The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-28 00:00:00

'RP LA ND.

DUBLIN, JAN. 26.
THE CATHOLIC PaLLATEs.—We see by the ec
man's Journal, that the Catholic prelates have come to
two determinations uithin the last week on subjects of the
highest importance to the Irish community ; the
.first. is a
repudiation of a State provision for the • Catholic clergy
and the sceowl, a disavowal of the dander that they an
opposed to a legal provisioa for the hish poor. The fol
lowing letter of his Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Murray,
will, we think, put an cud to all further calumnies on the
Irish Catholic prelates on the subject of Poor Laws :
Mountjoy-square, Jan. 2-1, 1837.
My dear Sir—Your journal of this day has put me in
possession of a quotation from a Contemporary print,
charging the Irish Roman Catholic bishops with twin,/ op-
posed to the introduction of a Poor Law into Ireland.' I
nce.l not tell you, hut I beg through you to tell the slan-
derer of the Irish Roman Catholic bishops, that the re-
verse is thefact ; every Roman Catholic bishop is decidedly
and zealously in favour of a legal provision for
the Irish poor. With regard to the precise ex-
tent to which a Poor Law, at its first introduction
into the country, should reach, there may be, and, in a
matter so complicated, it is quite natural that there should
be, some difference of opinion ; with regard to the principle,
there is among the Irish Roman Catholic bishops none
whatsoever. They, on a late occasion, unanimously
petitioned the Letrisiature to grant to Ireland the benefit of
a 1 ‘gal provision 'for its poor, and they would do so again
were they not convinced that their interference in this re-
spect would be now superfluous, as the sense of the empire
appears to have loudly echoed their sentiments ; and the
benevolent Government under which we live seems, with
its characteristic feeling of justice towards Ireland, to
have pledged itself before the country to bring forward,
in the approaching session of Parliament, such a mea-
sure of relief for the Irish poor as their suffering's de-
mand, and the resources of the nation arc adequate to meet.
I have the honour to remain, dear Sir, your faithful,
humble servant, I- D. MURRAY.
Michael Staunton, Esq.
GREAT MEETING IN THE COUNTY WENFORD.—Tues-
day last one of those manifestations of popular feeling at
the base and insulting conduct of the men who refuse Ire-
land a participation in equal laws, was made in the vicinity
of Taghmon, by the inhabitants of the spirited Baronies of
Shilmalier and Bargy. The meeting, which was composed
of upwards of ten thousand persons, was held in a large
field in the neighbourhood of the town, at the entrance to
which several excellent devices, attached to long poles, were
raised ; among the principal of which was " Earl Mulgrave
—justice and equal laws •to Ireland." F. R. Hawkshaw,
Esq., took_ the chair. The. speeches which were delivered
at this meeting were received by the countless multitude
with thunders of applause.
DEATH OF DTI.' ABRA-lIAM.—It became our melancholy
duty, in-a second edition of Tuesday's paper, to record the
demise, at the hour of ten o'clock on the preceding evening,
of the Right Rev. William Abraham, Catholic Bishop of
the united dioceses of NVaterford and Lismore. This dis-
tinguished prelate, who for a long time had been labouring
under considerable debility, was attacked by the epidemic,
now so prevalent, about ten days since, and its effects on a
weak constitution is the fatal occurrence, which, from one
extremity to the other of the large district over which he
spiritually ruled, and which, by every man of' every party
who •enjoyed the acquaintance of the deceased, is mourned
deeply, sincerely, and generally.—Waterford Chronicle.
VIOLATION.—On Saturday night last, between eight and
nine, a woman named Mary Gibbons, who had been but
just discharged from hospital, went to Beggar's Bush bar-
rack, to make some inquiries after her brother, who be-
longed to some regiment quartered in Ireland. She met
two soldiers of the 71st regiment, named James Cuherson
and William Meldron ; she treated them to some drink, in
a public house near the barrack, and on their way back
they seized her and dung her down ; one held her, while the
other completed his purpose ; they then exchanrd s;itia-
tions, and, after accomplishing their designs, robbed her of
her shawl. On Sunday, she gave information -at College-
street police office, and accompanied by Peace-officer Ste-
phenson, she proceeded to the barracks, where she recog-
nized and identified the two men, among a group of sol-
diers. They have been fully committed to take their trial
at the next commission.

Mr. O'CONNELL IN CASTLEBAR.—On Tuesday last ex-
tensive preparations were made to give -Mr. O'Connell a
public procession. The Hon. Gentleman, however, litit
being aware of the intention of those who thus desired to
do honour to the Liberator, did not arrive till the evening,
IV/Jen he 'sat down to a sumptuous entertainment. Not
less than 800 gentlemen, composing the rank and respeota-,
bility of the county, assembled to receive him. Sir NV.
Brabazon, one of the Members for the, county, presided.

The Marquis of Waterford was accompanied tcl
Dublin by Lord• William Beresford and Lord John Beres-
ford from Curraghmore, and on the• Noble Marquis's re-
turn to his above seat, which will be immediate, he Will en-
tertain a large circle of friends.

The prolific writer for the French stage, M. Scribe,
has produced a new comedy in five acts, at the Theatre
Francaise, in Paris, under the title of La Camaraderie ; ou,
la Courte Echelle. It is agreed on all hands that the
piece has been eminently successful, but the oritles in the
French journals differ materially az to its merits. The
plot turns upon the intrigues of a literary clique, to whgoo
fiat all writers must bend.

A tiler of the name of Thomas Lewin, who had re-
sided for many years at Ongar, in Essex, died on Wednes-
day last of the prevailing disorder. After his death 7,0001.
in cash, and documents proving the possession of an equal
sum-in funded and landed property, were disoovered.
Saturday, when Meunier 's dinner was brought him,
consisting of some pea-soup and two mutton chops, he refused
to take any ncurisliffient whatever, and declared to the
gaolers that ho would rather die in prison than on the scaf-
fold. . He frequently speaks of 'Morey, who attempted, as is
well known, to starve himself in prison.—Paris Paper.
The plagUe is making the most friahtful ravages in
COnstantinople. Some idea may be formed of the mor-
tality now prevailing from the 'fact that out of fifty musi-
cians who compose the band of. the Grand Seignor, under
the direction of the celebrated player Donizetti, no less
than thirty-seven were, within a few days, carried off.
Lately, at the theatre of Weimar, during the repre-
sentation of a German tragedy, the public, consisting of
seven spectators, who occupied a portion of one of the
benches of the pit, thought proper to hiss the actors most
unmercifully. The latter returned the complimeat with
interest, emboldened by the feeble numerical force of their
opponents, and reinforced by the mechinist and bill-sticker
of the theatre, and also by a personage who combined in his
single person the offices of prompte?,‘ candle-snuffer, and
sceneshifter. The audience, having the second-best of the
contest, were ultimately obliged to evacuate the theatre.
Before the late amicable adjustment of the difficul-
ties with France, a caricature was 'published in America, re-
presenting General Jackson shaking his cane at the King
of the French, while in the left hand'he was holding a bag
of 'money, bearing the inscription " '25,000,000 francs ;"
with the words huhis mouthi ." 'Tis well'that you paid me,
or by the Eternal ;" to which the Kin..' was represented
bowing and waving his hands, with the words, " Not another
word of apology; My; dear: .General, I beg of you." It
would, perhaps, be- difficult to,tunke a: better comment on
the conduct of either of these distinguished individuals than
is contained in that print.".--Grand's Americans, in their
S.;cial, Moral, and Political emulation.

THE CROSSINGS.—We hear repeatedly of persons
losing sometimes• their limbs, and not unfrequntly their
lives, by being run over in crossing regent-street. A
gentleman named` Graves with a view to the prevention of
this sort of accidents suggests that a commodious tunnel
under the pavement should be. made. He says "it may
be approached by an easy inclined plane, or by steps ;
it should have two entrances at each end, one for right
hand passengers, the other for left hand, and they should
be kept separate from each other by a rail the whole
length. The approaches may be rendered ornamental, and
need not encroach much upon the present carriage way.
They might be lighted by one, two, or three open funnels,
railed .round of course, and lighted by lamps, or the whole
tunnel may be covered over and lighted with gas. In order
to reduce the descent as much as possible, the coiling to he
made of iron plates, water tight. The whole interior to be
painted:white." IVe.think the suggestion not unworthy of
attention. If the plan be practicable, its execution being
so obviously desirable, ought not to be delayed,
The number of persons named in the register of
electors for the Eastern Division of Somersetshire for
1835-6 was 8,504, and in the present register is 9,561 ; so
that there are now 1,037 persons more qualified to vote than
there were under the former register. As regards the
Western Division, it is a curious coincidence tat, not-
withstanding the numerous changes that must have taken
place, the numbers in, the registers for 1835-6 and 1836-7
are precisely the same—viz. B,Bs4.—Doi.set Crouicle.
A poor man and his wife at Bellfield, near R.oelt.
dale, have been greatly alarmed by the following circum-
stance :—" On Thursday last when the husband went into
the honroost for the eggs he was astonished to find upon one
egg the following words :—‘ Repent, for the hour is nigh.'"
Under these words were a death's head and cross bones,
besides some other hieroglyphics, resembling Hebrew cha-
racters. On Saturday and Sunday hundreds of people
went from all parts to look at this wonderful egg.. Any one
who hazarded a suspicion that the hen bad not laid the egg
such as it now appears, was unceremoniously classed among
infidels Thl,l engraving upon the erg is. ingeniously done,
and appears the c'oc'k of an artist. Of course the use of a
little noid will oxplain the whole mptery.—Manchester
Guardian.

CAPTURE AND CONDEMNATION

OF THE VIXEN.

ST.
,PF.TERSUTP.O, JAN. I.4.—The Journal de Si. Peters.
Lurq contains the following article
" The English journals have announced that the Vixen,
brig had been sent by some shipowners :of- London from
Constantinople, for the openly-svwved purpose of con vey-
'hr.. a cargo. chiefly consisting, gunpo.vder to the coast
of' Circasaia
.; the same journals hare added, that as the
importation of that article is prohibited by the Russian
Tariff, the expedition of the Vixen was undertaken for
the special .purpose to defy the vigilance and the proven
Live measures with which the Russian squadron, cruising
on these coasts, is charged against that prohibited and clan
destine trade.
" At the same time that the object of this culpable urn
dertaking was announced to us by the public journals, a re•
port from the
:Board of Admiralty of the Black Sea in.
formed the Imperial Governimmt that the Vixen had
really appeared on the Circassian coast, that it had been
detained by one of our cruisers, and carried into Sebastopol.
The following are the particulars of this affair
" On the 24th of November, in the evening, the Vixen
was descried on the Circassian coast, Ghelendschik. The
brig syssr, of the Imperial Navy, Capt. Wielf, had received
orders from the Commander on the station, to watch the
motions of this vessel, and came up with it on the I.lth
(2Gth). It found it at anchor at the bottom of the Bay
of Sudschuk-Kale, at a point where there was neither a
Custom-house nor a Quarantine establishment. • Part of
the crew was on shore, and attempted, by• rowing, to reach
the ship at the moment when the Ajax surprised it. Being
questioned respecting the object of their voyaae, Thomas
Childs, the captain of the ship, and George Bell, owner of
the cargo, (lid not hesitate to declare that they had come
for the purpose of trading with the inhabitants of the coast ;
that the ship's cargo consisted of salt, an article, the impor-
tation of which, into our ports-of the Black Sea and the
Sea of Azoff, is expressly prohibited in our Tariff. The
confession was decisive ; the offence of smuggling was
proved ; the violation of our sanitary regulations was ma-
nifest. Convicted of this double offence, the Vixen was
immediately detained, and on the lbth. (27th) of
November brought tq Ghelendschik, where it ar-
rived on the lath (28th). Rear-Admiral Esmant,
commander of the station here, appoint a Commis-
sion of Inquiry, which was ordered to proceed to
the interrogation of the crow, and an investigation of all
the circumstances which had led to the. captor() of the
ship. It appeared, from the investigation, that the Vixen,
Captain Thomas Childs, belonging to Messrs. Alexander
Polden and Thomas Morten, in London, had been freighted
by the house of Bell, Anderson, and Co., in Buchareat, for
voyages to Constantinople or the Danube, and to the coasts
of the Euxine, the sea of Azoff, and the sea of Marmora ; and
that in consequence of this osistract, the said ship had been
placed at the diar,osal of Mr. Bell, who frei4hted it with a
cargo of salt at Constantinople that, the latter did. not
acquaint the Captain with the c,lajoet of the voyage till the
7th (19th) Nov„ when tlia ship had left Bosphorus ; but
the Captain, tv; as 'he heard that he was to go to a
coast with which he was unacquainted,- observed to Mr.
Bell that the ship must has Issovided with a pilot ;' that "
Mr. Bell having- on the 1 lth:(20d) November, actually en-
gaged a Turkish pilot at SamsouasOrdered the Captain to
sail to Toughe-Pachad, orSudsaink-liale, 'at which three
places there is neither a QtigtOiii -house or a lazaretto ; that
the Captain preeeeded to Sudschnis-Kales because the wind
hindered him /Vein touching it at the two other places.. ; that
the. ship, by the Captain's confession, lay at anchor there 36.
hours before it was overtaken.by the Ajar ; that during this
time Mr. Bell commtinivated with the inhabitants of the
coast, confessedly for the purpose of trading with them, that
the cargo of the ship, according to the declaration of the Cap-
tain, consisted only Of IQ° tons of salt. The correctness of
this declaration needs eonfirmation, because regard to the sa-
nitary rezAtiations has not yet permitted an examination of
what maybe in the hold underneath the declarged cargo
that the -Turkish pilot of aged at Samsoun was landed on
the Circassian coast, and was left there, which was indeed
denied by Mr. Bell, but proved by the confession of the
captain and the confrontation of both ; that during the 36
hours communication between the ship and the inhabitants
of the coast, something passed which, under the present cir-
cumstances gk'es occasion for very serious conjecture, viz.,
that of the four cannon with which the ship, according to
its papers, was, provided, only two ware on board. .This
circuastance deserves to be the more particularly noticed,
as the English papers hall affirmed that the cargo of the
Vixen was chiefly to consist of gunpowder, for the landing
of which the time of 3b hours would have fully sufficed ;
lastly, that the fact of. a clandestine communication with
the inhabitants of the coast, to trade with them at a point
where there is neitho a custom-house nor quarantine
office, was formally confessed by Mr. Bell, and so confirmed
by tha dispositions of the captain, that no doubt could re-
mufti that there was a_two-fold iolation, as well as of
our sanitary regulations as of our custom-house laws.
These considerations,- taken together, were considered
by the commission as decisive. It decreed that.
the Vixen and its cargo had, according to the
laws, incurred tine penalty of confiscation. In con-
sequence of this decision the said. ship was sent to Se-
ha*topol, where it arrived on the 29th of November (11th
of December). The Imperial Government having been
made acquainted with all these circumstances, has sent
order;, t 4 the Admiralty of the Black Sea, to confiscate
the Viscn and its cargo, and declare them good prize.
With respect to the crew of this ship, though, according
to the sanitary laws in force in all the States of Europe,
they might have expected the severest punishment, his
Majesty the EMperor has been pleased to consider the
extenuating circumstances, from which it. appears that
Captain Childs was. originally a stranger to the object of
the voyage, the responsibility and disgrace of which must
fall on those who proposed and attempted the expedition.
The Emperor has therefore given orders to desist from all
further proceedings against Captain Childs, and to set him
and the crew at • liberty. Nay, more ; as his Majesty
learned from the reports of the Admiralty that these indivi-
duals were entirely destitute of resources, he instructed Count
Woronzow, Governor-General of New Russia, to furnish
them with means to return to Constantinople. These are
the facts which preceded, and followed the capture of the
English brig Vixen, and these are the motives which led to
its confiscation.

" The Imperial Government thinks it fit to give the
greatest publicity to this rigorous and just measure, in
order to prevent the repetition of an attempt which the
legislation of all countries condemns. But that public opi-
nion may be fully informed respecting the criminal views
of this enterprise, the following circumstances are to be
considered :—As the coast of the Black Sea, from the
mouth of the Kuban to the harbour of St. Nicholas inclu-
sive, came under the dominion of the Russian empire by
Article IV. of the treaty of Adrianople, one of the first
measures resolved upon by the Russian Government was
the foundation of custom-houses and quarantine establish-
ments in the harbours of Anapa and Redut-Kale. Both
ports were then opened to the regular trade of all nations,
expressly excluding the other places, bays, and harbours on
the coast where there is no customhouse or quarantine
establishment. When the Imperial Legation signified this
regulation to the Ottoman Government and the represen-
tatives of all the powers at Constantinople, it had at the
same time orders to notify to them that every attempt
of foreign seamen to traffic with the said coast, the two
harbours of Anapa and Redut-Kale alone excepted,
would be c-onsidered as contraband trade, and the in-
dividuals who were guilty of such an offence would
be liable to the legal 'responsibility to which all illicit.
and clandestine trade is subject. And since that time
the squadron appointed by the Imperial Government to
cruise on the east coast of the Black Sea, exercises the
commission with which it is. legally charged on that coast.
Notwithstanding these measures formally announced by the
Russian Government, foreign ships attempted, in the years
1834 and 1835, to keep up a secret communication with
the inhabitants of the coast. This obliged the commander
of our squadron to use double vigilance and vigour. ' M. V.
Boutenieff was instructed to repeat to the foreign legations
at Constantinople the communications which had been made
to them in 1831. He performed his duty by addressing to
them the subjoined circular. By this note M. V. Boutenieff
called on all the representatives of foreign powers to be
pleased to give the necessary information to ships under the
flag of their respective Governments, which should visit the
above-mentioned coasts of the Black Sea, in order to prevent
the consequences which might arise from a violation of the
regulations against contraband trade. This circular is dated
Ist (13th) September,b 1836. Yet in spite of these repeated
warnings the Vitae was sent from Constantinople with the
avowed purpose of despising and violating our regulations. The
simple statement of facts which we have here given will suffice
to place the conduct of the English ship-owners in its true
light, who. disregarding the respect which they owed to
their national flag, did not hesitate to mina:ploy it for the
purpose of protecting a shameful traffio, or of covering trai-
torous intentions, which the impartial judgment of all well-
disposed
persons roust condemn and stigmatize. The pub-
licity which the Imperial Government has thought itself
obliged to give to the particulars of this • affair will at the
same time suffice to prove as well the justice as the vigour
of the measures which Russia has adopted to procure res-
pect for its ordinances, and to protect them against any
new attack.

"I. CIRCULAR OF M. V. BoUTENTEFF TO THE DIPLOMA-
TIC BODY AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
•
" Bujultdere, Sept. 13, 1836.
" In the course of the year 1831, and by a communication
of the 12th Oct. of that year, I had the honour, by order
of my Court, to acquaint the representatives of forcin
powers at Constantinople with the regulation which the
Imperial Government had established with respect to foreign
ships intending to visit the Russian eastern coasts of the