The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-02 00:00:00

THE NEW IRON BARRACKS.

We read in a letter from Boulogne, of the 29th Octo-
ber :

" The iron barracks ordered in London for the four
camps have been disembarked this week. They are each
35 metres long and 11 wide, and are composed of five
or six hundred plates of cast or sheet iron, and of wood.
The supports are in iron ; the roof is formed of grooved
pieces of the same metal, numbered and joined to-
gether by screws, with wooden window frames. There
is a stove attached to each ; the cast iron is galva-
nised to protect it from rust. We have been assured by
a very competent judge (an Englishman) that these bar-
racks, of quite a novel construction, are of great solidity,
adding that they might last 200 years. Each barrack
will cost about 3001. It is said that eight or ten have
been ordered for the four camps at Boulogne. Those
destined for the camp of Helfaut will be sent to Calais
and conveyed thence by rail to St. Omer. These iron
buildings, which have been for some time in use in Eng-
land, will, it is to be hoped, excite the emulation of our
iron-masters, who, after examining them, will be able to
enrich their own country by imitating these specimens
of British industry. The cost of these barracks is to be
defrayed by the Emperor's civil list."

FREEILLSONRY.—On Wednesday Sir Edward S.
Gooch, Bart., M.P., P.G.M. of Suffolk, held his annual
grand lodge at Stowmarket, in compliment to the
flourishing Phoenix Lodge in that town.
The first communications by the electric telegraph
between Madrid, Pampeluna, and St. Sebastian were
conveyed on the 23d ult. In a few days this line is to
be connected with that of Irun and Bayonne.
Two of the Emperor Napoleon's Ministers are ill in
Paris at this moment—M. Billault, Minister of the In-
terior, and M. Binean, Minister of Finance, who has lost
his voice.

APPOINTMENT.—The Bishop of Manchester has col-
lated the Rev. John Howard, curate of St. Luke's,
Chorlton-upon-Medlock, to the perpetual curacy of
Goodshaw, near Rawtenstall, vacant by the death of the
Rev, James Bell.
SEIZURE OF " PUNCH" AT BERLIN.—BERLIN, OCt. 29.
—Yesterday Puna was seized here for containing the
parody of Arndt's celebrated song, " What is the Ger-
man's Fatherland P
The postage on letters to and from Canton, Shanghai,
and all parts of China, has been reduced to 6d. a letter.
PRICE OF HORSES.—At the Limerick great fair the
horse fair was not so good as might have been expected.
The show was said, by those who came a distance to
purchase, to be indifferent, and the quality to be such as
not to afford encouragement to buyers. There were no
English buyers whatever.
The report, received by the Mariquita Mining Com-
pany shows a production for July at the Marmato mines
of 13,902 dols., at a cost of 10,569 dole., and at the
Santa Anna mines for July and August a production
of 12,274 dols., at a cost of 11,830 dole.
At a meeting of the Grand Surrey Dock and Canal
Company, held yesterday, the directors were authorised
to apply to Parliament for power to raise a sum not ex-
ceeding 200,0001. for extending and improving the pro-
perty, so as to effectively accommodate increasing busi-
ness.
An official report of the loss occasioned by the late
fire at Liverpool gives the total as 102,0001., the goods
destroyed being valued at 96,000/, and the buildings at
6,0001. A third of the whole is stated to be insured in
two Liverpool offices.
THE SPANISH BONDHOLDERS.—The committee of
Spanish American Bondholders have published a report
of the proceedings which have taken place regarding
the debt of Buenos Ayres since the meeting of the bond-
holders in December last, when it was resolved to de-
spatch Mr. James Giro as their agent to that republic.
It appears that after the rejection of the disgraceful
terms proposed by the Finance Minister of Buenos
Ayres in March—namely, that the principal of the debt,
amounting to 977,0001., together with 740,0771., being
only half the arrears of interest, should be recognised, and
discharged without further dividends of any kind by
annual payments of 60,0001., to commence in two years'
time, and to be raised at the end of 10 years to 80,000/.
Mr. Giro, at the invitation of the Minister, made a
statement of the only conditions the bondholders would
consider it right to entertain. These were that pay-
ments of dividends on the principal of 977,0001. should
be forthwith resumed, and that the 26 years' arrears of
interest amounting to 1,480,1551., should be reduced by
a cash payment to 1,300,0001., and that the latter sum
should bo consolidated in sterling bonds of 201., bearing
3 per cent, interest, payable in London half-yearly. It
was also suggested that, upon such bonds being made
receivable at par for Customs' duties, public lands, &c.,
the bondholders might be willing to take them with the
interest suspended for five years. To these offers the
minister replied, on the 31st of August last, simply by
the statement that thiy should be laid before the
Legislature.
NEW Yong.—The commercial accounts from New
York yesterday are again on the whole more favourable,
although some additional failures have taken place, the
principal being that of Messrs. Gibson, Stockwell, and
Co. This house was largely engaged in the western
provision trade, and its liabilities are very heavy. It
had been established only three or four years, and much
of the loss will fall on the producers in the west and the
banks in Ohio and Indiana. Several firms had likewise
suspended in the State of Vermont, including J. and H.
Peck and Co., for a rather large amount, H. W. Catlin,
George Peterson, Smith and Landon, and H. Williams.
The committee of investigation for the Erie Railroad
had made their report, and the stock had improved in
consequence, the opinion of the committee being favour-
able to the present management, although a long train
of previous errors and falsifications have been exposed.
The total cost of the line proves to have been 7,000,0001.,
but the capital stock is only 2,000,0001., and the net
earnings of the past year, after paying interest en bonds
and all charges, are shown to have amounted to
150,0001., being equal to a dividend to the stockholders
of 71 per cent. During the next year an increase is ex-
pected, but the committee recommend that the con-
struction account should be closed es soon as possible,
that the fares should be raised, that no dividend should
bo declared till the floating debt is paid off, and that an
independent sinking fund should be established.
DEATH FROM CHOKlNG.—Yesterday, Mr. W. Baker,
received information respecting the death of a mariner,
named Thomas Taylor, aged 53 years, who died from
suffocation ; deceased was a man of intemperate habits.
On Tuesday night, shortly after 9 o'clock, he returned
home in a state of intoxication, and sat down with the
landlady to supper, which consisted of boiled mutton.
He had only been seated a few minutes, when a loud
gurgling noise was heard, and when the females in at-
tendance ran to him, they found him breathing with
difficulty, and quite black in the face. Mr. Garrett, the
surgeon, examined the deceased, and found a large piece
of msat firmly fixed in the gullet, whereby the deceased
had been chocked. The body awaits an inquest.
DEPARTURE OF THE AMERICAN MAILS.—LIVERPOOL,
Wednesday..—The United States Mail steam-ship Atlan-
tic, Captain James West, sailed early this forenoon for
New York, with the usual biweekly mails, 127 passen-
gers, and a 11111 cargo of merchandise on board.

TILE PATRIOTIC FUND.
MARYLEBONE.

A public meeting of the inhabitants of the parish of
Marylebone, convened in pursuance of a requisition to
the churchwardens, was held yesterday in the Court-
house, Maryiebone-lane, to assist in promoting the
Patriotic Fund instituted by royal commission for the
widows and orphans of our soldiers and sailors falling in
battle during the war. Mr. Clement George, one of the
churchwardens, presided. The meeting was nume-
rously attended, and the company included some of the
most influential residents in the parish.
Lord WODEROUSE moved a resolution to the effect
that the meeting cordially approved of the Royal Com-
mission appointed for accumulating a fund for the
widows and orphans of our soldiers, sailors, and marines
who fall in battle or in other casualties arising out of
the war. The resolution having been seconded,
Sir BENJAMIN HALL, M.P., said—Having met there
for the purpose of raising a fund for the relief of the
widows and orphans of our soldiers and sailors who
might fall in the impending struggle with Russia,
there were many subjects which might be touched on
in such a meeting, but there were only two on which he
should venture to address them. They were now about to
promote, not only a fund for the relief of those who
might lose their dearest friends and connections, and who
might thus be deprived in many instances of the source
of subsistence, but they were going to relieve anxious
and thinking minds. Time and space were now anni-
hilated. By the efforts and ingenuity of man news
could arrive from all parts of the known world in so
shorta space of time that it might be counted by seconds.
And what was the consequence of those telegraphic
communications ? What occurred a very short time ago
in reference to a regiment connected with a locality to
which he himself was identified ?—he meant the 23d
Regiment of Welsh Fusiliers—perhaps one of the most
noble, certainly one of the most gallant, that ever went
into a field of battle—(cheers)—which had shown its '
gallant bearing in the Peninsular, and especially at Wa-
terloo, and which was the first that was put forward in
the attack at the Alma. The telegraph stated that
only three officers of that regiment were left alive. That
was on the 7th of October ; he (Sir B. Hall) went down
to the country that day, and when the train stopped at
Winchester, anxious inquiries were made of him as to
the truth or falsehood of that statement, but no further
information could be given. When he arrived at Broad-
lands, on a short visit to Lord Palmerston, the parent
of one of the officers of the regiment came in the greatest
anxiety to know if his son was one of the three who
were stated to have survived ; but no information could
be had until the Sunday evening, when they received the
special edition of The Sun newspaper of that day, which
told them thht his son was no more. But if those feelings
agitated persons in that rank of life, would it not be
wicked in them to suppose that they were not partici-
pated in to the full by those of another class of society ?
In addition to the anxiety of a wife or child of a private
soldier as to what might be the fate of the husband or
father, suppose they had that great anxiety and suspense
heightened by not knowing what might happen to them
if the husband or father should die in battle ? To alle-
viate that suspense and anxiety they were assembled in
public meeting that day, in the wealthiest district of the
wealthiest empire in the world, and he hoped the result
would be a magnificent proof alike of their wealth and
their patriotism. He believed, with the noble lord
(Lord Wodehouse), that it was very desirable that feel-
ings of humanity should be shown on this occasion,
and that their bounty should be exhibited both in
public and in private ; and he himself might say, in'
' reference to that gallant regiment with which he was
more connected by ties of feeling and of patriotism, and
in which some of his best friends held commissions, he
was anxious, independently of any feeling in that di-
rectien, that this meeting, of a public character, should,
as far as possible, confine itself to the public object in
view, and that he was quite sure, if they set aside some of
their own private feelings, and gave what they could to
the general public object, under the guidance of the Go-
vernment, the money would be well apportioned and
duly administered. (Cheers.)
The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.
Lord ROKEBY moved the next resolution, pledging the
meeting, collectively and individually, to use its best
exertions to carry out the objects of the royal com-
mission.

The resolution was carried with acclamation.
Mr. GREENWELL (the secretary) then read over the
list of subscriptions made at the meeting, and the pro.
ceedings terminated.

ST. JOHN'S WOOD.—An adjourned meeting of the in-
habitants of St. John's-wood, in aid of the Patriotic
Fund, was held at the Eyre Arms last evening, when
Professor Creasy was called to the chair. Mr. L. Pugh
moved and Mr. Alfred Watts seconded a resolution,
" That the committee be requested to wait personally on
the inhabitants," which was also agreed to. A vote of
thanks to the chairman concluded the proceedings.
Meetings have also been held at Hastings, Bath,
Bridgwater, Torquay, Withyeombe Raleigh, Hayle, and
Honiton.

_BANQUET TO CAPTAIN M'CLURE, THE
ARCTIC NAVIGATOR.

HASTINGS, Tuesday.—Last night a banquet was
give* at the Swan Hotel, by the ,Mayor, magistrates,
and gentry of Hastings and its vicinity, to Captain
M'Clure, the discoverer of the North-west Passage, on
his return to this borough, in which he had previously
resided for many years.
The dinner was served in the large room of the hotel,
which was beautifully decorated for the occasion, and
hung with the flags of England, France, and Turkey,
and the arms of the Cinque Ports. Covers were laid
for upwards of 200 persons.
Amongst those present we observed—The Worshipful
the Mayor, Mr. P. Robertson, the member for the
borough of Hastings ; the Rev. J. Hatchard, the Rev.
J. Wallis, Mr. G. Scrivens (banker), Mr. W. Crake,
Captain Drake, R.N., Captain O'Callaghan, Mr. J. G.
Langham, Mr. C. P. Hutchings, Mr. F. Ticehurst, Mr.
F. Smith, Mr. A. Barton, Mr. John Phillips, Mr. R.
Ransom, Mr. J. Tucker, Mr. Breeds, Mr. Williams,
Mr. G. Clement, Dr. M'Cabe, &c.
The worshipful the Mayor presided.
The usual loayal toasts having bees drunk with all the
honours,

The President proposed "The Health of the Bishop
of Chichester and the Clergy of the Diocese," coupled
with the healths of the Rev. Mr. Hatchard and the Rev.
Mr. Wallis, who returned thanks in appropriate terms.
The President then proposed the toast of the evening,
the health of the gallant captain who had that night
honoured them with his presence, having just returned
to the place of his adopted home—the town of Hastings.
They could not but feel proud of welcoming once more
the intrepid discoverer of the North-west Passage—
(applause)—a discovery which nothing but the most
persevering courage could have enabled him to attain.
(Applause.) He would call on the company to drink
" The Health of that great navigator, Captain M'Clure."
The toast having been most enthusiastically drunk,
Captain M'Clure rose, amidst loud applause, to re-
turn thanks. He thanked them for the honour they
had done him ; but he felt unable in consequence of a
severe cold and extinction of voice, to express his
feelings on this occasion. During his long residence in
Hastings he had ever, under all circumstances, net with
the greatest kindness and attention. The gallant cap-
tain was proceeding to describe his arrival in the Prince
of Wales Straits, and his stay there during the years
1850 and 1851, when he was, in consequence of hoarse-
ness, utterly unable to proceed, and was interrupted by
Dr. M`CABE, who said that, seeing that Captain
M'Clure was suffering so severely, he was sure his
friends would excuse him from proceeding further with
his speech as it might entail upon him a serious and
lasting injury. (Although not publicly stated, it was
understood that Captain M'Clure's indisposition was
the result of an attack induced by the rigorous climate
of the Polar regions.)
The PRESIDENT then gave the toast of "The Army
and Navy," apologising for having omitted it in the
usual routine, and coupling it with the name of Captain
Drake, one of the heroes of Trafalgar, to which that gal-
lant gentleman returned thanks in appropriate terms.
Captain O'CALLAGHAN returned thanks on behalf of
the army.
Other toasts having been dru■k sad duly honoured,
the company separated at a late hour.