! its having formed a portion of the Queen's rim...".
On Saturday lase Lord Ashley, who was previously
living with Lord Kinnaird, at Rossi° Priory, near
Dundee, visited, in company with kis lordship and
i Sir David Brewster, the industrial schools of that
town. After inspecting them in their own domicile,
the children were marched off to a church, where
Lord Ashley addressed them and the miscellaneous
audience who assembled on the occasion on the im-
portance of such institutions. The provost and some
of the leading manufacturers were present, moat of
them being parties who opposed his lordship on the
short time question ; but with good taste this topic
appears to have been kept in abeyance during the
visit of the noble philanthropist.
The highest civic honour in Scotland is at an un-
accountable discount. Last November the present
Lord Provost of this city consented to retain his office
for one year beyond the prescribed triennial period, as
a sort of compromise between complying with the
warmly expressed wishes of his fellow-citizens that
he should resume the office for the full term and
giving it up altogether. Mr. Adam Black has proved
a most satisfactory and popular provost, and whether
it is that humble-minded aspirants dread comparison
with so exemplary a predecessor, or that the office
has lost its charms, no one can be got to fill
up the vacancy which will occur next month.
Mr. William Chambers and Bailie Mack have actually
declined the offered chain and ermine, while several
other prominent local politicians have, it is said, ex-
presaed their intention of turning—when applied to—
a deaf ear to the charms of proposing deputations,
" charm they never so wisely." Every day intensifies
the crisis, and the period of election is looked forward
to with the dread of there being no candidate. The
metropolis of North Britain without a chief magi-
strate cannot bethought of without emotion ; but such
at present is the dreadful prospect

Tile FLOODS AT Pears.—Some particulars were for-
merly given of the Redden rise that had taken place in the
Tay an consequence of the heavy rains of Wednesday and
Thursday, sad of the damage caused thereby. The accounts
from the higher putt of the country are no less alarming
and dreadful. on the road from Dunkeld to Blair Atholl,
the bridge at Tullymet has been carried away, and the
Blair Atholl coach and Inverness mail have been obliged to
abandon the public road, and seek for the meant of crossing
by going through private policies, whi re a bridge is still re-
morning. A party who rents an island in the Tay above
Dunkeld, where he had seven score of sheep and seven
bosses pasturing, has lost the whole of the sheep, which were
swept away by the flood; and the horses were only saved
by swimming ashore before the water had reached
the highest point, some of them having two miles
to swim before they could gain a footing upon feria
firma. At Kirkmichael, the bridge over the Isle has hes n
broken dawn, and the river having burst in'o the church-
yard, has committed terrible havoc, tearing up and sweeping
away the earth, till old coffins and mouldering relics of hu-
manity have been exposed and scattered about in all direc-
tient. The bride over the Ericht at Blairgowrie, has alto
been demolished, and it is supposed that a horse which wan
yesterday seen fluting down the Tay, Raddled and bridled,
had been upon this bridge when it fell, and that its rider
must have also perished in the water. Farther down the Tay,
and near Meiklenur, the tenant of Tay farm has suffered
severely. He considers that the damage done by the loss of
turnips swept away by the Hood must be about 1.10/. His
corn yard was all afloat, hut as there was little current in
the water, none of the stacks were removed, and when the
water fell they settled down in their former position. His
cattle were removed in boats to the highest grounds
upon the farm, and the family had to take refuge
in the garrets of the house. Strange to say, the wooden
service bridge over the Tay, at the point near Kinclaven,
where a bsidge is in precept of being built to cowry across
the Midland Ilailway, has withstood the shock of the ele-
ment, which shows that it must have been constructed in a
very substantial manner. In Perth and the neighbourhood
considerable damage het been done by many of the houses
having had their lower flats laid under water, and the extent
of the inundation may be conceived, when it is stated, that if
the water had risen two feet high. r two-thirds of the surface
upon which the town stands would have been submerged. A
few particulars of damage done may be mentioned. Two
fishers' lodges which stood upon the North Inch have disap-
peared, and a stack of hay has been set down upon the ground
which one of them occupied. The wood-work of the bridge
begun to be constructed across the river by the Dundee and
l'erth Railway has been demolished and floated down,
causing a loss, it is said, of about 2,000!. Ihe farm upon
Moscraelfe Island, which lies a little below the town, and
consists of about a hundred acres, was entirely under
water. The sheep upon the island were collected in the
granaries of the farusteadings, and the cattle were taken
to the highest part of the island, where they stood for
nearly an hour with little mare than their heads
above the water. At the shore the water broke into a shed
containing uuslacked lime; the sides of the shed were very
speedily burst, and the roof set on fire; and the strange
spectacle was seen of a fire engine playing upon it in the
midst of all this deluge. At the rope-work, near the gene-
ral prison, damage to the extent of several hundred pounds
was done by the water getting into the flit stores. These
ars a few specimens of the losses caused by this flood, the
like of which we have never before experienced. The scene
at one time was really alarming. 'lke heigheof the water
was so great, and the rush and roar of the current through
the arches of the bridge so impetuous, that many were
afraid to venture across, dreading that the substantial &brie
might be insufficient to resist the fury of the leases. The
water was at its highcot about three o'clock on Friday. By
eight o'clock it had fallen about three feet, and at prrsent
(rune o'clock r.u. of same day), it may have fallen altoge-
ther about seven or eight feet. It is very probable that
there may yet be accounts of heavier damages being done,
and it is feared that, owing to the suddenness and height of
the inundation, we may yet have to give further details of
the lose of human life amidst the other destruction.—Mail.

ABERDEEN. —The rivers here, and north of this, were
much flooded. The Dee rose to within a very short distance of
the height which it reached in 1829. Part of the service
erections at the bridge for the railway viaduct were carried
'away. Large quantities of wood were brought down both
Dee and Don, so that the whole beach between the two
rivers was strewn by logs and spars, which numberless
parties, with scores of carts, were :he whole of Friday buoy
claiming and carrying off.
POMT-OFFICE DILIGENCE.—Mr. Cowan, ALP., lately
said at a meeting held in Edinburgh, that he once posted a
letter for Liverpool, left Edinburgh himself twenty-four
hours afterwards, and was in Liverpool some hours before
the letter. The following ease is somewhat analogous :—A
person posted a letter In Glasgow one night, a few minutes
before eight o'clock, left Glasgow at half-pest six next
morning, and was in Perth about titres hours before the
letter, and four hours before it was delivered. The pur-
pose expected to be served by the letter was, that something
might be done which it was too late to do when the writer of
it arrived.