The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-29 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, SEPT. 27.
A letter has appeared in the local journals from the
parish priest of Birr, the Rev. Mr. Spain, Roman
catholic vicar-general of the diocese of Killaloe, in
which the particulars of an eviction are given, and are
described as exhibiting features of unwonted hard-
ship. In the parish of Lorrah, King's County, of
which Mr. Spain was formerly the Roman catholic
pastor, a magistrate recently proceeded to evict three
families. Those families numbered 23 persons, and
they occupied 30 acres of land. The decree for evic-
tion was obtained on a process of ejectment for non-
title. At the time it was had there was owing on the
land one-and-a-half year's rent, but the crops in the
ground were much more than sufficient for satisfying
this claim. On the day the sheriff came to level
the houses, Carroll, one of the tenants, was ill
of fever. He had been prepared by his priest
for death the night before. The priest con-
veyed to the magistrate information of this
fact the morning of the eviction, which found Carroll
perfectly unconscious from fever. The sheriff was not
stopped, but on the contrary, he was led to believe
Carroll was " shamming?! He proceeded to remove
the man in this condition, and, having done so, he
levelled the house. Carroll was subsequently taken
to the house of a relation in the neighbourhood. The
sheriff then proceeded to the house of a man named
Daffy. The brother of Daffy lay then, it is stated,
confined to his wretched pallet from exhaustion, occa-
sioned by destitution. The sheriff hesitated to remove
this man; he remonstrated with the magistrate, but
the latter would not yield. The sick man was there-
fore removed from the house, but was deposited in an
adjacent pigsty. The owner, it is said, did not think
hie possession would be legally completed until this
pigsty was also levelled, and poor Daffy was again re-
moved, and laid beside a ditch in the open air. Here,
having no friends, he remained for two days exposed,
at the end of which death released him. The rev.
gentleman states that a few years ago Duffy was a
comfortable farmer, having, when he came on the
property, above 2001. in money. The family were
neither idlers nor spendthrifts, but were pauperised
by renting a bad farm at a rack-rent, and under a
rigid landlord. Of Carroll the Rev. Mr. Spain tells
the following tale :
Bedded he vodka, tenon had to ender* legal persecution of
maw kisi. averse up splsW him sad others he °owning to
moiler hie Imedlerad. Oinoll wee at that gme la e dying mate, and
ha irk • seedittse of imam es to maw Ida think of eternity and
art of omgaggeg ssaidse. Hie semen wen two war, wbo
woes geseissaly dames* ken the ens se bad. dingaronra
ahss-
leb ail sods Is esti ths Darla of Lomb. Carroll wee
sewmied as the hdennation of these men, taken el a
Mt
bad, wimegel le the
leeeenty gaol, and detanel there
Mt Ile sok" was es. diseharged without bad.
It imelesi—ilit we seat 'wpm bin inareent wire MI wee not
_..2lldei soh a liar dims,. et gm of kis Mere sea
wear alimlustudes, 'Wald
=igs Hs edged of Omen was liberated
theaels. he wis, is epode dm* wing bed kola taw ;kb wile
le assess ti he the esesig lessithal. Ist is rams so de.
Ids that die keeled hate—s Salaam of
wountses Edo. Late did the drum elint ot she was
ra.bmog lg. be it wee ady the day Mew
lie sorb
ed be was
sheted boa est hem Is the manes I hays described shove.
The Bev. Mr. Spain concludes with several obser-
vations. The psopha of the country are often guilty
--devl7rerlitY • Mg the gentry are not often free
from cruelty is their treatment of them, and
wakes government hold the scales with an even hand
ilia awls here noticed must be daily aggravated.
Everything that Mr. Walsh has done in this case is
strictly in accordance with law ; but this very circum-
stance is proof that the law of landlord and tenant in
Ireland requires to be put upon a different footing.
The county of Galway is about to address the Lord
Lieatenant. It is gratifying to find that the requisi-
tion cans a public meeting for that purpose is signed
by num f(all parties, having attached to it the namesl
al Lord Clanearty, the conservative, and Lord
Ffreneb, the repealer, as well as the names of gen-
tlemen concurring with the present government in
political sentiment.
Father Mathew, it is now definitively announced,
will visit America in the spring of 1848.
Mr. Longworth, of Roscommon, whose name I for-
warded to you some weeks since as a defaulter for
poor rate, and who is a landlord and deputy lieute-
nant, says that the land for which he appears rated is
the fee-simple of another gentleman, and that all the
rates fer which he is liable are paid.
The arrangements for the assumption of the gover-
norship of Malta by Mr. More O'Ferrall, late M.P.
for Kildare, are now announced to be completed.
The salary is 5,500 d. per annum. Mr. O'Ferrall's
brother goes out as secretary, the salary of which is
2,0001. per annum.
1)r. Curran, whose statistics respecting fever in
Dublin caused much discussion a few months since,
has fallen a victim to that malady. He died ester-
day, having, at the age of 27, obtained great celebrity
in his profession. Dr. De Mussy, the French physi-
cian, is nearly convalescent.

THE REPEAL ABSOCLATION.—The usual weekly meeting
held to-day wu presided over by Mr. Edward Murphy, a
manufacturer. The question of the payment of rates and
taxes was a subject of animated commentary. Mr. Hyland,
a gentleman from Kilkenny, seemed to favour the non-paying
doctrine, upon the double ground of injustice and inability
to pay.—Mr. Ford, the town clerk of Dublin, strongly ad.
vacated payment, to aid, of course, Mr. John O'Connell.
—The blaster of the Mint was a subject of strong censure, for
having served some ejectmenta on his property, near
Kilkenny, and having proceeded to " clear " away seven
families. He was also charged with having promised but

not paid a subscription to a local relief fund. Popular feel-
ing teented to run very high against him. The repeal rent
was 351. Bs. 4d.
ATHLOtIa ELECTION.—It is announced in the local paper
of Athlone that a petition against Mr. W. Keogh's return
will be presented.
GALWAY POLITIC3.—A repeal club has just been organ-
ised in Galway, the object of which is to seek to win back the
representation of the county.

SCOTLAND.
EDINAUROR, SEPT. 27.
A striking. instance of the effect of railway com-
munication in equalising prices will next season be
shown in the herring markets of Stonehaven and
Aberdeen. The two places are distant from each
other onlyabout sixteen miles, and yet while herrings
have, in the former, been selling at Bs. and Os. per
cnn, they
have, in the latter, been bringing 16s. Five
trains a day, when the Aberdeen line is opened, will
equalise the discrepancy as certainly as water will
take the same level in two connected tubes. The
foreign, market for herrings is rather lowering. The
John o Groat Journal, the great authority on this
question, says that, bra private communication from
Stettin, dated the 9th inst, the arrivals had been
13,000 barrels unbranded and 10,000 crown-branded
11—that is, bearing the hot imprimatur of the herring
board, testifying that the curing has been performed
secunduna (trim:. Prices had been 28s. 6d., 245. Gd.,
and 215., and would be lower unless importation was
kept in check.
fhe history of the herring fishing illustrates the
inefficiency of bounties in promoting a given branch
of industry. In 1820, bounties from 20s. to 50s. per
ton were allowed for boats; and 4s. per barrel for
herring cured, and 2s. Bd. per barrel for herring ex-
ported. 1n1826 these bounties were partly withdrawn,
and in 1830 ceased. The herrings eared in these
years were as follows In 1820, 382,491 barrels ; in
1830, 329,550 bls.; and in 1840, 518,798 ble. The
fishermen, no longer encouraged to look to extraneous
aid, and relieved from the intrusion of landsmen, who
engaged for a few weeks in the fishery for the sake of
the bounty, have redoubled their efforts, and are now
more temperate, better fed, and have larger boats than
before.
The strike among the Ayr miners has come to an
end, and the men are now returning to their work.

Tue Excise blovissossr.—A meeting of gentlemen in-
terested in the spirit trade was held at the Black Bull Hotel,
Glasgow, for the purpose of considering what steps ought to
be taken in reference to certain clauses of the Customs
Duties Act of last session, which materially affected the in-
terests of the trade. Elias Gibb, Esq., having been called
to the chair, J. Buchanan, Esq., moved first resolution:
That the prohibition to duty-paid brandy and bollards being sent
from Scotland into England or lrelarnl, or from the latter country into
the two former as enforced by the Customs Duties Act of 10 l;ntorlN
c. 21, is deeply Injurious to the trailer, sad Is impolitic and uncalled
for, Inasmuch as there is no differential duty on those spirits its lay
part of the rnited Kingdom.
fhe resolution having been agreed to, Mr. Hay proposed the
secosd resolution
That it is ungracious and indefensible that a government, whkh is
liberating our fiscal restrictions with foreign nations, should not only
fetter and obstruct but annihilate a branch of internal trade which has
existed since the duties were assimilated.
He said the resolution stated an astounding fact relative to the
restriction imposed on their trade, and ho would appeal to
Messrs. Gibb and Bee :omen, the eldest in the trade, whether
they remembered any such restriction regarding brandy and
holland& ? He had been twenty-six years in business him-
self, and he never met with such a restriction when there
was no differential duty. What a piece of injustice, then,
was done them by the Board of Excise, in attempting to
interrupt, or rather to annihilate, a trade which had been so
long in existence ! It had never been hinted that this trade
could injure the revenue ; and, therefore, the measure was a
wanton, unfair, and injuilioious interference with trade.
Having taken a deep interest in the question, he had, when
in London, spent considerable time in attempting to get re-
dress, and he had been much aided in his exertions by Mr.
M'Grigor, who had introduced him to the president of the
Board of Trade. That gentleman's opinion was that the set
was intended to apply only to colonial spirits, and had he been
at the Board of l'rade when the measure was in progress
such clauses would not have been introduced. In tact, the
general opinion of all parties in London was to the same ef-
fect—that colonial spirits alone were intended. Mr. Labou-
chere, however, would not interfere, and referred them to the
Treasury. He did apply there, and found the following letter,
cut and dry :
Treasury Chambers, Sept B.—Gentlemen,—llaving laid before the
lords commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury your letter of the 12th
July last, staring that since the passing of the act 10 Viet, c. 23, you
have been prevented from sending to England and Ireland brandy and
holland, duty paid, except under band from a duty-free warehouse,
and praying that encase permits may be granted for cunveying such
spirits as formerly, I am commanded to acquaint you that their lewd-
ships are advised that they have no power by law to comply with
your request. —I am, Ice., E. E. TIFTPLYAN.—Meems. Hay and Co.,
Glasgow.
Finding no redress in these quarters, he applied to the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, but his letter had not yet been
acknowledged. His own opinion was, that his letter had
been sent to the chairman of the Board of Excise, the very
quarter from whence he suspected the prohibitionoriginated,
in order to benefit the London distillers and dealers. He
could not see the justice of inflicting such serious injury on a
trade which had existed since the union. They might as
well have prohibited wine as brandy. But, as private exer-
tion had failed, the trade must unite ; and he hoped, if they
were firm with government, they would attain their object.
--The resolution was agreed to, and Mr. Fingland moved
the appointment of a committee, which was agreed to. After
a vote of thanks to the chairman the meeting separated.
ESCAPE FROM PAISLIII PR/SOM.—We (Glasgow Pont
recently noticed the apprehension of two accomplish
housebreakers, who hail entered both the Post-office and an
apartment mistaken for the Stamp-office, in the course
of one night, by means of false keys. An early hour this
morning was Sired far the removal of these depredators, and
the other prisoners indicted, to Glasgow, for the purpose of
their being tried before the High Court of Justiciary next
week; but on the officers of the prison going about their
business this morning, at six o'clock, they were surprised to
find the outermost door of the prison, and the main gate
immediately within it, both open, while the two
culprits in question, with another companion, con-
fined in a separate flat from themselves, were all miss-
ing. The names of the prisoners who have made so opportune
an escape are James Campbell and Thomas Mackay, indicted
for trial with William Fox, a convicted housebreaker, who
was under sentence, and had but three months of his impri-
sonment to run. One of the two first-named prisoners had
been suffering from fever of late, and he had been removed
with his associate in crime, as ri nurse for him, to one of the
terse airy front rooms in the south end of the prison. The
apartment referred to, though larger than the common cells,
is one of a series of apartments constructed with double
doors for the security of the most daring prisoners, and
the outermost door is fastened by a strong bar in
place of a lock, from the corridor of the prison.
It was impossible that this apartment could be
opened, when once fastened up, except from the
outside, either by a false key or otherwise. William Fox,
the other prisoner, was confined in the flat above, the
third storey of the prison, in one of the ordinary cells, and
was locked up by a key that fastened twelve rooms. On
examining the fastenings of all the doors that have been so
cleverly opened this morning, there is not the slightest
appearance of force or effort having been used beyond the
application of well.fitted keys, the only change being that
the lock of the outermost door of the prison appears to have
been particularly well oiled, to prevent its creaking or mak-
ing a noise during the operation. The whole of the doors in
the prison are of cast iron, and the locks are of the most
ponderous and complicated description, no expense having
been spared in procuring them at its erection.—The Mail
says that the prisoners effected their escape by imposing on
the simplicity of a weight who was working about the Islam,
and inducing him, under the pretence that it was wanted by
--.error, to give them a ladder he was using.: