The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-12-31 00:00:00

FAILURE IN DUBLIN.

Vf
DUBLIN, DEC. 26.
We have at length begun to feel the consequences of the
embarrassments of London. One of the most eminent
merchants in Dublin has failed; the name of the indivi-
dual is Henry Higginbotham. This gentleman formed nnc
of the: very few general merchants that Dublin can boast
of. His trade was very extensive, particularly in tin ar-
ticle of teas. He was always considered a man of the
most solid credit; his failure, therefore, has caused a very
great sensation ; indeed, I might say that it has caused a
panic. Mr. Higginbotham speculated largely in the funds.
Hisloss, which ought to be settled for on the next account-
ing day, calculating at the present state of the funds, will
not fall sheet of 100,0001. The certainty of this dreadful
loss upon Stock Exchange speculations alone has had so
great an effect upon the roind of this unfortunate gentle-
man, as to have reek:eel him to despair. Although not
pressed by any immediate or urgent difficulties, he clesed
his doors, and took to his bed. His connexions were ex-
tensive, and of the first chss in our commercial society.
He made known to sonic of his nearest friends the state of
his.affairs, and it is certais that they offered him a loan of
so large a sum as 300,0001 if he could undertake to assure
them that that sum would be sufficient to meet every con-
tingency, and to bring his house over all difficulties. Mr.
Higginbotham, upon looking more narrowly iuto the state
of his affairs, declined accepting the money. The failure
of this house, to whose stability every man in trade looked
up with the most unbounded confidence, heightened as it
was by the very high character for personal honour and
integrity of the head of it, has caused absolute consterna-
tion. Men are now prepated for extensive misfortunes;
more than one man of eminence and credit has been named
this day on 'Ching as likely to follow Mr. Higginbotham.
It would, LoWever, be extremely wrong to name any of
(helm individuals. It is certain that some individuals will
lose by his failure to a very considerable amount.
Mr. Higginbotham was agent to the Belfast Commercial
Bank. When he saw that he was likely to he obliged to
shut his doors, he wrote down to that establishment, ac-
quainting them of the state of his affairs. It was deemed
prudent to be prepared for any run that might be made on
the bank in consequence of the failure of its Dublin agent,
and with that view one of the secretaries hurried up to
town on Christmas-eve. lie purchased gold to a very
great amount, which was sent down by the mail in large
parcels. Up to the present unfortunate crisis, Mr. Higgin-
botham was considered a very prosperous man in trade. In
the year immediately prededing the present he was the
head of a Company formed under the Anonymous Partner-
ship Act. They put in a capital of 12,000/. each, and on
the Ist of January last they divided the profits of the
house, which were very considerable; so very consider-
able, indeed, that Mr. Higginbotham, it is said, (lid not
consider it prudent to continue the partnership; but, de-
termined to carry on the business on his own account,
joined merely by one eminent individual, whose name
forbear to mention, who put in a capital of 40,0001., every
shilling of which, it is said, he will lose.
Exclusive of his other concerns, Mr. Higginbotham was
connected with an extensive distillery.

The utmost anxiety has been felt in Dublin throughout
the whole of the day. The news of the failure came down
as suddenly as a clap of thunder. No one was prepared
for it. It is not yet known what effect the intelligence has
produced in Belfast. The Commercial Bank has wisely
prepared itself for the worst.
Mr. Higginbotham served his time in the house of
Messrs. Shaw at.d Turbet, which is one of the very first
in Dublin. He married a lady of very large fortune in
ready money, every shilling of which, it is said, he re-
ceived. He has lived for many years in one of our prin-
cipal squares, in a style of elegance which was not, how-
ever, considered too great for his station as a commercial
man. His loss is regretted very generally, not only by
persons in trade, but by those who knew and regarded him
in private life, as a kind, amiable, and worthy man.

BANK Op PRANCZ.—PARia, Die. 26.—The Council-
General of the Bank have fixed the dividend of the second
half-year of 1825 at 49 francs each share. The Reserve is
9 francs SO cents. a share. The'dividend will be paid at
alb* Bask every slay at banking hours, after the 2d of Ja-
nuary next. The shareholders must send powers of attor-
ney to receive and sign for the payments :—it is indispens-
able to present such titles:
EARTHQUAKE AT STRASSUROII.—OH the 23d instant,
about five o'clock in the morning, some very strong shocks
of an earthquake were felt at Strasburgh and its environs.
The weather was perfectly calm, except a alight wind
which blew from the south. The barometer, however,
had experienced a decline of nearly two degrees during the
night; the thermometer, with Reaumur's scale, was about
at tire o'clock in the morning.—The guard on the tower
of the Cathedral, after having struck the three quarters
for five o'clock, sitting on their bench, felt three successive
shocks, so powerful that they were much alarmed. It is
not surprising that, at the height at which they were, the
oscillations were much more violent, than nearer the earth.
They assert also, that they heard, between two and three
o'clock in the morning, an extrortlinary whistling in the
air. It appears, from inquiries which have been made,
that the direction of the shocks was N.E. to S.W. Some
persons further state that they were accompanied by a
rumbling noise.—Etuite.
It appears that the projected Tonbridge Wells and Snod-
land Railway meets with opposition. A meeting of pro.
hrietors and occupiers of land in the proposed line has been
eld, and resolutions entered into for the purpose of op-
posing the application to Parliamer.t for a bill.
VARIETIES OF THE TIDES ON THE COAST OF GREAT
BRITAIN.—The influence of the moon exerted upon the
mass of waters in the Atlantic causes them to flow to the
IVestern coast, where Ireland presents a barrier, and di-
vides the Atlantic title into two great streams. One flows
round the north of Scotland, and sets in southward in the
German Ocean with great rapidity, where it encounters
the southern tide along the English Channel--and hence
the great swell of waters about the Straits of Dover.
The interruption to the southern tide also occasions
its greater slowness, so that a second tide from the At-
lantic,
down the German Ocean, meets it, and thus we
find a great swell about the Nore at the Spring tides. 11
The title at London Bridge is in fact neither a lunar nor a
solar tide; and, because of the distance of London Bridge
from the Nore we find a midway tide—i. e. it is low water
mid way between the Nore and London Bridge, when it is
high water at each of these_places.—Walltrees Lecture,.

SINGULAR TRAIN OF MIEFORTUNES.—A boy of the
name of M•Gowan, belonging to Alloa, who used to blow
the steam-boat horn, went out with the Jean, of Alloa, to
Miramichi, and had to fly from her when consumed by fire.
Ile then got on board the Lord Cathcart, of Alloa, and
was shipwrecked on his way home, at Prince Edward's
Island. lie again retnrned to Miramichi ; and when coming
home with the Mary of Alloa, he was a second time ship-
wrecked on the island of Arran.
Sar ETV G ex.—The Ilev.lklr. Somerville, of Curt ie, near
Edinburgh, has invented a safety-leek, the merits of which
cannot be too extensively known. The contrivance is ex-
tremely simple, and may be made intelligible without any
diagram. In the back part of the trigger there is a square
notch, into which a thin sliding bar or catch is pressed by a
spring, and keeps the trigger perfectly imenoveele. The
sliding bar is concealed within the plate lying under the
guard. A handle attached to the sliding bar stands up in
front of the guard, in such a manner as apparently to form
part of. When the gun is presented in order to take aim,
the left hand, by a slight pressure—no greater than is na-
turally employed in bringing the gun to the shoulder—
moves the handle of the sliding bar to catch backwards;
the catch itself recedes from the notch : the trigger, now
unlocked, yields to the finger, and the discharge follows.
The security which this affords arises, first, from both
hands being necessary to work the gun; second, from
the p'acing the hands in the proper position being sufficient
to effect the discharge: and third, when the two hands are
not placed in the firing position. no possible species of acci-
dental contact can make the lock move, or the gun go of.
With Mr. Somerville's lock the sportsman may travel the
whole day with his gun on full cock, with the most com-
plete and entire safety. When he brings his gun home
loaded, he has only to screw off the handle of the catch,
and though half a score of inquisitive urchins should lay
their hands upon the gun, they cannot possibly make it go
QT.—Glasgow Mechanics' Magazine.

me
or&
the

rit of ourafigiewinhiabrlis Machu
teaches us or strefigth. and by conv i
rants conducts us to wisdom.

DED

[From the Leeds Intrlngenter.
About a fortnight ago, one Joseph
man handle-setter*, and secretary to
addressed a letter to the Hon. Mem?
tive to a certain intended piece of pi
arc aware was voted to that gentler=
a meeting of several of the working
neighbourhood. As we foresaw from
happen, no funds for the "offering •
the proceeds of the job being scarce%
Baines, the treasurer, to pay himse
sundry posting bills, puffs, and at'
in getting up and furthering the scl
Joseph Addyman's epistle to Mr..
the fate of the project, and to suggest
ber should decline to accept the Ace
this our journeyman handle-setter ;
ourjouniernan legislator, for Josepl
deeming himself fully as good as his
familiarly addressed the latter with
majesty of the Lord Rector grew it
an impudent assumption of fellowshi
by a Leeds handle-setter, and he
temptuously allowingg,,an interval .
elapse, returned a Walsh answer, sort
" Sir" to his namesake of Leeds, ar
fusing the non-existing piece of plc
which no money had been collected
the lesson will not be lost on the °per
Kingdom, and that they will thence'
to their betters, which for so long a r
self has sedulously laboured to eradi
and conduct.

• For the benefit of distant readers,
if !mete-setter" is a person who flies teazles
woollen cloth. Old men, hors, and women
operation, but we understand a MUM can --
work.

A Dublin paper says—We are
Earl of Brecknock is gradually Teem
I.tt'attrooi., DEC. 49.—A steady
day at fair prices, and about 2000 bap
On Thursday evening, about six o'
on the premises of Mr. Stoddart, a

which raged with great fury for a
derable apprehensions were felt
Gerrard's-ball Inn. From the
engines, and the promptness of the ,
ever, the progress of the flames was
their ravages nearly confined to tfit•
they commenced. A wine-vaults at'
in the rear, were damaged. There
tendance of the City police on the t
property of the inhabitants, and pre,
from being impeded.

STAG HVNTING EXTRAORDINA.a.
stag chat had escaped from Lord De la Zouei
was hunted by two hounds only, &Di
seven hours, driven into Stawreham river
killed.

DESPERATE Fox CIIASE.--The
very extraordinary Fox Chase. which, a I
in the neighbourhood of Killarney, mat
many olfisur readers of the sporting worn'
morning keyword was shook in the
Esq. at Gram. lle ran for Caheinane,
of the Lower Lake, and there he
ahem of the lake. and by the lower bridge.
He then ran for llallyhar; and from that
road for the Park—from the Park for
Brewsterfield, and was killed within onr
fiesk. Of eighteen horsemen who were at
in at the death—these were the liiintsrm
Lynch, riding Kitty S Mr. O'Connell,
Peg; Mr. Jeremiah Mahony, riding Km
by Gorham, taking his place as usual.
dining this chase, which listed only lot
minutes, could not be less in length than
miles. The ground a= extremely gavots
happened. Only three of the hounds vete
extraordinary chase.

N.
,;. • i
,•; 4 .
_
• up*
.
. .
TO THE E1:11'011 OF THE BRITISH PRESS:
i .
Sin—The operation of the la* whir:hie about to Open
our ports on Ihe Silt July to the wrought silks of the Con-
i
tinent is bee'nrcing eery day to Manifent iiplf, in the
dismistal of workmen from our manufactovle II the differ-
ent parts of the Liagdoin. In Coventry and its;hicinity
the rilouttl-weavcrl, to the amount of many hundreds. 41 ;
have been already discharged, and the number of dead
looms belonging, to tl:c o' •rative weavers, to whom no ern- -"'" !
• •
. ,
ploycient can bc given, cannot fail to create' a* depot Of
cistrc!,s which it Mill be bc 3 ()nil the funds of Taro- gal ati- •
sistance to allt_viate. Even were those lunar adequate, the eel a
turning a gri,•t I ody of useful, active, and industrious
wotletriett into a tribe of pensioned idlers, is a wretched
Metamorphosis. It hes a tendency moreover to perpetuate
all the mischief it produces.. IVlten the honest spirit of
independence is once broken in upon, and pen are made
familiar with the disgrace of being fed as paupers instead of 41
• earning their subsistence by the honest labour of their
o-.vn hands, all their better feelings soon give way,
•
and their whole character becomes worthless. The weavers
of Spitalfields are verging every hour nearer to that state
of misery to which, it is to be feared, they will all be uhi+
irately brought. Two hundred and twenty weavers, With
their families, enpliLd last week for admission into Beth-
nal-green work:house; but could not be received from ha
being already to full as to make it impossible to take them
in. A weekly allowance is Made to them out of the house.
This week the applications are likely to be call more nu-
merous. The operative weavers as a body are quiet,
orderly, and enduring. In trying times they have shown
themselves not easily deluded, and Government has alwaya.
shown a correspondent attention to their "ootriplaints, when+ .
ever a griefance of any kind has pressed upon thorn. Ott I
the present occasion, therefore, they may wifely confide lit
the same indulgent feeling towards their distress which had
led to the relief of it in former instances. But if they are suf.
fered to felt into actual distress, it can only be relieved by an.
increase of the poor-rates ; and in the extensive and pope.
loos parish of Bethnal-green this increase cannot be borne j
for the poor cannot support Me poor; and all the public
houses, as well as all the different tradespeople in Spital. -
fields, are maintained by the weavers ; it is their COStola
that supports them, and when the latter are reduced to
distress, the former must shut up their shops. I
No one can be less inclined than I am to depress at any
time the energetic spirit of the nation ; because no one as •
be more deeply convinced than I am, that it is lly that
spirit alone that its difficulties have always been surmount+ ‘ •
eel. But there nay be a crisis in which a timely forewarning I
can alone save a nation from ruin. There arc situations
of danger from which a great people may be rescued •
by their magnanimity, but there are also situations In
which magnanimity can bring no help. The late Bala.
mines have proved this. We are on the verge—it It a "
truth which cannot be concealed—we are on the verge of a
most trying and critical period. We have every thing lb
hope from the wisdom of Government; we have every • tri
thing to expect from the prudence of her totincilr. These
will, ere long, determine whether Great Britain is to main-
tain her place or not in the scale of commercial nations. If •
she is to be so maintained, her Rulers must guarantee her
security. Let her be suffered to pursue, as heretofore, the
onward course which has led her to wealth and glory,
and she will bear herself proudly along the tfde, and out-.
ride any storm that may ovens-lEo6er. But to bring a
throng of competitors around her will most wofully im-
pede her course. She is heart of oak, and sound in all her
timbers, but she is too heavily burdened for the race. She •
is held back by an unwieldy anchor, while the foreigner
runs free before the wind.
We live in an age in which there is a demand for much
prudent knowledge and much sober thinking. We have
amongst our Statesmen of' the present day some minds of
the very first order ; and there is enough before them to
call for all their wisdom. The last half century has writ-
ten many explanatory note: upon the history of man and of
governments. To build up the greatness of a kingdom is
the work of ages ; to destroy it is, comparatively, the work k
of a day. But I shall not pursue the subject,—it leads
much further than I feel disposed to follow it. One re.
mark, however, I will add, and it is this—that there is no r.
guide so safe or so necessary in political science the vie
Tit of out oilgiorr,--oshioir be Seechthietea oar
teaches us allt strebgth, and by conving us of our igno.
ranee conducts us to wisdom.
PENRUDDOCK.
MR. HUME'S OFFENDED DIGNITY.
--soos--
[From the Leeds Intrl7genter.l
About a fortnight ago, one Joseph Addyman, a journeys'
man handle-setter*, and secretary to the Leeds operatives,
addressed a letter to the Hon. Member fob idontrose, rela+
tive to a certain intended piece of plate, which our readers '
arc aware was voted to that gentleman some months back, at
a meeting of several of the working classes in this town and 7.
neighbourhood. As we foresaw from the first what would •
happen, no funds for the "offering" have been forthcoming;
the proceeds of the job being scarcely adequate to enable Mr.
Baines, the treasurer, to pay himself for the printing,ef •
sundry posting hills, puffer and advertisements employed
in getting up and furthering the scheme. The object of
Joseph Addyman's epistle to Mr. Hume was to hint at
the fate of the project, and to suggest that the Hon. Mein.
.•
her should decline to accept the pfl.ce of plate. •In doing
this our journeyman handle-setter gave mortal Offence to
ourjourneyenan legislator, for Joseph Addyman naturally
deeming himself fully as good as his friend Joseph Hume,
..
familiarly addressed the latter with a " Dear Sir!" The
majesty of the Lord Rector grew instantly wroth at such. 4
an impudent assumption of fellowship with his ip
by a Leeds handle-setter, and he accolitngly, .eOll. • r
temptuously allowing,,an interval otAlevaiteen aye to.
elapse, returned a With answer, eommencing with a stir* -
" Sir" to his namesake of Leeds, and magnanimously re-'
fusing the non-existing piece of plate, for the purchase of .
which no money had been collected ! We sincerely trust a
the lesson will not be lost on the operatives of the United.
Kingdom, and that they will thence learn the respect due
to their betters, which for so long a period Mr. Hume him-
self has sedulously laboured to eradicate from their Minds
and conduct. •
• For the benefit of distant readers, we beg to state that a '
" huttle.setter" is a person who fixes teazles in frames rot dreesiag
woollen cloth. Old men, boys, and women mostly perform the i,
.
operation, but we understand a man can earn good wages et the 4•
work.
A Dublin paper says—We are happy to state that the ti
Earl of Brecknock is gradually recovering.
i .•
Li eERPOOL, DEC. 49.—A steady demand for Cotton to.
day at fair prices, and about 2000 bags sold. .. .
On Thursday evening, about six o'clock, a fire broke cut •
on the premises of Mr. Stoddart, a glover, in Baring-lane, •
which raged with great fury for a short time, and consi-
derable .(4
apprehensions were felt for the safety of the
Gerrard's-ball Inn. From the speedy arrival of the
engines, and the promptness of the supply of water, how-
ever, the progress of the flames was soon checked, and.
i •
their ravages nearly confined to the promises in which • l
they commenced. A wine-vaults adjoining, and a house
in the rear, were damaged. There was a numerous at- it`
tendance of the City police on the spot, to preserve the
property of the inhabitants, and prevent the tire-engines
from being impeded. If•
Si-so H CNTIXO EXTRAOSDINARY•-1.411t Thnle4y, a
stag ihat had escaped from Lord De la Zouch's Park, at Parham.
A...,
was hunted by two hounds only, and after a gallant chase of
seven hours, driven into Shoreham river near Ilenfield, and there
killed.
DESPERATE Fox CilASE.—The following account of a
very extraordinary Fox Chase, which, a few days since. took place
in the neighbourhood of Killarney, may be found interesting to
many aheur readers of the sporting wend. At nine o'clock in the.
morning Iteynard was shook in the lawn of John O'Connell., 7
Esq. at Orma. Ile ran for Cahemane. at the opposite extremity
of the Lower Lake, and there he traversed back by taa
ahem of the lake, and by the lower bridge to Itallymanis Comte_
lie then ran for llallyhar ; and from that point he crossed the 1
road for the Park—from the Park for Artigal, and 't moue
Brewaterfield, and was killed within one hundred yards of Gun,
fiesk. Of eighteen horsemen who were at the hunt, five only were 1
. 1
in at the death—these were the huntsman, riding Milachy ; It' •
Lynch. riding Kitty t Mr. O'Connell, riding Ins chestnut r
Peg; Mr. Jeremiah. Ilahony, riding Boxer; Shawn Btley non
by Gorham, taking his place as usual. The ground r * rods" ;
during this chase, which lasted only for two hours e an ever
minutes, could not be less in length than from eighty 4d fin e.%
miles. The ground *= extremely favourable, anti ••• t• t•.•,••P
happened. Only three of the hounds were thrown •no accident
eztraortlicary Owe. ant during glue. • ,
1 : .