The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 13, 1853.

would remind honourable members that there never had
been a time, in spite of the great diminution of the popu-
lation, and of the high rate of wages, when recruiting
went on better in Ireland than at present, t and therefore
there were no grounds for saying that doing away with
Kilmainham was likely to prove injurious to the recruiting
service. He hoped the house would consider the facts
which he had stated. He had not thought it right to dis-
turb an arrangement which had been adopted by one
Government and confirmed by another. His own opinion
was, that they must look in this case to a natural feeling
certainly on the one side, but likewise on the other side to
the real advantage to the service of these institutions, and
to the changes operated in the state of the lower classes in
this country during the last year. (Hear, hear). The
question was one which Parliament must decide ; but he
(Mr. Herbert) was unwilling, unless Parliament should
decide against him, to disturb an arrangement which had
been adopted by one Government, and which had been
confirmed by another. (Hear, hear).
Mr. WHITESIDE said, if Kilmainham Hospital was to
be destroyed upon such flimsy evidence of necessity, there
was an end to any valid security for the institutions of
England. The late Government had no alternative but to
adopt the estimates of their predecessors, and were not,
therefore, responsible for the attempt to abolish the insti-
tution.

Lord SEYMOUR thought the change a beneficial one,
as well for the soldiers as for the taxpayers.
Mr. ELLICE said the funds of Kilmainham Hospital
had been misappropriated by sinecurists and jobbers of all
kinds.

Colonel LINDSEY supported the motion.
The house then divided, when the numbers were—
For the motion
Against it l3l
Majority for the motion —67
NEW WRIT FOR HUDDERSFIELD.
On the motion of Mr. HAYTER, a new writ was issued
for the election of a member for the borough of Hudders-
field, in the room of Mr. W. R. Crompton Stansfield, un-
seated on petition.

DECIMAL COINAGE.
Mr. W. BROWN moved for a select committee to take
into consideration and report to the house the practica-
bility and advantages or otherwise that would arise from
adopting a decimal system of coinage :—Mr. W. Brown,
Mr. Cardwell, Mr. J. Ball, Mr. Tufnoll, Mr. Alderman
Thompson, Mr. Dunlop, Mr. M. Forster, Lord Stanley,
Mr. Moody, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. J. B. Smith, Sir W. Clay,
the Marquis of Chandos, Sir W. Jolliffe, and Mr. Kin-
naird.—Agreed to.

THE BOROUGH OF MALDON.
On the motion of Lord R. GROSVENOR, it was or•
dered that no new writ be issued for the borough of Mal•
don before the Ist of May next.

REGULATION OF PUBLIC-HOUSES. •
Mr. W. BROWN moved for a select committee to
examine into the system under which public-houses, hotels,
beer-shops, dancing saloons, coffee-houses, theatres, tem-
perance hotels, and places of public entertainment, by
whatever name they may be called, are sanctioned, and are
now regulated, with a view of reporting. to this house
whether any alteration or amendment of the law can be
made for the better preservation of public morals, the pro-
tection of the revenue, and for the proper accommodation
of the public, with power to send for persons, papers, and
records, so far as they may deem it necessary.—Agreed to.
COMBINATION OF WORKMEN BILL.
This bill passed through committee.
BURGHS (SCOTLAND) BILL.
Mr. E. ELLICE, jun., moved the addition of the fol-
lowing clause to this bill :—" And be it enacted, that the
provisions of the first before recited act, as applicable to
burghs not included in schedule C annexed to said act,
and also the provisions of an act passed in the fifteenth
and sixteenth years of the reign of'her present Majesty,
intituled An act to alter an amend certain provisions
in the laws relating to the number and election of magis-
trates and councillors in the burghs of Scotland,' shall be
and are hereby extended to the burghs contained in sche-
dule F of the first recited act, and so much of the said first-
recited act as excepts the said burghs from the said provi-
sions is hereby repealed • provided always that no burgh
shall be held to come within the provisions of this act where,
at the time of the passing of this act, the number, of
electors registered in the register of such burgh as qualified
to vote in the election of a member of Parliament is less
than thirty." He said the object of the amendment was
to place under the provisions of the Borough Reform Act
(Scotland) certain boroughs which were exempted at the
time of the passing of that statute.
After some discussion, in which Mr. Ewart, Mr. Dunlop,
and the Lord Advocate took part, the various clauses of
the bill as amended were agreed. to.

AGGRAVATED ASSAULTS BILL.
The house then went into committee on this bill, and the
various clauses were agreed to with certain verbal amend-
ments.

The house adjourned at five minutes past 12 o'clock,

KiLMAINHAM LIOSPITAL.

(From the Times.)

There was last night a little Government defeat.
Whether by the . neglect of the whipper-in, or by the
apathy of Ministerialists, or simply by a well-kept con-
spiracy of Irishmen and Derbyites, Ministers have been
beaten, and that rather considerably, on a very small
subject. Mr. Butt carried, last night, by a division of
198 against 131, a motion for an address to the Crown
in favour of retaining Kilmainham Hospital, which has
stood condemned for some years. Its condemnation
was simply a matter of economy. It is the Chelsea
of Ireland, on very much the same footing. The sys-
tem of out-door pensioners has latterly been substituted
ea much for that of in-door pensioners,— very wisely, as
we are disposed to think,—and Chelsea has become so
thoroughly adequate to the reception of disabled soldiers,
that it was found Kilmainham could be dispensed with,
and the expense of the establishment saved. How-
ever, Irish pride has been touched ; here and there an
Irish pensioner has been found who would rather
die on Irish soil than in the county of Middlesex ;
the Conservative chief saw the opening, and behold
the result—a majority of three to two against
the measure, or rather for its reversal, for it is
two years old. It is unnecessary to go into the merits
of the question, which probably weighed very little with
the bulk of those who voted. We can easily conceive a
member thinking the measure unnecessary, or, at least,
hardly worth the annoyance. On the other, we have
been doing nothing but simplifying our establishments
and institutions for several years, and if two military
asylums really were not wanted, it seemed a matter of
course to dispense with the smaller one. But, we re-
peat, the merits of the question are about the last thing
that have been considered in this instance. The defeat,
however, is a very considerable one for so mere a trifle.
That old Repealers and old Protectionists, ultra-Papists,
and ultra-Protestants, should muster 198 partisans on a
good opportunity, is intelligible enough, but that Go-
vernment should only muster 131 names is not so easily
explained. Where were they all ? Did the absentees
know what was going on ? If the flock was simply
astray, where was the shepherd ?
We presume that, after all, it is not very likely this
address will come to anything. The Committee on the
Army and Navy Estimates, whose authority is con-
sidered conclusive on such matters, recommend the con-
solidation of the two hospitals ; and though Mr. Butt
argues, with Hibernian logic, that the report of that
committee came out before Mr. Fox Maule's letter to
the Governors of Kilmainham Hospital, and therefore
was not the ground of that letter, it is much more to
the purpose to observe that the report of the committee
was out before Mr. Butt's present motion saw light, and
certainly condemns by anticipation the address in favour
of retaining both hospitals. But if Mr. Fox Maule had
not that recommendation to proceed upon, he had the
same materials as the committee that made it ; and
those materials are now before us in the estimates for
1850-1, 1851-2. Here is the mere staff of the hospital,
the inmates of which are only about 200, including the
whole of the staff itself—master, joint deputy-master,
two officers, four resident captains, non-resident captain,
adjutant, chaplain, physician and surgeon, providore,
chamberlain and overseer of works, secretary, registrar
and treasurer, clerk to ditto, clerk to providore, chapel
clerk, gardener, matron, seven nurses, four assistant-
nurses, infirmary sergeant, ditto orderly, two cooks, two
assistant-cooks, two barbers, hall-keeper, two lodge-
keepers, messenger, policeman and armourer, porter to
dispensary, person in charge of galleries, ditto of hypo-
caust, ditto of burial ground, with salaries amounting to
2,8931. This, besides the pay and tobacco money, of
the -in-pensioners, the keep of everbody, clothing, furni
ture, coals, candles, washing, medicines, &c., swelling
the total to 8,6571. The total number of inmates, aftet
all, is that of a common provincial infirmary, so every-
body may judge for himself whether the hospital would
stand on its own merits in these days of retrenchment.
A much graver question remains—How are such poli-
tical surprises as that of last night to be dealt with ?
They are, to say the least, very inconvenient. They
bring neither credit nor favour to any party, and only
weaken Government and stop the business of the nation

PORTLAND BREAKWATER.—The breakwater work now
being made in this island is progressing very expedi-
tiously and satisfactorily. The distance from the shore
already attained is 2,970 feet, the 99th bay having been
laid down, the distance between each bay being 30 feet ;
the breadth of the breakwater is 120 feet. The fortifi-
cations on the Vern is being rapidly proceeded with by
convicts. A new wing has been completed for the fur-
ther reception of convicts,
the number already being
925
, and another new wing is in contemplation. A new
quarry, called "Chain," at the southern extremity of
the island, has been opened for supplying the breakwater
with stone.

' The Cherbourg breakwater progresses, and in four or
five years Cherbourg will have a railway from Paris.
FURTHER AGITATION FOR ADVANCED WAGES.—The
plasterers at Manchester have been seeking an adva ace
of wages, by which their average earnings would be
raised from 265. per week to 28s. ; and most of the em-
ployers find it desirable to comply with their request.
The trade is rather brisk, besides which emigration has
somewhat affected numbers. The bricklayers are fol-
lowing the example of their brethren of the trowel ; and
as joiners are likely to join them, their demands will
fall heavily on builders—especially those having con-
tracts. Several large builders have felt a difficulty in
taking up new contracts in the present disturbed state
of the trade, and have for that reason declined to tender.
The wages of masons are ss. and ss. 6d. per day, and
they contemplate asking 6s. and upwards per day.
EXECUTION OF DOBSON.—The execution of this cri-
minal, who was convicted on the clearest evidence of the
murder of Catherine Sheridan, a young woman with
whom he had cohabited, at Wakefield; on the 18th of
February last, took place at York on Saturday last, at
12 o'clock, in the presence of between 2,000 and 3,000
spectators, who manifested no feeling except that of
sorrow at the melancholy spectacle. It is satisfactory
to learn that the guilty man was brought, by the spiri-
tual instructions of the chaplain during the time he was
in the prison, to a proper sense of his situation, and that
he died penitent.
NEW EXTRA-MURAL CEMETRY.—On Monday the burial
board for the parish of St. Pancras ratified an agreement
entered into between the Rev. Edward Philip Cooper,
of Little Dalby, Leicester, and the burial board, for the
purchase of 87 acres of freehold land at Finchley, for the
purposes of a cemetery for the parish. The purchase
price was:2ool, per acre;