The Express.
London, England, 1853-12-20 00:00:00

THE NEW METROPOLITAN MARKET AT
COPENHAGEN FIELDS.

Yesterday the Lord Mayor received from the Rev.
D. Wilson, the vicar of Islington, a memorial in favour of
holding the first cattle market of the week on Tuesday in-
stead of Monday, as at present. The following is an extract
from the document:

" The memorialista have long suffered grievances and
annoyance from droves of cattle coming into and passing
through the parish on the Sunday, to be in readiness for the
Monday's market, and causing obstruction and sometimes
danger to the attendants of public worship, while other
persons belonging to their own and other parishes, are
through occupations in connexion with the market, altoge-
ther shut out from any due observance of the Sabbath—a
grievance which would be greatly increased when Islington
would become the converging circle for all the various hoes
of access to the new market. That this monstrous evil
would be altogether obviated by a transfer of the market
from Monday to Tuesday. That this very change of market
day was expressly recommended by the select committee of
the House of Commons in 1832, in their report on the observ-
ance of the Ssbhath-day. It will appear,' they reported,
front the evidence,' that by transferring Smithfield and other
markets from Monday to Tuesday, a great part of the evil
of Sunday travelling might be abated within a circle of 180
miles around London. In the wish to promote so desirable
an object, the chief coach proprietors, together with sales-
men of great respectability, and others connected with
Smithfield market, concur. It is in 'Yid• nce that this
market is crowded on Monday morning very inconveniently
to buyers and sellers, and not hiss injuriously to the cattle,
and that the Friday's market is so much less abundantly
supplied, that if the other market was held on Tuesday,
instead of Monday, the proportions of the supply would be
better adjusted; nor does it appear that any evil would
result to any class of society from the change of the day,
certainly none that can for a moment be placed in compe-
tition with the unquestioned mischiefs which the Sunday
preparations for the Monday market, more especially the
harbouring and driving of large masses of cattle in the
neighbourhood of London on the Lord's day unavoidably
cause.' To this the memorialists add, that such unques-
tioned mischiefs' have greatly multiplied since 1832,
by the increased requirements of the metropolitan
market, on account of the augmented population,
and would now, unless the day be changed, be
all concentrated with accumulated force on Islington.
They also submit that the opportunity for changing the
day of late years has greatly improved, by the facilities
afforded by the railways for bringing the cattle expedi•
tiously to market; and is now brought to the most favour-
able crisis that could be devised by the transfer of the mar-
ket to the new site."

The Lord Mayor sent an answer to the application, in
which he says: " I am sensibly aware of the grievance long
felt by the inhabitants of Islington and other parts of the
metropolis on this subject, and I beg to assure you that
your efforts to put down so great an evil and one so pain-
fully felt by the religious community, have my entire ap-
proval. Any petition, therefore, embodying your views on
this matter would, I am confident, be received by the Com-
mon Council of the City of London with every respect and
attention, and would have that weight attached to it to
which it is se justly entitled."

SUBMARINE AND EUROPEAN TELEGRAPII.—OPEN-
A meeting of shareholders in the above com-
pany was held yesterday at Guildhall-buildings for the parr- ING To CHATHAM •ND CANTRNBUN.Y.—A correspondent
says:—" The Submarine and European Telegraph Comps.
pose of considering, and, if approved of, of ratifying an agree- nice have just opened offices in the centre of the above
meat or amalgamation with the Eastern Counties Railway towns. The liberal tariff adopted from London to Graves-
Com
Thee air was taken by S. M. Psro, Esq., M.P., end has been extended to the new stations, and messages of
who, in opening the proceedings, said—Before reading the twenty words may now he transmitted between Chatham
and Canterbury and London, Gravesend, Deal, and Dover,
resolution which it would be his duty to propose it would be for one shilling, while no porterage is charged for the first
necessary that he should make a few remarks upon the mile. Telegraphic intercourse, hitherto a luxury only for
business which had c tiled them together ; and he could the rich, is thus rapid iy becoming familiar to the tradesman
only beg that, in a matter so important to all present and and the mechanic, to the former of whom it must often
to :he interests of the company, no delieacy might prevent.the prove of great advantage. The wires were led from the
putting of questions or the demand for explanations on a main line, and laid through the streets in iron tubes."
subject which it was necessary should be understood by all. LORD PALmEßsTores SUCCESBOR.—A ministerial
(Hear, hear.) The last time he had had the pleasure of .
tonal ofyesterday morning said :—.. We understand that,
meeting them in that room he had not the slightest ides, nor
upon LordyPelmerston's resignation, Lord Aberdeen offered
had he seen any prospect, of again meeting them, at least
elHome-office to Lord John Russell, and we regret to hear
on the present subject, on so early a day ; but the fact of
that the offer was declined, mainly from the fear that his
lion with the Eastern Counties, and the receipt of a cost-
acceptance of it might be misconstrued. The of ce has now
munication on the subject from Mr. Waddington himself,
been offered to Sir George Grey, and awaits his acceptant)*
.
'sleds it appear to his (filr.Petols) colleagues and himself that °' ejection.„
~.,'
TILE .s
s. RELIGIOUS —Whylie . RIOTS AT MONTREAL.
it was all-important to the interests of the three com-
panies that all should he parties to the agreements the soldier of the 26th Regiment who fired upon the mob in
about to be entered into. That was the view taken by Mr. the G vv i iota at Montreal, has been discharged from his
Waddington also, because all parties foresaw that it was twittery arrest under a writ of habeas corpus, and has
only by a combination of all the interests in the district that entered into recognisance to appear before tn. Colonial
the wisest results could be obtained for the public and the Court of Queen's Bench to answer the
the last few days
the charge
best dividends for the respective shareholders. He had TILE SLIDE NUISANCE.—Within
stated to them on the last occasion they had met together many serious accidents have occurred is the metropolis
that he ould be a party to the acceptanoe from the through the practice of slide-msking on the footpaths.
Eastern Counties Company of a less dividend than had been Notices denouncing the practice have been issued, but the
paid up to the present time, and he thought he could now evil is unsubdued. In one locality, and in the course of a
put before the meeting is few figures and facts which would few hours, no less than three falls, attended with fractured
show them that they could never have a worse dividend limbs, took place from this cause. Mr. Joseph Robertson,
than they received at the present moment, besides which, residing at No. 9, Cirencester-place, Fitzroy-square, sus-
there was the great fact that, by the combination of all the tensed a compound fracture of the arm, from stepping on a
interests in the district, the greatest possible amount of de- newly made slide. Mrs. Haney, of Grafton-street, a frac.
velepment would be given to the traffic, the greatest pros- tars of the leg ; and a poor girl, the daughter of a laundress
poet of augmentation In the receipts, au the best hope of a whilst carrying home a basket of Bass, dislocated her
minimum of working expenses being obtained. (Rear.) ands, and received other severe injuries.

SINKING OF A GRAVESEND STEAMER.

ERITH, MONDAY.
Lag evening the well known Gravesend steamer,
andea tobe
one
n having ving
of
Meteor, belonging to the Star Steam Packet Company, wee
run down by the Sylph, Dublin screw steam ship, her pas-
seugaathbearfraoswteseset vesselsofge p perishing
yisinhgingonwtihthe
her.. The Meteor was a very favourite packet, and was
considered rear crew
river. She was of iron construction, built by Miller and
Ravenhill of about 200 tons, and proportionate power. She
left the Brunswick-pier, at Blackwell, on Sunday evening,
about twenty minutes put 5 o'clock, under the charge of
Mr. Hollingsworth. the muter, and with between forty and
fifty passengers. The night was rather clerk, and a slight
haze hung over the river; but it was not so dense as to
offer any serious impediment to the navigation. The tide
was ebbing, which was in favourof the progress of the Meteor)
and the wind was blowing rather fresh from the eastward.
At 6 o'clock she bad gained Halt-way Reach, and after
rounding the point above the Half-way House she shaped a
course towards the Kent, or south shore, when her crew ob-
d a large sea-going steamer coining up. As soon as pos-
sible, after she was sighted, Mr. Hollingsworth, the muter,
directed the helm to be ported, so es to go closer to the
south side, in accordance with the Admiralty regulations.
He imagined that the Meteor's lights had been observed by
those on board the Sylph, and that she would have gone to
the northward, the usual course pursued by steamers in
coming up the river. The Meteor was then nearly in mid
channel with her hart inclined to the Kent side, and the
master perceiving that the Sylph was hearing down upon
him, hailed her to "port her helm." Nu answer was re-
turned, when the hands for'ard shouted out " Port your
helm; for God's sake, put your helm a-post." Still she
kept on as represented by those belonging to the Meteor,
and at full speed. The Meteor's engines, however, had
been stopp.al and reversed, but immediately after-
wards the Sylph struck her with tremendous force
just above her larboard paddle-box, completely
burying her bows in the forepart of the Meteor.
A most distressing scene immediately ensued. Every one
expecting that the vessel would momentarily go down, a
desperate rush was nude to the bows of the Sylph, and in
consequence of her height, the darkness of the evening,
I and the confusion that prevailed, Ruby must have fallen
overboard but for the self-possession of the crew. Most of
them teeth on the forecastle, and seeing the terrified state
of the passengers, they leaped over on to the Meteor's
deck, and by assisting them up as well as they could, saved
many who otherwise would have perished. By far the
most marvellous escape, however, was that of 20 or 30 men
and women who were in the lorecabin at the moment of
the ship coming in contact, and were not conscious of the
approaching danger until the Sylph's bow actually bore
in upon them, carrying away the steward's pantry,
the companion ladder, and reaching more than
half way across the beam of the vessel, thus
shutting out all escape for them by the cabin door.
The water was pouring through the small side
port windows so fast that several of the passengers were up
to their waists in water. Their cries attracted the atten-
tion of Mr. Hollingsworth, who at once, with the assistance
of his own men and those of the Sylph, tore away the frame-
work of the cabin skylights, and by that means succeeded
in preserving their lives. Several of them were in a most
pitiable condition from the effects of fear and immersion,
and it was with considerable difficulty that they could be
got on board the Sylph. Had the Meteor separated from
the bows of the Sylph, no human power could have saved
them, and they must have been drowned in the cabin ; for,
as soon as the vessels separated, she went down
head first. The ebb tide providentially had the effect
of keeping her hanging, as it were, to . the
i bow of the Sylph for full ten minutes, and to
that circumstance may be attributed the saving of every
soul on board. In order to prevent her sinking in mid-
channel, and thereby in the way of the navigation of the
river, the engines of the Sylph were put in motion, and the
wrecked steamer, still hanging on, was driven in towards
shallow water, when the Sylph backed out and the Meteor
went down, and, as she settled, the light in her funnel was
just observable Athena water. Shortly before she sunk the
Mars steamer, belonging to the same company, came up
from Gravesend, and the captain hearing the fate of the
Meteor, went alongside the Sylph and took from her the
crew and passengers of the unfortunate vessel, and after-
wards proceeded with them to Blackwell. The account
I furnished by the officers of the Sylph is somewhat
different to that given by the crew of the Meteor
in respect to the course she was pursuing. The
1 Sylph was under the charge of the usual river Trinity
j house pilot, who with the captain, Mr. Smith, were on the
bridge at the time, having on the forecastle on the look out,
the carpenter and the quarter-master. They saw a white
light ahead, which they concluded to be a vessel riding at
anchor, and great was their surprise when close upon it
to and, as they saw the cabin windows, that the was a
steamer attempting to cross their bows. Their engines
were stopped and reversed, but the distance between the
two was so limited, that it was impossible to stop the way of
the vessel and they came together as before narrated. It is
quite clear that the Sylph had the lights requital by the
Admiralty regulations, viz , a bright white light at the
fore-mast head, a green light on the starboard side, and a
red one on the port side, but it would seem that this rule is not
applicable to what are known 'sneer steamets, those plying
from Sheerness, Gravesend, &c , as they only have a white
light on the bow, aid another similar light up the funnel.
Vessels lying at anchor are required by the Admiralty no-
tice to exhibit a white light at their mast-head, so that,
should the white bow light of a river steamer become ob-
scared, it is quite possible that the vessel might be mistaken
for one riding at anchor. Were coloured lights shown,
however, like those of sea-going steamers, the probability
of such an errercould not occur with ordinary care.
The wreck of the Meteor lies midway between the Half-
way House and the powder magazine on the Kent shore. At
low water her stern wheel is just visible. Arrangements
were made yesterday for raising the vessel, the Admiralty
having granted the use of the dockyard chain-lighters for
the purpose of making the attempt. It is feared, how-
ever, that she is so much damaged that she will break in
two from the weight of the engines, &c. She is insured,
but, we understand, not to the extent that will cover her
loss.