The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-04 00:00:00

the starboard aide of the veuel. They rushed on del
„heir was found that the pressure of the vessels in the
outside tier tea :anal a liege noodeu fender through bet
MU. The metro tried to stop the leak proved ineffectual,
and the vessel ft.'led and sunk in hill' an hour. She was
thrown so ealaple:ely on her broadside that her masts and
rtgging formed • coft.olete bridge over the other vessels.
ISQUESTs YF.STP.:tfIeT.—DEATH FROM THE FIRE
At LARRIITH.—By Mr. W. Carter, at the Hero of Wateilo.:
lac. Waterloo-rued, on tje body of Mary Ann Southey'
ethenrise Robertson. seed 10, the dwarf who lost her life
by the fire on Wednesday. Tire jury having viewed the
body, Mr. James Ferguson' said, on the evening of Tuesday,
witness and Mrs. Edwards, his housekeeper, had been
spending the evening at the Surrey Theatre. They returned
home at twelve o'clock, when the shop was closed, and he
understo-d that the deceased had retired to bed. Not
having a fire up-stairs, he went into the kitchen to take his
sapper. About • quarter of an hour after that time, ho &eat
his servant out on an errand, and on her return she cried out
"Mester ' master ! the house is on fire !" On witness run-
Jung up-stairs, he found the exhibition room all on fire, and
the flames rolling up the staircase. He understood that the
servant took a lighted candle with her when she went out, ,
and elle placed it on one of the organs in the middle of the
exhibition.—The Coroner: Wes any attempt made by you ,
to save the deceased ?--Witness : It could not bo done. 'the
staircase was very narrow, and the flames were ascending
most rapidly.—The Coroner : But was not any attempt made
to get to her from the windews ?—Witness: Even that was
impracticable, for the fire burned so fiercely that the flames
extended nearly half across the roadway.—The Coroner .
Can you form any opinion as to how the tire originated ?
Witness : Only by supposing that some perion who bad
visited the exhibition during the evening, had dropped the
end of a lighted cigar, which might have sinouldered fur
some time, and then have burst forth into a flame. I did
not, however, detect the smell of lire nor of gas on my
return home.—Mr. Robert T. Barrow, deputy foreman of the
West of England Fire-office, on the marring of Wednesday
was called to Mr. Ferguson's premises, which he found were
enveloped in flames from the bottom to the top. At that
time there was no possibility of coveting the place. Ile
assisted to extinguish the flames. The tire having been
subdued, witncia procured some sealing-ladders, and on
entering the second floor back he found the deceased lying
partly in and partly out of bed.—Maria Riggs, a servant in
the employ of Mr. Ferguson, was quite certain the tire was
not wilfully caused by any party.—Verdict, "That the de-
ceased died from the effects of burning, caused by the
house having acei&fttally taken fire."—DBATH FROM
DESTITUTION AND EXPOSURE TO Coto.—By Wm. Carter,
Eq., Coroner for Surrey, at the Jolly
4a .lo Sailor., Roth
Ferhitheess,
as to the death of Mary Jones, agSarah urn,
nurse in Rotherhithe workhouse, stated, that the deceased
was brought there on Tuesday morning, about a quarter be-
fore four, by a policeman, on • stretcher. She wits quite in-
sensensible ; her lower extremities were quite cold, and she
died in 'shout 15 minutes. As soon as witness saw her she
called the master, who directed that Mr. Austin, the surgeon.
should be scut for, and he came directly, but the was dead.
She came to the workhouse on Friday, very tipsy, for •
night's lodgirts, and she left in the morning against the mas-
ter's wish, as she had no home to go to. She slept in the
streets, courts, pig-seyes, and privies ; any where she could
lie down. She said thar she never laid nn a bed when out of
the workhouse.—Elizabeth Jones, the mother, deposed, that
deceased, when very young, was barmaid at the Adam and
Eve, and the barman took her away ; since then she had led
a drunken life. She would not sleep at home, even when
witness had a home to give her. She was continually drunk
for 20 years, and slept where she could.—James Packman,
229, of the el division, a aid, that a little before four en Tues-
day morning, he found the deceased lying on her side nit the
stone pavement of an alliy called Cook's Orchard. It had
been a a dreadful cold night, and deceased had no other
clothes on than an old gown in tatters, no under clothing,
not even a chemise. She had a bonnet, and her shawl was
under her; her shoes were off and lying by her side. Upon
his speaking to her she said she was very ill, and be found
she was so cold and benumbed that she could not get up or
move. She was conveyed to the workhouse. He had
seen her about two o'clock, when she appeared tipsy. He
knew and had had her often in his custody.—lnspector
Hornsby ; She has been in custody and prison upwards of a
hundred times, and at last the magistrates, finding they
could do nothing with her, used to send her to the work-
house, where she would stop a day and then go out. She
was incorrigible.—Mr. Sandwell, the master of the work-
house, said she was in the workhouse for a day or two, but
di-charged herself on Thursday. She went before the
guardians on that day, who endeavoured to persuade her to
stay in the house, but she refused, and said, " I am too old
to reclaim." They then offered to pay for a room for her
and allow her Is. Gd a-week, besides a loaf and tea. She at
last accepted the offer and went away. The next morning
she came again very tipsy for the Is. 6d., which was of
course refused. He tried then to get her to sleep in the
house, but she would not. When she was brought in she
was in a state of nudity. She had only a gown and stock-
ings on. When she went away a gown, chemise, tipper and
under petticoats, were given to her ; shawl, cap, and bonnet,
stockings and shoes, and these, she must have made away
with.—Verdict, " Natural death, arising from destitution,
exposure to cold, and her habits of life." The jury ex-
pressed their high satisfaction at the conduct of the board of
sun:diens. The deceased had been a very fine woman.

THE ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY.
The columns of our contemporaries have, within the laid few days,
teemed with attacks upon the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich,
in which the conduct id the cadets themselves, as well as the general
management of the establishmeet, has come in for a large share of
abuse. As far as the conduct of the students is involved in the cen-
sure, no apology whatever can be offered. It would be vain to .4.
tempt excuses fur conduct to which the brutalities of our collegiate
schools in the last century were tame and even compassionate. There
ate officers In the Ordnance corps at the present moment (or were so
• few years since), who bore upon their persons at an advanced stage
of life, the evidence of the grossest outrages indicted upon th, m
whilst in the Academy. A few years since, street rows and encoun-
ters with the police were frequent, and many of the officers emitting
near the Academy were unable to trust their daughters abroad of an
evening without imitable protection. All them evils were allowed to
pass without the slightest reprobation on the psrtdf the press. Occa-
. Monally, indeed, one of the local papers raised its voice against these
disgraceful exhibitions, but the 7 inset and other journals which boast
of their zeal in the denunciation of public grievances. were utterly
silent. Within the last ten years matters have mended : the conduct
of the cadets has been more in unison with the genend tone of public
feeling, and it is a source of some satisfaction to know that within the
last twelvemonth not a single case has occurred without the walls of
the Academy that has called for the intervention of the civil power, or
even led to any unpleasant feeling on the part the authorities.
There have undoubtedly been great irregularities of conduct on the
part of the cadets themselves within the establishment, hot the thin-
ness of the present governor, Major-General J. B. Parker, would
have ensured an ample remedy. The present moment, then, is
of all others the last time that should have been choeen for
an attack upon the authorities, particularly when a strong
disposition has been evinced by the Lieutenant-Governor
to suppress the evils complained of by a prompt and immediate expul-
sion of the offenders. The Times, in its attacks upon the Academy,
falls into sail blunders. It first attacked the ma-ten and profesaors
of the in4itution and then finding its position untenable, shifted the
whole responsibility' upon the mi:itary heads of the Academy. The
whole force of that immense moral power which is wielded by the
press is timed on the accuracy of its information, and the censures of
the Times, from the absence of this accuracy, fall harmless. It is
only justice towards the heads of the Academy, Lieut.-General J. 11.
Parker and Major It. Burnaby, to state that the evils so loudly com-
plained of have not originated through any neglect on their part, nor
through the want of stringent regulations for the suppression of the
mischief. It is to the existence of calves quite opposite to this that
.re must look for the origin of the mischief. Ole of the wont features
in the management of the institution is the everlasting inculcation
into the minds of the young men of the notion that they are youtha of
high birth, who must keep themselves aloof from all surrounding
society. Pride is but a poor incentive to virtue, and in the ease of
young men amongst whom the esprit du corps exists in its strongest
and most repulsive form. is far more likely to induce an indifference to
the good opinion of others, which lies at the root of all external con-
sistency of conduct. In the Academy, also, the bum is never unstrung.
There is hardly a factory of working men in the kingdom that does
not possess more facilities for the recreation of its mechanics than the
Royal Military Academy at Woolwich presents to its youthful stu-
dents. The intellectual labours of the Academy are severe, and youths
who have, preparatory to their admission into the institution, under-
gone the process of "cramming" to an extent calculated to endanger
their health, require, in the blest degree, a participation in those
healthy and innocent " out-door recrestions. which alone can
tit them fur the hard studies of the form. In the Royal Military Ace-
detny provision for this need of human nature is entirely overlooked,
or nought for only in military drills and exercisee, as severe taxi as
trying as the abstract studies themselves. On what other ground can
we account for the feet that them youths, when liberated from re-
straint, rush to fairs, and races, dledblind booths, with theaviaity
of a countryman who has never easels
ouch the rudiments of C.iliCatiOn.
Such a thing as an orderly afternoon's walk in the country is utterly
unknown to the cadets, to whom there Is nonaiddle path between the
toilsome round of study and the madness of boisterous and even
drunken revelry. The authorities of the Royal Mili
hat
tary Acad^my
would find it easier to rule five hundred young men by rules t thug'
appeal to their better feelings, than fifty by the mere abstract notions
of blind obedience, or at best indifference and neglect.

IRELAND.
DUBLIN, Dn. 2.

The accounts from the country represent the people as in a
very deplorable condition. In Cork there are several deaths
reported to have occurred from absolute want of food, and
the same melancholy tale is reported in Kilkenny. The
suffering is becoming more severe and general as the winter
advances, aggravated by the sudden change of the weather.
The movement in favour of reduction in the tea duties in
England has been responded to by our mercantile community.
An auxiliary society to those of London, Liverpool, and
Glasgow, has been formed, composed of some of the most
eminent commercial men in our city, and an address issued,
inviting the co-operation of all classes. After detailing the
general advantages of reduced duties, the address states that
" these considerations apply with double force to Ireland,
where the probsble extinction of the potato crop as an article
of food makes it essential that wholesome and nutritious sub-
stitutes should be found and encouragement afforded to
habits of temperance." The chairman and deputy-chairman
are Alderman Joseph Boyce and Alderman O'Brien, M.P.
for Cashel.
Landed property at present does not appear to be sought
with much avidity for investment. The sale of the Bless-
ington estates yesterday, comprising several valuable lots in
the city, realised very little, most of the sales having been
adjourned for want of value. The highest offer for a plot
with a rental of 1271., and on a lease of lives renewable for
ever, was only 1,6001. • the master declaring that he could
not take less than 3,00'01. Another illustration of the low
price of land was the sale of a fee-simple estate in the
county of Kilkenny, comprising nearly 1,100 statute acres,
subject to neither quit nor crown rents, and producing 3171.
per annum, upon which there will be an increase on the
falling in of some old leases. For this there were only two
bidders. One obtained it for 6,5001., or about fourteen y.ears'
purchase. Thep roperty is within a few miles of the city of
Kilkenny, which adds to its value.
The Chtmcellor delivered judgment yesterday in] the nun
case, dismissing the bill on the ground. that compulsion
bad been used in procuring the execution of the deeds under
which the plaintiffs claimed. The only interesting question
as to the existence of civil rights in such persons was not pro-
perly raised by the bill, though his lordship very clearly inti-
mated his opinion :
It did °mar to his mind that it was a The and a prudent thing, and