The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-04 00:00:00

MEXICAN BONDHOLDERS.

The following is from the Committee of Mexican
Bondholders :

" The committee are in receipt of advice from Mr.
Whitehead, dated Mexico, the 2d ult. The President
still remained at Cuernavaca, but Mr. Whitehead had
had a first interview with the Minister of Finance, Senor
Don Guillermo Prieto, who assured him that the Govern-
ment was most anxious to act justly and honourably
towards the bondholders. Mr. Whitehead left a memo-
rial with him as regards the principal points connected
with the foreign debt which would require his Excel-
lency's attention. The election of members of Congress
was appointed to take place on the 16th inst., and their
first session was to open on the 14th of February next
at Dolores Hidalgo. In the meantime Vidaurri still
kept aloof at the head of his followers in the north, and
was endeavouring to prevail on Tampico to adopt his
plan (which includes the disbanding of the army), and
not that of Ayutla. The remit'ance for the dividend
fund from Vera Cruz is only 12,000 dole., but the agents
of the bondholders write that the next packet will bring
more. This packet brings nothing from Tampico, but
the agents of the bondholders there had got 6,000 Bois.
in small money and an order on the Custom-house for
9,597 dole, in their hands on acc3unt of the dividend
fund."

DREADFOL CATASTROPHE AT cwm-

AVON, ABERDARE.

We much regret that it is our duty to announce one of
the most melancholy occurrences which have happened
in this neighbourhood for a long time past. It appears
that Messrs. Carr and Morrison have a pit in work at
Cr/maven, which is about 250 yards deep. The men are
conveyed to and from their work by an engine at the top
of the shaft, which lifts and lets down a large box or
tram for this purpose. The same shaft and engine are
used for bringing up the minerals, horses, coo. On Wed-
nesday evening last, the man in charge of the engines
left his post about five o'clock, and another engineman,
named Solomon Lloyd, took his place, it being his turn
to work that night. We ought to have stated that as
soon as the tram approaches the top from below it
touches a bell, which gives the engine-driver timely in-
timation in order to stop the ascent. In this case the
unfortunate man in charge says the bell did not ring as
usual; but however this may be, the engine continued its
speed, and the train, containing eight men who were
leaving work, was in a momenthurled against the pulley
at the top, and the next minute it was, with its living
freight, falling with frightful velocity down the shaft
they had just ascended. The chain which lifted the tram
coming in contact with the pulley had snapped, and the
consequence was as we have related. The scene presented
at the bottom of the pit, a few minutes afterwards, was
of the most harrowing description. The tram had dashed
itself against the edge of a deep bank at the bottom of
the pit, knocking the name-work into pieces; and in the
immediate neighbourhood were the.remains of five muti-
lated bodies. The other three must have fallen into the
water, as they have not yet been found. Solomon Lloyd
was brought before the magistrates on Thursday, but no
evidence was gone into, and he was remanded. The
unfortunate man appeared to feel very much the awful
havoc of human life which had been caused. The coro-
ner's inquest was expected to be held yesterday (Friday).
--Monmouthshire Merlin.

MARKET NEWS.—(This Day).

HAY MARKETS.

Mirrilarno.—Meadow hay, 4/ 03 to 6/ Gs ; cloves ditto,
41 15s to 71 7s; and straw, 11 4s Od to 11 is lad per load.
Both bay and straw sold slowly, on former terms.
UIIMBERLAND.—Meadow hay, 414 s to Cl 103: cloves do.,
41 12s to 71 7s; and straw, 1/ 5s to 11 10s per load.
A moderate supply, and a fair demand.
WHITEOHAPEL.—Meadow hay, 41 Os to Cl Gs; elikver
do. 41 lOs to 7175; and straw, 1/ 4s to 1/10s per load.
Trade rather dull.

COLONIAL.
Tas.—The market has been steady and prices have re-
mained unaltered.
SUGAR.--A small business has been done in this article,
and several parcels have changed hands, but prices have
rat been allowed to transpire. Havanaah, No. 12 and 121,
have been sold at 54s 6d per cwt.
COFFEE. —A fair demand has been experienced for Plan-
tation Ceylon at about previous rates.
RICE remains steady at previous rates. A cargo of Ran-
goon has been sold to arrive at 14s. 3d per cwt.
Rum.—The market is firm, with no alteration in prices.
TALLOW.—The market has been dull, and owing to the
heavy arrivals from the Baltic, combined with rumoure
of negotiations for peace, prices have declined. Y.C. on
the spot 68s 6d, and for the spring delivery. The latest
prices were 67s 9d for the month, and 68s 6d on the spot.
South American 695. Beef Australian 675. Town tallow
68s per cwt. nett cash.

We understand that Prince Albert will present new
colours to the British German Legion at Sliornclifie, on
Thurfiday next, at twolv9 o'clock,

MR. WILLIAMS AND HIS CO TT I-
TUENTS.

Yesterday evening, Mr. W. Williams, UP. for Lam-
beth, met a numerous body of his constituency at the
Horns Tavern, Kennington, for the purpose of explain-
ing his political conduct during the last session. The
large room of the tavern was filled, and the hon. gentle-
man met with a very warm reception. Mr. John
Groves was called to the chair, and, after a few preli-
minary observations, introduced Mr. Williams to the
fleeting.

Mr. WILLIAMS said he had invited his constituents to
meet him that night, as he had done at the termination
of every session since he had had the honour of being
their representative in Parliament, to give them an op-
portunity of demanding any explanation of his conduct
during the last session. He would now state what his
conduct had been. He hoped his constituents required
it, and that they looked sharp after him, as that was
the best means of keeping men honest and true to
their duty. In the first place, he would tell them
that he was to be found in his place in the House of
Commons every night during the past session, with the
exception of five only, when he was prevented by severe
illness, (Cheers.) He took part consequently in all the
proceedings of the session, and he could conscientiously
state that in every vote he gave, and in every opinion
he expressed, which he did upon some importent mea-
sures in the House of Commons, he had acted to the
best of his judgment, and in strict conformity to the
principles that he had upon former occasions laid before
his constituents, and which principles induced them to
place him in the position of their representative. (Cheers.)
In proof of what he stated he would mention a very im-
portant fact. The Administrative Reform Association
—of which they had doubtless heard a great deal, and
which association had effected some good, and would, he
dare say, do a great deal more—that association bad
looked through the proceedings of thelast session, and had
selected eight votes that most carried out the principles
of Admininistrative Reform. Of the 654 members which
constituted the House of Commons, only four voted for
those eight questions, and he was one of those four.
(Cheers.) The session was a very long one, but yet he
was sorry to say that not many important measures be-
came law. A great amount of time was wasted in con-
tests for place and power. Those that were in were
anxious to keep in, and those that were out were as
anxious to get in, and the time of the country was
wasted to an enormous extent between the contests of
these two parties. (Shame.) He would first call the
attention of his constituents to a matter in which they
had all taken some interest, namely, the Metropolitan
Local Management Bill. That was a most important
measure. Before the passing of the bill there were 276
different public bodies carrying out the local manage-
ment of the affairs of the various parishes of the me•
tropolis. Many of those bodice were self nominative ;
others appointed by the Crown ; and all (Athena levying
very heavy rates upon the householders, which they ex-
pended, and to a very great extent squandered, without
any responsibility or accountability to any person what-
soever. Now this bill placed the election of the vestry
and the board of works in the hands of every rate-
payer. No person who paid a rate would have to do so
without having a voice in the appointment of the per-
sons who levied and expended that rate. The bill when
it cane into operation would of course require several
alterations—few bills that passed the House of Commons
did not. If, however, that should be so, he should be
most happy to place any service he could render his con-
stituents at their disposal. (Cheers.) A hill was also
passed last session to abolish the duty upon newspapers.
That was a question in which the public had taken
great interest for several years, and was now accom-
plished. (Cheers.) There was another bill which created
sonic sensation—a bill to regulate the closing of public-
houses on Sundays. (Hear, hear.) That bill had been
considerably ameliorated, and he hoped to such an extent
as would satisfy all parties. There was another bill which
had been deemed one of great importance, with reference
to limited liability in partnerships. That bill passed
the House of Commons ; but, as soon as it entered the
House of Lords, it was ruined, and he now attached but
little importance to it. There was also a bill upon which
he had expressed his opinion, and he should state the
reason he did so. They had heard a great deal about the
Turkish loan. (Hear.) Now, he voted for that —wad
he did so because, having, in the earlier part of his life,
been actively engaged in commercial pursuits, he had
visited Turkey, and could state that the Turks were as
honest and fair dealing a set of people as any in the
world. (Loud cheers.) Again, the advantage of the loan
hal been seen in the glorious victory obtained by the
Turks over the army of that great despot the Czar of
Russia. (Loud cheers.) There was another bill, called the
Foreign Enlistment Bill. Now, he had a great objection
to introducing foreigners into the army, but, after hear-
ing of the great hardships to which our army was ex-
posed in the Crimea—(hear, hear)—he thought there
could be no reasonable objection to it, and ho gave his
vote accordingly. (Cheers.) There were several other
measures of importance brought before Parliament. The
ballot—(hear, hear)— was another question which had
occupied the attention of Parliament. He bad always
voted for the ballot, and he was glad that it had been in-
troduced into the new bill for the management of the me-
tropolis. The abolition of Church-rates had received a
great impetus in Parliament during the last session ; and
he believed enough had been done to lay a foundation for
the total abolition of those imposts at no distant day.
Another important question on which he had voted was
Mr. Roebucks committee to inquire into the state of the
army before Sebastopol. After that committee made
its report, there was so much ground proved for inculpa-
ting the Government of Lord Aberdeen that Mr. Roe-
buck proposed to censure the members of that Govern-
ment, and he had voted with much satisfaction for that
motion. They were aware that he had always made it a
point to canvass the votes in supply relating to the army
and navy ; but as he believed that the best way to put
an end to the aar was to make the army as efficient as
possible, he had not opposed a single vote last session.
Some of the items of the civil service expenditure he re-
garded as monstrous and uncalled-for, and he had opposed
them. He had opposed a vote of 1r,0,0001. for royal pa-
laces and buildings, and also the annual vote for the sup-
port of the Presbyterian clergy in the North of Ireland
called the Reg ion Dooms. He had opposed the latter
vote especially on the ground that the people of the
North of Ireland were quite as well able to support, their
clergy as the people of either England or Scotland. He
had opposed the vote, but, he regretted, without much
success. There was another important motion which he
had brought forward, namely, to iinposethe same amount
of probate duty upon land as was paid upon all other de-
scriptions of property. By the law, as it at presentstood,
a great landowner, who had an income of 100,000/. a-3 ear
from land, paid nothing in the shape of probate duty,
while the labourer had to pay 21 percent. upon the bed on
which he died and the smock-frock he left after him. This
tax would yield 2,000,00A1. a-year, which would be a ca-1
pital thing to carry on the war with too'. Mr. Gladstone,
who was the most honest Chancellor of the Exchequer he
had ever known, had consented to tax legacies, and as long
as lie (Mr. Williams) had a seat in the House of Com-
mons, he would support him in that object. Then, agate,
corporations, such as universities, and deans and chap-
ters, paid no legacy duty, on the ground that a corpora-
tion never died ; but he bed obtained a promise from
the Chancellor of the Exchequer that he woul.l tax them
for the future. (Hear.) Now, with regard to the subject
which, like Aaron's rod, swallowed up all others—the
war—he was bound to say, that, heretofore, it had been
conducted without thought and without feeling. (Hear,
hear.) The brave army which we had sent from our
shores to invade the territory of the enemy was as fine
an army as ever left the country ; but it was despatched
in a condition wholly inadequate for the duty required
of it. The Government hangers-on said it was not to
be expected that everything could be efficient during
the first year of a war ; but did they know that, since
the last war, .the people of Great Britain had expended
300,000,000/. on the army since the last general peace ?
A finer army never left the shores of England than
that which fought the battle of the Alma, and yet they
were left without shelter for three weeks. When they
got into the trenches they had neither food, clothing, nor
shelter, but thanks to the correspondents of the London
newspapers—(hear)—their condition was made known,
and supplies were sent out. The supplies, however, were
stowed away in ships which were wrecked on a lee shore,
when they ought to have been in the open sea, and all
were lost. When he heard of what had happened, and of
the state of the roads, he said, " Good God ! is it possi-
ble there is no way of making a road from Balaklavn to
the camp ?" The answer he got was, the men are wanted
for the trenches. Why, at that very moment the Sultan
could have sent as many thousand Turks as were
wanted to work on the roads, and the Consul at
Bucharest could have sent thousands of Wallachians,
who were doing nothin to assist the Turks. When
the condition of thearmy became
known
in Eng-
land, all classes united to send out clothes.ved
inthe
sup-
plies to the army, but when they arrived l
Crimea, they were flung in the mud atrn Balaklava.
The Government of Lord Aberderecnorrdeesnied the
correspondents,
truth of the statements of the newisitT_Pee
t fellow— (hear)--
moved and Mr. Roebuck, that pluckyaige-e into those allegations.
moved for a committee to
irand the result of its la-
The committee was appointed,
bours was to reveal a
.worse state oft things than even re-
portn on y then,
It was ee, a d
had stated to exist.
that Lord Aberdeen admitted that he had never really
known what was the true state of the army. (Cries of
"Shame.") Since that time another Government had
come into office, and whatever might beits shortcomings
at least it could not be charged witk leaving the army
without food and shelter. Now, with regard to the
navy, a Lord of the Admiralty had lately stated that
the Baltic fleet bad cost the country 9,000,0001. ;that
fleet, although manned by Sir Charles Napier, had done
very little except to bombard. Butnarsund but the
French could have done that without the assistance of
the fleet at all. Another admiral bad been appointed
to the command of the fleet this year, and he had come
home after doing very little better. In fact, the fleets
were not allowed to go nearer than 2,000
yards,, while
Nelson went in at 200 yards, and knocked forts and
stone walls about the ears of the enemy in a very short
time. (Hear.) The Black Sea fleet had done something
better. The enemy had retired from that sea, and the
ships had done service by destroying the stores' and re-
sources of the enemy. There was no man in the com-
munity who loved peace more than he did. He abhorred
war, but he abhorred the hoof of the Cossack still more.
(Hear.) There was a peace party in this country, the
leaders of whom were his old political friends ; but he
did not agree with them on this question. That party
were in favour of not touching a sod of Russian soil, on
the ground that if she were despoiled of any of her
possessions, she would never make peace. Why, dur-
ing the last eighty years Russia had doubled her
original territory by despoiling the possessions of her
neighbours. For years past she had been making
arrangements for the absorption of Turkey. In the
year 1844, the Emperor of Russia came over here,
and actually made a proposal for a partition of Tur

key, promising that England should have Egypt and
some of the islands of the Mediterranean, and that h•
would take all the rest himself. The war which Eng-
land and France were now waging was a war of civili-
sation, and he was sure the people of England would
never cry " Hold, enough" until the ambition of the
Northern despot was effectually checked. Russia had
already lost 300,000 men. She had raised eight levies,
and she was now *ling out her population en maim.
Ile was for peace, lost not for such a peace as would en-
able Russia to make fresh arrangements for attacking
Turkey again. This, then, was the moment for obtain-
, ing terms. We had the Emperor of the French with us
—honest, faithful, and chivalrous—(tremendous cheers)
—and with such an ally the only course was to prose-
cute the war with energy, so as to procure an honour-
able and durable peace. (Loud cheers.) The hon. gen-
tleman, after alluding to some matters of a purely local
character, concluded by thanking the meeting for the
kindness with which they had heard him.
In reply to an elector, Mr. WILLIAMS pledged him-
self to oppose any attempt to introduce an alien bill. He
would divide the house upon every stage of any such
measure if it were proposed.
After some other questions had been put, for the most
part having reference to local interests, a vote of thanks
was passed to Mr. Williams for his Parliamentary ser-
vices, and the meeting separated.