The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-02 00:00:00

IRISH RAILWAY BILL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.
SIR,—I cannot bring myself to believe that there is ill
England any class of persons averse to the prosperity of
Ireland from pure hatred to her and her population. Yet,
the character of the opposition to the measure of granting
national aid for the construction of railroads in that country,
would almost warrant such'a belief. lam also unwilling
to accuse high-spirited and intelligent men of mere factions
opposition to a measure of such manifest and extensive
utility. Can they be acting thus injuriously to the best in-
terests of these islands from ignorance and mistake ? This
last supposition would afford the most charitable explana-
tion cf their conduct. But the advantages w hich would
result to England, to Scotland, to the whole unpile, •
by improving Ireland on a large scale, are so palpah e
to the meanest comprehension, that I cannot imagine
them to be unseen and unfelt by the opponents of this ,
measure.

Ignorance, therefore, I am sure is out of the question,
and unwillingness to see Ireland prosper I hope is equally
so. I am, consequently, forced upon the opinion, that
party spirit has, in this instance, acquired a blinding in-
fluence over men who have often shown themselves
neat for discernment, generosity, and enlarged views of
the public good. I would earnestly remonstrate with
these gentlemen—l would call on such of them as are not
so irreclaimably enslaved by faction as to be callous to the
shame of inflicting injury on millions for the sake of grati-
fying resentment against a few, to pause in their course,
and reflect seriously whether the motives of their conduct
are sufficient to justify them in waging war against the
welfare of a whole people. They cannot but be aware that
the rejection of Lord Morpeth's Bill will have a most
blighting influence on the now dawning prosperity of Ire-
land. I would conjure them, therefore, to act liberally
and magnanimously in regard to it. On questions of a
mere abstract character, and, consequently, of inferior
importance, such as Tithe Bills, Municipal Bills, Fran-
chise Bills, Maynooth College or Dublin University
Bills, I care not how fiercely they deal their blows; for
decide these and such like questions as they may, the real
prosperity and welfare of the people at large will be but
little affected,
Not only to the prosperity, but to the tranquillity of Ire-
land, at this juncture, is the adoption of this, or some
similar measure by the Legislature, absolutely necessary.
Ireland must partake of the improvements of the age, if
her people are to be elevated to an equality with their
brethren of England and Scotland, in knowledge, refine.
ment, comfort, content, relish for social order, and respect
for the laws. But that these improvements will or can, for
a lorg period to come, be conferred on her by the efforts
of private enterprise, none except the most thoroughly ig-
norant of her condition, can entertain a hope; and should
the Government effart, now under consideration for this
purpose, fail, those who shall be the cause of the
failure, will inevitably be chargeable with occasioning a
continuance of the poverty and idleness, and all their at-
tendant evils of ignorance, discontent, agitation, and law-
less violence, which have for centuries afflicted that
country. The obduracy of these men will afford too much
ju eification to the views of those who believe that Ireland
will never be permitted to prosper while she is politically
connected with England. By resisting the only effectual
mode of introducing industry and its attendant blessi.i..gs
that has yet been attempted among Irishmen, the opponents
of this Bill will, in fact, become more powerful auxiliaries
to Daniel O'Connell and his repeaters than would be a
a thousand associations of Ribbonmen, or a million of sub-
scribing Precursors.

Are the enemies of the Bill prepared for such results ?
Arc they willing to incur the odious charge of hatred to
Ireland ? Are they willing to strengthen the hands of
agitators, repealers, and conspirators ? if they are, lot
them go on, and become objects of indignation to eight
millions of injured human beings, and the innumerable mil-
lions more throughout the world, who will sympathise in
the disappointed hopes, and grieve for the wrongs of ne-
glected and despised lrelanl. If they are willing to defeat
the 13111 at the risk of these consequences, I admire their
hardihood, but I pity their taste, and deplore their per-
versity.. _ _

Or the reasons they assign for their illiberality to Ire-
[and, three or:1y are worthy of notice, namely, the expense,
:he danger of Ministerial jobbing, and the interference with
:he prospects of Private Railway Companies.
I will reply to these arguments in my next letter.
Your's, very truly,
JAMES APHENRY.
FORGIVE AND FORGET.

Forgive and forget ! Why the world would be lonely,
The garden a wilderness left to deform, •
If the flowers but remember'd the chilling winds only,
And the fields gave no verdure for fear of the storm !
Oh ! still in thy loveliness, emblem the flower,
Give the fragrance of feeling- to sweeten life's way ;
And prolong not again the brief cloud of an hour -
With tears that but darken the rest of the day !
Forgive and forget 1 There's no breast so unfeeling
But some gentle thoughts of affection there live ;
And the best of us all requires something concealing.._
Some heart that with smiles can forget and forgive !
Then away with the cloud from those beautiful eyes,
That brow was no home for such frowns to have met,
! how could our spirits e'er hope for the skies,
If Heaven refused to forgive and forget ?
—Dumfries Courier.

Viscountess Deerhuist, with her infant son, the
present Viscount, who is only one year old, has taken up
her r:ssldence at Croome, the scat of the Earl of Coventry,
her Ladyship's father-in-law, until her year of mourning
has expired.— Worcester Journal.
The Earl and Countess of :'Tinto entertained
Viscount Melbourne, Marquis and Marchioness of Lava-
dowhe, Sr Charles and Lady Adam, Slr Wm. Parker,
Lady Hislep, and a select party at dinner on Saturday
evening at the Admiralty.

Lord Stanley has arrived in town from Knows-
ley Park, the scat of his father, the Earl of Derby.
are happy to I,arn that the Earl of Derby has recovered
from his recent indisposition.

CRIME IN IRELAND.—TI IC Cork Ass!z:7l ter-
minated last Saturday. Referring to them the Sokthern
Reporter observes :—" With the exception of the brutal
outrage on the female at Kinsale, for which three of the
parties implicated were found guilty, and have been left
under sentence of death, we may refer to the proceedings
at there trsizcs as abundant proof of the general tranquil-
lity of this immense county, containing a population• of
800,000 souls, and of an absence of crime which is not to
be found in any shire of England."
CADAIR MORGANWG.-011 Thursday se'n-
-

night the third anniversary of this Society was held at
Cotvbridge. The Town-hall was fitted up with consider_
able taste for the occasion. Shortly after one o'clock,'
William Williams, Esq., of Aberpergivin, took his seat in
the Town-hall as President for the day, surrounded by a
very respectaule assiimblage of ladies and gentlemen,
many of whom bad come from the neighbouring towns to
witness the proceedings. David Davies, of Gelligaer, and
George Griffiths, of Cardiff, played " the March of the
Men of Ilarlech." Davies wore the silver harp which ass
awarded to him at the Castleton Cymrcigyddion. An in-
quiry being made if any Bard had composed a congratula.
tory address to the Chairman, David Williams, of Aber.
dare (Alaw Goch), addressed the President, and recited
an Engltnion. Prizes were awarded, after which came a
sumptuous dinner and a splendid evening party.
NEW LIGHT FOR LIGHT-HOUSES.--A letter
of the 10th instant from Trieste states that a new system
of producing light for lighthouses has been invented by a
sergeant-major in the Austrian artillery, named Selekenaky.
The apparatus consists of a parabolic mirror, 62 inches by
30, with a 12 inch focus, and the light is produced by a.
new kind of wax candle, invented by M. Selckonsky. Tt
has been tried under the inspection of the Austrian Lloyo:'s
Company in the port of Trieste, by being erected on tint'
mast of a vessel. The light is said to have illuminated the
whole of the port and the surrounding parts of the town
equal to the moon at full (!) ; and at the distance cf 600
yards the finest writing could be read. A second trial has
beer, made in bad weather, and the result was proportionally
avourable.

A COACH ACCIDENT.—On Saturday morningas an elderly female was crossing from Cheapsid -0 to t.'
Paul's Church-yard, she was knocked
down by a Mile-end
omnibus. . Ode of the fore wheels passed over her legs,
i
which were dreadfnlly injured. She was mmedl,tdy
taken to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in an insensible state.
DOUBLE DEATH.—Persons should indeed
pause before they sign the " People's Petition," for ac-
cording to a writer in a country paper. they are doomed to
a double death--" they must be prepared to rush into the
field," says our Contemporary, " and be shot by the
Lary ; or with certainty be hanged afterwards as traitors I"
Each Chartist having two lives, will be no ordinary foe to
Government, should the struggle announced by Vincent I.
actually take place. Hamlet said he would " speak dag-
gers, but use none." The Missionaries, we hope, only
mean to improve on the text of Shakspeare—they will
speak of daggers, but use none--Merlin.
A highway robbery was committed on the night
of Saturday se'nnight, a very short distance from Saffron
Walden, in the Sewers-end Road, on a servant of Mr.
John Emson, named Payne, who was sent on horseback
about ten o'clock at night, to watch a field belonging so
his master, in which some donkeys are frequently turned,
doing considerable damage. Payne. on approaching the
field by the road, was waylaid by some person, who
knocked him off the horse with a severe blow with a
bludgeon, which stunned and rendered him incapable of
making any resistance. While on the ground the fellow
rifled his pockets of 3s. 6d. in silver, with which be ran OF.
—Essex .Herald:
The deepest part of the cutting for our railway
in the vicinity of this town, we understand, will be near
Widford mill, where the rails will be laid at a depth of
about sixty feet below the present surface. The Londee
coach road at the crossing will pass over the cutting y a
bridge, and there will also be bridges across Crozier's band
Cherry Garden Lancs. At the termination of the cutting
the low land and river will be crossed by a viaduct about
500 feet in length, and the Railway will ba continued upon
an embankment until within a short distance of King. street,
Chelmsford, where there will be another viaduct, upon
which it will a,gain cross the high road to the Town or Fair
Field, where the station will be formed. Soil for the em-
bankments will be brought from a cutting through the vit..
st al ag
ne d fITSi
ill
rbi ne g
laidfi el d,
early upon
in temporary rails
summer. —Essex
which, we wider-
Herald.
THE ACT FOR RECOVERING PosscssioN
or TENEMEMTS.—On Thursday, Philemon Eve, the twee.
pier of a cottage at Springfield, was summoned under the
New Act for refusing to quit. The cottage belonged to
M. B. Peacock, Esq., solicitor to the Post-office, and
proof of the necessary notices having been given, the Ma-
gistrates granted a warrant to eject the defendant. Essex
Herald.
PROGRESS OF GIN-DRINKING.—_ t 1 Satur-
day no fewer than twenty persons were brought before Mr.
Alderman Farebrorher, at the Town Halt police-office,
Southwark, charged by the police with d k P
Ow
run carless. The
excuse was the cold weather.

SCOTLAND.

PUBLIC MEETING.-IRISH POLICY OF MINISTERS....-.

, At Edinburgh, last Friday, there was a preliminary
meeting in the Merchant's Hall, to consider the pro-
priety of calling a public meeting of the inhabitants of
Edinburgh to address her Majesty in support of the
principles on which her Ministers have hitherto con-
ducted the affairs of Ireland. The meeting was nume-
rously and very respectably attended. Sir James Gib-
son Craig etas called to the chair, and on the motion of
S:r Jzttn2s Spittal, seconded by Bailie Richardson, the
pubic meeting was fixed to take place on Monday.—
Scotsman.

SALMON.—We are sorry to remark how unproductive
the salmon fisheries in the north have been this season,
and from the great scarcity of grilse last year, we appre-
h.fni the severity of the preceding winter his done se-
rous injury to the breed of salmon. In this quarter the
fishing is so bad that for the last ten days there has not
been a salmon killed in the Deveron, although the river
has been part of the time flooded. The sea fishings,
wLer2 they have been tried, have been equally unsuc-
-Courant.

cc:s'ul

There was a considerable additional fall of snow the
end of last week in the Highlands, which extended to
the low country on Sunday last, when we had several
ver y heavy showers, with a cold north-west wind, which
to appearance carried us Lack again to mid-winter. The
frost at nights was also very severe, for the season, but
a genial rckin set in on Tuesday evening, which has
again obliterated all traces of the storm. From these
repeated recurrences of-frost and snow, farmers are
getting anxious lest the seed time should be thrown as
far backwlrl as was the case last year ; and its effects
ere beginning to be felt on the winter wheats.—Perth.
Covrier.

STORM AT ST. ANDRENV'S.—The high tide, combined
with the strong east wind, rendered St. Andrew's Bay
and coast an object of great interest during Saturday
and Sunday week. On Saturday, in particular, the
1 sea br,ke over the pier in sheets of water, rising to a
l very great height, and alighting on the south side of
the. pier and in the harbour with great force, and occa-
sioning considerable damage. The pier, but for the
vg-lance of our Magistrates, would have sustained very
serious injury ; as it is, it is much rent and loosened
about the lighthouse, and will require considerable re-
pairs. The scene all aloag the face of the rocks, taken
in connection with the pier, was not -only sublime but
terrific—the wave.; approaching the rocks with immense
fore-, and size, and ther, in their recoil from the cliffs,
meting and contending with each other, and spouting
1,;(s and pillars of sparkling spray.
inme alterations in the mode of registering electors
n Scotland appear to be under contemplation, and the
Lord Advocate has given notice of his intention to
bring in a Bill on the subject on the 15th of April next.
Th, A.uAtera:der appeal case was heard before the
House of Lends during five days of last week, and was
F10,e.1 en Saturday. The importance of the case has,
induced their Lordships to defer judgment, that its
m:r is may have the fullest consideration. A decision
w 1 be given after the Enter recess, and before the sit-
ti! g o' the G2ner 11 Assembly.
S. OTCH BANKING.—We understand that the Bank
of Scotland has at present declared a bonus of 7 per
c( nt, on their capital, besides paying the yearly dividend
or 6 per cent.—Scots Times.
THE G UILDitY.—In reference to the requisition
taich is in course of signature, to the Dean of Guild,
for a general meeting of the Guildry, to consider the
uropt,al of the T,:wit Council of Aberdeen to raise the
eniry ruo::s of the sons of burgesses, the Aberdeen
herald observes, " the old proverbs of the new wine in
oid b,ttles, nod a fresh patch on a stale garment, are
fully exemplified in the proposed alteration in the rate of
admissioa to the Guildry. The more the system is
examined, the more its rottenness is discovered, and the
more obvious becomes the necessity of having it entirely
re nodelled."

up i to ri

THE WEATHER.—The weather has been of a very
Lack-ward tliseription for these few weeks past, and agri-
cu'tural operations have been a good deal impeded.
With the exception of a few,and but a few, beans, there
las licen no spring sowing in this district. The supply
of.' March dust" will be exceedingly scanty.—Paisley
erti.,cr.

MAN KILLED.—On Tuesday, while a labouring man
was engaged in delivering soma large stones from a
ViSf el at Per -llundas, the tackle gave way, and the
stone which was suspended from it having struck him,
lie was killed on the spot.—A bricklayer was on Tues-
eay hurt by the falling of some bricks at the taking
TI of Mr. Struthers's Church, Anderston, and taken
to the Royal Infirmary.—Scots Times.
FEVER IN GLASGOW.—The state of Fever stands
as follows : 63 patients in the Royal Infirmary ; 27
admitted from the 16th of March to the 23d of March ;
85 empty beds ; no lines lying for admission.
SERIOUS ACCIDENT.--An accideot resulting from
the use of fire arms in public thoroughfares occurred on
Saturday last, on the road leading to Teviot bridge. As
two loung men belonging to this town, whose names
for the present we conceal, as the affair is under invest-
tigatioa, w(re amusing themselves by shooting birds, a
cart, in which was a woman and child, happened to pass
when the gun was discharged, and a part of its contents
struck the female .on the face, wounding her so much
that medical aid was rendered necessary. Had the shot
taken effect a little lower down, it is not unlikely that
the consequences might have proved more serious, if not
fatal, to both mother and child.—Kelso Chronicle.
he mason's strike still continues at Paisley, and the
building operations connected with the railway and other
undertakings are at a dead stand.

TREATMENT OF THE FRENCH IN

RUSSIA.

A curious story is given in the Paris papers respect-
ing the persecutions to which a French subject was
exposed in Russia, with the denial of redress, and the
tameness with which the French Ministers submitted,
which contrasts strongly with the outrageous spirit in
which redress for pretended injuries of a similar descrip-
tion .is being enforced from Mexico. It appears that
one Mathieu, a French merchant, established at
Kiew, was accused by the authorities of having ap-
propiiated to himself the effects of a deceased
countryman without license, and proceedings were
commenced against him in consequence. He in
turn, accused the authorities of having done the
same thing. Before judgment was given, it is stated
that Mathieu was thrown into prison with the vilest
criminalß, all his own goods seized, and communica-
tion with his family interdicted. There he remained
for 18 months, notwithstanding his appeals to the
French Embassy, whence for one whole year no
answer could be extracted. He owed his re-
storation to liberty at length to the arrival of a
new Governor-General of the province, Count Le-
vaehow. He was, after that, condemned by the
'Tribunals to deportation to Siberia, but the Governor
refused to allow the sentence to be carried into exe-
cution, and sent the matter for final decision to the
Senate, which 11 months after ordered his expulsion
from the country, on the ground of his being an
" unruly character." During all this time the French
Legation, it is said, remained entirely inactive.
Alter many cth alleged persecutions, refusals of
passports in the frontier towns, being treated as a ma-
lefactor, and oth r impediments, Mathieu succeeded
in reaching France only in 1836, the decree of the
Senate against him being dated in May, 1834. Having,
according to lis own showing, lost everything he pos-
sessed through these unjustifiable occurrences, he me-
morialized the Minister for Foreign Affairs at Paris for
satisfaction against Russia. The memorial was sent to
St. Pctersburgh, but without result. Mathieu having
obtaiesed a passport from the Russian Ambassador at
Paris, set off himself for that country in order to wind
up his affairs, but was, arrested at Warsaw, notwith-
standing his passport, and thrown into prison, where
he remained forty-two days, the French Consul
refusing to interfere in his behalf. These different
and app, re It:), atrocious violations of the rights
of natioos being again brought to the notice
of the French Minister, be is said to have sent a
reply to the effect that he had transmitted to the
French Ambassador at St. Petersburgh the claims and
complaints addressed to him on occasion of the prc coed-
ings in Russia against the said Mathieu, but that it re-
sulted from the explanation of the Russian Government
that tie judgments pronounced were without appeal, and
no legal rat ourse existed against them ; and that with re-
spect to the indemnities claimed for the expenses of the
useless journies he had been forced to make, it was not
possih'e to concede them, inasmuch as such charges
were m niy reimbursable to individuals sent away under
escort, whilst he was free during the whole of such
forced travels. It is then intimated to Mathieu, that
he must see the expediency of abandoning such useless
pretensions, and comprehend that under such cir-
cumstances the Foreign Department cannot continue its
intervention in his behalf. This note, it will be ob-
served, is signed by M. Mole himself. Mathieu, it is
added, is by this decision ruined past remedy, with a
large family dependent on him.
This complaisance for the decisions of Russian
courts of justice contrasts singularly enough with the
furious denunciations of the same Minister against the
decrees of the Mexican tribunals when unfavourable to
the claims of French subjects, although assumed by the
Mexican Minister, in the sama manner as by the Rus-
sian, that with the judgments of those courts the Go-
vernment had not the power of interference, and that by
the constitution they were without appeal.

ItouGH Music.—A MAN SHOT.—On Tues..
diy evening a party of 20 or 30 labourers thought proper
to serenade Mr. Ileury Staincs, of Gatehouse Farm, Good
Raster, about eight o'clock in the evening, with rough
,
music, dedicated without permission to him in consequence
of some alleged domestic faux pas. The band passed the
pe,-uliss without stopping, but playing fortissimo, on which
mi.. S., who Was in his farm-yard, levelled his gun at
them, and, firing at a distance of about four rods, lodged
Jose
a quaph Pentity of large shot in the right hand and thigh of
tts, of Chignal Smealey, a performer on a bell.
Four or five others were also struck by the shot, Mr. S.
having fired a second time at them, promised that if they
c.turnetl the same road he would "let fly at their brain-
" The matter has been laid before a Magistrate.

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