The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-13 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Jan. 11,
The death of Dean Meyler makes a vacancy in
the National Board of Education. It appears that
the Most Rev. Dr. Cullen did not wish to disturb
him, on account of his venerable age ; but it is well
understood that no ecclesiastic will be allowed to
take his place. If the vacancy be filled np the Go-
vernment will b 3 obliged to appoint a layman of
the same communion. The names of Mr. Justice
O'Brien and Mr. Commissioner O'Ferrall have been
mentioned in connexion with the office. According
to the old charter of the Board, which has been can-
celled, the number of the Commissioners was not to
exceed 15. The new charter, which was obtained
in 1861, makes the highest number 20, and states
that 10 shall be Protestants and 10 Catholics. Eight
new members were then incorporated to make up
that number. Half of the Catholic members are
public functionaries—namely, Chief Justice Mona-

han, Chief Baron Pigot, Mr. o'll4gan, Attorney-
General ; Mr. L2ntaigne, Inspector-General of Pri-
sons ; and Mr. Murphy, Master in Chancery. The
other Catholic members are Lord Bellew, the Earl
of Dunraven, Mr. Waldron, M.P., end Mr. John
O'Hagan. The last gentleman is a barrister, bat,
though bearing the same name, he is no relation of
the Attorney-General's. It would have bean im-
possible for Mr. Cardwell to find in the Catholic
community a more honourable or trustworthy set
of men. There seems to be a desire growing up
on the part of the Protestants that the Board should
be again reconstituted, and should, like the Poor
Law Board, which has somewhat analogous duties,
consist of three paid members, representing the three
denominations. But there is no Catholic on the
Poor Law Board, and perhaps the religious element
would come into more active operation in connexion
with education. An important fact bearing on this
vexed question is, that the workhouse schools are
all connected with the National Board, and the
system is carried out in them without difficulty.
I am informed on good authority that the Rev.
Dr. Todd would not take the Archdeaconry of Dub-
lin even if offered to him, the duties being too
onerous for him to undertake with a fellowship.
But he is a candidate for the Deanery' of St.
Patrick's, and if elected be would reside at the
Deanery house, in a poor district of the city, and
would resign his librarianship, the professorship of
Hebrew, and his office of Senior Dean, all in Trinity
College. Dr. Todd is too high a churchman for the
majority of Protestants in this country; but he is
learned, tolerant, and is personally held in the
. .

highest esteem, and even his high churchism seems
to make him more suited for the office of Dean.

Besides, he understands church music, church archi
tecture, and the history of the cathedral, of whose
patron Saint he has written a life, and in which he
was a constant attendant. There are 24 votes in the
chapter, chiefly clergymen in country parts of the
diocess. The voting, though viva voce, and taken
down in writing, is secret to all but members of the
chapter chosen to take the votes, and called " com-
promisers." It is stated that many of the members
promised their votes to Dr. West under the impres-
sion that Dr. Todd could not hold the deanery with
his fellowships. But a Queen's letter will enable
him to do so, and this, it is said, will be forthcom-
ing. It is supposed that under these circumstances
the members will not regard their promises to the
Archdeacon as binding. The excitement among the
clergy about this election is intense. If Dr. Todd
wins there is no doubt that the general opinion will
be that he is the right man in the right place,
though there is a strong objection to one person
holding two such good things as the Deanery of St.
Patrick's and a senior fellowship in a Church which
has so few prizes and such a large number of ill-
paid working clergy.
The Rev. Dr. Maziere Brady is a candidate for
the Deanery of Cork, which having no duties
would enable him to pursue his work as the histo-
rian of the Irish dioceses, two volumes of his
" Parochial Records" having been already pub-
lished. If appointed, his living of Clonfert, where
the duties mast be nearly as light as those of the
cathedral, from the thinness of the Protestant
population, would he at the disposal of the Bi&hop
of Cork. It is worth £4OO a year. lir. Brady,
and the Rea. Mr. Brady, of Clonmel, whom I men-
tioned in my last letter, brother of the Irish Chan-
cellor, are both descended from the Dr. Brady, who
with Tate produced the version of the Psalms.
A pilot boat, of the Messrs. Scott, of Queens-
town, brought a valuable prize into that harbour on
Saturday evening—the ship Sarah Maria, laden
with iron from Liverpool to a foreign port, which
was found drifting helplessly at sea with only one
man and a little boy in her—a salvage crew put on
board by a vessel that fell in with her after her
own crew had deserted her.
Mr. Burke, an auctioneer at Sligo, was selling
goods on a loft o❑ Thursday, surrounded by about
50 people, and while he was with uplifted hammer
crying " Going, going, gone !" the loft gave way
with a crash, the whole party were precipitated

This address was signed by the Mayor of Bir-
mingham for the time being, by Mr. Alderman
Lloyd, Mr. Thomas A. Attwood, Mr. Charles Holte
Bracebridge, by several other gentlemen of local
consideration and distinction, and in addition to
these were the signatures of the persons styling
- selves " the interim managers" for effecting
the purchase. - - - LA^- - - -
The people of Birmingham have felt keenly and
indignantly the way in which the town appears in
the eyes of the country to have been compromised by,
the unauthorised pledge given to the Qaeen by cer-
tain officials in reference to the purchase of the park
during the arrangements in course of her Majesty's
visit. The park was, as is well known, in the hands
of a joint stock company. Of this her Majesty was
made aware; but the difficulty of a Royal visit tinder
such circumstances was removed by the assurance
given by the then Mayor in a letter to the Secretary
of State, signed officially. It now appears that this
was done without authority, but it pledged the coun-
cil to the purchase of the park should the company fail.
The company has failed, and the town council not
having purchased, a blot has been thrown upon the
public spirit, good faith, and loyalty of the town.
As has been said, this is deeply felt, and whatever
the merits of the park scheme in the abstract the
general feeling is that the park and hall must now
be bought. The main difficulty—that the price
would almost absorb the legally available money s
of the council in this department—has been nolo;y
met by an act of public spirit on the part of a few
of the leading men in the town which will, it is
hoped, satisfy her Majesty that a portion at least of
her Birmingham subjects are alive to a sense of
honour and of what is due to their Sovereign for her
condescension in visiting the-town in 1858. In the
course of the last few days Mr. George Dixon (of
the firm of Rabone Brothers) and the Rev. Dr—Mil-
ler, the rector, have exerted themselves to secure
the co-operation of a few others. The result is that a
free gift of £7,000 has been raised amongst a few
persons, and has been offered to the town council as
a supplement to the municipal funds. The gentle-
men who have in this way come forward are :
Messrs. A. and G. Dixon, £2,000; Mr. Thomas
Lloyd, M.P. for Barnstaple, £l,OOO ; Mr. G. F.
Muntz, £1,000; Miss Ryland, £1,000; Mr. W.
Middlemore, £5OO ; Messrs. R. and E. Greaves,
£500; Messes. Archibald and Timothy Kenrick,
£5OO ; Messrs. G. B. and S. Lloyd, £2OO ; Messrs.
A. and D. Evans, £200; C. and J. Shaw, £lOO.
The foregoing was made known to the town
council yesterday in the following communica-

ion :

Birmingham, Jan. IL

Mr. Mayors--We the undereigned inhabitants of Bir-
mingham respectfully represent to the town council thrtt our
anxious attention his been drawn to the position in which
the question as to the pal chase of Aston-hall and park now
stands.

The park having been opened by our most gracious and
beloved Sovereign on a day which for its display of heart-
felt and enthusiastic loyalty will long be memorable in the
annals of the town and district, was dedicated by her Ma-
jesty the Queen to the use of the people.
It is undeniable that her Majesty had previously received
an assurance that under every contingency Aston Park
would be secured to the people for ever.

We wish entirely to abstain from any statement or re-
mark which would reflect upon any individual or upon any
body of persons whatever. We wish also entirely to disclaim
any attempt to interfere by external pressure with the free
judgment of our local representatives. But as we believe it
to be the general conviction of our fellow-townsmen that
ultimately the hall and park must be purchased, and the
wish of her Gracious Majesty carried out, and as we are of
opinion that delay would lob the purchase of its grace, we
are anxious to relieve the council, as far as our efforts have
enabled us to do so, from what appears to be their main dif-
ficulty—namely, that the whole sum required would nearly
absorb for one park the available resources of the council
for expenditure in this department.
In the hope that our efforts may facilitate the only
decision which appears to us to be compatible with the
loyalty and fair fame of our town—namely, the immediate
purchase of the hall and park for the use of the people for
ever—we have much pleasure, Mr. Mayor, in respectfully
requesting you to inform the council that should they de•
cide within a reasonable period—not later than the end of
February—to purchase the hall and park, we are autho-
rised to place at the disposal of the council the sum of
£7,000, which is presented by the donors specified in the
subjoined list in the proportions attached to their names
respectively, each donor making the donation contingent on
no other condition than the early consent of the council to
purchase the hall and the whole of the park from the mu-
nicipal funds.—We have the honour, &c.
Signed by the Rev. Dr. Miller, Mr. George Dixon, and
others of the donors.
The foregoing having been read and ordered to be en-
tered on the minutes,
Mr. Alderman HAwKES moved
That, in order to secure the realisation of her Most
Gracious Majesty's expectation and desire that Aston Park
(which was publicly opened by the Qaeen) shall be perma-
nently secured as a place for the healthy exercise and ra-
tional recreation of the industrious classes, and in comme-
moration of the auspicious visit of her Majesty and her
illustrious Consort the Prince Albert to this borough on
the 15th day of June, 1858, it is expedient that the park be
purchased by this council; and for this purpose that the
Estate and Buildings Committee be authorised and in-
structed to treat for and buy (at a sum not exceeding
£26,000) the said park and the hall and other buildings
standing thereon, as now or late held and occupied by the
Aston-hall and Park Company, and to do and execute all
necessary acts and deeds that may be necessary to vest the
same in the corporation, under the provisions of " The Bir-
mingham Parks Act, 1854." . _

Mr. Alderman MANTON seconded the resolution-
An amendment was moved by Mr. GoODRICK, to
the effect that the council was in no way pledged
to purchase the park. This was seconded by Mr.
BRINSLEY. Several other amendments were moved,
each of them with the object to avoid the purchase,
and a debate ensued, which lasted several hours.
Sir NOUN RATCLIFF, who was Mayor at the time
her Majesty visited the town, vindicated himself as
to the course he pursued. Circumstances had, he
said, undoubtedly altered as regarded the purchase
of the park, but at the time all was enthusiasm,
and no one doubted the result. The letter to the
Home-office, written by the town-clerk, and signed
by him (Sir John) as Mayor, was, he insisted,
worded in a proper spirit.
The result was that no vote was taken on the
iginal resolution, and any decision was postpoued
until the next meeting of the council.

PRIZE DESIGNS.—" Undoubtedly, however, the finest
show in this respect is made by Benson, who offered prizes
for designs for watchcases at the South liensinelon Museum,
and who by this means has secured some of most (x-
-quisite ornamental details for watch cases that are shown in
the building."—Times, May 7, 1852. Chronometer, dupsplit
lex,
lever, horizontal, repeater., centre seconds, keyless,
seconds, and every description of watch, adapted to all
climates. Beason's illustrated pamphlet on watches (free by
post for two stamps)contains a short histoof watchmaking,
with prices, from 3to 200 guineas each. acts as a guide in
the purchase of a watch, and enables those w
it ho live in any
Part of the world to select a watch, and have sent safe by
post. Prize medal and honourable M ention, classes 33 and
15. J. W. Benson, 33 and 34, Ludgate-hill, London. Este-
bli:hed 1749. Watch and clock maker by special warrant of
appointment tOILR.II. the Prince of Wales.

THE MODE RN AUGUSTUS, or The Lie of a
Lifetime, in FUN This Week.—One Penny.

ENGLISH OPERA,
CC )VENT-GARDEN.
Under the Nana gement of Miss Louisa Fyne and •
- W. Harrison.