The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-13 00:00:00

NOMINATION OF SHERIFFS.

Yesterday being the morrow of St. Martin's-day,
the annual ceremony of nominating the sheriffs of the
various counties in England and Wales was gone through
in the Court of Exchequer before the Lord Chancellor, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the common law judges.
Many gentlemen soughs to be exemed on various grounds,
and a number of memorials, petitions, letters and medical
certificates were handed in. For Norfolk, Sir Thomas Wm.
Procter Beauchamp, Bart , stood first, and be would in all
probability bo called upon to serve next year, but he asked
not to be allowed to serve until WM ; Lord Ranelagh, who
was 1400041 on the list, 'eked to be struck oft altogether,
on the ground that he was an Irish peer. The lard Chan-
cellor said it was not the first time such a plea bad been
raised, but it had never been successful. The court there-
fore ruled that Lord Ranelegh must serve, and not only
so, but his name was placed first on the list, Sir T. W. P.
Beauchamp being placed second. For Leicestershire there
was some dislike to serve on the part of Mr. Thomas
Tertius Paget, of liumberstooe, the real ground being
that he is a candidate for the representation of South Lin-
colnshire. It was directed that his name should be put
third on the list, so that he is tolerably safe for a couple of
years. In connection with the county of York, Mr. Thomas
Richard Plumbs Tempest, of Tong-hall, pleaded that he
had been for 23 years is active military service for his
country, that he was now 74 years of age, that he had
2,0001. a year, and that the year of shrievalty would con
Lim 1,5001. The Lord Chancellor said it was not urged.
by Mr. Tempest that his health was bad, or that he was
unable to serve, and the court ruled that his name must
stand. Mr. Henry James Bath, of Alltyfeitin, Carmarthen-
shire, said he had not long COMO into his property, and that
be -vas at present building a suitable house. The Lord
Chancellor said he supposed Mr. Bath did not superintend
the works personally ; at all events he might employ a
clerk of the works during the year of his ahrievalty. The
court ruled that Mr. Bath could not be excused. In
Oxfordshire, Mr. Weyland, of Woodeaton, asked to be
excused from serving on the ground that his health was
uncertain. The Lord Chancellor said that was the position
of most men, bat as Mr. Wayland's name stood first on the
list, it might perhaps be a relief to him if it were put
second. The court made an order accordingly. One
gentleman represented that he hail been obliged to
bortow money to pay off mortgages on his estates ; •
' second, that he had • large family, and had no available
resources to keep up the dignity of the office ; a third,
that he was obliged to live abroad in consequence of the
ill health of his family ; • fourth, that he had recently
retired from active service, and required rest ; a fifth, that
he had not sufficient property in the county with which
his name was connected ; a sixth, that he was • barrister,
although not in actual practice ; indeed all sorta of repre-
sentations were made for the purpose of escaping from the
duty. No excuses, however, were allowed except when
the petitioners made out a very strong case. It appears
that during the circuit the sheriff of the county hands to
the judge the names of certain gentlemen whom he am-
fasten qualified to fill the office hereafter, and it is in this
way that the judges make out the lists which they hand in
to the court on the morrow of St. Martin. If care were
taken by the sheriff of each county, who provides the
judge with the list, so many encases probably would not
be necessary.

THE HURRICANE IN THE WEST INi:flu—Yes-
terday intelligence reached Liverpool, by way of Havana
and New York, of further disasters to shipping at St.
Thomas during the late hurricane. For the lass few days
much anxiety had been felt for the safety of the splendid
screw steamer Colombian, Captain Peters, which left
Liverpool for St. Thomas and Colon on the 12th ult., with
a very valuable cargo, as it was known that she would be
at or near St. Thomas when the storm burst over that
island and its neighbourhood. Yesterday all doubts were
set aside as to the fate of the vessel by the annexed enclo-
sure, which was forwarded to us by Mr. Arthur B. For-
wood, of the West India and Pacific Steam Ship Company,
to which the Colombian belonged:—" Liverpool, Nov. 12,
1867.—The following telegram has just been received in
reply to a message sent on the 7th to Havana, in-
quiring about the Colombian and the company's wharf at
St. Thomas :—' Havana, Bth Nov. Telegram advice.
Loss of Colombian. Property of British and French com-
panies destroyed. No mention of yours."' The Colom-
bian was anew steamer of 2,000 tons gross register, and
bad on board a full cargo for the West Indies and Colon.
The ship was very largely insured by the company in
Liverpool, London, Glasgow, and the continent. Her
commander was well known to be a seaman of great ex-
perience, and had under his charge a complement of about
&Omen. As nothing is said about the passengers and crew,
it is to be hoped that no loss of life has taken plow:
The wreck of this steamer will cause no interruption in
the company's service. In connection with the wreck of
the Colombian there was some anxiety felt in Liverpool
yesterday about another steamer, which left the Haney
three days after the Colombian, for the West
Indies. The Australian is a new ship, on bee
first trip, and the crack vessel of the company's Beet, but
as she was not bound for St. Thomas—in fact she would
be compelled to give the island a wide berth—all fears
at present entertained as to her safety are premature. No
doubt the Arm tican mail steamer due at Liverpool on
Saturday will hi lag further and more accurate details of
the disaster, as there is both steam and telegraphic com-
munication between New York and Savannah, and judging
from the rapid transmission of messages to Havannah
from New York, and vice versed, the news will be as correct
as possible up to the departure of the steamer. The West
India mail due at Souttiempton, unless detained at some
of the ports, ought to arrive either on Friday or Saturday
with full details of the catastrophe.
THE CORYORATION Or DUBLIN •NI. THE STATE
Cuuucu QCL.TIoN.—A special meeting of the council of
the corporation of Dublin was held on Monday, " to de-
termine what measures ongbt to be adopted. having regard
to the agitation with which the public tranquillity is
threatened by the meeting recently held at Hillsborough
for the purpose of perpetuating an odious ascendancy end
other cognate abuses, and of preventing remedial legisla-
tion for Ireland by overawing the parliament of the
emOre." The chair was taken by the Lord Mavor. Mr.
Sullivan said the meeting would not have been convened
were it not that a Dublin newspaper, apropos of a
meeting held in the icountry to wave anew the banner
of bigotry, said " the corporation in times gone by
I supported the church establishment." He blushed
to own that the minute books of the old corporation con-
tained the record of proceedings justifying the news-
paper in its statement. On the 11th September, 1792, he
found the predecessors of the present municipal body up-
holding and promoting intolerance. It was the duty of
the corporation now to shout " Equality ! " and wipe out
the stain. The corporation, though they could not tear the
page on which that was recorded from their book, could do
what was better—repair the wrongs wh lob their predecessors
indicted. The council did not now appeal to one section of
their fellow-countrymen, but to the whole of them, that
freedom and equality might prevail. He concluded by
moving the following resolution :—" That it is absolutely
essential to the peace, harmony, contentment, and pro-
sperity of this country that every vestige of class and creed
ascendancy should be abolished, and that all parties should
be placed on a basis of perfect equality of civil and reli-
gious rights within the constitution." Mr. Butler seconded
the resolution, which was put and declared to be unani-
mously carried. Alderman tristll (Lord Mayoratlect)
moved a resolution calling on the corporations thimigh-
out Ireland to co-operate in the movement. He refined
to some statistics, and said that the number of protes-
tants in some dioceses was a very small proportion. He
asked the members of the house, the catholic. of the city
and of all Ireland, was that to continue ? and be paid that
what they wanted was not ascendancy, but equality. Mr.
Meagher seconded the resolution, and observed that in the
diocese of Denary there were only four and a half ',rotes.
tents to each parish. lie hoped that this fact would
show the necessity of having religious equality and a
clear platform for all Irishmen. The resolution was pawed.
Sir John Gray proposed that it be referred to a committee
of the whole house to prepare an address to the Queen
and petitions to parliament, embodying the objects stated
in the resolutions adopted. Aldermen Plunkett, in second-
ing the resolution, said he would only make one remark,
which was that he hoped when Mr. Sullivan went into
parliament it would be into College-green.